General Rugby Discussion II

sydthebeat

razorblunt wrote: »

Sad but the editor doesn’t care, you’re talking about it, someone reading your post might go look for it, job done.

Nah that's too reductive.

If you're more saying that a journalist of Paul kimmages status is basic clickbait then that whole industry is fcuked.

Clegg

Leicester, Bath and Wasps are in big trouble this season. Tigers are the ones in the most danger. They had eight players away at the World Cup so you'd expect them to struggle a bit. But their return to the side hasn't galvanised them at all. If anything they look more disorganised and lacking in quality than they did before. Manu Tuilagi should not be looking so ineffective with ball in hand, especially when he has George Ford pulling the strings at 10.

I hope Bath can keep their head above water tho. It's a lovely town that is mad for their rugby. They've a decent squad that is misfiring at the moment. I suppose that sounds very similar to Leicester. But I've little love for the latter. Awful habit of blaming the referee for their losses.

CatFromHue

sydthebeat wrote: »

Kimmages latest pop-shot at rugby in today's sindo is utterly bizarre.

Its a castigation of rugby books, singularly Joe Schmidts, without actually any critique of it (them)

And then it's a transcript of the latest five live rugby pod where Danny care, ugo monya and Chris Ashton have a bit of a light hearted chat about rugby books, and kimmages name comes up ... So reading I assume the only reason kimmage transcribes this conversation is to answer any charge in the exchange.. But no... Nothing.

I hope he didn't get paid for this drivel because if he was doing a plagerism check on it it would fail miserably.

Its quite an embarrassing piece by him, zero rate journalism, and I'm surprised the editor allowed that to be published actually

A lot of rugby books are poor though. O'Driscoll's two are very very bad, I didn't find Mike Ross's one much interest, ROG's second one might as well have been called "my thoughts on the world". Jackman's one was all right but that's mainly because I thought I was reading the thoughts of a still concussed person.

I think the point of Kimmage's article was that there was a story in Ashton's book but the RFU removed any interesting things in it, the things himself and Monye were laughing at. So he's saying that in general rugby players hold back a lot when they write their books.

It is embarrassing the criticism Schmidt's book is getting though.

salmocab

CatFromHue wrote: »

A lot of rugby books are poor though. O'Driscoll's two are very very bad, I didn't find Mike Ross's one much interest, ROG's second one might as well have been called "my thoughts on the world". Jackman's one was all right but that's mainly because I thought I was reading the thoughts of a still concussed person.

I think the point of Kimmage's article was that there was a story in Ashton's book but the RFU removed any interesting things in it, the things himself and Monye were laughing at. So he's saying that in general rugby players hold back a lot when they write their books.

It is embarrassing the criticism Schmidt's book is getting though.

I find in general sports biographies are in the main boring as hell, funnily Kimmages was quite good and probably the last decent thing he wrote.

Former Former

salmocab wrote: »

I find in general sports biographies are in the main boring as hell, funnily Kimmages was quite good and probably the last decent thing he wrote.

Ah here.

He wrote Engage and Tony Cascarino's autobiography, two of the best sports books out there.

He's a bit of an oddball about certain topics but there's no questioning his ability as a writer.

Losty Dublin

Former Former wrote: »

Ah here.

He wrote Engage and Tony Cascarino's autobiography, two of the best sports books out there.

He's a bit of an oddball about certain topics but there's no questioning his ability as a writer.

Engage is the best rugby book period.

Former Former

Former Former wrote: »

Ah here.

He wrote Engage and Tony Cascarino's autobiography, two of the best sports books out there.

He's a bit of an oddball about certain topics but there's no questioning his ability as a writer.

He's entirely lost objectivity and perspective and I actually think he's beyond being an 'oddball' and is actually quite demented on certain issues.

Without these things he's not really a journalist anymore and much more like an activist.

thomond2006

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Without these things he's not really a journalist anymore and much more like an activist.

Activists masquerading as journalists is not an uncommon thing.

thomond2006

thomond2006 wrote: »

Activists masquerading as journalists is not an uncommon thing.

British politics has been ruined by it, just unusual to see it in sports journalism and not even be based around team tribalism.

Interested Observer

Kimmage seems to feel he's/journalists in general are owed something by sports figures - in this case it's Schmidt obviously not giving him any time or using a ghost writer. A few weeks ago it was Heaslip. The one that always comes to mind is the extraordinary meltdown he had on Off The Ball after Dublin won their 3rd All Ireland over Jim Gavin's lack of engagement with the media. Totally unprompted, he completely lost the plot. If he doesn't get his access or quotes or time he seems to lash out. His 'article' this weekend was absolutely worthless, I don't know why he put it out. And he obviously can be an excellent writer when he's in the mood.

prawnsambo

Looks like Mike Ruddock is taking over Ospreys on an interim basis.

its_phil

Former Former wrote: »

Ah here.

