General Rugby Discussion II

Brief_Lives

I've always been curious abut the terms, outhalf, flyhalf, 2nd 5 8..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_five-eighths

thomond2006

Deleted User wrote: »

In true Saracens fashion, they then blocked the responder.

hahashake

Lions tour going ahead in less than 12 months. Possibly a bit early to be making plans?

errlloyd

I don't love that schedule. No game in Bloomfontein and no game for the (other) Lions is a bit weird.

thomond2006

Playing two tests in the same city isn't great.

Cookiemunster

thomond2006 wrote: »

Playing two tests in the same city isn't great.

Happened last time too. First and third tests were in Eden Park.

clsmooth

thomond2006 wrote: »

Playing two tests in the same city isn't great.

Tactical by South Africa no? Both being played at altitude.

thomond2006

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Happened last time too. First and third tests were in Eden Park.

Fair point, but SA have a wider range of large stadia at their disposal.

Edit: I didn't think of the altitude question...

Covid surging in South Africa - can't see rugby returning there for the time being. This makes for fairly despairing reading: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53396057

bilston

Deleted User wrote: »

Covid surging in South Africa - can't see rugby returning there for the time being. This makes for fairly despairing reading: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53396057

Yeah, I can't see too many people booking their trip yet, although I suppose the vast majority will already have booked a year ago.

hahashake

Some vaccine studies sound promising but I doubt they will be widely distributed in less than 12 months.

Captain_Crash

thomond2006 wrote: »

Playing two tests in the same city isn't great.

They’re in different stadiums atleast.

Dog Botherer

South Africa might well have no rugby til 2022. i would be shocked if a Lions tour was feasible.

Cookiemunster

Dog Botherer wrote: »

South Africa might well have no rugby til 2022. i would be shocked if a Lions tour was feasible.

They're not going to call it off a year out though. 12 months is a long time.

thomond2006

It's a tempting trip if everything is safe by then. My concern would be a low uptake of tickets due to economic/travel factors. You'd hate to travel over only to be sat in half-full grounds! While I won't bemoan the lack of midweek games sitting on my couch, a Tuesday game in between the test weekends would have been a bonus as a travelling fan.

With only two midweek games and eight games overall I imagine the squad number will be a few less and there won't be a need for a tackle bag callup either.

salmocab

Seems tight to get the season finished by the end of June next year. I wouldn’t be at all confident of this happening as planned.

hahashake

2 'B' sides and no Lions.

Would be a great trip but I can't right now see it going ahead. Plenty can change between now and then but right now it's a pipe dream.

thomond2006

hahashake wrote: »

2 'B' sides and no Lions.

No Kings or Cheetahs despite their partnership with the Pro14 unions! The Lions are even playing in Port Elizabeth but against a thrown together 'invitational' side...

awec

If you were thinking of going for the test games I'd spend the majority of time around Cape Town and the Western Cape and only go to Johannesburg for matches.

thomond2006

awec wrote: »

If you were thinking of going for the test games I'd spend the majority of time around Cape Town and the Western Cape and only go to Johannesburg for matches.

Test 1 & 2 or 2 & 3 might be the best short trip.

salmocab

thomond2006 wrote: »

Test 1 & 2 or 2 & 3 might be the best short trip.

I wouldn’t book flights on their own though, there has to be a good chance of dates moving at the very least, this is one trip you’d want to be on a package deal. Especially booking well in advance.

errlloyd

thomond2006 wrote: »

Test 1 & 2 or 2 & 3 might be the best short trip.

Drove from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth ahead of Leinster's first match against the Kings back in 2017. The road is called the Garden route and it is class. Loads of vineyards, elephant parks, restaurants. Bit of history and some adventure stuff too. We went gorge kayaking and bungee jumping.

awec

Yea we did the Garden Route for our honeymoon, drove from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth and a small bit beyond for safari. Generally, the Western Cape is where the wine is and the Eastern Cape is where the safari is (aside from Kruger).

Port Elizabeth itself has absolutely nothing in it, it's not touristy in the slightest.

Logistically doing test 1+2 or test 2+3 would be straightforward, there's major international airports in both Cape Town and Joburg.

Eod100

Champions Cup fixtures out

https://twitter.com/ChampionsCup/status/1283749075515576322/photo/1

thomond2006

NZ Rugby have confirmed they are working towards a 8-10 team competition containing Australian teams along with a possible Pacific side.

molloyjh

thomond2006 wrote: »

NZ Rugby have confirmed they are working towards a 8-10 team competition containing Australian teams along with a possible Pacific side.

Wow, no SA!? Is that essentially confirmation that SA are going north or is it a temporary Covid related thing? Not sure how much revenue there is to be had in that...

sydthebeat

molloyjh wrote: »

Wow, no SA!? Is that essentially confirmation that SA are going north or is it a temporary Covid related thing? Not sure how much revenue there is to be had in that...

The possibilities of bokke teams playing on the Celtic league took a major step forward with today's announcement.

Essentially NZ and aus are gong ahead with their own version of super rugby

awec

It's not massively surprising. I think the time zone thing makes it difficult for the competition to get good tv viewer numbers.

hahashake

This was bound to happen sooner or later, COVID made the decision irresistible. Will be interesting to see the developments in the next 6 months.