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Author Topic: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19  (Read 17704 times)

Offline paul_e

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #30 on: October 13, 2018, 02:55:09 PM »
Burns was bad but the ref should be ashamed blowing up early in that position, fucking disgusting decision.

Online Dante Lavelli

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #31 on: October 13, 2018, 07:15:30 PM »
What's going on with the English clubs?  Has anyone had a good result this weekend?

Is our resource spread too thin or are we just not that good at the moment.  Looking at the england team I suspect that we are just a bit shit at the moment.


Online PaulWinch again

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #32 on: October 13, 2018, 07:28:23 PM »
Bath should have comfortably won that game.

Offline paul_e

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #33 on: October 13, 2018, 08:32:50 PM »
What's going on with the English clubs?  Has anyone had a good result this weekend?

Is our resource spread too thin or are we just not that good at the moment.  Looking at the england team I suspect that we are just a bit shit at the moment.



It's a bit of everything.

Compared to French sides we can't compete on wages so we're shopping a level below them for SH players.
Compared to Irish sides we have too many teams to spread the players across. A lot of people use the argument of the number of registered players but that's a bit of a red herring, International quality players in any sport isn't directly linked to the number of players available so what you get is English rugby has international class players spread over 10-11 sides, whereas Ireland has 3 (Connacht are the poor relations).

The Scottish, Welsh and Italian (and others) sides aren't really in the picture at club level.

It's also worth noting who the English sides have played so far.  Wasps got smashed by Leinster, who are favourites for the whole thing, Saints lost to Clermont who have no business not being in the champions cup and should win the challenge pretty easily I think. Exeter drew with a Munster side who'll be upset to not make the semi final. Bath and Leicester had, in my opinion, poor results, bath will know they had that game for the taking and Exeter quite clearly missed the drive that Simmonds gives them, his injury could derail them a bit.

However, Bristol, Quins ans Sale all picked up fairly routine wins, Worcester are currently on top against Stade and Tomorrow sees Gloucester and Sarries in games they could both win and Newcastle with a tough game against the other big French side.  I really wouldn't e surprised if we end the weekend with 6 wins and 6 defeats.  The problem is that most of our 'big' teams had really tough opening fixtures so it looks worse than it is.  Next weekend is much 'weaker' so things could look very different.

On top of all of that I think the English clubs suffer a little from differences in refereeing, Exeter and Bath were both clearly getting really frustrated with some of the decisions that went quite harshly against them.

Offline DaveD

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #34 on: October 14, 2018, 01:18:59 AM »
Agree with virtually everything Paul has said so won't quote it, but have some additional points to add.

Wasps had the hardest opening game imaginable and have a major injury crisis, so it was always going to be a tough assignment for them. I think they have a consolidation season ahead and will come strong again next.

Bath should have won that game well before the Burns brainfarts. I think Blackadder made a serious error in sending an understrength side to Allianz a fortnight ago, they needed to be ready for the higher intensity and they weren't, when Toulouse came at them hard in the second half they couldn't cope. If it was last week I could understand but resting players two weeks out I don't get.

Exeter's game is pressure based and depends on opponents making less mistakes than them. They are an almighty force in the Prem but there's no X Factor at next level up. Which is almost exactly how Munster play atm, so no surprise they cancelled one another out.

I didn't see the other games so can't comment.

Offline paul_e

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #35 on: October 14, 2018, 05:20:49 PM »
Well there we go 3 wins for English sides today, Gloucester and Sarries played really well and both rightfully won. I haven't seen anything from the Newcastle game but a win away at Toulon is massive.

All together it makes the results look much more reasonable and probably highlights the relative strengths of the leagues.

Offline DaveD

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #36 on: October 14, 2018, 06:52:55 PM »
I don't think Saracens played well at all, but there were a lot of injuries and you take any away win in this competition.

Offline paul_e

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #37 on: October 14, 2018, 08:01:03 PM »
I don't think Saracens played well at all, but there were a lot of injuries and you take any away win in this competition.

I thought it was a really professional performance, you never looked in any danger. Just didn't get the 3-4 tries you'd normally have expected.

