I am English, most of his playing was done before my time, however Sir Gareth is a complete legend and the programme was really fitting although too short. I can imagine the party afterwards would have been fantastic.

any other refs received their global law trial notification email?

most of it not particularly interesting but s7 on law16 looks a bit more interesting.

http://www.englandrugby.com/mm/Document/General/General/01/32/54/95/RFUMatchOfficialDevelopmentSendOut1-2017-18-2017.07.26_English.pdf?spMailingID=2115945&spUserID=MzQ0NDEyMjQ5NTQS1&spJobID=831801507&spReportId=ODMxODAxNTA3S0

obviously doesn’t change nature of ruck much but creating the offside line earlier….im trying to visualise the impact both in the age grade game that I look after but also elite games.

I am English, most of his playing was done before my time, however Sir Gareth is a complete legend and the programme was really fitting although too short.

English too, my mum’s Welsh, so I have a slight connection, but yep, utter legend. Superstars clip reminded how you had to be good at something to be a celeb back then.

Yeah, seen that Stoner.
Hard to picture how S7/16 will play out on the pitch.
No.6 /15.4 – Most kids didn’t really get the old law, so that won’t make a lot of difference. Number of times I’ve said on the pitch “You could’ve had that ball” to the tackler..!

yes they go charging in looking for a ruck first and ball second. Maybe the change will encourage them to turn that around….

So the new pro 14 format – anyone understand it? two conference of 7 teams each each conference being teams from all parts of last years league. Play the teams in your conference home and away, the teams outside your conference once and all the local derbies will be played still meaning same number of games as last year. IE Edinburgh will play 7 teams twice, Glasgow 3 times ( I think – maybe 4) and the remaining teams once each

Seems a bit peculiar.

While looking for the thread I saw my predictions for this year from a post a year ago

“Well for Scottish rugby its looking like another year of hopeless optimism followed by doom and gloom.

Glasgow – in the main event in Europe but with a pool of death so euro glory is likely to be short lived. Should be there or thereabout for the league but not as strong as last year. They seem to have recruited well with a couple of wildcard signings.

Edinburgh in the minnows euro cup- realistic aims of making top six in the league next season. Maybe even top 4. the finally have a couple of fly halves having not had one most of last season including Duncan “Meatball” Weir

National side?
Last season was very much a mixed bag. Next year the team will be older and wiser. We have yet to see the best of this team but its time to start achieving something. Lookout for Peter Horne

I don’t expect or want many scots to go on the lions tour. I guess it will be based mainly around the english team who I expect to win the 6N Unless of course Gatland is coach again
*pulls pin and retreats*

Fairly accurate bar Edinburgh were shite again.

Solomona and Manu Tuilagi sent home from England training camp……

“Team culture issues” apparently.

Boozing on a Sunday night, with work the next day…not good

Tuilagi was supposed to be the weapon to beat NZ! what a dolt to blot his copybook again so quickly

so pro 14 anyone?

so pro 14 anyone?

Dont understand it and struggling to care.

AA – I don’t get this. YOu clearly are a big rugby fan but don’t like the pro 12 / 14? Seems common amongst welsh fans – why?

Coz its shit!
The away teams rarely try and who has to finish where to qualify for the Euro Cup depends on what country you are from.

No longer – its now the top 3 from each conference plus the next best team – which I personally think wrong as I want to see representation from all countries in the euro cup

Don’t agree about not trying by away teams either – to get to the top 4 in the last few seasons you could only lose a few games.

Its interesting that from what I have heard its the welsh fans who are most disinterested

Seems strange that Leinster Munster and Ulster can be competitive in Europe yet Scarlets win the Pro12 despite being humped in Europe.

Point taken – but once you are in ther top 4 all you need is to win two games? glasgow and Edinburgh have both suffered from squad burnout as a result of euro / minnows cup runs. If you go out of europe early then yo have more resources for the league?

If you go out of europe early then yo have more resources for the league?

Or if you dont try too hard to win the pro12?

I really don’t think its that at all. Glasgow tried as hard as they could be too many games for the players.

How many games can a player play? 25 a year? so 8 or 9 internationals leaving only 16 or so club games they can play.

The Irish teams seem to do (did?) a better job of attracting top players at the end of their careers to play a significant role throughout the season without the risk of them being called up and buggering off. Don’t they get taxed less compared to in Wales and Scotland too, effectively making their wages higher if all else were the same? Would kind of explain how the Irish teams are always around the top of the Pro12 and also competitive in Europe.

Standard of rugby/ teams/ grounds/ attendances/ etc is poor in the Pro12

Standard of rugby is not poor! well apart from Edinburgh and the Italians. I far prefer watching the Pro 12 to the AP although the ap has become more entertaining in the last couple of seasons.

the top teams have a full squad of players who can rotate, the welsh teams seem to spend all their money on stars so when they are out the replacements are poor

the welsh teams seem to spend all their money on stars so when they are out the replacements are poor

Who are these stars?

