The Rugby Thread

[E17yid]

Incredible final in the Premiership today. Well played Exeter but what an effort from both teams. A proper advert for club rugby.

In the Pro 12 though Munster are currently choking badly. Magnificent from the Scarlets though.

Got a lot of respect for Exeter. Fantastic side.

Crazy game in the pro 12 final, like you say.

Feel bad for Underhill. Missed the first 4 months of the season with a shoulder injury, takes a while to get back into the side, slowly gets his form back up, gets his first international cap and a place on tour and then injured his shoulder again before he even gets on the plane.

 

[E17yid]

Jonathan Davies has been great this past month. Almost back to his best. Be interesting to see who starts this Saturday

 

[mpickard2087]

Yeah pleased for Exeter and its reward for how they've built that club. There has been constant improvement, promotion - survival - midtable and push for European qualification - top four - final - and now winners. Baxter has overseen it all and has to be one of the leading contenders for next England coach, Chiefs are a very well coached team who play with precision, and he's put together a really strong, deep squad with some great buys (mix of young and veteran players) and gets the most out of them.

Good win for England also, thought they might lose that so credit to the youngsters. A couple of them look real prospects. Curry at 18 was ridiculously good, still his twin (who is by all accounts a little bit better still) to come in as well which means a lot of promise for the future.

 

[talkshowhost86]

Got a lot of respect for Exeter. Fantastic side.

Crazy game in the pro 12 final, like you say.

Feel bad for Underhill. Missed the first 4 months of the season with a shoulder injury, takes a while to get back into the side, slowly gets his form back up, gets his first international cap and a place on tour and then injured his shoulder again before he even gets on the plane.

Why don't more of those Scarlets players play for Wales?

Admittedly Munster were very poor, but that was still about 20 times more exciting than anything the national team has put out in recent games.

 

[E17yid]

Why don't more of those Scarlets players play for Wales?

Admittedly Munster were very poor, but that was still about 20 times more exciting than anything the national team has put out in recent games.

Yeah, they're playing some really expansive rugby as much as it pains me to say. I think most of their key players do. Ken Owens, who's been in the form of his life and has missed their big games against us, Leinster and Munster (which makes their wins that bit more impressive), plays. Liam Williams, who they'll miss massively when he goes to Sarecens next season, is obviously a starter. Jon Davies too.

Then you're looking at Gareth Davies who's back up to Webb. Jake Ball who's always in and around the squad. Scott Williams who had a good run with the national team over last few years but consistency at the top level has always been his problem. Evans and Samson lee at prop have had a lot of caps between them and are always in the squad. Patchell could force his way into the national side more if he continues to improve and if Biggar doesn't rediscover that 2015 form on a more consistent basis but he's also got Sam Davies ahead of him who I really rate.

2 interesting ones are James Davies in the back row who was Wales 7s captain who's already 27 but it'll be interesting to see what happens with him as he's been great but Tipuric is world class and I don't really see anyone displacing him at the moment (especially since Lydiate's injury woes which has meant Gatland can play Tipuric and Warburton is the same side in recent years) the other 1 is Shingler, he's probably had a dozen or so caps and though he's been great this season, especially in their last 2 games, he must be 30-31 and I think we have one eye on the future as most international sides do.

The really exciting prospect they have is Steff Evans and I have no doubt he'll be a big player for the national side. In fact we look really good on the wings for the future. Once North and Liam Williams step down we'll have Steff Evans and Keelan Giles ( only 18-19) for the Ospreys who's looking like the next Shane Williams but is very raw, Evans looks a tad further ahead in his development based on this season but he is a year or 2 older.

We're blodding a lot of youngsters just as England are for our summer tour so we'll see where they're at.

 

[werty]

How come a lot of Welsh players leave the Welsh teams? Do the Clubs have little/no money? They need to do what the IRFU do.

 

[talkshowhost86]

How come a lot of Welsh players leave the Welsh teams? Do the Clubs have little/no money? They need to do what the IRFU do.

Force players to move to Leinster?

 

[E17yid]

How come a lot of Welsh players leave the Welsh teams? Do the Clubs have little/no money? They need to do what the IRFU do.

I think money is the main factor. These dual contracts between the regions and the WRU were meant to be more competitive but in reality we can't compete with England.

I'm sure there are personal factors like there are with most transfers in any sport, a good example being Liam Williams move to Sarecens, I'm sure money was a big factor but his Mrs is a London based model so he also wanted to be closer to her which is fair enough. He'll probably go back to the Scarlets in a few years.

Couple of years ago it was bad but at least we had Faletau and Williams still here now they've gone you're talking about them 2, North, Halfpenny (who was meant to be coming back but don't think he is anymore), Moriarty at Gloucester (I'd have Hibbard back but something has gone on there with Gatland so he's not even in the frame anymore) Charteris, Roberts (who's only got a year left in him)

Obviously the majority are still in Wales but it's not nice seeing your key players leave.

 

[werty]

Force players to move to Leinster?

Do they have that reputation?

 

[talkshowhost86]

Do they have that reputation?

I think there was certainly some suspicions over Henshaw's move from Connaught, but that may have been a one off.

There's also some very odd rules in Ireland about overseas players which I don't really understand. It's why Pienaar is having to leave Ulster this season.

 

[talkshowhost86]

I think money is the main factor. These dual contracts between the regions and the WRU were meant to be more competitive but in reality we can't compete with England.

