STW 2014/15 Rugby Thread

On another note, the Ospreylian front row are playing beautiful rugby on the wings tonight! Soft hands, bach!

Quite. 11-3 up at half time vs the mighty Treviso 😆

For someone whom we’ve been told is the best League player in years I’m a bit puzzled as to why he keeps dropping the ball – its been a bit of a feature of his season so far.
Not that I know owt of course.

Nathan Hughes appeal upheld
If you missed it, we have more now on that breaking story we brought to you during the first half.

Wasps forward Nathan Hughes has successfully appealed against his three-week ban for the incident that left Northampton and Wales wing George North unconscious during the Saints’ victory on 27 March.

An independent panel has ruled that “no act of foul play took place”.

bbc

Here’s a very accurate picture of Irish rugby club finances;

Interested to know how you made the judgement on it’s accuracy?

To me , it looked more like a forum piece of opinion and speculation from a (slightly envious) Welsh rugby fan.
Plenty of similar on here , and worth about the same too. 😉

I’m sure Nick Williams will be cleared soon!!

Dudley Phillips is a shite ref.

Not like those welsh who would sell their nans for a contract in France.

I thought you’d already established they moved ‘cos they wanted success?
here

anagallis_arvensis – Member
…if they wanted on field sucess they would go to Toulon.
POSTED 6 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

Burgess seems to be quite a decent, honest chap.

Very much so! Seems a good guy.

Sadly, he’s been hyped beyond all compare and that’s just not fair on him if he doesn’t come even close to living up to it. Very few run and wriggle converts ever have…..

Interested to know how you made the judgement on it’s accuracy?

Because it’s based on the IRFUs published accounts. I can’t deny that the piece is slanted but the facts are indisputable.

Sadly, he’s been hyped beyond all compare and that’s just not fair on him if he doesn’t come even close to living up to it. Very few run and wriggle converts ever have…..

I wouldn’t be so hasty. He did OK tonight on the blindside. Replaced after an hour by Fearns (of henson punch fame) who managed to stay on the field for a whole minute before going in the bin 🙄 Halfwit.

wrecker – Member
For all the hype, Burgess seems to be quite a decent, honest chap. I wish him all the best (which is saying something; I’m a bristol fan) and to be fair, he hasn’t looked out of place so far at all.
POSTED 47 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Like him too. Decent and honest – think he looks more suited to being a forward, the more constant involvement, as long as he learns to stay on the right side of the refs re penalties.

And tbh, if Haskell can be an international six…

Not like those welsh who would sell their nans for a contract in France.
I thought you’d already established they moved ‘cos they wanted success?
here
anagallis_arvensis – Member
…if they wanted on field sucess they would go to Toulon.
POSTED 6 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

No, i was talking about the irish in second bit you posted.

I’d be interested to see the data you compared it to to verify his claims as accurate.

And tbh, if Haskell can be an international six…

😀

wrecker – Member
And tbh, if Haskell can be an international six…
😀

😀

But he’s played in the Southern Hemisphere you know! He’s like, amazing, dude!

“Brand” Haskell – Making every other international 6 look good for ages!

I’d be interested to see the data you compared it to to verify his claims as accurate.

Sorry Loum, but the info with references is all there, if you want to refute it; go ahead.

79mins 10 secs. Bath up by 10. Commentator; It’s looking less like Newcastle will get a win from this.
Hardly intuitive.

be interested to see the data you compared it to to verify his claims as accurate.

Which bits do you think are inaccurate and why?

No, i was talking about the irish in second bit you posted.

This bit?

if they wanted on field sucess they would go to Toulon.

You sure there?
The thing is, that 5 of the last 9 European cups have been won by Irish teams, so I’m really not sure why they’d need to move to Toulon for that.

And then checking the teams for the upcoming Semi final, all the Irish lads involved look to be lining up for Leinster.

Whereas the Toulon squad looks to have a Welshman called Halfpenny, and I’m not sure he won much at club level before moving over there.
So you’ll have to accept my apologies for misunderstanding you – but the facts all pointed towards it looking like that’s what you were tying to say.

you’ll have to accept my apologies for misunderstanding you – but the facts all pointed towards it looking like that’s what you were tying to say.

Facts dont “try” to say anything they either say it or they dont.

Have Cardiff been this poor all season? Except for 10 mins when Glasgow chilled out they were very ordinary.

