NH club rugby
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In other news London Irish (Ben Franks, James Marshall, Asaeli Tikoirotuma etc) play the first leg of their Green King IPA Championship play off final (English second tier) against Yorkshire Carnegie tonight.
LI won the league by the start of March and only lost one game all season, but the comp structure means they have to win the play off to be promoted to the Aviva Premiership. Can't think of a bigger game the club has played, despite having been involved in a premiership final and Champions Cup semi in recent history.
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@Catogrande said in NH club rugby:
@wowrp1 said in NH club rugby:
@Pot-Hale said in NH club rugby:
Saracens beat Clermont to win Heineken Cup again. 28-17.
Owen Farrell made European Player of the Year.
5 years in a row of disappointing results in the European Final, for anyone who isn't a Toulon or Saracens fan. Toulon/Saracens for 5 years in a row...ughh
And yet some of those games have been really good. Saturday's game could have gone either way up until the last few minutes. There was huge commitment from both sides and some bloody good rugby played. Certainly enough for this (almost) neutral.
Anyway, this is the nature of sporting competitions such as this, the stronger teams do better, until they are no longer the stronger team. You see this in many other comps - the Super Rugby one is an example. There have been times when one team is on top for several seasons and then gone...
Don't see the problem.
Not a problem, I just hate both of them
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@wowrp1 Valid answer
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I said previously that Hayden Triggs is a remarkably unreported player for Leinster and will be missed. Here's his thoughts. Top rugby bloke who's had a tough couple of years and come through the other side.
Hayden Triggs loves Leinster but out of love with rugby
For those who panhandle quotes for a living, an interview with Hayden Triggs is as precious as discovering a rare, first edition. Heāll be missed as a player but also as a bloke, not least for his candour, addressing topics like suicide, depression, the malaise of social media and how heās become disillusioned with professional rugby.
He hankers after the days when Thursday evenings concluded with a beer after training, where teams bonded on buses travelling to club matches. There is an element of wistfulness or nostalgia but the former army mechanic makes no bones about being āold schoolā in his rugby outlook.
The 35-year-old secondrow from Lower Hutt returns to New Zealand later this summer after two seasons with Leinster ā 30 appearances and counting ā a rugby journey he hopes will conclude with a Guinness Pro12 title.
Triggs has no interest in playing rugby anywhere else. āIām of the firm belief, Leinster, to me, thereās nothing better, as a club.
āIāve said it time and again this club is awesome, itās the best Iāve been involved with. They say the grass isnāt always greener, and I firmly believe it with this club.ā
āItās not a case of wanting to win, a bit of silverware, but I need to. Iād love to leave my mark, my name, on this club with something positive. That would mean the world to me. Iām not getting ahead of myself; we need to deal with a good team coming to the RDS. I donāt want to sound like weāre going to be there, but me personally, Iād love nothing more.ā
Triggs maintains that his body would allow him a couple more seasons but mentally it is time to check out; the sport rather than the people in it have gone to a place for which he no longer cares.
āRugby has just changed beyond identity to me. I started when it was semi-pro, and just starting professionally.
āThe game is different (now), and itās almost like I donāt like it anymore. As professionals, weāre paid to do this, thatās kind of our product. The game is what I love, Iāve said that before, but all the shit around it is hard.
āI see the guys who have just retired, sadly passing away, or having heart complications or, the worst case scenario, committing suicide.ā
Heās hugely critical of the intrusiveness of social media. āThe people of rugby donāt change. So, like, what Iām talking about is the social aspect. āLook what social media has done to society in general, and the light is even brighter on rugby and sportspeople in general. Theyāre under the spotlight even when theyāre not in a Leinster shirt.
āIn New Zealand, and itās a bit different here, but a sportsman runs a red light and thereās a dude with a camera giving out to him and going to report it to the cops.
āThereās so much pressure and stress and thatās what these young kids are coming into. They donāt know the beers after a Thursday night, they donāt know the bus trips to away matches. They know none of that and I do, thatās what I grew up in.ā
When itās suggested that what the young players donāt know they canāt miss, Triggs continued: āYeah, fair enough, but for me itās unrecognisable. Iām an old school guy, Iāve done well to keep going in this game, Iāve been able to adapt, thatās just my personality. Body-wise, physically I could keep going for another two years, but mentally, Iām done.ā
Does he worry about how heāll cope in retirement? āNo, Iām pretty good at expressing my feelings. I donāt mind chatting to people. I mean (Dan) Vickerman (the South African born Australian international who committed suicide), that hits home to me; same age, same kind of deal thatās going to be happening. He seemed fine and dandy until it was over.
āI think about that, not constantly, but I have to check myself every now and then, make sure that I find away to deal with it. As much as Iām looking forward to getting away from the spotlight and all of the stuff that comes with the rugby, I know Iāll miss it.ā
Heāll take away cherished memories: those from his first day at Leinster when he was convinced everyone was called āDave,āto, on a more sombre note, the support that he and his wife Mikala received after the tragic death of their two-day-old daughter, Stella.
āThrough our tragedy this year, seeing the people around us in a non-rugby sense support us. To me, that was mind-blowing. We were here 12 months and we had, from all different directions, love, prayers and support; as a mature adult, that was probably one of the best things, off-field anyway.
