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The English pack also has fragility in it, I think. IMO the 2019 final left a bit of a psychological scar on and when a team really takes it to them with power (e.g. very time the play South Africa, vs France in Six nations) they can get the hurt put on. Fiji certainly have the physical capacity...

The game being in a healthy place is a lie parroted by NH journos and administrators who are pleased they have had three years in the sun. World Rugby still has big problems, from on-field product to commercialisation. Their are some god things about the game at the moment, but also a lot of...

Good looking tweet...but 26500 spectators across 105 games comes out to 252 people watching each match. Taking into account lots of those tournaments are junior games with free entry ,don't think we should be kidded into thinking Ballymore is a money printing machine. Still, QRU have done a...

Wouldn't necessarily be teams no one has heard before. Imagine if our franchises (if successful) had the opportunity to play Toulouse, Tigers, Leinster. That could only be good for Rugby, surely.

One for the long-term future I think. There is so much growth in Club Rugby all over the world. Compare Club Rugby to Soccer, League, NFL, AFL (all sports which have been professional for much much longer). Expansion and growth is what makes those leagues far more successful. I support a model...

How do Force fans assess Jeremy Williams? Haven't watched him much over in the West. But he seems to be able to play 2R, 6 and 8. Potentially interesting option. Personally rated him over others kept at NSW.

The article from the Roar re centralisation did indicate a willingness on the part of RA to negotiate different visions of integration for the different franchises according to their needs. I found this a positive and pragmatic approach. Hopefully it means a compromise bw. Brumbies and RA can...

I think the potential argument for refusing to rule out cutting the Brums from RA's side goes: 1. They don't want to rule out cutting a Super team. 2. NSW & QLD are off the table, they want to remain in Melbourne because it's appealing to them, their is private money tied up in the Force. 3. The...

Andrew Barr would sooner let hell freeze over than make a meaningful contribution to professional sport in the ACT. Too busy smoking pot to give a fuck about the Brumbies.

Vunivalu, funnily enough. I remain unconvinced he's worth ploughing resources into. But he's certainly improved a lot.

Ok, I'll play a what if. What if Karl Dickson didn't play a moronically long advantage in Bledisloe 2 this year? What if Quade hadn't made a dumb late shot v Argentina and gave them the penalty that walked them up the field to win the Test in Sydney? The comparisons would start to look very...

You can play what ifs with any result till kingdom come. The results are the results, and you can usually twist them to support whatever narrative you want. It's why results based analysis is very incomplete. I think it was wrong to sack Rennie in the World Cup year. I also look at the team he...

Fair enough. I always find him funny I won't lie, but accept it looks pretty shite when he's not winning and definitely understand why it is so aggravating for some. I suppose I have just read a few articles recently making out that I should feel sorry for the journalists who are on the...

Because the 5 nations wanted a 6th nation for money. That's it, it's the only reason. By any metric they aren't one, and they only serve to highlight the silly arbitrariness of the Tiers. They also highlight that just calling a team Tier 1 does nothing for development, nor does simply playing...

Bang on. Another reason I'll argue that our interests are (generally) aligned with NZ. Putting aside the last four years, Rugby has been dominated by the Southern Hemisphere throughout its history. Our players and ideas continue to power the success of the North. Yet the game is run in the...

In general I hate the "Tiers" concept. It's very dumb. I'm not sure what it achieves outside of ringfencing development of the game. Doesn't seem to be a thing in any other sport (except for maybe Test match status in cricket, which is also dumb).

Gauging opinion - does anyone care that Eddie is rude to journos? There are plenty of reasons to take issue with him. Personally, I like the guy a lot. However, it's subjective, I won't tell anybody they're wrong for not liking him and I can't be arsed to get into an argument about it. But I...

Yeah but I don't think that's been a game plan issue. We have no problems making metres, we just haven't been clinical enough to turn red zone time into points. Which comes back to an experience/selection problem - still on the coaches, but for a different reason. By contrast I think our...

Isn't playing on the line and playing what's in front of you exactly what Gordon and Tate have been doing? I've never really perceived the attacking game plan under Eddie to be "just hoof it". We seem to play heads up footy a lot off 9 and 10, lots of different shapes appearing in different...

From the current u20s crop I also liked the look of Barrett, De Lutiis, Slack-Smith and John Bryant. Would also add Amatosero into that mix from what I've seen. More widely, it is very pleasing we've kept Hadley Tonga in Union. In years past, he certainly would be playing League you feel. Anyone...