I'm sure there are personal factors like there are with most transfers in any sport, a good example being Liam Williams move to Sarecens, I'm sure money was a big factor but his Mrs is a London based model so he also wanted to be closer to her which is fair enough. He'll probably go back to the Scarlets in a few years.

Couple of years ago it was bad but at least we had Faletau and Williams still here now they've gone you're talking about them 2, North, Halfpenny (who was meant to be coming back but don't think he is anymore), Moriarty at Gloucester (I'd have Hibbard back but something has gone on there with Gatland so he's not even in the frame anymore) Charteris, Roberts (who's only got a year left in him)

Obviously the majority are still in Wales but it's not nice seeing your key players leave.

Yep money is a big motivating factor, as is the fact that the Premiership is a much more competitive league.

Unfortunately with the way the Pro 12 is setup, you may as well not run it during the six nations, and I think a lot of the Pro 12 teams treat it as a way to warm up for Europe rather than worrying about the league itself.

But yes money is clearly the main issue.

 

[werty]

I think there was certainly some suspicions over Henshaw's move from Connaught, but that may have been a one off.

There's also some very odd rules in Ireland about overseas players which I don't really understand. It's why Pienaar is having to leave Ulster this season.

Having just looked it up there doesn't seem to be any consistency in their rules with non-Irish eligible (NIE) players. Between Munster, Ulster and Leinster (don't know why Connacht are excluded) you're only allowed one NIE player per position, no more than four in a team + one special case, and you're not allowed to renew a contract for an NIE player or replace him with an NIE player. Yet all the provinces have broken those rules since they've been brought in, including Ulster resigning Pienaar a couple of years ago. It seems to be a bit of a mess at the moment.

 

[E17yid]

Lions squad to play Barbarians:
Team: Hogg; Watson, Joseph, Te'o, Seymour, Sexton, Laidlaw; Marler, Best, Sinckler, Jones, Henderson, Moriarty, Warburton, Faletau.

Replacements: George, Vunipola, Furlong, Kruis, Tipuric, Webb, Farrell, Payne.

Gats son Bryn is playing for the ba ba's

 

[talkshowhost86]

Lions squad to play Barbarians:
Team: Hogg; Watson, Joseph, Te'o, Seymour, Sexton, Laidlaw; Marler, Best, Sinckler, Jones, Henderson, Moriarty, Warburton, Faletau.

Replacements: George, Vunipola, Furlong, Kruis, Tipuric, Webb, Farrell, Payne.

Gats son Bryn is playing for the ba ba's

I'm amazed Gats hasn't picked his son for the Lions to be honest.

Anyway...as a Quins fans I feel very proud to see that front row, even if it's odd to have the Sink starting a game for the Lions before he starts one for England.

It actually looks like a very balanced team which is good, although for me Moriarty looks very out of place in that company (can't help but feel he's been picked based on 1 or 2 good performances in 6Ns rather than any long term form).

I hope we get Faletau off as early as possible. He's basically the only no.8 in the squad, and hasn't started an international game (or even a top level European game) for what...a year? We need to wrap him in cotton wool.

Hell of a bench to bring on for this one!

 

[E17yid]

I'm amazed Gats hasn't picked his son for the Lions to be honest.

Anyway...as a Quins fans I feel very proud to see that front row, even if it's odd to have the Sink starting a game for the Lions before he starts one for England.

It actually looks like a very balanced team which is good, although for me Moriarty looks very out of place in that company (can't help but feel he's been picked based on 1 or 2 good performances in 6Ns rather than any long term form).

I hope we get Faletau off as early as possible. He's basically the only no.8 in the squad, and hasn't started an international game (or even a top level European game) for what...a year? We need to wrap him in cotton wool.

Hell of a bench to bring on for this one!

I was going to say you must like seeing that front row. Gatland said he's only picked players that have trained this past week so I guess that's a smaller pool of players what with the prem and pro 12 finals the other day.

Weird that his son has a Welsh name.

 

[talkshowhost86]

I was going to say you must like seeing that front row. Gatland said he's only picked players that have trained this past week so I guess that's a smaller pool of players what with the prem and pro 12 finals the other day.

Weird that his son has a Welsh name.

Yeah I don't think this side gives any indication as to who will start the first test as he's also largely left out people who were involved in the semi-finals (well the Sarries players anyway).

 

[E17yid]

Yeah I don't think this side gives any indication as to who will start the first test as he's also largely left out people who were involved in the semi-finals (well the Sarries players anyway).

Agreed having said that though, as Gats has said, it's a good chance for some of these players to put their hands up and put a marker down.

 

[talkshowhost86]

Agreed having said that though, as Gats has said, it's a good chance for some of these players to put their hands up and put a marker down.

From that team I think most players have a chance of being in the opening 23. I don't think Moriarty will be in it for the first test, and I don't think Henderson, Seymour or Payne will be either, but I suppose if they really put on a good show in the first match then that can't hurt.

Do we know the strength of this Barbarians team? Are we actually going to learn anything from this match?

 

[mpickard2087]

Do we know the strength of this Barbarians team? Are we actually going to learn anything from this match?

It's a team of Super Rugby rookies, semi-pros and even amateurs I think. Even as a first run out the Lions should be racking up at least 50 points here.

 

[E17yid]

Here we go then.

Looking forward to it. By far our easiest game and you want it first but we need to set the tone and I wouldn't take it for granted at all, obviously.

Nice blend of Joseph and Te'o in the centres will be good to see that and Sexton knows Te-o well from Leinster as well.

Come on the Lions.