NH club rugby
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Felipe Contemponi, a big fan favorite in the early noughties with Leinster, is returning as attack coach for the club from next season. Here’s a decent profile piece on him in the Times.
*Felipe Contepomi will bring fresh voice to Leinster upon his return
Just as one Leinster legend departs, another rejoins the fold. It turns out that the going of Isa Nacewa and the return of Felipe Contepomi are not entirely unrelated.
Leinster have known for at least 12 months that they’d have a new backs coach for the 2018/19 season. Girvan Dempsey, the previous incumbent, was offered only a one-year contract extension last season, which reflected a desire for change. The hope/expectation was that the role would be filled by outgoing club skipper Nacewa but his departure for New Zealand left a space to be filled.
Does this make Contepomi a second-choice appointment? Leinster would prefer to see him more as a fresh voice — a distinctive voice, too, once capable of cursing volubly in Spanish, especially at referees who failed to see things the same way as him.
Leinster supporters were surely delighted when news of Contepomi’s return broke, especially those able to recall the time he tormented Munster at the RDS, on New Year’s Eve, 2005. Leinster won easily that day and their Argentinian fly-half scored 25 points. After dotting down for one of his two tries, he ran towards a patch of red in the stand at the Anglesea Road end, cupping his hand behind his ear, taunting the away supporters.
“That wasn’t the only time he got up our noses that season,” remarked the late Anthony Foley. “He’s making a good living in Ireland. He should have minded his manners.”
This was a problem for some Munster folks back then. Ireland’s biggest rivals on the international stage in the noughties were Argentina, and here was one of the Pumas being accommodated in Ireland — not just as a pro rugby player but as a student in the Royal College of Surgeons.
But Contepomi gave more than he took from Irish rugby. Leinster were improved enormously by his presence. He boosted crowds, inspired youngsters like Johnny Sexton to become better, even if Sexton’s motivation was to take his place. He enhanced the sport here and can do so again, albeit in a different role.
Coaching wasn’t a role that we saw as being natural for him. There was something old-school, something Corinthian about him: the top-class athlete academically brilliant enough to maintain top grades while at the same time taking his team to the business end of the Heineken Cup. Those who played alongside him could see a potential coach in him, however. While David Knox was backs coach under Michael Cheika, the Argentinian was quick to understand the mechanics of every attacking play, and well-able to show the best running lines to Gordon D’Arcy or Brian O’Driscoll.
His understanding and experience of the world game is vast, and broader than Nacewa might have offered. Contepomi played in the English Premiership (for Bristol), the Top 14 (for Toulon and Stade Francais) and coached in Super Rugby, with the Jaguares. He also played at four World Cups, played in Pumas teams that won by playing territory as well as teams who played with width and pace.
Contepomi understands different attacking styles and also understands different positions, having featured as a centre as well as a fly-half. His official role — as coach in charge of set-piece attack, general attacking shape and kick strategy — does no justice to the value he offers the club in general, especially as a coach of individuals like the Byrne brothers, Ross and Harry, Ciaran Frawley, but also like Robbie Henshaw, Garry Ringrose and others. He knows a bit about place-kicking, too.
These youngsters are all old enough to remember him as one of the players who dragged Leinster out of the dark days of serial under-achievement, who played for his adopted province as though it meant more than a pay cheque.
Even on one of Contepomi’s bad days, Sexton managed to see something admirable in him. This was May 2006 at Lansdowne Road, the Heineken Cup semi-final when Munster won 30-6. “Denis Leamy succeeded in getting under his skin that day and he had a nightmare with his place-kicks,” Sexton wrote subsequently. “But I’ll always remember my dad — a massive Munster fan — making the point that Felipe had never given up.
“It was [Ronan] O’Gara’s day and Munster ended up miles ahead on the scoreboard. But Felipe never stopped trying things. He was in private battles all over the field till the end. And then afterwards, he came out and faced the cameras. He never hid, on or off the pitch. I respected that about him.”
He returns in a new role, a little less obvious, perhaps a little more soft-spoken, a lot thinner on top. However it’s hard to imagine Leinster won’t benefit from his presence once more.*
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Not a good reason to retire. Loved watching him play for the Magpies.
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Gallagher Premiership 2018/19: Ins and Outs (doesn't include the intake from academies)
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New trial, in English Championship Cup (2018-19) only.
