Did anyone catch the Hurricanes v Sharks game yesterday? The Sharks (and to a lesser extent the Bulls) are starting to look good. If the SA quota system has ended then the national team should start to improve. Who is touring there this summer?
England isnt it?
Ospreys looked excellent last night. New coaching set up delivering already?
Wasps pissed away a 17 point lead last night and lost to Sale who looked like they were going to get pasted after the first 25 minutes.
I can say from the vantage of nearly 20y of following the Sharks that looking like we’re going to get pasted after the first 25 min is normal service. Even at EP it was normal to be down at half time.
Where in London is Coventry, by the way?
Sarries hammer Saints again; 48 unanswered points in the second half; ouch.
Worcester beat Falcons too which is a surprise given how good Falcons have been this season which just keeps them outside of the top four whilst Wasps have slipped down a bit and could well find themselves outside of the top four if they don’t sort their shit out.
Scarlets / Glasgow a somewhat disappointing game - I don't mind so much if Glasgow are beaten by a team playing well but this wasn't that. Scarlets were Ok but nothing special. Glasgow were poor. really gone off the boil the last few weeks.
Scarlets were Ok but nothing special. Glasgow were poor.
You're like a stuck record!!
I was hopeing for a good game - did you watch it? It really was poor. Should have been a craker with two top of the table teams playing out of their skins. Instead both looked like they had their minds on other things. superb performance from Patchel at 10 tho you will be please to know if you didn't see the game.
Scotland were Ok but nothing special. England were poor.
If it works, it works!
Anyone see who got promoted to the english premiership today? ; )
Great day out at twickenham watching Tigers beat Bath. 60,000 people for an away match, that’s oretty damn good! Nano bits absolutely loved it - first game and had a ball. Microbits not so much as Mrsbits convinced her to be a Bath fan yesterday!
Good fun, good banter, good game. How the hell are Tigers in 3rd after the bilge they played earlier in the season?!! PS - George ford can’t kick....
Did either of you watch the Scarlets / glasgow game? It simply wasn't that good a game. Its an entertainment buisness and it wasn't that entertaining.
Its an entertainment buisness and it wasn’t that entertaining.
I enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed Russel missing a kick from right in front of the posts!!
I think that's about the level of the game. The best parts are your opponents cock-ups.
AA - probably the best performance I have seen from Patchell as the highlight. Playing very flat. Came in for some legal targeting from Glasgow but was much more resilient than I have seen him before in that he kept his composure.
Am I really reading that right? Scotland won all their games?
Could we have a stats report please O’Flashearty? Those results are meaningless without the stats behind them.
🙂
Scotland have beaten England at under 16, under 18, under 20s, 7s and full international this season - it's all becoming a bit too easy to be honest!
Hartley is a doubt for the tour to SA this summer due to more concussion issues. Northampton won’t put a timeframe on his return. In recent time he’s missed 14 weeks due to concussion. I wonder if he’ll think about calling it a day?
Worcester report 8 million loss for 2017 after 20 million in "loans" written off ( dunno how long over) This simply is not sustainable and that loss is more then the total budget of most if not all pro 14 teams
Is it not time English clubs were made to live within their means? Its going to end up that you can only play in the premiership and be competitive if you have a sugar daddy to pump cash in ( although Exeter seem to be the exception)
I wouldn't mind but it forces up players salaries and thus makes it hard for pro 14 clubs to hang on to their players. Deficit funding in the english and french games damages rugby in the rest of the world
thoughts?
I wouldn’t mind but it forces up players salaries and thus makes it hard for pro 14 clubs to hang on to their players.
But as we have seen recently, the Pro14 clubs are actually doing quite well without those players. 🙂
I'm not sure how you'd force any club to live within their means. As you know, there have always been ways of rewarding players without it going through official channels.
As I've banged on about many times, I'd say the issue is to bring more money into the Pro14 spheres to allow more teams and therefore more players. I don't think four clubs in Wales or two in Scotland is acceptable. And the next tier down is almost dead in Wales. I went to watch Swansea v Neath on Saturday (ok, very bottom of the table) and there were 100, maybe 200 spectators. This is the feeder competition for Ospreys, Scarlets et al.
How to get more money into the pro 14 tho? Its a much smaller tv audience than the ap or top 14 - thats the major issue. We do have new TV and sponsership deals for the next few years which will help but its never going to have the audience of the french and english
IN scotland there is a proposal to concentrate talent in the next tier down - super 6 - six semi pro clubs
It would be very easy to stop deficit funding - simply make it a rule that all clubs remain solvent and have income = expenditure. You could exempt capital projects like new grounds / stands but not allow them to spend more than their income on players.
