6 Nations 2020

[Peg Leg]

What eejits thought they could confirm this was on as early as this morning?

The Super Rugby thread is about to get busier...welcome everyone!

Fock that, just cancelled all my sport subs

[Twist]

Wales v Scotland U20 on S4C in a few minutes, for anyone who’s suffering withdrawals already like me

[blockhead]

"As soon as Jones made an issue out of the Marler incident in his press conference, it was inevitable the story would turn into a circus. As soon as an incident starts generating headlines, World Rugby have to be seen to be doing something about it.

"By all accounts, Jones is an intelligent guy with a law degree. He must have known that by criticising the officials for not picking up on the incident it would turn up the heat on Marler.

"They have been on Lions tours together so I was surprised by that. There's an unwritten rule that you don't turn on another player unless they've done something beyond the pale. Maybe I'm just too old-school?"

Mike (Unaware of the Laws of the game) Brown

[Twist]

"As soon as Jones made an issue out of the Marler incident in his press conference, it was inevitable the story would turn into a circus. As soon as an incident starts generating headlines, World Rugby have to be seen to be doing something about it.

"By all accounts, Jones is an intelligent guy with a law degree. He must have known that by criticising the officials for not picking up on the incident it would turn up the heat on Marler.

"They have been on Lions tours together so I was surprised by that. There's an unwritten rule that you don't turn on another player unless they've done something beyond the pale. Maybe I'm just too old-school?"

Mike (Unaware of the Laws of the game) Brown

“There’s an unwritten rule that you don’t turn on another player”

Is he seriously criticising Alun-Wyn Jones here? What a gobshite

[fourthirtythree]

That's nice. But there's a written one that you don't grab someone's junk and that's the rule world rugby enforces.

[JB1973]

Someone should tell brown victim blaming is never a good look. The guy is a total cretin and I'm sure awj won't have any sleepless nights over what this no mark thinks about it, isn't brown the same dullard who was scrapping with teo and got booted out of his country's world camp training camp?

Thanks for your valuable insight mikey boy

[Twist]

Eddie Jones staying with England til RWC2023


https://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2020/040 ... -contract/

[blockhead]

IT

IRFU in line for €75m windfall as CVC acquire 14.5% Six Nations stake
World Rugby vice-chairman Bernard Laporte confirms deal; IRFU ‘don’t comment on rumour’ Gavin Cummiskey

CVC Capital Partners will acquire a 14.5 per cent stake in the Six Nations, World Rugby vice-chairman Bernard Laporte has confirmed.

Midi Olympique are reporting the deal is worth €75 million to the French rugby federation and with the IRFU presumably receiving an equal share, this brings investment up to €450 million over five years.

It means the Luxembourg-based fund will control commercial rights for the Six Nations and the Pro 14.

“I think they are essential partners to the game,” said Philip Browne, the IRFU chief executive, after banking €5.5 million last month. “We are very comfortable that the deal between CVC and the Pro 14 is actually a deal with each of the unions involved, who are shareholders of the Pro 14.

“From our point of view, we are satisfied we put the protections into the arrangements with CVC that ensures the control of the game . . . the laws of the game, the regulations, all of that lies 100 per cent with the unions.”

When the IRFU was approached for comment on the Six Nations deal, a spokesman responded: “We don’t comment on rumour.”

How the Six Nations package their broadcast rights will reveal CVC’s overall plan. The current financial crisis could tempt the new shareholders to take the 137-year old tournament off terrestrial television in order to secure the best return on investment behind a paywall. That may have been the plan all along.

The CVC takeover of rugby began in 2018 when English club owners sold a 27 per cent holding in Premiership Rugby. They recently acquired a 28 per cent share of the Pro 14 for €140 million, a figure which guarantees the IRFU €33.56 million over three seasons.

In March the firm’s managing partner Nick Clarry described this latest decision as a “seminal moment” for the Six Nations, especially in the wake of rejecting World Rugby’s Nations Championships plan.

“The six unions have to decide whether to give up control to World Rugby and Infront, and if this is the best way to build their sport and create long-term sustainable value,” said Clarry, who is also the current chair of The Old Vic theatre trust.

“In time CVC also envisages the creation of a ‘Club World Cup,’ a money-spinning tournament involving the best sides on the planet,” the Financial Times reported on February 22nd.

[Up Wexford]

Interesting news. One has to be open minded to change and in fairness to Philip Browne the IRFU have guided Irish Rugby to a very good place over the last 20 years. But CVC equals paywall, and a big one at that. One should be open to a club world cup too but it has to be executed for "the good of the game" - the intangibles of tradition, touring sides, growing the game - all the things that CVC are not interested in.

"It means the Luxembourg-based fund will control commercial rights for the Six Nations and the Pro 14." again, I'm no businessman but this seems like a terrible deal for Six Nations. Live sports is literally the only remaining bulwark against the streaming and subscription model that is the present and future for all TV. Live rights to a sporting event will be like gold dust in the medium term - thats why institutions are scrambling to invent new tournaments. Any other TV will be gobbled up by Netflix who take the cash directly from the consumer. Keeping these rights with Six Nations/rugby would seem the basic non negotiable - unless of course your end goal was to sell the rights for cash for your stakeholders, in which case this is a job well done.

