General rugby thread
Discussion
Zirconia said:
I know the capacities, but try getting a decent priced ticket even for an autumn international, that a'holes on the ticket scalping cheating tout sites put paid to that. Stick on another pita train journey to the big smoke then back out from Paddington and its not really worth it for my money, no matter the distancing.
Rather a limited one off autumn where I could if I I could get a 40 quid ticket.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I won't pay those prices either! I'm really happy with the VFM I get from my season ticket at Quins, but unless it's for the cut price matches against tier 2 opposition, I won't pay to see England at Twickenham again. I paid £56 to watch them beat the ABs in 2012 and that was expensive enough, then they hiked all the prices for the 2015 RWC and never dropped them down again afterwards. Rather a limited one off autumn where I could if I I could get a 40 quid ticket.
That doesn't change the fact that with stupid social distancing rules in place, neither Swansea for Cardiff City would make sense financially.
irocfan said:
Kermit power said:
Breaking news!!!!
[url]Sale Sharks have signed a contract to provide medical and rehab services to Manu Tuilagi until the end of next season!|https://www.salesharks.com/2020/07/13/sale-sharks-sign-manu-tuilagi/?fbclid=IwAR2YuahactIhoZtiBxWALhJ0SyBt6Z9S91GPP3p71YhB4tl9rkp4opRsQUM
[url]Sale Sharks have signed a contract to provide medical and rehab services to Manu Tuilagi until the end of next season!|https://www.salesharks.com/2020/07/13/sale-sharks-sign-manu-tuilagi/?fbclid=IwAR2YuahactIhoZtiBxWALhJ0SyBt6Z9S91GPP3p71YhB4tl9rkp4opRsQUM
Certainly seems to have a knack for turning around 'bad boys'
Proposed 'Eight Nations Tournament'.
England are set for a blockbuster autumn series against Wales, Ireland and Fiji as part of a proposed ‘Eight Nations’ tournament. With the southern hemisphere nations of New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina and Australia unlikely to be allowed to travel north because of coronavirus restrictions, Six Nations chiefs have acted to fill the gap in the international schedule by creating a new one-off competition. Fiji and Japan are set to be invited to join the traditional Six Nations countries in two pools of four. The second group will be made up of France, Scotland, Italy and Japan.
Each team will play their pool opponents once. After the group stages have been completed, the tournament will shift to a play-off format between each team facing their equivalent in the opposite pool. Six Nations organisers are waiting for a decisive World Rugby Council vote on the extended international window on Thursday with an announcement expected in mid-August.
Much has yet to be decided particularly around venues and whether crowds are allowed, which remains in the hands of national governments. Sunday's cricket match between Surrey and Middlesex was the first sporting event to allow crowds in England since the Covid-19 lockdown was imposed while the World Snooker Championships and Glorious Goodwood set to stage further test events with crowds. That should pave the way for crowds to be permitted at Twickenham, albeit at a fraction of its 80,000 capacity, which will bring significant financial relief to the RFU which was forecasting losses of £122 million if no matches went ahead. Bill Sweeney, the RFU chief executive, is hopeful of crowds of up to 40,000 being allowed.
Telegraph Sport understands that while England will host Ireland and Fiji at Twickenham that will not necessarily apply to their match against Wales, which is provisionally listed as an away fixture. Although the Welsh Rugby Union has ruled out staging matches at the Principality Stadium, it is still actively exploring options inside Wales including the Liberty Stadium or the Cardiff City Stadium. The WRU could still take the game across the border, depending on what crowd sizes are allowed, but are keen not to automatically hand England home advantage.
The tournament will begin on November 14 over four consecutive weekends leading up to the grand finale on December 5. The outstanding final round of Six Nations matches – Wales v Scotland, France v Ireland and Italy v England – has been scheduled for October 31 with the other postponed fixture, Ireland v Italy, taking place the week before. Official confirmation of those fixtures is expected by next week. England lead the table on points difference from France, although Ireland could leapfrog them both by winning their game in hand.
The Torygraph.
England are set for a blockbuster autumn series against Wales, Ireland and Fiji as part of a proposed ‘Eight Nations’ tournament. With the southern hemisphere nations of New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina and Australia unlikely to be allowed to travel north because of coronavirus restrictions, Six Nations chiefs have acted to fill the gap in the international schedule by creating a new one-off competition. Fiji and Japan are set to be invited to join the traditional Six Nations countries in two pools of four. The second group will be made up of France, Scotland, Italy and Japan.
Each team will play their pool opponents once. After the group stages have been completed, the tournament will shift to a play-off format between each team facing their equivalent in the opposite pool. Six Nations organisers are waiting for a decisive World Rugby Council vote on the extended international window on Thursday with an announcement expected in mid-August.
Much has yet to be decided particularly around venues and whether crowds are allowed, which remains in the hands of national governments. Sunday's cricket match between Surrey and Middlesex was the first sporting event to allow crowds in England since the Covid-19 lockdown was imposed while the World Snooker Championships and Glorious Goodwood set to stage further test events with crowds. That should pave the way for crowds to be permitted at Twickenham, albeit at a fraction of its 80,000 capacity, which will bring significant financial relief to the RFU which was forecasting losses of £122 million if no matches went ahead. Bill Sweeney, the RFU chief executive, is hopeful of crowds of up to 40,000 being allowed.
