The Rugby Union Society
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Ethereal
Isn't that ~"fat bastards who need a rest" ? 
Like I said, it was your implication!
Thought I'd revive this soc. with 2 non-6N discussions:
1) Friday's Magners game between the Ospreys and Ulster was postponed because the Ospreys claimed they couldn't field enough front row players. Do we think this should be allowed? My initial reaction is that they should draft props from Neath and Swansea? Is that not what the region system is for?
I'm not just Osprey-bashing here, but this is (albeit coincidentally) another in a long line of issues the Ospreys have got into this season. As a Munster fan, if we postponed a game because we had no players, I'd be rather peeved. Surely Ospreys have a duty to honour the fixture, there are enough good semi-pro teams in the region to draw from. I remember last year Worcester had the same problem and we signed a couple of props from Moseley who saw us through the injury crisis.
I'm not necessarily suggesting there is anything sinister going on here, I just think that postponing a game for this reason, on a 6N weekend of all times, is just bad form.
2) In the Super 14 recently, there was a scoreline of Cheifs 72-65 Lions. Is a basketball scoreline like this bad for the game?
Those that saw it will know that the pace of the game was just too much for the defences to handle. Are the rules now weighted too far to the attacking side?
1) Friday's Magners game between the Ospreys and Ulster was postponed because the Ospreys claimed they couldn't field enough front row players. Do we think this should be allowed? My initial reaction is that they should draft props from Neath and Swansea? Is that not what the region system is for?
I'm not just Osprey-bashing here, but this is (albeit coincidentally) another in a long line of issues the Ospreys have got into this season. As a Munster fan, if we postponed a game because we had no players, I'd be rather peeved. Surely Ospreys have a duty to honour the fixture, there are enough good semi-pro teams in the region to draw from. I remember last year Worcester had the same problem and we signed a couple of props from Moseley who saw us through the injury crisis.
I'm not necessarily suggesting there is anything sinister going on here, I just think that postponing a game for this reason, on a 6N weekend of all times, is just bad form.
2) In the Super 14 recently, there was a scoreline of Cheifs 72-65 Lions. Is a basketball scoreline like this bad for the game?
Those that saw it will know that the pace of the game was just too much for the defences to handle. Are the rules now weighted too far to the attacking side?
pinkpenguin
2) In the Super 14 recently, there was a scoreline of Cheifs 72-65 Lions. Is a basketball scoreline like this bad for the game?
Those that saw it will know that the pace of the game was just too much for the defences to handle. Are the rules now weighted too far to the attacking side?
Those that saw it will know that the pace of the game was just too much for the defences to handle. Are the rules now weighted too far to the attacking side?
Well isn't one of the reasons people like League because of the relatively simpler and higher scoring (particularly tries) nature of the game? I didn't watch the game, and have no idea on how the points were scored, but I'm going to assume a there were a lot of tries scored due to the fast paced nature of the game. And I think that makes for an overall far better spectator game... a large amount of a team's points coming from penalties doesn't make for a brilliant spectator game.
And certainly, that isn't a score reflected in the Northern Hemisphere games. In fact, it was more than likely a freak occurrence.
Right! Another 6N gone, so here's looking forward to the rest of the season.
There looks to be a(nother) dogfight at the bottom of the Premiership between Wuss, Sale and Leeds. Hoping the Warriors can drag themselves out of this completely disasterous run of form, but I'm not sure I can see it happen. Leeds are winning everything and Sale beat Wasps on Friday. Perhaps our luck has finally run out
On the bright side, we have both Sale and Leeds in our run in, so it's not like our future isn't in our hands, and all our signings (including England's favourite fatty fly half and Neil Best) will be with us next year regardless of relegation or not, so yo-yo back to the Premiership seems promising. I couldn't care less about what's going on at the top of the table
For Munster, it's going to be a vital couple of weeks. Home game on Good Friday vs. Leinster will obviously be massive, especially considering the 30-0 drubbing we received earlier in the season in Dublin. Then it's a home match vs. the Saints in the HEC Quarters, which will be interesting. An in-form Munster should see them off easily, but with Foden, Ashton and Murray in great form, we may be struggling a bit. I hope the Irish internationals will come back with some scores to settle - I fully expect ROG especially to fight his way back to form, especially vs. Sexton next week. Leinster have a tough away QF in Clermont that I can't see them winning, especially having lost BOD for 6 weeks with medial knee damage.
I'm not especially confident for Ireland in the summer, particularly in New Zealand, but I would be happy with 3 losses if our pack actually fronted up and we didn't just rely on BOD and Tommy Bowe to keep us in games.
What do you guys expect from your clubs for the rest of the season then? Where will your international sides go from here?
