Rugby 2023-24 World Cup Year!

Oh yes! 😂

Racing 92 deny Farrel deal

My great news for Wales, Feyi Waboso reported as opting for England and Zammit reported as off to Japan

Lawes may be off too I don’t blame him if he does tbh. End his pro time in the sun

and just as news about Welsh rugby couldn’t guess worse rumours are circulating that Zammit is off to Japan with immediate effect and so will miss six nations.

Sorry, and I realise he was the object of your tanned/nice haired back fetish, he hasn’t developed at all last two years. And that’s as a Gloucester fan who wanted him to be the next Sinbad. I am much happier with Williams arrival than worried about LRZ leaving.
Oh; and Godspeed JPR Williams.

Sorry, and I realise he was the object of your tanned/nice haired back fetish

Wrong tanned player, Zammit may not have quite got to where he might be capable of but he’s still bloody good. Much better than other options Wales have. He was likely to play 15 this season too which I think would have been good for him. If he isn’t in our 6Nations squad we start to look very, very shaky at 15 and 10 and 8 and 6 and our probs are not much good either….I am not sure the pro game in Wales will survive next year’s second round of wage cuts.

Yeah…RIP JPR. I was there (as they say) for that Bridgend v All Blacks game. (For some reason a whole load of us got to go down to the Brewery Field from school).
Also, my dogs barked at him thirty-something years later in Merthyr Mawr sand dunes 😂

Just heard that JPR Williams was still playing in 2003.

Definitely says something.

RIP JPR, great player and exciting to watch.

Ah man, that’s sad. Childhood hero 🙁 RIP

Six Nations squads today for Wales and England, maybe other not sure.

Will the very much Welsh Feyi Waboso pick up where Mako Vunipola has left of as a Welshman in the England squad?

Wales squad is to be sponsored by elastoplast. I hope Garland goes all out youth and makes Jenkins captain. Would be nice to see Cameron Winnett in the squad but think it’s too soon for the likes of Mackenzie Martin, Morgan Morse

Outside half the cupboard is bare, really worrying, Winnett needs a year or two before he becomes a regular starter at 15 so it looks like Zammit will shift back. I still dream of Grady playing 13 but it doesn’t seem to happen 😟 and all the hookers are broken.

I’ll be happy if Wales win 2 games, satisfied with one win but not surprised if Italy beat us.

I’m expecting a mainly southern Africa c team with a smattering of scots and hopefully a stolen 9 10 from England while their focus is on feyi waboso

The Racing Farrell deal. I don’t see how he fits into that back line. Current racing 10 is superb and Farrell is more trundle, with an accurate kicking game, but not mercurial. Although I’d love to watch him try to follow a backs plan devised by Freddy and Big Joe.

Umm…did anyone see this coming?

LRZ off to the USA!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/67995451

FFS!

That’s a massive surprise….. and a massive snub (and loss) to Wales..!!!

116 123 is the Samaritans number AA.

Dunno what the problem is.  He’s got his 25 caps, right?

World xv

Forwards

Ewan Ashman – Edinburgh Rugby (12)
Josh Bayliss – Bath Rugby (5)
Jamie Bhatti – Glasgow Warriors (34)
Andy Christie – Saracens (4)
Luke Crosbie – Edinburgh Rugby (7)
Scott Cummings – Glasgow Warriors (33)
Jack Dempsey – Glasgow Warriors (15)
Rory Darge – Glasgow Warriors (15)
Grant Gilchrist – Edinburgh Rugby (68)
Richie Gray – Glasgow Warriors (78)
Matt Fagerson – Glasgow Warriors (40)
Zander Fagerson – Glasgow Warriors (62)
Alec Hepburn – Exeter Chiefs (uncapped)
Will Hurd – Leicester Tigers (uncapped)
Johnny Matthews – Glasgow Warriors (1)
WP Nel – Edinburgh Rugby (61)
Jamie Ritchie – Edinburgh Rugby (46)
Pierre Schoeman – Edinburgh Rugby (26)
Sam Skinner – Edinburgh Rugby (30)
George Turner – Glasgow Warriors (40)
Glen Young – Edinburgh Rugby (3)

Backs

Adam Hastings – Gloucester Rugby (27)
Ben Healy – Edinburgh Rugby (4)
George Horne – Glasgow Warriors (26)
Darcy Graham – Edinburgh Rugby (39)
Rory Hutchinson – Northampton Saints (8)
Huw Jones – Glasgow Warriors (43)
Blair Kinghorn – Toulouse (50)
Stafford McDowall – Glasgow Warriors  (1)
Harry Paterson – Edinburgh Rugby (uncapped)
Ali Price – Edinburgh Rugby (66)
Cameron Redpath – Bath Rugby (9)
Arron Reed – Sale Sharks (uncapped)
Kyle Rowe – Glasgow Warriors (1)
Finn Russell – Bath Rugby (75)
Kyle Steyn – Glasgow Warriors (15)
Sione Tuipulotu – Glasgow Warriors (22)
Duhan van der Merwe – Edinburgh Rugby (34)
Ben White – Toulon (18)

FFS indeed. What a blow for Wales rugby. I had a feeling he was too big (or at least thought he was) for rugby in Wales. That documentary about him gave me the feeling that he saw himself as beyond hard work and graft. That along with a load of ego massaging from the press and an imploding WRU means that this seemed likely although I never expected the NFL. What’s a rubbish way to announce it as well, a kick in the teeth for Gatland and Wales fans who’ve supported him by getting named in the team and then announcing this.