Telegraph Sport understands that while England will host Ireland and Fiji at Twickenham that will not necessarily apply to their match against Wales, which is provisionally listed as an away fixture. Although the Welsh Rugby Union has ruled out staging matches at the Principality Stadium, it is still actively exploring options inside Wales including the Liberty Stadium or the Cardiff City Stadium. The WRU could still take the game across the border, depending on what crowd sizes are allowed, but are keen not to automatically hand England home advantage.
The tournament will begin on November 14 over four consecutive weekends leading up to the grand finale on December 5. The outstanding final round of Six Nations matches – Wales v Scotland, France v Ireland and Italy v England – has been scheduled for October 31 with the other postponed fixture, Ireland v Italy, taking place the week before. Official confirmation of those fixtures is expected by next week. England lead the table on points difference from France, although Ireland could leapfrog them both by winning their game in hand.
The Torygraph.
I have a couple of questions with that...
1. How on earth do they think even 40,000 people are actually going to get to Twickenham?!?! Although personally I think the government completely overreacted to Covid and continues to do so, if you're going to impose all of these conditions, then the seating plan in the stadium is surely rendered pretty irrelevant by the number of people who'll be rammed into trains from Waterloo and Clapham, then into the pubs, up Whitton Rd and into the concourse and bars at the stadium?
2. Who on earth thought up the daft distribution of the teams in the pools? We have England, Ireland, Wales & Fiji in one pool, respectively ranked 3rd, 4th, 6th & 11th and France, Scotland, Japan and Italy who are ranked 5th, 8th, 9th and 14th. Hardly balanced, is it?
1. How on earth do they think even 40,000 people are actually going to get to Twickenham?!?! Although personally I think the government completely overreacted to Covid and continues to do so, if you're going to impose all of these conditions, then the seating plan in the stadium is surely rendered pretty irrelevant by the number of people who'll be rammed into trains from Waterloo and Clapham, then into the pubs, up Whitton Rd and into the concourse and bars at the stadium?
2. Who on earth thought up the daft distribution of the teams in the pools? We have England, Ireland, Wales & Fiji in one pool, respectively ranked 3rd, 4th, 6th & 11th and France, Scotland, Japan and Italy who are ranked 5th, 8th, 9th and 14th. Hardly balanced, is it?
768 said:
I wondered if the distribution of the teams was orchestrated so that there was half a chance for the lower ranked teams to get out of the pool stages and get a bit more exposure. Assume it was more likely luck of the draw though.
Looks like they've tried to minimise the chances of teams that are first playing each other in the postponed 6N games will meet you arch other again in this competition. 768 said:
I wondered if the distribution of the teams was orchestrated so that there was half a chance for the lower ranked teams to get out of the pool stages and get a bit more exposure. Assume it was more likely luck of the draw though.
As I understood it, there is no getting out of the pool stages per se. It's just that at the end of the group, each team has a final game against the team in the same position in the other pool to determine the overall standings.irocfan said:
They've got "great form" in that areahttps://www.ramsrugby.com/news/rams-deducted-5-poi...
irocfan said:
That doesn't sound dodgy at all...
C70R said:
irocfan said:
That doesn't sound dodgy at all...https://www.englandrugby.com/dxdam/7e/7e915f72-c47...
irocfan said:
What does it mean "effectively fined £20,000"?The Mad Monk said:
irocfan said:
What does it mean "effectively fined £20,000"?This is what Rugby teams will be doing this weekend to show their support for Black Lives Matter.
Bath - huddle
Bristol - form a heart
Exeter - show 'full support'
Glouc/Worc - form a V
Quins - knee
Irish - t-shirts
Saints - t-shirts, form a circle
Leic - knee
Sale - t-shirts
Sarries - t-shirts
Wasps - knee
What will you be doing?
Considering that I stand in silence for one minute once a year to mark the millions killed in wars - think of The Holocaust, Belsen. The POWs killed in Japanese slave labour camps, I am not sure what a proportionate response would be?
Rugby! On the TV! Yay!
I don't know everyone else's squads well enough to comment on them, but Gloucester have fielded pretty much their best possible squad (IMHO) for their match tomorrow.
I'm guessing a combination of no injuries, a desire to get off the mark quickly and the reduced salary cap (hence squad size) means everyone les doing the same?
edit: Oh and BT have added some crowd noise to the background and it's not bad. I mean it's clearly fake given the empty stands, but it does help with atmosphere on the TV.
I don't know everyone else's squads well enough to comment on them, but Gloucester have fielded pretty much their best possible squad (IMHO) for their match tomorrow.
I'm guessing a combination of no injuries, a desire to get off the mark quickly and the reduced salary cap (hence squad size) means everyone les doing the same?
edit: Oh and BT have added some crowd noise to the background and it's not bad. I mean it's clearly fake given the empty stands, but it does help with atmosphere on the TV.
Edited by JonChalk on Friday 14th August 19:56
JonChalk said:
edit: Oh and BT have added some crowd noise to the background and it's not bad. I mean it's clearly fake given the empty stands, but it does help with atmosphere on the TV.
Apparently it's a mix of the live sound from the previous Sale V Quins match before Covid (according to Nick Mullins on twitter). Think it works quite well 
Ian Lancs said:
JonChalk said:
edit: Oh and BT have added some crowd noise to the background and it's not bad. I mean it's clearly fake given the empty stands, but it does help with atmosphere on the TV.
Apparently it's a mix of the live sound from the previous Sale V Quins match before Covid (according to Nick Mullins on twitter). Think it works quite well Fortunately, I didn't really notice it, which was exactly what I was hoping for! 😁
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