2014 Aviva Premiership

[Kermit power]

Vocal Minority said:

In the meantime, Worcester are happily plundering the Championship, as are Bristol. Will be a seriously close promotion scrap

Well you'd like to think so, but sadly all that play off guff is likely to get in the way again.

Still, at least it's not as bad as the first season they had them in the Championship, when in theory the team finishing the regular season 8th could've been promoted to the Premiership, whilst the team finishing 9th could've been demoted to National One!

[Vocal Minority]

We damn nearly lost our single leg semi final that year as Graham Kitchener decided to do a swan dive when we were 4 points down with 3 or 4 minutes to play and dropped the ball....

[Kermit power]

Vocal Minority said:

We damn nearly lost our single leg semi final that year as Graham Kitchener decided to do a swan dive when we were 4 points down with 3 or 4 minutes to play and dropped the ball....

I soooooooooooo wanted that to happen to Chris Ashton! Ideally in the last 20 seconds of both the AP final and the HK final, when it would've made the difference of win of lose for Sarries.

I've spent far too much time on Sunday mornings telling a bunch of 7 and 8yr olds a more polite version of "just because he's playing for England, it doesn't mean he's not a prize cock, and it doesn't mean you should do it too" to have any sympathy for him!

[Vocal Minority]

On the basis he was going to leave for Leicester at the end of the season (already decided) the parable of 'the lad who nearly ruined everything for his mates before leaving the club and just how blydi embarrassing it would have been' should teach them.

[prand]

Not nice to see London Irish slipping back to their usual home at the bottom of the table this weekend after an absolute thrashing by Exeter (who are looking very good this year, well done them).

On another note, I am pleased to read today that ex LI player Steffon Armitage is very close to agreeing a move to an unnamed English Premiership club (poss Bath, maybe the aforementioned Exeter, but I can say with certainty it will not be his original club London Irish, and vbery unlikely to be his older club Saracens).

I was not looking forward to seeing Steffon in a French shirt, and if he returns for England he certainly gives the back row a some interesting dynamism with the ball and work on the ground that the big thumpers we have there now can't provide. I wonder whether Haskell, Robshaw, Armitage combination would be a world beating combo?

[PGM]

prand said:

Not nice to see London Irish slipping back to their usual home at the bottom of the table this weekend after an absolute thrashing by Exeter (who are looking very good this year, well done them).

On another note, I am pleased to read today that ex LI player Steffon Armitage is very close to agreeing a move to an unnamed English Premiership club (poss Bath, maybe the aforementioned Exeter, but I can say with certainty it will not be his original club London Irish, and vbery unlikely to be his older club Saracens).

I was not looking forward to seeing Steffon in a French shirt, and if he returns for England he certainly gives the back row a some interesting dynamism with the ball and work on the ground that the big thumpers we have there now can't provide. I wonder whether Haskell, Robshaw, Armitage combination would be a world beating combo?

Agree with all of that!

[Matt172]

Looks like he's not going to Bath then

[Kermit power]

Has anyone seen anything more about Wasps moving to Coventry?

I saw an article in the Telegraph saying they'd be playing all their home games on Sundays because there was football on Saturdays!!!

Surely that would be a death knell for any sort of significant crowds? Also, can they just unilaterally tell the other clubs they're playing this season that they're moving their fixtures from Saturday to Sunday? I'd imagine the opposition being a bit hacked off if their next fixture is a Friday evening one?

[prand]

Kermit power said:

Has anyone seen anything more about Wasps moving to Coventry?

I saw an article in the Telegraph saying they'd be playing all their home games on Sundays because there was football on Saturdays!!!

Surely that would be a death knell for any sort of significant crowds? Also, can they just unilaterally tell the other clubs they're playing this season that they're moving their fixtures from Saturday to Sunday? I'd imagine the opposition being a bit hacked off if their next fixture is a Friday evening one?

First game for Wasps at the Ricoh will be against London Irish on 21st December.

I guess the idea is they can start building new crowds given their new home will be around 20,000 seats larger than Adams Park, which was always seen as a limit on profitability. The East Midlands is seen as a good source of rugby fans and some decent established club rugby. Plus it sounds like they want to work closely with Coventry RFC and local schools and clubs to improve community relations and tap into the new fanbase and player talent pool.

I've no idea how this affects the fixtures, Wasps may have had to work around Saturday games for Wycombe Wanderers so there might not be too much change.

