Rugby Union

[John Lambies Doos]

Munster munstering that again

[Snobot]

Cheetahs just lost to Dragons with an 85th minute penalty, which is good for Glasgow’s play off chances.

[Mark Connolly]

Various reports going round that Sky are going to get the 6N.

ITV and BBC were apparently told they weren't allowed to jointly bid this time round

[peasy23]

Exeter seem to be struggling for motivation in the league without having Saracens to push them along. They lost at Northampton last night, with the Saints getting a late penalty try to put them ahead. That means Exeter have lost 4 out of 12 in the Premiership this season, compared to 5 in the whole season last year. They are still top of the table tbf.

[Savage Henry]

Exeter seem to be struggling for motivation in the league without having Saracens to push them along. They lost at Northampton last night, with the Saints getting a late penalty try to put them ahead. That means Exeter have lost 4 out of 12 in the Premiership this season, compared to 5 in the whole season last year. They are still top of the table tbf.

Astonishing that a team with Stuart Hogg is going through the motions.

[Northsea80]

Various reports going round that Sky are going to get the 6N.
ITV and BBC were apparently told they weren't allowed to jointly bid this time round

Report about it tomorrow in the rugby paper. I wonder what the reasoning for not allowing a joint bid from itv & bbc was?

[Allan Jacobsen]

8 minutes ago, Savage Henry said:

 

Astonishing that a team with Stuart Hogg is going through the motions.

Hogg wasn't in the 23 last night. Also, it was Quins who beat them. Northampton lost at home to already relegated Saracens.

[GordonS]

On 28/02/2020 at 21:05, Mark Connolly said:

Lowe comes in from the side and takes out a guy who isn't in the ruck - "Nothing there, stick with your onfield decision".

It's hard enough against a bunch of roided up monsters, but a few decisions wouldn't go amiss

I was in Dublin about 8 years ago and I saw an advert by Leinster in the paper looking for any large children. I spoke to a couple of guys that follow Leinster closely and they said this is something they're very good at, going into schools, encouraging the biggest and tallest boys to come and play, and then training them with the skills. They especially went to the middle-class schools were you'd find bigger kids anyway. Their strategy seemed to be that you can train any reasonably big and athletic boy to be a forward.

Maybe it's the 'roids, maybe it's that.

In Scottish rugby we're still not remotely reaching kids that aren't already at rugby-playing schools, our pool of potential players is really small. Most clubs run good mini and midi set-ups but form what I've seen they're very patchy at recruiting kids to come - it seems to be down to whether their parents here about it and take them along.

[peasy23]

Hogg wasn't in the 23 last night. Also, it was Quins who beat them. Northampton lost at home to already relegated Saracens.

I'm still half asleep. [emoji85]

I know Chiefs have players missing due to the internationals, but they have lost a few games already that you wouldn't have seen them losing in the last few years.

Did Sky not have part of the 6 nation's before ITV? Or was that only highlights? Or am I imagining it?

[Allan Jacobsen]

1 minute ago, peasy23 said:

I'm still half asleep.

I know Chiefs have players missing due to the internationals, but they have lost a few games already that you wouldn't have seen them losing in the last few years.

Did Sky not have part of the 6 nation's before ITV? Or was that only highlights? Or am I imagining it?

I'll be honest. I just wanted to use the phrase 'already relegated Saracens'.

[Mark Connolly]

2 minutes ago, peasy23 said:

I'm still half asleep.

I know Chiefs have players missing due to the internationals, but they have lost a few games already that you wouldn't have seen them losing in the last few years.

Did Sky not have part of the 6 nation's before ITV? Or was that only highlights? Or am I imagining it?

IIRC they had the England home games at one point

[Salvo Montalbano]

IIRC they had the England home games at one point

Yes, seem to remember that being quite controversial at the time for 2 reasons - having the England games separate from the other championship games and having the tournament on a pay TV channel. They then continued to have the Autumn internationals (and still do to this day I think) when the 6 Nations went back to the BBC and then BBC/ITV. I take it this is the new owners trying to raise more money.

[GordonS]

1 hour ago, Salvo Montalbano said:

2 hours ago, Mark Connolly said:

IIRC they had the England home games at one point

Yes, seem to remember that being quite controversial at the time for 2 reasons - having the England games separate from the other championship games and having the tournament on a pay TV channel. They then continued to have the Autumn internationals (and still do to this day I think) when the 6 Nations went back to the BBC and then BBC/ITV. I take it this is the new owners trying to raise more money.

England were very nearly ejected from the 6 Nations for unilaterally selling their home TV rights to Sky. They had to agree to share all of them additional money equally with the other nations and to sign an agreement that they couldn't do it in future.

With the 6 Nations being the only time most people see any rugby it's a bloody stupid idea to take it off free TV. It's been bad for golf and cricket in the UK and it will inevitably harm rugby too - but not before CVC have made a packet and then buggered off to their private islands.

[John Lambies Doos]

IIRC they had the England home games at one point

Not sure that was in 6N mind, was that not just Autumn internationals etc?

[AngusTheBull]

Interesting

[Savage Henry]

England were very nearly ejected from the 6 Nations for unilaterally selling their home TV rights to Sky. They had to agree to share all of them additional money equally with the other nations and to sign an agreement that they couldn't do it in future.
With the 6 Nations being the only time most people see any rugby it's a bloody stupid idea to take it off free TV. It's been bad for golf and cricket in the UK and it will inevitably harm rugby too - but not before CVC have made a packet and then buggered off to their private islands.

Sky has been fantastic for cricket. I know it’s not popular to say, but both television and radio coverage has improved exponentially over the years since Sky got the rights. The amount of cash being spent by the counties has also risen, and the national team had become increasingly successful.

[GordonS]

1 minute ago, Savage Henry said:

 

 

Sky has been fantastic for cricket. I know it’s not popular to say, but both television and radio coverage has improved exponentially over the years since Sky got the rights. The amount of cash being spent by the counties has also risen, and the national team had become increasingly successful.
 

 

 

Sky have been fantastic for cricket if you already liked cricket and were willing and able to pay for it.

They've been bad for participation, attendances and growing the game.

[Eednud]

NRL introducing the Captain’s Challenge for the new season starting on 12 March. The time limit to make a challenge is 10 seconds

How it works
Only a captain or nominated co-captain can challenge a decision. Should the captain or co-captain be off the field, another player can be nominated to take his place;
Each team is allowed one unsuccessful challenge per game;
The only decision that can be challenged are ones which involve a structured restart of play (e.g penalty, scrum, drop-out, etc.);
Challenges will not be permitted where the referee allows play to proceed

[Genuine Hibs Fan]

That's Ashton left Sale at short notice, with Cammy Redpath already having departed in the last couple of weeks (albeit for a fee) at the start of a five-year contract. Next big salary cap scandal? They've not the biggest squad but a lot of full internationals and experienced guys who won't be playing for pennies in there.

 

[Savage Henry]

That's Ashton left Sale at short notice, with Cammy Redpath already having departed in the last couple of weeks (albeit for a fee) at the start of a five-year contract. Next big salary cap scandal? They've not the biggest squad but a lot of full internationals and experienced guys who won't be playing for pennies in there.
 

Chris Ashton turning up in Edinburgh would be all sorts of wrong.