Wheres his family?

I think I read that he has an elderly mum back in NZ which makes sense about wanting to head back.

Raka is apparently due to become a french citizen next month so will be available for selection in the 6N. Hopefully he won’t bring his try scoring record with him…

I think that Schmidt has a teenage son with epilepsy…..I believe they’re all currently based in Dublin. Shame that he’s retiring as he’s quite clearly the best coach in the world currently.

Andy Farrell as Ireland coach eh?

Brilliant assistants don’t always make brilliant leaders – Andy Robinson anyone?

No doubt he’s a great defensive coach – “Stand in a f***in line lads and then run f***in fast towards the b*****ds with the f***in ball!”

That’s basically Rugby League innit?

I wonder how much he knows about rugby union? Judging him on the fact that he insisted Sam Burgess play for England in the 2015 RWC – I’d say not a lot.

He’d surely be better off teaching his son how to tackle properly? And also how not to be a little pr*ck running round pretending to be hard and feigning injury if he thinks he’s about to be caught doing something naughty,

The RFU seem to have royally ballsed up their finances with the English plsyer match fee to possibly be cut but more worryingly are the comments in the press about the PGA contributing to it. I really hope they don’t scrap that in the future because it gives an element of control over the international players with better access and some enforced rest periods. The likes of Mako and Maro are flogged to death already. If that payment is scrapped in the future the clubs will hold all of the cards and will look to get the most from their ‘assets’.

How has this happened?  Over the last 10 years Wales and Scotland have got their finances in order’ paid of debt and now IIRC run with no losses?  But the RFU with greater income is in a huge financial black hole?

Why?  Where does all the money go?

Very good 😂

RFU has always been poor at the board level. The clubs hold all the power in England – same as France. It’s no small surprise that centralised contracts for test players in Wales & Ireland are reflected in Test success.

The refurbishment of the east stand was reportedly £40m over budget which as a QS myself I find hilarious / ridiculous etc.

Ian Ritchie was paid £238k for his last two months work. It sounds like those high up in the RFU have literally pissed loads of money away, made people redundant, spent too much on a refurb project and are now whining about paying the clubs for better access to the international players. Priorities are all wrong.

RFU has always been poor at the board level.

I don’t think that is fair, Ian Ritchie did a lot of good.  Relations with the clubs are much better than they were, albeit £220 million, which is how much the clubs are paid under the 8 year player access agreement, buys you a bit of co-operation.  He managed to broker a deal with the TV companies to get the European Cup sorted and England ran the most commercially successful World Cup ever.  They are putting records amounts into the grass roots game, nearly £100 million in 2017.  This is down to one screwed up building project, which is again unusual for the RFU who have managed to develop Twickenham very efficiently in the past.

I wonder if Sam Burgess has a book coming out soon…

……. But control of our players is poor compared to other tier 1 nations. Clubs rule the roost.

……. But control of our players is poor compared to other tier 1 nations. Clubs rule the roost.

But that ship sailed over 20 years ago, the clubs don’t rule the roost, they reasonably have far more say that in other home nations* where they essentially part of the relevant union’s structure.  That has good points and bad points.

*Not sure how everything is structured in Wales now.

I wonder if Sam Burgess has a book coming out soon…

No but he’s just been tweeting about how the selfishness and egos of other England players led to their RWC 2015 demise.

I’ve nothing against Burgess – RL legend and good all round bloke – and it’s a testament to his ability and competitive nature that he didn’t look too out of place playing centre for England (although he was playing alongside Brad Barritt so the comparison would’ve helped). The coaches were to blame for the whole fiasco.

I wonder if Sam Burgess has a book coming out soon…

Hmmm… other players had agendas and egos and he really contributed to the team whereas others didn’t… ??? I’m so glad he have Union figured out in a whole two caps before the RWC 🙄

My personal favourite was his whole “who is Scott Williams” press conference… found out soon enough 😀

https://twitter.com/GLove39/status/1067119079495032835

Thats good.  He is a very funny chap and has done a few good ones – used to be very active on the rugby forum I also inhabit.

They are putting records amounts into the grass roots game

I don’t know if this is reflective but my kids club – a Saracens feeder club – gets lots of subsidies for kit, Sarries and International games which goes far beyond the international ticket lottery I remember from my playing days.

https://www.rugbypass.com/news/the-inherent-risk-of-andy-farrell

Interesting look at the Andy Farrell appointment.

Ospreys better than last week.

Couldn’t have been worse than last week! Baldwin impressed me yesterday. Great play in the loose.

I assume people,had already seen the Scottish try line mishap in the Dubai 7s, so how about this piece of brilliant last ditch effort?

RE:LIVE: WOW! Brilliant effort from @WelshRugbyUnion's Cai Devine to get back and make a huge defensive play at the #Dubai7s#DHLRugby pic.twitter.com/5XzuR4wbMD

— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) December 1, 2018

Tigers have had their arses handed to them on a plate by Bristol today. Ouch. Even the bottom the table is getting chaotic and congested.

Wuss have a good opportunity to make top half of the table a reality after half time oranges.

Well this is not going well

Stoner,! Now look what you have done.

Glasgow prop clearly doesnt have Faz’s invisibility cloak.

Wasn’t lack of arms, rather than clear contact to the head the issue for Farrell?

I thought Faz’s issue was refs not looking or applying the laws.

Scarlets were dog shit and lose

Despite having the ref do his best for them.

Despite having the ref do his best for them.

You reckon, how so? I thought he got the two cards right. The disallowed try was technically correct too, although I would gave liked to see it stand, was great play.

Barbar’s match was fun. Steph du toit’s nose won’t have enjoyed it though. Ouch.

Comes back on after that.. nutter!

As Jiffy so succinctly put it, “His nose has gone full Tindall”

😂

Yeah really enjoyed baabaas. Creevy getting agro because someone was picking on a youngster was nice.

Pumas were lucky it was not a full international could easily have spent most of the match with 14.

Creevy getting agro because someone was picking on a youngster was nice.

I did enjoy that ” he’s a boy, he’s a boy, come after me”.

Was funny – seeing as all the player did was give the lad a nudge as he ran past!

The Puma’s 14 took a right battering in the first half too!

The Baa Baa’s game was pretty enjoyable despite some piss poor handling.

The Argentine set piece was destroyed though. They need to get that sorted before the WC.

Steph du Toit is officially a double hard bastard going back into the pitch with his nose like that and a black eye. That might have smarted a tad if it got knocked…

If you are really bored there’s ladies rugby on BBC. Already some shoulders to the face resulting in nothing but blood replacements and tackling by the hair that make Ashton look like a saint (no pun intended) 😬

Neath RFC look on the verge of being wound up, that is tragic, Cuddy is involved and it is an open secret what kind of bloke he is.

Hope the WRFU will step in but don’t think it is a priority, can you imagine rugby in Wales with out the Gnoll?

Will be tragic if Neath go.

1/2p misses out with concussion this week following the fair charge down V Aus last month. James Davies straight back in which seems a hell of an ask.

No but he’s just been tweeting about how the selfishness and egos of other England players led to their RWC 2015 demise.

…whilst stating he was the one talented one in the line up, oh the ironing…