Rainbow Cup 2021

I wonder if the playing squads will struggle to get up to pitch for these games. Feels like a bit of a nothing tournament at this point.

Boscoirl

Cooney did his best to butcher that

Seemed to look for his closest bunch of Connacht defenders

hold my beer

Lovely try from Blade

icdg

Easy to know eir Sport are a broadcaster about to finish its contract, with the panel (Tommy Bowe, Peter Stringer, BJ Botha) barely hiding their disdain for this tournament.

hold my beer

This is an entertaining game all the same

hold my beer

What a finish

Boscoirl

Fitzgerald made a great contribution to the game.

Digifriendly

icdg wrote: »

Easy to know eir Sport are a broadcaster about to finish its contract, with the panel (Tommy Bowe, Peter Stringer, BJ Botha) barely hiding their disdain for this tournament.

TBF they are not the only ones with that view.

Thrashssacre

Glasgow having a mare here, benneton are playing excellently though, their looking like the team of a couple of seasons ago.

icdg

Digifriendly wrote: »

TBF they are not the only ones with that view.

Oh absolutely, but it’s rare for a broadcaster to openly show such disdain for a tournament they are covering - but given the “on borrowed time” message sent out with regard eir Sport, and the fact that they are losing the Pro14 contract at the end of the Rainbow Cup anyway, they are probably going through the motions at this stage.

Plus (whisper it) the game turned out to be quite good!

thomond2006

icdg wrote: »

Oh absolutely, but it’s rare for a broadcaster to openly show such disdain for a tournament they are covering - but given the “on borrowed time” message sent out with regard eir Sport, and the fact that they are losing the Pro14 contract at the end of the Rainbow Cup anyway, they are probably going through the motions at this stage.

Plus (whisper it) the game turned out to be quite good!

RTÉ did it with the Pro14 too.

OldRio

icdg wrote: »

Oh absolutely, but it’s rare for a broadcaster to openly show such disdain for a tournament they are covering - but given the “on borrowed time” message sent out with regard eir Sport, and the fact that they are losing the Pro14 contract at the end of the Rainbow Cup anyway, they are probably going through the motions at this stage.

Plus (whisper it) the game turned out to be quite good!

I take it you didn't watch RTEs coverage of the Pro12. The hostility to the competition was on a different level.

hold my beer

Do we know who has the rights next year?

hold my beer

Great try by Benetton from a lineout a minute ago. Lovely stuff

thomond2006

That is an amazing scoreline. I had a look at the Glasgow lineup. The pack is good on paper, the backline is a bit light on experience.

sydthebeat

Glasgow obviously don't give two sh!ts about this comp

PMC83

hold my beer wrote: »

Do we know who has the rights next year?

I read somewhere that sky were out? Would love if Virgin sports picked it up, or RTE

Digifriendly

PMC83 wrote: »

I read somewhere that sky were out? Would love if Virgin sports picked it up, or RTE

Not Virgin as they are not HD on Saorview.

thomond2006

George North was helped off the field with a knee injury.

Ospreys leading 24-0 over Cardiff.

Dubinusa

How about Benetton! Great to see. Glasgow are in a bad run of form. I would love to see Benetton really compete for this .

PTH2009

The South African clubs could be a level above all the NH clubs

Caranica

PTH2009 wrote: »

The South African clubs could be a level above all the NH clubs

If they'd played any rugby.

Thrashssacre

PTH2009 wrote: »

The South African clubs could be a level above all the NH clubs

They aren't.

thomond2006

I hope at least 2 of the sides can compete at the top level of the league. That would transform the competition.

Dave_The_Sheep

So...

icdg

PMC83 wrote: »

I read somewhere that sky were out? Would love if Virgin sports picked it up, or RTE

Throwaway line in an article that is not otherwise about rugby in today’s Sunday Times that RTE have won the Pro14 rights but I’d be surprised if they won them on their own despite the way it is phrased.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/defining-broadcast-dilemma-tests-gaa-wfqrjwh7l

Bar the Lions, Sky are out of rugby full stop at the moment.

Eod100

1st 3 rounds of SA fixtures were released on Friday. Dont seem to be updated on the Pro14 site.

