Northern Hemisphere Rugby

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Best round of premiership rugby in a while.

Some super close games, Bath and Sarries stealing the game by 2 points from Harlequins and Bristol respectively. Cheika giving the Tigers the mother of all half time spray to overturn a big HT deficit to come back and win by 3 against Gloucester. Newcastle beating Exeter to break their 25 game losing streak. Then finally the Saints get their campaign on the right path with a thumping win over much fancied Sale.

Also! Will Skelton has been named in the team of the week for his performance against table leading Bordeaux.

 

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The youngest Tuipulotu is about to go to Scotland too. Apparently he’s the most talented of the three.

 

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As we head into the Autumn Internationals break for Premiership rugby, time for a little look:

Cheika has been a marked improvement for Leicester on Dan McKellar, currently tied 2nd of the table. They really look the business, beating Saracens at Saracens. Clearly four front runners of Bath, Leicester, Bristol and Saracens with the mid pack some distance behind. Previous contenders Sale are really in trouble and I can't see them pushing for finals. Harlequins are the only team I could see cracking that top 4.

Funnily enough, Newcastle are still bottom of the table even after breaking their 25 losing streak, Exeter are yet to win a game but have amassed 5 losing bonus points. Sucks.

 

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Top 14:

Surprise packages Bayonne currently sit 3rd after 8 rounds which is really impressive. An astute pick up in Manu Tulagi with Camille Lopez doing freaky things for a decidedly unathletic man spells good things for the Basque boys. Reece Hodge PBUH has yet to return from injury. They've had some easy fixtures with tougher ones to come, next weeks against Toulouse & Toulon but with those teams losing half their team to internationals and Bayonne losing barely any, maybe they can pick up some scalps easier than they should be.

Front runners are obviously Bordeaux and Toulouse, hard to see anyone getting close to them. La Rochelle have been really, really disappointing. Not sure what's happened with them, quite similar team from their world beating years. A full strength La Rochelle team with Skelton, Alldritt, Kerr-Barlow (and Latu) got whitewashed by a mid-lower table Montpellier 16-0, led by home boy Jordan Uelese. Latu had an absolute 'mare. Missing two throws, two tackles (from 4 attempted) with two knock ons. At least Skelton was the highest rated of the losing side.

Other tidbits:
Maddocks had a shit game last week and was benched for Pau's loss to Bordeaux.
Vannes have done well do nab their 2nd win of their season, still bottom of table though.
Clermont, stacked with Aussies, aren't impressing anyone.
Swinton is now available after his 5 week red card stand down.
Hodge will be back in two weeks.
Staniforth, Simmons still have long term injuries.

 

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Nic Berry is getting a bit of practice, he was the ref for Castres v Montpellier on the weekend. Even got to award a very 50/50 try to the home team for them to snatch victory in the red. Hopefully he was shouted a few beers by the local Castrais.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Scotland announce a $20m loss on revenue of around $145m.

With just 2 pro teams someone must be on some seriously good coin to spend that much

Even the six nations river of gold can't make up for a world cup year

 

[Wilson]

Scotland announce a $20m loss on revenue of around $145m.

With just 2 pro teams someone must be on some seriously good coin to spend that much

Even the six nations river of gold can't make up for a world cup year

The executive, by the looks of it:

The report itself also states remuneration for the highest paid director of the group, former chief executive Mark Dodson, was £887k, up from £676k the previous year.

This figure included a contractual payment in lieu of notice for Dodson, who left Scottish Rugby in January.

A severance payment of £262k was also paid to former chief financial officer, Hilary Spence who left the business in March to focus on health issues.

Scottish Rugby posts 'significant' losses and record revenues in annual report

Scottish Rugby has published its annual report for 2023/24, which shows record revenues of over £70 million, but also includes…

www.scotlandrugbynews.com

I think outside of that Murrayfield is in need of a fair bit of work, so despite a few Taylor Swift concerts bringing in record revenue, it's a bit of a golden anchor for them at the moment.

This and the state of the Welsh Union is going to put continued pressure on the URC, a move to the prem would have to look pretty good from a financial perspective for both the Scots and the Welsh at this point.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Always hard to compare these things because they may put the items in different spots, but Scotland spend around 50m gbp or pretty much $100m on "International", "Professional" and "Performance" rugby

RA spend half that - around $53m on "Super Rugby and High Performance" and "Player payments, RUPA and team costs"

 

[Wilson]

More financial pain coming for the northern hemisphere unions, this time England:

RFU to announce record losses approaching £40m

Exclusive: Deficit understood to be largest sustained by an English sports governing body and will increase pressure on CEO Bill Sweeney

www.telegraph.co.uk

A huge loss, but it was a world cup year and they're generally in a very strong financial position. Not a great sign for the leadership there who've already been under pressure though.