Also - Here's a plug for the Women's World Cup this year. All the games are held in London in late August, with the final being (insultingly) held at the Twickenham Stoop. I hope you can all keep an eye out on the coverage, I think Sky are showing all of England's games. England may go in as favourites (or second just to NZ) after their incredibly impressive Grand Slam. Ireland look the next strongest of the home nations, with Canada and the USA also being strong condenders and potential semi finalists.
www.scrumqueens.com is a great site for women's international rugby, including video highlights of England's games if you are intrigued about the standard.
There looks to be a(nother) dogfight at the bottom of the Premiership between Wuss, Sale and Leeds. Hoping the Warriors can drag themselves out of this completely disasterous run of form, but I'm not sure I can see it happen. Leeds are winning everything and Sale beat Wasps on Friday. Perhaps our luck has finally run out
On the bright side, we have both Sale and Leeds in our run in, so it's not like our future isn't in our hands, and all our signings (including England's favourite fatty fly half and Neil Best) will be with us next year regardless of relegation or not, so yo-yo back to the Premiership seems promising. I couldn't care less about what's going on at the top of the table For Munster, it's going to be a vital couple of weeks. Home game on Good Friday vs. Leinster will obviously be massive, especially considering the 30-0 drubbing we received earlier in the season in Dublin. Then it's a home match vs. the Saints in the HEC Quarters, which will be interesting. An in-form Munster should see them off easily, but with Foden, Ashton and Murray in great form, we may be struggling a bit. I hope the Irish internationals will come back with some scores to settle - I fully expect ROG especially to fight his way back to form, especially vs. Sexton next week. Leinster have a tough away QF in Clermont that I can't see them winning, especially having lost BOD for 6 weeks with medial knee damage.
I'm not especially confident for Ireland in the summer, particularly in New Zealand, but I would be happy with 3 losses if our pack actually fronted up and we didn't just rely on BOD and Tommy Bowe to keep us in games.
What do you guys expect from your clubs for the rest of the season then? Where will your international sides go from here?
Also - Here's a plug for the Women's World Cup this year. All the games are held in London in late August, with the final being (insultingly) held at the Twickenham Stoop. I hope you can all keep an eye out on the coverage, I think Sky are showing all of England's games. England may go in as favourites (or second just to NZ) after their incredibly impressive Grand Slam. Ireland look the next strongest of the home nations, with Canada and the USA also being strong condenders and potential semi finalists.
www.scrumqueens.com is a great site for women's international rugby, including video highlights of England's games if you are intrigued about the standard.
Talking of Munster, i watched the last 5 minutes of their game against Scarlets the other day. Scarlets were 6 points behind in closing minutes, a player broke the line, got into the 22 and was obviously tripped by the last man for Munster's leg (Yellow card and penalty) but no it wasn't seen. 30 seconds to a minute later in the same move the Scarlets scrum half went to pass the ball out of the ruck and a munster player kicked it out fairly obviously (Parra and Byrne for sinbinned for almost identical offences in the 6N). Wasn't seen, knock on given and game was over as time was up. I was fairly disgusted by that as Scarlets were cheated out of a potential win. Didn't watch most of it so didn't know who was the better side throughout but it annoyed me anyhow to see such obvious cheating which wasn't even seen!
benmh92
Talking of Munster, i watched the last 5 minutes of their game against Scarlets the other day. Scarlets were 6 points behind in closing minutes, a player broke the line, got into the 22 and was obviously tripped by the last man for Munster's leg (Yellow card and penalty) but no it wasn't seen. 30 seconds to a minute later in the same move the Scarlets scrum half went to pass the ball out of the ruck and a munster player kicked it out fairly obviously (Parra and Byrne for sinbinned for almost identical offences in the 6N). Wasn't seen, knock on given and game was over as time was up. I was fairly disgusted by that as Scarlets were cheated out of a potential win. Didn't watch most of it so didn't know who was the better side throughout but it annoyed me anyhow to see such obvious cheating which wasn't even seen!
It's Munster - standard.
Like Austin Healy said last night - if it's not seen, it isn't cheating...
pinkpenguin
It's Munster - standard.
Like Austin Healy said last night - if it's not seen, it isn't cheating...
Like Austin Healy said last night - if it's not seen, it isn't cheating...
That's kinda like saying gouging isn't bad after all. Awful statement from Healey there! And it was obvious, right in front of the referee stuff which i found odd in that game!
benmh92
That's kinda like saying gouging isn't bad after all. Awful statement from Healey there! And it was obvious, right in front of the referee stuff which i found odd in that game!
Tbh I'm of the idea that breaking the tules with intent to cause harm is absolutely disgusting and should be met with bans upwards of 6 months - ie gouging.
