United Rugby Championship

[blockhead]

Great news about the RSA teams now playing their home games at home in November. I'd be very suprised if they don't wallop the euro teams but still, it gives this years league a bit more integrity.

[Theleinsterlad]

Great news about the RSA teams now playing their home games at home in November. I'd be very suprised if they don't wallop the euro teams but still, it gives this years league a bit more integrity.

That’s great news, the league needs the games played there

[riocard911]

Another win on the road for the Saffers: Dragons 10-24 Stormers. Great stuff!!!

[dropkick]

It's been a good start for the new tournament and the SA sides are looking like a great addition. The quality has gone up and we have some decent rivals for the provinces.


It will be interesting to see how the league goes in the coming seasons. If the SA sides start to earn more money and are allowed to keep some of their top talents then they will be right up there and great rivals for the Irish teams. They still have a lot of quality to come back in.


Looking at other countries in 5 years time.

Scots. Depends on money. They've 2 competitive teams but have large turnover of players. They look about mid table on average. It would be nice if one of them could step up a level.


Italians. Benetton are continuing to gradually improve but they need to be able to hold onto star players. Do that and who knows what they will be like in 5 years time. The Iralian U20s are beating their Scottish and Welsh counterparts regularly. That bodes well for them. Zebre Parma is another story. Not sure if they're treated like a development side.


Welsh. Things don't look good for them. They struggle with keeping their best players but unlike the SA sides, Wales' population is 3m compared to 50m+ in SA. Those SA sides have a rich supply of talent while the Welsh do not. I think in 5 years the 4 regions will be in the bottom 6 of the league if they continue what they're doing.



With the higher quality I think the Irish sides will need to develop more of an attacking game. We won't be able to maul these teams over the line at will. That's good for Irish rugby and allows us to see the players who can step up and who cannot. Our gain is super rugby's loss. Not sure it will do NZ any good steamrolling Australian teams every week if anything it should help the Australians but that's NZ's problem. I'm of the opinion that the provinces' dominance over the regions has been good for Wales and bad for Ireland.

[ronk]

The SA teams create a hybrid that prepare players for playing in the NH and put them in the shop window more easily.

But it also creates a way to live at home but still play North so it can be a stepping stone in both directions. Teams that want to import SH skillsets will be looking elsewhere.

From the looks of things it seems that the question of whether SH teams would make us more like Super Rugby or them more like Northern hemisphere has been answered, with the caveat that their home games might change things.

Long term there may be a similar effect on Oz and NZ without playing big SA packs week in week out.

[Blueberry]

Great news about the RSA teams now playing their home games at home in November. I'd be very suprised if they don't wallop the euro teams but still, it gives this years league a bit more integrity.

That’s great news, the league needs the games played there

+1 If they had played them in Italy it would have left an asterix beside the league again....level playing field now thankfully.

[blockhead]

Connacht bossed that 2nd half so decisively that I'm getting a little concerned about these RSA sides, of which the Bulls are supposed to be the best. I fully expect them to BP the home games they play against European opposition (when their home game are actually played in South Africa) but atm they are looking a lot like the kings and the cheetahs. Yeah they have players coming back after the international window is over, but they will be managed very carefully.

Lot less concerned now. The RSA teams are proving way more competitive than the Kings and Cheetahs ever were. A LBP in South Africa will be a precious point come the end of this season.

[Laighin Break]

Leinster the only team with 5/5 going into the break

[ronk]

Yeah, big losses for Ulster and Munster suddenly changes the complexion of the league.

[JohnB]

This has been a very good evening for our lot. Thank you Connacht and Ospreys!

[Serb]

Shocking how bad Ulster and Munster were today. Was at the Connacht game, they looked really sharp.

[alanair]

Shocking how bad Ulster and Munster were today. Was at the Connacht game, they looked really sharp.

Connacht we’re robbed last week V Munster ( principally by a Leinster TMO) . Delighted for their win tonight… and particularly what it does for us

[Caliphi]

So, every Irish team has has a bad day. Leinster scraped home against Dragons. Connaught beaten at home by same Dragons. Ulster humiliated by Connaught, and then Munster. One swallow does not make a summer.

