Magner's League - Utter Drivel I'm Afraid.....

toomevara

.....Two weeks of this low rent, second rate drivel and frankly I'm beginning to lose interest. It's not so much the second rate rugby that rankles, more the patent lack of edge or interest. Roll on the Heineken....

Jilm

toomevara wrote:

.....Two weeks of this low rent, second rate drivel and frankly I'm beginning to lose interest. It's not so much the second rate rugby that rankles, more the patent lack of edge or interest. Roll on the Heineken....

It'll pick up. With the internationals back, the Leinster v Munster clash on the 6th Oct should have enough edge and spite for any hardened ruggerbugger.

Funkstard

There's plenty more to come. /\

I thought the Leinster match was good to watch if just to see Luke Fitzgerald starting after finishing his Leaving Cert a few months ago. Madness.

toomevara

Hope you're right fellas, it cant possibly get any worse. Would agree that Munster V leinster is mouthwatering Jilm, but thats largely for reasons which have bugger all to do with the league and everything to do with the innate tribalism of Irish rugby. In fact I'd predict that it will be THE match of the Magners this season and the only one that rivals the HC for intensity or bums on seats......

daveirl

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Danger_Dave

Its been said , but it as been bad for leinster/munster, but the ulster games have been great games to watch, espically the Dragons game. Anyway Guinny Premership as had alot of poor rugby in it, lots and lots of knock ons.

It will take at least 4 to 5 games to get match fit, lookn forward to the ulster/munster game if its anythin like the 1 last yr it shld be a cracker.

Leinster to win on the weekend as well , first ML game in donnybrook shld be good,. Just to tell any Leinster supporters, if you go to this match u'll prob get free scarfs/hats/flags.

daveirl

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Jilm

The galling thing for me as a Munster fan is having to shell out for Sky AND Setanta (smirk ye not NTL subscribers, you'll be paying for it soon enough) when just a few years ago it was pretty much free to air for both.

It's a fúcking expensive habit to be a rugby fan in this country, which is going to turn a lot of potential fans off the sport ...again, no bad thing in some peoples mind.

daveirl

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youcancallmeal

Danger_Dave wrote:

Its been said , but it as been bad for leinster/munster, but the ulster games have been great games to watch, espically the Dragons game. Anyway Guinny Premership as had alot of poor rugby in it, lots and lots of knock ons.

It will take at least 4 to 5 games to get match fit, lookn forward to the ulster/munster game if its anythin like the 1 last yr it shld be a cracker.

Leinster to win on the weekend as well , first ML game in donnybrook shld be good,. Just to tell any Leinster supporters, if you go to this match u'll prob get free scarfs/hats/flags.

Do you reckon tickets could be picked up outside?

bugler

Tickets will be available at the ground, as far as I know. They'll also be allowing terrace ticket holders to upgrade to an unreserved seat for €5 10 minutes after kick off I hear.

Danger_Dave

Its just the gunners so prob, but it is first home game of season,so it could be busy. Come early enuff mabye hour b4 kickoff to make sure. To 2nd post made, the wont wait 20mins till after kickoff to sell upgrades to openstand. We just sell them, 5euro for adults,

Jilm

daveirl wrote:

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I thought there was a good balance in previous years with RTE covering HEC home games and Skys extended HEC coverage. Now the only rugby a lot of people will see will be 6N, AIs & maybe the odd AIL game (when RTE can be arsed).

TG4s ML/CL FTA coverage was about the same as Setantas is now, no huge change there.

daveirl

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Jilm

daveirl wrote:

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According to the ML website, Setanta are showing 2 live ML games this week and 1 next week. From memory, TG4 used to show 1 occasionally 2 games a week.

Laslo

toomevara wrote:

everything to do with the innate tribalism of Irish rugby

You mean the perceived vehement immature competitiveness that doesn't prevent the same players joining forces on the Irish squad? The one used as a maketing tool by the different bodies of the IRFU? Well, if it helps make this crummy Magners League any better, than for once I'm all for it.

spanner

if the managers league is not as sucessful as its lager counterpart it is the Irish fault in constantly fielding second rate teams even when no internationals are been played, Where the Welsh will constantly put their star players up to play int the matches leading to a much better international preformances

MarVeL

But we did better than the Welsh in the internationals, the heineken and the celtic last year didn't we? I agree that the quality of the Irish performance in the celtic would have been improved if the internationals played but surely the other 2 levels are more important.

daveirl

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toomevara

spanner wrote:

Where the Welsh will constantly put their star players up to play int the matches leading to a much better international preformances

But the Welsh teams,internationals included, traditionally perform dismally in the Magners/Celtic. The loud-talking but soft-walking Ospreys are perhaps the most egregious examples, but the Scarlets haven't exactly covered themselves in glory in recent years either......

