General rugby thread

[DocJock]

The three year residency qualification rises to five years from 2020

http://rug.by/ZwLh28

[hornetrider]

DocJock said:

The three year residency qualification rises to five years from 2020

http://rug.by/ZwLh28

No bad thing.

In other news... RWC 2019 draw is taking place today.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2017/may/10...

[Kermit power]

hornetrider said:

No bad thing.

In other news... RWC 2019 draw is taking place today.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2017/may/10...

Right this moment, in fact!

[Kermit power]

England have... France, Argentina, Americas 1, Oceania 2

Ireland... Scotland, Japan, Europe 1, Play off winner,

Scotland... Japan, Europe 1, Play off winner, Ireland

Wales... Australia, Georgia, Oceania 1, Americas 2

So Group Of Death for England again??

The other group is New Zealand, South Africa, Italy, Africa 1, Repechage winner

[olimain]

Jesus that couldn't have gone much worse AGAIN!

[hornetrider]

Good group for Wales!

[Kermit power]

Just out of interest, if you add up the World ranking positions of the currently known opposition to the first seeded nations, you get the following, where the higher the number, theoretically the easier the draw

Australia - 20

England - 15

Ireland - 16

New Zealand - 22

The second seeded nations have the following...

France - 11

Scotland - 15

South Africa - 16

Wales - 15

So arguably, purely on the numbers, France are fked, Australia and New Zealand have an easy ride, and everyone else is pretty much on level pegging regardless of being first or second seeds.

Of course, we've still got Samoa, Fiji and Tonga (one would assume) to slide into the mix though!

[Phud]

Am a taff so lots of bias, however I think its a good draw for rugby.

Should produce a lot of good games.

[JonChalk]

I'd take Ireland's group all day long.

There's no way they're not topping that group!

[JonChalk]

olimain said:

Jesus that couldn't have gone much worse AGAIN!

Yeah, but imagine you're France - they've got to be extremely nervous about getting out of group stages.

[olimain]

JonChalk said:

Yeah, but imagine you're France - they've got to be extremely nervous about getting out of group stages.

This is true, Argentina have a good record against them. I wouldn't bet against Japan getting out of that group either.

[irocfan]

Flood back to Newcastle

[DocJock]

I'm confident all the Home Nations will progress from those groups...

[hornetrider]

Decent game between Glaws and Stade tonight. Feisty too.

[Kermit power]

hornetrider said:

Decent game between Glaws and Stade tonight. Feisty too.

Unlucky for Gloucester to miss out on a chance of Champions' Cup rugby next year.

I imagine Saints will now fancy their chances, with a home play off semi against Connacht, then if they win that, a home final against Stade or Cardiff...

[JonChalk]

Decent for 60 minutes, then we switched off for some reason.

Can't decide if we need new DoR, or a new front row.

[hornetrider]

The third try was outstanding. Lovely line break and piece of individual skill.

[JonChalk]

hornetrider said:

The third try was outstanding. Lovely line break and piece of individual skill.

Sums up our season really; we score way more three-quarters tries than most (rarely do we have the forwards "fall" over the line en masse on top of the ball), and our defence speed and aggression is up there with the best, but at set-pieces we fall down - so many scrum penalties & lost line outs. :-(

[hornetrider]

What a try to light up a dull match. Absolutely superb!

[London424]

Some of the worst refereeing I've seen in a long time. Shocking.