[Oldschoolsocks]

Connacht

[alanair]

So, every Irish team has has a bad day. Leinster scraped home against Dragons. Connaught beaten at home by same Dragons. Ulster humiliated by Connaught, and then Munster. One swallow does not make a summer.

Leinster played the Dragons ?… do tell ….
Bad trolling attempt methinks

[alanair]

So, every Irish team has has a bad day. Leinster scraped home against Dragons. Connaught beaten at home by same Dragons. Ulster humiliated by Connaught, and then Munster. One swallow does not make a summer.

Leinster played the Dragons ?… do tell ….
Bad trolling attempt methinks

Comparing matches over a four week period , really makes no sense in this case

[mildlyinterested]

this gap in the schedule is a load of cr@p.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/ ... -1.4710208

[dropkick]

this gap in the schedule is a load of cr@p.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/ ... -1.4710208

There was talk of an URC U23 or reserve league. I think the URC are involved in a new tournament involving Cheetahs, a Romanian side, Spanish side, Sharks and Stormers. Maybe they're working on a B competition.


The gap certainly isn't helpful. Interesting how there are now only 22 guaranteed games per season compared to 27 before. Plenty of players going to get itchy feet.

[The Doc]

this gap in the schedule is a load of cr@p.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/ ... -1.4710208

There was talk of an URC U23 or reserve league. I think the URC are involved in a new tournament involving Cheetahs, a Romanian side, Spanish side, Sharks and Stormers. Maybe they're working on a B competition.


The gap certainly isn't helpful. Interesting how there are now only 22 guaranteed games per season compared to 27 before. Plenty of players going to get itchy feet.

There's no winner - without the gap you get teams playing without a lot of their internationals (or resting them with the higher number fo games) which led to a lot of folk calling that a load of cr@p. I enjoyed seeing the new palyers being blended in but I appreciate that for broadcasters and casual public it's not as eye-catching

Overall their seems to be a more upbeat mood in the coverage of the league I thought

[hugonaut]

this gap in the schedule is a load of cr@p.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/ ... -1.4710208

There was talk of an URC U23 or reserve league. I think the URC are involved in a new tournament involving Cheetahs, a Romanian side, Spanish side, Sharks and Stormers. Maybe they're working on a B competition.


The gap certainly isn't helpful. Interesting how there are now only 22 guaranteed games per season compared to 27 before. Plenty of players going to get itchy feet.

I was talking this through with one of the other Moles last light. It is going to have more of an affect on Leinster players moving than anything Nucifora has ever done. There are simply way fewer games to go around – as Dropkick has point out, we are down 5 regular season games: 5 games x 15 positions x 80 minutes = 6000mins

Given that 800mins is a good median figure for a squad player to make over the course of a season (10 [60 min games as starter] + 10 [20 mins games as a sub] = 800 mins) we are going to be +7.5 players overweight compared to last year in terms of squad numbers.

The wider Irish rugby public probably doesn't realise how much it has relied on the international block league games to progress young players [and to be blunt, particularly young Leinster players, but also young Ulster players in the last couple of seasons under MacFarland] in the professional game. It has been a really good structure for the game in our country. We have been playing around six teams worth of players each season instead of four: Leinster, Munster, Ulster, Connacht ... and then Leinster second string and a joint Munster/Ulster second string.

Lads like Scott Penny, Josh Murphy and Jimmy O'Brien got loads of minutes last year; that is very likely not going to happen this year. Where are the games for a player like Tommy O'Brien going to come from?

This is a competition which badly needs a minor league. The idea that the AIL is going to absorb 20+ players per province every weekend [who will only play the game, and not actually train with their amateur club all week] or that provincial set-ups can afford to pay guys to just to train and play in five or six matches per season [or that they would stick around to do so, rather than going to England] is pie in the sky stuff.

1) There should be an Espoirs League;
2) it should be U24 [with one forward and one back unrestricted by age limit];
3) entrance to games should be included on your season ticket;
4) it should include national teams from Spain, Portugal, Holland and Belgium [under club guises, if required];
5) it should be used by World Rugby as a competition for trialing new laws.

IS IT SO MUCH TO ASK?