URC 22/23

[fourthirtythree]

I could be off on the totally wrong track, but while this might be a helpful development in light of the Welsh regions' sorry state, I fear it could be the thin edge of the wedge aka a trojan horse for merging the increasingly successful URC with a struggling Prem. The Nigels deliberately screwed up the Heino with the help of their Gallic pals, when they didn't get their way; on the basis of that experience, I don't want English involvement in the URC at all. Once bitten, twice shy.....

Ealing play in front of three men and a dog, the size of the stadium not being up to scratch is a red herring, they should have been turned down promotion to the top division on the grounds that they were not a viable club.
Ospreys average crowd is around the same size or bigger than their ground holds. Can't see it being any use to the URC other than having the same number of teams.

[FLIP]

I could be off on the totally wrong track, but while this might be a helpful development in light of the Welsh regions' sorry state, I fear it could be the thin edge of the wedge aka a trojan horse for merging the increasingly successful URC with a struggling Prem. The Nigels deliberately screwed up the Heino with the help of their Gallic pals, when they didn't get their way; on the basis of that experience, I don't want English involvement in the URC at all. Once bitten, twice shy.....

Ealing play in front of three men and a dog, the size of the stadium not being up to scratch is a red herring, they should have been turned down promotion to the top division on the grounds that they were not a viable club.
Ospreys average crowd is around the same size or bigger than their ground holds. Can't see it being any use to the URC other than having the same number of teams.

If not being a viable club were the criteria for membership in the PRL there would only be 3 teams in the league

[riocard911]

I could be off on the totally wrong track, but while this might be a helpful development in light of the Welsh regions' sorry state, I fear it could be the thin edge of the wedge aka a trojan horse for merging the increasingly successful URC with a struggling Prem. The Nigels deliberately screwed up the Heino with the help of their Gallic pals, when they didn't get their way; on the basis of that experience, I don't want English involvement in the URC at all. Once bitten, twice shy.....

True enough - but Ealing haven't been allowed in the members club. So I doubt they want to do the PRL any favours. Meanwhile the RFU may be amenable to this situation because it undercuts the PRL.

And for all their faults, the RFU have at least kept their word when dealing with us, such as voting for us as promised for the World Cup and sending the English teams over at the height of the troubles.

Point taken. Like JohnG and others on here I was actually at that match, when England - fair play to them - took the pitch at Lansdowne Road in contrast to the Welsh and Scottish no-shows. Still, that was the amateur era; things were done differently then.

[fourthirtythree]

I could be off on the totally wrong track, but while this might be a helpful development in light of the Welsh regions' sorry state, I fear it could be the thin edge of the wedge aka a trojan horse for merging the increasingly successful URC with a struggling Prem. The Nigels deliberately screwed up the Heino with the help of their Gallic pals, when they didn't get their way; on the basis of that experience, I don't want English involvement in the URC at all. Once bitten, twice shy.....

Ealing play in front of three men and a dog, the size of the stadium not being up to scratch is a red herring, they should have been turned down promotion to the top division on the grounds that they were not a viable club.
Ospreys average crowd is around the same size or bigger than their ground holds. Can't see it being any use to the URC other than having the same number of teams.

If not being a viable club were the criteria for membership in the PRL there would only be 3 teams in the league

My point is that the Trailfinders aren't short of the 10,000 supposed bar, they have 2,200 seats and room for nearly 3,000 standing.

And that's plenty for them. If Ospreys can't get enough bums on seats to keep the lights on, if they don't have organic support due to regions/WRU/Welsh Premiership/ people living in the distant past, Trailfinders are far worse. Their normal gate tends around the 1,000 I believe. Not sure Connacht coming over is going to make that gate fly up.

And no you're right, they don't have much by way of viable governance and finance criteria, they have that number, which Ealing fall far short of.

[The Doc]

What Ealing potentially would have is three home games against SA teams and a large SA population in London - and potentially the same for games against the Irish teams. Possibly thinking they could try to tap into that market to increase ticket sales.

But I still think it's a problem playing in a league from outside your territory

[fourthirtythree]

What Ealing potentially would have is three home games against SA teams and a large SA population in London - and potentially the same for games against the Irish teams. Possibly thinking they could try to tap into that market to increase ticket sales.