Offline cheltenhamlion

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #38 on: October 15, 2018, 05:20:37 PM »
Gloucester did their best to throw it away but were excellent in the first 60. Have to win at home though as I don't fancy us getting much at Exeter or Munster.

Offline UK Redsox

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #39 on: October 27, 2018, 09:19:37 PM »
The Mighty Lyd actually won a game today, 10-8 over Bridgwater. A prime example of the dire standard of rugby that we now play at, with an equally abysmal refereeing performance

Offline cheltenhamlion

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #40 on: November 19, 2018, 05:20:12 AM »
Gloucester ruined Leicester. An excellent performance.

Offline UK Redsox

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #41 on: November 19, 2018, 08:22:11 AM »
Gloucester ruined Leicester. An excellent performance.

I watched most of that game and also Bristol v Exeter yesterday.

I missed the Mighty Lyd willing another game (home against Cullompton) because I went to Wales v Tonga

Offline paul_e

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #42 on: November 19, 2018, 11:24:19 AM »
I've caught up on most of the games from the weekend now, just watched the highlights for all but Saints (I've watched the full game for them) but wanted to do a bit of a recap because it was a great round of games, I love the domestic game during the international windows because you get to see loads of younger players and the games are much more exciting because the big clubs have so many players unavailable.

Saints had a fantastic win over Wasps and played some brilliant rugby, the 2nd try was superb, fantastic break from Naiyaravoro (who is a beast and I'm calling him Taqele from now on) and a brilliant from Dingwall who, from the little I've seen of him with Saints and England U20s, is definitely going to get England caps at 13. From there the 4th saints try was another fantastic break from Taqele who made the Wasps fullback look like a complete mug.

Bristol/Exeter was a great game, the first Bristol try is special, Exeter won with a penalty try in overtime that I thought was very harsh.

Sarries/Sale tighter game than you'd expect because of all the internationals being away, Sarries were England like in their lack of discipline but Lewington is a fantastic winger who makes a huge difference, he scored a fantastic try and then their forwards were strong enough to carry them to the win.

Glaws/Tigers as above was a fantastic performance, 2 world class tries by Thorley (another fantastic winger, we've got so many of them at the moment), the 2nd is probably try of the season. Cips was a fantastic signing, he reads the game so well and just makes good decisions all the time (which is bizarre because off the field he fucks up all the time).

Bath/Worcs was a funny one, by all accounts the warriors played pretty well but they seem to lose the forward battle every week so they just don't get their backs into the game, I think they're in big trouble. Bath were decent, but never had to be more than that.

Finally, Quins/Falcons, Quins were good, Marchant is a class act at 13 (and really should get a look in with England) and Smith is a fantastic kicker (but is still a long way from ready to play for England). Falcons have fallen apart, away from home they have absolutely no threat and they're not gonig to be able to defend their way to victories. I think they'll pick up but I suspect the bottom 4 is now set and we'll start to see the midtable sides opening a gap over the next few rounds.

To sum up, Thorley, Lewington and Marchant have all got to be on the cusp of England places, Dingwall will probably break through after the world cup and Joe Cokanasiga should watch Taqele Naiyaravoro because he can become exactly the same destructive force (he's not far short of it already but he needs to back himself more).

Offline cheltenhamlion

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #43 on: November 19, 2018, 03:54:21 PM »
I don't know what he has been up to whilst injured but Thorley looks a couple of yards quicker than he used to.

Offline paul_e

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #44 on: November 23, 2018, 08:10:16 PM »
Interesting game on BT tonight, Worcester vs Quins. Both are in pretty poor form in the league which is making it pretty even.

The most important thing though is that Quins have given a league debut to Cadan Murley. I've heard of him but hadn't seen him play until tonight, on 20minutes of evidence (and word of mouth) I reckon this kid will be an England player by 2020 6N, he's a bit special. Has the busy style of Nowell but with a bit more pace, his defence will be the key to how quickly he gets senior caps but it's supposed to be very strong (he hasn't been tested yet in the game).

 


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