Why is rugby/the Irish rugby team so popular?

I think you have switched the term skill for the term entertainment in your mind.

As a rugby fan, I would prefer to watch an attacking game like Ireland NZ or the France NZ game last night to the Ireland team of a few years ago when they were not nearly as good to watch. But entertainment isn't a synonym for skill.

You've cleared up why you undervalue defensive skills. Thanks for that (you didn't tell me why you asked the question I answered in your last post though) . I disagree with your criteria for skill. I appreciate the other skills that gonig to making a team work. But I'm an actual rugby fan. I don't claim to be a superfan, but I appreciate more about the game than attacking and making big runs.

If a player shows great skill in attacking, and a defender successfully defeats their skillful attack, who has shown more skill? Presumably you think the more entertaining player has shown more skill?

Maybe you're right, maybe not. Time will tell.

But I can tell you one thing, the rugby fans will be much more likely to say, 'disappointing but, shur they did their best. Need to improve for the 6N'. And the people who dislike rugby will act much more upset and how the tram are shyte and let everyone down, elite sport, over hyped, marketing, sheep, rugby's a terrible sport anyway, no skill - basically a rehash of this kind of thread.

Let's not pretend this thread is anything other than one of the biannual threads giving an opportunity for non-rugby fans to air their grievances with rugby and offer reasons why people who take enjoyment from rugby are wrong to do so.

Watched France v nz and Wales v Australia too

No silverware to play for, but to the players and the Dfan's, these games absolutely mattered in the moment

Ultimately sport is meaningless and so is life. But in the moment of a heroic victory, or a narrow defeat, or a humiliation, elite sports like rugby certainly can spark intense feelings of shared pride, or joy, or sadness.

Of course the same emotions can be attached to local and lower tier sports. They're just not so widely shared

Yeah the GAA is by far the most popular sport. As a rugby fan I've absolutely no doubt that the GAA sports are dominant in Irish hearts and minds.

I'd say in terms of international sports then rugby is probably the main one at the moment while the soccer team isn't doing well. If the Irish soccer team were competing at a relative level, getting to tournaments and Irish domestic soccer could compete in any way in Europe, then soccer would win by default.

Rugby has great media coverage. No doubt that helps put it in people's consciousness. I suppose casual fans judge it interesting enough to watch. Otherwise they wouldn't watch it.

You asked if a scrumhalf is kore skilled than a prop. I answered tour question and asked why you asked the question but you didn't respond.

Presumably poor defensive skill can allow an attacker to score without much skill? But ultimately, if you discount or can't identify defensive skill in rugby then you'll under rate lots of players. But more importantly you'll also miss about half the game of rugby so I'm not sure you're in a position to judge the skill involved if you're only rating them on half the game.

My apologies, I asked it to see if you valued a props skillset and importance to the team over the player who touches the ball most during a game. It still makes no sense to me that the fella who touches the ball the most is less skilled than any other player on the pitch.

Yeah obviously poor defensive skill can allow attackers to score. Soccer and football have defensive sides to it too, it's not just rugby by the way.

What position did you play when you played yourself?

They should be the most important players seen as they are on the ball more than anyone else.

So maybe tight head props are super skilful but the rest of the team isn't then😂

Definitely the most important player on the field... (disclaimer, posted by an ex tighthead prop!)

Never played it competitively.

There is skill to defending but I think you are over estimating how much skill there is to the game.

John Hayes earning 100 caps at the top level after only taking up the sport at 18 is a good example of the difficulty of mastering the skills of the game, which was my point. It's still a great game though.