The Rugby Union Thread

koneguitarist

I feel players have a responsibility, they took the credit for 2005 GS, yet when 5hey lose its coaches fault? 

I would be looking towards next RWC and playing players who are gonna be in the squad for then. Jonathan Davies, George North, Halfpenny, Biggar, AWJ, all need to be bench players now. 

scrumhalf

As we head towards the start of the Autumn Nations Trophy I find myself unable to summon up any real enthusiasm for the tournament, as opposed to the games. Anyone else feel like this?

I know there are no friendlies in rugby (not on the field anyway) but in such a compressed season with the prospect of a Lions tour at the end of it is it really needed?

I'm happy for Jack Willis getting his first start but that's tempered by the knowledge that England have broken quite a few Wasps in recent years, and I suppose I'm glad that Jones isn't playing him at hooker or full-back.

exocet

No it's not really needed and of course it's not going to fulfil one of main aims....raising cash. When it was hastily thrown together, I'm pretty sure that they assumed that we'd have supporters back in stadiums again?

fretmeister

exocet said:

No it's not really needed and of course it's not going to fulfil one of main aims....raising cash. When it was hastily thrown together, I'm pretty sure that they assumed that we'd have supporters back in stadiums again?

Definitely cash - hence the coverage on Amazon Prime. New tournament means the unions were free to negotiate a new broadcaster for these games, and try out a new delivery method.

If Amazon do a good job then the the unions will keep that in mind when the next bidding war starts for the Prem and the normal internationals. And with the Govt's refusal to make the 6N a CatA sports event to keep it on terrestrial I can see Amazon bidding hard for that.

Blaendulais

scrumhalf said:

As we head towards the start of the Autumn Nations Trophy I find myself unable to summon up any real enthusiasm for the tournament, as opposed to the games. Anyone else feel like this?

I know there are no friendlies in rugby (not on the field anyway) but in such a compressed season with the prospect of a Lions tour at the end of it is it really needed?

I'm happy for Jack Willis getting his first start but that's tempered by the knowledge that England have broken quite a few Wasps in recent years, and I suppose I'm glad that Jones isn't playing him at hooker or full-back.

I feel exactly the same.  Totally superfluous.  A sad attempt at income generation and already one of the games is called off for Covid.

exocet

The less said about Wales the better. Let's talk about Argentina instead.

koneguitarist

Yep, congratulations Argentina. First win over New Zealand in their history. 

Amazing stuff Wales can only dream about. 

sev112

I must admit I am really shocked about Wales, esp after a fabukous World Cup and World Cup semi final
i can put COVID as part of this I think

When I look at the Wales side I see the past 10 years.  I rate Josh Adams as a world class game changer, I accept Biggar’s football player attitudes and screams at the ref, because he’s a bugger at doing many of the right things just when it is needed.  

But a back line with Halfpenny, North, Williams, Davis and some old scrum halves too (very good players they have been too, and even some world, class in there) is living on history.
Defence wouldn’t be so much a problem (as it is to all teams) if that back line was firing and frightening everyone in the world like it used to.

And in the forwards WJ, Tipuric, Faletau have probably had most of their best days, although again fabukous players they have been
of course injuries are part of it
but whilst any one or two of those can certainly still do a great job, it occurs to me that having all of them in the team at the same time is resting on too many old laurels

im sure that other alternatives are just as valid

scrumhalf

I'm going to have to watch a re-run of this later. Looking at the NZ papers' sports sections is going to be interesting. 

exocet

sev112 said:

I must admit I am really shocked about Wales, esp after a fabukous World Cup and World Cup semi final
i can put COVID as part of this I think

When I look at the Wales side I see the past 10 years.  I rate Josh Adams as a world class game changer, I accept Biggar’s football player attitudes and screams at the ref, because he’s a bugger at doing many of the right things just when it is needed.  

But a back line with Halfpenny, North, Williams, Davis and some old scrum halves too (very good players they have been too, and even some world, class in there) is living on history.
Defence wouldn’t be so much a problem (as it is to all teams) if that back line was firing and frightening everyone in the world like it used to.

