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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: The game that batters: the rugby thread
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betjemaniac
Shipmate
# 17618
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:
Lol, okay then. If you say so.
I had thought seriously about whether I'd gone over the top with that - to be honest modern rugby is a bit of a trigger for me, and I'm only 35. But I decided in the end that it read like a fan of the sport railing against the tawdry death of the sport so it was ok because it's true.
But, since, you've taken that line, and rather than rejoicing in your own good fortune, which I both recognised and wished Bris well on in my post, perhaps you'd like to point out where I was wrong in saying that Bris weren't any different to many other clubs outside the current top flight?
If you'd like to compare Bris as a club in its record or standing to Moseley or Coventry then I'm all ears. Aside from the last 15-20 years when all three have been borderline bankrupt and people have drifted away from 2 of them because no one with serious money has come in.
Bris have got lucky, that's a lovely thing for their fans. But I'd be desperately sorry for what's left of the sport if in the process they forget both where they came from and reality.
To their credit Exeter, for example, have come from nowhere and held onto that knowledge.
Bristol and Moseley are genuinely twin clubs, with almost entirely similar longevity at the top, contributions to the England side, and story of bankruptcy and struggles with getting to grips with professionalism. The only difference is that someone with money has (and I'm genuinely happy for them) turned up in Bristol. I've always enjoyed my visits to the Mem and Ashton Gate because people with a memory of more than about 10 years recognised that it was a meeting of two of the great clubs of English rugby that had been screwed over by the game going open.
If that hadn't happened, then Bris would have lost their ground (which of course, with the Mem, they did), and be struggling based on what they could raise from the die hards like Mose and Cov have been. Bris got lucky. Good for Bris.
I'm genuinely heartily sorry if in my post the balance of good feeling towards Bris tipped towards bad feeling towards the shafting of so many other clubs with an equal claim to the top tier based on anything other than money for the entrance ticket.
"Lol" doesn't quite cover it I'm afraid. Come to our ground and say hello - as with many other Bris fans I'll buy you a pint and we can chat about the past the present and the future.
Well done Bris, it's been too long out of the top flight and you deserve to be there. Hopefully you'll be the latest of many clubs that deserve to be there to get back there.
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And is it true? For if it is....
Posts: 1481 | From: behind the dreaming spires | Registered: Mar 2013
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
Okay, fair enough.
I accept completely that Bristol monumentally ballsed up the transition to professional rugby. That we managed to stay just the right side of bankrupcy was more down to good luck than good planning. And yes, if we didn't have Lansdown's money, we would not have won promotion. All of this is true.
But to post the comments at the moment that you did came across to me like pissing on our fire. It's totally okay for a supporter of another club to do that. But that doesn't mean that I have to engage with it in the moment of my euphoria. But now that the glow of finally winning promotion is subsiding, let me say a few things:
- I completely agree with you, Sky's money is ruining rugby. Just like it has already ruined football and is in the process of trying to ruin cricket. Sport is not about the supporter anymore, it is about the small number of people who stand to make money from it. And in order to succeed in sport, you have to have money. But that's just as true for Premiership clubs as it is for Championship clubs, so I don't think it's something that Bristol supporters specifically have to apologise for. I sympathise with Coventry, Moseley, Bedford, Fylde, and all the others. But I don't think any supporter asked for the current state of affairs and therefore it's not on them to apologise for it.
- At least we're not Welsh! Their clubs have been carved up into franchises and they don't have a recognisable league anymore. Let's count our blessings.
![[Biased]](wink.gif) - I'm slightly younger than you (34!) and grew up living about a hundred yards from the back turnstiles at the Mem. I was there every home game with my dad and my brother. Sometimes we even went away, if my dad could spare the time. It galls me that we have left our home and that we have shacked up with the scum at Ashton Gate. Our change strip is red. RED! It's just wrong. "Bristol Sport" is a horrible construct and a complete artefact of modern sport. I long for The Good Old Days™ too.
- Bristol are going to find it monumentally difficult next year. If we manage to avoid relegation then it will be a minor miracle. So Lansdown's money might be a help, but it's not a panacea. The road ahead is far from easy.
- Given all that, I hope Moseley get back to the top flight too. You guys also deserve it.
So, apology firmly accepted. No hard feelings. And good luck to Moseley.
