Rest in peace
Stephen Bale (rugby writer), Kevin Bowring (Wales), Alun Carter (Wales), Peter Crittle (Australia),
Ronnie Dawson (Ireland), Connor Garden-Bachop (New Zealand), Sid Going (New Zealand)
Derrick Grant (Scotland), Norm Hewitt (New Zealand), Barry John (Wales), Lewis Jones (Wales)
Ken Macaulay (Scotland), Courtenay Meredith (Wales), Lucien Mias (France), Derek Morgan (England)
Peter Morgan (Wales), Medhi Narjissi, (France U18), Tony O’Reilly (Ireland), John O’Shea (Wales)
Shayne Philpott (New Zealand), Malcolm Price (Wales), Jack Rowell (Bath/England coach)
Donald Scott (Scotland), Andrew Titheridge (commentator), Chris Wardlow (England)
JPR Williams (Wales), Tom Voyce (England).
I could probably have asked this here before but… anyone keep a count of number of rugby games they attend in a season. Including the pro games I'm working at I'm at 74 including tomorrow's Munster games. For most seasons going back the last 10 years I nearly always gwt to 150 or so in total. Just curious to see what others might get to.
Going into this weekend, Bristol and Saracens were 2nd and 3rd in the table. The former lost 0-38 at home and the latter 68-10. Saracens had a player sent off after 15 minutes but that still doesn't justify such a hammering.
Really hard to gauge the actual quality of the league.
What sort of team did Saracens put out?
Not a bad one. They lost a two key men to injury early on, and then got a Red.
A day to forget.
Really poor showing from Sarries.
Commentator (Flatman) lauding Sarries Captain Itoje for continuing to 'leave a shoulder' on Bath players 'despite the scoreline'.
Awesomely moronic comment.
He has a reputation he'll never shake in the eyes of many but 2024 Finn Russell is a brilliant player. Possibly the best passer and tactical kicker in the world, and far better work rate and commitment in defence than in his Racing years.
Agreed. Russell is also bringing up the level of the players around him. A joy to watch.
"Really hard to gauge the actual quality of the league."
If you have to ask yourself this question at this stage you already have your answer.
You have to ask yourself when Prendergast comes off after an hour for the Lions who would you trust more to see out a game/change the game, Russell or M.Smith? No brainer really.
He's a fantastic player.
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I doubt Farrell will risk Russell in any of the midweek matches, even for 20 minutes.
Exactly, that's why im talking about the test matches!
The L'Equipe team of the year is bizzare, well from the Irish guys picked anyway. Furlong barely played, Aki was fine I guess and Porter is consistently good but there's a guy called Ox Niche playing rugby at LH these days.
I would of had Doris as probably the only Irish player , maybe Beirne too.
15 Will Jordan (New Zealand), 14 Cheslin Kolbe (South Africa), 13 Bundee Aki (Ireland), 12 Jordie Barrett (New Zealand), 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey (France), 10 Thomas Ramos (France), 9 Antoine Dupont (France), 8 Ardie Savea (New Zealand), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit (South Africa), 6 Francois Cros (France), 5 Emmanuel Meafou (France), 4 Eben Etzebeth (South Africa), 3 Tadhg Furlong (Ireland), 2 Peato Mauvaka (France), 1 Andrew Porter (Ireland)
Hmmmm …..
Some bizarre picks in the pack, tbh.
Is that team of the year 2024 or team of the season 23/24? Looks like it should be team of the year 2023.
That's the readers' team. The writers' one is a bit less rubbish.
Squidgy Rugby talked bit Sam Prendergast as potential Lions bolter. Makes sense.
Assuming he gets a lot of 6N and Champions Cup time, he could well be in contention. It's far more likely he'll have a solid season that outlines his potential for the future rather than becoming the best 10 in the British Isles straight away. But if it went better than expected, he could well be a Lions bolter
Could see it. Russell and Marcus Smith pretty much nailed on bar injury. He is probably up against Owen Farrell and Finn Smith for the third spot imo. Would take Farrell as things stand but a long run in Europe and strong 6 Nations might change things for Prendergast.
Owen Farrell has had a season to forget so far. On form, there's no way he should travel with the Lions. Even Midi had him in their Top 10 transfer flops this season.
Antoine Frisch is no 3 on the Midi Olympique flops of the season list as well.
They have a flops list? That harsh!!
Yeah, particularly as Farrell had been injured since November.
Joey back w Bordeaux so his injury can’t be too bad. Got a yellow on 60 and was replaced subsequently. Not sure if that was tactical or injury related.
Pure bollox talking about him being on the Lions team at this stage.
It may come to pass but the lad has barely played for Leinster and has only had a few glorified friendlies for Ireland.
Any talk of this right now is overhyped nonsense.
That's kinda what everyone is saying, no? If he plays well for Leinster, and then is selected at 10 for Ireland and also does well there, he enters the conversation?
No one is saying he's a definite, they're saying he has an outside chance if everything goes his way. Is it pure bollox to say that?
Saw the Google translate of this, fairly excoriating.
He's the first choice 10 for one of the 4 teams the Lions are selected from. He is, by default, in the conversation for the squad.
