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Physical conditioning and sheer size can give an advantage at present especially in the backs. But that conditioning shouldn't come at the expense of basic ball handling skills. Probably the biggest gym monkey culture in world rugby can be seen in England where players are judged by what they...

It's confirmed Rob Howley will be Wales coach for their tour in Australia.

That's the reason I didn't mention him, we'd rather keep him over here for now.

Did anyone else read the thread title and notice there's a silent "- Good" at the end that your brain adds in when you read it?

Judging purely on their recent stints in Ireland I would say Cheika would be a good appointment, he fitted the Leinster philosophy of quick precise entertaining rugby. On the other hand I'd steer clear of Gafney, the dross that he delivered as Ireland backs coach, which comprised the guts of...

Not sure if these have been mentioned anywhere. 1. England have added midweek games against North and South SA Barbarians to their tour. 2. Jonathan Davies will probably miss Wales games against Australia due to a possible hernia op.

Sad news, hope he pulls through.

John Afoa got 4 weeks for his tackle on Felix Jones, so he'll miss the semi final against Edinburgh. 7 week ban was reduced to 4 due to his clean record etc.

The future of news and sports reporting especially is increasingly online rather than in the dying medium that is print news. Increasingly print news are looking to sensationalism and the "big stories" to sell new papers. So the bigger sports get more coverage and the others get even less. In...

I'm sure many of you know that Warren Gatland managed to break both his ankles while at home in New Zealand. This has cast doubt on whether he will be able to take charge of Wales on their tour of Australia. Rob Howley is waiting in the wings to take over if needed. Full story in the link...

If a union is going to do central contracts for their top players then that's what they should do. Not some half-assed attempt at protectionism that will alienate established wallabies who don't fit into the magic 22. Playing musical chairs with your national contracts is a good way to end up...

Of course the Rebels improvement is likely to come at the expense of other Aus teams, but not for the reason Eddie has cited. The Rebels are an improving team so are managing to win more games. The fact that they play the other Aus teams more often means it's more likely those wins may come...

With the teams in Super 15 only coming from 3 nations it means that 1 will always be seen as weaker if they just 1 more team for whom some results didn't go their way. If results fall a certain way in the next two rounds a couple of the Aus teams could climb the table with some SA teams dropping...

The guinness ads are normally pretty good: here's a selection from the last few years:

Also a lot of the NH rights are bought by sky sports part of the same group as Fox. But certain games like 6Ns home games for the Lions teams are covered by protectionist laws that mean they have to be on free to air TV. So if they can't get them to show in the UK and Ireland they wont get them...

Didn't see yesterday's games as I was travelling but very interesting line up for the semis. Ulster v Edinburgh. This will be a really good and close game I think as it's two squads who aren't used to being in the semi final so it's all about who can deal with the ocassion best. Clermont v...

BOD gave a very interesting interview before the game. He said that his injury and the retirement of his good friend Shaggy motivates him. He loves playing rugby and says he's not planning anything beyond the end of the season. That if his body feels up for it he'll go another year rather than...

Final score Leinster 34 Cardiff 3, fair play to Cardiff for keeping going right to the end. No team in the world would have lived with Leinster today. Still a tricky away semi final to come. Rob Kearney must be the best full back in the world at the moment, he was immense today.

60 minutes gone, Leinster 34 Cardiff 3. It would be a magic 20 minutes of rugby if Cardiff came back now. Thorn and Fitzgerald off for Toner and McFadden. BOD must be feeling good as he was asked to give them 60 minutes at the start.