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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Zappa
Ship's Wake
# 8433
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Posted
Sorry Wales, you deserved better after a 70% excellent show up against the ABs. But your 40-7 drubbing at the hands of the Chiefs set this little country on fire (not least at seeing our mercurial hero Stephen Donald back on song) and we will dine out on this for many years.
In fact bring back (the brave new franchise world equivalent of) provincial games ... that was sheer delight.
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shameless self promotion - because I think it's worth it
and mayhap this too: http://broken-moments.blogspot.co.nz/
Posts: 18917 | From: "Central" is all they call it | Registered: Sep 2004
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Celtic Knotweed
Shipmate
# 13008
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Posted
Just watched a very enjoyable Japan - Scotland match. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif) I have to say that the Japanese try in the first half was a thing of beauty (and I'm a Scotland fan!).
As usual, Laidlaw kicked well - but I do wonder if Scotland's relying on him too much in the same way that England relied on Wilkinson... What happens if he's injured or when he has to retire?
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My little sister is riding 100k round London at night to raise money for cancer research donations here if you feel so inclined.
Posts: 664 | From: between keyboard and chair | Registered: Sep 2007
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
Meanwhile in Melbourne there was a colossal encounter between two very good sides. A lot of focus has been on how the side that won did so with 29% of possession, 26% of territory and made 200 tackles (an average of over a dozen per man!) My impression is that there should never be a rugby international in that venue until the pitch is sorted out and Australia must sort out their midfield. Foley looks out of sorts and the big lads in the centre don't appear to have the class to penetrate. Essentially, if you can keep Israel Folau tied down, you're OK.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
Not a bad weekend for England. Winning a tense final test in Sydney to take the series 3-0 than our under-20s win the age group world championship. Some of that group will be challenging for senior places very soon. The future looks good.
A bad weekend for Wales though, steamrollered by the all-conquering Black Machine while Ireland ran South Africa close, exposing all kind of flaws there.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
I know the Bledisloe Cup matters but isn't this going too far?
TBH, I reckon some scummy paper wanted an exclusive.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
(With apologies to betjemaniac.)
The Premiership kicks off today, and Bristol have a tough tough tough opening fixture away at Harlequins. Really wish I could be there! C'mon Bris!
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:
(With apologies to betjemaniac.)
The Premiership kicks off today, and Bristol have a tough tough tough opening fixture away at Harlequins. Really wish I could be there! C'mon Bris!
Actually it kicked off last night with Newcastle beating Sale, thanks to a missed penalty (in a pretty poor game from reports) while in the televised game at Kingsholm Leicester came back from 31-7 down to beat Gloucester 38-31! Another "last play" win, with a score after the 80 minute mark. The right game was on the box, as is usually the case.
[ 03. September 2016, 10:35: Message edited by: Sioni Sais ]
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Jonah the Whale
Ship's pet cetacean
# 1244
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Posted
The fact that Aus beat SA also shows that NZ beat a half decent team (twice) in the previous rounds. Its easy to say that Aus only lost to England in the summer (your winter) but England are actually damn good under new management.
Posts: 2799 | From: Nether Regions | Registered: Aug 2001
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Jamat
Shipmate
# 11621
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Zappa:
The scoreline of the ABs game last night (New Zealand 57 Argentina 22) makes Argentina look poor. They weren't. For fifty minutes they stretched the ABs as they haven't been stretched for a good while. At half time the ABs had clawed back a see-sawing lead to 24-22.
Then they found their mojo. Devastating mojo. ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
Absolutely!
It is frankly gobsmacking how good they are.
Why? Coaching? conditioning? Talent?
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Jamat ..in utmost longditude, where Heaven
with Earth and ocean meets, the setting sun slowly descended, and with right aspect
Against the eastern gate of Paradise. (Milton Paradise Lost Bk iv)
Posts: 3228 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Jul 2006
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jamat:
quote:
Originally posted by Zappa:
The scoreline of the ABs game last night (New Zealand 57 Argentina 22) makes Argentina look poor. They weren't. For fifty minutes they stretched the ABs as they haven't been stretched for a good while. At half time the ABs had clawed back a see-sawing lead to 24-22.
Then they found their mojo. Devastating mojo.
Absolutely!
It is frankly gobsmacking how good they are.
Why? Coaching? conditioning? Talent?
From what I've seen of them (starting with the 1967 ABs in the British Isles):
1 - Rugby is the "normal" sport in NZ. Five year old play. Wales is Soccer Nation by comparison.
