NH International Rugby
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When (which year) is this League of top 12 Nations supposed to start? Because if the reports in the Irish media are correct, I'm not sure how that fits in with what the Irish media are reporting:
In addition to hosting the All Blacks again in November 2021, Ireland are in line to tour New Zealand for a three-Test series in 2022. It will be Ireland’s first trek there in a decade. The Irish and New Zealand rugby unions are in negotiations to finalise agreement on the tour, but it is expected that the three-match Test series will go ahead. End-of-season tours to New Zealand are both the most daunting and desired, generally providing the toughest challenge which any seasonal itinerary can throw up.Ireland set for three-Test tour of New Zealand in 2022
Defence coach Farrell insists ‘we want to play them as much as we possibly can’
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@machpants said in NH International Rugby:
@antipodean Test windows will be the same, played SH July, NH Nov (basically) so the finals will always be in NH. You'll still see test, just 'round robin' tests.
Fuck that. I want tours. This is regressive.
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@stargazer They Unions will still be pre-planning normal tours, in case the League falls through. League is not anywhere near guaranteed, so you've got to have plans for both.
@antipodean Tours are regressive, they're the past (see number of mid week games and Lions tour length over the last few decades), the future is squeezing every bit of cash out of nothing trophies (see every shield/cup/bowl invented and competed over between each individual country over the last few decades)- not saying I agree but that's the way it is. A league table draws more interest than a tour of the same knackered end-of-season often second string chumps that turn up here every June to play our rusty as fuck scrape the first one or two tests then smash them ABs!
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@machpants said in NH International Rugby:
A league table draws more interest than a tour of the same knackered end-of-season often second string chumps that turn up here every June to play our rusty as fuck scrape the first one or two tests then smash them ABs!
How? They'll still be sending their second string chumps.
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Ah but then non rugby tragics will have a table to look at and see how exciting their team is. It's a fact that tests are stating to be seen as not tests, the disgusting fucking shit soccer word friendlies has entered the rugby vernacular, even the bloody AB's are happy to accept loses as long as the RWC is won. So, to attempt to stop this inevitable slide of non RWC games into irrelevance, the League is what is proposed. And it is competing for something tangible, even if not the RWC winning the League final will be something worth fighting for, best rugby team of the year, I guess is the plan.
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oh good, a shiny new trophy of irrelevance
I have a suspicion that the main driver for this is leverage for the Northern Unions to take back some control of their players. Getting players released for "friendlies" is harder than for a test that means something.
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I'm sceptical that creating a soccer league format will fix it.
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@antipodean Me too, but I hope it does mean revenue sharing rather than the current set up.
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@mikethesnow said in NH International Rugby:
@tim said in NH International Rugby:
Oh the irony.
It is pantomime season after all.
Oh no its not!
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@Stargazer Terrible optics considering. Mafi is a shitbag.
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Fuck me, this is the same bunch that was chucking money around prior to RWC (like 6 million to upgrade the ABs finals training ground at Pennyhiil Park), and just hosted a hugely successful RWC! That's Ozzie level pissing it up against the wall.
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@Machpants That would be astonishingly short sighted.
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England team to play the Azzurri announced:-
England team: Daly, Cokanasiga, Tuilagi, Te'o, May, Farrell (capt), Youngs; Genge, George, Sinckler, Launchbury, Kruis, Shields, Curry, Vunipola.
Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Moon, Cole, Hughes, Wilson, Robson, Ford, Slade.
Not sure about Tuilagi AND Te'o in the centres and I would have been tempted to start Robson at 9 for the experience as much as anything. I still prefer Wilson over Shields but maybe he needs a bit of a rest.
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@Catogrande I think it maybe a trial in the centres, can England get to per centres to work for them? It can work, see Nonu and SBW in the RWC final, but normally fails. And yes why is Jones building depth at nine? It's a real weak point, he knows his preferred, needs more miles on his second
