The Current State of Rugby
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@mariner4life said in The Current State of Rugby:
But no game in France this weekend will beat the game in Newcastle today
Got anther 40ish games to go. 😜
TBH think you've got your rose coloured glass on about any games of yesteryear. Rugby has always been highly variable in quality.
NRL has always had the luxury of being fairly homogenous, where the best game is never really far from the worst.
I watched the second half of Knights Raiders and it was certainly high paced and dramatic. Some really amazing moments and some great execution on attack.
But it also featured a lot of absolutely shithouse tackling, abominable defence, and rubbish handling under zero direct pressure. League backs can't fucking align to save themselves (like the Warriors yesterday).
And it has too much kicking; I challenge anyone to criticise the Springboks' "clatterball" hanger game plan while simultaneously loving Rugby league.
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@mariner4life said in The Current State of Rugby:
The simple fact is, if you are objective about it, rugby league is a better spectacle right now
They have the best balance of physicality against protection. They throw shape and play phase after phase
Winning with tries is still the main eventUnion is field position, red cards, and it's better not to have the ball.
For all the attacking talent that was supposedly on the field in the France v NZ game, which we were led to believe, was a mouth watering curtain raiser....they didn't half kick the leather off it back and forth.
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On the plus side: they're smart about their rules in league. They have the luxury of controlling it directly of course.
When the game threatened to be overtaken by roid munching freaks they brought in things like 6 again to help speed it up and make it more about fitness. That's something Rugby needs to look at because players north of 120kg are becoming too frequent.
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@mariner4life said in The Current State of Rugby:
Lol fuck 5 tackles and kick????
Watch an AB set of phases, if we don't make metres in 4 phases we are bombing
This is the dumbest and laziest rugby v league shot availableI watched 2 tackle kick on Friday night in Paris
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With all due respect I call bullshit Nick
The defence was high quality but was beaten with pace and shape. And then fatigue when half3the team didn't get half the game off
And when either side needed to to go forward, moving the ball was the option.
Today showed everything rugby has lost. Rugby is now, at test level, closer3to he NFL than the NRL
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Rugby union is, at its core, a constant contest of ruck and run. The game is designed to be a constant flowing contest of the ball on the ground or the ball in the air
But we've decided it should be a serious of ruck and an aerial contest where the most important player is the ref
I used to love this game. I gave most of my life to this game. I don't really like this game any more
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@Steve said in The Current State of Rugby:
@mariner4life said in The Current State of Rugby:
The simple fact is, if you are objective about it, rugby league is a better spectacle right now
They have the best balance of physicality against protection. They throw shape and play phase after phase
Winning with tries is still the main eventUnion is field position, red cards, and it's better not to have the ball.
For all the attacking talent that was supposedly on the field in the France v NZ game, which we were led to believe, was a mouth watering curtain raiser....they didn't half kick the leather off it back and forth.
Lots of kicking on "zero tackle" too...
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@mariner4life Rugby has problems, and of that there can be no doubt. The old boys mentality flourishes all the fucking way down from WR right to your local union. It could be better without doubt, but it doesn't want to be while the 6N are making money. And while they're scared of law suits.
IMHO of the 200-odd games in an NRL season, today's effort in Newcastle is an outlier, not the norm. Not even close to the average.
But it isn't popular for its complexity; is popular because of simplicity and accessibility. And that isn't bad.
Most of the time you could play any NRL game in black and white, and you wouldn't know who the teams were because it is so very narrow in its approach.
Rugby is like gourmet food - it can be fucking amazing but it can also be pretentious twaddle a lot of the time.
Rugby league is like pub food - it does the job, is usually of good quality, and some of the time you get a really good steak that helps you interested in going back.
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N I like you and you know that
But that is shit the Sydney private school piston wristed gibbons that you hate tell themselves to feel superior to to the western Sydney bogans
Rugby union has lost its way
And even if I am wrong, it 8s most certainly not the sport I played a little over a decade ago
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@NTA said in The Current State of Rugby:
@mariner4life Rugby has problems, and of that there can be no doubt. The old boys mentality flourishes all the fucking way down from WR right to your local union. It could be better without doubt, but it doesn't want to be while the 6N are making money. And while they're scared of law suits.
IMHO of the 200-odd games in an NRL season, today's effort in Newcastle is an outlier, not the norm. Not even close to the average.
But it isn't popular for its complexity; is popular because of simplicity and accessibility. And that isn't bad.
Most of the time you could play any NRL game in black and white, and you wouldn't know who the teams were because it is so very narrow in its approach.
Rugby is like gourmet food - it can be fucking amazing but it can also be pretentious twaddle a lot of the time.
Rugby league is like pub food - it does the job, is usually of good quality, and some of the time you get a really good steak that helps you interested in going back.
You're bang on the money with the pretentious twaddle. It's too technical now.
Even the language of the game is inaccessible to youngsters and new comers. Talk of "mitigation", exits, pod systems etc. In the NH the players, pundits and coaches use rhetoric akin to middle management of the financial services sector.
