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Author Topic: Domestic and European Rugby Union  (Read 42760 times)

Online paul_e

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Re: Domestic and European Rugby Union - 2019/20
« Reply #45 on: January 19, 2020, 10:47:21 PM »
The worry is how it could affect the England team. Saracens clearly have players who will be integral to the England set up moving forward. Is it feasible for them to move to other English clubs? Or will it be a case of them moving abroad and the RFU suspending its rules around non domestic players not being eligible for these players?

I think it may help rather than hinder, for all their club success the brand of rugby Sarries play won't bring you world cups. I suspect a few of the older ones (Kruis for example) may decide to move for the money rather than take a pay cut, which is fair and I suspect a few will try to follow the leadof Wilson and arrange a season away on loan. It's the younger players who are breaking through that are most interesting. Kpoku has already moved to saints for next year, it will be interesting to see if the likes of Lozowski, Earl and Malins agree to put their international ambitions on hold for a year to get them back up.

Offline UK Redsox

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Re: Domestic and European Rugby Union - 2019/20
« Reply #46 on: January 20, 2020, 09:55:37 PM »
The more that i read about this, the more i think that Saracens got off lightly. If it’s correct that they’re still refusing to allow a full review of their finances, I’d have relegated them another couple of divisions.

Online paul_e

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Re: Domestic and European Rugby Union - 2019/20
« Reply #47 on: January 20, 2020, 10:37:40 PM »
The more that i read about this, the more i think that Saracens got off lightly. If it’s correct that they’re still refusing to allow a full review of their finances, I’d have relegated them another couple of divisions.

The refusal to co-operate with the league and the complete lack of evidence of them doing anything to address this season was why this came up now rather than the end of the season. They've let Williams go and are looking to move Rhodes, Clark and Kruis on as well but that only really started after chairmen from other clubs started pointing out that the first punishment had seen no effort to fix the problems and instead just threats to withhold England players, withdraw from the league or take the league to arbitration. I thought Wray was a twat long before all of this started but his last few months before he stepped down showed him up as an entitled arsehole who thought he was wealthy enough and the team were important enough to be able to ignore the rules.

Offline Risso

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Re: Domestic and European Rugby Union - 2019/20
« Reply #48 on: January 24, 2020, 10:51:13 PM »
Just back from the Northampton v London Irish game, where Saints missed the chance to go top in quite spectacular style, throwing it away dramatically in the last 50 seconds.  Not helped by some of the worst officiating in professional sport I've ever seen.

Online paul_e

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Re: Domestic and European Rugby Union - 2019/20
« Reply #49 on: January 24, 2020, 11:50:47 PM »
Just back from the Northampton v London Irish game, where Saints missed the chance to go top in quite spectacular style, throwing it away dramatically in the last 50 seconds.  Not helped by some of the worst officiating in professional sport I've ever seen.

Couple of really odd decisions, i can't work out how the exiles 9 only got a yellow but then he gave the saints lock a red. I also thought he was very lenient with persistent penalties in the Irish 22.

Too many key players away for saints though really, and losing 2 backs in the first half and ending with a 9 on the wing won't have helped.

Offline Risso

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Re: Domestic and European Rugby Union - 2019/20
« Reply #50 on: January 25, 2020, 03:16:49 PM »
That first yellow was a disgrace.  Happened right in front of the ref, when the London Irish player after the whistle had gone, picked the Saints player up and shoved his head into the ground. Then for the Saints red, he was watching an inconclusive video replay from behind, and sent him off anyway.  Saints were really, really shit though.  Hardly won any of their own line outs, and missed two simple penalty attempts.

Offline UK Redsox

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Re: Domestic and European Rugby Union - 2019/20
« Reply #51 on: February 12, 2020, 02:17:18 PM »
RFU cut their funding of The Championship in half

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/feb/11/championship-clubs-rfu-brutal-slash-funding


After the RFU saying that the division needed to be professional, they now seem to be trying to end professional rugby outside the Premiership.

A real shame for the players and management at these clubs........apart from everyone at that fake club in Hartpury, they can go swivel
« Last Edit: February 12, 2020, 02:20:50 PM by UK Redsox »

Offline UK Redsox

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Offline cdbearsfan

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Re: Domestic and European Rugby Union - 2019/20
« Reply #53 on: February 12, 2020, 02:58:06 PM »
RFU cut their funding of The Championship in half

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/feb/11/championship-clubs-rfu-brutal-slash-funding


After the RFU saying that the division needed to be professional, they now seem to be trying to end professional rugby outside the Premiership.

A real shame for the players and management at these clubs........apart from everyone at that fake club in Hartpury, they can go swivel

Sounds like a dickish move. Both codes of rugby don't seem to give the slightest shit about teams outside the elite and would happily get rid of promotion and relegation altogether. The boring twats.

Online paul_e

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Re: Domestic and European Rugby Union - 2019/20
« Reply #54 on: February 12, 2020, 04:50:40 PM »
It's difficult. With teams needing, realistically, 35-40 first team players the fanbase isn't really there to support more than about 14-16 professional teams.

Withdrawing funding isn't great though andcwill cause problems for a number of clubs.

Rugby in general has finance problems though, the grass roots game is struggling all over the country with clubs finding it hard to keep facilities in good condition without grants or large donations.

Offline UK Redsox

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Re: Domestic and European Rugby Union - 2019/20
« Reply #55 on: February 13, 2020, 09:39:41 AM »
One of the problems for the Championship clubs is that some of the teams are not traditional well-supported clubs, eg Ampthill (who appear to play in a field) and the aforementioned Hartpury (spit).

I'm not sure what the supporter base is like at Ealing, but they're another club that appear to be way above their natural level.


Offline UK Redsox

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Re: Domestic and European Rugby Union - 2019/20
« Reply #56 on: February 13, 2020, 09:46:26 AM »
I think that a ring-fenced Premiership will be the ultimate outcome. However, if the RFU do decide that, they should invite four* more teams to join and split the league into two conferences with a proper playoff system

(eg Nottingham, Leeds, Newcastle and Bedford)

Offline UK Redsox

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Re: Domestic and European Rugby Union - 2019/20
« Reply #57 on: February 13, 2020, 11:47:44 AM »
Has anything been said by European Rugby regarding a punishment for Saracens ?

Should they be banned from European competition for a few years after they regain their position in the Premiership ?

Offline Dante Lavelli

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Re: Domestic and European Rugby Union - 2019/20
« Reply #58 on: February 13, 2020, 08:50:54 PM »
Has anything been said by European Rugby regarding a punishment for Saracens ?

Should they be banned from European competition for a few years after they regain their position in the Premiership ?

Technically I don’t think they have broken any European rules as the wage cap is an English agreement only.  Not 100% positive on this so please correct me if I’m wrong.

Online paul_e

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Re: Domestic and European Rugby Union - 2019/20
« Reply #59 on: February 13, 2020, 09:40:13 PM »
I think that's right, there's no regulation that they can be punished with. However there is a rule that participating teams have to be in the top league so they'll miss next season. Winning the championship does come with qualification though so it'll only be 1 season away in all likelihood.

 


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