STW 2014/15 Rugby Thread

Mackie are just up the road from me,they have huge numbers at primary level,but struggle to put out u15 and 18 sides,endemic of the majority of clubs up here. Their pitches are nice but the whole operation is based on a couple of portacabins,which are bogging. None of the schools have teams,Mackie, Portlethen or Mearns, so by the time the pupils are 12 they are doing other things at the weekend.
The senior side is also always at the wrong end of the local league and relegation this year will go really badly for them.Aberdeen is on of the few areas where there is actually a thriving club scene with Grammer in div 2 and the Shire in 3. However they do this at the expense of clubs like Mackie and Ellon. In the old days big clubs had lots of players to fill their 2xv so tended only to poach the exceptional players from smaller clubs. Now they can’t put out a 2xv without stealing players from smaller clubs,with the effect that the smaller clubs struggle to put out a side and overall standards decline lower down.

I think Graham Henry is a God but plenty in Wales will disagree. With out his input I think Welsh rugby would be in a worse place that Scotland way way worse place.

I am very glad he hasn’t gone to england 😆 was he ever offered a job by the rfu?

Kearney is ponderous and doesnt tackle well, no idea why anyone would rate him.

– This is very true, bizarrely just like England Ireland have tons of full backs playing elsewhere or not in the team. Zebo, Keith Earls, Henshaw and Payne have all played lots of rugby at 15. I would prefer to see Payne there than centre where apart from the Scotland game he was very average.

Hogg
1/2p
Joseph
Henshaw
North
Sexton
Murray
Healy
Cronin
Cole
Laws
OConnell
Sean O Brian
Vunipola
Warburton

Pigface – Member

I think Graham Henry is a God but plenty in Wales will disagree.

I can sell you a signed copy of his autobiography. Only read once! 😀

I sort of agree with you – he did some of the groundwork. Scotland at the moment remind me of Wales pre-Henry. Some good players, some good coaching, always promising to be better than they really are. They need a good Henrying.

Thanks Duckman.

Very illuminating and also very depressing.

Did Henry do that much? He bpught some success by bringing the likes of Howarth, Sinkinson etc and did a good coaching job but I think it was Hansen who laid the foundations for success from 2004/05 onwards.

El Vino

Lawes in place of AWG? Big call!

It was Henry who got the whole region thing started, he told the WRU it had to change. It went a bit wrong at the end granted.

Whats happened to Eli Walker?

On the subject of locks… what locks do England have of the ugly, grunty variety? I guess that Attwood and Kruis are along those lines but a bit green compared to AWJ/ POC/ the established SH guys???

anagallis_arvensis – Member
Did Henry do that much? He bpught some success by bringing the likes of Howarth, Sinkinson etc and did a good coaching job but I think it was Hansen who laid the foundations for success from 2004/05 onwards.

I’d argue that Hansen did more damage than good. The team that almost beat the ABs and England in 2003 WC played completely differently from the way they’d been coached iirc.

Maybe, maybe not. He did insist on fitness and professionalism though.

In other news Adam is off to Quims. Decent cover during the sorld cup I suppose. Not much use otherwise.

Mallinder should have the englnd job with Baxter and greenwood on the coaching team.
Graham Henry can go ****, I’d sooner have Lancaster.

Graham Henry can go ****, I’d sooner have Lancaster

You’d rather have mid table mediocrity than win the big prizes?

The point is, like it or not, the Kiwis have played the best rugby for most of the last 20 years so it would make sense to employ a Kiwi coach. We have lost the last 4 6N to sides with smaller player pools and poorer resources who’ve had better coaching setups – run by NZ coaches.

Daily Flail reporting Talupe Faletau to Bath after world cup.

You’d rather have mid table mediocrity than win the big prizes?

You honestly think Henry could do any better????? Did he lead Wales to RWC victories? Did he win a Lions tour? What makes you think he could do any better with England?

We have lost the last 4 6N to sides with smaller player pools and poorer resources who’ve had better coaching setups – run by NZ coaches.

How’s that working out for Mr Cotter?

I’m far from convinced by the current coaching set up, particularly Mr Farrell but parachuting in Henry in the hope that he turns England into the ABs is naive. We have plenty of coaching talent here in England and we should use it.

You honestly think Henry could do any better????? Did he lead Wales to RWC victories?

No he led NZ to a World Cup at home where the pressure was huge.

Woodward won a world cup and look what he did to the Lions, nearly destroyed it with his unfettered idiocy.

“Four years as runners-up is not acceptable and we are not happy with how that came about,” Ritchie said.

“If you go back through history, bearing in mind a lot of things, we should be, as a country, winning more in terms of Grand Slams, Six Nations championships, other things.”

IMO, England could do with getting rid of a crap chief executive rather than focusing on the coach or players.

He seems to think he’s got a right to criticize those below him as if he’s not part of the problem.

Got a lot more respect for a man like Lancaster who stands with his team.

Sword and fall time for that other idiot, if it’s truly “not acceptable”.

No he led NZ to a World Cup at home where the pressure was huge.

England are not the all blacks!!!
Until the approach to coaching grass roots and the culture around youth rugby is changed, we never will be.
If we want to take something from NZ, it should be to copy how they do it. Not just put their old coach in charge of the national team, on the basis that he has managed to win a home world cup with the best players on the planet.