But I still think it's a problem playing in a league from outside your territory

They could double their gate to a whopping 2,000!

[IanD]

Just spit balling....

Ealing's ground is around 60 minutes from Covent Garden (picked at random as somewhere I know in London). If the were to play the Irish teams they might get a boost of numbers plus I love to visit London so I think Irish based fans may travel.

Like most Irish people I have friends or family in London so a sofa for the weekend could mean a cheap trip to an away game.

Plus London or Swansea as a destination? Tough one.

[Dave Cahill]

Whilst the parlous state of a number of premiership clubs may have changed their attitude, especially if they were to receive a nice sweetner, I still can't see the RFU sanctioning a club to play games in a rival competition less than 6 miles from at least two of the clubs in its own competition.

[cormac]

If the plan is for Ealing to play in the URC while still being based in London then you’d imagine the first thing they’d do would be to sound out the RFU about whether they’d permit it. Or maybe I’m giving them way too much credit.

Also would they be getting any union subsidy? If not, it’s going to be very expensive for their owners.

Is it possible this is just some sabre rattling from Ealing to try and influence PRL?

Struggling to make any sense of it.

[FLIP]

Whilst the parlous state of a number of premiership clubs may have changed their attitude, especially if they were to receive a nice sweetner, I still can't see the RFU sanctioning a club to play games in a rival competition less than 6 miles from at least two of the clubs in its own competition.

The premiership is not the RFUs competition, merely a competition ratified by the RFU. It is owned by the PRL. And the RFU might be happy to have a team in another competition if it loosens the hold of the organisation holding back English rugby

[cormac]

Steve Diamond has been appointed as head coach of Edinburgh with immediate effect until at least the end of the season.

[Schumi]

The top 4 teams look all but set now. Leinster, Stormers, Ulster and Glasgow, probably in that order. Munster would have to win both games in SA and hope that Ulster or Glasgow lose games that they should win.

Any three from Connacht, Cardiff, Treviso, Bulls, Sharks and Lions could make the top 8. Treviso very unlikely with their last two games in SA though.

[johng]

A Welsh team could finish 12th and still make the top tier in Europe. And that team could still be Ospreys.

Cardiff lose the next round away to Connacht, Scarlets lose away to Glasgow and Ospreys lose away to Embra (all believable)

Then Ospreys win a 5 pointer v Cardiff on the last day. Lions beat Zebre and (the least likely one) Embra beat Ulster in R'hill.

Leaving Ospreys as best Welsh team in 12th place and therefore in the H cup next season.

Could also happen for Cardiff with a win in the last round.

[IanD]

RTE news : WRU member clubs vote in favour of governance reforms

http://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2023/0326 ... e-reforms/

Hopefully this will allow the WRU to get its house in order so they and the regions can set themselves out.

[hugonaut]

Leinster took 31 players on the last mini-tour to SA; there was a 19/12 split between forwards and backs: https://www.leinsterrugby.ie/rhys-ruddo ... th-africa/

These matches [@ Lions on 15/04, @ Bulls on 22/04] are dead rubbers for us. We have already clinched top seed in the league play-offs. Last season, we had to get something from the equivalent matches in SA, and then our last fixture was the rearranged Munster fixture from Christmas ... I had misremembered that.

It's a different scenario this time out. The squad have worked incredibly hard to make these matches dead rubbers, to make sure that we don't have to send a strong team to another continent in the middle of [hopefully] a series of European Cup knock-out matches in order to get ourselves home advantage in the league knockouts. For us, the regular season is over. It's all finals rugby from now on.

We could have to play seven knock-out games if we get to the finals of both competitions. That's a lot. But if we do play seven, they'll all be in Dublin. So why would we send anybody we want to be playing finals rugby in Dublin to play meaningless games in South Africa halfway through?

From my perspective, we should be severely limiting risk in terms of exposing players to injury, travel, illness etc. What do we get if we win both games? Will we finish first-er? More home advantage than we already have? Nope. The only senior players I'd bring are those who have missed a lot of time through injury this season and who, as a result, it would benefit the squad more if they got gametime rather than a break.