And in the forwards WJ, Tipuric, Faletau have probably had most of their best days, although again fabukous players they have been
of course injuries are part of it
but whilst any one or two of those can certainly still do a great job, it occurs to me that having all of them in the team at the same time is resting on too many old laurels

im sure that other alternatives are just as valid

Gatland and Edwards got the very best out of the limited options available to them for a significant period of time.
The real issue (as has been the case for a very long time) is regional rugby in Wales. Its seldom been great and right now its exceedingly poor.
There are quite a few players in the side who now look past their best. Some have had a very good innings (AWJ) others probably lost years to injury (JD2, Faletau). 
Looking at last night (which in many ways contained better performances than against Scotland) - we have no replacement for Ken Owens, our best props are barely International standard, 1/2p is past it, no replacement for Hadleigh Parkes, Liam is a Full Back, GN never regained form from 2013 era.
Biggar was really poor as was Gareth Davies (who struggled behind a beaten pack). Interesting to see how Lloyd Williams initial distribution was very good although faltered by the end).
I honestly can't see much improvement happening for 3 years.

p90fool

exocet said:

sev112 said:

I must admit I am really shocked about Wales, esp after a fabukous World Cup and World Cup semi final
i can put COVID as part of this I think

When I look at the Wales side I see the past 10 years.  I rate Josh Adams as a world class game changer, I accept Biggar’s football player attitudes and screams at the ref, because he’s a bugger at doing many of the right things just when it is needed.  

But a back line with Halfpenny, North, Williams, Davis and some old scrum halves too (very good players they have been too, and even some world, class in there) is living on history.
Defence wouldn’t be so much a problem (as it is to all teams) if that back line was firing and frightening everyone in the world like it used to.

And in the forwards WJ, Tipuric, Faletau have probably had most of their best days, although again fabukous players they have been
of course injuries are part of it
but whilst any one or two of those can certainly still do a great job, it occurs to me that having all of them in the team at the same time is resting on too many old laurels

im sure that other alternatives are just as valid

Gatland and Edwards got the very best out of the limited options available to them for a significant period of time.
The real issue (as has been the case for a very long time) is regional rugby in Wales. Its seldom been great and right now its exceedingly poor.

It hasn't even been on the telly in Wales for years, and contrary to the belief that starving people of televised rugby improves gate receipts, interest just dies in the end. 

If it's poor now, you wait ten years until the current crop of school players have gone. Football has been our national sport for years, but losing rugby TV rights means that eventually even the RFU will be forced to admit it. 

Jalapeno

Wow ! Go Pumas !!!!!!!!!!!

koneguitarist

Watching Wales play at moment, i agree with comments above. 

I feel we need to put AWJ on bench, same with Gareth Davies. George North should retire he offers nothing and hasn’t for quite a while. We need to blood youngsters now and get a scrum coach like Noriega etc in. 

The scrums are pretty poor along all four regions and have been for years. Garland never sorted this issue, just papered over it for years. 

Privacy needs time, but in this day, not sure he will get it. 

scrumhalf

Enjoyed the Italy-Scotland game, expecially the first hour when it was very competitive.

No complants about the Prime coverage, either. No look-what-I-can-do camera angles and I thought the commentary team were superb. I don't know who the maincommentator was but he's been studying Bill McL:aren's use of words, and that's no bad thing.

exocet

scrumhalf said:

Enjoyed the Italy-Scotland game, expecially the first hour when it was very competitive.

No complants about the Prime coverage, either. No look-what-I-can-do camera angles and I thought the commentary team were superb. I don't know who the maincommentator was but he's been studying Bill McL:aren's use of words, and that's no bad thing.

It’s the same production team who do the Pro 14 matches plus much Of BT Sport Rugby and Football. The company is called Sunset & Vine.

VimFuego

yeah, I was a bit unsure about the standard of the coverage from Prime, but it's top notch really, deffo up there with BT Sport. 

sev112

I was starting to throw things at the telly during the prime coverage grrrrrrr. We have pretty good internet here, and have no problem streaming anything else, 
but every 3 to 5 minutes it would buffer, and then come back 3 minutes later missing some really key action.

I seem to recall there were lots of complaints when Prime were doing international football ?  

If this is their offering for live sport, they have to get this sorted - destroys the whole impact of live sport

fretmeister

Picture was excellent for me.

 It’s more likely to be contention rate in your area. Not Amazon’s fault.

sev112

What is contention rate ?

exocet

Yep, mine was rock solid too. I suspect that because they were using BT Sport / Sunset & Vine as production provider that BT TV customers get a better service. I access Amazon Prime via an app on a BT Digibox (Actually Humax) but its specific to BT TV Service.