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It sounds similar to AU post 2003 world cup. Totally misallocated the funds and by 2007 all the good players were cooked.
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Mar 16, 2025 12:01
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I do have to admit to a certain level of envy that despite the rot, Wales have still had tournament wins while the peak of Scotland's so-called golden generation of backs is... 3rd place a couple times? The logical part of me understands why but listen just let us have a little win? Sneak a 6N while naebody's paying attention?
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Mar 16, 2025 13:29
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Mister Chief posted:It sounds similar to AU post 2003 world cup. Totally misallocated the funds and by 2007 all the good players were cooked. Kind of I guess. Around 2007/08 CEO Roger Lewis decided to divert funds from the regions and regional academies to pay off the stadium debt quicker. He even shut the national academy down. This was the academy that helped nurture the best talent Wales had to offer and gave them access to all the top facilities at the Vale. Think of players like Sam Warburton and this is where they grew. The idea was the create players that would be the best in Europe and I think it succeeded in getting extremely close to that. That generation was completely gone around 2021/22 and now we are seeing a smaller physically weaker group of Welsh players coming through that cannot compete with the opposition. Foxtrot_13 also touched on it. There are more than 300 clubs in Wales, the WRU subsidise them all. Which is insane if you think about it and while yes most pro players will cut their teeth at this grass roots level it is still essentially a hobby they play. I get giving some funds to Newport and Cardiff, Llanelli and RGC1404, but I'm not sure the likes of Senghenydd, Cefneithin or Cwmgwrach need that much help from the WRU.
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Mar 17, 2025 13:28
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The Beeb posted:Georgia head coach Richard Cockerill believes his side have "earned the right" to face Wales in a play-off to decide which nation should be in the 2026 Six Nations. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/cn04pz1wezyo
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Mar 18, 2025 13:26
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Well it makes a change from asking for Italy to be relegated but as ever, no stakeholder in the contest is going to vote for them to be kicked out of the tournament. It sucks that Georgia are by far the best of the next level of European teams but there's a difference between beating the piss out of Romania and playing a full strength 6N side looking for a title.
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Mar 18, 2025 13:51
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They are above them in the rankings now
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Mar 18, 2025 13:52
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Skarsnik posted:They are above them in the rankings now That's an artifact of them never playing each other. Rankings do not work if the teams in the ranking don't play.
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Mar 18, 2025 16:51
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I think the Wales/Georgia question should be decided on the basis of which country has the best male choral tradition, most beautiful mountains, and highest density of consonants per word. Winner gets to be “the red team” in next 6N.
Apollodorus fucked around with this message at 22:07 on Mar 18, 2025 |
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Mar 18, 2025 19:02
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Khachapuri vs Rarebit
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Mar 18, 2025 19:10
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Apollodorus posted:I think the Wales/Georgie question should be decided on the basis of which country has the best male choral tradition, most beautiful mountains, and highest density of consonants per word. Winner gets to be “the red team” in next 6N. This is one of the best posts on these dead, terrible forums.
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Mar 18, 2025 19:35
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In a move that will shock no one, Mauvaka has been cited for the headbutt.
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Mar 18, 2025 22:44
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/articles/cq8y1335qlwo Eddie Jordan, who was heading up the consortium that bought London Irish, has died. 
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Mar 20, 2025 12:24
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Vaders Jester posted:In a move that will shock no one, Mauvaka has been cited for the headbutt. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/c4gmv5732meo Mauvaka gets 3 week ban reduced from 6 after admitting foul play. What a gently caress up by the match officials.
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Mar 20, 2025 18:40
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Vaders Jester posted:https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/c4gmv5732meo They had an open goal in front of them, and somehow managed to score an own goal in the process. Honestly, considering the potential danger involved, Carley and Ian Tempest, who was the ref manning the bunker, should be stood down indefinitely from test rugby, because neither clearly have any sort of judgement that can be trusted. Just a shocking, inexcusable and absurd decision.
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Mar 21, 2025 05:06
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Vaders Jester posted:https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/articles/cq8y1335qlwo This is how I find out the ex Top Gear host died? Oh and something about F1 but that's a different thread. Anyway, how popular is rugby in Italy? I may end up visiting Udine in the future as my sister's in laws bought a house there.
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Mar 21, 2025 18:47
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Island Nation posted:This is how I find out the ex Top Gear host died? Not massively, it is a minor sport compared to association football. But the north is where the stronghold is. Udine is not far from Treviso, which is where the biggest club is based.
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Mar 21, 2025 19:39
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It’s way bigger in Italy than it is in the US, though.
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Mar 21, 2025 22:52
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HappyCamperGL posted:Not massively, it is a minor sport compared to association football. But the north is where the stronghold is. Udine is not far from Treviso, which is where the biggest club is based. That helps slightly though it's a good ways away from where I'll be. Doesn't help that their 6 Nations coverage like ours is tied to Comcast. Apollodorus posted:It’s way bigger in Italy than it is in the US, though. Given the MLR team near me bounced around the area before its collapse (New York), anything steady would be better. Strangely, my friend's wife fell in love with Ireland rugby but she's 0% Irish.
