NH International Rugby
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In his latest piece of expert analysis, Squidge Rugby looks into the evolution of rugby in Georgia and the fascinating story behind the burly men of Eastern Europe.
Georgia are one of only five countries that consider XV’s rugby to be their national sport along with New Zealand, Madagascar, Tonga and Wales. How did this happen? Squidge delves into the history books to find out in his own inimitable style.
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@machpants said in NH International Rugby:
So it looks like not much change, with tours/6N/RC counting for points, then a couple of semis/final at the end some where? Good luck getting the NH clubs to sign up to an extension of any season for those two weekends or, if it is done during official 'tours' window, that makes everyone's games outside the top 4 totally pointless!
Still the ABs will make it to the semis pretty much every year, it's not knock out, and if that's more money for NZR all good. A test is a test I don't need some league to make me interested, fucking friendlies my arse.
I have a question or two.
The format of the comp is that each of the 12 teams play each other once. That's 11 tests for each team. (I presume Mr Pichot has also got player welfare on his mind in proposing this and reducing the number of tests each year.)
Let's say that there's 2 points awarded for a win towards this 12 Nations Cup.
The Six Nations runs and let's say England get the Grand Slam (10 points) and Italy the Wooden Spoon (Nil points)
Then come the July tests - so the Six Nations all need to play the other six nations presumably.
So let's say Week 1 it's Irl v SA, Wal v Aus, Eng v Fij, Ita v NZ, Sco v Arg and Fra v Japan.
Week 2, they all swap around - Irl v Aus, Wal v NZ, Eng v Jap, Ita v Fij, Sco v SA, Fra v Arg.NH teams are now knackered so they finish season having played 7 games each. Or they all travel again for a third round, at which some of the SH countries will be licking their lips. So the 6 NH teams will have 8 games under their belts, and SH teams 3 each.
SH teams now play each other in the RC - once or twice? And, if twice, which results counts points towards the 12 Nations Cup? And what about Fiji and Japan - who do they play while all this is going on? Does the RC expand to become the other 6N?
Either way, the RC finishes and the SANZAAR teams are on 6 tests each (plus 3 that don't count) and then play 2 more tests to bring them to 8. (or 11 if they play home and away) Or maybe 13 if it's a SH6N championship home and away).Or...I don't know.
Then we get to November. The 6N teams have to play 3 tests in the new 3-week international window agreed to now start at beginning of November.
So they sit at home and wait for the remaining countries they have to play to turn up. Italy played Japan, Fiji and Arg during July, so they look forward to SA, Aus and NZ turning up in the San Siro each week and make out like bandits.
England meanwhile open Twickers to await the arrival of Japan, Fiji and Argentina with their newly refurbished £80m East Stand awaiting the err...hordes.And after all that, four unlucky teams get picked to be in the playoffs of whom two also have to play a final.
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@derm-mccrum said in NH International Rugby:
@machpants said in NH International Rugby:
So it looks like not much change, with tours/6N/RC counting for points, then a couple of semis/final at the end some where? Good luck getting the NH clubs to sign up to an extension of any season for those two weekends or, if it is done during official 'tours' window, that makes everyone's games outside the top 4 totally pointless!
Still the ABs will make it to the semis pretty much every year, it's not knock out, and if that's more money for NZR all good. A test is a test I don't need some league to make me interested, fucking friendlies my arse.
I have a question or two.
The format of the comp is that each of the 12 teams play each other once. That's 11 tests for each team. (I presume Mr Pichot has also got player welfare on his mind in proposing this and reducing the number of tests each year.)
Let's say that there's 2 points awarded for a win towards this 12 Nations Cup.
The Six Nations runs and let's say England get the Grand Slam (10 points) and Italy the Wooden Spoon (Nil points)
Then come the July tests - so the Six Nations all need to play the other six nations presumably.
So let's say Week 1 it's Irl v SA, Wal v Aus, Eng v Fij, Ita v NZ, Sco v Arg and Fra v Japan.
Week 2, they all swap around - Irl v Aus, Wal v NZ, Eng v Jap, Ita v Fij, Sco v SA, Fra v Arg.NH teams are now knackered so they finish season having played 7 games each. Or they all travel again for a third round, at which some of the SH countries will be licking their lips. So the 6 NH teams will have 8 games under their belts, and SH teams 3 each.
SH teams now play each other in the RC - once or twice? And, if twice, which results counts points towards the 12 Nations Cup? And what about Fiji and Japan - who do they play while all this is going on? Does the RC expand to become the other 6N?
Either way, the RC finishes and the SANZAAR teams are on 6 tests each (plus 3 that don't count) and then play 2 more tests to bring them to 8. (or 11 if they play home and away) Or maybe 13 if it's a SH6N championship home and away).Or...I don't know.
Then we get to November. The 6N teams have to play 3 tests in the new 3-week international window agreed to now start at beginning of November.
So they sit at home and wait for the remaining countries they have to play to turn up. Italy played Japan, Fiji and Arg during July, so they look forward to SA, Aus and NZ turning up in the San Siro each week and make out like bandits.
England meanwhile open Twickers to await the arrival of Japan, Fiji and Argentina with their newly refurbished £80m East Stand awaiting the err...hordes.And after all that, four unlucky teams get picked to be in the playoffs of whom two also have to play a final.
Nail. Head.
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Could have put this in the NH Club thread but the outcome will effect the England campaign.
Nathan Hughes is torpedoing his chances of playing for England in the EOY tests after a club game where he was cited for striking the head of another player while in a tussle on the ground. I haven't seen the incident but it apparently wasn't a full punch. Trouble is he had to appear on the mat and the offence has to come in at a 6 week level to start. The verdict was about to come down (probably with all sorts of mitigating factors to reduce the ban) when someone noticed he had tweeted 'what a joke' during the process.