2 - Their entire game is based on eliminating errors
3 - They are playing the same game now that they played a hundred years ago, so new players move into the team seamlessly
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
That, and Maoris are hard as fucking nails.
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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betjemaniac
Shipmate
# 17618
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:
(With apologies to betjemaniac.)
The Premiership kicks off today, and Bristol have a tough tough tough opening fixture away at Harlequins. Really wish I could be there! C'mon Bris!
I'm quite enjoying life in National 1 actually. Well, I'm not, but there are compensations:
- We've won the first 2 games for the first time in about a decade
- Relegation has seen the restoration of the Moseley v Coventry derby.
This was once one of the premier ties in English rugby - Mose v Cov on Boxing Day 1972 saw 16 England internationals on the pitch across the 2 sides (the away fixture in February 1973 saw an unbelievable 18!).
Bit different now, but a good crowd saw Mose beat Cov 19-14 on Saturday.
I thought Bris were really unlucky against Quins last week, but Saints was a slightly different kettle of fish - hopefully you'll be fine though. I reckon Bris are in the mix for the drop (whatever Mr Robinson says), but it's more likely to be Wuss or Newcastle, which should see you finish 10th or better.
Having said that, Wuss were pretty handy against Glaws on Friday night.
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And is it true? For if it is....
Posts: 1481 | From: behind the dreaming spires | Registered: Mar 2013
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
I think we'll be fighting for our lives the whole season. No illusions there. Sixty decent minutes against Quins doesn't make a campaign, or even close. Our best players have to stay fit, our mediocre players have to perform to their utmost, and we probably need a couple more in.
My expectations aren't high. But that's okay. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:
I think we'll be fighting for our lives the whole season. No illusions there. Sixty decent minutes against Quins doesn't make a campaign, or even close. Our best players have to stay fit, our mediocre players have to perform to their utmost, and we probably need a couple more in.
My expectations aren't high. But that's okay.
Another factor is your coach. Andy Robinson lets things brood and could actually discourage the players if he isn't careful. He's good technically, but I think he has a problem at the "people" level.
In Jason Woodward however they have acquired one of those players who could make a difference. A couple of forwards now, and you'll be OK.
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Jamat
Shipmate
# 11621
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:
That, and Maoris are hard as fucking nails.
Well, there are a lot of Pasifika players as well who seem to have the basic physical equipment but how those guys are coached and handled is critical eg
Julian Savea, pretty average season yet last game back to his best after they benched him.
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Jamat ..in utmost longditude, where Heaven
with Earth and ocean meets, the setting sun slowly descended, and with right aspect
Against the eastern gate of Paradise. (Milton Paradise Lost Bk iv)
Posts: 3228 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Jul 2006
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Jamat
Shipmate
# 11621
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Posted
The All Blacks do it again. 43~13 vs the Springboks. (Sigh) and they were far from their best.
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Jamat ..in utmost longditude, where Heaven
with Earth and ocean meets, the setting sun slowly descended, and with right aspect
Against the eastern gate of Paradise. (Milton Paradise Lost Bk iv)
Posts: 3228 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Jul 2006
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jamat:
The All Blacks do it again. 43~13 vs the Springboks. (Sigh) and they were far from their best.
I was lucky enough to see it on TV. The ABs did make lots of errors (by their own standards), especially in the first half but the second-half was better. Dane Coles had a stormer, doing the hard graft and making three scoring passes. The 'Boks really looked off the boil.
On another tack, is anyone else of the opinion that the top teams play each other too often? It puts a huge pressure on players to play more often than is good for them. Personally I don't think modern rugby players should turn out more than fortnightly if their top-class career is going to be more than five years. It doesn't do them any favours in later life either.
[ 17. September 2016, 11:57: Message edited by: Sioni Sais ]
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
Bristol conceded 70 points to a rampant Wasps team yesterday afternoon. I watched some of the game on TV, and it was men against boys. I know Wasps are a decent team, but ten tries is still a lot. ![[Help]](graemlins/help.gif)
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
IF, Bristol were disappointing but of all the sides in the Premiership I think Wasps are most likely to run up a basketball score. Sarries are a more resilient and reliable side and Exeter have talent to spare, although they always seem to let a try or three in, but with backs like Wade, Daly and Frank Halai, Wasps aren't going to butcher many chances. You need sides like Sale and Glaws to do that.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
Stupid boy!
