Northern Hemisphere Rugby Season 15/16

[KevinO]

If Munster lose Zebo which is most likely the only replacement that will be acceptable by the fans will be Henshaw.

I really hope the IRFU wakes up as the provinces are struggling and the national side failed at the World Cup. Pass mark was Semi Finals and even with injuries I consider the Quarters a failure.

 

[mxyzptlk]

If Munster lose Zebo which is most likely the only replacement that will be acceptable by the fans will be Henshaw.

Henshaw to Munster? The hell you say. Is that really being discussed?

Everyone else seems to have the answers to the IRFU's problems, so let's pile on and solve them all ourselves right here.

The way I see it (and this is just the perspective of a Yank who used to live there), the Irish problem right now is

[edit edit edit]

Five paragraphs later I was still on the first of my four points, so I thought better of posting it at all. At least for now. The one thing I had that I'll leave for now is that maybe Matt O'Connor would have been better suited for Munster and Rob Penney would have been better fit for Leinster.

 

[dru]

Henshaw to Munster? The hell you say. Is that really being discussed?

Everyone else seems to have the answers to the IRFU's problems, so let's pile on and solve them all ourselves right here.

The way I see it (and this is just the perspective of a Yank who used to live there), the Irish problem right now is

[edit edit edit]

Five paragraphs later I was still on the first of my four points, so I thought better of posting it at all. At least for now. The one thing I had that I'll leave for now is that maybe Matt O'Connor would have been better suited for Munster and Rob Penney would have been better fit for Leinster.

Nope. Lets have the full version.

 

[Shelts89]

As a Bath fan I feel we mugged Wasps off a little bit this weekend. They were in control of the game and we got a few break away tries in the first half to get in front. Pretty decent game though.

As for Irish Rugby, I have only seen the Ulster game but they did seem to actually attempt to play with some pace and width. Not something I usually associate with Ulster in recent years.

 

[mxyzptlk]

As a Bath fan I feel we mugged Wasps off a little bit this weekend. They were in control of the game and we got a few break away tries in the first half to get in front. Pretty decent game though.

As for Irish Rugby, I have only seen the Ulster game but they did seem to actually attempt to play with some pace and width. Not something I usually associate with Ulster in recent years.

I need to watch that Wasps - Bath game. Only saw some highlights, but someone I follow on twitter posted "Things about rugby I love #4: James Haskell effing up." I knew I had to see the game after that.*

Ulster have some handy backs and centers, and the more Paddy Jackson remains under the radar, the better. No need for other teams to learn he has a pretty snappy pass when he needs it. A lot of those guys have played under Les Kiss in the national set-up for a number of years now, so they're probably a bit more in sync with his philosophies than they are in Leinster or Munster. The Toulouse game may have been an outlier, but if that's the way Kiss is going to get them to play, bring it on.

-----------
* Last year, during a Wasps game in which Haskell was on the field, there were tweets coming out from his personal account pushing his fitness products and his website. About three came out. It seemed like such a James Haskell thing to do, tweeting and promoting himself while playing a pro rugby game. I tweeted him back, asking about "backroom boffins" or some such. He didn't respond, but I never again saw another live tweet from his account while he was playing on the field.

 

[Shelts89]

I need to watch that Wasps - Bath game. Only saw some highlights, but someone I follow on twitter posted "Things about rugby I love #4: James Haskell effing up." I knew I had to see the game after that.*

Ulster have some handy backs and centers, and the more Paddy Jackson remains under the radar, the better. No need for other teams to learn he has a pretty snappy pass when he needs it. A lot of those guys have played under Les Kiss in the national set-up for a number of years now, so they're probably a bit more in sync with his philosophies than they are in Leinster or Munster. The Toulouse game may have been an outlier, but if that's the way Kiss is going to get them to play, bring it on.

-----------
* Last year, during a Wasps game in which Haskell was on the field, there were tweets coming out from his personal account pushing his fitness products and his website. About three came out. It seemed like such a James Haskell thing to do, tweeting and promoting himself while playing a pro rugby game. I tweeted him back, asking about "backroom boffins" or some such. He didn't respond, but I never again saw another live tweet from his account while he was playing on the field.​

He lost the ball in contact a few more times than would be ideal for an international 6... but I can't remember him being particularly poor. Hmmm might have to watch it again to keep an eye on him.

