General Rugby Discussion 3

You seem to get quite tetchy with anyone that disagrees with you. Are you like this in real life or just on the internet? Are you ok?

If I had a time machine, I'd tell him to become a 9. I think he could've been an incredible sh, in the classic French mold, like Parra or Yacvillhi (sp)

Caelan Doris would be very upset to be described as not being "from outside Dublin"

He started his rugby playing for Ballina RFC and, from what I understand, part of the reason he went boarding to Blackrock was to give his rugby development the best opportunity it could.

The bigger issue is the IRFU continuing to abdicate much responsibility for player development to the traditional private rugby schools, and having a poor development pathway for any teenage players outside of the schools.

I think Aus/NZ is 5. JGP, Lowe and Aki were all NZ. Hansen and Bealham (I think) were Australia.

More grim news for English Rugby. Jersey Reds have finished.

I copied a link to twitter but it wouldn't copy. Which is odd.

Sad news, a few Irish in the set up too - Sullivan

I think the English proffessional league is unsustatable, think the only answer is a full on European league , like propsed in soccer, but not needed due to tradition and popularity, but is needed in European rugby.

The only answer for English teams is a full European league.

French rugby and Irish rugby are in rude health. They do not need it.

The WRU has been waging active war on the Regions for at least the last decade. It's an impossible situation for them. Not knowing their budgets before the season, being on the hook for COVID loan repayments, underage player pathways not to standard. Very different from the mismanagement in the Premiership.

a European league without Irish teams, and we would soon struggle - France may not join initially, but think it is inevitable.

Ultimately it’s a very small island I’d say it would be difficult to keep a pro team going in such a small market.

Rugby needs more unified governance. Having the 6Ns and TRC as separate organizations, and each league independently goverened makes it so much more difficult to structure the game sustainably.

The French league is in good health, as is the Pro D2. The URC with the addition of the SA teams is developing into a successful model, maybe. Scotland and Wales have their own issues, mainly to do with governance and connecting the grassroots game to the pro game in a way that enables development. Easier said than done. England is a basket case that is more likely to be taken over by Gulf Sovereign Funds and money laundering that it is to rebuild the pro system to right the ship. The power of club owners relative to the union is a big problem, but for the size of the country the singular reliance on the school system is also a massive blockage, per EJ's point.

I wish the URC could incorporate teams from Spain and Portugal

SA just shifted their best teams from one international club competition to another, no major governance impact on the domestic setup or for the test team. While some English club owners would probably love to join the URC it would be a suicide mission for the RFU and for the international team. It's a hill the English union should be ready to die on. And Im not sure the other 6N unions would support such a breakaway, which is what it would be..

Portugal and Spain are good but honestly they are many, many years away form competing in the 6N. The closest Tier 2 team, and the one with the strongest argument for inclusion in tier 1 is Fiji. Between 7s and bringing in qualified former internationals they belong at the top table. I think they'd beat Italy 2 out of 3 too.

Japan should be told to f*ck off.

Was it two games they couldn't fulfil last time due to monsoon issues?

No thanks.