But professional fouls is an area I'm not that sure about. Who hasn't held onto the ball for a split second longer in a game? Who hasn't sneakily reached round a ruck and pulled the ball back? Stuff like that I don't think is too bad, yeah the refs don't always see it, but it's part of the game I suppose. And this is coming from a Munster fan who was so blatantly robbed of the chance of winning the HCup by Neil Back. Stuff like diving is really irritating to me though. I can't really justify why I hate that more than basic slowing the ball down, I think it's just because the ruck is almost fair game, and if you can get away with cheating then go for it. A dive can completely rob a side though, so it feels a little worse.
Some stuff is pure stupidity by the players though. Like wtf Flannery was doing. I dunno if his intention was to actually hurt him, but my basic issue with what he did is that it was totally stupid, he could (and should) have been redded and damaged his team's chances!
All in all, I'm relatively easy with minimal cheating and bending the rules if you can get away with it, as long as it's safe.
pinkpenguin
Tbh I'm of the idea that breaking the tules with intent to cause harm is absolutely disgusting and should be met with bans upwards of 6 months - ie gouging.
But professional fouls is an area I'm not that sure about. Who hasn't held onto the ball for a split second longer in a game? Who hasn't sneakily reached round a ruck and pulled the ball back? Stuff like that I don't think is too bad, yeah the refs don't always see it, but it's part of the game I suppose. And this is coming from a Munster fan who was so blatantly robbed of the chance of winning the HCup by Neil Back. Stuff like diving is really irritating to me though. I can't really justify why I hate that more than basic slowing the ball down, I think it's just because the ruck is almost fair game, and if you can get away with cheating then go for it. A dive can completely rob a side though, so it feels a little worse.
Some stuff is pure stupidity by the players though. Like wtf Flannery was doing. I dunno if his intention was to actually hurt him, but my basic issue with what he did is that it was totally stupid, he could (and should) have been redded and damaged his team's chances!
All in all, I'm relatively easy with minimal cheating and bending the rules if you can get away with it, as long as it's safe.
But professional fouls is an area I'm not that sure about. Who hasn't held onto the ball for a split second longer in a game? Who hasn't sneakily reached round a ruck and pulled the ball back? Stuff like that I don't think is too bad, yeah the refs don't always see it, but it's part of the game I suppose. And this is coming from a Munster fan who was so blatantly robbed of the chance of winning the HCup by Neil Back. Stuff like diving is really irritating to me though. I can't really justify why I hate that more than basic slowing the ball down, I think it's just because the ruck is almost fair game, and if you can get away with cheating then go for it. A dive can completely rob a side though, so it feels a little worse.
Some stuff is pure stupidity by the players though. Like wtf Flannery was doing. I dunno if his intention was to actually hurt him, but my basic issue with what he did is that it was totally stupid, he could (and should) have been redded and damaged his team's chances!
All in all, I'm relatively easy with minimal cheating and bending the rules if you can get away with it, as long as it's safe.
Yeh i agree there really!
pinkpenguin
Tbh I'm of the idea that breaking the tules with intent to cause harm is absolutely disgusting and should be met with bans upwards of 6 months - ie gouging.
But professional fouls is an area I'm not that sure about. Who hasn't held onto the ball for a split second longer in a game? Who hasn't sneakily reached round a ruck and pulled the ball back? Stuff like that I don't think is too bad, yeah the refs don't always see it, but it's part of the game I suppose. And this is coming from a Munster fan who was so blatantly robbed of the chance of winning the HCup by Neil Back. Stuff like diving is really irritating to me though. I can't really justify why I hate that more than basic slowing the ball down, I think it's just because the ruck is almost fair game, and if you can get away with cheating then go for it. A dive can completely rob a side though, so it feels a little worse.
Some stuff is pure stupidity by the players though. Like wtf Flannery was doing. I dunno if his intention was to actually hurt him, but my basic issue with what he did is that it was totally stupid, he could (and should) have been redded and damaged his team's chances!
All in all, I'm relatively easy with minimal cheating and bending the rules if you can get away with it, as long as it's safe.
But professional fouls is an area I'm not that sure about. Who hasn't held onto the ball for a split second longer in a game? Who hasn't sneakily reached round a ruck and pulled the ball back? Stuff like that I don't think is too bad, yeah the refs don't always see it, but it's part of the game I suppose. And this is coming from a Munster fan who was so blatantly robbed of the chance of winning the HCup by Neil Back. Stuff like diving is really irritating to me though. I can't really justify why I hate that more than basic slowing the ball down, I think it's just because the ruck is almost fair game, and if you can get away with cheating then go for it. A dive can completely rob a side though, so it feels a little worse.
Some stuff is pure stupidity by the players though. Like wtf Flannery was doing. I dunno if his intention was to actually hurt him, but my basic issue with what he did is that it was totally stupid, he could (and should) have been redded and damaged his team's chances!
