honestly united

The independent report needs to be sensible the though, the French were marked down for having drugs tests as it would be bad if players get caught and also having officials from the T2 nations at matches

Ooft need to start saving now!! Awaiting the seethe from SA after being ranked first

wouldn't surprise me if it was, probably to justify adding a few extra €'s to the ticket prices

This is also billed as French Barbarians - i think only Trinc-Duh played in the first test for France, so very much not a full strength team, more a traditional tour mid week team, not seen who is playing for NZ

I dont think its over reaction, its just stating opinions. In the 2nd half every time we scored, Samoa replied within a couple of minutes. On pretty much every try. Basically we were scoring, getting the ball back from kick off, handing it over to Samoa then letting them score. Its not just the defence, its the inability to hold onto the ball for any length of time. As much as the all out attack is brilliant to watch, against the very best teams we need to be able to hold on to the ball for a decent length of time, as much as to give our players a bit of a breather so we are ready to launch the attacks. This is the weakest Samoa squad in memory, they have dropped from 8th in the world at the last WC seading (they were 2nd seeds in our group last world cup) down to 16th in 4 or 5 years. Yes they have just got a new coaching team in, but we had set of forwards in the 2nd half that, if it was Glasgow we would all be sitting knowing we would do well in the loose, but will get hammered in the scrum, yet didn't look under any pressure at any time in the scrum. Granted 1 try was never grounded, and Williams scored another as Harris was over eager to impress and flew out the line, but we should be putting down a marker in these games, not hanging on for victories. I dont want to come across as thinking Samoa are a walk in the park, we still need to turn up and play well, and after the Fiji game know all to well we can come unstuck against teams. However last year we ran up a good score via Georgia, who have convincingly beat Samoa home and away in the last year. I think its more an attitude thing, that we need to be at our best every game, not just doing enough to win

Even before we emptied the bench the defense was terrible round the fringes. I don't know if it was a strategy to have more players out wide but we were leaving huge gaps and if so the same Vs Oz and NZ we will get hammered. Although it was a different story in attack which was amazing. As had been said this is the worst samoan side in many a year, the are bottom of the table in the PI WC qualifiers and lost last year to Georgia.

To be fair the only suprises in the starting 15 selection are Marfo instead of Fagerson, and Toolis ahead of Swinson In terms of the bench, Bhatti and Turner I wouldn't want to be starting for Glasgow, nevermind in a Scotland squad, rest of bench is much of a muchness, Horne and Harris should be able to cover all the backs positions, makes a change from having a 10 and a back 3 player.

I get the impression someone at the SRU has decided that having a semi-pro set up under the Pro teams was a good idea, and has decided that they should create a new league and new teams.... ....without realising there are already a semi-pro clubs, playing in a league set up below the pro teams

From what I can gather from this thread is that the West Junior teams dont want to join the pyramid as their is no WoS senior league, which is the SFA's fault that one hasn't been set up, and if there was a WoS league they would have something to consider. The fact their are no senior teams in the WoS outwith the LL (with the exception of Bonnyton who have just joined the SoS league, Girvan were but are now junior) to have a WoS is hardly the SFA's fault. The ideal situation would be for the West Juniors to come across en masse as a bolt on under the LL as a WoS league, or if they could get 7 or 8 interested clubs to start a new WoS league if there is an objection. I mean it can be run any worse than the west juniors are at present.

I think the generating the fans is the biggest problem a 3rd team would have. As has been seen everywhere (except for the Wasps move which has been done exccellently) when you create a new franchise you never get the backing you think you will, and it takes years to develop. Look at the state of the pro teams in wales for example, as compared to the Irish. Irish went with the 4 pre-existing provicinces as a pro model and it has gone very well for them, the Welsh had a strong club set up, but went with districts and the fans were never that interested and many stuck with their clubs in the welsh league. I think Scotland defiately has the players and coaches to fill a 3rd team, i think the issue is more having the money to finance them. If Glasgow and Edinburgh were a bit more self sufficent (I think Glasgow could be with a larger ground) then it would be a possibility. Im not convinced by the 6 team semi pro league at all. The idea that there is a good quality semi-pro set up below the Pro Game is a sound idea, what they are putting in place isn't. I would maybe have gone with the best 8 current clubs and shared the money out between them each year, had promotion and relegation etc would have been a much better idea.

The Pacific islands get next to nothing for playing November tests, all the money goes to the host countries, some of the islanders playing for England are organising a whip round amongst the team to help pay the Fijians

For me the standalone movies have been as good if not better than the avengers or civil wR movies as there has been more emphasis on the characters rather than big action sequences. Dr Strange has been one of my favourites for example whereas age of ultron probably least favourite. Granted not as intense as Logan but still I feel got the mix of character and action spot on

Just noticed, on the Scotland front, that we now only have McInally, Turner and Cochrane as the hookers, I dont rate the first 2 (Turner is good in the loose, but not great at the set piece) and dont think I have seen Cochrane play yet.

