European Club Rugby
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Proper red card that one
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I've only picked the bit that is relevant to the SH here, but obviously there are more interesting points.
Another suggestion is for a Ryder Cup-style weekend showdown in mid-June between the best club or provincial teams in Europe and their southern hemisphere counterparts. Imagine the five leading New Zealand Super Rugby provinces coming over to play the top five clubs in England. On the same weekend the three top Australian sides might play in Ireland while the five best South African sides are split between Wales and Scotland. The 13 fixtures would be spread from Friday to Sunday, all of them counting for one point apiece. The first hemisphere to register seven wins would officially be declared the stronger. Would it capture the public imagination? With international tours now pushed further back in the calendar, the clubs can clearly scent a possible gap in the market. The problem, of course, is that the same players cannot play every week or they will be dropping like muscle-bound flies. The clubs reckon they have an answer to that as well: the squads of the future (some are already doing so) will contain over 60 players to enable them to field competitive teams in the newly recast and expanded Premiership Shield (formerly the A League).Problem is, of course, that under the new global calendar from 2020, June may be a free month in the NH, but in the SH Super Rugby continues in June (no June break anymore) and will be followed by a July international window for international test series in the SH.
Maybe Premiership teams can afford to sign squads of 60 players, but SR franchises can't. But even if it was financially viable, SR franchises wouldn't field their best squads in this inter-hemisphere competition. The best players would play in Super Rugby and - on top of that - would have to be carefully managed (as they are now) with a view to the upcoming international test season. If this inter-hemisphere competition would be a competition between B-teams (at least from the SH), would this really attract crowds? And why would SH franchises agree to playing all the games in the NH? Players would be away from home for weeks and the games wouldn't attract viewers in the SH because of the time difference. If this is about establishing which hemisphere is the strongest, then this competition (in this format) wouldn't achieve that.
Imagine the five leading New Zealand Super Rugby provinces ...Do they even know there are only 5 NZ SR franchises?
the five best South African sidesDuh, there are only four in SR.
I don't know hom much of the ideas in the article really come from the clubs or from the author's imagination, but they should do their homework before discussing it.
Rugby union’s English club owners consider future direction of the sport | Robert Kitson
England’s leading clubs meet on Tuesday to consider a £275m offer and discuss a few more ideas for the future
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@stargazer It's from the guardian. I'm surprised they have a sports section.
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No thanks.
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@billy-tell said in NH club rugby:
Proper red card that one
Bastareaud was initially handed a six-week suspension for the incident which was increased by one-week due to his disciplinary record, but because of the extenuating circumstances (recognition of guilt, conduct before and during the hearing, and expression of remorse), the penalty was reduced by 2 weeks. The ban means the 29-year-old will miss Toulon's next five fixtures and will be available for France's November tests against South Africa, Argentina, and Fiji. Bastareaud's chequered disciplinary record includes a suspension for using homophobic slurs against Benetton's Sebastian Negri in a Champions Cup game at the start of the year. -
So let me get this correct; he has a poor disciplinary record so he ends up with a week less than the original suspension?
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wow, look, it's 7 weeks until France's first test
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@antipodean But he said sorry!
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@antipodean Without his bad disciplinary record, he would probably have his suspension reduced by 50% to 3 weeks, as they do in all cases where they can tick off the whole list of mitigating factors. In his case, there was an aggravating factor (his bad record), so he got a week more, before taking a few mitigating factors into account (the reduction of 2 weeks). So in fact, he got 2 weeks more than he would have got without his bad disciplinary record.
This decision is also consistent with similar decisions, for example, the suspension handed out to Chance Peni after his high tackle on Israel Dagg in the Brumbies v Crusaders game.
I have no problem with this procedure, as it enhances consistency. I do, however, question the mid-range entry point of 6 weeks. What do players have to do before they apply the high-end entry point of 10 weeks?
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The whole point of having low, mid and high entry points negates mitigating issues. The idea you "show remorse" and get a reduction is a joke.
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I have the rugby channel free for 3 months (I also think the normal sky channels are showing the European clubs comps now rather than them all being ghetoised on the rugby channel).