One of Eddie Jones' selection quandaries seems to have been resolved. There are probably half a dozen ahead of Ashton anyway.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Jamat
Shipmate
# 11621
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Posted
An arm chair expert's advice to the Springboks:
fire the coach, fire most of he backs, keep the pack and the 9 and don't kick away possession. All Blacks 57 Springboks 15.
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Jamat ..in utmost longditude, where Heaven
with Earth and ocean meets, the setting sun slowly descended, and with right aspect
Against the eastern gate of Paradise. (Milton Paradise Lost Bk iv)
Posts: 3228 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Jul 2006
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Jonah the Whale
Ship's pet cetacean
# 1244
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Posted
You beat me to it. I couldn't believe this. NZ have humiliated the rest of the southern hemisphere this season. Earlier today Australia shrugged Wales aside and I assumed we were in for another miserable northern hemisphere autumn. And then this.
The game was played in Chicago in front of a 60,000 crowd. Must be the biggest rugby crowd ever in North America I would guess. There is a rematch in a fortnight in Ireland.
Posts: 2799 | From: Nether Regions | Registered: Aug 2001
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Jamat
Shipmate
# 11621
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Zappa:
Funnily enough most kiwis are thrilled for Ireland, even though we don't like losing (too often). It's great for the game, the better side won, and I'm delighted for them. What a thing to tell your grandchildren!
Absolutely! Heaps of us are of Irish descent! Joey Carbury their 12 is a cradle kiwi anyway and the coach is a NZer.
I think we are all thrilled to see the ABs seriously challenged plus personally I am a bit sick of Hansen's condescending patronising attitude.
Remember though ABs were playing people out of position and did not have the 2 starting locks. There is always one chance at least to beat them in a season. This will encourage the lions.
The match up I'd have liked to see this season was NZ v England
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Jamat ..in utmost longditude, where Heaven
with Earth and ocean meets, the setting sun slowly descended, and with right aspect
Against the eastern gate of Paradise. (Milton Paradise Lost Bk iv)
Posts: 3228 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Jul 2006
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
Quite a weekend for international rugby: Apart from England's dismissal of Fiji, all the games were competitive, which must bode well. The All Blacks need to play more teams like Ireland that aren't afraid of them.
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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kingsfold
Shipmate
# 1726
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Posted
Scotland won!!! ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
And I went to my first rugby match ever (and it was damn cold!)
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I came to Jesus and I found in him my star, my sun.
And in that light of life I'll walk 'til travelling days are done
Posts: 4473 | From: land of the wee midgie | Registered: Nov 2001
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the Premiership...
Bristol sacked Andy Robinson - the director of rugby - two weeks ago. Then, they followed it up with a scrappy but respectable bonus point loss at the Rec on Friday night. I can't say I'm sorry to see Robinson go. His rugby was often dour and his ego frequently got in the way. Maybe, just maybe, things might take a turn for the better soon...
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
A very good argument made here by the Georgian coach. Georgia have become all but unbeatable in the European Nations Cup (which is the top tier of European sides ranked below the Six Nations teams). They have won the last six editions aided by state funding and there are some outstanding, not to mention fierce, Georgians playing in France and the British Isles.
I'm not sure simple promotion/relegation, or play-offs are the way to go, but I have to congratulate Scotland for inviting them to the appropriately named Rugby Park (at Kilmanock) for what could be a tricky fixture.
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Zappa
Ship's Wake
# 8433
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Posted
The ABs looked, understandably tired against a feisty french side. In recent weeks they have done Buenos Aires, Durban, Auckland, Chicago, Rome, Ireland and Paris, and even übermenschen* are human, I guess. They held France off. Just.
I would love to see Georgia somehow absorbed into the European network more completely. As a comparison the addition of Argentina to the southern hemisphere gigs has been welcome and they are growing in stature. The glaring gap in southern hemisphere comps is the Pacific Islands, where some amazing rugby players wallow in invisibility (or defect to France, New Zealand, England, Australia, wherever).
*German for "big fit buggers"
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shameless self promotion - because I think it's worth it
and mayhap this too: http://broken-moments.blogspot.co.nz/
Posts: 18917 | From: "Central" is all they call it | Registered: Sep 2004
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Jamat
Shipmate
# 11621
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Zappa:
The ABs looked, understandably tired against a feisty french side. In recent weeks they have done Buenos Aires, Durban, Auckland, Chicago, Rome, Ireland and Paris, and even übermenschen* are human, I guess. They held France off. Just.