āI hate to blow his trumpet but I knew who Johnny Sexton was from New Zealand for a long time. He was the first person to invite me and my family around for a barbeque. To me, that speaks volumes of the characters in this club.
āThat was significant to me, one of the biggest names in Leinster history opened his arms first and said āCome and chill out, and meet usā. It was cool.ā
He wonāt be going home immediately after the end of the season, hanging round for a couple of months to catch-up and enjoy a few beers. The future can wait a while.
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EPCR announces key changes to Champions Cup qualification
At the conclusion of 2017/18, the seven highest-ranked clubs from the Guinness PRO12 will qualify for the following season's Champions Cup regardless of their country of origin. This will replace the current format which requires that at least one club from each of Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales is included in the seven qualifiers. The qualification process for the Aviva Premiership and the TOP 14 which sees the six highest-ranked clubs secure places in the Champions Cup will remain. There will also be an added incentive for Challenge Cup clubs with the tournament winner automatically taking the 20th spot in the Champions Cup. If the Challenge Cup winner is already qualified, then the losing finalist will take its place...........................................
Related:
Italy to lose automatic Champions Cup spot as qualification revampedItaly will lose its right to an automatic Champions Cup place from next season after tournament organisers announced an overhaul of its qualification process. Treviso will compete in European club rugby's top competition next season despite finishing 10th in this season's PRO12 table. (...) The 20th place in the Champions Cup will be taken by the winners of the Challenge Cup, bringing to an end the current end-of-season playoff system. -
@Stargazer To me that all makes sense apart from the avowed intent of growing the game (in Italy). This is unlikely to help that. Is that a good or a bad thing though given the more meritorious qualification. Dunno is my answer
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@Catogrande said in NH club rugby:
@Stargazer To me that all makes sense apart from the avowed intent of growing the game (in Italy). This is unlikely to help that. Is that a good or a bad thing though given the more meritorious qualification. Dunno is my answer
It's a tricky one. The Irish and Scottish unions supported their inclusion in the revamped Champions Cup, and Italian teams have had a chance to improve further over the last 2-3 seasons since the format changed. But they haven't. And sooner or later the team actually in seventh spot was going to start to feel aggrieved about not qualifying. So, overall, I think it's the best move. The fact that they're making the Challenge Cup winner an auto-qualifier instead of a play-off between lower ranked teams is a good compensatory move to beefing up the lower-profile competition and ensure that teams put out their best side.
So on balance, I think it's a good move.
Edit: From an Irish Times article on the subject:
āI absolutely agree with it and feel it is something that should have been in place a long time ago,ā said Conor OāShea, the man charged with transforming the Italian national side into something resembling a competitive force come the 2019 World Cup in Japan (granted, they were drawn in a horrid group alongside the All Blacks and Springboks).
āItās a very positive move for the Pro12 league and Europe,ā OāShea continued. āWe are very supportive of it.ā
A practical man to his fingertips, OāShea is willing to stake his coaching career and reputation as an organisational savant (see the turning of post-Bloodgate Harlequins into Premiership champions within three years) on the Azzurri believing they are sipping from a half-full glass.
And heās right. This ups the ante for everyone. The Challenge Cup just got very interesting and while the Italians will almost certainly be choked into submission along that route, a top seven finish in the Pro12 was something Treviso achieved, with 10 victories, as recently as 2013 (when Connacht finished eighth).
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/39957336
Jimmy Gopperth won player of the year, try of the year & golden boot in the premiership. Before the hail of "he was shit 10 years ago" starts, he was fricking superb this year for Wasps. Really outstanding.
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@Kiwidom said in NH club rugby:
@gollum Gopperth felt the wrath of the Auckland herald this week which was a bit unfair. Alot of players kick on in their late 20s,early 30s
Outside of guys held back through lack of opportunity and game time I'm struggling to think of any - especially playmakers and backs. All our best five eighths have been a class above before they are barely 21.
That noted Aucklander Martin Devlin? All he said was Gopperth wouldn't start for a Super Franchise except possibly the Blues, and he couldn't do that in 2009. If you want to trade Beauden Barrett for him be my guest.
His career arc is an interesting one because in 2005 he really was on the same level as Donald and McAlister and a step behind Evans in the pecking order and got a possibles vs probables selection. Pretty much had to stay fit and not play horribly and he would have had at least 20+ caps as an AB after Evans and McAlister left.
Stephen Brett is going to pick up Top 14 player of the year next I guess?
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Not too much I'd disagree except the following which is overatating it quite a lot.
"In fact, I'd like a dollar for every Lions player who would make the cut in a NZ Super Rugby franchise. I'd be lucky to get enough to buy my lunch."
Unless it's a $40 lunch ...
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Classy by Devlin.
Why doesn't he just shit in his cereal bowl while he's at it.
We only have 5 pro teams. Therefore there are shitloads of good pro rugby player who wouldn't make an NZ super rugby team.
Last time I looked the premiership had 12 teams.
Last time Jimmy played here, he WAS good enough to play as one of the only 5 starting 10s. Albeit the Canes 10 spot back then was like the Blues one today.
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