Anyway, the last few weeks this is the first time I have watched French club rugby (I just mysky the highlights show).
I found myself fast forwarding through this half hour highlights show last time as it's just really dull rugby. Pick and go tries, maul tries.
Also the teams all have bland kits that I can't remember who's playing who, boring Cell-C Sharks/Western Force look-a-likes.Conversely. I find the English Premiership show really good, and the tries & action last week were great, and the show was slick. And I can tell a Northampton/Leicester/Quins or Gloucester etc instantly just by their kits.
Zach Mercer looked excellent in the little highlights I saw last round. I remember seeing him in the JWC a few years ago and thinking he looked the wrong size and shape for an English No8. But he's bulked up a bit and was a beast and also skillful (he scored a great stepping try)
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@antipodean said in NH club rugby:
The whole point of having low, mid and high entry points negates mitigating issues. The idea you "show remorse" and get a reduction is a joke.
the only way that could be shown to be applicable is if we had players coming out and saying "nah, i think that guy is a fuckwit, so i whacked him. Fuck that guy".
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I see the Cheetahs held Ulster to a 39 all draw overnight. That's a remarkable improvement by the Cheetahs who now take their record to played 4, lost 3 drawn 1. Points for = 77 points against = 175. It still leaves them in last place mind you. What is surprising is that Ulster were leading their Pro 14 Division and had to rely on an injury time Henry Speight try (which was converted) to avoid the ultimate indignity!
Needless to day but the Kings have a very similar record going into the fourth round with three straight losses.
Looks like nothing much has changed for both teams.
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Higgins said:
I see the Cheetahs held Ulster to a 39 all draw overnight. That's a remarkable improvement by the Cheetahs who now take their record to played 4, lost 3 drawn 1. Points for = 77 points against = 175. It still leaves them in last place mind you. What is surprising is that Ulster were leading their Pro 14 Division and had to rely on an injury time Henry Speight try (which was converted) to avoid the ultimate indignity!
Needless to day but the Kings have a very similar record going into the fourth round with three straight losses.
Looks like nothing much has changed for both teams.
Last season, Cheetahs performed well given their starting point and made the playoff finals. Whilst their squad is split across playing in Currie Cup and PRO14 then they’ll be at a disadvantage. SARU have said they’re going to change timing along with the planned Cull & Draft Strategy.
Kings were poor last season and looked like they would continue where they left off this season. However, Davids has been getting improvements each week and yesterday they pulled off a deserved home victory 38-28 over Glasgow whose forwards were mainly second starters but a first starting backline. Small steps but heading in the right direction.
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VIDEO: Player’s giant brother confronts Julian Savea - france
A giant fan - said to be the brother of Stade Francais player Sekou Malacou - invaded the pitch in the apparent attempt to get at Julian Savea.
A giant fan – said to be the brother of Stade Francais player Sekou Malacou – invaded the pitch in the apparent attempt to get at Julian Savea.
Savea was yellow carded and the brother was taken away by security, although he seemed to be going fairly mental as he left.
Why not let him stay and fight Savea?
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taniwharugby said:
VIDEO: Player’s giant brother confronts Julian Savea - france
A giant fan - said to be the brother of Stade Francais player Sekou Malacou - invaded the pitch in the apparent attempt to get at Julian Savea.
A giant fan – said to be the brother of Stade Francais player Sekou Malacou – invaded the pitch in the apparent attempt to get at Julian Savea.
Savea was yellow carded and the brother was taken away by security, although he seemed to be going fairly mental as he left.
Why not let him stay and fight Savea?
French club rugby ca be quite confrontational.
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taniwharugby said:
VIDEO: Player’s giant brother confronts Julian Savea - france
A giant fan - said to be the brother of Stade Francais player Sekou Malacou - invaded the pitch in the apparent attempt to get at Julian Savea.
A giant fan – said to be the brother of Stade Francais player Sekou Malacou – invaded the pitch in the apparent attempt to get at Julian Savea.
Savea was yellow carded and the brother was taken away by security, although he seemed to be going fairly mental as he left.
Why not let him stay and fight Savea?
Fat boy vs trained athlete.
That's an easy ban for the authorities.
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