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The Rugby Thread

'O Zio

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2014
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What a fucking joke Welsh regional rugby is at the moment. Ospreys and Scarlets to merge. Amazing the national team have performed as it has in recent weeks with all this shit going on.

Lots of coaches/players going to be out of a job. Still, we’re going to have a north Welsh region now. Great.

Where are they going to base a north wales team anyway? Wrexham?
 

E17yid

Well-Known Member
Jan 21, 2013
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Where are they going to base a north wales team anyway? Wrexham?

Fuck knows. Couldn’t give a fuck about the gogs, personally. They don’t even like Rugby.

The under 20s play in Colwyn Bay so maybe there?
 

'O Zio

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2014
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13,785
Fuck knows. Couldn’t give a fuck about the gogs, personally. They don’t even like Rugby.

The under 20s play in Colwyn Bay so maybe there?

How depressing. That's the trouble the only "big" place in N Wales is Wrexham but that's definitely a footballing town. I appreciate Llanelli isn't exactly a bustling metropolis but at least the team is massive there. It's got to be better than being in some shit village on the N Welsh coast surrounded by Scousers and their caravan parks playing for some tinpot team that's been plucked out of thin air who nobody gives a shit about.
 

E17yid

Well-Known Member
Jan 21, 2013
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How depressing. That's the trouble the only "big" place in N Wales is Wrexham but that's definitely a footballing town. I appreciate Llanelli isn't exactly a bustling metropolis but at least the team is massive there. It's got to be better than being in some shit village on the N Welsh coast surrounded by Scousers and their caravan parks playing for some tinpot team that's been plucked out of thin air who nobody gives a shit about.

Yeah its tricky. They want 4 regions but they want 2 regions who receive top tier funding and 2 regions that get shit funding. If this all goes ahead then the West Wales team (Ospreys/Scarlets ) and Cardiff will be the two top tiers receiving the lions share of the funding with the dragons and north wales getting next to nothing.

I guess that’s why they don’t want to merge Cardiff and dragons even though they’ve been the 2 poorest performing regions since we regionalised.

It’s just a sorry mess. I hope it goes tits up but then something needs to be done as we’re broke and we can’t even compete, financially, with fucking Scotland’s 2 regions let alone England who obviously have shit loads of cash.

Been a shit year, the team who I grew up watching, Neath, who were the best welsh club in Welsh rugby history have gone under and now the Ospreys who, tbf, have been shit for 2-3 years now, are now looking like are going to be no more and in the process getting rid of the biggest derby in Wales.

Its just crap for bringing through players and coaches too. You’re going to see players slipping through the net not getting top level game time. Yeah, the west wales region is going to be pretty tasty and should be more competitive in Europe but I don’t think you’ll necessarily see that transferred into the national team.

I dunno. I don’t have the answers. Just frustrating as fuck by the way this whole “project reset” has been handled.
 

'O Zio

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2014
7,405
13,785
Yeah its tricky. They want 4 regions but they want 2 regions who receive top tier funding and 2 regions that get shit funding. If this all goes ahead then the West Wales team (Ospreys/Scarlets ) and Cardiff will be the two top tiers receiving the lions share of the funding with the dragons and north wales getting next to nothing.

I guess that’s why they don’t want to merge Cardiff and dragons even though they’ve been the 2 poorest performing regions since we regionalised.

It’s just a sorry mess. I hope it goes tits up but then something needs to be done as we’re broke and we can’t even compete, financially, with fucking Scotland’s 2 regions let alone England who obviously have shit loads of cash.

Been a shit year, the team who I grew up watching, Neath, who were the best welsh club in Welsh rugby history have gone under and now the Ospreys who, tbf, have been shit for 2-3 years now, are now looking like are going to be no more and in the process getting rid of the biggest derby in Wales.

Its just crap for bringing through players and coaches too. You’re going to see players slipping through the net not getting top level game time. Yeah, the west wales region is going to be pretty tasty and should be more competitive in Europe but I don’t think you’ll necessarily see that transferred into the national team.

I dunno. I don’t have the answers. Just frustrating as fuck be the way this whole “project reset” has been handled.

Yeah it does seem like a spectacularly stupid idea to get rid of the biggest rivalry/derby in Wales. Maybe the numbers tell a different story but in my head having a big rivalry game seems like a good way to drum up interest among people who aren't usually bothered about rugby and maybe convert one or two of them into fans. Seems silly to just flush that down the toilet and turn it into some meaningless game where the "West Wales Whatevers" thrash the "North Wales Whattimeisthefootballons" instead.