So has Waboso been named in England squad…Welsh pro rugby is broken potentially beyond fixing. I note another exile in Exeter has been named in England u20 squad. It seem Waboso wanted to stay in Exeter to finish medical degree and he can’t stay if he chooses Wales

LRZ has zero chance of making it, the ipp is nothing more than a marketing exercise. For context, I did a postgrad at the Uni of Georgia. The Bulldogs play in front of 95k fans and consist of guys who have been pro in all but name since they were 12 and even then only 20% of college drafts have careers in the pro game. Being a bit quick/elusive runner will get him far in our game, but he is just taking a ticket and joining a Q over there.

AA; what if the WRU were to pay for his continued studies? They can’t be that skint.

AA; what if the WRU were to pay for his continued studies? They can’t be that skint.

Don’t hunks it’s a money issue as such, more that Cardiff Uni didn’t want him so he only got into Exeter

that he saw himself as beyond hard work and graft

If that is the case he’s less than zero chance of making it in the NFL. As @duckman says, he’s up against guys who’ve been schooled in the game since peewee football; and the majority of them never make it.

I did read that they are expanding the IPP for 2024 so all practice squads will include an IPP player.

I’m no fan (ABWEE), but Welsh rugby has been shamefully mismanaged. It’s an utter disgrace given all the history that’s there. I really think they’re on borrowed time; and one of these years they’ll stop being able to pull it out of the bag internationally. Probably not this year though: the six nations is likely to be pretty scrappy I think, though I fancy France to win it.

they’ll stop being able to pull it out of the bag internationally

Have you seen the right head props in the Wales squad, two are total shit and the third I have never heard of. Outside half is Costello (barely AVE club player) Lloyd who hardly has played ten and Cai Evans who is a shit slow 15

Lmao! Louis, my dude, what are you doing?

I hope it does work out for him but it does seem a bit nuts to sack off rugby (which he is excellent at, and a fan favourite) to maybe break into an NFL practice squad. Mind you he will probably get to still earn loads and live somewhere glamorous for a few years.

Can’t see him making it. It’s a big ask. He’ll be competing against guys with years of football behind them, many of them from tough backgrounds  with football being the only way out.  He has speed but dunno if he has NFL breakaway type speed. WR would be the position but there’s a lot to learn. He’s not physical enough to be a DB (plus he can’t tackle) and you’ve got to learn to read the game.  Kick and punt return possibly but you still need another position in the team.  Still, he’ll get paid more than he gets in rugby just being on a practice squad.   The IPP program lets NFL teams have an extra player on the practice squad so that’s helpful for him.  Good luck to him. He might enjoy it, at least.

The situation in Welsh rugby is starting feel like it did when everyone **** off to league.

Waboso in England squad as the decline in Welsh rugby continues. Don’t worry we have added Tom Rogers rather than Zaamit or Waboso 😱😱😱😥😥😥😮😮😮

23k a game v 11ish? Christ for that over an international career I would buy some salmon chinos, a second hand Barbour and the complete works of Winston Churchill on Spotify. 

Leinster fans losing their minds over Peter O Mahony being made Irish captain and not their anointed James Ryan.

Not really.
Pom is the right choice as captain and will do a great job.

But both of them are under a lot more pressure for their places this season.
Not the best 6 in Munster -Ahern – or the best 5 on Leinster on current form.

But pom is the better captain and raises his game when needed.

POM is one player i would love to have for Scotland.   A real warrier and never a backward step.  Any team with him in it plays better.

One of the very few players i would love to poach.  Hates everyone from Glasgow tho🤣

Is it POM and Ryan Wilson that really don’t get on? Two is the biggest wind up merchants in the game, so hardly surprising if true!

Yes. 

23k a game v 11ish? Christ for that over an international career I would buy some salmon chinos, a second hand Barbour and the complete works of Winston Churchill on Spotify.

You also need to factor in that playing for a Welsh region will not be as well paid as an English team.

Scotlands big team won last night, place was jumping although it was colder than a witches tit. Even though he is a back,Jones was absolutely sublime; when did we get into a situation where Chris Harris couldn’t get into a Scotland squad? Even TJ’s posh boys XV managed to scrape a win, albeit against the pointless Scarlets (despite Edinburgh being the worst professional team in Scotland. FACT)

The Harris thing is madness. Surely you have him for backs cover. If a winger is injured, Jones to wing Harris into 13. If finn goes off, kinghorn to 10 D’Arcy to 15? You’d still need high balls competable cover.