The Current State of Rugby
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@Derpus said in The Current State of Rugby:
@NTA but the RWC is still WRs main money spinner - and the RWC is nothing without NZ, Aus and SA.
Be crazy for them to ignore a drop off in interest in the the SH due to the Home Nations (perplexing) support of slow rugby.
Reality check: Europe would quite happily cut NZ and AUS from the RWC and it wouldn't affect the value of the product very much at all. Pacific nations as well.
The Boks they'd look at with more detail because of URC and other recent initiatives, but they would struggle to give less fucks about the two countries a day's flight away with limited fan base and a future under threat from a maximised market and narrowing pathways.
It has happened in Australia and is happening in NZ with the way schools are warehousing talent for the pro game, and clubs in the grassroots band are dying.
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@NTA i fear you might be right, i think what people underestimate on this side of the world is fans connections to their club will most often outweigh the quality of the rugby theyre watching
so even if we say NZ and Aus have the best players in the world...whilst fan in the UK might love seeing them as an exhibition every so often they would still just as readily go and see "their team" cop a hiding...complain the whole time but still go
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@Derpus said in The Current State of Rugby:
‘I’ve had enough’: Eddie Jones calls for global summit on future of rugby union
England’s coach has said he wants elite players, coaches and referees to meet in the autumn to discuss how to improve an increasingly stop-start game
He's not wrong is he?
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@antipodean said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Derpus said in The Current State of Rugby:
‘I’ve had enough’: Eddie Jones calls for global summit on future of rugby union
England’s coach has said he wants elite players, coaches and referees to meet in the autumn to discuss how to improve an increasingly stop-start game
He's not wrong is he?
Nope. Might be a lone voice from the NH though.
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England’s coach has said he wants elite players, coaches and referees to meet
Foster be like
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@NTA I don't really buy this man. Rugby isn't like Football where a powerhouse can miss out on the WC entirely and no one bats an eye (Italy four x winners, missed it twice in a row). And losing two major stakeholders (even relatively smaller ones) is a big deal for a smallish sport when those two come from a pool of, what, eight major stakeholders?
A rugby world cup without the All Blacks... what a waste of time that would be.
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@Crucial said in The Current State of Rugby:
@antipodean said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Derpus said in The Current State of Rugby:
‘I’ve had enough’: Eddie Jones calls for global summit on future of rugby union
England’s coach has said he wants elite players, coaches and referees to meet in the autumn to discuss how to improve an increasingly stop-start game
He's not wrong is he?
Nope. Might be a lone voice from the NH though.
But he’s not from the NH…
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@Derpus said in The Current State of Rugby:
@NTA I don't really buy this man. Rugby isn't like Football where a powerhouse can miss out on the WC entirely and no one bats an eye (Italy four x winners, missed it twice in a row). And losing two major stakeholders (even relatively smaller ones) is a big deal for a smallish sport when those two come from a pool of, what, eight major stakeholders?
A rugby world cup without the All Blacks... what a waste of time that would be.
You are kidding yourself, I’m afraid - there’s not a team out there that wouldn’t love not having to get up to knockout the ABs in a RWC semi only to go on and lose the final the following week.
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@junior said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Crucial said in The Current State of Rugby:
@antipodean said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Derpus said in The Current State of Rugby:
‘I’ve had enough’: Eddie Jones calls for global summit on future of rugby union
England’s coach has said he wants elite players, coaches and referees to meet in the autumn to discuss how to improve an increasingly stop-start game
He's not wrong is he?
Nope. Might be a lone voice from the NH though.
But he’s not from the NH…
He’s the coach of an NH team and has been on the RFU payroll for some years. Anything he says is to try and benefit them.
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@Crucial said in The Current State of Rugby:
@junior said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Crucial said in The Current State of Rugby:
@antipodean said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Derpus said in The Current State of Rugby:
‘I’ve had enough’: Eddie Jones calls for global summit on future of rugby union
England’s coach has said he wants elite players, coaches and referees to meet in the autumn to discuss how to improve an increasingly stop-start game
He's not wrong is he?
Nope. Might be a lone voice from the NH though.
But he’s not from the NH…
He’s the coach of an NH team and has been on the RFU payroll for some years. Anything he says is to try and benefit them.
Absolutely, but I am not convinced that his paymasters, or anyone else important in NH rugby, necessarily agrees with him. Moreover, would Eddie being saying this were he not from the SH? Not saying he doesn't want to benefit his current team, just that his natural bias and perspective from being originally from the SH must surely have some influence here.
