Babbling 'brook

Dave Cahill wrote: ↑May 11th, 2023, 8:33 pm Nick McCarthy named in the "USA Eagles 2023 Player Pool"

Good for him.

Stormers have already shifted 35,000 tickets for the Connacht game, (which they had not expected to play at home), 5 days after having 45,000 in the the same stadium.
Getting tired of watching their team win the Stormers fans are not.

Ruckedtobits wrote: ↑May 10th, 2023, 10:58 pm

Xanthippe wrote: ↑May 10th, 2023, 10:17 pm Really disappointed that Hollie Davidson didn’t make it - thought she definitely deserved to be there

+1
She certainly deserved at least an AR appointment.

"at least " Interesting. Has she even had a Teir 1 appointment yet?

Blue Man wrote: ↑May 10th, 2023, 10:30 pm The optics are ridiculous. It’s a crazy appointment (again!)

In our last 11 games against Munster (incl this saturday) the ref has been from the Munster Branch on 7 of those occasions.

the spoofer wrote: ↑May 10th, 2023, 9:18 am

mildlyinterested wrote: ↑May 10th, 2023, 8:47 am Frank Murphy reffing the semi final.

That makes no sense.

Well games against Munster usually have a Munster branch ref.

I never played pro rugby, well it wasn't invented in my day, and the height of my career was 3rdB. I have been a fan of the game for over 50 yrs and in my opinion Coughlan is one of the best experts on TV. She is particularly good when co-commentating a match when her insight is usually very shrewd...

Grafting on a quarter-final stage to a league is one step too f*cking far. Really don't like it. There was a lot of criticism of the European Cup schedule for taking four rounds of pool games to eliminate eight teams out of twenty-four. The URC has taken eighteen rounds of games to eliminate eight ...

Would any of the Ulster Squad improve the Leinster Team? Would any of the Ulster Squad improve the Leinster Match Day Squad? I would suggest not. But a number of those players make Irish match day squads and a number of them have made significant contributions to our success over the last 12 months...

Hayes is all right, full of enthusiasm. Rugby is lucky in this country in the amount of coverage that it gets. Other sports would kill for the this level of exposure in the papers, telly, podcasts etc. For a minor sport in Ireland, it packs a punch in the media. I've heard UK podcasters on a number ...

Demographic Dan gave Ulster an excuse to underperform and not turn up in big games. They're just embracing that excuse. I've heard too many rants from him about it being somebody else's fault...that's never a good sign. Demographic Dan :lol: Very good. Desperate Dan is closer to the truth now thoug...

It is sad to some clubs going to the wall but the rugby calendar is full of games that make no money and don't interest the wider public. I don't know how rugby solves this issue but more cross hemisphere travel shouldn't be the solution. Flying regularly to the UK, Italy and once a year to SA to p...

Nearly forgot to say it, but the halftime games were great entertainment.
The adult-minis (not sure of the politically correct term here) was played in front of a very engaged audience who cheered very loudly when a break or tackle was made, great stuff.

The AIL final deserved more time, there’s an interesting story there on the league and the club game being the forgotten man of Irish rugby coverage even though it’s quite well supported at local community level and is massively responsible for where we’re at given generational involvement by famil...

wixfjord wrote: ↑May 8th, 2023, 10:10 pm Zebo is also injured according to the Examiner. Munster down to bare bones in back line.

I feel another Play could be in the pipeline if they win.

There's a very long list of players who have left the Leinster setup either by choice or by IRFU edict whose careers and international prospects either crashed and burned or at best fizzled out. Conway and Beirne are the only real exceptions I can think of. Cooney, eventually. Cult hero up north. O...

I would be surprised if the injury update gave much away to be honest. I can imagine they'll keep cards close to chest. If Henshaw and Kelleher are fit and ready to go, they'll probably say nothing more than 'will be assessed as the week progresses' or whatever. It's so hard to predict the team her...

his pass presumably. I have to agreewith that - the number of times that he had to change grip on the ball against Sharks before passing was surprising Unfortunately for Luke while his pass will not totally get found out at club level, at international level it would be totally found out. Really sa...

Brian Moore in the Tgraph

If you reintroduce the madcap spectre of seasonal promotion and relegation, all you will do is destabilise the situation further.

I thought they loved the oul relegation thingy. Wasn't it the lack of that which made our league a joke?

The South Africans think the URC is great. 46,888 was flashed across the screen yesterday at the match in Cape Town. A record crowd for the season. I hope their enthusiasm spreads north rather than the other way around. Enjoy it while it lasts lads. The Saffers will dominate Europe totally within 5...

This weekend showed a true reflection of what the general public think of the URC. 14.6k fans turned up to see one of the best teams in the world play in a quarter final. That is following a week where 46k showed up to watch the same team play in a Euro semi, which many complained was over priced. ...