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The london Clubs, who to go for, what they are

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RugbyFuture

RugbyFuture

Lord Logo
Not sure if this should be in a new thread etc, but i was hoping on getting a little help.

If you're a fan outside of england (and maybe the other countries) you don't know the relative cultures, areas etc which are distinct to the seperate clubs in the premiership and other national competitions.

In respect to following clubs i like to be logical in what teams i follow.

I know that my family traditionally came from smithfield in london and that i should go for westham in soccer, but where do the 4 london clus correspond to/who goes for them? and who should i go for?

Saracens
Wasps
Harlequins
Exiles...?
 
RugbyFuture

RugbyFuture

Lord Logo
we should probably expand this for everyone to ask who to go for?

and who you go for if you already have a preference
 
Lee Grant

Lee Grant

John Eales (66)
Go for London Irish. They and the Northampton Saints play a Super14 style of rugby and both are exciting to watch. (Incidentally these teams top the league; a lesson to be learned there methinks.)

As T78 famously said they are the Not-Not's - not London and not Irish. (Lock Casey is the only Irish qualified guy I can think of.) I started following them when Hewatt was there and dobduff11 is a big fan too.

They have some exciting players like the Armitage brothers, Mapusua, Ojo and wing sensation Joseph. They share a ground with the Reading FC; so that's a clue.

I quite like Wasps because they have a good feel about them and usually play above their weight. Ben Jacobs plays for them and is going well and I like their scrummie Joe Simpson. They are at High Wycombe.

Harlequins have a good leadership group, good pace, and a fine backrow and halves, but are very dependent on flyhalf Nick Evans who is arguably the form no. 10 in the premiership. 15 Mike Brown is a favourite of mine and so is 20 y.o. LHP Joe Marler who is a future England player if I am any judge, and I probably am not.

They play out of The Stoop not far from Twickenham.

Saracens have a lot of SAffers in their team and they are coached by Doc Venter. They have good depth and play a bit like the Tahs - going side to side but not forward a lot. Avoid this lot if possible.

They share a ground with the Watford FC; so there's another clue.
 
Blue

Blue

Andrew Slack (58)
Go for Harlequins.

There is a Harlequins Club in Pretoria where I grew up. They used to be a satellite club of the UK club (and somewhere in apartheid years the formal links were broken). Same jerseys and the Club house still had original pictures and paraphernalia.

Same jerseys so I have good memories of that jersey. Playing for the club as a boy we were very lucky that the seniors team was one of the top three feeders of the Bulls union so we were often coached by some of the biggest names of the time which as a boy was awesome. I visited the Club in the UK in 1990.

So there you go. I support Quins. Even though they aren't exactly hot right now.
 
dobduff11

dobduff11

Trevor Allan (34)
London Irish ( top of the league) - are based out of Reading and Sunbury , they are not really in London. Great players with some quality young talent coming through.
I would support Irish like Lee said play a good brand of rugby ad they win alot. Also Tagi plays for us (one of the best wingers in the world).

Quins - Based out of Guildford, Surrey and play in Twickenham, only team with their own ground (out of these 4), good english set up and NEV

Wasps - train at twyford play at high wycombe, very intense team, hard work ethic but they are having a poor year so far, not what they used to be

Sarries - Based in St Albans play in Watford, one of the best academies in England, Shalk Brits is good as is alex goode(at 15) but mostly play boring stuff
 
dobduff11

dobduff11

Trevor Allan (34)
Another point Irish are in the heineken cup and they are on telly about 5 times this month so you can watch them alot
 
Thomond78

Thomond78

Colin Windon (37)
Sariekaans are also in the HEC, as are High Wycombe Pests (who are now once again playing in proper striped jerseys).

I have a sneaking soft spot for the Pests, I have to confess.
 
dasduke

dasduke

Frank Nicholson (4)
Harlequins - because there's no other choice.

London Irish - The Exiles would be the team to go for but they moved to Reading. WTF. If you ever try to see a game you pay more for the train ticket to get there than for the game.
Saracens - A South African consortium. Do you really wan to be propping them up?
Wasps - Piss me off.
 
RugbyFuture

RugbyFuture

Lord Logo
I don't really care how far they are from london, if they represent the right territory

who has Smithfield within their bounds?

or does nobody in London really care about geographical bounds and only go for the teams based on how they play?
 
dobduff11

dobduff11

Trevor Allan (34)
"nobody in London really care about geographical bounds and only go for the teams based on how they play?"

Umm the teams are'ntt actually in London so its not really a geography thing. Becuase we have so many teams in england, most people support the team their dad supports or they support the team their favourite player is at. Their isn't a huge amount of rivalry in the south so which ever you pick doesn't really matter.

Just don't pick sarries, they are boring to watch and Hougaard was their starting 10 (until he got injured).
 
Blue

Blue

Andrew Slack (58)
PS Saracens have a reputation as a prize dickhead club and it's fully deserved.

They seem to look for reasons to piss people off with Brandan Venter ther chief cheerleader. I like the fact that he rattles the establishment cage a little (I am all for cage rattling - the world needs a lot more of it), but he is a bit smug for my liking.

I also don't like the fact that they seem to be hell bent on living up to various Arikaner stereotypes. Not showing much class. Fuck'em.
 
Joe Mac

Joe Mac

Arch Winning (36)
I have lived in London for the last three years and i reckon you should go for Bath. They are a great team with a great Aussie coach Steve Meehan. Bath is about 1.5 hours out of London and one of the prettiest towns in the UK. It makes a great weekender to head down for a game.

It is where Justin Harrison played over here and they also have young aussie Matt Carraro who went to Joey's in Sydney I believe.

Go on, do it
 
Thomond78

Thomond78

Colin Windon (37)
Blue said:
PS Saracens have a reputation as a prize dickhead club and it's fully deserved.

They seem to look for reasons to piss people off with Brandan Venter ther chief cheerleader. I like the fact that he rattles the establishment cage a little (I am all for cage rattling - the world needs a lot more of it), but he is a bit smug for my liking.

I also don't like the fact that they seem to be hell bent on living up to various from-the-wrong-side-of-the-Hex-Rivier-pass Afrikaner stereotypes. Not showing much class. Fuck'em.
Click to expand...

Fixed. Don't drag those lovely wynboere who make some of my favourite gone-off-grape-juice into your blue-bakkie hell, thanks all the same.
 
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