Domestic & European Rugby 2017-18

[paul_e]

Not seen anything concrete but I had a fairly decent source that said they were very close to moving him on in the summer (I think I posted similar in about April) and had actually spoken to a couple of people with the one name that seemed to come up then was Heyneke Meyer who was the SA coach until a couple of years back.

[Dante Lavelli]

The only speculation I have read was two young coaches from exeter.  Alli Hepher and , both were ex Saints so it might just be nostalgia on the writers part.

[paul_e]

The only speculation I have read was two young coaches from exeter.  Alli Hepher and , both were ex Saints so it might just be nostalgia on the writers part.

I think a complete change of the entire coaching teams is definitely on the cards so that's probably reasonable.  Mike Ford has been mentioned heavily in the press in the last day or 2 but I'm not sure if he'd be a good idea.

[dcdavecollett]

Why do you say that, Paul?

[paul_e]

Why do you say that, Paul?

There's been lots of rumours of the pkayers being unhappy with the coaches and thinking they're "calling it in".

[Dante Lavelli]

Why do you say that, Paul?

There's been lots of rumours of the pkayers being unhappy with the coaches and thinking they're "calling it in".

The Rugby Pod are pretty adamant that Dorian West should have gone before King and Malinder.  They made it pretty obvious that they were simply echoing the comments of current players.

[paul_e]

Why do you say that, Paul?

There's been lots of rumours of the pkayers being unhappy with the coaches and thinking they're "calling it in".

The Rugby Pod are pretty adamant that Dorian West should have gone before King and Malinder.  They made it pretty obvious that they were simply echoing the comments of current players.

Yeah West gets the most but I think the club just needs a 'reset'.  There's no way they should be 10th in the league and completely adrift in the champions cup group, it's a very good squad so there's clearly other problems.  I just think they missed a trick by not doing it in the summer.  I like Mallinder and think he's done a great job but last season it was clear that he'd hit a wall and this year is the inevitable conclusion to that.

[Dante Lavelli]

Agree to all of that Paul, for that reason I'd prefer a temp appointment (maybe Ford) whilst they undertake a proper search.

[cheltenhamlion]

Olly Thorley got four against some zebras yesterday.

[paul_e]

Worcester won comfortably in the battle at the bottom.

Irish didn't play badly but conceding from first phase is unforgivable and they always look vulnerable.

Adams is in great form on the wing for Worcester and has a great habit of punishing errors and with the 9, 10 and 12 all in good form they have a lot of control.

For Irish they have a solid pack but at 9 everything is far too slow, the 10 doesn't trust himself to throw big passes and their centres are a mess.  All of which is frustrating because Lewington and Cokanasiga are international standard wingers but they're just feeding on scraps.  The former scored one of the best tries I've seen all season though.

[Gareth]

Thought Spencer had a great game, if England need an old school 2nd row at any point he wouldn’t be a bad shout.

Getting Houggard back fit & bringing in Lance has transformed Worcester from a team looking nailed on for relegation to one that may even look not to finish in the bottom 2.

Hopefully clarity on Gold’s successor and the ownership will follow in next few weeks.

[Gareth]

Well the DoR at Sixways is sorted, Solomans obv passed his audition this past 3 months :-)

[paul_e]

Agree to all of that Paul, for that reason I'd prefer a temp appointment (maybe Ford) whilst they undertake a proper search.

We got what you wanted, Alan Gaffney in until the summer.  Pretty happy with that, he's done good jobs with Munster and Sarries in the past and gets a lot of credit for his work with Ireland.

The longer term choice will be interesting in the summer but this makes me hold onto some hope that they'll be doing a thorough search.  I wish football clubs had the sense to approach it this way more often.

[paul_e]

Bath vs wasps is brilliant so far.  25-30 minutes of wasps at their very best, then a game changing yellow and 10 of bath smashing them up front.

[paul_e]

Bath vs wasps is brilliant so far.  25-30 minutes of wasps at their very best, then a game changing yellow and 10 of bath smashing them up front.

Finished 26-31 to wasps.  For all the good things Eddie Jones has done he's plain wrong to not include Dan Robson, he's quite clearly the best 9 in Europe.