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I would imagine that, no matter the formal process, Deans will have a big say in who it is. There may be other assistant coach changes in the next month or so also. So Deans has the opportunity now to get the coaching staff he wants and if the rest of the coaches aren't changed it should be...

Another thing that annoys me lately is the amount of moaning that goes on after a loss. It seems some coaches can no longer just hold their hands up and say hey they were better than us we've got areas to work on and improve for our next game. Instead now it's soccer style interviews "The Ref...

What Lee said about the fowards not spotting counter rucks opportunities reminded me how blessed Ireland and especially Munster where to have Peter Stringer. Not saying he was the perfect scrum half but the direction he gave to the pack was invaluable. Calling in the extra bodies to shore up our...

Sorry to see this happen to Jim. Even as a Leinster supporter I have a lot of respect for him for what he did as a player and a coach with Munster. But in a much more difficult job with Australia he didn't deliver. From an outside point of view it looks a bit like how England replaced MJs...

Great game between Toulouse and Harlequins. Famous victory for Quins 31-24. What a turn around in a week. Game was pretty exciting and now there's only a point in it in the pool. Toulouse might have been closer in the end and may have won if McAllister didn't have a meltdown with the boot in the...

Munster did what they do best today, winning tight games. 19-13 against Scarlets who had chances to win the game. But Munster now 4 wins from 4 and top of the pool.

Leinster destroyed Bath 52-27 running in 7 tries to end Bath's chances of qualifying and put themselves in a good position to win the pool. The big trend so far this round of games is how the Welsh regions have fallen away after such good starts to their pools.

Since it's a Disney movie the opposition in the big game would have to be someone the US dislike. So if it was set in the 1991 WC England would become USSR (modelled on the 2003 team so they play like robots). Australia and "USSR" would be in the same pool to begin with and Australia would get...

The other thing about having Greenwood next to Wilko was that he talked to him a lot and told him what to do and made many of the calls for Jonny. In his 2nd stint when he came back from injury he had a succession of 12s that didn't do this as well as inexperienced 9s. Also a lot of the time...

True Swat, Wilko with England you always knew what you were going to get and it wasn't very exciting for a neutral. But I admire his level of execution and precision. At his peak it was like when Tiger Woods was dominating golf. Yes it was pretty boring seeing the same guy win all the time, but...

What's know as simulation in soccer creeping into rugby. See this normally in 2 instances. First: When a player puts up a high ball and realises he's no going to get there so he purposely runs into an opposition player and goes to ground hoping to win a penalty. Second: Increasingly anytime...

Probably not going to be a popular one here on an Aus board. But my favourite was Stephen Ferris in the RWC when he decided to pick up Will Genia and use him to swat JOC (James O'Connor). Not because it was against Aus or anything, simply because it was great to see Ferris coming back to his best after such a...

He retired from international duty at the right time. Never really replicated his previous form in his 2nd stint with the English national team and it's questionable if he'd make the match day 22 for the 6Ns. Best to focus on club rugby now especially since he's gone an impressive amount of time...

That's the vicious circle that could happen when the game is more and more driven by revenue. More games due to these extra competition will mean needing bigger squads to cover the amount of games. Then the higher wage bill will mean clubs will want more revenue. Some teams will get into a...

Yes the loss of the props is a big blow for Clermont and next week will be the big test for them in this pool. Normally a pool like this with an Italian side would have a great chance of having 2 teams through. Not so in Treviso's pool this year, but so far Aironi are not up to that standard...

Agree but they should have made the most of the 10 minutes when Leicester were down to 13. I know they scored a try but they could have secured the bonus point by now. It's a tight pool and every point could count.

Leinster mad hard work of beating Bath 18-13. They butchered a number of certain tries especially where they had a 4 on 1 out wide close to the line and SoB tried to go himself instead of passing it out for an easy stroll in. There were some huge hits through out the game and it was very...

In the late games today Saracens beat Osprey 31-26 in the best game of the weekend so far. Osprey got a losing bonus point and Sarries failed to get the 4 tries so still all to play for.

Munster won another tight HEC game this week. Scarlets 14 Munster 17. O'Gara gave Priestland a bit of a schooling and in the 2nd half he was moved to FB to make way for S.Jones at 10. I rate Priestland very highly and he'll learn a lot from today. But O'Gara kicked all his points and put Munster...

Northampton tried to make a game of it against Castres but 2 yellow cards cost them. Final score 41-22. Northampton got a bonus point for 4 tries but last years beaten finalist are pretty much out at the group stage now. They can get a measure of revenge next week in the return. Treviso have...