Shefwedfan wrote: » Why would it lose them customer? People really that sad they would change networks over an ad?
shootermacg wrote: » SA have loosened their stance on the away player rule. Maybe in the future we should too. It's a moot point anyway, we currently don't really have a glut of international class players coming through to the point where only having 4 teams becomes a bottle-neck.
is_that_so wrote: » SA players are basically in the same timezone and what they are losing is top quality talent. In our case it's more likely to be players unhappy with their place in the pecking order, players heading for the twilight of their careers or just greedy bast***s!
Squidgy Black wrote: » We definitely shouldn't, and it's completely different circumstances that lead South African players to leaving the continent altogether, not just money but also economic/political reasons that they wanted to move away. If you look at the 23 named for tomorrow, only 6/16 of the white players are playing their club rugby in South Africa.
shootermacg wrote: » I'm not sure what your points are here. What we have seen is players hanging on to their central contracts into old age. There's probably a happy medium somewhere. Don't forget people love playing for their province and country and sure, if they decide to leave in their 30's, that isn't a bad thing.
Faugheen wrote: » If you ‘loosen’ the rule then more players leave the provinces. People really have a hard time grasping that. I’m a Leinster fan before I’m an Ireland fan, like many others on here I’m sure with their respective province, and I want to see the best players playing for my province and against the best players on other provinces. You want to play for Ireland you play in Ireland. The rule has worked and there’s nobody outside of the country it’s worth bending it for.
shootermacg wrote: » Should the means of production out strip the usage, then you sell the surplus.
shootermacg wrote: » From an Irish perspective, having a bigger pool of players should never been seen as a bad thing. Also, we have plenty of players who play for their provinces with no central contract, so maybe these players aren't quite the capitalists you make them out to be.
blinding wrote: » At least Owen Farrell can tell us ( Andy Farrell ) how England have become so good .
irishbucsfan wrote: » Why on earth would playing without a central contract mean that, totally irrelevant.
shootermacg wrote: » Mean what Ireland having a bigger pool of players? It should be obvious, if you have 4 provinces and another 15 players playing outside Ireland, then you have more to pick from. Isn't it the Irish team that generates the income anyway. The whole province thing became a bit of a farce when they stopped playing their first teams in the inter provincials.
connachta wrote: » The only Farrell deseving a talk tonight is Tom Farrell Will be precisely 30 y.o and should be in RWC in 2023 TBF the rest of Connacht team looks light tonight, but Tom has a good chance to impress! Dillane may too.
Neil3030 wrote: » It'll be interesting to see how England perform in the final, and whether they emptied the tank against NZ. It's possibly hindsight biasing things, but Ireland just seem to be a level below NZ and Eng in terms of skill and athleticism. We're wiley grafters, and will always have it in our locker to beat these teams on our day when a few things go our way. But we simply don't have the speed, power and ball handling across the team that seems to now be the standard at the very top. And I don't think you can compensate; if you're not winning the collisions and moving the ball quickly into the very short-lived space that ensues, I don't think there's any way to consistently make up for that. And sadly it just doesn't seem to be in our DNA. We have been a fairly homogenous gene pool until quite recently, not exactly tuned to produce power and size. Our tiny population also puts us at a distinct disadvantage. It really doesn't look good going forward. The game is moving increasingly toward NFL levels of athleticism and attrition, and I fear we'll be left behind.
The Rape of Lucretia wrote: » Just because the wc squad didn't do better in Japan doesn't mean they weren't nevertheless the best available. Disappointment is no grounds to just chop and change the squad or go picking Connacht players just because they are playing well for Connacht. Not picking on Connacht particularly, but in truth there isn't a single player there within range of displacing one of the 1st choice Japan 23. Debatably justified when Connacht the team was winning the P14, but very few of them stuck despite being given chances. In hindsight, were Balham, Dillane etc just a misguided 'reward' chance, and the likes of persistently not picking TOH, and the speedy wingers, entirely justified despite the clamour for them at the time?
Shefwedfan wrote: » Dillane is only 25, when Toner was 25 most people said he wouldn't make it. I really like Dillane as a player and I hope he comes on now and really pushs for a starting spot in the Irish team. I always liked him as a player. He had a great start and then went out of form for a while which was understandable but I think this is his season to push on..... Dillane, Ryan, Henderson, Kleyn would give some nice options
VayNiice wrote: » I'm very keen to see what way Farrell moves forward with our back row. Given how young and powerful the English back row is, we'll struggle to live with them for the foreseeable unless there are some big changes. I think of everyone, Dan Leavy's value has risen the most, despite not playing. We missed his physicality and aggression massively. But who knows if he'll ever reach the same level again after his injury? The only other Irish player who can come close to Leavy is Ruddock imo but he seems destined to live in POMs shadow. I despair to think of ever having to see a back row of POM, VdF and Stander again. I'm a big VdF fan but between the three of them theres zero attacking threat. I'd really like to see Farrell move on to new options at 6 and 8. POM and Stander have had a full year to revive their form and have trotted out ****e over and over. Picking a player because he's delivered against an opposition before 11 months ago and played like a drain since is not good enough. Instead of ripping the lads a new arse hole in the post match reviews and picking them again regardless they need to be dropped. That will drive performances far more. It'd be great to see Doris, Deegan or Rea get a chance this year.
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