Long overdue but I’m wondering if it’s the right decision. Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome is not the smartest idea
Sadly, I was to have a board meeting in Dublin May 4, and had my hope set on the URC semifinal being there. Moved forward a week.
Yeah Irish province rugby teams established in 1870s. In professional era there’s also been an effort to create some fairness/give potential Ireland players game time, which is basically sharing some Leinster players around the other provinces
That’s a good idea. Welsh regions tend to buy players in. I’m all for providing routes to the Regions or national side for all players no matter where they are in Wales. That doesn’t always exist. Also worth noting that Ireland has a fantastic college base to produce players. That’s evident in all of the world’s top sides, bar England I think I’d be right in stating. Wales also lacks in this as its base was traditionally the small local communities and working clubs.
Do you happen to know what the regional funding / finance model is?
My post was more about NZ in the broader sense. How dominant NZ have been. Admittedly I skimmed through and didn’t read each and every post and perhaps more context around it.
I don’t disagree despite the dominance only 2 world cup wins since 1987. Also agree world cups frequently punish even the best sides having an off day. Fair points.
From a NZ perspective while the world cup is the top prize, a world cup win alone will never ever be enough.
That much is apparent.
The comment was made that a tough draw for Ireland shouldn’t matter because the best teams find a way to win. I countered that by pointing to New Zealand’s extended period of excellence during periods when other sides won the tournament. The context of the point was an acknowledgment of their excellence and extended dominance of the game.
AWJ and Tipuric have announced their international retirement with immediate effect 
Strange timing, particularly for Tipuric. AWJ less of a surprise, just given his age but still, I figured he was hanging on for one last go.
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What a guy Kevin Sinfield is, I can’t compliment him enough.
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When will he be knighted??
Hopefully soon, if anyone deserves a knighthood, he does
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Looking like Irish are going the way of Worcester and Wasps.
Something wrong when the national team fixtures are regularly selling out an 80k stadium at extortionate ticket prices but three clubs are going bust in a year. And after the cash injection from CVC.
Wow, did not know they were in trouble.
Not sure what happened to them. They used to play at the Madjeski stadium in Reading and from memory got decent support I think. Paddy’s day there was nuts, properly nuts. They moved from there and kind of disappeared off my radar.
Something seriously wrong with top level rugby at the moment and its not isolated to one particular league / country either. I suspect part of the problem is the imbalance between the various leagues i.e. English and Welsh clubs over extending themselves to compete with French and Irish set ups.
The last broadcast contract for top level football was worth 4.5 billion quid for 3 seasons. The current one in rugby for the english clubs is worth only about 100 million. Even the EFL contract is worth near ten times more than the rugby one. Average attendance for the rugby clubs is about 10k, about 25% of the football. But the ticket prices is only a tiny fraction of what it costs to get into the football. These clubs are running with operating revenue comparable to a midsized football club in league one.
I simply dont know that professional rugby can work if the finances of it are not even more centralized
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Yup. It doesn’t help that the French league in particular is awash with cash and the rest are trying to compete with that.
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London Irish have apparently been given a one-week extension, subject to the condition that May wages are paid.
I have to say, the nameless ‘American consortium’ buyer which seems to have been on the cusp of closing the deal for months but hs yet to supply significant documents for approval reminds me of the Montreal pizza guy G&H ginned up as a prospective buyer for LFC as the banks were closing in
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What is going on? The timing seems really problematic, as compared to even right after the Six Nations.