 

[mxyzptlk]

Nope. Lets have the full version.

I'm waiting to see if there are any improvements in the replays, but I kept my notes. I'm probably speaking too soon, but Leinster look like a completely different team than the one who couldn't hold a ball and shipped 17 penalties at Toulon.

Speaking of which, not sure how effective Nonu will actually be for Toulon. Seems like he's always played better with a clever center outside him unlocking doors for him to run through. Now he has a battering ram in Bastereaud who sucks in defenders to clog up space.

 

[Shelts89]

Guy Noves has named his French 30 man squad for the 6 Nations


Uini Atonio (La Rochelle), Eddy Ben Arous (Racing 92), Sebastien Bezy (Toulouse), Hugo Bonneval (Stade Francais), Yacouba Camara (Toulouse), Damien Chouly (Clermont), Jonathan Danty (Stade Francais), Alexandre Dumoulin (Racing 92), Benjamin Fall (Montpellier), Gael Fickou (Toulouse), Alexandre Flanquart (Stade Francais), Wesley Fofana (Clermont), Loann Goujon (Bordeaux-Begles), Guilhem Guirado (Toulon), Paul Jedrasiak (Clermont), Benjamin Kayser (Clermont), Remy Lamerat (Castres), Wenceslas Lauret (Racing 92), Bernard le Roux (Racing 92), Maxime Machenaud (Racing 92), Yoann Maestri (Toulouse), Maxime Medard (Toulouse), Morgan Parra (Clermont), Louis Picamoles (Toulouse), Jules Plisson (Stade Francais), Jefferson Poirot (Bordeaux-Begles), Rabah Slimani (Stade Francais), Scott Spedding (Clermont), François Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Sebastien Vahaamahina (Clermont)


I'd be excited to see a Fofana and Fickou centre pairing from that list. Also Bezy at SH has looked pretty sharp for Toulouse to me, but I am only basing that on a couple of games as I don't watch a huge amount of Top 14.

 

[Lee Grant]

There's a blog on the ERCC games last weekend here:

http://goo.gl/f3QrGs​

Give it a click.

If you have any comments on the blog please make them in the Discussion area there and not here.

Thanks
.

 

[Ignoto]

http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/q...rom-toulon-owner/story-e6frf4pu-1227705632526

“It’s difficult to go from foie gras to pâté,” Boudjellal said, which translated to having Wilkinson as the duck delicacy and Cooper as the standard fare.

“For now, Cooper is not what I was hoping for. But we have to also give him time

Did Mourad not watch any of Quades performances over the last 18 months to know what he was splashing his cash on? Hell, someone should just give him the Katy Perry sound of "Hot and cold".....

 

[KevinO]

^^^He does not watch Super Rugby, if he did he would know the other kiwi he bought is crap at club rugby compared to his international career. They should have signed Conrad Smith.

 

[mxyzptlk]

^^^He does not watch Super Rugby, if he did he would know the other kiwi he bought is crap at club rugby compared to his international career. They should have signed Conrad Smith.

Nonu seemed like an odd choice for Toulon. He's always done best with a locksmith outside him to open doors, like Conrad Smith. But instead he has Bastereaud, a battering ram who doesn't do a lot of creating. Nonu will do a job, and he's used that new-found boot a few times, but it won't be anything like the World Cup work he produced.

 

[Slim 293]

Kolelishvili was very lucky not to be red carded for this stupid shove on Wayne Barnes.........

Wide view..........

http://www.balls.ie/rugby/wayne-barnes-push/321673

 

[RugbyReg]

I am staggered he wasn't red carded. Has he been suspended?

 

[qwerty51]

Cited for upcoming hearing. I think that's a red too.

 

[mxyzptlk]

You won't hear this often, but Barnes probably deserves some credit for keeping his cool, not making a big deal of it, and just keeping the incident in his back pocket until Kolelishvili lost his head on the floor with Wynn-Jones.