PRO14 RAINBOW CUP SA FIXUTRES: R1 - SATURDAY, MAY 1

DHL Stormers v Cell C Sharks

Kick-off: 13:00 UK / 14:00 SA (Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town)

Vodacom Bulls v Emirates Lions

Kick-off: 18:00 UK / 19:00 SA (Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria)

R2 - SATURDAY, MAY 8

Cell C Sharks v Emirates Lions

Kick-off: 15:00 UK / 16:00 SA (Jonsson Kings Park, Durban)

DHL Stormers v Vodacom Bulls

Kick-off: 17:15 UK / 18:15 SA (Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town)

R3 - SATURDAY, MAY 15

Emirates Lions v DHL Stormers

Kick-off: TBC (Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg)

**Vodacom Bulls v Cell C Sharks **

Kick-off: 17:15 UK / 18:15 SA (Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria)

https://www.pro14.rugby/latest/news/revised-pro14-rainbow-cup-sa-schedule-confirmed

Digifriendly

Dragons vs Scarlets looked like a pre season match yesterday as did Ospreys vs Cardiff the evening before. Hard to take this competition seriously.

thomond2006

Digifriendly wrote: »

Dragons vs Scarlets looked like a pre season match yesterday as did Ospreys vs Cardiff the evening before. Hard to take this competition seriously.

I didn't see the games but the Welsh were terrible during the league as well.

Caranica

thomond2006 wrote: »

I didn't see the games but the Welsh were terrible during the league as well.

I watched the Welsh derbies at Christmas so didn't inflict that match on myself yesterday. Once was bad enough!

PMC83

icdg wrote: »

Throwaway line in an article that is not otherwise about rugby in today’s Sunday Times that RTE have won the Pro14 rights but I’d be surprised if they won them on their own despite the way it is phrased.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/defining-broadcast-dilemma-tests-gaa-wfqrjwh7l

Bar the Lions, Sky are out of rugby full stop at the moment.

Interesting stuff. I will miss throwing on the odd Zebra V Glasgow game (or whoever) when the kids are out. That was the great thing about Eir, they showed pretty much all of it.


With the SA teams more then likely playing next season there will be a few decent games for the neutral

thomond2006

https://www.sarugbymag.co.za/sa-sides-champions-cup-participation/

The 6m payment made by SA, despite having no cross-hemisphere Rainbow matches, makes a lot more sense now.

Eod100

thomond2006 wrote: »

https://www.sarugbymag.co.za/sa-sides-champions-cup-participation/

The 6m payment made by SA, despite having no cross-hemisphere Rainbow matches, makes a lot more sense now.

Think that was floated before. Wonder what sort of qualification would include them besides automatic qualification as no tournament between standard Pro12 clubs and SA side. Unless they wait until next season and let them qualify through Pro16. Seemed like Champions Cup were planning this long term alright.

thomond2006

Eod100 wrote: »

Think that was floated before. Wonder what sort of qualification would include them besides automatic qualification as no tournament between standard Pro12 clubs and SA side. Unless they wait until next season and let them qualify through Pro16. Seemed like Champions Cup were planning this long term alright.

Logistically it's going to be a challenge but it's made somewhat easier by the suggestion that the pool stage format will continue to be four games rather than six.

Eod100

thomond2006 wrote: »

Logistically it's going to be a challenge but it's made somewhat easier by the suggestion that the pool stage format will continue to be four games rather than six.

Makes sense. Think main stumbling block is deciding how SA teams qualify and managing teams who miss out. Guess unions ultimately make decision and the 6m might help but wonder how it will work.

mr_cochise

PMC83 wrote: »

Interesting stuff. I will miss throwing on the odd Zebra V Glasgow game (or whoever) when the kids are out. That was the great thing about Eir, they showed pretty much all of it.


With the SA teams more then likely playing next season there will be a few decent games for the neutral

I think EIR are largely responsible for killing the Pro14.

thomond2006

mr_cochise wrote: »

I think EIR are largely responsible for killing the Pro14.

Eir was a far better option than Sky to be honest, if you're like me and you don't want to subsidise the Premier League.

errlloyd

The Pro14 also happened to become a much worse product when Eir got involved.

But I do feel like we forget how good we have it. 7 televised games most weeks. For a large part of that time you could get it free on both Eir and Virgin (along with accompanying apps). So aside from a couple of edge cases actually watching the Pro14 was easy.

Just couldn't hype it. And they lacked the balls in the negotiation room to make the kind of demands sky probably would have made vis a vis quality etc.

Caranica

errlloyd wrote: »

But I do feel like we forget how good we have it. 7 televised games most weeks. For a large part of that time you could get it free on both Eir and Virgin (along with accompanying apps). So aside from a couple of edge cases actually watching the Pro14 was easy.

The one most people didn't realise was that Eir remained free on Vodafone TV.