Front Row [10]
LH: Ed Byrne ©, Jack Boyle [A], Marcus Hanan [A]
H: Tadhg McElroy, Lee Barron [A], Gus McCarthy [∫∆]
TH: Tom Clarkson, Temi Lasisi [A], Rory McGuire [A], Paddy McCarthy [∫∆]

Second Row [3]
Brian Deeny, Alex Soroka [A], Conor O'Tighearnaigh [∫∆]

Backrow [5]
Will Connors, Sean O'Brien [A], James Culhane [A], Diarmuid Mangan [A] Liam Molony [∫∆]

Halfbacks [4]
SH: Ben Murphy [A], Fintan Gunne [∫∆]
OH: Charlie Tector [A], Sam Prendergast [A]

Centres [3]
Tommy O'Brien, Ben Brownlee [A], Hugh Cooney [∫∆]

Back Three [4]
Rob Russell [A], Chris Cosgrave [A], Aitzol Arenzana-King [A], Max O'Reilly [A]

Forwards [1-8]: Byrne* [c], McElroy*, Clarkson*, Deeny*, Soroka, O'Brien, Connors*, Culhane;
Backs [9-15]: B. Murphy, Prendergast, Arenzana-King, Brownlee, T. O'Brien*, Russell, Cosgrave;
Subs [16-23]: Boyle, Barron, McGuire, O'Tighearnaigh, Mangan, Gunne, Tector, O'Reilly.

[naraic]

I think you may be going a little too inexperienced there. There are players outside our first choice 23 who would benefit from more gametime for their own development or to keep in shape in case they are called on due to injury and leaders to tie the group together.

I think I'd be including Milne, McKee, Molony, Ruddock, Penny, Foley, Frawley, Turner and Kearney.

[riocard911]

I think you may be going a little too inexperienced there. There are players outside our first choice 23 who would benefit from more gametime for their own development or to keep in shape in case they are called on due to injury and leaders to tie the group together.

I think I'd be including Milne, McKee, Molony, Ruddock, Penny, Foley, Frawley, Turner and Kearney.

I can see where you're coming from, but if any one of those nine named players comes back crocked from RSA, then that could leave us thin in a particular position, as we've no idea when Ringer, Osborne, Keenan, J10, McCarthy, Ngatai or Doris will return to play. Also one or other player will more than likely pick up an injury in the course of seven k.o. matches - assuming we get that far. For that reason, I like Hugo's suggestion: send the kids on a mini-tour and let them fly the blue flag on the High Veldt. Mol an óige and all that.

[naraic]

I think you may be going a little too inexperienced there. There are players outside our first choice 23 who would benefit from more gametime for their own development or to keep in shape in case they are called on due to injury and leaders to tie the group together.

I think I'd be including Milne, McKee, Molony, Ruddock, Penny, Foley, Frawley, Turner and Kearney.

I can see where you're coming from, but if any one of those nine named players comes back crocked from RSA, then that could leave us thin in a particular position, as we've no idea when Ringer, Osborne, Keenan, J10, McCarthy, Ngatai or Doris will return to play. Also one or other player will more than likely pick up an injury in the course of seven k.o. matches - assuming we get that far. For that reason, I like Hugo's suggestion: send the kids on a mini-tour and let them fly the blue flag on the High Veldt. Mol an óige and all that.

You might be right but theres 7 knock out games in 9 weeks. We don't want players who will won't have played since since 24 March if we are calling on them on 27 May.

You are probably right that we could probably keep and extra centre from my list if Ngatai Osbourne and Ringrose are still as they would be in the 23 for the knock out games.

[LeinsterLeader]

I think who goes will all depend on what happens on Saturday. We win then yep send the Kids, but if we lose we won’t need to protect as many for the run in and as you say there are certainly some more experienced players who would benefit from the game time, dead rubbers or not.

I can’t think beyond Saturday at the moment to be honest.

[John23]

Back of the envelope stuff but, I am optimistically giving us 2 LBPS in Saffer land.
Leinster 76
Stormers 71
Ulster 69
Glasgow 63
Bulls 53
Sharks 51
Munster 48
Connacht 48

QF
LEI V CON
GLA V BUL
STO V SHA
ULS V MUN