If the RFU are not careful with this their league will end up like pro football - only about 4 teams with the resources to win it. Exter have rather disproved my point tho
And Leicester who are a PLC although they are showing recent losses due to the recent cap ex.
whats amazing is the sheer scale. A salary cap of (?) £5.5m and losses of £8m. That means they are not bringing in a penny surely? What on earth is it going on?
also, if we suggest that the AP should work within tighter controls, I suggest that the P14 clubs can’t have centrally contracted (read subsidised) players. I wonder what the losses would be if all the national squad players were payed full valued by their teams...
IN scotland there is a proposal to concentrate talent in the next tier down – super 6 – six semi pro clubs
I'd love to see a meaningful second-tier competition. (As long as Swansea was involved, of course, which is about as likely as me winning the lottery.) And surely it's the way to go to feed talent through to the regions.
Luke Price (young Ospreys no10) was playing for Neath on Saturday. I'm not sure he'll ever value that experience if he ever needs to face Munster at Thomond, or whatever.
tinybits - I don't think you understand how the pro 14 teams work - at least the scots and irish ones. wholly owned buy the unions. they are not commercial entities. They have a budget given them by their unions. all income goes to the unions. Players are not subsidised. ~they are contracted to the unions. Its a completely different model. No deficit funding tho. Edinburgh and Glasgow have total funding of around 7 million a year. thats all they can spend.
Id have thought at a guess some of the more 'traditional' AP teams as Glos, Saints and Tigers are doing ok with strong balance sheets. They all don't run thumping unstainable losses. Think Glaws lost about £1m last year after years of profit.
God knows what Worcester spend their money on! They don’t have many big names on the books. To be honest I’m not sure you can compare the models with the Scottish teams being owned by their respective union. The AP covers a single county and has 12 teams, some of whom are play things for rich people.
Wasps move to Coventry and their take over of the Ricoh should make them profitable if the business plan is correct.
Quins have finally said goodbye to Kingston. I’m surprised he lasted as long as he did.
God knows what Worcester spend their money on!
Just signed that wee midget scottish 10
Just signed that wee midget scottish 10
Given that Edinburgh wanted shot him, he much be costing about 10p to sign.
Duncan Weir - known as "Meatball"
Ulster 3 Ospreys 0 at half time... Ulster have had all the ball and been rubbish with it. Fonatia scored a screamer for ospreys but it was called back for a neck roll.
Enjoying the Falcons Sale game; Falcons have been pretty damn good 25 nil up after 30 mins and have missed three conversions. Richards has been doing some good stuff. Gary Graham is having a cracking game; big tackles, lots of metres made, good link play and a try.
Sarries continue to flog Mako; under the agreement about player welfare, he should be due a rest weekend having played four consecutive weeks. Instead he’s picked against Bath.
Good couple of games for Munster in SA so far. With their 85 travelling fans.
Murray’s kick to take them 19-17 ahead (final score). He’s got skillz.
https://twitter.com/pro14official/status/984874727733948417?s=21
Osprey finally manage to gift wrap a run in for Ulster. Maybe Ulster should have let Ospreys have more ball as it was their only chance of getting a try. Both teams almost comically bad!!
Stockdale again. 🙂
Just seen the score AA; sounds like a cracking game...😴
Grahamis going to get cited for punching Ben Curry twice in the head. Certainly got a bit feisty at times.
That must have been some half time talk by Diamond! How improved are Newcastle though? If you look at Worcester, there was always much of a muchess between them and Newcastle. Newcastle actually look like a team now. In other news, Ulster have sacked Jackson and Stockdale.
Ulster have sacked Jackson and Stockdale.
Bit harsh on Stockdale!!!
I presume you mean Olding? If so, good.
Duckman - Richards and Walder have been doing some good stuff up there and are playing a good brand of rugby. Diamond said in the first half at 25 points down that maybe it was time for him to put his boots on. He’s been doing good stuff on a limited budget (compared to Bath, Wasps, Tigers, Sarries etc). It’s a shame they’re loosing Haley to Munster, but the lure of international rugby has swung it.
Not sure if people are aware but - PSA - Leicester V Northants is on Channel 5 today for the cheapskates amongst us.
Just seen the score AA; sounds like a cracking game…😴
It should have been 3-0 without the gifted interception in the last 10 seconds and would genuinely have been the best 3-0 game I’ve ever seen. Both teams’ defences were brutal and effective. Neither side managed to put together much of an attack but that was because the defence was so tight. I love flowing, running rugby but this was enthralling.
Edinburgh rather cruel to a bunch of welsh kids 😉 52 : 14
That Leicester Saints game was good - Genge obviously wants his place back!
Just seen the CWG womens 7's finals, not sure if this belongs on here but anyone that doesn't think women's sport is worth watching.....
OK, at times it looked like they couldn't catch a cold but if sport is about endeavour and excitement it's the best I've seen in in a long time.