The first ten minutes of the loss to the Springboks in Twickenham was technical pedantry. I can't even see those infringements as they happen. I couldn't explain them to a new comer. They were like neutral zone infractions in the NFL.
Cut out the nit picky refereeing. Card them if they clothesline each other or bin them for killing the ball 5m from their own line. We are sending players off for unsuccessful attempted interceptions for god sake.
Just let the players play.
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@mariner4life said in The Current State of Rugby:
And it should be good
But no game in France this weekend will beat the game in Newcastle today
Scotland, SA, Fiji and Wales say hi
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@NTA said in The Current State of Rugby:
When the game threatened to be overtaken by roid munching freaks they brought in things like 6 again to help speed it up and make it more about fitness. That's something Rugby needs to look at because players north of 120kg are becoming too frequent.
Couldn’t agree more Nick.
Half the players don’t even look like people, let alone athletes.
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@MajorRage said in The Current State of Rugby:
@NTA said in The Current State of Rugby:
When the game threatened to be overtaken by roid munching freaks they brought in things like 6 again to help speed it up and make it more about fitness. That's something Rugby needs to look at because players north of 120kg are becoming too frequent.
Couldn’t agree more Nick.
Half the players don’t even look like people, let alone athletes.
Couldn't agree more - I saw a Twitter / X exchange earlier this week where someone mentioned something about the Boks being able to replace their entire tight 5 by bringing on 5 "mutants" at halftime. A jaapie chap responded by pointing out that Oz, Nyakane and Mbonambi are all 175cm or under. Not sure if this is true, but it simply highlights the point the original poster was making - a 175cm tall human being should not be weighing in at over 120kg - this is more mutant than a guy who's 6 foot 11.
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@junior said in The Current State of Rugby:
@MajorRage said in The Current State of Rugby:
@NTA said in The Current State of Rugby:
When the game threatened to be overtaken by roid munching freaks they brought in things like 6 again to help speed it up and make it more about fitness. That's something Rugby needs to look at because players north of 120kg are becoming too frequent.
Couldn’t agree more Nick.
Half the players don’t even look like people, let alone athletes.
Couldn't agree more - I saw a Twitter / X exchange earlier this week where someone mentioned something about the Boks being able to replace their entire tight 5 by bringing on 5 "mutants" at halftime. A jaapie chap responded by pointing out that Oz, Nyakane and Mbonambi are all 175cm or under. Not sure if this is true, but it simply highlights the point the original poster was making - a 175cm tall human being should not be weighing in at over 120kg - this is more mutant than a guy who's 6 foot 11.
Watching Scotland v SA here and have to agree. Bish bash bosh.
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@junior said in The Current State of Rugby:
@MajorRage said in The Current State of Rugby:
@NTA said in The Current State of Rugby:
When the game threatened to be overtaken by roid munching freaks they brought in things like 6 again to help speed it up and make it more about fitness. That's something Rugby needs to look at because players north of 120kg are becoming too frequent.
Couldn’t agree more Nick.
Half the players don’t even look like people, let alone athletes.
Couldn't agree more - I saw a Twitter / X exchange earlier this week where someone mentioned something about the Boks being able to replace their entire tight 5 by bringing on 5 "mutants" at halftime. A jaapie chap responded by pointing out that Oz, Nyakane and Mbonambi are all 175cm or under. Not sure if this is true, but it simply highlights the point the original poster was making - a 175cm tall human being should not be weighing in at over 120kg - this is more mutant than a guy who's 6 foot 11.
Sounds like you need to visit Porirua for a dose of reality
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@mariner4life said in The Current State of Rugby:
N I like you and you know that
But that is shit the Sydney private school piston wristed gibbons that you hate tell themselves to feel superior to to the western Sydney bogans
Rugby union has lost its way
And even if I am wrong, it 8s most certainly not the sport I played a little over a decade ago
The Rugby World Cup is the third biggest international sporting event in world behind the Olympics and the Football World Cup.
The sport keeps growing and growing and growing.
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@sparky said in The Current State of Rugby:
@mariner4life said in The Current State of Rugby:
N I like you and you know that
But that is shit the Sydney private school piston wristed gibbons that you hate tell themselves to feel superior to to the western Sydney bogans
Rugby union has lost its way
And even if I am wrong, it 8s most certainly not the sport I played a little over a decade ago
The Rugby World Cup is the third biggest international sporting event in world behind the Olympics and the Football World Cup.
The sport keeps growing and growing and growing.
I'm sorry but this is complete bullshit
The RWC is not in the top 10 sporting events for either revenue or viewership
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That's no a source
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@mariner4life said in The Current State of Rugby:
And even if I am wrong, it 8s most certainly not the sport I played a little over a decade ago
The professional game has been moving away from the rest of us for years. Because money.
That has been going on for - literally - decades, and has always been inferior based on your reasoning when compared to league.