"
Yeah I was betting on Barnes to help them lose again.
As one commentator put it, they got out of gaol with a couple of sucker punches.
But how about that defence?
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Jamat ..in utmost longditude, where Heaven
with Earth and ocean meets, the setting sun slowly descended, and with right aspect
Against the eastern gate of Paradise. (Milton Paradise Lost Bk iv)
Posts: 3228 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Jul 2006
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
The Great and Good who run the Six Nations championship have agreed from the 2017 edition to award bonus points as is done in most of the other leagues and championships hereabouts.
I realise this is being done to encourage try scoring and get the public in but Rugby Union is more than try scoring. Doesn't excellent, legal defence deserve recognition? Furthermore the scheme has this weird provision of a three point bonus for any Grand Slam winning team - to prevent a team that doesn't win all their games overtaking a Grand Slam team because they have picked up every bonus point going!
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
What a dog's breakfast. I sometimes wonder if sports administrators start manufacturing work for themselves just to ensure their own continued existence.
Is there any evidence that the Six Nations was struggling that prompted this change?
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
Way back when, a few people wondered what Eddie Jones was thinking when he appointed Dylan Hartley England captain. Last night in his first match back with Northampton, his club side, he got sent off for a "Swinging arm" at an opponents head just six minutes after coming on. That is, in old-fashioned wrestling parlance, a forearm smash and Sean O'Brien, who was on the receiving end, had to leave the field. It is worth noting that it was, even in rugby terms a very physical game but then it had the Ireland v England dimension.
I'm not entirely sure what Eddie Jones does now. He was shaking his head and muttering under his breath from the stands, but England need a new hooker, in at least the short-to-to-medium term, and they definitely need a new captain. I know England is a successful national side while Northampton is a struggling club side, which make them very different, but I can't imagine Hartley has any future as captain, and his run as hooker might be over too.
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
Hartley is a thug, has always been a dirty player and has a disciplinary record which beggars belief.
When Eddie Jones appointed him it gave a clear indication of the sort of values he would be likely to strive for in his England team.
Yes, there is "winning ugly" but that is a very different thing from "playing ugly" as a default setting.
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by L'organist:
Hartley is a thug, has always been a dirty player and has a disciplinary record which beggars belief.
When Eddie Jones appointed him it gave a clear indication of the sort of values he would be likely to strive for in his England team.
I imagine EJ has looked back at 2003 and thought "What did England have that we (Australia) didn't?" and as far as people were concerned figured it was due to a near-infallible #10, Richard Hill and one Martin Johnson, known the length and breadth of Wales as Captain Thug. It's fair to say that Dylan Hartley, the Vunipolas and most of the rest would all take a backward step when Martin Johnson turned up. Not sure about Itoje though, there's an air of brooding menace about him.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
I reckon Dylan Hartley is a very lucky man. To get a mere six weeks isn't excessive for the offence itself but given his previous record I'm not sure he should be playing the game at all. Although his longest ban was nine years ago he has racked up six months out in the last five years.
Eddie Jones must have had some serious words with him regarding his position with England when he appointed him captain but EJ looked seriously pissed off when Hartley walked off. Remember that EJ was also a hooker, so he's got some idea what the job is like. Hartley's time as England captain must surely be over, his time as Northampton captain is probably over and he's got renewed competition from Jamie George, Tommy Taylor and many more besides for England's #2 shirt.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
As if Northampton didn't have enough problems with Dylan Hartley's ban and poor form, others are lining up against them following the authorities decision not to sanction them after George North had been allowed back on the field after, in the view of most people, he had been knocked out cold.
I don't want to see players forced out of the game, which is their livelihood, by injury, but while persistent physical injuries are bad they can almost always recover to an extent that they can make a living outside the game. Brain injuries, while physical in origin, aren't like that. They accumulate and recovery is uncertain at best. I'm worried about what will have to happen before the Rugby Unions stop taking chances with this aspect of player safety. It's all very well saying it wasn't like this in the old days but since the game became professional players have become much bigger, faster, stronger and are conditioned to expect hard contact nowadays.
What does the team think? How about weight limits for scrums, teams and maybe even players? It's used in bobsleigh to limit speed, which is after all the primary cause of accidents which on ice-covered concrete at 80 mph plus can easily be fatal.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Possession, territory, penalties, all those vitals favoured Ireland, but Barrett had his kicking boots on, Ireland made a couple of bad scoring decisions, and we escaped a second loss.