You should never have let Wayne Smith leave England. Especially as he now coaches part of the team you will ultimately have to beat to win the WC.

we want to take something from NZ, it should be to copy how they do it. Not just put their old coach in charge of the national team, on the basis that he has managed to win a home world cup with the best players on the planet.

You should check who was outside half in the final.

He seems to think he’s got a right to criticize those below him

Well he is the Chief Executive isn’t he?

If he won’t criticise SL then who will? All we get from SL is media speak about how England are “going in the right direction”.

From where I’m looking we’ve gone from 2nd to 2nd to 2nd to 2nd.

I wasn’t advocating parachuting Henry in now save things. When the RFU were looking for a coach if they’d gone after Henry he’d have brought other people too – like Wayne Smith. In fact, Nick Mallet would have brought Smith with him as well.

So a CEO speaks CEO-Speak – so what?

Resources, resources…..so what?

Other teams have better players – NZ, SA and Ireland
Others have better coaches – insert quite a few

You can only do the best with what you have and England are neither world beaters nor even NH beaters. They are one of a groups of good NH nations – England, Ireland, Wales, France, Italy, Georgia – as recent history shows.

But I guess like wendy we will have to go through the game of thinking that being foreign = being better when it comes to coaches.

THM in trolling shocker;IRB rankings; Georgia 14,Italy 15 and Scotland 10. As you say; “the truth is out there” Still bitter that you couldn’t finish against the “sweaties?” as you are fond of calling us.

But I guess like wendy we will have to go through the game of thinking that being foreign = being better when it comes to coaches.

That seems to apply right through the game, though. NZ, Aus and SA MUST be good simply because they are so far away. All Black players are always fantastic world beaters despite the fact they throw up dross like Colin Slade or Steve Donald on a regular basis. Every foreign coach must be better than the home grown ones because they were involved in exotic teams like the Crusaders or the Waratahs, not Bedford or Dunvant. Every time a half-decent player leaves Wales to play abroad he suddenly becomes fantastically good, possibly because nobody ever sees coverage of his mistakes again.

(There maybe some tongue-in-cheek in this post!)

Steven Donald gave up after the world cup,in fact he was fishing and drinking during the W/C when he got the call up. I would rate both him and Slade as easily good enough for any of the home nations. He was certainly better than Flood of Goode. Slade has had to be compared with probably the greatest 10 since those Welsh guys that played in black and white.

He was certainly better than Flood of Goode

Sooo transparent. Couldn’t find a crap scottish FH (there have been enough!) to choose instead of the English ones?

Oh FFS settle down, what is going on with you two?

Err…Because Donald played in Bath,my mind was on England as I typed that,I did mention that either would have played for any of the home nations.But go on,what am I transparently trying to say?

Any chance to swipe at the english eh duckers? 😉

Nope, show me any other quote where I take a dig at the English,the above was certainly not intentional,despite what you see in it. I am quite careful not to as that would suggest that my countries house is in order. Would it make you feel better and restore your sense of superiority if I tell you he was also better than Dan Parks,our choice of no 10 at the time?

OK, you may not have been taking a swipe at the English, but you were certainly talking balls!

Donald? My gran was better than Donald (after she died)

Would it make you feel better and restore your sense of superiority if I tell you he was also better than Dan Parks,our choice of no 10 at the time?

I didn’t realise you did stand-up as well as referee? 😆

The good thing about Parks was that he played for Cardiff for a while,so at least we didn’t have to pay for him too often.
And I would suggest that Donald cgas by the time he was at bath, when he was at Waikato he was brilliant.

bloodandmud.com[/url] have put up their GOOD and SHIT teams of the tournament.

The two 10s are Dan Biggar and Kelly Haimona respectively.

10. Dan Biggar – Most other tournament teams are split between George Ford and Jonny Sexton, but both of them had a SHIT showing; Ford in Dublin, Sexton in Cardif. Dan Biggar on the other hand was pretty much outstanding in every match, even putting in a decent showing against the England onslaught in the second half on the opening weekend after having his face caved in.

10. Kelly Haimona – The “will he do?” selection policy of the Italians has excelled itself this year by finding a bloke with a kicking boot like a toblerone, passing like a civil war cannon being fired backwards and the game management of sugared up toddler.

Would it make you feel better and restore your sense of superiority if I tell you he was also better than Dan Parks,our choice of no 10 at the time?

Yeh. Ta.

Glad to hear it. 🙂

Ulster v Cardiff, 6 minutes in, Nick Williams joins a maul and ‘accidentally’ leads with elbow, making no attempt to use his arms or maul legally. Result – Rhys Patchell is stretchered off, Cardiff lose their first choice full back for at least this game, probably more, Williams gets a yellow.

The ref (Mitrea) and TMO actually debated whether it deserved a yellow or just a penalty. The commentators – albeit Welsh – all agree it was an obvious red.

This sport is ludicrous at times.

It may be relevant the the TMO is Irish.

Hasn’t Williams got a little form? Shingler, wasn’t it?

I just tuned in as Williams returned so haven’t seen it yet. I’m watching on Bbc NI so will be interesting to hear what they say at half time

It may be relevant the the TMO is Irish.

Very much more than likely it isn’t.