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Plain old lack of interest in the competition. With Irish and French teams winning so much in the last 7/8 years the interest in it has fallen off in England.
There was always something a bit off about the tone in which the Pro12 was/is discussed by certain fans and writers in the UK. The lack of relegation and presence of the Italian teams was presented as the reason the English couldn't win the H Cup, not because the French and Irish teams were just better. Yes Irish (and Welsh) teams could rest some front line players for some games e.g. against your Treviso's, but the discussion ignored the fact that Irish, Welsh and Scottish teams don't have the pockets of the English and French clubs. Using those games to develop academy players and give the front liners a rest is vital. Scarcens, Tulon and Clermont don't have that worry, because so many of their massive squad not playing in the 6Ns. Also, the notion that Premiership and T14 teams didn't rest frontliners against struggling teams is total bollox.
I think if the qualifying criteria had been left exactly as it was and the structures hadn't changed you'd still see the same two teams int he final this year. Irish, Welsh and Scottish teams aren't around at the business end this time around because they haven't played well enough to be. But this notion floating around that order has been restored bothers me, especially when if Ulster and Glasgow were playing a WCC semi, it would probably sell out. The wealthy T14 and English clubs have gotten exactly what they wanted, and the fans really don't care.
Noise, randomness, ballistic uncertainty.
Manchester based original indie band Random White:
https://www.facebook.com/RandomWhite
https://twitter.com/randomwhite1
Compared to the likes of Clermont and Bath, the Irish provinces don't have deep pockets. They IRFU also have restrictions in place as to the amount of non-Irish qualified players there can be in positions that apply across all the provenances. E.g Leinster can't import an non-Irish scrum half, because Ulster have Pienaar on their books. Leinster and Munster were successful for so long because of POC, ROG, BOD, Heaslip, Sexton, Stringer, D'Arcy etc, not because the IRFU had deep pockets. All those players turned down more money to play in France in their prime. Only Sexton went, though POC would have gone owing Munster or Ireland nothing had it not been for that Injury.
Yeah it is mad that there isn't more interest from the English clubs. Even Leicester with their European history, couldn't fill the City Ground.
Noise, randomness, ballistic uncertainty.
Irish players turned foreign money down as they were given tax breaks in accordance with Irish law and large portions of their wage was then repaid through pension payments if you look into it if I recall. They weren't losing out on a great deal. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Manchester based original indie band Random White:
https://www.facebook.com/RandomWhite
https://twitter.com/randomwhite1
Manchester based original indie band Random White:
https://www.facebook.com/RandomWhite
https://twitter.com/randomwhite1
Manchester based original indie band Random White:
https://www.facebook.com/RandomWhite
https://twitter.com/randomwhite1
Manchester based original indie band Random White:
https://www.facebook.com/RandomWhite
https://twitter.com/randomwhite1
Noise, randomness, ballistic uncertainty.
Aye and look at where they are in the league. The big problem is the intensity at which the game is played, or lack of it. Week in week out they are playing against average players in many positions and imports that don't set the world alight in the SH become the stars of the Pro12. Mentioned it before but international games see players cover 75 metres per minute, Super rugby is slightly below, European Cup rugby slightly below that then Pro12 is down to 55-60. The step up is noticeable and I think a big reason why the SH dominate us, they are used to making decisions under pressure and fatigued, I don't think that they necessarily have much better players genetically, they're all human beings and we do produce players that could get into their sides but not enough. Every sportsman on the planet will tell you that playing with and against better players improves your game, we need to concentrate the games we play and the player pools that play in them to make all the games more competitive against better players, a super European cup, how it would work I'm not sure but Wales IMO can only produce 2 top club/regional teams. The domestic structure in Europe needs to be overhauled, but England and France have strong leagues and the clubs won't vote to change the set up, but for international rugby, I think that they need to as the gap is widening.
Manchester based original indie band Random White:
https://www.facebook.com/RandomWhite
https://twitter.com/randomwhite1
"Players from Saracens, Exeter, Wasps and Leicester - who are in the Premiership semi-finals - will not attend the 17-19 May camp."
Noise, randomness, ballistic uncertainty.