NH club rugby
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A star-studded Saracens team lose their first game in the Championship
Saracens suffer 17-25 defeat by Cornish Pirates in first game in Greene King Championship
Former English and European champions Saracens travelled to Penzance for their first second-tier game following their relegation for breaching the Premierships salary cap rules
Congratulations to the Cornish Pirates. Arrrhh-some result!
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@sparky I'm confused. Is this a different comp?
Disgraced Saracens fall to shock defeat against Ealing
NIK SIMON AT TRAILFINDERS SPORTS CLUB: Ealing Trailfinders had not played a competitive match for 323 days, but the ambitious side seized their moment in the spotlight.
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@bones said in NH club rugby:
@sparky I'm confused. Is this a different comp?
Disgraced Saracens fall to shock defeat against Ealing
NIK SIMON AT TRAILFINDERS SPORTS CLUB: Ealing Trailfinders had not played a competitive match for 323 days, but the ambitious side seized their moment in the spotlight.
No that's from January, and those were a trio of warm up games Saracens paid for. This the first week of the Championship.
What an excellent result, the long term benefactor of the Pirates has a good rant at RFU, too. This was from just before the match
Meet the Pirates of Penzance railing against RFU's lack of respect | Robert Kitson
With funding slashed for second-tier clubs and the prospect of a ringfenced Premership the Cornish Pirates’ owner, Dicky Evans, has sound words for governing body
It was Pirran's day on the 5th Oggy Oggy Oggy Oii Oii Oii!
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Saracens better hope that ring fencing of the Second Division applies as they are currently in danger of relegation thanks to the eleventh placed position out of twelve after their 25 - 17 loss to the Cornish Pirates!!
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@stargazer said in NH club rugby:
Not sure where else to post this:
Life breathed into Jaguares as surprise new destination potentially emerges for Argentina's rugby franchise
The latest reports out of Ireland suggest that top-tier rugby may not be off the table for Argentina's unfortunate Jaguares.
Oh FFS.
Nothing against the Jaguares, great team, but the Pro 14 looks hell bent on re-enacting the mistakes made by Super Rugby. Limitless expansion, more and more countries involved, fewer local derbies, rising supporter apathy, you know the rest.
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@gibbonrib said in NH club rugby:
@stargazer said in NH club rugby:
Not sure where else to post this:
Life breathed into Jaguares as surprise new destination potentially emerges for Argentina's rugby franchise
The latest reports out of Ireland suggest that top-tier rugby may not be off the table for Argentina's unfortunate Jaguares.
Oh FFS.
Nothing against the Jaguares, great team, but the Pro 14 looks hell bent on re-enacting the mistakes made by Super Rugby. Limitless expansion, more and more countries involved, fewer local derbies, rising supporter apathy, you know the rest.
100%
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Ha, Lomu made it into the all time Cardiff highlights
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@gibbonrib Whats your thoughts on it, if any?
I think there may be similarities to the transition of NPC to Super. I think we were all once hardcore NPC fans & that has now seriously diminished. However, if super rugby was to die & NPC players had the All Blacks back in it, it would take less than 30 seconds for all of us to revert back to being passionate NPC fans.
Is there parallels here with Wales?
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@majorrage
I reckon there are some parallels, but some differences too. (Disclaimer: I know SFA about NZ provincial rugby, and I'm pretty out of touch with Welsh club rugby having left a long time ago).Welsh club rugby used to be super intense, South Wales is a ridiculously small place, you can drive 100km from Newport to Llanelli, and you'd go through or right past Cardiff, Caerphilly, Pontypridd, Bridgend, Neath, Swansea. The top 50 clubs in Wales in the amateur era were probably all in the southern 50km of the country. So loads of very strong rivalries squashed into a very small area.
