European Club Rugby

Catogrande

George Smith (who has been bloody good for Wasps this season) has been cited for striking James Hook in the head with his knee. Presumably a lengthy ban if he is found to have hit the Qrange Twat with not enough force.

Siam

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Catogrande" data-cid="563473" data-time="1457514416">
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George Smith (who has been bloody good for Wasps this season) has been cited for striking James Hook in the head with his knee. Presumably a lengthy ban if he is found to have hit the Qrange Twat with not enough force.
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Can't plead a clean sheet either as he couldn't stop Justin Marshall becoming a "commentator"
 
context: he broke Meg's ribs in one of our losing semifinals a distant memory ago in a far off dimension ;)

Stargazer

Great interview with Corey Flynn, who's hitting the nail on the head: 

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
Ex-AB Flynn questions motives of big-spending French clubs Last updated 11:50, March 10 2016 
 Former All Blacks hooker Corey Flynn has flicked a dart at the wealthy owners of French clubs, saying their habit of throwing big money at foreign players is detrimental to the national side and the state of rugby in the European country. 
 Flynn, who left the Crusaders to link with French club Toulouse after the 2014 Super Rugby final and recently joined Scottish club Glasgow, said the No 1 priority for many private club owners in France was to ignore local talent and access their bulging bank accounts to win titles. 
 Rather than scout players from the lower grades, he said the club owners simply looked to fast-track in established, and promising, players from other countries. 
 This has led to frustration among the French rugby community. 
 "Some of these club owners have got a lot of money - the rugby clubs are just a plaything for them," Flynn told BBC Scotland. "They're not worried about spending money. 
 "It's not a good thing for French rugby as a whole. I've been talking with a couple of the French boys; they're a little bit annoyed because they're not just targeting the big stars of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa." 
 While established All Blacks such as Dan Carter, who joined Paris-based club Racing Metro on a record-breaking deal, and Flynn have flocked to the French clubs there is also the scenario of talented youngsters being lured to the continent. 
 "They're targeting the younger ones so they can get them in at an early age, have them in the academy for three years, then they're regarded as French-qualified, not foreign players any more," Flynn added. 
 "That's a bad thing because they're not nurturing their own talent - which they have an abundance of. But until you get a centrally controlled system you're never going to get that because the private owners just want to win. 
 "They want to spend money to win competitions and they don't really care about the national team or the state of French rugby, which is a shame." 
 The French national side, widely known as Les Bleus, has struggled in recent seasons. France were smashed 62-13 by the All Blacks in the World Cup quarterfinal in Cardiff last year. 
 Unlike New Zealand Rugby, who have benefited from a central contract system which means All Blacks and Super Rugby players are contracted and funded by the national union, the French clubs operate independently. This means wealthy club owners are at liberty to pay big wages for players - but their self-interest means they will put their club before the national team. 

Flynn, 35, played 31 games for Toulouse last season - including two against his new side - starting 30, hot on the heels of a run to the 2014 Super Rugby final. 
 His move to Glasgow followed some discussions with coach Gregor Townsend who asked if he was prepared to work with younger players, too. 
 "Having been in France for two years after a fairly intense, structured outfit in the Crusaders, it turned out I wasn't ready just to cruise, show up and play rugby. I'm not ready to finish like that," Flynn said. 
 "What gives me satisfaction isn't just strapping on my boots and playing, it's being involved in decisions and the way a team runs. I still want to use my brain; I still want to engage mentally into an environment. 
 "Gregor also asked about the mentoring role, and I'm not naÃ¯ve in thinking I can play forever, so I realise that half of my appeal is the experiences I've been through and the ability to pass on those to the younger guys. 
 "You're only ever really a caretaker of a jersey - it's about when you leave, you leave the jersey in a better position, you know?" 
 Stuff 
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SammyC

Corey Flynn is a great guy

MajorRage

In other news, the sky is blue.

Bones

Racing (Carter, Masoe, Rokocoko) scrape through against Toulon (Nonu, Taylor) in the champions cup qf.

MN5

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Bones" data-cid="571413" data-time="1460308181">
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Racing (Carter, Masoe, Rokocoko) scrape through against Toulon (Nonu, Taylor) in the champions cup qf.
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How's Joe R looking these days Bones ? I remember the fern bagging him for being too bulky and slow, is this still the case ?

Bones

Doesn't look slow, but seems the only thing he knows how to do is crash it up - which he actually does bloody well. Ploughed Nonu backwards with a good run at one stage.

gollum

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Bones" data-cid="571583" data-time="1460359050">
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Doesn't look slow, but seems the only thing he knows how to do is crash it up - which he actually does bloody well. Ploughed Nonu backwards with a good run at one stage.
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He spent most of the game playing centre too. He's basically been used as a wing / centre all year. Looks very solid, but not very flashy or quick.
 