All in all, I'm relatively easy with minimal cheating and bending the rules if you can get away with it, as long as it's safe.
Prior to the game turning professional, the penalties were much more severe. Then when the money came in, the notion that you couldn't take away someone's income led to shorter bans.
If I had my way I'd take us back to how it used to be. Seeing the game now almost makes me glad I can't play any more.
Ethereal
Prior to the game turning professional, the penalties were much more severe. Then when the money came in, the notion that you couldn't take away someone's income led to shorter bans.
If I had my way I'd take us back to how it used to be. Seeing the game now almost makes me glad I can't play any more.
If I had my way I'd take us back to how it used to be. Seeing the game now almost makes me glad I can't play any more.
You'd seriously like a return to the amateur era?
Smack
You'd seriously like a return to the amateur era?
Yes, I would.
Because I preferred the game then.
benmh92
Talking of Munster, i watched the last 5 minutes of their game against Scarlets the other day. Scarlets were 6 points behind in closing minutes, a player broke the line, got into the 22 and was obviously tripped by the last man for Munster's leg (Yellow card and penalty) but no it wasn't seen. 30 seconds to a minute later in the same move the Scarlets scrum half went to pass the ball out of the ruck and a munster player kicked it out fairly obviously (Parra and Byrne for sinbinned for almost identical offences in the 6N). Wasn't seen, knock on given and game was over as time was up. I was fairly disgusted by that as Scarlets were cheated out of a potential win. Didn't watch most of it so didn't know who was the better side throughout but it annoyed me anyhow to see such obvious cheating which wasn't even seen!
100% agree with you. I'm a Cardiff Blues fan so obviously needed to see the Scarlets lose but I felt terrible for them. He could have done some serious damage with that insane trip.
Most teams when on a final warning..it's a final warning. Munster and Leicester seem to have multiple final warnings. I don't like Munster and I think the ref lets them get away with alot more than most teams. They are masters at it and I guess you can't blame them, you have to blame the officials. Two yellow card offences missed by all officials? Not Munsters fault but a dangerous trip. AWJ was carded for a silly trip and I completely agreed with the decision yet when you see a trip like that and no card it angers you. It's not the teams faults, its the lack of consistency with the officials.
As for Austin Healeys comment? Well it's Austin Healey.
pinkpenguin
1) Friday's Magners game between the Ospreys and Ulster was postponed because the Ospreys claimed they couldn't field enough front row players. Do we think this should be allowed? My initial reaction is that they should draft props from Neath and Swansea? Is that not what the region system is for?
QUOTE]
I agree. They should have brought in players from these teams. Cardiff only had two fit props available for the semi final against Gloucester. We had to call upon players from Glamorgan Wanderers so why can't they do the same? Not to mention one of their props is unavailable due to a ban.
Sorry to interrupt discussion guys, just thought I'd introduce myself as I just found this thread! Loved rugby union since I was a lil'un, although I live in France now so support teams over here when internationals aren't on. Desperately trying to get tickets to see Toulon or Brive play, but the local clubs are good in the mean time 
Formerly LieDown
Sorry to interrupt discussion guys, just thought I'd introduce myself as I just found this thread! Loved rugby union since I was a lil'un, although I live in France now so support teams over here when internationals aren't on. Desperately trying to get tickets to see Toulon or Brive play, but the local clubs are good in the mean time
Welcome.
Also, West Wing ftw!!!!
Funny quote.pinkpenguin
Welcome.
Also, West Wing ftw!!!! Funny quote.
Welcome.
Also, West Wing ftw!!!!
Funny quote.Thanks for the welcome!
West Wing rules!!!! indeed it does
You've got to love a bit of Josh and Toby.Strettle moves to Saracens next year...
As much as it pains me to say it, I think they're going to be a rather strong force next year - more so than this year at least, should be a lot less boring too.
Tonga'uiha has been a top performer for the Saints all year and it's going to be difficult for them to find a replacement although I have no doubt they've probably got the strength in depth to cope well. Kelly Brown was outstanding in the 6N and we all know how good Matt Stevens is when he's on form - hopefully he'll come back with a vengeance following the ban.
As much as it pains me to say it, I think they're going to be a rather strong force next year - more so than this year at least, should be a lot less boring too.
Fellow Englishmen Richard Wigglesworth and Matt Stevens, Scotland flanker Kelly Brown and Tongan prop Soane Tonga'uiha have already joined
Tonga'uiha has been a top performer for the Saints all year and it's going to be difficult for them to find a replacement although I have no doubt they've probably got the strength in depth to cope well. Kelly Brown was outstanding in the 6N and we all know how good Matt Stevens is when he's on form - hopefully he'll come back with a vengeance following the ban.
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