How is he received in bath (JvG)? Seems a weird fit, especially with Russell coming in as the great entertainer.The Lightweight argument doesn’t stack up if he picks Ford though.
Trust me, I’d love to see Alfie in a Bath shirt tooAs a work gift, I had hospitality for the Bath/Bristol game and he was doing a Q&A pre-game saying how happy he was to be back in training. A week later he does his knee after 5 minute on the pitch.
Weirdly, Borthwick does give me JvG vibes; less box kicks, but equally clueless ball in hand.
Rugby Union 21/22/23 Discussion | RWC time!
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Buzzing. Can’t wait to go into the World Cup as favourites and lose in the QF.
Not good. There’s been a huge amount of close losses, so things could look quite different in terms of the table, but the brand of rugby doesn’t really fit the club. Some of the basics, like like the line outs, have gone backwards.
I have no idea how he meshes with Finn Russell to be honest.
You should ask how that waste of space was regarded at Munster, basically rowntree had to bleed a load of talent this year to make up for the wasted talents of the last 5 years, it’s amazing that Coombes made it into the squad with that fraud in charge, on the other hand rowntree started off rough but it’s starting to click midway through the season with plenty of fresh faces coming through.
I’m starting to think half of Murray’s decline was the style of play he installed on the team.
FAO @unchanged_lineup and anyone else who has been watching the U20s. Ireland v England is on at 5pm today. Another grand slam on the line. According to t’internet it will be broadcast on Virgin Media Two but according to my sky box they’re showing a rerun of yesterday’s match at that time. What’s going on?!?
Yup, I'll be watching.
Edit: Oh right. No, they said many many times yesterday that it would've on that channel.
Virgin Media Two? Can’t see it on any Tv listings anywhere.
Yeah they had the ad on a loop during the game yesterday.
Yeah I knew he hadn’t succeeded with Munster. Watching them over the past few years they’ve looked terribly uninspiring, though tbf I always seem to be watching them in Europe and they always seem to be playing Toulouse
If Rowntree can produce a more aesthetically pleasing brand of rugby than you, you know you’re doing something wrong
Cool. Ta. Feel like I’m going mad not seeing that confirmed online anywhere.
U20s cantering to a grand slam now.
Unfortunately after saying I was going to watch it, I've only just got in now.
I've caught up on a bunch of the tries and the red card.
Like a wrestling move
Wow, this is a close finish!
And that's that. Another fabulous try.
Rosslyn Park 7’s tournament kicks off today (U14) in the U.K. Hundreds of schools from all over the country competing over 40-odd pitches in London - biggest rugby tournament in the world I believe.
In other words….the lads get their first tiny glimpse of what a rugby tour could look like. Hopefully without the booze
In other words….the lads get their first tiny glimpse of what a rugby tour could look like. Hopefully without the booze
Rosslyn Park 7’s tournament kicks off today (U14) in the U.K. Hundreds of schools from all over the country competing over 40-odd pitches in London - biggest rugby tournament in the world I believe.
In other words….the lads get their first tiny glimpse of what a rugby tour could look like. Hopefully without the booze
is Rugby available to working class in UK or is it elites?
It’s ‘available’…I’ll try to give my perspective. I’m in Yorkshire in a rugby league hotbed, so sport at school is predominantly football and rugby league. It is played at some local state schools but I don’t think the uptake is that great. There’s quite a decent club network though which is obviously available to all.
It’s probably a tough one to judge in my area because of the prevalence of league….there’s bucketloads of amateur sides and 2 Superleague teams, so it tends to hoover up the young athletic talent.
Well, shit.
Best move they could have made by a mile.
I love watching the Super Rugby and, while off to an inauspicious start this season, the Crusaders have been unplayable at times the last few years. Could be an incredible appointment by the All Blacks and one they couldn't really keep putting off.
Very elitist here in Ireland in Dublin and surrounds anyway.
Not sure if the Munster end of things is more working class.
Very much an element of posh
I think there’s a distinction in schoolboy rugby vs club rugby. Schoolboy rugby tends to be predominantly private schools, because the state schools play football & rugby league as main sports. Whereas club rugby is open to all and gets a mix of backgrounds.
What happens if Foster does well?
Robertson could be starting under a lot of pressure.
Makes me think of (on a far more minor scale) McCarthy and Kenny for the Rep of Ireland national team.
It's a bit odd.