Jilm

toomevara wrote:

But the Welsh teams,internationals included, traditionally perform dismally in the Magners/Celtic. The loud-talking but soft-walking Ospreys are perhaps the most egregious examples, but the Scarlets haven't exactly covered themselves in glory in recent years either......

The Ospreys & Scarlets are both past CL champs (04/05 & 03/04 respectively) and currently top the table. I wouldn't bet against a Welsh side winning the ML this year.

Their problem is overextending themselves being invloved with the Anglo-Welsh powergen cup, some welsh sides have played 3 ML games in the space of 7/8 days already this season. I have a feeling the Welsh will be making excuses for their international sides poor performances again this season because of injuries & player fatigue.

spanner

toomevara wrote:

But the Welsh teams,internationals included, traditionally perform dismally in the Magners/Celtic. The loud-talking but soft-walking Ospreys are perhaps the most egregious examples, but the Scarlets haven't exactly covered themselves in glory in recent years either......

that is true at the moment,

but the year wales won the grand slam they just seemed to be alot sharper than us even though I would said we had a better team on paper. I think the point is is that Irish rugby doesnt really care about the magners league, you can see this in that Munster will lose to Cardiff in the magners league but when it comes to the HC they would wipe the floor with them.
I think we need a stable, good quality league under the HC and the magners league is the best way to do that for the 3 countries

spanner

Jilm wrote:

I have a feeling the Welsh will be making excuses for their international sides poor performances again this season because of injuries & player fatigue.

I agree,
and then it is the opposite side of the coin where ireland are sometimes not giving them enough game, It is hard to get the right balance in rugby at that level

Diamondmaker

I dont think the welsh or any one else can moan about the lack of top Irish guys in the ML. Imagine how far ahead the top 3 Irish teams would have been last year had the CL received full attention. The top 3 would have been straight Irish with some gap to the others.

It is better this way as teams develop depth as the rookies gain top experience playing v internationals and with internationals and get plenty of game time.!

Is Ireland the only 6 nation that rest its palyers so late into the season?

toomevara

Ulster V Ospreys game last night another classic case in point. Here's a side packed with (alleged) international standard players, who on paper should be a match for Ulster but who dont show up at all. Ulster play a tightly focused and well co-ordinated game and hockey them off the field. I'd say at this point that Ulster must look like serious contenders for the inaugural Magner's title (early munster/leinster HC exits notwithstanding).

Last night the Ospreys were abject and quite clearly totally disinterested....

Oh and while I'm at it, someone put Mr.Bean in charge of Connacht/Edinburgh last night..comedy refereeing of the first water, which brings me to another bugbear with the ML, the second rate reffing which often prevails...

Diamondmaker

I had me ma around and could only have the Leinster game on mute...looked like an entertaining game.

From what I could see thoug Leisnster were disasetrous in the Lineout ( AGAIN! ) I mainly saw after Jack came on...

The jackman and that new fella Vermass !:mad:

Crash

The one thing about playing internationals at the mo in ML is that this year is gonna be a mess for most players - ML, HC, 6N and then a world cup on top, its going to be destroying on a lot of em.

toomevara

&#231 wrote: »

The one thing about playing internationals at the mo in ML is that this year is gonna be a mess for most players - ML, HC, 6N and then a world cup on top, its going to be destroying on a lot of em.

Agree totally, something's got to give and, unfortunately, it'll most likely be the players' knees, shoulders, groins etc.....Current rates of attrition appaling. The average pro will be lucky to get to thirty relatively intact as things now stand and I can only see that number heading south as the game continues down the current path.

Diamondmaker

seems the other home nations guys are back in the main...is this correct to say??

Whaen are the Irish boys due back to clubs...surely before the 1st HC fixture in Oct

Jilm

Diamondmaker wrote:

Whaen are the Irish boys due back to clubs...surely before the 1st HC fixture in Oct

Some of the non-playing internationals are back already, they should all be back for the Leinster v Munster game on the 6th Oct.