Rugby Union

[Michael.Y]

Not just the Arms Park - the Millennium itself may also get fake grass.

RE: The HK 7s - gutting loss for the (WORLD CHAMPION!!) Welsh in the final, which included a horror tip tackle by one of the Fijians which should have resulted in a red card, which actually only got a yellow (2 mins in sin bin).

Never mind - onwards and upwards! Wales now top-ranking NH side in 7s standings (unless you count Kenya - do they count as NH or SH? )

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Bath 40...London Welsh 25

Coupled to their appeal against the five-point league deduction being disallowed, London Welsh in their bottom position in the Premiership will view this result with dismay, as the other team just above them in the league, Sale Sharks, had actually defeated Bath 14-13 a short period previously.
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Sunday match result...

London Irish 33...Sale Sharks 33

The points for the draw and a four-try bonus point has widened the gap between Sale Sharks and bottom-placed London Welsh to eight points now.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Friday night result...

Sale Sharks 32...Gloucester 9

This looked to be a very difficult match for Sale Sharks, as a win by Gloucester would have taken them to third place in the Premiership, but once again the new-found team co-ordination saw Sale Sharks score no less than five tries and the match finished with them as worthy winners.

This result now takes Sale Sharks to the relative safety of 10th position on 31 points, which is 13 points clear now of London Welsh in bottom position in the Premiership.

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London Welsh 14....Northampton Saints 31

After the win by Sale Sharks on Friday night, London Welsh had to win this match to stay in touch on a mathematical basis of avoiding relegation, but this result was the worse possible one for them, with all its implications for next season.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Matters move quickly once relegation issues from the Premiership were decided and Bath have confirmed that they are in talks with relegated London Welsh to sign Gavin Henson ready for next season.


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Heineken Cup semi-final

Saracens 12...Toulon 24

A match where the goal-kicking skills of the England old boy (Wilkinson) and the England new boy (Farrell) were pitted against each other.

Wilkinson landed 7 penalties and a drop goal to 4 penalties by Farrell.

 

[Oswyntail]

So how many English players will be picked for the Lions? My guess is three.

 

[Greenback]

So how many English players will be picked for the Lions? My guess is three.

I'm sure there will be more than three. England haven't had a bad season, and they have some good players in the squad who will be considered.

I would take Farrell, Tuilagi, Cole, Robshaw, Parling, Ben Youngs, and possibly Ashton, Twelvetrees, and Lawes as well. (Apologies if I have missed anyone obvious!)

I don't think there will be that many Irish players selected - O'Connell, O'Driscoll, Best, Healy and Heaslip will probably go (though I wouldn't take BOD or POC myself), maybe joined by Zebo and Bowe.

 

[Butts]

So how many English players will be picked for the Lions? My guess is three.

That if true is probably treble the Scottish representation

 

[Liam]

That if true is probably treble the Scottish representation

I'm pretty confident about 6 Scots will make the squad. Perhaps 0/1 in the 15 though. Hogg (fullback/wing, different player to Halfpenny), Hamilton/Hynes (cause chaos in the lineout), Laidlaw (cover at 9 and 10, reliable kicker), Beattie (something different at 8), Visser/Maitland (not going to challenge North and Cuthbert, but proven try scorers in Heineken Cup and Pro 12), Murray (unless it's a Sunday!) and Grant all have a good chance of going.

 

[Oswyntail]

.... England haven't had a bad season, and they have some good players in the squad who will be considered....

But Gatland has said he would not favour English players because of the bad publicity and doubts about their ability to cope (IIRC - some such waffle)

 

[andrew bell]

Lions squad for 2013 tour

Backs: Leigh Halfpenny (Wales), Stuart Hogg (Scotland), Rob Kearney (Ireland), Tommy Bowe (Ireland), Alex Cuthbert (Wales), Sean Maitland (Scotland), George North (Wales), Jonathan Davies (Wales), Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland), Jamie Roberts (Wales), Manu Tuilagi (England), Owen Farrell (England), Jonathan Sexton (Ireland), Conor Murray (Ireland), Mike Phillips (Wales), Ben Youngs (England).