Anyway, I think we are in agreement that even Eddie is not going to make things change. The way the game is reffed and played at the moment suits teams and unions in the NH. Whether that's right and how we got to this situation is irrelevant - what is relevant that, because of where are now, there will be great resistance to change, even if that change is being called for from someone working in the NH.
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@junior said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Crucial said in The Current State of Rugby:
@junior said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Crucial said in The Current State of Rugby:
@antipodean said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Derpus said in The Current State of Rugby:
‘I’ve had enough’: Eddie Jones calls for global summit on future of rugby union
England’s coach has said he wants elite players, coaches and referees to meet in the autumn to discuss how to improve an increasingly stop-start game
He's not wrong is he?
Nope. Might be a lone voice from the NH though.
But he’s not from the NH…
He’s the coach of an NH team and has been on the RFU payroll for some years. Anything he says is to try and benefit them.
Absolutely, but I am not convinced that his paymasters, or anyone else important in NH rugby, necessarily agrees with him. Moreover, would Eddie being saying this were he not from the SH? Not saying he doesn't want to benefit his current team, just that his natural bias and perspective from being originally from the SH must surely have some influence here.
Of course it would and that’s probably a positive given his history plus the fact that he is now all consumed by English rugby and several 6Ns campaigns.
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Surely the customers should dictate how a professional organisation structures its product. If you don't have people watching then your revenue is going to drop.
Perhaps the product is doing better than we think and we should all STFU but from talking to casual and seasoned supporters we can all agree that the product on offer now is significantly less than it was.
I am happy WR are taking head knocks seriously but the entire card fiasco and stoppages are hurting the spectacle big time.
I do hope they talk to their customers and have a team tasked with creating a product that people want to watch.
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@pakman said in The Current State of Rugby:
Shag's take:
I only got a few minutes in and gave up after hearing mostly what I would consider Foster's take...
Comments are fun though. Mark Macken really bringing my thoughts on Irish fandom to the fore...
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@Bones said in The Current State of Rugby:
@pakman said in The Current State of Rugby:
Shag's take:
I only got a few minutes in and gave up after hearing mostly what I would consider Foster's take...
Comments are fun though. Mark Macken really bringing my thoughts on Irish fandom to the fore...
It's good later on how World Rugby has lost the plot.
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@pakman said in The Current State of Rugby:
Shag's take:
Funny how they forgot we have lost 3 of the last 4 when saying we always bounce back after a loss. Hansen clearly won't show his real opinion just saying we need to trust Fozzie.
However his thoughts on cards etc are good. -
Some random thoughts before I really depress myself and read this thread (only a couple of pages in).
First on deliberate knock ons, but I think constant TMO interventions and questionable application of the head impact protocols are bigger issues for me. Can I throw in the issue of too many subs as well?
Anyway, my first knowledge of a deliberate knock on being a penalisable offence was an All Black tour game in England or Scotland '78 or '79.
Lineout hard on D. In those days it literally was on the try line, not 5m out as today.
Throw in just gets slapped as hard forward as it's possible to do so just to get the ball away from the tryline.
Penalty awarded.
10 or 11yo me initially couldn't believe the ref was penalising my mighty All Blacks for "just a knock on". But then it dawned on me, that you're not allowed to knock the ball on and deliberately transgressing the laws should be penalised (not sure my internal dialogue used that exact language).
First time I recall a PT for deliberate knock on was early/mid 80s, Argentina v Aus, I think at Ballymore.
Argie, pretty sure it was flanker Tomas Peterson, was last line of defence, stuck his hand out and knocked down last pass, propelling the ball forward.
Pretty sure there was no sin bin (way pre cards in Rugby), but was a really controversial moment as it was 40 odd metres out, and there was much conjecture around whether he was just trying to block the pass.
I recall there was a growing incidence of such incidents, and it came to be viewed as a cynical professional foul, especially in an overlap situation with the line open. Professional fouls became subject to a YC once they were introduced in the 90s.
Where I have an issue is that we're now too keen to YC players. I'd rather we err on the side of conservatism, and look for reasons NOT to send a player off. Give the player the benefit of any possible doubt, thinking he had some sort of chance of catching it, and was intending doing so, or even was trying to knock the ball backwards.
As an aside, anyone who has read my rants on the terminology used by the commentators probably knows my hate for the use of "deliberate knock down". "Down" is not illegal.
Edit: I'll go full GOM on other stuff later.