The Irish teams seem to do (did?) a better job of attracting top players at the end of their careers

Because they have much bigger budgets.

Thats a well debunked myth AA – the irish have a bit more but spend it more wisely. The Scots let players go further on into their carers ie Grig Laidlaw, Taylor, Gray senior etc and it looks like Hogg is going as well. this means more money for the rest of the squad. The welsh pay over the top amounts to keep the big names in Wales – Warburton, AWJ and the like so have less to spend on the rest of the squad. The problem is the figures we have are not transparent or comparable – for example the Welsh teams have a playing budget of around 3.5 million. Then there are the central contracted players on top. The Scots have a total budget of around 5.5 million – but unlike the welsh that includes all the ground costs, coaching and backroom staff etc etc. Irish around 6 million.
All the unions have the same revenue streams – the Welsh a bit more because of their extra international. the actual amounts spent on player salaries is pretty similar.

Thats a well debunked myth AA – the irish have a bit more

Very convincing…who debunked it?

The welsh pay over the top amounts to keep the big names in Wales – Warburton, AWJ and the like

So us ewer sauces?

http://rugbylad.com/comparing-budgets-available-to-pro12-premiership-top-14-teams/

Because they have much bigger budgets.

If the link is to be believed then AP stylee budgets which is more than I thought. AFAIK the tax on wages is significantly lower too so they take home more pennies too. If anything the Irish should be doing *even* better 🙂

I may be mistaken but the number of big name internationals from outside Scotland/ Wales/ Ireland seems to be declining in the Pro12 compared to a couple of years ago which also takes away a bit of the interest in seeing a damp scrap in front of a handful of spectators. Could be the extra money in Japan and France but I do miss seeing the likes of Howlett week in week out…

Figures I have seen show the disparity is less – a lot less but the Irish do have bigger budgets. Thing is all the unions have the same revenue streams so why would the welsh have so much less? and no one publishes transparent figures.

Tuilagi WTF. Jones gives him a huge vote of confidence and he goes and gets pissed up

On another note, what do we reckon to the sending off in the Super Rugby final linky

It was always going to be red but I have a lot of sympathy for Smith. Contrary to first view he didn’t just clatter in like a stereotypical flanker with no sense of personal well being. The side view at around 58 seconds shows that the defender jumped very high and very late and didn’t leave Smith anywhere to go. You could argue he should have anticipated a jump or his mistake was not jumping himself but that was never going to happen. You could also say he shouldn’t have put himself in that position but that is always easy to say with hindsight. It is hard to argue with a red but it wasn’t the same time if it were you you would be devastated

I thought it was a red DanW. But it took the edge off the game a bit, so definitely wish it hadn’t been!
To my mind red cards should be for deliberate acts of foul play (which that obviously wasn’t). But there’s a whole world of interpretation there, so refs have to go by the guidelines they’ve got.

On another note, re that final – how good was the Crusaders’ defense of the maul?! Rare to see so many mauls pushed back by the defence.

It pretty much exactly what the la was brought in for. No grumbles

May off to the Tiggers and Slater Gloucs as part of the deal. Interesting move – will May suit Tigers?

Manu is a tit – having been out if the squad for so long, you’d think he’d be on his best behaviour.

Red all day.
His timing was awful and possibly reckless. Even if the player hadn’t jumped Smith would have smashed him before he got the ball. He was arriving way to fast and with only the tackle as his intention. Red mist red card.

Lions did really well though.

Edit: mind you if the crusaders retreating player hadn’t also had contact it is arguable that he wouldn’t have tipped so far and landed how he did.

Yeah, I remember thinking he should have caught him instead of knocking him onto his head!

Don’t get me wrong, it was always going to be a red but I did feel sorry for Smith getting trapped in no mans land and jumped on. Compared to all the recent in air collisions he was far less reckless and to my eyes was arriving a touch late rather than early, especially when you look at the first side on view and the path of the ball before the giant leap. Can’t argue with it, just feel sorry for the guy

[video]https://youtu.be/vhizZ6nA2h8[/video]

Not sure we have 15 minutes worth of cracking tries in the Pro 12. That said you could also argue the NH tackle occasionally and referees call a forward pass every now and again 🙂 I reckon 50% of those tries have a forward pass in and the other 50% have more than one forward pass 😆

I like the try and 3:13 for sheer audacity and the one immediately after as a cracking example of keeping the ball alive a lot like the SOB Lions try

Superb stuff. Enjoyed McKenzie’s break (6mins) and the Stormers one (8:30). No room for Jordie Barrett’s miraculous dead ball line try though? 😉

I’d already forgotten the Jordie Barrett try- that was superb! Mckenzie has some serious speed too!

Well interesting day at the rugby world cup

Well done Wales two good tries but New Zealand look good

Spain two cheeky tries against a strong England

DanW – plenty on youtube

5 mins just of Glasgow taking ~Racing apart

It might have been a tongue in cheek comment 😉

Woosh – wtf was that 🙂