Forwards: Dan Cole (England), Cian Healy (Ireland), Gethin Jenkins (Wales), Adam Jones (Wales), Matt Stevens (England), Mako Vunipola (England), Dylan Hartley (England), Richard Hibbard (Wales), Tom Youngs (England), Ian Evans (Wales), Richie Gray (Scotland), Alun-Wyn Jones (Wales), Paul O'Connell (Ireland), Geoff Parling (England), Tom Croft (England), Toby Faletau (Wales), Jamie Heaslip (Ireland), Dan Lydiate (Wales), Sean O'Brien (Ireland), Justin Tipuric (Wales), Sam Warburton (Wales).

So by my rough counting there are 15 Welsh, 10 English and Irish and 3 Scottish players in the Lions squad

 

[Oswyntail]

I confess I am surprised by the number of Englishmen, as well as the omission of Best and the inclusion of some high-profile recently injured players. It will be interesting to see what the test team looks like. Either Gatland will try to stay with the set-up he knows, and hope, or try to work out how to beat the opposition.

 

[Greenback]

That if true is probably treble the Scottish representation

Fail!

I'm pretty confident about 6 Scots will make the squad.

Also a fail, though I expected a couple more to go from Scotland :eek:

Perhaps 0/1 in the 15 though. Hogg (fullback/wing, different player to Halfpenny), Hamilton/Hynes (cause chaos in the lineout), Laidlaw (cover at 9 and 10, reliable kicker), Beattie (something different at 8), Visser/Maitland (not going to challenge North and Cuthbert, but proven try scorers in Heineken Cup and Pro 12), Murray (unless it's a Sunday!) and Grant all have a good chance of going.

I would have taken Laidlaw and Beattie as well.

But Gatland has said he would not favour English players because of the bad publicity and doubts about their ability to cope (IIRC - some such waffle)

I think Lancaster has sorted out the mentality of the England squad, and removed any doubts about their behaviour following the 2011 World Cup.

I confess I am surprised by the number of Englishmen, as well as the omission of Best and the inclusion of some high-profile recently injured players. It will be interesting to see what the test team looks like. Either Gatland will try to stay with the set-up he knows, and hope, or try to work out how to beat the opposition.

Yes, some of the selection surprised me too. Best was the stand out omission for me.

Gatland will impose his own way of training and playing n the squad, just as he did here in 2008. To that end, the Welsh players know how we works and what he wants, so will probably have an advantage over those who are not so familier with his methods.

 

[Butts]

I notice the Venues for the England 2015 World Cup have been announced including the use of 7 Football Grounds.

The Millenium Stadium in Wales is also being used but not Murrayfield in Scotland.

As Wales is being used , why not Scotland as well ?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Sale Sharks 21...London Wasps 20.

Sale Sharks finished off this season with a win to finish in joint 9th position with 35 points, after being in a near-impossibly poor bottom-placed position at the half-way mark of the season with a dearth of points, then also having two quick changes of coaches. The new set-up has proved more solid and there is an expected influx of new players for the next season.

 

[Liam]

I think Gatland is expecting Hogg and Bowe to be his utility men in the backs, neither have (to my knowledge) played fly half and though I am pretty confident both can play at centre, neither are proven here at international level.

However, I can't think of any in form utility back playing at the moment, Keith Earls might have been close, but hasn't been on top formfor a wee while.

 

[starrymarkb]

I notice the Venues for the England 2015 World Cup have been announced including the use of 7 Football Grounds.

The Millenium Stadium in Wales is also being used but not Murrayfield in Scotland.

As Wales is being used , why not Scotland as well ?

It's possible the Scottish were asked and declined.

Interesting to see Sandy Park on there.. wonder if we'll get any big teams

 

[Stonesourscotty]

Why are areas in the north being used if no one will watch it up here? Rugby Union is poorly watched up here other than the 6 nations ive not seen a match on in a pub round here for years.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Why are areas in the north being used if no one will watch it up here? Rugby Union is poorly watched up here other than the 6 nations ive not seen a match on in a pub round here for years.

It will take a fair amount of time to be accepted in the northern areas, where the historical split between the two codes of Rugby Union and Rugby League occurred in late Victorian times over the matter of professionalism saw the amateur game staying as a 15 player game, but the new league version of a 13 player game saw certain game changes such a the end of line outs.

Many Welsh players of note have changed codes over the years to make a paid career in Rugby League, but in doing so. were ostracised by the amateur game and many cases in the past were reported of such players being denied admission to the social club of the team that they once played Rugby Union for.

