Rugby Union Thread

PostRe: Rugby Union Thread by **Hypes** » Sat Feb 11, 2017 6:18 pm

strawberry floating hell Youngs

PostRe: Rugby Union Thread by **Hypes** » Sat Feb 11, 2017 6:29 pm

So gooseberry fool on the line

PostRe: Rugby Union Thread by **Victor Mildew** » Sat Feb 11, 2017 6:31 pm

Yeeeeeeeeeeesssss :toot:

Banderas.gif

PostRe: Rugby Union Thread by **Hypes** » Sat Feb 11, 2017 6:33 pm

PostRe: Rugby Union Thread by **Victor Mildew** » Sat Feb 11, 2017 6:34 pm

strawberry floating yes :datass:

PostRe: Rugby Union Thread by **Knoyleo** » Sat Feb 11, 2017 6:36 pm

Undone by an awful defensive clearance. Such a disappointment.

PostRe: Rugby Union Thread by **Victor Mildew** » Sat Feb 11, 2017 6:42 pm

PostRe: Rugby Union Thread by **Drumstick** » Sat Feb 11, 2017 7:01 pm

What a glorious finish.

PostRe: Rugby Union Thread by **Victor Mildew** » Sat Feb 11, 2017 7:18 pm

Wish I'd gone to the pub down our road to watch it now. The salt outpouring would have been strawberry floating glorious.

PostRe: Rugby Union Thread by **Mini E** » Sat Feb 11, 2017 10:13 pm

Ad7 wrote:8-)

Wait - I always thought you were a Welsh fan?!

No shame in that today. Incredible match. Fantastic advertisment for Northern hemisphere rugby. Such a shame we ended up on the wrong side of it.

PostRe: Rugby Union Thread by **Mini E** » Sun Feb 12, 2017 12:36 am

Up to joint second in our fantasy league. Boooooom.

PostRe: Rugby Union Thread by **Victor Mildew** » Sun Feb 12, 2017 8:20 am

Mini E wrote:
Ad7 wrote:8-)

Wait - I always thought you were a Welsh fan?!

When we go to the games yes, unless it's against England in which case is England all the way. I've gone over it before in here, but the general xenophobic attitude to being an englishman living in Wales when the rugby is on has made me go from being largely indifferent to die hard shouting out loud for England against Wales just for the salt.

PostRe: Rugby Union Thread by **Mini E** » Sun Feb 12, 2017 9:49 am

Ad7 wrote:
Mini E wrote:
Ad7 wrote:8-)

Wait - I always thought you were a Welsh fan?!

When we go to the games yes, unless it's against England in which case is England all the way. I've gone over it before in here, but the general xenophobic attitude to being an englishman living in Wales when the rugby is on has made me go from being largely indifferent to die hard shouting out loud for England against Wales just for the salt.

Fair. Cardiff on match day isn't exactly pro-England. In fact, it's basically anyone-but-England :lol:

PostRe: Rugby Union Thread by **Qikz** » Sun Feb 12, 2017 10:49 am

Listened to the commentary for this in the car yesterday. I thought for sure England were done for, my Dad was so sure he turned off the radio. :lol:

PostRe: Rugby Union Thread by **Tomous** » Sun Feb 12, 2017 10:54 am

is there any bigger gulf between first choice and replacement in the Six Nations than there is from George North to Alex Cuthbert?

PostRe: Rugby Union Thread by **Tomous** » Sun Feb 12, 2017 10:54 am

Edit: double post. Cuthbert is still gooseberry fool though

PostRe: Rugby Union Thread by **Mini E** » Sun Feb 12, 2017 11:17 am

Cuthbert infuriates me.

PostRe: Rugby Union Thread by **Drumstick** » Sun Feb 12, 2017 7:15 pm

Good effort from Scotland, another oh so close defeat. I still think they can get 4th. They should beat Italy and I reckon they've got it in them to beat Wales at Murrayfield.

PostRe: Rugby Union Thread by **Lotus** » Mon Feb 13, 2017 5:40 pm

Pleased with the result at the weekend. Was a fairly tense game, never too much in it, and while Wales had more of the possession, England defended well and made sure they didn't do too much with it. Frustrating that we basically gifted them 6 points, and that we couldn't get the 5 that we missed, but it was a gritty performance and hard-earned. Got to be able to beat teams without playing all that well and grind out results.

As an aside, what are people's thoughts on promotion and relegation to/from the Six Nations? I know it's been ruled out in the short-term, but longer term I wonder if it could happen. Assuming the IRB wants the game to grow, there has to be a plan to get the likes of Georgia, Romania, Russia, Japan, USA, Canada etc more involved and playing at a higher level. I know European tournaments exists in the 'lower tiers' of the game currently, but waiting 4 years to test themselves against the bigger teams can't be a good strategy for improving quality and competitiveness, and so perhaps other options could be looked at.

PostRe: Rugby Union Thread by **Rax** » Tue Feb 14, 2017 10:43 am

Theres a number of arguments against introducing promotion & relegation, thinks like traditional rivalries, market size, replacing one gooseberry fool team with another helps nothing but for me none of them really hold water. The Pro 12 gets derided for not having relegation, allowing teams to be gooseberry fool but still guaranteed their piece of the pie next year, yet the 6 Nations is marketed as "Rugbys Greatest Championship" and also features teams guaranteed their spot next year. To properly grow the game there should be an attempt to actually include as many nations as possible, theres no point in having a ceiling for tier 2 nations just because theyre late to the party.

In the lower tiers there is already promotion and relegation between the B and C tier 6 Nations so the structure is in place to do it, there just needs to be the impetus to actually make it happen. I would be in favour of a playoff style structure where the last place team in the Pro 12 plays the top place team in the Nations Cup to see who plays in the 6 Nations next year. This could be a November fixture to make the scheduling a bit easier if needed. For me the best way to achieve growth however, would be to also do a Pro 12 B from these nations, so not only are they getting top class rugby once a year, they get it across a season. This would wake up the Italians at international level and at club level to actually sort things out or get overtaken by the Georgians, Romanians or even the Germans.

This stuff will never really happen though, for one big reason, money. If the top of tier 2 was Germany and Spain and they had strong tv interest then this would be a no brainer but everyone knows that its Georgia and Romania who would be the most likely to get promoted and they just dont have the TV rights cash to compete with Italy right now. Until that situation is resolved the status quo is here to stay.

Rugby Union Thread

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