they had a chance. 10-season chances actually, mor if you include Aironi. Never worked.
But the fact is it is not a URC state. Don't think Brive, Perpignan, Oyonnax, Worcester, Newcastle are really better not "progressing".
Only La Rochelle, Exeter, and on a lesser extent dare I say Connacht, moved from poor to good team
Toulon is probably the best example you'll find anywhere. They were in ProD2 when Boudjellal bought them, and had been bouncing up and down from that level for years prior to that. Their last success prior to his spending spree was 1992.
Complaint from staff of the club is the rumour
The coach with the best nickname in rugby
Only the good Dai Young
This is 100% a red card for Roos. Drives the player head first into the ground with force. Referee got it badly wrong by just giving him yellow.
Roos has done this a few times in the past before too. Remember he did the same thing to Harry Byrne last season and pussied out when a Leinster prop got in his face after.
Looks like the Benetton player was choking his teammate
Doesn't matter how the results go today the top 4 is finalised (Leinster, Ulster, Stormers, Glasgow), most games won is the first deciding factor if teams finish on the same points so Munster can't finish ahead of Glasgow, but still a fair bit to play for in the bottom 4.
Bulls (7) v Leinster (1)
Sharks (8) v Munster (5)
Glasgow (4) v Connacht (6)
Lions 50-30 Zebre
10 to go
The 1st 4 are set. Today will be interesting viewing. Ulster have come back strong since the lapse! Fair play to them. They have turned it around.
Dragons beating Scarlets at the moment. Bad season for Welsh regions alright
Wrong thread
Thank god for the South African teams.....they have really brought some excitement to this league....
The Welsh have been a disgrace.
My favourite part is the Welsh fans who still claim the league isnt good you find only ever watch the Welsh teams play...probably answered their own question there.
Should just join the GP as its a standard where they might actually stand a chance of winning a game or two...but I dont see why the GP would want them either.
The premiership is gash too. There's a couple of decent sides and thats it.
It is, that's why it would be a perfect place for the Welsh to be.
nothing.
QFs confirmed to be
Leinster Sharks
Glasgow Munster
Ulster Connacht
Stormers Bulls
So many games in the final round carried meaning for the knockouts.
Even Ospreys v Cardiff had meaning for the Welsh shield.
#bestleague
Genuine question.. Is there any precendent for a professional team being sent to an away game in season without having the senior coaches with them?
Apart from when coaches are unavailable due to suspension, or illness/personal reasons, has there been any precedent for this?
I think its time to get rid of the dragons and zebre....would improve the other welsh teams and beneton...make for an even better league.
The only way that Sharks qualify for next seasons Champions Cup is if they win the URC. That's an incredible level of under-performance relative to the strength of their squad.
Is there up to 3 potential slots so for teams who win URC, Champions Cup and Challenge Cup if not already qualified? Nevermind just spotted this which explains it:
https://www.unitedrugby.com/latest/news/urc-23-quarter-finals-set
On current standings, Bristol qualify for the Champion's Cup next season, finishing 8th in their league, and winning only 7 out of 18 games.
The automatic qualification for shield winners in the URC has it's pros and cons, but to be fair to Cardiff, they at least won 50% of their games this season.
Personally, I kind of like the place for shield winners, as it kept meaning in games right up to the end.
With their talent, Sharks have nobody to blame but themselves for not qualifying. Heck, they finished only three log points above Lions.
Quiet a few teams have done this this year.
Off the top of my head the sharks visit to Connacht had the Currie cup coaches with them.
Maybe their players just arent as good as they are made out to be.
This is some sort of GE jack welsh approach You cant reduce the Italians down to one team.
Bennetton have come on steadily and consistently over the last few years.
Italian rugby has improved and their u20s are in contention most years.
give zebra time and they could improve.
Yes, just Lions vs Zebre and Scarlets vs Dragons were for pride. Only downside is 60 point thrashing for understrength Leinster.
Mind you GP had Newcastle conceding 60 + points at home.
In case anyone else thought it interesting to see if the league table would be different if the shield home and away points were halved to try to eliminate the bias for teams in weaker shields, I did this myself and the only differences I found were that Connacht would be ahead of Bulls (taking wins into consideration), and Scarlets would be ahead of Ospreys.
I found those results surprising, I thought Glasgow would have benefitted a lot from having Zebre in their shield but it actually wouldn’t have mattered.
The only real impact would be Connacht playing away to Stormers instead of Ulster, and being higher ranked for home venue than Bulls if both met in the semis.
And we don't know yet, but it could have an impact on Champions Cup qualification too.
URC PLAY-OFFS: Quarter-Final Line-up
FRIDAY, MAY 5
Quarter-Final 2: Ulster (2) v Connacht (7)
Kingspan Stadium, Belfast
KO: 19:35 IRE & UK / 20:35 ITA & SA
Live on: TG4, SuperSport, ViaPlay, Premier Sports, URC.tv, FloRugby
SATURDAY, MAY 6
Quarter-Final 3: DHL Stormers (3) v Vodacom Bulls (6)
DHL Stadium, Cape Town
KO: 14:30 IRE & UK / 15:30 ITA & SA
Live on: SuperSport, TG4, ViaPlay, Premier Sports, URC.tv, FloRugby
Quarter-Final 1: Leinster (1) v Cell C Sharks (8)
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
KO: 17:00 IRE & UK / 18:00 ITA & SA
Live on: RTÉ, SuperSport, ViaPlay, Premier Sports, URC.tv, FloRugby
Quarter-Final 4: Glasgow Warriors (4) v Munster (5)
Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow
Friday night not an ideal time for any Connacht fans thinking of making the trip to Belfast. Not sure what URC have against matches on Sundays either.
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