The Rugby Union Thread

tbm

bertie said:

tbm said:

. Also, Sam Burgess. 
 

he simply didnt fit in,  they tried desparately to accomodate him, tried different positions  - he just didnt make the transition - bit like Farrel Snr  - some do, some dont.  They cant all be Jason Robinsons, no matter how good they are in League

i don't understand why they tried so hard. I don't know much about league, but England had some really good centres around then. And Bath played him as a flanker mostly right? Still strikes me as a weird project that they refused to abandon. 

exocet

tbm said:

bertie said:

tbm said:

. Also, Sam Burgess. 
 

he simply didnt fit in,  they tried desparately to accomodate him, tried different positions  - he just didnt make the transition - bit like Farrel Snr  - some do, some dont.  They cant all be Jason Robinsons, no matter how good they are in League

i don't understand why they tried so hard. I don't know much about league, but England had some really good centres around then. And Bath played him as a flanker mostly right? Still strikes me as a weird project that they refused to abandon. 

I'd love to know who was behind the decision. It always struck me that Burgess was "brought into Rugby Union" purely to play in RWC2015 as opposed to playing for Bath and if good enough, be given the opportunity to play in RWC. Irrespective of how good a league player he was (no argument there), the decision to shoe horn him into the England side at all costs had profound consequences for England Team beyond the obvious failure to make the quarters.

bertie

Mako's just anounced his retirement -

fretmeister

bertie said:

Mako's just anounced his retirement -

Marler, Rodd, Genge all currently injured too...

Best find your boots!

bertie

fretmeister said:

bertie said:

Mako's just anounced his retirement -

Marler, Rodd, Genge all currently injured too...

Best find your boots!

why, I oughta...........................  tho to be fair, its probably fair

Gassage

Genge fit now. Marler expected to be.

Re Mako- sorry but one of the worst 50+ cappers I have ever seen. He was so bad he was actually worse than Gethin Jenkins and that's saying something. Yes, great workrate and tackle count but couldn't prop a cllothes line.

England's reliance on the Rolypoly brothers for near a decade cost them any chance of moving forward in terms of style. When Wales poach Faletau and we poached the Vunipolas they got the better end of the deal.

Fantastic night at Franklins Gardens yesterday- the best spectator experience in the Prem bar none.

rsvmark

Gassage said:

Fantastic night at Franklins Gardens yesterday- the best spectator experience in the Prem bar none.

Saints back line were astonishing- shock and awe. (Bit biased as you know). Mitchell, Smith, Freeman and Furbank as a minimum should be in the 6N squad. 

fretmeister

rsvmark said:

Gassage said:

Fantastic night at Franklins Gardens yesterday- the best spectator experience in the Prem bar none.

Saints back line were astonishing- shock and awe. (Bit biased as you know). Mitchell, Smith, Freeman and Furbank as a minimum should be in the 6N squad. 

You’re not biased at all and neither am I!

#bleedgreen 

BluesLover

Yes, watched the Saints game live on telly, absolutely enthralling game. Well played Saints (from a life long Tigers fan).

koneguitarist

Gassage said:

England's reliance on the Rolypoly brothers for near a decade cost them any chance of moving forward in terms of style. When Wales poach Faletau and we poached the Vunipolas they got the better end of the deal.

Faletau, poached?
played all his rugby in Wales, lived there since 7 years old. 

Right about Mako though. 

exocet

Sarries absolutely shredded by Bordeaux. Bordeaux are scarily good.

bertie

can Finn Russell tackle ?        oh yes

koneguitarist

LRZ fastest player we have in Wales off to NFL with immediate effect!

sev112

Wow! Didn’t see that coming !

koneguitarist

sev112 said:

Wow! Didn’t see that coming !

Or me, right before 6 nations, as if we didn't have enough problems

crunchman

It will be interesting to see ho he does over there.  He's only 22 so has time on his side in terms of learning the game.  I guess he'd play at wide receiver.

If he does well, then he will earn huge money.  Cooper Kupp's contact averages over $25m per year.

exocet

Didn't see that coming at all. Those moves generally don't pan out well. I know sweet FA about NFL but fast RU players generally discover that they are nothing special when amongst a pool of very fast sprinters. Hope it works out well for him.

Pjon

koneguitarist said:

sev112 said:

Wow! Didn’t see that coming !

Or me, right before 6 nations, as if we didn't have enough problems

IN the squad announcement, there are three players I don't know in the first two lines (and I'm fairly well-versed in my rugby!) and the outside halves are Cai Evans, Costelow and Ioan Lloyd. 

We're doomed!

joneve

crunchman said:

It will be interesting to see ho he does over there.  He's only 22 so has time on his side in terms of learning the game.  I guess he'd play at wide receiver.

If he does well, then he will earn huge money.  Cooper Kupp's contact averages over $25m per year.

I will all but guarantee you now - this move will not work out. Unless he's had prior experience and the right contacts (which he may well have, who knows). But I would be shocked if he ended up playing meaningful football in the NFL. It's THE hardest sport to be successful in because there are literally thousands of kids looking to become a pro footballer every season and teams are limited to 53 men (seems a lot, but trust me, it isn't). 

He's going in via the International Player Pathway, which doesn't guarantee him anything. If he ends up earning Cooper Kupp money, I will eat my hat. It's not happening. The NFL is full of FREAK and I mean FREAK athletes. LRZ is quick, but he'll be a small fish in a big pond when it comes to the NFL. That said...best of luck to him (he'll be sorely missed at Gloucester). I'd love to be proved wrong and watch him on Redzone scoring touchdowns every week. 

crunchman

joneve said:

crunchman said:

It will be interesting to see ho he does over there.  He's only 22 so has time on his side in terms of learning the game.  I guess he'd play at wide receiver.

If he does well, then he will earn huge money.  Cooper Kupp's contact averages over $25m per year.

I will all but guarantee you now - this move will not work out. Unless he's had prior experience and the right contacts (which he may well have, who knows). But I would be shocked if he ended up playing meaningful football in the NFL. It's THE hardest sport to be successful in because there are literally thousands of kids looking to become a pro footballer every season and teams are limited to 53 men (seems a lot, but trust me, it isn't). 

He's going in via the International Player Pathway, which doesn't guarantee him anything. If he ends up earning Cooper Kupp money, I will eat my hat. It's not happening. The NFL is full of FREAK and I mean FREAK athletes. LRZ is quick, but he'll be a small fish in a big pond when it comes to the NFL. That said...best of luck to him (he'll be sorely missed at Gloucester). I'd love to be proved wrong and watch him on Redzone scoring touchdowns every week. 

Pace isn't everything.  Kupp's 40 yard time at the scouting combine wasn't actually very quick.  He was 3 tenths of a second slower than the fastest guys, yet he was was the best receiver in the league a year or two ago.  LRZ has agility to go with his speed - look at his sidestep.  If he can jink a tackler in rugby he can do it in the NFL.  He's also got decent size at 6'3".  That will help as well.

The odds are against him becoming a superstar.  Like you say, others have not succeeded, but his odds are a lot better.  If you look at someone like Christian Wade, he was 27 when he tried.   It was far too late.  Give him a couple of years to learn the game, and no team is going to put a 29 year old rookie on their roster.  LRZ is 5 years younger than Christian Wade was.  He's 6 inches taller and has much more talent.  He does have a genuine chance of at least making a roster.  The minimum salary in the NFL is $750,000 so he wouldn't be hard up.