Wasps got through too after Chales Piatau scored in the corner & Jimmy Gopeth cooly slotted from the touch line. Wasps backline was Gopeth (10), S Piatau (13), C Piatau (15) Halai (14)
 
And the Aaron Mauger coached Liecester got thru. Under Mauger they have been scoring shitloads, which has made up for them conceding shitloads...

Billy Tell

Infamous Stephen Jones of the Times said the Wasps games was "one of the greatest club games ever played. Like Super Rugby with tackling".
 
The irony was ALL of Wasps points came from Kiwis (Gopperth, Piutau, Halai).
 
Tubby Thomas got 2 tries for Exeter.

Catogrande

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Billy Tell" data-cid="571639" data-time="1460393295">
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Infamous Stephen Jones of the Times said the Wasps games was "one of the greatest club games ever played. Like Super Rugby with tackling".
 
The irony was ALL of Wasps points came from Kiwis (Gopperth, Piutau, Halai).
 
Tubby Thomas got 2 tries for Exeter.
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Well, the walrus is a prick.
 
It was a great game but one of the greatest? Not so sure about that. As to the Super Rugby troll - sort of to be expected. Click-bait.
 
Gopperth played well and nailing that last kick took some nuts. Thomas the Tank has been a revelation since joining Exeter. Last season he was the premiership top try scorer and he is well on the way again this year despite not being a regular starter for the first half of the season. He is no athlete that's for sure but has a deceptive turn of pace and such rugby nous that he is always popping up in just the right place. Seems like a great bloke too.
 
Gutted to see Exeter lose like that though.

MajorRage

I actually think it's a compliment. He's basically admitting that Super Rugby is a far superior product, but perhaps the defense needs improvement.

Catogrande

Weeeel you could be right MR. I'm just going by his previous.

Cookie

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Billy Tell" data-cid="571639" data-time="1460393295">Infamous Stephen Jones of the Times said the Wasps games was "one of the greatest club games ever played. Like Super Rugby with tackling". 
 
The irony was ALL of Wasps points came from Kiwis (Gopperth, Piutau, Halai). 
 
Tubby Thomas got 2 tries for Exeter.</blockquote>
 
Good to see the mad Welsh bastard hasn't lost his touch. I was getting worried about him.

Stargazer

Fritz Lee has re-signed with Top14 leaders Clermont for two more seasons (until 2019).
 
I never really rated him when he was playing in NZ, but he has been playing really well in France.

Margin_Walker

Christian Wade equalled the league record of six tries in a game as Wasps beat Worcester 54 - 35 yesterday in the AP. Remains to be seen whether Eddie Jones fancies giving him a go at some point.
 
Tom Coventry's London Irish have a crunch match against Newcastle today. Lose and they are almost certainly relegated to the Championship.

Catogrande

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Margin_Walker" data-cid="573009" data-time="1460880805">
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Christian Wade equalled the league record of six tries in a game as Wasps beat Worcester 54 - 35 yesterday in the AP. Remains to be seen whether Eddie Jones fancies giving him a go at some point.
 
Tom Coventry's London Irish have a crunch match against Newcastle today. Lose and they are almost certainly relegated to the Championship.
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They've lost and they're gooone.

Cookie

In other news, I spotted Billy V performing a side-step and one handed off-load in the same break. Let's hope this is the shape of things to come.

Cookie

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Margin_Walker" data-cid="573009" data-time="1460880805">Christian Wade equalled the league record of six tries in a game as Wasps beat Worcester 54 - 35 yesterday in the AP. Remains to be seen whether Eddie Jones fancies giving him a go at some point. 
 
Tom Coventry's London Irish have a crunch match against Newcastle today. Lose and they are almost certainly relegated to the Championship.</blockquote>
 
If Jones doesnt fancy Wade for Oz, I'd love to see him in the Olympic sevens

gollum

Write up re Mauger ahead of Racing v Leicester
 
Savouring southern comfort
 
Leicester's European Champions Cup semi-final with Racing 92 in Nottingham on Sunday may be an Anglo-French affair but it is laced with a significant southern hemisphere twist. The two three-quarter lines alone promise to take in three of the four Rugby Championship countries and all three of the Pacific Nations.
It is not just clubs who quaff southern comfort in the professional age: three of the four home unions are coached by New Zealanders while England are coached by an Australian. It has acted, in the English game's case at least, as an antidote to the focus on defence ushered in when recruiting coaches from rugby league became vogue.
 