On a side note, I do have a pretty stupid question about the whole regionalisation thing that I've never really understood. Does it work almost like a sort of sub-national team whereby if you're Welsh you have to play for the region you're from? Or is it just that the 4 teams can only scout kids from schools/local teams within their region but once they sign a pro contract they can move wherever they want? Sorry, I appreciate this is not the current point we're discussing and it's a bit of a "noob" question I suppose the kids would call it.
 

E17yid

Well-Known Member
Jan 21, 2013
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Yeah it does seem like a spectacularly stupid idea to get rid of the biggest rivalry/derby in Wales. Maybe the numbers tell a different story but in my head having a big rivalry game seems like a good way to drum up interest among people who aren't usually bothered about rugby and maybe convert one or two of them into fans. Seems silly to just flush that down the toilet and turn it into some meaningless game where the "West Wales Whatevers" thrash the "North Wales Whattimeisthefootballons" instead.

On a side note, I do have a pretty stupid question about the whole regionalisation thing that I've never really understood. Does it work almost like a sort of sub-national team whereby if you're Welsh you have to play for the region you're from? Or is it just that the 4 teams can only scout kids from schools/local teams within their region but once they sign a pro contract they can move wherever they want? Sorry, I appreciate this is not the current point we're discussing and it's a bit of a "noob" question I suppose the kids would call it.

Not a stupid question at all mate. You have catchment areas just like you do in football but you have lots of Welsh players playing in different regions to the ones they grew up in.

At a youth level the answer is yes but if you can’t get in at your region of birth and where you’ve grown up you’re essentially free to go wherever you want. A recent example is Josh Adams who’s recently broken into the national team. He played for the Scarlets at youth level, as that was the region he was from and as he didn’t really get any time he then went to England. To be honest I think you might see more of that in the future as you’re going to be hard pushed to get into a region that includes The Ospreys and Scarlets which would’ve encompassed Neath, Swansea and Llanelli in the old days with Beidgend and Aberavon and others.
 

'O Zio

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2014
7,405
13,785
Not a stupid question at all mate. You have catchment areas just like you do in football but you have lots of Welsh players playing in different regions to the ones they grew up in.

At a youth level the answer is yes but if you can’t get in at your region of birth and where you’ve grown up you’re essentially free to go wherever you want. A recent example is Josh Adams who’s recently broken into the national team. He played for the Scarlets at youth level, as that was the region he was from and as he didn’t really get any time he then went to England. To be honest I think you might see more of that in the future as you’re going to be hard pushed to get into a region that includes The Ospreys and Scarlets which would’ve encompassed Neath, Swansea and Llanelli in the old days with Beidgend and Aberavon and others.

Interesting stuff, cheers for that mate (y)
 

Japhet

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2010
19,232
57,391
Yeah its tricky. They want 4 regions but they want 2 regions who receive top tier funding and 2 regions that get shit funding. If this all goes ahead then the West Wales team (Ospreys/Scarlets ) and Cardiff will be the two top tiers receiving the lions share of the funding with the dragons and north wales getting next to nothing.

I guess that’s why they don’t want to merge Cardiff and dragons even though they’ve been the 2 poorest performing regions since we regionalised.

It’s just a sorry mess. I hope it goes tits up but then something needs to be done as we’re broke and we can’t even compete, financially, with fucking Scotland’s 2 regions let alone England who obviously have shit loads of cash.

Been a shit year, the team who I grew up watching, Neath, who were the best welsh club in Welsh rugby history have gone under and now the Ospreys who, tbf, have been shit for 2-3 years now, are now looking like are going to be no more and in the process getting rid of the biggest derby in Wales.

Its just crap for bringing through players and coaches too. You’re going to see players slipping through the net not getting top level game time. Yeah, the west wales region is going to be pretty tasty and should be more competitive in Europe but I don’t think you’ll necessarily see that transferred into the national team.

I dunno. I don’t have the answers. Just frustrating as fuck by the way this whole “project reset” has been handled.


It seems to be in the nature of rugby to lose well established teams as the heirarcy evolves. I remember when Richmond, Orrell, Moseley, Fylde etc were good clubs in English rugby but they all sank when the game embraced professional status.
 

E17yid

Well-Known Member
Jan 21, 2013
16,985
30,495
It seems to be in the nature of rugby to lose well established teams as the heirarcy evolves. I remember when Richmond, Orrell, Moseley, Fylde etc were good clubs in English rugby but they all sank when the game embraced professional status.

I always had a soft spot for Richmond (and Northampton) due to the fact Alan “the clamp” Bateman played for them.
 

talkshowhost86

Mod-Moose
Staff
Oct 2, 2004
48,105
47,061
I would genuinely like to see the Welsh regions added to the current English Premiership.

