Rugby

Wasn’t a dig. But yeah, typical YouTube. Was more a failed segue into the Raynal decision!

Leeds excellent last night; deserved it. Wigan just couldn’t string two halves of rugby together and Bateman poor challenge to get his marching orders. Good game going on now also. Salford hitting back against 12…

I'm trying to set up now TV to watch the game later in Canada.

I hate sorting this bullshit out.

That was close...

Wasps into administration…

Thought it’d be Worcester first

Poor guys had to field coaches and a retired player on the bench to make up their subs numbers tonight

What is the TL;DR of the terrible finances in the club game? Imagine there's a fair amount of complexity to it

Graun has articles pretty much daily, but here's an overview:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2022/sep/04/english-rugby-financial-crisis-suggests-premiership-clubs-will-have-to-adapt-worcester

Wasps into administration…

Nearly the second time in a decade as well.

Yup. And Lawrence will still go on about how well they’ve been run as a club “on a shoestring budget” on Rugby Tonight…

It’s not that complicated. They’re all spending more that they’re getting, with most reliant on sugar daddy owners to put their hands in their pockets, and then Covid took out a couple of seasons of gate receipts and other revenue as the icing on the cake.

kl’s Graun article is better than my explanation.

I know it not news but Worcester. What an absolute mess. Their 'owners' are utter dicks. That statement blaming players and fans. Appalling.

Exeter looking back in form…

Bristol paper flaking away from those cracks in equal measure. Genge should have had a second yellow for backchat. And it was done after that. Not fit enough either. They weren’t last year and Pat’s not learned a thing. Mid-table obscurity beckons with a few upsets of the top four over the season possible when it warms up a bit.

Better side won by a fair amount. Could have been much more.

Wasps have just announced they will be going into administration in the next few days.

Edit - Saturday's game with Exeter cancelled.

Sad. Stand by for the thoughts and prayers social media posts from other clubs and then a massive bun fight over the fire sale of the players. Really awful.

Isn't the issue that all the English clubs are pretty much at the salary cap, so wont be able to take any players, not sure how Bath have managed it with Worcester players.
I know that Chiefs have had to let Simmonds go, as we were nowhere near what Montpellier could offer, and looks like Nowell will be following him in the next season or 2.

As a CCFC fan I'm at best, ambivalent, whatever the outcome its likely to be good for us. All the people who think we'll end up with the ground on the cheap are deluded.

Isn't the issue that all the English clubs are pretty much at the salary cap, so wont be able to take any players, not sure how Bath have managed it with Worcester players.

That's what I thought too. They could have done a Barca and sign the players to a longer contract with their salary spread out over the period?

I presume a lot of internationals around the age of 30 will be leaving after the world cup as it's their last chance for a decent payday.

Well Bath originally used something around injury cover, which I guess is outside of the cap, but not sure how they have then signed them up full time.

Yes, I suspect there will be a batch of players who aren't going to be around for the next world cup who will go. The big question is are they replaced by young English qualified or imports from SA etc.

I presume a lot of internationals around the age of 30 will be leaving after the world cup as it's their last chance for a decent payday

Yup. Marchant is already set up to leave Quins for Stade, I believe. There'll be a few more by the end of the month, I'm sure you're right. This will only accelerate that.

Will some of these guys maybe bolster the MLR rosters also for a short while?

This whole debacle must really piss off Ealing.

Where the fuck is the coverage of the world cup?
Thank god for Squidge Rugby.

ITV

Sorry- I meant in general- it was somewhat hidden on the bbc- yesterday my RU page was nothing to do with it at all, which would never happen for the men's during the tournament.
Without having ITV-I'd like to be able to binge recaps- like I do for most of the sport I follow these days, or ideally a decent breakdown of the game by informed pundits (hence Squidge, and occasionally resorting to using the Times app- which is solely there for the crosswords) (#GC- but you get used to the setters idiosyncracies and the student price is quite good).

Not great is it?
With the success England have, and on the back of the football earlier in the year, you'd have thought promoting women's sport would be a no brainer.