"The southern hemisphere influence has been positive in England," said the Leicester three-quarter Peter Betham, an Australian international who was born in New Zealand to Samoan parents. "It has had a big impact on the skill levels of forwards and you are seeing more interlinking between backs and forwards. The result has been more expansive play and tries in the Premiership despite the wet winter. The weather has not dictated too much what happens on the field and that has been consistently the case with the All Blacks. Wasps, Exeter, Harlequins and Sale, among others, all play a wide game in the wet and that is what we have been doing at Leicester." 
 
Leicester had the poorest try-scoring record in the Premiership last season after hapless London Welsh, failing to score one in seven of their Premiership matches; two campaigns earlier, "penalty try" at one stage threatened to be their top scorer. They turned to the former New Zealand centre Aaron Mauger, who finished his playing career at Welford Road, who was last summer appointed the head coach on a three-year contract. This was a club that had long embodies the virtues of English rugby, strong set-pieces, strong defence and an accurate kicking game, strangling opponents rather than stretching them.
That has changed and if Leicester's results this season have been those of a team in a state of evolution, they are now as dangerous in possession five metres from their own line as well as from the opposition's. Mauger is converting the England centre Manu Tuilagi from an outside-centre to a 12 and he has moved Betham, who before arriving at the club had never started a professional game in the midfield, from the wing to 13.
 
"I joined Leicester because I was looking to go offshore to travel and gain some experience and also because Aaron Mauger was going to be at the club," said the 27-year old Betham, who has won two caps for Australia. "It offered the chance to play alongside great players like Manu and while it was a hard decision to move away from your family, which is important when you come from a Pacific Island background, and give up the chance of playing for Australia again, I have no regrets about coming here and hope to stay with the club for a good few more years.
"Aaron gets us to back our ability, play what is in front of us and apply pressure when we need to," said Betham. "Being able to think freely is what it is all about. I do not think we have hit top gear yet: there is a lot more to come as individuals, as a team and a back division. We are only coming to grips with our combinations, not having played the same backline consistently in the past. You can see Aaron's impact in Freddie Burns who has really developed over the season at outside-half, seeing opportunities and backing himself, but kicking when he needs to."
 
Betham arrived as a wing with a reputation for scoring tries but found himself playing in the centre in Leicester's first game of the season: 14 of his 20 starts have come in the midfield and all four appearances from the bench. He first partnered Tuilagi last month and the pair have appeared together four times with the Tigers winning on each occasion.
 
"Aaron wanted me to get my hands on the ball earlier and picked me in the centre," said Betham. "I had never played there for a full game professionally and, excited as I was about seeing more of the ball, I was a bit anxious defensively; as a wing, you only make one or two tackles a game and now I am making 12 or more. Outside-centre is a very hard position to defend but I have got used to it.
 
"Manu and I chop and change; I will be at 12 at times and he will be at 13. With England it is about finding a 13 to complement Manu. He is more than a big bloke; there are a number of subtleties to his game you have not seen. He has a very good grubber and long ball and all these things will come in time the more he plays at 12.
 
"Aaron takes the centres under his wing a lot and there are a number of skills sessions we do personally. Manu's skill set will grow and I dread to find out how good he will become. We do the sessions with Aaron at the end of training. He takes Manu and me aside and drills into us the subtleties to 12 and 13 and they become second nature. He has focus points for us during the week, 20 minutes at a time on and off during the week and he makes sure we do them in the team sessions."
 
Racing have their own southern hemisphere influence through Joe Rokocoko and Juan Imhoff on the wings, the centre Casey Laulala and the New Zealand outside-half Dan Carter, a former Super rugby and international team-mate of Mauger's. "They have a lot of firepower behind," said Betham. "You have to keep one eye on Carter and the other on the rest of them. Carter was a good general against Toulon [in the quarter-final] in the way he directed Racing. He puts his teams in the right areas at the right times and it seems like he has so much time on his hands when other 10s probably get frazzled and blitzed. He is very calm in the moment."
 
Betham will return to Australia for a holiday in the summer, planning to take in England's tour there. "I would love Australia to get the wins but the Leicester guys to do well," he said. "Ben Youngs and Danny Care are thriving under Eddie Jones and what you are seeing with England now is that the numbers on the backs of the players do not define how they play. They will be a dangerous team and it should be a good series, interesting to see where each team is at. If Manu gets into the team he will get me a ticket, but I have told him not to think about me wearing any white because that will not happen.
"Last year's World Cup reflected rugby in the two hemispheres, but England's game has grown since then. Eddie Jones has done pretty well: Manu talks about him a lot, positively. He is relaxed and calm as a coach and gives players belief. They are less rigid in the way they play the game: the likes of Anthony Watson and Jack Nowell were never really unleashed in the World Cup, but they can become dominant in world rugby. The southern hemisphere influence has been good for English rugby."

The Silver Fern

European Club Rugby