2023 RWC Buildup, Squads, Fixtures 'etc'

If Tonga had some Portuguese flair and Portugal had some Tongan beef they’d be some team. 😁

Maybe mergers would keep the moaners happy 😁

Agree, sensible from Pearce.

Only way the Tongan averts contact there is by looking away in the tackle contact, which could be dangerous for other reasons.

I think Stevie Ferris is mistaken to refer to an effort to "eradicate" head-on-head contact. Without completely changing the nature of the game, they can never be eradicated. What we must strive for, is to depower them, lessen them and make them less injurious.

No point arguing with the eejits on here

It’s madness thinking that expanding the RWC to 24 and having absolute wasted teams like Namibia along to get **** hammerings is going to grow the game.

it.is.not.going.to.happen

as someone has said look at Italy- loads of 6 nations seasons- still useless

there are huge barriers to growing the game beyond its current core- putting on a near 2 month long “festival” where a whole month largely consists of uncompetitive batterings isn’t winning any converts.

some rugby fans get it- even Gerry thornley has seen the light- but the event junkies just want to believe it’s a real world cup

Pearce only reffing Tonga

Don't feed the troll. Been doing it all day on the Ryder Cup thread too.

That first SA try was bollocks. Thought it at the time, but didn't get to see a decent replay. No mark given, tap taken behind the ref's back, and he just let them do it. 9 times out of 10, that's called back.