Re: Rugby Union, If you must talk about it, do it here. PART : Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:36 pm  

Egg Chasing wrote:

Alex Corbisiero and Manu Tuilagi out of 6 nations opener.

England to name shock replacements....................Englishmen.

Re: Rugby Union, If you must talk about it, do it here. PART : Tue Jan 29, 2013 8:20 am  

Urmston Wire wrote:

Greed probably! Other than Bristol and Newcastle, Leeds at a push, there's not a lot of strength in the lower tiers of RU in England as far as I can see.

Add in the two Irish teams, two Welsh regions and the two Scottish teams and form a two-tier Premiership. Like I say, it's not hugely likely anytime soon, but it would solve a problem. I bet the powers that be would love a viable Cardiff or Dublin double-header to go with their London double-header/free ticket bonanza.

Not sure the Italians would be too happy with that!

Re: Rugby Union, If you must talk about it, do it here. PART : Tue Jan 29, 2013 12:40 pm  

JonB95 wrote:

Not sure the Italians would be too happy with that!

Very true! But then again, that experiment doesn't appear to be working too well. I could equally see Italian domestic rugby union send its top clubs to the French lower tiers one day as well, but that's even more unlikely.

Re: Rugby Union, If you must talk about it, do it here. PART : Wed Jan 30, 2013 8:20 am  

Urmston Wire wrote:

JonB95 wrote:

Not sure the Italians would be too happy with that!

Very true! But then again, that experiment doesn't appear to be working too well. I could equally see Italian domestic rugby union send its top clubs to the French lower tiers one day as well, but that's even more unlikely.

Zebre are a bit of an embarrassment, but Treviso are improving a fair bit. The national team ran Australia ragged last year. We will see how they do in 6 Nations I guess, but won't surprise me if they're above Scotland again.

Re: Rugby Union, If you must talk about it, do it here. PART : Thu Jan 31, 2013 9:42 pm  

JonB95 wrote:

Zebre are a bit of an embarrassment, but Treviso are improving a fair bit. The national team ran Australia ragged last year. We will see how they do in 6 Nations I guess, but won't surprise me if they're above Scotland again.

I think you're right there, Jon. I'm sure a contributor on these boards said that RU is becoming an irrelevance in Scotland- repeatedly being below Italy is going to cause them even more trouble.

Re: Rugby Union, If you must talk about it, do it here. PART : Fri Feb 01, 2013 1:27 pm  

Urmston Wire wrote:

I think you're right there, Jon. I'm sure a contributor on these boards said that RU is becoming an irrelevance in Scotland- repeatedly being below Italy is going to cause them even more trouble.

Rugby Union, at club level anyway, has always been an irrelevance in Scotland.

The old club sides (even in the stronger areas around the borders) used to pull in attendances equivalent to Conference football sides at best.

The national side will continue to pull in decent crowds for its half a dozen home games a year, but the club game is on its knees.

[Durham Giant]

Re: Rugby Union, If you must talk about it, do it here. PART : Sun Feb 03, 2013 8:49 pm  

I only saw the Wales Ireland game this weekend but was quite exciting. BOD is still a class act. One of the few RU centres who knows how to draw a man and get the ball out to his winger. Most of them are actually poor at that but BOD has class oozing out of him.

Re: Rugby Union, If you must talk about it, do it here. PART : Tue Feb 05, 2013 1:01 pm  

Urmston Wire wrote:

Very true! But then again, that experiment doesn't appear to be working too well.

Are you sure about this? Treviso have improved, having performed well in the PRO12, came within a whisker of beating Leicester in the EC and and beat the Ospreys. In the last three seasons they have beaten have beaten Scotland, France two times, unfortunate to lose to last minute kick against Ireland, lost narrowly to England and ran Austrlia very close. Italian Rugby is going through it's most consistent and successful period, so not sure where the logic is that entry to the PRO12 is not working.

Re: Rugby Union, If you must talk about it, do it here. PART : Sun Feb 10, 2013 3:48 pm  

Really scrappy game this. That O'Mahoney for Ireland is a sh*thouse. Hope someone gives him a smack.

Re: Rugby Union, If you must talk about it, do it here. PART : Sun Feb 10, 2013 4:04 pm  

For the supposed elite of their sport, the handling and general play on show whenever a bit of rain comes down is embarrassing. Was the same in France last night.