A sleeping giant of English sport revives under a new coach (and a bald one at that) after year’s of big expenditure and limited return. It’s written in the stars.
Rugby Union 21/22/23 Discussion | RWC time!
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Well I hope you all enjoyed watching England get dicked by a 14-man barbarian team
@JPRouve what the feck is going on 
You better not jinx it.
I’m rooting for Montpellier….Mercer’s our last hope of an Englishman winning anything in EuropeI will still blame you.
I’m rooting for Montpellier….Mercer’s our last hope of an Englishman winning anything in Europe
You mean future french international Mercer?
Wouldn’t be a bad backup to Greg tbf He’s on absolute fire tonight
It's fair to say that Montpellier are champions.
Congratulations palIt's fair to say that Montpellier are champions.
Dominant display, never in doubt from about the 10th minuteCongratulations pal
A first title is pretty sweet and yeah it seemed to be done after 20 minutes but you never know.
What do you guys think about South Africa potentially joining the Six Nations?
On the surface it would be close to the best annual tournament in Sport.
On the surface it would be close to the best annual tournament in Sport.
From a simpletons perspective (mine) I’m game. More top quality matches per year = good thing.
Probably would be good for Ireland to regularly face SH opposition.
We've already seen our teams getting beaten up by proper SH clubs when they took URC seriously.
(Except Connacht of course, who beat both teams )
It's a different style of play that's no harm to have to face.
We've already seen our teams getting beaten up by proper SH clubs when they took URC seriously.
(Except Connacht of course, who beat both teams
)It's a different style of play that's no harm to have to face.
Probably would be good for Ireland to regularly face SH opposition.
We've already seen our teams getting beaten up by proper SH clubs when they took URC seriously.
(Except Connacht of course, who beat both teams
It's a different style of play that's no harm to have to face.
By definition South Africa would be an NH nation with their clubs/franchises being parts of continental club competitions and Six Nations, I wonder if it would reduce the amount of SA players playing for current NH nations which could be a problem for some teams that have smaller pools of players.
It's interesting to hear Saint André, since the night of the final he speaks about how people treated him since his stint as France manager, how people treated him as a clown and how it was difficult. I think that he is right to share his feelings, everyone knows that at the time the french system was bad for the national team, it was geared for clubs. Interestingly he said that it was one of the reason why he didn't want to coach again which in hindsight is a shame, hopefully France keep the current system, french clubs perform at a high level and players are a lot more available for the national team.
I hope not. We need them to stay in the Rugby Championship. Sure, they're not the drawcard that New Zealand are but we need to be exposed to their style of play, be challenged by it and realise there's more than one way to be successful.
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Ian Foster and John Plumtree both have covid and won't be at Eden Park for this weekend's test. Winger Will Jordan will miss the first two tests due to covid. The two matches between the Maori All Blacks and Ireland will be worth keeping an eye on even though they're at a bad time for folks watching in the Northern Hemisphere.
We will see but it seems that it's close to done and dusted. For what its worth South Africa are currently playing in the U20 summer serie of the Six Nations and the clubs will enter the Champions Cup next year.
South Africa play a style more akin with NH rugby anyway
And Joe Schmidt drafted as a coach for added intrigue
Rugby players are mad, they are currently on a 5 days bender and moving the party to Barcelona.
I think I’ll settle for “pretending they didn’t happen”. I can see this tour turning into a total whitewash.
You’re actually narrowing for the first test. I think even money was the AB’s by 16, it narrowed to 13, and is now 12. I put money on at 13, which I’m slightly less comfortable with than 16
Presumably that’s because of covid cases in the AB management/squad? Although that’s also caused Schmidt to get involved. Which I think is bad news for Farrell/Ireland.
I wonder if it’s our personal bias but I quite fancy Ireland to perform well on this tour (whether that’s actually winning or not). Being English I don’t have any stock in it though.
I wouldn’t be nervous in your position.
Henderson, Kelleher and Herring all being out is a big blow. Now it looks like Healy and Hume are gone as well, plus Hansen out with Covid.
I said before they left it should've been a bigger squad picked. It's been a long season and it's too long a trip for lads to get out there and be up to speed in a couple of days.
As is, you'd imagine Josh Wycherley and Stuart McCloskey will be on the plane by end of day today.
I said before they left it should've been a bigger squad picked. It's been a long season and it's too long a trip for lads to get out there and be up to speed in a couple of days.
As is, you'd imagine Josh Wycherley and Stuart McCloskey will be on the plane by end of day today.
If I was Irish, I'd like to think they could at least win one of the first two tests and take the series to a decider in Wellington. That's a bit of a jump considering the Irish have never won a test in New Zealand but this series represents their best shot of achieving some history in this regard. Ian Foster getting covid is unfortunate for him but not many Kiwis will shed many tears about what this means for the All Blacks.
Also Harry had an injury before the series even started, I don't understand the frawley pick only 1 of the Leinster lads is going to get serious game time, why not bring Healy or Crowley
I think Irish confidence has been rattled by our provinces recent poor performances. Especially Leinster, who are also heavily dependent on Sexton and Furlong being involved and on top of their game to be at their best.
I didn’t watch Leinsters loss in the URC but foresaw them struggle against LA Rochelle. I didn’t expect LAR to win, though to a certain extent Leinster shot themselves in the foot tactically, but LAR were custom made to cause problems with the size of their pack and aggression at the breakdown. I think the style of the ABs will match up better for Ireland, they want to play expansive quick-ball rugby without brutal dogfights at every single ruck. Essentially I see them as two teams trying to do the same kind of thing…..just the ABs will do it better
Predictiond time: New Zealand by 4, Australia by 15, South Africa by 20 and Argentina to get a perfect start under Michael Cheika by beating Scotland by 8.
NZ by 10
Aus by 3
SA by 9
Haven’t thought about the other one
Edit - just read Aus by 15! That’s a bit savage
I think Ireland will be doing well to keep it within 4.
Yeah I think it'll be closer to 10 or more also.
I really hate Ireland's Call.
Rooting for Ireland today, having been sick of watching Leinster all year. Feels a bit odd
Ah stop, it's awful
It's so, so shite.
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