He wrote Engage and Tony Cascarino's autobiography, two of the best sports books out there.

He's a bit of an oddball about certain topics but there's no questioning his ability as a writer.

I think he does amazing interviews with brilliant question and there isn’t anyone better at it, bar maybe Joe Molloy, which is why Hampson and Cascarino have such great autobiographies but I find when he writes columns that he has fallen miles behind these days. He’s desperate for the angle weekly and Sunday’s article was embarrassing it was a copy and paste job for which he got paid.

The Jim Gavin thing a couple years back was very weird.

Clegg

Wales Online is reporting Liam Williams back to Scarlets.

Eod100

Clegg wrote: »

Wales Online is reporting Liam Williams back to Scarlets.

Are things that bad in Saracens..?!

Squidgy Black

Eod100 wrote: »

Are things that bad in Saracens..?!

He's been wanting to go back to Wales for a while apparently, especially considering their central contracts would mean he'd be getting around £400k a year from them now.

Eod100

Squidgy Black wrote: »

He's been wanting to go back to Wales for a while apparently, especially considering their central contracts would mean he'd be getting around £400k a year from them now.

Ah yeah, was being fairly tongue in cheek! Yup makes sense with central contracts in Wales in fairness. Scarlets would have decent choice of backs next season then

razorblunt

sydthebeat wrote: »

Nah that's too reductive.

If you're more saying that a journalist of Paul kimmages status is basic clickbait then that whole industry is fcuked.

Not 100% but I definitely thinks he has a habit of balancing the deep dive stuff with fluffy "bang a drum" type.
Like the actor that does one blockbuster per every 4 character pieces to challenge him.

Interested Observer

Rugby Australia and Folau have reached a confidential settlement.

Felix Jones is God.

Interested Observer wrote: »

Rugby Australia and Folau have reached a confidential settlement.

That's a shame, sounds like a payout, but a rugby union in dire financial straits can't afford a prolonged legal battle.

Edit: they caved completely from this statement it seems

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/sport/2019/dec/04/israel-folau-and-rugby-australia-settle-unfair-dismissal-claim-over-social-media-post

testtech05

Felix Jones is God. wrote: »

That's a shame, sounds like a payout, but a rugby union in dire financial straits can't afford a prolonged legal battle.

Edit: they caved completely from this statement it seems

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/sport/2019/dec/04/israel-folau-and-rugby-australia-settle-unfair-dismissal-claim-over-social-media-post

Some of the comments in that statement are ridiculous, accepting he didn't mean to cause offence etc.....

I understand they might not have the money for a legal battle but from reading that I'd think that Israel has got a nice pay off for himself.

sydthebeat

So not about the money eh??

Paul Smeenus

That's a fairly hefty climbdown from RA.

Eod100

Piutau signs on for 2 more years with Bristol.

No doubt this was an exercise in risk assessment and management but I'm really disappointed Folau has benefited from this.

The ARU doesn't exist to promote social justice and it's not their job to litigate out of principle, but I'd have hoped someone would have stood up and offered to foot the bill for them.

sydthebeat

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

That's a fairly hefty climbdown from RA.

Its a hefty climbdown from both parties

Exclamation Marc

Lions Fixtures announced for 2021.

https://twitter.com/lionsofficial/status/1202152450590957568?s=19

3 July - DHL Stormers (Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town)

7 July - South Africa Invitational (Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth)

10 July - Cell C Sharks (Jonsson Kings Park, Durban)

14 July - South Africa 'A' Team (Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit)

17 July - Vodacom Bulls (Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria)

24 July - First Test v Springboks (Soccer City, Johannesburg)

31 July - Second Test v Springboks (Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town)

7 August - Third Test v Springboks (Ellis Park, Johannesburg)

Exclamation Marc

Exclamation Marc wrote: »

Lions Fixtures announced for 2021.

https://twitter.com/lionsofficial/status/1202152450590957568?s=19

As a consequence of South Africa no longer being boiled sh ite - the Lions tour might actually be decent enough.

Former Former

Interested Observer wrote: »

Rugby Australia and Folau have reached a confidential settlement.

Folau had a very credible case from the legal perspective if not from the moral one. Folau had a nice legal fund ready to fight it all the way.

They had to hedge their bets I guess.

irishbucsfan

I’ve no idea how credible his case was under Australian law but either way hopefully this is an end to it

This will hopefully remove the only platform he had to make any impression on my life, unless clickbait sites continue to share his quotes as if they have any relevance to rugby

Winters

Exclamation Marc wrote: »

Lions Fixtures announced for 2021.

https://twitter.com/lionsofficial/status/1202152450590957568?s=19

3 July - DHL Stormers (Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town)

Interesting that Newlands isnt hosting any games, not even the Stormers game. Pity, its a lovely rugby ground.

WP, the landlords, have been talking about selling for a while now.