2014 Aviva Premiership
Discussion
So, who are we all expecting to do well, or not?
Despite the hype, it wasn't really surprising to see Gloucester crash and burn against Northampton. Always going to be difficult to start against the defending champions with so many changes to players and management.
I only saw the second half of the Quins game, which made for painful watching as they tried to throw the game away!
Still, not as bad as my club 1st XV, who were leading 22-12 with two minutes to play and managed to lose 22-24!!
I've also just watched the (scoreless) last 10 minutes or so of London Welsh vs Exeter. Based on those few minutes, I really can't begin to comprehend how Exeter managed to carry out such an utter demolition job?
Despite the hype, it wasn't really surprising to see Gloucester crash and burn against Northampton. Always going to be difficult to start against the defending champions with so many changes to players and management.
I only saw the second half of the Quins game, which made for painful watching as they tried to throw the game away!
Still, not as bad as my club 1st XV, who were leading 22-12 with two minutes to play and managed to lose 22-24!!I've also just watched the (scoreless) last 10 minutes or so of London Welsh vs Exeter. Based on those few minutes, I really can't begin to comprehend how Exeter managed to carry out such an utter demolition job?
Well that was an interesting weekend!!!
I wonder what odds you'd have got on London Welsh scoring a try bonus against Bath, especially when they didn't even get a losing bonus point to go with it?
I couldn't bear the thought of watching the recorded Quins game after hearing the result, but what the hell happened???
Wasps seem to be very serious about mounting a strong challenge for a top 4 spot as well.
Could be a very interesting season at this rate....
I wonder what odds you'd have got on London Welsh scoring a try bonus against Bath, especially when they didn't even get a losing bonus point to go with it?
I couldn't bear the thought of watching the recorded Quins game after hearing the result, but what the hell happened???
Wasps seem to be very serious about mounting a strong challenge for a top 4 spot as well.
Could be a very interesting season at this rate....
I don't think anyone could really argue with the notion that English rugby just hasn't been quite right in the last few years without a strong Bath side, but my God, have we got one now!!!
They've just been awesome tonight! What odds would you have got on them beating Sarries by 10 points, despite leaving 14 points from the boot behind?
Eastmond seems to have responded in the best possible way to the stuffing he took in an England shirt over the summer, and Rokoduguni has surely done enough already this year to keep that showboating pillock Ashton out of contention for an England place? I don't normally agree with people getting capped on residency rules, but that goes out of the window when they sign up to defend the place whilst they're here.
The way they're playing at the moment, I reckon international call ups might be one of the few things that will stop them romping away with the Premiership this year.
They've just been awesome tonight! What odds would you have got on them beating Sarries by 10 points, despite leaving 14 points from the boot behind?
Eastmond seems to have responded in the best possible way to the stuffing he took in an England shirt over the summer, and Rokoduguni has surely done enough already this year to keep that showboating pillock Ashton out of contention for an England place? I don't normally agree with people getting capped on residency rules, but that goes out of the window when they sign up to defend the place whilst they're here.
The way they're playing at the moment, I reckon international call ups might be one of the few things that will stop them romping away with the Premiership this year.
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 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!
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?
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 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 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 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 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?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...
The article I read in the Telegraph, however, was saying that all Wasps' home games would be on Sundays!!!
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