Babbling 'brook

How can you "keep this out of rugby"? There's nothing scandalous about their advertising. Do WR bend down on a knee and beg various companies all over the world not to advertise some content that could be viewed as sledging? It is utterly pointless getting worked up about this. I hadn't se...

SA are absolutely going to join the 6N in the near future. How near remains to be seen but I doubt it'll be 2024 as the reporter said. It makes no sense, whatsoever, for their provincial sides to be playing European club rugby but then South Africa to be in the RC. Forget about history, tradition, t...

I can't read his articles. Most of the points he makes don't stand up to any kind of scrutiny. Just too many stats as well. I like stats but when he's on the42 rugby pod (when it was free) he had paper in front of him. He spent half the segments looking down. That is fine for written form when you ...

Scrummaging in Super Rugby, including New Zealand, is generally weak. Weaker than in northern hemisphere club rugby for sure. Ruaidhrí Murphy, who could hardly get a cap at Ulster, was a regular in Super Rugby. Don't think Jager is that good to be honest. That doesn't make any sense. Not in my life...

Ireland are an absolute mess at 10. 7 years in England 2015 we were relying heavily on Johnny Sexton to be fit. As he got older, we were even more reliant on Johnny Sexton at 10 for Japan. Now, a year from France 2023, we're more reliant on Sexton than ever before. Sexton backed up by Joey Carbery a...

Anyone know where final will be held if Leinster win on Friday? Is the Aviva available that weekend? Aviva hopefully. Nobody wants to go to the RDS it’s a kip. Aviva will attract a bigger crowd True fan :roll: What the hell is a "true fan" (or a "real fan") and why are rugby peo...

Ulster are soft. All talk. There's a reason they are 16 years without a medal, and it isn't like Leinster or Munster were always strong in that period. Munster seem to be spooked by the blue shirt but they're not scared of the red hand. Fancy them rolling into Belfast on a Friday night as handing th...

Another fascinating week of podcasts ahead as we delve into the big questions, ones that haven't been asked for as long as 5 weeks now. What is Munster's identity? Where do Munster go from here? Can Munster resurrect their season with some silverware for the departing JVG? I used to like Bernard Bir...

The OTB content this week has been, even by their standards, rubbish. I'm not gonna get into the whole 'Munster bias' thing but how often do you need to ask the same questions to different people? It feels like the same interviews over and over again. Alan Quinlan, Liam Toland, Gerry Thornley, Fiona...

The OTB content this week has been, even by their standards, rubbish. I'm not gonna get into the whole 'Munster bias' thing but how often do you need to ask the same questions to different people? It feels like the same interviews over and over again. Alan Quinlan, Liam Toland, Gerry Thornley, Fiona...

The marketing and PR is definitely substandard at Leinster and, also, rather embarrassing. Their weird obsession with "the lads" in social media posts is probably the worst I've seen from any club in any sport, anywhere. Look at the lads. Ah, the lads. Aren't the lads deadly? They're great...

Is the42 rugby podcast worth paying for? I enjoyed their podcasts when they were free, despite Birch's inability to properly pronounce words in English, especially the 'th' blend. But once it went beyond a paywall I completely forgot it existed until this morning. I had an 'oh yeh' moment. Rugby is ...

Is the42 rugby podcast worth paying for? I enjoyed their podcasts when they were free, despite Birch's inability to properly pronounce words in English, especially the 'th' blend. But once it went beyond a paywall I completely forgot it existed until this morning. I had an 'oh yeh' moment. Rugby is ...

Yeah I once cared about the Lions. The first one I vaguely remember was '93, we watched on a luxurious family holiday in Courtown. '97 was epic and then there was all the excitement about BoD in 2001. That was the peak of my interest in the Lions and it eroded swiftly after. The 09 second test in Pr...

Since this day last week Off The Ball on Newstalk have had 7 podcasts released, of those 6 were exclusively or primarily about Munster. The other 1 was an extended interview with Andy Friend..... After that win against Exeter all the cracks will be papered over this week I'm sure. "The D4 medi...

Cracking fixture this. Would be great if it were home and away. I like the home and away European ties, mainly because the rugby calendar is packed full of utterly useless games that, in URC anyway, involve ridiculous traveling to play in front of a few thousand. This is a proper rugby fixture. More...

OTB's coverage of last weekend's game has been, thus far, deplorable. Quinlan, who I never listen to, up first and then MNR with Thornley and Toland. It was a 39 minute podcast and the opening 26 minutes were about Munster. All 3 people on the call referenced, several times, that Leinster are a bett...

He might be a poster here, I'm not sure, but there's a prominent Leinster fan on the42 who's continually calling for Ciaran Frawley to be played at 10, and even asking for that this weekend. It seems obvious to me the Leinster management team don't see Frawley as an outhalf in the short or medium te...

I defended him when people said he had a mare against France but he’s a non entity as an outhalf. It seems like the best he can do is that kind of performance where his defence is pretty solid, he kicks his goals, and he doesn’t make any major errors or stand particularly deep etc as an outhalf. Th...

Thought some of the other points raised by Thornley were spot on. The music selection at the RDS and Aviva is dreadful. Generic stadium noise, these games could be played anywhere in the world. But Ireland has a well established and well known music industry. Being an Irish person living abroad for ...