I'm sad they're off, for me, being relatively local, I enjoyed having the club playing nearby for London Irish away games, and I didn't thinks Adams Park was too bad a venue. and . But on the other hand it might mean a better turnout at London Irish in Reading iflocal floating rugby fans switch to watching LI instead.

Above all, if it means the survival of a historic and succesful club, then so be it. I know a 3000 name petition has been produced by current fans about the move, but to be honest, this is business, and there would be no premiership clubs if that wasn't the priority.

[prand]

Matt172 said:

Looks like he's not going to Bath then

Yes, read that in today's Times. Bath had a unique position that they had all their backrow injured so could call in a replacement, but they couldn't raise the funds in time.

It may also well be the last chance this season to transfer Armitage to England especially if he plays against Scarlets in the European Champions Cup for Toulon this weekend which will lock him out of playing for anyone else in that competition. No decent premiership team in the competition would want their expensive star flanker to be sitting on the sidelines for that campaign, and nor would Armitage no doubt, so perhaps for now the door is fully closed.

[Kermit power]

prand said:

First game for Wasps at the Ricoh will be against London Irish on 21st December.

I guess the idea is they can start building new crowds given their new home will be around 20,000 seats larger than Adams Park, which was always seen as a limit on profitability. The East Midlands is seen as a good source of rugby fans and some decent established club rugby. Plus it sounds like they want to work closely with Coventry RFC and local schools and clubs to improve community relations and tap into the new fanbase and player talent pool.

I've no idea how this affects the fixtures, Wasps may have had to work around Saturday games for Wycombe Wanderers so there might not be too much change.

I'm sad they're off, for me, being relatively local, I enjoyed having the club playing nearby for London Irish away games, and I didn't thinks Adams Park was too bad a venue. and . But on the other hand it might mean a better turnout at London Irish in Reading iflocal floating rugby fans switch to watching LI instead.

Above all, if it means the survival of a historic and succesful club, then so be it. I know a 3000 name petition has been produced by current fans about the move, but to be honest, this is business, and there would be no premiership clubs if that wasn't the priority.

I understand the need to move. It was specifically the Sunday thing which I thought sounded fatal.

I don't suppose I'm atypical in liking my rugby, but having a young family. This means I'm limited to the number of occasions on which I can actually get along to live rugby (at Quins in my case), so when I do get to go, I want to go with a group of mates and have a few beers and a curry afterwards. This basically means that when we're looking down the fixture list, Sunday fixtures don't even get considered!

[prand]

Kermit power said:

I understand the need to move. It was specifically the Sunday thing which I thought sounded fatal.

I don't suppose I'm atypical in liking my rugby, but having a young family. This means I'm limited to the number of occasions on which I can actually get along to live rugby (at Quins in my case), so when I do get to go, I want to go with a group of mates and have a few beers and a curry afterwards. This basically means that when we're looking down the fixture list, Sunday fixtures don't even get considered!

I agree, I don't enjoy Sunday games as much as I don't get out as much as I would like (also have a young family) and when I do, like to make a special event of it.

Saying that, out of 14 LI home games this season, only 4 are on a Sunday, so it's not too bad really.

There's a fairly vocal section of London irish supporters, local club players and families an officials who are tied to their clubs on a Saturday and never make it to the games either. It's hard to please everyone...

[Kermit power]

prand said:

I agree, I don't enjoy Sunday games as much as I don't get out as much as I would like (also have a young family) and when I do, like to make a special event of it.

Saying that, out of 14 LI home games this season, only 4 are on a Sunday, so it's not too bad really.

There's a fairly vocal section of London irish supporters, local club players and families an officials who are tied to their clubs on a Saturday and never make it to the games either. It's hard to please everyone...

Some games on a Sunday is fair enough, although given that only 20% of Premiership matches take place on a Sunday, I'd say LI are getting slightly shafted if they've got 4! Maybe something to do with ground-sharing with Reading FC?

The article I read in the Telegraph, however, was saying that all Wasps' home games would be on Sundays!!!

[Vocal Minority]

Plenty of Tele time for wasps then!

[Timbo_Mint]

Can I just say a big THANK YOU to the people at Leicester Tigers.

Some French friends of mine turned up at the Tigers Ground, on spec. this morning, and were given VIP treatment.

I have no idea why my friend's husband, from the deepest east of France, supports Tigers but he does and I suspect he's currently driving to Cornwall a very happy man right now.