"How the Six Nations package their broadcast rights will reveal CVC’s overall plan. The current financial crisis could tempt the new shareholders to take the 137-year old tournament off terrestrial television in order to secure the best return on investment behind a paywall. That may have been the plan all along." Its going behind a paywall ASAP. So how does it effect us, as rugby fans who are willing to part with wads of our hard earned cash as opposed to the casual 6N february fan - FYI that cohort is gone with immediate effect, as is the 6 Nations pub weekends and the rivers of Guinness. I would probably pay 20 quid per top tier Ireland game, I actually would skip the Italy games unless it was a Slam decider.

This deal seems so myopic to me. Not to go on about it but there was an absolutely thrilling F1 race in Austria to open the new Covid season, sensational last 10 laps, wild finish Hamilton shunting Albon off the track, Bottas with a near perfect race. And.... its nowhere on our main daily websites/papers, and barely a mention on a specialist sports website. This WILL happen to rugby. Could you see a Johnny Sexton style drop goal event happening in three years time when its behind a CVC paywall for 60 quid for a marquee game on Sky Sports Rugby?

[Dave Cahill]

This news gave the GAA and the League of Ireland massive boners

[Up Wexford]

Haaa! yes but what exactly got their juices flowing? Do you think its because Six Nations now has effectively been taken off the table as competition for viewers, creating a bunch of free weekends and punters for GAA and LOI to capitalise on?
Or do you think they see now that this is the kind of money they can sell their rights for and will follow a similar CVC/handing over commercial rights route for wheelbarrows of cash for their organisations?

[Dave Cahill]

Haaa! yes but what exactly got their juices flowing? Do you think its because Six Nations now has effectively been taken off the table as competition for viewers, creating a bunch of free weekends and punters for GAA and LOI to capitalise on?
Or do you think they see now that this is the kind of money they can sell their rights for and will follow a similar CVC/handing over commercial rights route for wheelbarrows of cash for their organisations?

Firstly, elite level rugby will, essentially, be off FTA television for 3 years and 11 months of every 4 years. Can't see, can't be - as they say themselves.

There is between a 4:1 and 5:1 viewership ratio between FTA and PTV sporting fixtures. So the days of the IRFU trumpting million+ viewers for big games will be gone.

After finally working its way into the national conversation, Rugby will have managed to change the subject away from itself.

[Up Wexford]

Yes, its difficult to see it going any other way

[OTT]

Reggie: I didn’t think you were allowed bat the ball backwards which is what the English player did

So no line outs allowed Reggie.

[Dave Cahill]

Reggie: I didn’t think you were allowed bat the ball backwards which is what the English player did

So no line outs allowed Reggie.

You're not allowed deliberately push or throw the ball into touch or touch in goal, which is what reggie was talking about - the English player tried it, but it bounced back in field and into the in goal. Tommy Bowe got sinbinned and conceeded a penalty try against the All Blacks in Croker for doing something somewhat similar

[OTT]

Reggie: I didn’t think you were allowed bat the ball backwards which is what the English player did

So no line outs allowed Reggie.

You're not allowed deliberately push or throw the ball into touch or touch in goal, which is what reggie was talking about - the English player tried it, but it bounced back in field and into the in goal. Tommy Bowe got sinbinned and conceeded a penalty try against the All Blacks in Croker for doing something somewhat similar

He said it after the ref had done all his checks and the half time whistle had gone. It sounded like he thinks you are not allowed knock the ball backwards if that is your intention. He didn’t say anything about knocking the ball out of play. Maybe he thinks what you said but he made a bollix of explaining it to the audience.

[Dave Cahill]

Reggie: I didn’t think you were allowed bat the ball backwards which is what the English player did

So no line outs allowed Reggie.

You're not allowed deliberately push or throw the ball into touch or touch in goal, which is what reggie was talking about - the English player tried it, but it bounced back in field and into the in goal. Tommy Bowe got sinbinned and conceeded a penalty try against the All Blacks in Croker for doing something somewhat similar

He said it after the ref had done all his checks and the half time whistle had gone. It sounded like he thinks you are not allowed knock the ball backwards if that is your intention. He didn’t say anything about knocking the ball out of play. Maybe he thinks what you said but he made a bollix of explaining it to the audience.

He could have explained it better, but made the point about how the way the bounce of the ball saved him

[hugonaut]

England without Tuilagi are so much more manageable. Ford was missed as well. Wish we could have played this outfit!

They essentially played that game with twelve men ... Joseph, Watson and Furbank may as well not have been in it. You could have picked any English-eligible pro-level outside centre, wing and fullback in that team – lads from Worcester or London Irish or whoever – and the difference would have been negligible. There was practically no contribution whatever from Nos 13,14,15.

I liked the way the Italians kept on going and showed a lot of toughness and aggression. They were so, so poor for the first ten minutes that I thought they might ship 70 points, but they got stuck in and showed character.

[Oldschoolsocks]

Reggie: I didn’t think you were allowed bat the ball backwards which is what the English player did

So no line outs allowed Reggie.

You're not allowed deliberately push or throw the ball into touch or touch in goal, which is what reggie was talking about - the English player tried it, but it bounced back in field and into the in goal. Tommy Bowe got sinbinned and conceeded a penalty try against the All Blacks in Croker for doing something somewhat similar

Though that was Andrew Trimble ?

[Dave Cahill]

Reggie: I didn’t think you were allowed bat the ball backwards which is what the English player did

So no line outs allowed Reggie.

You're not allowed deliberately push or throw the ball into touch or touch in goal, which is what reggie was talking about - the English player tried it, but it bounced back in field and into the in goal. Tommy Bowe got sinbinned and conceeded a penalty try against the All Blacks in Croker for doing something somewhat similar

Though that was Andrew Trimble ?

Not sure, one of the gringo wingers anyway