Rugby News from unexpected places

[Braveheart81]

Can somebody tell me why Portugal are still in the equation? They play in what is seemingly Tier B on the European Rugby Championships. Surely, as the winner of that, they would be the 7th best (non-tier On) team (behind Romania, Russia, Georgia, Spain, Germany & Belgium)..

Follow this through. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Rugby_World_Cup_–_Europe_qualification

It doesn't make a huge amount of sense but it basically comes down to the Rugby Europe Championship (being those teams you mentioned) being based off a two year period and someone from outside that getting the right to challenge both to enter that competition next year but also compete for a RWC spot. Basically no one has knocked Portugal out of the qualifications yet.

 

[Highlander35]

The basic answer is that Europe opens with EVERYONE having an opportunity to make the world cup, but doesn't schedule specific qualifiers except those between divisions.

 

[Braveheart81]

I guess it's the necessary compromise whereby there is an annual tournament for the best teams but every four years it has to form part of the RWC qualification otherwise they would have to stick with a completely different schedule for a couple of years.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

South America does the same, winner of the T3 comp goes into the T2 qualifying Round, winner of that goes into the main qualifying Round. Gotta give the minnows something to aim for or it just becomes a closed shop & who wants that?

 

[Rugbynutter39]

South America does the same, winner of the T3 comp goes into the T2 qualifying Round, winner of that goes into the main qualifying Round. Gotta give the minnows something to aim for or it just becomes a closed shop & who wants that?

Makes a lot of sense to me....

 

[Wilson]

A rundown of the current state of the European qualifying mess:

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.time...y-controversy-world-cup-2019-qualifying-90980

 

[half]

Sharing some interesting vids from the US

The Growth of rugby in the United States 15 March 2018

Rugby’s growing popularity 31 May 2017

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

I'm probably going to write something up about the upcoming MLR kickoff this week. Also will likely try to reach out to the individual teams in attempt to also do individual pieces.

Regarding MLR. New York had a very successful event selling out their facility against Boston Mystics. And Utah premiered to a strong turnout (9126) in Slat Lake City against fellow MLR competitor in Glendale.

 

[Omar Comin']

Seems like there's quite a large gap between the best and worst MLR teams off the field so far. Houston and Seattle definitely have their act together, Utah as well,. The other 4 appear to be struggling or still in the starting blocks. Is Austin Elite a permanent name or a placeholder? And is it a problem that the Raptors are called Glendale rather than Denver or Colorado? According to wiki, Glendale is a small enclave within Denver, population of only 4,000.

Hopefully the competition has some success in this first season and builds from there. If it's at least sustainably professional I think the US will become a tier 1 team in a relatively short period of time.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Seems like there's quite a large gap between the best and worst MLR teams off the field so far. Houston and Seattle definitely have their act together, Utah as well,. The other 4 appear to be struggling or still in the starting blocks. Is Austin Elite a permanent name or a placeholder? And is it a problem that the Raptors are called Glendale rather than Denver or Colorado? According to wiki, Glendale is a small enclave within Denver, population of only 4,000.

Hopefully the competition has some success in this first season and builds from there. If it's at least sustainably professional I think the US will become a tier 1 team in a relatively short period of time.

Austin will be re-branding prior to season 2's kick off apparently. While I agree that ideally Glendale would be Denver they already do source a lot of there fan base from the surrounding areas so that's not all that important. They are also very professionally run off the field and have a great purpose built facility in Infinity Park. They're solid.

The biggest concern in regards to teams so far is New Orleans. They've opted to develop their own field in conjunction with a Catholic school (the owner has extensive ties with the school with his son's all attending it. One of which is actually part of New Orleans squad). The issue there is that the field isn't up to scratch especially when comparing it to the other teams in the competition. It looks like a field with a stand. There seems to be a gulf in the concept of what constitutes professional in the league.

Then there's the fact that no marketing has been apparent for New Orleans either. So there are some issues. Personally, I tend to think that it may have been better for them to have either found an alternative facility while they continued to develop the current one or chose to sit out this season in order to finish their plans much the same as Chicago has.

Would work better for all concerned in my opinion.

 

[Omar Comin']

The biggest concern in regards to teams so far is New Orleans. They've opted to develop their own field in conjunction with a Catholic school (the owner has extensive ties with the school with his son's all attending it. One of which is actually part of New Orleans squad). The issue there is that the field isn't up to scratch especially when comparing it to the other teams in the competition. It looks like a field with a stand. There seems to be a gulf in the concept of what constitutes professional in the league.

Then there's the fact that no marketing has been apparent for New Orleans either. So there are some issues. Personally, I tend to think that it may have been better for them to have either found an alternative facility while they continued to develop the current one or chose to sit out this season in order to finish their plans much the same as Chicago has.

Would work better for all concerned in my opinion.

Hopefully they can sort it out. I do quite like their branding as it's a bit different and the colours stand out.

Has New Orleans got much of a rugby scene? I don't follow US rugby as closely as you do, but I've never really heard it mentioned in relation to rugby over there before this team came about. Seemed an unlikely place for a team, hopefully for the league's sake they can get crowds in the thousands rather than hundreds.

I'm surprised there isn't a team in northern California, isn't that the biggest region for rugby in the states?

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Hopefully they can sort it out. I do quite like their branding as it's a bit different and the colours stand out.

Has New Orleans got much of a rugby scene? I don't follow US rugby as closely as you do, but I've never really heard it mentioned in relation to rugby over there before this team came about. Seemed an unlikely place for a team, hopefully for the league's sake they can get crowds in the thousands rather than hundreds.