 

[Highlander35]

SCOTLAND SQUAD FOR THE 2016 RBS 6 NATIONS

– FORWARDS –

Hooker
Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby) – 94 caps
Pat MacArthur (Glasgow Warriors) – 6 caps
Stuart McInally (Edinburgh Rugby) – 2 caps

Front-row
Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh Rugby) – 52 caps
Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – uncapped
Moray Low (Exeter Chiefs) – 29 caps
Willem Nel (Edinburgh Rugby) – 8 caps
Gordon Reid (Glasgow Warriors) – 15 caps
Rory Sutherland (Edinburgh Rugby) – uncapped

Lock
Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 19 caps
Richie Gray (Castres) – 51 caps
Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors) – 17 caps
Ben Toolis (Edinburgh Rugby) – 1 cap

Back-row
Adam Ashe (Glasgow Warriors) – 6 caps
John Barclay (Scarlets) – 45 caps
Blair Cowan (London Irish) – 15 caps
David Denton (Bath) – 32 caps
Chris Fusaro (Glasgow Warriors) – 4 caps
John Hardie (Edinburgh Rugby) – 5 caps
Josh Strauss (Glasgow Warriors) – 5 caps

– BACKS –

Scrum-half
Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Edinburgh Rugby) – 8 caps
Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN (Gloucester) – 46 caps

Stand-off
Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors) – 15 caps
Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors) – 21 caps

Centre
Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors) – 13 caps
Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors) – 14 caps
Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors) – 15 caps
Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby) – 33 caps
Duncan Taylor (Saracens) – 12 caps

Wing
Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors) – 101 caps
Sean Maitland (London Irish) – 20 caps
Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) – 22 caps
Tim Visser (Harlequins) – 23 caps

Full-back
Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors) – 38 caps
Ruaridh Jackson (Wasps) – 27 caps

– TRAINING WITH THE SQUAD –

Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby) – 12 caps
Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors) – 17 caps


Fraser Brown, Henry Pyrgos, Richie Vernon, Grant Gilchrist and Jon Welsh officially listed as injured rather than dropped. Ryan Grant and Ryan Wilson not so lucky.

 

[mxyzptlk]

SCOTLAND SQUAD FOR THE 2016 RBS 6 NATIONS

^^^^^

Isn't Visser injured?

 

[mxyzptlk]

Gatland picks 10 players from outside Wales for the 37-man extended 6N squad:

Forwards:
Rob Evans (Scarlets), Paul James (Ospreys), Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs), Aaron Jarvis (Ospreys), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Kristian Dacey (Cardiff Blues), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Luke Charteris (Racing 92), Bradley Davies (Wasps), Dominic Day (Bath Rugby), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Josh Turnbull (Cardiff Blues), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons), James King (Ospreys), Dan Lydiate (Ospreys), Ross Moriarty (Gloucester Rugby), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Sam Warburton (Capt.) (Cardiff Blues).

Backs:
Aled Davies (Scarlets -- only uncapped player), Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues) Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Priestland (Bath Rugby), Cory Allen (Cardiff Blues), Jonathan Davies (Clermont Auvergne), Tyler Morgan (Newport Gwent Dragons), Jamie Roberts (Harlequins), Hallam Amos (Newport Gwent Dragons), Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), Tom James (Cardiff Blues), George North (Northampton Saints), Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues), Matthew Morgan (Bristol Rugby), Liam Williams (Scarlets).

Players from outside Gatland's Law Wales:
Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs)
Luke Charteris (Racing 92)
Bradley Davies (Wasps)
Dominic Day (Bath Rugby)
Ross Moriarty (Gloucester Rugby)
Rhys Priestland (Bath Rugby)
Jonathan Davies (Clermont Auvergne)
Jamie Roberts (Harlequins)
George North (Northampton Saints)
Matthew Morgan (Bristol Rugby)

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

I am staggered he wasn't red carded. Has he been suspended?

14 weeks:

http://www.planetrugby.com/news/14-week-ban-for-kolelishvili/