It was only the recent advent of Rugby Union espousing professionalism that has seen much more media and television emphasis on that code. Do you remember the past days when Rugby League was weekly a Saturday afternoon television entity with Eddie Waring (and his trilby) holding forth. The Rugby League cup final at Wembley was a noted annual event with a packed stadium and a televised annual event of note.

In the early days of Rugby Union accepting professionalism, there were notable matches played of an exhibition nature between Bath (union) and Wigan (league) to an agreed code for these matches (union code for the game played at Bath and league code for the game at Wigan, which were won by both teams of the two respective codes. I was at the game at Wigan where Wigan won 82-8, but you could tell that players in both codes could easily transfer their skills from one code to another.

Look at players of Rugby League vintage, who recently made the move in the direction of Rugby Union in various capacities. A stalwart of the Wigan side, Andy Farrell made the move after a long career and his son Owen now plays in the England national side, after having an early grounding in Rugby League.

Another notable example, again of a player transferring, but at the end of his career with coaching in mind, was the iconic Sean Edwards of Wigan (1983 to 1997) and he now holds the most important post of defence coach for the Welsh national Rugby Union team.

 

[Stonesourscotty]

I dont think Union would ever be accepted here. The attendances at Union clubs in the North prove this they would need to lose a major part of the kicking game and make it faster to gain many fans here domestically anyway. i myself am from an area of Where union is played in Wigan but its financially not viable to be played here and the Union ground is now the training ground for Wigan Warriors Rugby League team. the union team now rents a college sports field out and no longer play in Orrell a team that used to produce some good union talent.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I dint think Union would ever be accepted here. The attendances at Union clubs in the North prove this they would need to lose a major part of the kicking game and make it faster to gain many fans here domestically anyway. i myself am from an area of Where union is played in Wigan but its financially not viable to be played here and the Union ground is now the training ground for Wigan Warriors Rugby League team. the union team now rents a college sports field out and no longer play in Orrell a team that used to produce some good union talent.

One notable matter is the ground sharing of the new Salford City Stadium of the Salford City Reds and Sale Sharks, who are both members of the top flight of both the professional Rugby League and Rugby League codes, who both have a strong following.

 

[Liam]

Very good match last night in the Pro 12 semi. Glasgow unlucky to lose out by a couple of points to Leinster. Stuart Hogg looks like developing into a top level kicker, but Jonny Sexton ran the show from 10. Sexton looks in good form for the Lions tour. O'Driscoll taken off early and Sean O'Brien didn't start, both because of injury. Leinster's back row really suffered without O'Brien's power.

 

[Stonesourscotty]

Neither Sale or Salford have a good following Sale 72** Salford 29** average attendances thats poor whatever sport your in

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Neither Sale or Salford have a good following Sale 72** Salford 29** average attendances thats poor whatever sport your in

Rather amazing to find that the Rugby Union side had more than twice the number of supporters of the Rugby League side.

 

[Stonesourscotty]

i dont know if those where at Stockport or Weaste im struggling to find correct info on that but it is good for Sale. i worried for them when they moved to Salford i wonder how much Mediacity is having on those attendances?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Whilst we are discussing Sale Sharks, they have been making strenuous efforts to strengthen their squad in readiness for next season and they have made their eighth close-season signing, with fly-half Joe Ford joining them from Leeds Carnegie.

 

[richw]

Off to twickenham next Sunday for me. no doubt Cornwall will be empty of locals, as Cornwall yesterday reached the county champs final

 

[Greenback]

I'm very pleased with my prediciton for yesterday's Heineken final on another forum, which was Toulon to win by 3!

Oh, and good luck to Cornwall, my favourite English rugby county!

 

[Butts]

Off to twickenham next Sunday for me. no doubt Cornwall will be empty of locals, as Cornwall yesterday reached the county champs final

My word they must be dreading the prospect of a load of "Yokels brandishing Pasties" descending on the hallowed precincts of English Rugby.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I'm very pleased with my prediciton for yesterday's Heineken final on another forum, which was Toulon to win by 3!

Jonny Wilkinson kicked 11 points for Toulon in their 16-15 win in the final against Clermont Auvergne and also charged down an attempted David Skrela drop-goal in the last couple of minutes.

 

[Greenback]

Yes, I thought it would be a close game but that Toulon would edge it in the end. I envisaged the scores being tied before JW stepped up with the last kick of the game being a drop goal to win it!