General Rugby Discussion

Machenaud makes amends! Wow!

Looks like that's that for Toulon. Racing MUST get this lineout.

Delighted to see Toulon de-throned!

Good enough for you Toulon. Regardless of the money Racing have spent (and they're as bad as Toulon), it's still f*cking satisfying.

Delighted for Racing - I really thought they'd bottle it.

neelia11 wrote: »

why is ali williams wearing a racing92 blazer

He said he's working with the club.

Buer wrote: »

Given the success of islanders in the UK, it's a wonder as to why Irish provinces haven't really tapped them up for NIQ spots. Leicester have 3 island born players starting in their back line today and all have looked very dangerous, having a big impact on the game. Stade have another starter in Nayacalevu.

Off the top of my head, there isn't a single island born player currently at an Irish province. I understand they can be viewed as volatile, risky signings who might struggle to settle into life here but given some of the success stories across the water, I'm surprised we haven't brought a few in.

There's Nick Williams, Saili, Ah You, Naoupu, Aki. All NZ born but PI heritage.

I agree the provinces are better off going for the likes of Heenan and Ah You. Guys who haven't really played pro rugby in NZ. They'd pick them up for cheap as opposed to Saili and Piutau. Nathan Hughes is a great example. Great bit of business by Wasps.

Del.Monte wrote: »

And it won't be "Dan Carter's" Racing 92 based on today's performance. I hate to say it but Saracens are looking like champion material.

Saracens vs Leicester in the final by my reckoning.

I think they'll give it a good shot but I don't see Leicester beating that Racing team outside of Welford Road even if it is only an hour away.

SF have been very poor this season and were exposed today but Racing are a totally different prospect. They went toe to toe with a back row of Smith, Armitage and Vermeulen today and came out on top.

Leicester won't be able to live with that Racing pack. They conceded a lot of possession to SF today whose back row isn't in the same league at all.I can see Masoe dominating the breakdown against them.

The ruck statistic for today was Racing won 89 from 91 of their rucks. That's fantastic ball retention and control against the best back row the tournament has seen. I don't see Fitzgerald, O'Connor and McCaffery being able to influence the game enough to give the Leicester backs a crack at opening Racing up.

Final is down in Lyon too. I'd put Racing as my favourites (marginally) at this time.

pickarooney wrote: »

Fitzgerald, O'Connor and McCafferty and not a drop of Irish blood between them.

None relevant, anyway!

O'Connor is English qualified and McCaffrey will be in a year which makes it all the more odd.

It irks me that we p*ss around with high risk project players like Roux, VDH and Borlase when there are guys like Fitzgerald who are willing to move to this part of the world. He was someone that was noted by people on these pages several years ago and highlighted as someone we should be looking at. He was excelling regularly for the Chiefs when they were a top S15 side. To see him succeed in Leicester is irritating. Leinster were fluting around with Quinn Roux and wasting money on Tuqiri before they had to fork out for proven quality in Mike McCarthy.

The other guy I was shouting for the IRFU to bring to a province was Josh Strauss. He was captain of the Lions, turning in quality showings regularly despite being in a poor side. I figured he must not be available. I was gobsmacked when he went to Glasgow who, at the time, were not a very successful team. I could not understand why Ulster weren't all over him like a rash to replace Wannenburg who left Ulster at the same time.

I do think our identification of talent to bring here is really questionable. As a nation, we're very active on the project player front. It's bewildering how we managed to waste multiple spots and cash on players who were never going to cut it.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

So... it was Sexton holding Racing back these past few seasons.

Sexton wasn't on the field when Racing went off their feet following pick and drive after pick and drive with one minute left and Nigel Owens reffing against Saracens last year.

CatFromHue wrote: »

During the RWC years the SH teams don't play too many games.

Think there was only 3 in the Tri Nations and no June tour.

You're right. I can't remember if the Aussies played any games before the RC. Everyone just played each other once and then there was an extra Bledisloe and SA played Argentina as a RWC warmup. So only 2 home games each and also less tv/advertising revenue compared to a regular year with at least 6 home tests.