But the introduction of "regional" rugby burned a lot of people. Partly because it was handled really badly, and partly because the rugby landscape in Wales was totally unsuited to lumping areas together. (Ireland was incredibly lucky to have the traditional 4 provinces ready made). So I think a lot of the old fans have been lost to the game - people who followed Bridgend, Pontypool, Newport etc. If somehow we went back to a 10 or 12 team league I don't think the support would be there any more for those clubs. In contrast there are probably more people than even who support Wales first and foremost and don't really follow a club below that. -
@majorrage
I think it's a positive thing, on the whole. Cardiff Blues never really worked. It was a weird chimera,
kind of pretending not to be Cardiff RFC so they could represent the wider "region", but still obviously Cardiff, but not Cardiff enough so that it alienated a lot of Cardiff fans. If that sounds like a lot of garbled nonsense then that means I've accurately described it.
They should have just embraced the Cardiff RFC identity from the start, much like happened in Llanelli. It's rough on the smaller clubs that don't get to have a seat at the top table, but that's just the cold reality of profesionalism.
But better late than never. I reckon there will be a huge buzz at Cardiff Arms Park next season when they run out in black and blue hoops. -
@gibbonrib said in NH club rugby:
@majorrage
I think it's a positive thing, on the whole. Cardiff Blues never really worked. It was a weird chimera,
kind of pretending not to be Cardiff RFC so they could represent the wider "region", but still obviously Cardiff, but not Cardiff enough so that it alienated a lot of Cardiff fans. If that sounds like a lot of garbled nonsense then that means I've accurately described it.
They should have just embraced the Cardiff RFC identity from the start, much like happened in Llanelli. It's rough on the smaller clubs that don't get to have a seat at the top table, but that's just the cold reality of profesionalism.
But better late than never. I reckon there will be a huge buzz at Cardiff Arms Park next season when they run out in black and blue hoops.Agreed
I'm an Aberdare boy upriver of Cardiff.
Growing up if you were ever good enough to play first class rugby you'd bypass Ponty and head straight to Cardiff.
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@mikethesnow
Yeah. I'm not from that part of the country (from Aberystwyth in mid Wales), but I assume that if you're from the area around Cardiff, and Cardiff became a pro team and your local team missed out, then you'd either decide to support Cardiff or you wouldn’t. Fudging it to make them the Blues wouldn't win anyone over. But if would turn off a bunch of Cardiff fans. -
@gibbonrib said in NH club rugby:
still obviously Cardiff, but not Cardiff enough so that it alienated a lot of Cardiff fans. If that sounds like a lot of garbled nonsense then that means I've accurately described it.
welcome to the Super rugby sides
"We're the Waikato Chiefs, i mean The Chiefs! We are based in the Waikato, play in predominantly Waikato colours, and have mainly Waikato players, but we represent you guys from the BOP/Counties (now)/Harbour (before)/Taranaki (for some reason)! see, we included this tiny bit of your colours on our jersey. Support us! love us! and occasionally we'll throw you a home game against the worst touring side on the schedule"
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@mariner4life said in NH club rugby:
@gibbonrib said in NH club rugby:
still obviously Cardiff, but not Cardiff enough so that it alienated a lot of Cardiff fans. If that sounds like a lot of garbled nonsense then that means I've accurately described it.
welcome to the Super rugby sides
"We're the Waikato Chiefs, i mean The Chiefs! We are based in the Waikato, play in predominantly Waikato colours, and have mainly Waikato players, but we represent you guys from the BOP/Counties (now)/Harbour (before)/Taranaki (for some reason)! see, we included this tiny bit of your colours on our jersey. Support us! love us! and occasionally we'll throw you a home game against the worst touring side on the schedule"
This made me think, what unions have never had a franchise game (pre season doesn’t count) in their region. I don’t think the ‘rapa has, unless it was when I was overseas. In addition are there any unions that have never been on a franchise when it has been super rugby champ? I don’t think Taranaki has?
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@machpants the 'naki were a millstone around the neck of the Hurricanes. They jumped ship to the Chiefs just as our period in the sun finished, which freed up the Hurricanes to then finally win one
Taranaki are a Jonah (and not the great Tongan one, the shit one that wrecks ships)
ENGLAND: Greene King IPA Championship
