General Rugby Discussion II

The Lost Sheep

Scotland have announced their world cup warm up fixtures.
will play France and Georgia home and away.
Will be first "tier1" country to play a full test in Georgia

kuang1

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Scotland have announced their world cup warm up fixtures.
will play France and Georgia home and away.
Will be first "tier1" country to play a full test in Georgia

We knew France would feature strongly in Scotlands friendly schedule. I wonder will Scotland get to keep the gate receipts in Parc de Prince?!

When you see that Cipriani has been selected for the English summer tour and realise that things aren't going to get better under Jones!

Bridge93

Selected bloke still in school too

Squidgy Black

The players that are being rested are a bit of a weird call, he's rested Care, Wigglesworth, Haskell and Dan Cole, but players like Itoje, Farrell, Mako Vunipola who were on the Lions tour and played most of the 6 nations and a heap of club games are still selected. If anything I would've said rest the latter because they'll be the ones needing a break.

the perfect ten

Deleted User wrote: »

When you see that Cipriani has been selected for the English summer tour and realise that things aren't going to get better under Jones!

To be fair to the lad he has been one of the form outhalves in the Premiership this season.

jr86

Squidgy Black wrote: »

The players that are being rested are a bit of a weird call, he's rested Care, Wigglesworth, Haskell and Dan Cole, but players like Itoje, Farrell, Mako Vunipola who were on the Lions tour and played most of the 6 nations and a heap of club games are still selected. If anything I would've said rest the latter because they'll be the ones needing a break.

There's a fairly clear pattern there though, all bolded players are the wrong side of 30 and at least 2 of them won't make the RWC squad

stephen_n

jr86 wrote: »

There's a fairly clear pattern there though, all bolded players are the wrong side of 30 and at least 2 of them won't make the RWC squad

I would go as far as guessing those would be the players Eddie referred to after we beat them in Twickenham, that will never pull on an English jersey again, or words to that effect.

jr86

stephen_n wrote: »

I would go as far as guessing those would be the players Eddie referred to after we beat them in Twickenham, that will never pull on an English jersey again, or words to that effect.

very true.

I'd be amazed to see Haskell and Wigglesworth play again for sure. Care still has a bit to offer I'd have thought?

Cole has been sub-standard for a few years now and no harm if they put him out to pasture. I haven't seen a whole lot of Williams though at Exeter. Are Kieran Brookes and Paul Hill any use these days? Both were in 6n squads when they were relatively young

Don't think losing this tour is an option under any circumstances so Itoje, farrell et al. simply have to travel

stephen_n

jr86 wrote: »

very true.

I'd be amazed to see Haskell and Wigglesworth play again for sure. Care still has a bit to offer I'd have thought?

Cole has been sub-standard for a few years now and no harm if they put him out to pasture. I haven't seen a whole lot of Williams though at Exeter. Are Kieran Brookes and Paul Hill any use these days? Both were in 6n squads when they were relatively young

Don't think losing this tour is an option under any circumstances so Itoje, farrell et al. simply have to travel

Yeah fair enough, Care might not be done yet, that may be injury related?

RugbyLover123

Thought Haskell was England's best player against Ireland. Can see the argument for leaving wigglesworth and Care behind. Wigglesworth probably won't make the WC and he's probably looking for cover for Care in case of injury. Don't understand the exclusion of Don Armond yet including Brad Shields.
What's the point in bringing the young lad who's not even played a prem game? I get the apprentice role but that's a bit extreme.
Eddie Jones seems to be panicking, bringing back in Cipriani too.

jr86

There's a certain level of irony around Cipriani's inclusion

When he was in his pomp and could actually contribute, Martin Johnson didn't want to know

Now in his 30s and unlikely to have any real meaningful impact, yet he's included

the perfect ten

He is 30 - so not exactly old for an outhalf. If you are picking on form then with the season he has had with Wasps I think many would argue he deserves to be in the squad.

Bazzo

Patrice Collazo is leaving La Rochelle. Devastating for the them and a real shame in general

pickarooney

Bazzo wrote: »

Patrice Collazo is leaving La Rochelle. Devastating for the them and a real shame in general

Where's he off to?

sydthebeat

pickarooney wrote: »

Where's he off to?

Connacht



























:P

Squatter

Bazzo wrote: »

Patrice Collazo is leaving La Rochelle. Devastating for the them and a real shame in general

Is he leaving, or was he pushed? They were sensational until year end, then dropped like a stone. I don't think that they managed to qualify for the Champions Cup next season. (haven't seen last weekend's Top 14 highlights yet so don't know the final table)

Squatter

sydthebeat wrote: »

Connacht

:P

I strongly doubt that he'd be touchy-feelie enough for the Connacht gig!

prawnsambo

Squatter wrote: »

Is he leaving, or was he pushed? They were sensational until year end, then dropped like a stone. I don't think that they managed to qualify for the Champions Cup next season. (haven't seen last weekend's Top 14 highlights yet so don't know the final table)

They finished 7th, two points behind Castres.

I suspect that their depth wasn't good enough to sustain them through the pointy end of the season.

Bazzo

The Springboks have ditched the minimum caps requirement for oversees players to be selected.

Burkie1203

Bazzo wrote: »

The Springboks have ditched the minimum caps requirement for oversees players to be selected.

Munster and Ulster recruiters licking their lips at that ....

stephen_n

Bazzo wrote: »

The Springboks have ditched the minimum caps requirement for oversees players to be selected.

Surely that will just spark a bigger exodus of players to Europe.

awec

stephen_n wrote: »

Surely that will just spark a bigger exodus of players to Europe.

Maybe but there's no use having the rule if it's making your national team crap.

Squidgy Black

Rule wasn't really stopping it anyways, so I'd say they weighed up the pros vs cons and said f**k it.

stephen_n

awec wrote: »

Maybe but there's no use having the rule if it's making your national team crap.

Think the politics in SA rugby have devalued the jersey at this stage. This will damage their clubs in Super rugby though.

Squidgy Black

stephen_n wrote: »

Think the politics in SA rugby have devalued the jersey at this stage. This will damage their clubs in Super rugby though.

Their super rugby clubs are on the brink as it is though, Bulls are in serious trouble financially and the Sharks have had previous issues with debt back in 2016 where the ex-CEO came out and said they were on the brink of going bust.

With the talk of the 3 other SA teams potentially joining the Pro14 at the end of their super rugby agreement in 2020 this could be a factor too.

joseywhales

And with one foul stroke, Ireland lose the Quarter final.
Ah no but it does make them about 30% better.

Bazzo

https://twitter.com/nickmcardlefox/status/995188141634940929?s=19

Crusaders scored under the sticks immediately after this video ends, they also went on to win the match by 2 points...

Squatter

Bazzo wrote: »

https://twitter.com/nickmcardlefox/status/995188141634940929?s=19

Crusaders scored under the sticks immediately after this video ends, they also went on to win the match by 2 points...

What else would you expect from the Cheatin' Crusaders?

Yeah_Right

Can't believe they missed that. Who was the ref?

And you spelt Richie's surname wrong. It's G O D.