NH club rugby
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Saffas finding the going tough this weekend
Bulls 21 - 30 Northampton
Leicester 56 - 17 Sharks
Harlequins 53 - 16 Stormers
Cardiff 26 - 10 Cheetahs
Lions 43 - 35 Pau (but Pau almost never win away from home much less even get double figures on their side of the scoreboard!)
At least they got to watch the massacres in their own time zone! -
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@Bovidae I will when I get a chance. There are obvious reasons why less than full strength teams are fielded eg injuries and maybe Leicester themselves were not at full strength either. If the Sharks deliberated fielded a less than full strength team then they damn well deserve to get flogged. Incidentally the record books will not carry an asterix again the name Sharks with a footnote that it was a weakened team and it will forever be recorded that it was the best team the Sharks could field regardless of the personnel involved.
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I'm sure that is shaking in his boots.
For those not watching at home, the first try was Leicester on a pick n go, driven over by the man behind. Unless we are going full Cotter 1-15, I'm not sure that is the defining feature we are looking for in our 13.
For the second, Leicester was in so much space, Ioane would scored it even more easily. It was literally, catch, run, score.
LF did make a nice turnover to earn a penalty, but none of that will have Ioane or Proctor worried.
if this was an epic troll and I've missed it btw, apologies.
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Toulouse were outstanding away to Exeter:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/cwy838xexxwo
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Different level
Straight running, crisp & accurate passing
Joy to watch
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Toulouse are an amazing side, had the privilege this time last year of watching live as they took Quins apart, power, pace, accuracy, glorious.
As for the competition itself, its on life support IMO, no coverage anywhere in England outside of channels that no one has and poor quality highlights on Youtube, that's if you can find the version you're allowed to watch in your region. Have seen no discussion of the games anywhere.
Then add in that the South African experience is horrible for all involved, coming up to the NH for 4 days is not conducive to high level sport, sending weakened teams etc - just undermines the competition. I'm a broken record on this but they shouldn't be in the European Cup competition, the logistics for clubs run on a shoe string are too expensive and too damaging for the players.
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I saw the highlights and was very impressed with Toulouse. It was men against boys. Exeter though, seem to be a downward spiral. The spirit that Baxter had previously fostered seems nowhere to be seen and far from the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, they look rudderless.
£17M in debt, rumored to be up for sale, as good as out of Europe and rooted to the bottom of the Prem.
Things are notoriously awry in the South West.
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@Catogrande Yeah, it sounds as though things have gone utterly tits up at Exeter. A real shame that this keeps happens to English clubs. London Wasps, then Worcester and now Exeterzz
A coach or a director who has run the club well moves on and the whole thing goes horribly wrong and it ends up deep in financial do-do.
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@Dodge I am going to offer a controversial opinion to express on the Fern that I think Toulouse are currently better than any team in Super Rugby.
I am going to offer an even more controversial opinion to express on here that I think this article by Stephen Jones on how to fix the European Champions Cup is pretty much spot on.
My plan to revive the insufferable, diminished Champions Cup
First step to improving Investec Champions Cup is to remove the South African sides, but it also needs to drop to 16 teams, with a new final venue each season
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@sparky said in NH club rugby:
@Catogrande Yeah, it sounds as though things have gone utterly tits up at Exeter. A real shame that this keeps happens to English clubs. London Wasps, then Worcester and now Exeterzz
A coach or a director who has run the club well moves on and the whole thing goes horribly wrong and it ends up deep in financial do-do.
Pre-CV Exeter was the only club in the black too, really sad
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@sparky said in NH club rugby:
@Dodge I am going to offer a controversial opinion to express on the Fern that I think Toulouse are currently better than any team in Super Rugby.
I am going to offer an even more controversial opinion to express on here that I think this article by Stephen Jones on how to fix the European Champions Cup is pretty much spot on.
My plan to revive the insufferable, diminished Champions Cup
First step to improving Investec Champions Cup is to remove the South African sides, but it also needs to drop to 16 teams, with a new final venue each season
I have seen several 'club rankings' that put Toulouse top in the world, I agree - I don't think it is controversial at all. The club championship could answer that, but won't as it will be a totally different parts of the season for SR vs NH sides - and thus moot