He quickly deleted the tweet but damage was done. Hard to mitigate for remorse and respect of procedure after that so the judiciary has delayed its verdict -
@gt12 said in NH International Rugby:
He's right though.
Of course, but since when has being right entered the discussion when you are grovelling for your playing rights with the judiciary?
Poor bloke probably wrote the tweet, thought twice about it then hit send instead of delete as well. Didn't get to delete it until someone else reacted
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@stargazer said in NH International Rugby:
With the exception of Cardiff Blues' Jarrod Evans not having a sniff. AGAIN!!!
And the following injuries, the best we can put out really
Players not selected due to injury:
Seb Davies, Aaron Shingler, James Davies, Josh Navidi, Taulupe Faletau
Scott Williams, Hallam Amos, Owen Lane -
England are missing a lot of back row players through injury. It looks like we will see Brad Shields against the All Blacks.
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England's injury crisis is a bit disappointing. I wanted to have a full strength England and Ireland to determine where we're at outside of the Rugby Championship.
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@antipodean said in NH International Rugby:
England's injury crisis is a bit disappointing. I wanted to have a full strength England and Ireland to determine where we're at outside of the Rugby Championship.
You can still smash them both though please
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@mikethesnow said in NH International Rugby:
@antipodean said in NH International Rugby:
England's injury crisis is a bit disappointing. I wanted to have a full strength England and Ireland to determine where we're at outside of the Rugby Championship.
You can still smash them both though please
Typical Welshman, always trying to get someone else to do the work.
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@catogrande said in NH International Rugby:
@mikethesnow said in NH International Rugby:
@antipodean said in NH International Rugby:
England's injury crisis is a bit disappointing. I wanted to have a full strength England and Ireland to determine where we're at outside of the Rugby Championship.
You can still smash them both though please
Typical Welshman, always trying to get someone else to do the work.
To be fair, we kiwis have been roping in other coaches all over the world just to lose to us.
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Fromm Rugby 365:
Former Hurricanes star in Scotland squad to face Boks
SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT: Head coach Gregor Townsend named three uncapped players in a 40-man Scotland squad for the 2018 November Tests.The uncapped trio are Scarlets back-row Blade Thomson Exeter Chiefs lock Sam Skinner and Glasgow Warriors centre Sam Johnson.
Thomson and Skinner are eligible for the national team through family connections, Thomson through his paternal grandfather, Robert, from Wishaw, while Skinner’s father, Peter, is from Ayr.
Skinner (23) was first involved in the then Scottish Exiles (now Scottish Qualified) programme as a teenager, while at Taunton Titans, before he joined the Chiefs in the 2014/15 season.
He was then selected for England Under-20 – and faced many of his Scotland contemporaries in the age-grade Six Nations – before becoming an increasingly prominent part of the Exeter squad that won the English Premiership title for the first time in 2017 and finished as runners-up in last year’s final.
Thomson (27) arrived in west Wales from Super Rugby side Hurricanes, having represented New Zealand U20 and the Maori All Blacks, and has been a stand-out performer for the Llanelli side in his debut Pro14 season.
Johnson (25) is eligible for Scotland on residency grounds, having joined Glasgow Warriors in 2015.
The Australian-born centre has been a popular figure at the Scotstoun club, making 40 appearances since his arrival and voted last year’s Players’ Player of the Season by his peers.
The squad also welcomes the return of several seasoned campaigners who missed the June tour either through injury or a scheduled rest, which sees the likes of Alex Dunbar, Jonny Gray, Huw Jones, Greig Laidlaw, Sean Maitland, Willem Nel, Gordon Reid, Finn Russell, Tommy Seymour, Ryan Wilson and Hamish Watson all back in the squad.
The selection also marks the return of centre Matt Scott and scrumhalf Henry Pyrgos, who last featured in a Scotland shirt in the side’s 2017 wins over Australia in Sydney in June and Edinburgh last November, respectively.
Scotland will face Wales in Cardiff on Saturday, November 3 and contest the ‘Doddie Weir Cup’, as both teams honour the former Scotland and British & Irish Lions player diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease.
Scotland will then return home to Murrayfield for three home Tests against Fiji, South Africa and Argentina on the consecutive Saturdays that follow (10, 17 and 24 November).
Scotland squad:Forwards: Alex Allan, Simon Berghan, Magnus Bradbury, Fraser Brown, Allan Dell, David Denton, Matt Fagerson, Ross Ford, Grant Gilchrist, Jonny Gray, Rob Harley, Murray McCallum, Stuart McInally, Willem Nel, Gordon Reid, Jamie Ritchie, Sam Skinner, Blade Thomson, Ben Toolis, George Turner, Hamish Watson, Ryan Wilson.
Backs: Alex Dunbar, Dougie Fife, Chris Harris, Adam Hastings, George Horne, Pete Horne, Sam Johnson, Huw Jones, Lee Jones, Blair Kinghorn, Greig Laidlaw, Sean Maitland, Byron McGuigan, Ali Price, Henry Pyrgos, Finn Russell, Matt Scott, Tommy Seymour.
Not considered through injury: John Barclay, Mark Bennett, Lewis Carmichael (all Edinburgh), Cornell du Preez (Worcester Warriors), Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors), Richie Gray (Toulouse), Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors), Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors), Duncan Taylor (Saracens).
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@catogrande said in NH International Rugby:
@mikethesnow said in NH International Rugby:
@antipodean said in NH International Rugby:
England's injury crisis is a bit disappointing. I wanted to have a full strength England and Ireland to determine where we're at outside of the Rugby Championship.
You can still smash them both though please
Typical Welshman, always trying to get someone else to do the work.
Well we won't have the chance to be fair