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Mar 22, 2025 00:08
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Island Nation posted:Strangely, my friend's wife fell in love with Ireland rugby but she's 0% Irish. I think that is most Irish Americans.
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Mar 22, 2025 04:16
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Missed the first twenty minutes of Ire-Fra but home now to cheer for Ireland while my partner is at work Also Hollie reffing!
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Mar 22, 2025 14:33
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It's been a good game so far. Both sides really going for it though the French forwards are the difference I think.
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Mar 22, 2025 14:42
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This is France's game to lose, I think, but even then I'm seeing plenty of good things in this Irish team-- still a lot of rough edges to file down that might take a while.
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Mar 22, 2025 14:51
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Aoife Wafer is a good player with a really good name
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Mar 22, 2025 14:57
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The Irish backs look good, just need a couple of passes to stick and they'd have the French side under more pressure.
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Mar 22, 2025 14:57
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Ireland having a huge second half. France struggling to live with them.
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Mar 22, 2025 15:35
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Looks to me like Ireland are more athletic and aggressive but France are more technical and precise, and that’s making the difference. e: why do some French women have collars on their jerseys and others don’t? Apollodorus fucked around with this message at 15:48 on Mar 22, 2025 |
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Mar 22, 2025 15:44
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Mister Chief posted:I think that is most Irish Americans. She's Haitian American. I blame NBC, they seem to go gaga for Irish rugby when they cover it.
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Mar 22, 2025 16:12
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Looked like Lisa Thompson jumped that tackle. Lucky to get away with it.
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Mar 22, 2025 18:20
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So two yellows (one for repeated penalties, one for high tackle kept yellow at the bunker) equal a 20 min red Glad we're testing out all the permutations! Also Gallagher should probably be on a full red for that mess
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Mar 22, 2025 19:35
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Good game though, right down to the wire.
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Mar 22, 2025 19:46
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I think someone needs to test the weather phenomena that causes rain to fall in the vicinity of Murrayfield and nowhere else in the city
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Mar 22, 2025 20:01
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Good game though the score flatters Wales a bit given how strong Scotland were throughout the game. It's getting to the point where it's hard to celebrate a try these days though with TMOs pulling things up so late after the score.
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Mar 22, 2025 21:34
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Some good games this weekend, even the Italy vs England one. But there was one odd thing in that game, the ref kept standing between the teams on the line of the ruck. Obstructing the defence to a degree. Don't think it made a difference to the scoreline just odd decision making by the ref.
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Mar 25, 2025 15:17
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Tough going for Scotland. Struggling to get anything going against a very good French side.
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Mar 29, 2025 14:49
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New to watching rugby: is the Bonus Point for 4+ tries in there to keep the winning team motivated to attack, rather than sitting back on defense once they get a decent lead?
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Mar 29, 2025 15:37
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tylertfb posted:New to watching rugby: is the Bonus Point for 4+ tries in there to keep the winning team motivated to attack, rather than sitting back on defense once they get a decent lead? Yeah it's to encourage scoring tries, even if you lose. Same as the 7 point margin losing bonus point. So you can get something from the game. It's actually really worked for helping open up the game, compared to the dark days of the 90s
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Mar 29, 2025 15:42
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It was raised as a possibility for a number of years, with the counter always being that technically someone could get a Grand Slam but still lose (4 wins plus six bonus points scores 22, against five wins with no bonus points scoring 20). The very simple solution was to give extra points for a Grand Slam; any winner gets three extra bonus points.
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Mar 29, 2025 16:08
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So with 13 changes did weng send out the B team against Italy or Wales?
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Mar 29, 2025 19:58
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Skarsnik posted:So with 13 changes did weng send out the B team against Italy or Wales? Yes. The less lovely reply is that it looks like John Mitchell is rotating in more of the fringe players to give them a trial run in the "easier" games in preparation for the world cup. I wouldn't say either team was a B team but each match day squad had more variation in players than we would normally in a non-world cup year were the point is to win the Six Nations. England didn't have the snap and precision they had before, especially against Italy, and this is probably down to seeing who will be in the world cup squad and who isn't ready for it yet. Against France we are more likely to see the final form of England as they will have few games after it to nail down the tactics in a competitive environment. England are in a very lucky position of having an embarrassment of riches but whittling that down to a world cup squad is going to be hard. Kildunne will obviously take lions share of column inches but all round this had a better standard of play against Wales, even if Mitchell wouldn't like the amount of handling errors, penalties conceded and turn overs conceded. I don't think this Wales team is that much worse than the Italian team but this combination just clicked better. Burton looks like a real impact player off the bench, England have a true bomb squad with two front rows that are world class, a back row that is able to impose itself on the opposition, and backs that can both execute plays and also just pull out magic.
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Mar 30, 2025 01:15
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That makes sense I had it on in the pub but got to watch exactly none of it so had no idea how they actually performed aside from the final score Regardless of the result getting 25k in the stadium here for it is amazing
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Mar 30, 2025 02:17
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