 

[KentwellCup>ShuteShield]

how in the hell do the english manage to make a loss.

most of the domestic players get mainly paid by private investors, they own their own stadium and have the biggest fan bases in world rugby.

even we turn a profit sometimes, when things arent at full panic stations like the past couple of years.

 

[Strewthcobber]

how in the hell do the english manage to make a loss.

most of the domestic players get mainly paid by private investors, they own their own stadium and have the biggest fan bases in world rugby.

even we turn a profit sometimes, when things arent at full panic stations like the past couple of years.

It's a World Cup year.

Spending stays the same, or even goes up to support the WC team, but revenue is dramatically reduced because they miss out on 4 sell out AI games at Twickenham.

Yearly losses like this really don't matter too much if it's recovered over the cycle. The real consideration should be how long is the cycle?

 

[KentwellCup>ShuteShield]

how much does the average sell out of twickenham generate the rfu in revenue?

 

[Strewthcobber]

how much does the average sell out of twickenham generate the rfu in revenue?

No idea. But in 2022 they made 120gbp or around $240m aud from ticketing, broadcasting, sponsorship and catering from 7 England home matches. Obviously not all of those are impacted by loss of home games, and they earn revenue from non-England games as well

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

It's a World Cup year.

Spending stays the same, or even goes up to support the WC team, but revenue is dramatically reduced because they miss out on 4 sell out AI games at Twickenham.

Yearly losses like this really don't matter too much if it's recovered over the cycle. The real consideration should be how long is the cycle?

They say in their statement that they expect every 4th year in the cycle to be a loss due to the RWC.

 

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Lachie Swinton has been named in the team of the week for the Top 14.

 

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Izack Rodda has made the team of the week for ProD2.

 

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A certain Suliasi Vunivalu debuted for the much vaunted La Rochelle on the weekend. They were playing Vannes, the team that was promoted this year from ProD2. La Rochelle has never, ever lost to a promoted team let alone one at home. Until this weekend when Vannes beat them good, and here is how Suli's game was described by a french rugby mag when giving him a 3/10:

"We can't definitively judge the Australian winger who blazed across Rugby League but his first outing in La Rochelle colours was far from noteworthy. Positioning issues, spilt balls, we can't say he made a very good first outing".

 

[Sully]

A certain Suliasi Vunivalu debuted for the much vaunted La Rochelle on the weekend. They were playing Vannes, the team that was promoted this year from ProD2. La Rochelle has never, ever lost to a promoted team let alone one at home. Until this weekend when Vannes beat them good, and here is how Suli's game was described by a french rugby mag when giving him a 3/10:

"We can't definitively judge the Australian winger who blazed across Rugby League but his first outing in La Rochelle colours was far from noteworthy. Positioning issues, spilt balls, we can't say he made a very good first outing".

Good to see his form continuing.

 

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You thought you could have a rest from rugby after being inundated with it during the EoYT? You thought you could watch some cricket or spend time with your wife? You idiot Jeremy!

Euro Rugby Champions Cup starts this weekend!

Woo!

Games to watch of R1:

Bath host La Rochelle
This is not the Bath of recent years nor is it the La Rochelle we know. La Rochelle are deservedly 6th in the T14 and have not been near their past juggernaut form. Finn Russell should lead Bath to victory over Skelton's team in what looks like an upset but shouldn't be.

Sharks host Exeter
Same story goes here but worse. Sharks on the up, Exeter worst season in a decade. I predict a Durban beat down.

Saints v Castres
Very different teams, Saints are pretty flashy but unreliable, Castres are like Sione's Grandma's porridge, stodgy, uninteresting but will get you through. I think Castres should have the Saints here.

Stormers host Toulon
Will be the proper test to see how SA teams stack up against Toulon who are probably tied 2nd for best team in the Top 14. Tough away game, also not sure on the permutations but could see Toulon throw out a bunch of rookies. But if they roll out their top team I think Toulon should get it done.

Saracens host Bulls
Saracens had a shock loss against Newcastle last week, who were predicted to go winless this season. Perhaps that was because they had eyes on this match, dunno. Bulls have three wins from their last 5, sitting in the top three of the URC. I think home ground advantage should nudge the game towards Sarries.

Bordeaux host Cheika's Tigers
Look, Bordeaux should dispatch the Leicester boys easily, but I have a soft spot for the semi Aussie team and I wanna see Perese run over the petulant Jalibert.

Glasgow host Sale
The battle of the North (sorta)! Honestly don't know, call it 50-50. Apparently Glasgow are $1.40 to win which is pretty impressive.

Bristol host Leinster
I really hope this is closer than the bookies have it. But Bristol just don't have the star power to take on Leinster, 10 point loss.

 

[Highlander35]

Glasgow host Sale
The battle of the North (sorta)! Honestly don't know, call it 50-50. Apparently Glasgow are $1.40 to win which is pretty impressive.

Glasgow's record at Scotstoun over the last 3 seasons is W26-D1-L2, probably plays a part the bookie margins