Blut2

thomond2006 wrote: »

https://www.sarugbymag.co.za/sa-sides-champions-cup-participation/

The 6m payment made by SA, despite having no cross-hemisphere Rainbow matches, makes a lot more sense now.

One slight positive of corona devastating rugby's finances is moves like this happening very quickly because everyone is so desperate for cash. You'd imagine in normal times it would have taken years to negotiate and implement the Saffers joining.

It should really help expand the tv audience for the Champions Cup, and make it more competitively interesting, if they can get the travel logistics sorted. But if they have all summer to do so they really should be able to.

sydthebeat

I see jannie du plessis is still rocking away for the lions at 38 years of age

Eod100

Champions Cup confirmed as 24 teams next season. Wonder will SA teams be involved.

Akrasia

Eod100 wrote: »

Champions Cup confirmed as 24 teams next season. Wonder will SA teams be involved.

I really hope it's not that mad 2 conference hybrid system they had this season, it was hopelessly unfair
What are the alternatives?
4 Groups of 6 teams?
8 Groups of 3 teams?

icdg

A return to the pre-2014 format (6x4) would be nice. Keeps the tournaments best features - the self-selecting QF draw giving everyone something to play for, the prize of a home QF for the best seeds after the group stage, the back to December games. There shouldn’t be a scenario when you can have a perfect group stage and still go out.

I know, PRL want four extra weeks for their regular season and taking two weeks off the Heineken Cup is a start. (They could permanently ditch the PRL Cup instead. Nobody is interested in it, even in England).

Eod100

icdg wrote: »

A return to the pre-2014 format (6x4) would be nice. Keeps the tournaments best features - the self-selecting QF draw giving everyone something to play for, the prize of a home QF for the best seeds after the group stage, the back to December games. There shouldn’t be a scenario when you can have a perfect group stage and still go out.

I know, PRL want four extra weeks for their regular season and taking two weeks off the Heineken Cup is a start. (They could permanently ditch the PRL Cup instead. Nobody is interested in it, even in England).

That would be good. Wasnt a fan of the 2 x 12 at all.

Tigerandahalf

It would be great to have the SA sides in it.
What games there would be then.
It would be great to see the Irish sides bringing full strength sides down there.

icdg

There will still only be eight places for Pro(16) teams. If those end up being occupied by four Irish and four SA sides each year (which they may not be), there might be pressure to have the guaranteed one per country allocation reinstated. It won’t just be the Italians who are not regularly represented.

On the plus side, it might give a bit more interest to the very unloved European Challenge Cup.

Cookiemunster

I'm not sure where the idea that all 4 SA teams are going to be challenging is coming from. If you look at their record historically, Stormers and Bulls have been in the bottom half of the standings in each of the last 3 seasons of Super Rugby. The final season before the Cheetahs and Kings were dumped, they both finished above the Bulls.

Yes they'll bring something different to the league, but there's no way all 4 will be usurping the better Welsh and Scottish teams or even the likes of Connacht.

sydthebeat

Cookiemunster wrote: »

I'm not sure where the idea that all 4 SA teams are going to be challenging is coming from. If you look at their record historically, Stormers and Bulls have been in the bottom half of the standings in each of the last 3 seasons of Super Rugby. The final season before the Cheetahs and Kings were dumped, they both finished above the Bulls.

Yes they'll bring something different to the league, but there's no way all 4 will be usurping the better Welsh and Scottish teams or even the likes of Connacht.

all four wont, but they would be hoping to get at least 2 into the semis each season id imagine.

whats following is my opinion:
the Stormers currently would be on a par with ulster and munster
the sharks and bulls a level below .. say the level of the best Scottish and welsh teams.
the lions are comfortably better than both italian teams, and the worst welsh ones... probably about par with connacht.

we've all seen how pro12 teams struggled when they travelled down to face the cheetahs and kings.. its certainly not going to be any easier facing the lions or bulls.

Eod100

Cookiemunster wrote: »

I'm not sure where the idea that all 4 SA teams are going to be challenging is coming from. If you look at their record historically, Stormers and Bulls have been in the bottom half of the standings in each of the last 3 seasons of Super Rugby. The final season before the Cheetahs and Kings were dumped, they both finished above the Bulls.

Yes they'll bring something different to the league, but there's no way all 4 will be usurping the better Welsh and Scottish teams or even the likes of Connacht.

Think there was talk that some SA sides might qualify for next season without playing against pro12 sides with the Rainbow Cup as planned originally gone. Very much up in the air though