Yes, Cardiff have been shit all season, they have a lot of injuries at the moment too. Tavis Knoyle played 12 last week and some 19 year old kid was drafted inbthis week. Coach legged it back to NZ a few weeks ago. Only the Dregs and the 2 italian teams are below them in the league. Scarlets have been pretty poor too. Ospreys have done well with some kids but whoever chose the starting front row tonight wants shooting.

I thought so – Glasgow played well enough but hard to imagine they will get the same freedom in the last 3 games – Connacht, Ospreys and Ulster.

I think I counted “seem” twice and “appear” three times in the first four or five paragraphs in that piece from gwlad. I’m not sure I’d have linked it describing it as “accurate”. But hey, if it fits with how you feel, then fill yer boots. 🙂

If you’re going to dismantle a piece then go ahead. It’ll need to be a bit more involved than pointing out fluffy language though, like finding actual inaccuracies and that.

And I don’t think the welsh regions get the kind of numbers that Munster and Leinster do.
Not at present. But they did 10-15 years ago, even more tbh. Leinster were struggling to sell out Donnybrook with 6000 capacity.

No they didn’t, not even a fraction. That’s one reason that the rebel season happened (1999) and why the regions were formed (2003?). Since the regions were formed they lost a huge number of potential ‘live’spectators.

I was at Euro Cup games (against big teams like Stade Francais) where there were barely 1500 people in St Helens. The only time they’d get decent numbers was when playing Llanelli or Cardiff.

The last time I remember big crowds in Welsh league games would be when I was a teenager. I’m 47 this year!

If you’re going to dismantle a piece then go ahead. It’ll need to be a bit more involved than pointing out fluffy language though, like finding actual inaccuracies and that.

Like I said, if it fits what you want to believe, then fair enough, go with it. It just seems a bit fluffy to me. Or maybe it appears a bit fluffy.

To be clear. What are ioum and wrecker disagreeing about? I think its fairly obvious that irish teams have more money to spend than the welsh regions and it would seem they can compete with the English prem teams too, judging by the two kiwi lads that were signed this week. Its also the case that the pro12 teams have an advantage over the english prem in europe because they dont have to spread their resources as far. The Welsh teams have not shown this to be the case due to lack of cash.

Its hard to put a figure to it all though as we dont even know which irish players are on central contracts.

They all are.

I’ve read a few pieces on the Welsh club vs province (probably posted here by stw-ers) and I think that move caused a massive loss of identity for the supporters. All that history in the Welsh club game cast aside. I’m not surprised the club supporters don’t travel to the cities to watch the new clubs, that and the fact that on the broader European stage they have not been competitve

What every irish player or every irish international?

The welshvregions get good crowds when they play each other its the game v the irish, welsh and italians no one cares about!!

What’s the definition of a central contract?
A contract where the player is paid by the union?
Which irish players are paid by the IRFU?
All of them!

Complicated, not sure I understand the structures.
Anyway more importantly, Dudley Philips bent, incompetant or blind. Binned Webb for a high tackle last night. Webb grabbed the bloke under the arms! Didnt even check with the video ref.

Oh and the video ref who was italian couldnt identify the italian player comitting an offence despite seeing his face. He needed his number.

anagallis_arvensis – Member

Oh and the video ref who was italian couldnt identify the italian ayer committing an offence despite seeing his face. He needed his number.

Although tbf the offence they were looking at wasn’t even an offence. Both players went for a high ball. If the Italian had been carded it would have been a poor decision. Philips though is a terrible, terrible ref and made many terrible decisions last night.

True it was nothing, but to claim he didnt know who it was makes tbe whole thing a shambles.

anagallis_arvensis – Member

True it was nothing, but to claim he didnt know who it was makes tbe whole thing a shambles.

It IS a shambles! Often neither the TMO or the ref is willing to make the correct decision. The Nick Williams thing was a perfect example.

Ulster have had how many people banned this season following video refs and refs only having given them yellows.

Only established internationals are on Irish contracts. Most of the Ulster squad are contracted to Ulster Rugby not the IRFU. I believe the only IRFU contracted are Best, Timble and Bowe. The likes of Henry and Henderson would be on an Ulster contract.

What happened Nigel Owens in the Ulster game?

What happened Nigel Owens in the Ulster game?

He was ‘accidentally’ taken out by one of the Ulster 2nd rows. (Henderson?) 😉

Seriously, it was just an accidental collision. 🙂

Great win for Exeter and the Dragons

Leinster look like they might not make the playoffs.