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Rugby: A New Dawn


ljkeane
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Gotta say - that first half especially, was not how my memory suggested it was.
Take out the hype, take out the month leading up to it, and France were the better team for 80, not just 40.

Take out Lomu, and the score could very easily have been 20-10 the other way around at half time!

Speed of scrums always stands out in these old matches.

The other stand out is how skillfully the SHs are compared to now. Both were throwing accurate passes that I wouldn't put any money on any current SH making badly. Both were making passes at distances Ben Youngs can only dream of, and making them accurately, rather than the 5m radius that he'd require!

What was the penalty count at half time? 12-1? 14-1?
I thought that was "literally impossible" according to 2007-era kiwis? ;)

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  • 3 weeks later...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-52416450

 

www.uk.virginmoneygiving.com/edjackson8

Quote

A paralysed ex-rugby player has climbed the equivalent height of Mount Everest on his parents' staircase.

Ed Jackson, from Bath, broke his neck after diving into the shallow end of a swimming pool in 2017, leaving him with no or partial use of all four limbs.

Since starting on Tuesday at 04:00 BST, Mr Jackson, 31, has made 89,056 steps and 2,783 trips up and down the stairs.

He has so far raised £36,000 for charity Wings For Life, which conducts spinal cord research, and also the NHS.

Mr Jackson said it had been a "weird four days" for him to climb the equivalent of Everest's 8,848m peak and thanked his parents and his wife "for putting up with me".

 

...

Article Continues

Edited by Which Tyler
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Just to keep @Which Tyler company in this thread...!

Results of the World Rugby elections will be revealed on May 12. Contested election between Chairman Bill Beaumont (English) and vice-chair Agustin Pichot, with Australia and a lot of smaller countries backing Pichot.

From what I've read, Pichot is basically a proponent of a soccer-style World Cup qualification system and building the game in the smaller countries.

Beaumont will probably win but whoever does get it is going to be presiding over a pretty big mess.

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1 hour ago, Jeor said:

From what I've read, Pichot is basically a proponent of a soccer-style World Cup qualification system and building the game in the smaller countries.

Beaumont will probably win but whoever does get it is going to be presiding over a pretty big mess.

Yeah, it's not inherently a bad idea and Pichot generally comes across quite well but I suspect most, if not all, of the major rugby unions are going to be seriously struggling with loss of revenue as a result of covid 19 related restrictions. I think the focus over the next few years is going to be sustaining the professionally game in the current rugby hotbeds rather than trying to expand to new territory. 

Honestly I don't think it's looking good for professional rugby. Beyond just the normal restrictions that are impacting on all sports international travel is a really important part of top level rugby and it's not a sport that's going to do well with the loss of revenue involved in playing behind closed doors (unlike, say, football which might be able to get by on tv money). There might have to be a lot of post lockdown restructuring.

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1 hour ago, ljkeane said:

Honestly I don't think it's looking good for professional rugby. Beyond just the normal restrictions that are impacting on all sports international travel is a really important part of top level rugby and it's not a sport that's going to do well with the loss of revenue involved in playing behind closed doors (unlike, say, football which might be able to get by on tv money). There might have to be a lot of post lockdown restructuring.

Yeah. USA rugby has declared bankruptcy and I think a lot of other national boards are going to have significant financial issues.

Even before COVID-19, Australian rugby has been seriously struggling. The Folau saga created a bad taste (for both sides) and financially Rugby Australia has been on a knife edge. Super Rugby is barely getting along and I wouldn't be surprised if a few clubs keel over from this crisis, and RA is in no condition to bail anyone else out.

It's not a great time to be doing it, but Pichot's ideas for expanding into newer markets is really what world rugby needs, at least when this crisis is over. Having World Cup qualifiers and perhaps other short-form tournaments might be one way to build a stronger TV audience. The game is going to shrink, ossify and die if it keeps on going as it has been. At the grassroots level with schoolboys and clubs, there isn't much growth, at least in Australia.

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  • 3 weeks later...
38 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

The laws have been changed so you can no longer score a try against the base of the post.

Fuck's sake. Pick and goes till you get to the base of the post is my most productive try scoring area.

You are Rob Baxter, and I claim my £5

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1 hour ago, ljkeane said:

The laws have been changed so you can no longer score a try against the base of the post.

Fuck's sake. Pick and goes till you get to the base of the post is my most productive try scoring area.

:lol:

In other news, Pichot was defeated and Beaumont reelected for four more years, as predicted. Pichot has now resigned and the new vice-chairman is Laporte from French Rugby. Laporte has championed the idea of a Club World Cup, I guess a Rugby version of football's Champion's League. I fear the small nations are going to disappear soon after this and the world of Rugby will get irrevocably smaller.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Rugby Aotearoa starts this weekend - available on S4C for British viewers!

 

Otherwise, this is a brilliant bit of analysis of England's tactics against the ABs in a recent semi-final, that I now have to find a match video of - what a hardship that will be!

 

 

He's also done this, if you're more interested in the Dark Side

https://youtu.be/URGFkOOjsk0

 

Edited by Which Tyler
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On 6/11/2020 at 5:35 PM, Which Tyler said:

Rugby Aotearoa starts this weekend

I've been watching NRL to get my sports fix but it's good to see some rugby again. It's a bit strange to see sport with fans in the stadium too.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Levi Davis (ex-Bath, X-factor and now Ealing winger) comes out as bisexual
https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/sport/other-sport/former-bath-rugby-winger-celebrity-4511291

Hopefully to be met with a chorus of "meh, who cares"

More realistically hopeful would be a swell of support for him, and others still fearful of revealing their sexuality.

With Alfie, Nige and various rainbow bootlaces type initiatives, (not to mention huge strides in the last few decades) I would hope that the ground work has already been laid for rugby to not consider it a big deal.


ETA: To be fair, I'm delighted to say that the Bath fans' Facebook thread is a chorus of "meh, who cares" about 3:1 with messages of support, and absolutely nothing negative

ghted to say that the Bath fans' Facebook thread is a chorus of "meh, who cares" about 3:1 with messages of support, and absolutely nothing negative

Edited by Which Tyler
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