I'm surprised there isn't a team in northern California, isn't that the biggest region for rugby in the states?

I'm not too sure of the extent of the Rugby seen in Louisiana to be honest. But I wouldn't have had it on my list of likely locations for professional team. I really don't know how it is going to work out. They only have one stand that seats 1200 "normal people" but overall they still have a lot of work just to get it to somewhat presentable because even if they started marketing hard today their offering just isn't up to scratch. They just seem a bit like the amateur club NOLA playing professional but not actually doing it with any level of convincing execution.

Regarding a NorCal team. Well, teams and their bases are more to so with those who have the interest and the money to do so for years one and 12. There was a french group looking at launching in the Bay area but the sheer costs of operating there scared them off. So at present a NorCal team is some time off. But a near certainty in the future. Sacramento would actually a good call for a team from NorCal when that occurs.

 

[Omar Comin']

Teams and their bases are more to so with those who have the interest and the money to do so for years one and 2.

Makes sense. Even if MLR can survive its first few years it wouldn't be surprising to have a team or 2 fail. And I guess you can't be sure which areas teams will do well in anyway. I remember with Pro Rugby it seemed weird they'd have a team in Ohio, yet that team was relatively well supported.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Makes sense. Even if MLR can survive its first few years it wouldn't be surprising to have a team or 2 fail. And I guess you can't be sure which areas teams will do well in anyway. I remember with Pro Rugby it seemed weird they'd have a team in Ohio, yet that team was relatively well supported.

Someone suggested on a FB thread I was on that 2 or 3 teams will "fail" as in have already on sold their licences. I suspect NOLA may be one of them. Which isn't actually that remarkable for sporting competition in the US.

 

[Set piece magic]

http://theprovince.com/sports/rugby...ying-continues-to-be-bizarre-but-helps-canada

Obscure Rugby fans might have been following the rugby europe qualifiers.

SPain upset Romania, and appeared set to qualify for their first WC since 2007, requiring a win against lowly Belgium...

They went down 18-10, performing badly but also seemingly getting jammed by a Romanian referee, who they had asked to be changed.

Rugby Europe is reviewing the process that saw him appointed, but now a new controversy has emerged, with Romania allegedly fielding ineligible players. No joke. Spain also faces similar allegations but likely have a loophole.

Russia was booted out of 2003 WC qualification for fielding ineligible South Africans, the Romanians COULD find themselves facing the same situation.

It's like Days of Our Lives meets Rugby!

 

[Omar Comin']

World rugby have finally made a statement. https://www.worldrugby.org/news/324233?lang=en

Basically they were in favour of replaying the Belgium vs Spain match, but given all that's come out since around potential player ineligibility they are convening a disputes committee to look into it.

There's also a separate judiciary panel to consider the behaviour of Spanish players after full time in that Belgium match.

Not sure why it's taken this long for them to officially appoint a committee to look into the player eligibility stuff, but I find it extremely interesting that if these eligibility issues didn't exist that they would have replayed the match.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

MLR have announced a broadcast agreement with AT&T Sports Network. This enables the league to now offer games both nationally via CBS (TV and online), ESPN (via their OTT service ESPN + and possibly on TV as well) and locally within each market they are currently in and likely to expand into with the exception of San Diego who have their own deal to be announced soon.

There really isn't going to be any reason for Rugby fans in the States to not be able to watch this competition. They've done an amazing job of ensuring its accessibility. All we need now is something around international access.

 

[Derpus]

World rugby have finally made a statement. https://www.worldrugby.org/news/324233?lang=en

Basically they were in favour of replaying the Belgium vs Spain match, but given all that's come out since around potential player ineligibility they are convening a disputes committee to look into it.

There's also a separate judiciary panel to consider the behaviour of Spanish players after full time in that Belgium match.

Not sure why it's taken this long for them to officially appoint a committee to look into the player eligibility stuff, but I find it extremely interesting that if these eligibility issues didn't exist that they would have replayed the match.

Replay makes sense tho.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

World rugby have finally made a statement. https://www.worldrugby.org/news/324233?lang=en

Basically they were in favour of replaying the Belgium vs Spain match, but given all that's come out since around potential player ineligibility they are convening a disputes committee to look into it.

There's also a separate judiciary panel to consider the behaviour of Spanish players after full time in that Belgium match.

Not sure why it's taken this long for them to officially appoint a committee to look into the player eligibility stuff, but I find it extremely interesting that if these eligibility issues didn't exist that they would have replayed the match.

Well, a lot hinges on them. If Romania are proven to have fielded an ineligible palyer and Spain are cleared then the Belgium game is moot. Spain would qualify. If Spain has ineligible players then they could also be disqualified and Russia gets the nod. They need to get that sorted out.

 

[Omar Comin']

Well, a lot hinges on them. If Romania are proven to have fielded an ineligible palyer and Spain are cleared then the Belgium game is moot. Spain would qualify. If Spain has ineligible players then they could also be disqualified and Russia gets the nod. They need to get that sorted out.

Sounds like Romania are screwed, Spain is more likely to be okay, but not out of the woods. I think it'd be good for the sport if they are fine. Spain is a pretty promising tier 2 nation and playing at the world cup would be a huge boost for the sport there. And then at least you'd have a competitive Russia in the playoff and probably the repechage. The current German team would get destroyed and in no way deserve to be there.