The World Rugby Council gave approval to the RFU to Law 9.13, altering the definition of a high tackle from above the line of the shoulders to above the armpit line, as an extension to a package of World Rugby lowered tackle height trials for its recent U20 Championship and U20 Trophy in August.The trials are based on unprecedented World Rugby research from more than 1,500 elite matches conducted by World Rugby, which confirmed: * 76 per cent of head injuries occur in the tackle * 72 per cent of head injuries in the tackle occur to the tackler * The risk of injury to both players from a legal high-contact tackle (when the tackler is upright) is 4.3 times greater than a low-contact tackle * Tackles where head to head contact is likely, as occurs for upright tacklers, are 6.5 times more likely to cause head injuries than head to hip contact resulting when tackle height is lower. The forthcoming World Rugby U20 Trophy and RFU Championship Cup trials are the third-phase of an unprecedented approach to reducing head injuries by changing player behaviour through increased on and off field sanctions. * Phase one:Global sanction increases introduced in January 2017 demonstrate that in competitions where yellow cards for high tackles were increased, the concussion rates have not increased * Phase two:The introduction of the high-tackle warning system at the World Rugby U20 Championship in May, which aimed to penalise tacklers who were upright in a post-match review process, has reduced the concussion incidence by 50 per cent, according to preliminary data * Phase three:Lowering of permitted tackle height in law at the World Rugby U20 Trophy in Romania in August, with the RFU given approval extension for a similar trial for the RFU Championship Cup. -
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@crucial said in NH club rugby:
I would be coaching players to carry the ball high.
Yep.
Fingers crossed it'll mean more offloads in the tackle and a more flowing attack.
Now if they could just go back to ball carrier has to release the ball as soon as they hit the deck.
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@mikethesnow said in NH club rugby:
@crucial said in NH club rugby:
I would be coaching players to carry the ball high.
Yep.
Fingers crossed it'll mean more offloads in the tackle and a more flowing attack.
Now if they could just go back to ball carrier has to release the ball as soon as they hit the deck.
And players have to stay on their feet at rucks...
Fuck it, let's cut to what we all we want; bring back rucking!
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@mikethesnow said in NH club rugby:
@crucial said in NH club rugby:
I would be coaching players to carry the ball high.
Yep.
Fingers crossed it'll mean more offloads in the tackle and a more flowing attack.
Now if they could just go back to ball carrier has to release the ball as soon as they hit the deck.
The old school 'carry the ball in the armpit may come back in vogue.
The biggest 'enforcement' I'd like to see is clamping down on 'plane landing' at ruck/tackle area
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RFU financial road bumps to impact the Premiership from 2020 with reduced payments from the RFU to the Premiership Clubs.
RFU warns Premiership clubs of 'funding squeeze' as player wages rise out of control
Calls for player wage deflation in the Premiership grow louder as the RFU warned clubs that the current salary inflation is unsustainable, predicting a downturn in funding to the Premiership by the Union that could leave clubs with massive shortfalls.
Calls for player wage deflation in the Premiership grow louder as the RFU warned clubs that the current salary inflation is unsustainable, predicting a downturn in funding to the Premiership by the Union that could leave clubs with massive shortfalls. ..... The clubs increased revenue was, in part, by funding from the RFU in return for access to England players. This payment was negotiated in 2016 for £112m fixed for four years followed by a second payment in 2020. The second half of that deal could see a reduced payment due to dependency on RFU financial performance. The RFU is currently going through a cost-cutting exercise to deal with rising costs, including making 62 people redundant. The rise of player payments to England’s players has also created pressure on the bottom line. “If our income comes down, so does the agreement payment. So it doesn’t cause us a problem forever, it is just within the next two years,” said RFU chief executive Steve Brown.``` -
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Clumsy blue. Substitute for HIA
Move on.
Maybe have a look at pink 11 for the swinging arm.
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@stargazer Wyatt has bought the Stirling Sports store in Nelson and had a grand re-opening a couple of weeks ago. Can't see him heading off for another rugby stint unless he was offered crazy money.
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@chris-b said in NH club rugby:
@stargazer Wyatt has bought the Stirling Sports store in Nelson and had a grand re-opening a couple of weeks ago. Can't see him heading off for another rugby stint unless he was offered crazy money.
Owning a brick and mortar sports store that isn't Rebel Sports in this day and age could be dicey - earning some Euros might be a wise investment for his future if his body holds together.
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@nepia Maybe - though he's squeezed in 13 years as a pro rugby player and nine as an AB, so he's probably pretty comfortably off. Run his sports shop for a hobby. (I think he's got a better location in Nelson than Rebel Sports).
I see they've already conscripted him to appear on some of the Sky pre-match/post match shows and he speaks very well - especially for a prop. He might be able to take on John Drake's old role.
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@chris-b said in NH club rugby:
@nepia Maybe - though he's squeezed in 13 years as a pro rugby player and nine as an AB, so he's probably pretty comfortably off. Run his sports shop for a hobby. (I think he's got a better location in Nelson than Rebel Sports).
I see they've already conscripted him to appear on some of the Sky pre-match/post match shows and he speaks very well - especially for a prop. He might be able to take on John Drake's old role.
You'd hope so, and yep, if it was a hobby and not his bread and butter then all good.