Sutherland called up as well, Ford out too

Think he has just fallen that far down the pecking order. Was thinking the same myself, but yeah Tovey is ahead of him at least

You cant blame the SFA for the standard of the league, as its the best they can do with the current teams they have. Yes the juniors would improve the standad below LL (and the LL for that matter) which would be good for everyone. Thats the whole point, if the juniors joined en masse then there could be a discussion on a revised structure below the LL. If 10 or 15 west clubs decided they wanted to jump ship this summer, then there would be an argument for a WoS league, but if there is one then they would have to join the SoS. Although im sure an Auchinleck or any other top junior club could put up with one season in the SoS to get into the LL if Licensed.

It's a weakened Leinster side as well so I think it will be an interesting game

But being in the Juniors already is not a glass ceiling? Or more likely a huge concrete ceiling with no way through it and no where to go. At least in a pyramid if clubs want to progress they can do, if they dont they can stay in local leagues. Your complaint is that if you joined the pyramid, which at EoS or SoS level im sure the majority of clubs in the juniors would already have the required facilities, would require substantial financial input? On what exactly? Or that you would be moving from a local league, to .... playing in a local league? If junior clubs so wished they could stay year on year in the EoS, SoS or whatever equivalent if they dont go for licensing, which would be the exact same as the current super leagues.

I think Ireland up first is good as it is the toughest game and we should be able to put out our strongest team which should be good enough to beat Ireland. We have over a week until Samoa, then 10 days to Romania. Yes it's 4 days to Japan but our b team should be enough for Romania

World Cup draw is not too bad, Ireland, Japan, Europe 1 (Romania) and Play of winner (probably Samoa)

Bristol have been throwing the cash around since relegation, wouldn't be suprised if Grey was the first of the next wave of big signings to ensure they stay up the season after.

Just to follow up on some of the reasons given against the French bid as follows, They are scored down for the Olympics being the year after (fair), for anti-doping being illegal so risking arrests for doping offenses(!!!) (yes that is seriously in the document as a bad thing), and for wishing to use Tier 2 officials as 4th officials and time keepers (!!!). They are also scored down slightly because St Ettienne does not have enough hotel capacity. Added that they were unsure on the pitch sizes as the french bid didn't include it in their dosier but SA did, but 8 were used at Euro 16

Do you think all this time has bent the guns? Thousands of rounds have been shot and about 2 people were shot, except for Morgan who killed everyone with a single shot. The standoff was really poor, but i think the rest of it was fairly solid. Ezekiel and Carol chasing down the saviours lookout before he warned whatever location they were going to wipe out, Jesus and Morgan taking their compound, Rick and Darryl wasn't great though as not sure where they were, and didn't seem to fit with the rest.

I would have preferred France for a bit of a jolly to watch the games in 2023, so hopefully Europe get 2027, although just because the recommendation is SA doesn't mean they will get it. You probably need 8 stadium's to host, although the struggle would be if you have any football stadia its in the middle of the season so how do you free them up for 4 weeks. A possibility would be to host a group in Glasgow, one in Edinburgh / Newcastle, one in Ireland and one in Wales It would probably be doable with Murrayfield / St James'/ Pittodrie, Hampden / Ibrox / Parkhead (alternating weekends) Scotstoun for smaller games and Rugby Park, Aviva / Croke / Kingspan and Millenium / Scarlets / Bristol QF in Murrayfield, Hampden, Millennium and Aviva, SF Hampden and Murrayfield, final Murrayfield Spreads the games about the UK, without needing to be London-centric

from the last world cup, i believe every game was a sell out in terms of ticket sales (in fact about 75% of matches sold out at the initial ballot about a year before the WC started) In England the majority were 30k+ stadia and mainly football stadiums, with only a few smaller games going to traditional rugby grounds in Exeter and Gloucester to look like they were spreading it around. There was a huge uproar that the walkers stadium in Leicester was being used rather than Welford road as it had a few thousand more seats. From memory, Twickenham, Olympic Stadium, Elland Road, St James park, Villa Park, Walkers, Mk Dons and Brighton, Exeter and Gloucester and the Millenium in Cardiff, and Manchester (i think City's ground) and maybe wembley also. I have no idea how SA comes above France other than SA still has loads of white elephant stadia built for Rugby WC and Football WC in the 90's and someone wants to help pay them off