I think it can be done in such a way that the Welsh teams don't lose their national/regional identity but they get the benefits of the money in the Premiership that doesn't appear to be there in the pro-14.

No idea if the regions would have any desire to do that, but I think it would improve the Premiership and help the Welsh game as a whole.

As @E17yid says the national team have been superb considering the mess of the regional system, but that can only last so long and these shenanigans will ultimately impact on the national side which would be crap for rugby as a whole.
 

SugarRay

Well-Known Member
Jul 6, 2011
7,984
11,110
I would genuinely like to see the Welsh regions added to the current English Premiership.

I think it can be done in such a way that the Welsh teams don't lose their national/regional identity but they get the benefits of the money in the Premiership that doesn't appear to be there in the pro-14.

No idea if the regions would have any desire to do that, but I think it would improve the Premiership and help the Welsh game as a whole.

As @E17yid says the national team have been superb considering the mess of the regional system, but that can only last so long and these shenanigans will ultimately impact on the national side which would be crap for rugby as a whole.

Can’t see that suggestion being too popular!

Especially if they go straight in to the premiership too.

It might actually hinder them internationally by the way. Ireland and Wales as national sides do benefit from where their regions/clubs play. Look at the comparison in games played between the Irish players and their English counterparts.
 

talkshowhost86

Mod-Moose
Staff
Oct 2, 2004
48,105
47,061
Can’t see that suggestion being too popular!

Especially if they go straight in to the premiership too.

It might actually hinder them internationally by the way. Ireland and Wales as national sides do benefit from where their regions/clubs play. Look at the comparison in games played between the Irish players and their English counterparts.

Yeah it will never happen, and you're right that Wales and Ireland hugely benefit from the amount of rugby their players play compared to England and France, but if the Welsh regions ultimately fall apart that will be worse for the country.

I think the WRFU will need to not be too proud at some point.
 

E17yid

Well-Known Member
Jan 21, 2013
16,985
30,495
Exactly what we need going for a grand slam.

We’re making Brexit look like a well run process in comparison.
 

'O Zio

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2014
7,405
13,785
Ospreys - scarlets merger is now off apparently.

What a fucking mess. Why did they announce the merger seemingly before agreeing it with anyone involved? It was never going to be a popular decision so you'd have thought they'd at a minimum have agreed it in principle between Scarlets and Ospreys. They've just made themselves look even more amateur than they already looked
 

Japhet

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2010
19,232
57,391
I wonder what new initiative they’ll conjure up tomorrow.

The words 'piss up' and 'brewery' spring to mind. What an embarassing shambles. They obviously have no understanding of the tribalism of sports fans if they think they can just merge two clubs together with no fallout.
 

E17yid

Well-Known Member
Jan 21, 2013
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The words 'piss up' and 'brewery' spring to mind. What an embarassing shambles. They obviously have no understanding of the tribalism of sports fans if they think they can just merge two clubs together with no fallout.

It’s strange. You’re definitely right, it’s an embarrassing shambles and you’re also right they couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery and your last point about tribalism is probably right too but I guess we have gone through that change when we regionalised at the start of the century.

Obviously Scarlets and Cardiff were untouched but Neath merging with Swansea was a big deal as Swansea were our 2nd biggest rival after Llanelli so there is some appetite for it as there has been that change already.

You’re right though, this is too far and there was a fall out when the Ospreys were formed. My dads generation weren’t impressed but over time it changes I guess. I think the line has been drawn here though, tbf.

Just bloody merge Dragons and Cardiff FFS. They’re not bitter rivals really and Dragons are shit. Then introduce some shitty north Welsh region if you must (though technically my old man was saying north wales fell in the Scarlets region anyway but no one gives a fuck up there and the Scarlets didn’t give a monkeys about trying to promote the game up there either) then you’ll have a decent east wales region in the Cardiff/Dragons plus Ospreys and Scarlets.

They’ll probably say we can’t afford to properly fund all those 3 but they’re happy to just carry on selling Dragons down the river at least this way they’re merged with Cardiff and will be half decent.

Add Cory Hill, Hallam Amos, Aaron Wainwright and Moriarty to Cardiff who already have Navidi, Ellis Jenkins, Tomos Williams, Anscombe, Dillon Lewis and others and it’s not a bad team especially when you chuck in Josh Adams who’s apparently going there.

Surely the WRU have almost paid off the Millenium stadium too. I’m sure we can fund 3 fucking regions FFS
 
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