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Samoa were resting several top players against the USA and also had a bit of a nightmare getting over there. They were very impressive in the first half and tired in the 2nd (USA also played much better). I think Samoa at full strength will have too much firepower for Scotland.

It's a great story and it will be interesting to see if Ireland draft in some top players for the repechage. But I think Canada and (hopefully for us) Samoa will be the most likely winners.

Ben Ryan (coach of Fiji 7's, former coach of England) has said fairly recently that he thinks a team of 15's superstars with 2 months of training would beat a team of current 7's specialists...

FT Samoa 21-16 USA. Good comeback from the Americans in the 2nd half.

No disrespect to the existing Sevens guys, but give Quade and SBW a month of training and they'll be killing it. I'd have them at very short odds to be starting in Wellington and Sydney if fit.

Hooper not world class? He's only been the Wallabies best player for the last 2 years and is one of our top 2 or 3 players in almost every match he plays in, including last night. Of course he's world class. I think they should both start. They have complementary strengths and they both have...

Maybe the ARU contributed to part of the release fee under the condition it was 4 years. The Sydney 7's will certainly be boosted by Cooper and SBW's involvement!

Japan get some fairly good crowds to their test matches when they play decent teams. No reason a Super Rugby team in Tokyo can't at least match the support of teams like the Rebels, Force, Brumbies, Highlanders, Chiefs etc. The hardest thing will be building a passionate fan base given they're...

I think if you have rugby 12 months of the year then you run the risk of fans getting rugby fatigue. And I don't think a summer 10's league featuring 2nd level players would have any chance of being successful. Maybe you could replicate the NRL 9's with a Super Rugby 10's weekend as has been...

You could probably have 2 Asian based teams in 5 years. It'd come just after the 2019 world cup. The Asia-Pacific Dragons almost won the Super Rugby license and the Hong Kong Union is pretty cashed up and could be interested in starting a professional franchise in that time. But it doesn't seem...

I think basically you can see where the 2016-2020 structure is probably going to head in future. 2 main divisions - Pacific and Atlantic, each with 2 or 3 conferences. That's if this initial expansion into Argentina and Japan is successful. If it's not then it'll probably go back to more like...

Agree that Dagg will struggle to make the world cup squad. SBW must also be in danger of missing out. He hasn't been in great form all season and looked off the pace today.

Doubt many people were predicting that to be 1 try all. On ability alone Samoa would deserve to be in the Rugby Championships at least as much as Argentina. With their team now having a couple of months together before the world cup they should improve - South Africa won't have it all their...

Europe shifting to summer would make more sense. But if the A League can be played over our summer then it's definitely possible to play rugby. We already play in February, which is often the hottest month of the year. You'd just have to have water breaks on the really hot nights. Doubt it'll...

To an extent, but it always seems like the most important thing for the ARU is to improve the depth and the pathways for the Wallabies. The treatment of the NRC shows it's definitely seen mainly as a development pathway. And even Super Rugby to some extent. It would be a better competition if...

Gallop didn't ignore the Socceroos, he said they were less important strategically than growing the A League. I don't know the FFA's financial breakdown but I would be surprised if the Socceroos weren't profitable for the FFA. They get big crowds to their home matches, play in big global...

Ratings jumped in 2011 almost entirely due to the Reds - and a lot of that was due to their style of play. There hasn't been a rugby bandwagon that full since the Wallabies were doing well in the late 90's/early 00's. Waratahs last year didn't create as big a buzz. I think it'd be great in...

They might know about the NRC but it wouldn't be at the front of mind for many people. And they are among the people most likely to attend games, watch matches and hopefully spread the word.

Well I gave you one and I'm pretty sure there are a number of guys in France playing around 35 games per season. I don't know where to find per season stats for every competition to prove it to you, but it's the kind of thing I've heard commentators talk about when watching European club games...

There is definitely some overlap but not all those test matches coincide with rounds of the Top 14. They have a number of bye weeks during the international windows. I don't tediously monitor game stats of every European based player but I thought this was pretty well known. A quick google...