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Author Topic: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19  (Read 17720 times)

Offline UK Redsox

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #60 on: March 05, 2019, 01:39:32 PM »
Proposed merger of Ospreys/Scarlets to create space for a North Wales regional team

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-47453568

Offline UK Redsox

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #61 on: March 07, 2019, 11:30:41 AM »
Very quick reverse ferret on the merger plan


https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/47461662
 

Offline cheltenhamlion

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #62 on: March 13, 2019, 05:30:40 PM »
Only got round to watching it last night but Gloucester gave Quins a right pounding.

Offline paul_e

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #63 on: March 22, 2019, 08:30:56 PM »
If anyone is interested tigers v saints is currently 3-20 and saints are putting in a truly sublime attacking display, if Reinach doesn't get named premiership player of the season then I'll be amazed, tonight he's been simply wonderful.

Offline Dante Lavelli

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #64 on: March 24, 2019, 07:49:14 PM »
Saints seem to be on the up.  A combination of good /new coaching and a batch of academy players are making them the team with momentum in the level below Saracens and Exeter.

Offline paul_e

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #65 on: March 24, 2019, 11:38:36 PM »
Saints seem to be on the up.  A combination of good /new coaching and a batch of academy players are making them the team with momentum in the level below Saracens and Exeter.

They were too inconsistent in the first half of the season to make the play offs but I think they'll be top 6 and should be right in the mix for the playoffs next season.

The academy is the root of it, the backs in particular are great, they could currently name a back line of: Mitchell(9), Grayson(10), Mallinder(12), Hutchinson(13), Coliins(11), Sleightholme(14) and Furbank(15) who've all come through in the last few years and then they've still got Dingwall to press for a place in the centres and 2-3 others who are probably another year away. They're not quite so impressive in the forwards but there's still Painter, Moon and Ludlam who've all come through this year and Ma'asi and Onojaife who will follow them in the next year or 2.

Offline UK Redsox

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #66 on: March 25, 2019, 08:35:46 AM »
The Mightly Lyd won again on Saturday, defeating Devonport Services 29-10. They were a team that we played regularly in the pre-league days but I don't think that we've played them since.

With three games to go, we're now safe from the threat of relegation and look like achieving solid mid-table mediocrity.

In fact, looking at the remaining games (Coney Hill, Keynsham & Launceston), I think that we'll end up Played 26, Won 13, Lost 13

Offline paul_e

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #67 on: March 25, 2019, 11:26:17 AM »
Seeing as UKR likes to bring Lyd into this I'm going to add a mention for my lot.

I've been back playing for Erdington for a few months, we're in the Birmingham merit league for now with the club only having reformed last year but we're having a decent year

http://gbmt.pitchero.com/match-info/tables?

Probably a bit too soon for us to look at promotion anyway because we struggle to get more than 16-17 players, particularly for away games. If anyone fancies giving rugby a go though we have a decent setup, with Mens, Touch, U12s, U9s and U7s teams all up and running. We train on Tuesday night for kids and seniors (and touch training is Wednesday and Sunday I believe) and then Games for the seniors on Saturday afternoon and games/training for the kids on a Sunday morning.  Feel free to give me a shout if anyone is interested.

Offline UK Redsox

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #68 on: March 25, 2019, 11:55:06 AM »
Great to see clubs still forming/re-forming.

We've lost a few clubs down here in recent years and I think that the best chance of survival for some teams in Gloucester would be to merge.

However, local passions/rivalries run hot, so I suspect that some clubs (eg the aforementioned Coney Hill) might fold rather than merge.

Offline paul_e

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #69 on: March 25, 2019, 01:07:14 PM »
Great to see clubs still forming/re-forming.

We've lost a few clubs down here in recent years and I think that the best chance of survival for some teams in Gloucester would be to merge.

However, local passions/rivalries run hot, so I suspect that some clubs (eg the aforementioned Coney Hill) might fold rather than merge.

in Birmingham teams are doing pretty well but a lot of the bigger clubs are struggling to maintain a 3rd or 4th team, not because of lack of numbers as such but rather because a lot of players can do 1 week in 2/3/4 and it's hard to build a club around that. We have a single team and have about 35-40 players on the books but plenty of them can only make 4-5 games a year so we need that many just to get a 15 out every week (after illness and injuries, and hang-overs). On top of that you have the age old issue of cliques forming and that driving players away who may or may not end up at a new club.

Offline paul_e

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #70 on: March 25, 2019, 01:48:24 PM »
Full highlights from Friday night



The 3 saints tries are superb, they spent 40 minutes carving Leicester up with breaks like the first 2 and the third is a superb offload/pass from Taqele.

Offline UK Redsox

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #71 on: March 25, 2019, 02:39:44 PM »
Great to see clubs still forming/re-forming.

We've lost a few clubs down here in recent years and I think that the best chance of survival for some teams in Gloucester would be to merge.

However, local passions/rivalries run hot, so I suspect that some clubs (eg the aforementioned Coney Hill) might fold rather than merge.

in Birmingham teams are doing pretty well but a lot of the bigger clubs are struggling to maintain a 3rd or 4th team, not because of lack of numbers as such but rather because a lot of players can do 1 week in 2/3/4 and it's hard to build a club around that. We have a single team and have about 35-40 players on the books but plenty of them can only make 4-5 games a year so we need that many just to get a 15 out every week (after illness and injuries, and hang-overs). On top of that you have the age old issue of cliques forming and that driving players away who may or may not end up at a new club.

We (Lydney) are running two sides these days but we only used to run three senior sides anyway.

A lot of 2nd/3rd team calibre players played for one of the local village sides instead. Most of the villages were running three or four sides when I was playing (late 80s and 90s)

These days, fielding a regular 2nd XV is a struggle for us

Offline nigel

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #72 on: March 26, 2019, 07:53:43 PM »
Newcastle playing into the form of last season, think they might just pull it off.
However, I will add that they deserve to go down purely on the back of that Stripey + Tartan top they wore vrs Sale  ;


Offline UK Redsox

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #73 on: March 26, 2019, 09:49:54 PM »
I’ve disliked Newcastle ever since they were first promoted to the Premiership and Rob Andrew proposed scrapping relegation

Offline paul_e

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Re: Domestic & European Rugby Union 2018/19
« Reply #74 on: March 27, 2019, 09:03:09 AM »
I agree on that but in general I quite like the fact that there's a north-east team in the league, it means there's a good spread now.

 


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