General Rugby Discussion

Bigbok wrote: »

Schmidt doesn't have the pedigree that NZ want in their coaches so if he really wanted to coach them
He would have to go back to NZ for a few years and be successful
As a super rugby coach

Disagree. No, I don't think he would get the top job straight out (NZRU would have to break their own rules for starters), but AB assistant coach or Super Rugby definitely.

molloyjh wrote: »

Only 36k tickets sold for the weekends SF games in the Champions Cup. 16.5k for the Sarries-Wasps game and 19.5k for the Leicester-Racing game.

The fact that the competition is divided between 2 broadcasters and the money teams are taking over it looks like the interest levels have declined significantly. Racing wouldn't be known for their travelling support. Sarries wouldn't be known for their support in general. Wasps have moved for money reasons lately (seemingly successfully but surely this raises questions there). Only Leicester have any real tradition and support behind them of note. It's really bad news for the competition in general.

I think most of us would have predicted this when the music stopped and bums had to find seats. The broadcasting split came at the wrong time. Sky were really only hitting their straps with viewers and a relatively young tournament like this couldn't really be expected to generate more viewers with the lack of continuity the broadcasting 'deal' provided.

Premiership soccer can support such a split because there are so many games, but the rugby isn't big enough nor the games plentiful enough to persuade punters to fork out extra cash for games that they were previously seeing for less money. If people had subscribed to Sky for the HEC rugby, they'd be considering cancelling their subs since they'd be getting half as many games for the same price.

Then you have the situation where it's become an Anglo-French cup after the pool stages and that will cause a drift away too.

Wow that Jason Emery tackle, very lucky that Willie Le Roux escaped without injury.

Obvious red card (I'm sure there'll be some Highlanders fans somewhere shouting about intent or looking at the ball!)

CMOTDibbler wrote: »

I think most of us would have predicted this when the music stopped and bums had to find seats. The broadcasting split came at the wrong time. Sky were really only hitting their straps with viewers and a relatively young tournament like this couldn't really be expected to generate more viewers with the lack of continuity the broadcasting 'deal' provided.

Premiership soccer can support such a split because there are so many games, but the rugby isn't big enough nor the games plentiful enough to persuade punters to fork out extra cash for games that they were previously seeing for less money. If people had subscribed to Sky for the HEC rugby, they'd be considering cancelling their subs since they'd be getting half as many games for the same price.

Then you have the situation where it's become an Anglo-French cup after the pool stages and that will cause a drift away too.

An even bigger problem is that we now have access to less games even if we fork out for both subscriptions. Sky did a wonderful job covering the entire HEC and most of the Amlin. The Challenge Cup isn't getting a look in now. So we're paying more for less. And if we're honest the BT coverage is crap.

Add to that the rumours of BT being very unhappy with the viewing numbers for the AP (only a couple of months after being identified as underperforming on the soccer front by UEFA). So far the BT deal and the changes haven't been a roaring success. It's still early days obviously, but having such a good base to start from I'm sure there are plenty who are very disappointed with how this season is panning out. There's a 59k seater to fill next month in Lyon. I can see that being only half full at this rate.

molloyjh wrote: »

There's a 59k seater to fill next month in Lyon. I can see that being only half full at this rate.

The ticket prices for these semi-finals are a joke in fairness. To put it in context, a ticket for the Hill for Croke Park 2009 was €25. A premium level ticket was only €70.

irishbucsfan wrote: »

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x468bg7_jason-emery-s-crazy-air-tackle-on-willie-le-roux_sport#tab_embed

He jumped into Le Roux, wtf?!

thomond2006 wrote: »

The ticket prices for these semi-finals are a joke in fairness. To put it in context, a ticket for the Hill for Croke Park 2009 was €25. A premium level ticket was only €70.

I think people would have paid a lot more for Coke Park. That was the Munster/Lunster bandwagon at its peak and the height of the rivalry between two great sides. Not really comparable with anything in Europe today, if the Leicester/Wasps rivalry was there today it'd sell out somewhere like Wembley

former total wrote: »

Totally agree. In that instance, Emery had two choices, either jump and crash into him in the air, or stay on the ground and crash into him from below. Either way le Roux was getting creamed but not through any fault of Emery - but he'll pick up a citing for that I presume.

Is a red card not an automatic citing, or the same thing?

Paging .ak to explain why that wasn't a red card...

former total wrote: »

Totally agree. In that instance, Emery had two choices, either jump and crash into him in the air, or stay on the ground and crash into him from below. Either way le Roux was getting creamed but not through any fault of Emery - but he'll pick up a citing for that I presume.

The thing is it can happen either way. It all depends on who gets in the air first. Had Le Roux been positioned a little worse and Emery had gotten up before him then it could have been Emery who was taken out. As long as players are allowed jump and are competing for the ball this sort of thing will continue to happen. The only solutions are to prevent the chaser from competing, which is ridiculous, or prevent guys jumping, which is far more realistic.

I'm not sure a surface collision would be much better. The one thing the jump usually does is reduce the speed of the collision. If it was all grounded you'd have lots of people going fullspeed, head looking up into contact.

I am not saying it would be worse, I am just not confident it would be better.

former total wrote: »

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Don't think the rules need changing. Chasers are perfectly capable of being aware of the receivers.

"The only solution" is absolutely not to prevent chasers from competing or guys from jumping. The solution is for the guy who gets there second to time his chase better and compete legally, I've never had a problem doing it and neither have the vast majority of other players.

But that's exactly what the chaser is trying to do. There's no intent to take the jumper out, it's just a consequence of the play.

Except he's failed to do it due to his own carelessness and inability to be aware of the receiver.