That’s true but it’s “available” to all. My son’s been playing soccer for a local club for years, while my daughter’s been playing GAA. The subs I have to pay are actually higher than they would be if either of them joined our local rugby club.
As @T00lsh3d said it’s in schools where you have the big class divide. All the main rugby schools in Dublin are fee paying.
Same in Ireland. Although despite club rugby being open to all it’s not very diverse. In Dublin anyway. I think that might be different outside Dublin.
Maybe attainable is a better turn of phrase.
I grew up in West Dublin, never once saw a rugby ball in school. Nearest Rugby club was Coolmine RFC near Ashtown and then Castleknock College where the rich kids went.
They played Rugby.
We played soccer and GAA and in my case also Hurling.
Live in Meath now and I know of one Rugby Club in Navan and havent once seen a Rugby ball while down the park etc.
It amazes me that Ireland are so good at International level
Yeah it’s a bit mad. A minority sport in a country that already has a much smaller population than the countries it’s competing against. We really shouldn’t be this good.
I was at a RL game in Australia a few years ago. It was a super game
They tried to start a club in Tallaght for years. I just remember the cops asking us in school and the priests asking us in mass, to report anyone seen setting fire to the posts.
Even though most towns have clubs, until the last decade it mimicked the class structures from Leinster. The success has brought more kids to it here in Connaught. So now a kid from Easkey with a GAA background will play Rugby in Ballina with nobody batting an eyelid. In the 1980s it was akin to treason especially in this neck of the woods. The bang of empire off it as well as the bang of posh has only recently subsided.
Limerick was the famous outlier.
But yes, to actually answer your post @Pogue Mahone it's an insane achievement considering bar a few wins in the early 80s us and the Scots were the poor relations in the 5 nations.
Rosslyn Park 7’s tournament kicks off today (U14) in the U.K. Hundreds of schools from all over the country competing over 40-odd pitches in London - biggest rugby tournament in the world I believe.
In other words….the lads get their first tiny glimpse of what a rugby tour could look like. Hopefully without the booze
I love stuff like that.
The bang of empire still applies to soccer in some GAA circles. Although bang of posh, not so much.
Dublin GAA has got very posh altogether over the last decade or two. Likewise gaeilgeoir schools. In leafy suburbia anyway. I have a theory that there’s a quasi racist snobbery behind the surge in middle class people sending their kids to Irish speaking primary schools. It’s a good way to ensure they don’t bring back any black, brown or Polish friends.
Anyhoo. I digress. Rugby. A posh sport getting very slightly less posh over time.
Same. My lad played Sunday league football for 6 years and I coached his team. I still had to pay subs - £17 a month. He left this year to play club rugby….only costs me £10 per month, and I’m not running around like a daft bastard running the team for free
I do miss the coaching thoughI don’t see as much of a class thing here with rugby being played casually, as rugby league is very much a working class sport in the same way football is.
That’s probably only true in the north of England and particularly Yorkshire though.
It’s going well so far. Topped their group and won the first knockout, so through to the second day and last 16 I think.
Now just to have their little hearts broken by some school team containing a few future England internationals tomorrow
It wont matter if Foster does well or does badly. The pressure on the AB coach goes on from the very first training session. Its relentless.
Ok, take that relentless pressure as the baseline then.
Suppose the players love working with Foster and he wins the WC. It could be an extra awkward situation for Robertson.
It's a weird situation, is what I'm saying.
Of course if it goes the opposite way and NZ have their worst WC ever, surely the governing body of the ABs will be the ones under scrutiny.
To be fair, it is a weird situation for us here in NZ as well, the general consensus is the NZRFU have handled this whole thing incredibly badly. Robertson is going to take over at the end of a cycle so will be pretty much starting from scratch with a team selection and that can be a problem. Personally I doubt very much that Foster can win the world cup, he has shown a number of times in recent times just how far off the pace his ideas are. Hope I am wrong but I dont think the ABs have a chance of winning.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/65035837
Absolute shambles, even with a video referee they make a decision that a panel later overturns.
Absolute shambles, even with a video referee they make a decision that a panel later overturns.
It really is a mind boggling achievement. Perhaps it's the structure and governance of Irish rugby that does the trick? Instead of having a bunch of independent clubs competing for scant resources and with different playing philosophies and training styles, you went with the provincial system. I don't really see the provincial teams as independent businesses like clubs in England or France are. That gives your rugby federation a lot control over coaching, playing philosophy, development og players careers etc..
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