Rugby

Massive reality check for the Northern hemisphere teams this weekend.
Haven't seen the Wales and Ireland games in full but England were lucky to get that close to the Boks.
Julian Savea looked quite the player against Ireland. The All Black conveyor belt keeps producing quality players and considering the strength in depth the AB have they must be sky high favourites for The Rugby Championship™.

Massive reality check for the Northern hemisphere teams this weekend.
Haven't seen the Wales and Ireland games in full but England were lucky to get that close to England

[PEDANTMODE]England were playing themselves?[/PEDANTMODE]

Duly noted.
(however, England are their own worst enemy at the best of times)

I think that us Scots take the world title for being our own worst enemies, though England is a strong second (with the expert help of the English sports press).

on the note of the NZ conveyor belt.. It's the players that aren't involved in the national side that prove the point of how much talent they have..

Andre Taylor and TJ Perenara have been absolutely outstanding for the Hurricanes this season and can't make it into the team.. Add to them people like Robbie Freuan and it's getting a bit scary how difficult it is to pull on the black shirt.

Premiership Rugby gives notice of its intention to withdraw English clubs from the Heineken Cup. Basically spitting the dummy to try and force the competition to be run the way that they want.

Apparently French clubs are considering the same option?

I wonder what the fuss is all about..

I think that they claim it is unfair that Scottish, Irish, and Welsh clubs get automatic qualification to the competition, as this means that they can rest their top players during less important league matches guaranteeing them a better team for the Heineken Cup, however I cannot help feeling it is more a case of "we have so much more money than the Irish clubs yet they always seem to beat us in Europe, so we don't want to play unless we can stack the odds in our favour".

It is a relatively reasonable gripe but not one that can really be solved by changing the ERC rules..

If it weren't for the sacrosanct existence of club rugby in England, I'd suggest a season more in line with the NZ model, with club rugby for part of the season and a super league style European regional competition for the rest (replacing the H cup).

Merge the Pro D12, Premiership and Top14 with2/3/4 or so franchise teams from each country involved. The English sides can relatively easily be grouped into South-west (Bath, Gloss, Chiefs), London (Wasps, Sarries, Irish & Quins), Midlands (Leicester, Saints, Worcs) and Northern (Newcastle, Sale, Leeds) teams.

It'll never happen but it would help financially secure the top level of rugby in the Europe and concentrate talent in a way that could make the international sides more competitive. However, club rugby would be downgraded which would stick in the craw of the traditionalists in England.

It'll never happen but it would probably solve a lot of problems.

It looks like the Northern hemisphere teams are laying out the cards so that a super 14 format can be introduced over here. Bigger crowds, bigger TV contracts and more quality rugby.

^what wibble said

Euro draw coming through now..

Leinster & Clermont in the same group. Thankfully Sarries aren't in that group again! Unfortunately, they're in with Munster, although that does mean I can watch my favourite teams playing each other again.

Where are you getting that from? I cannot find it anywhere.

Pool 1 - Munster, Edinburgh, Saracens, Racing Metro
Pool 2 - Toulouse, Leicester, Ospreys, Treviso
Pool 3 - Biarritz, Harlequins, Connacht, Zebre
Pool 4 - Northampton, Ulster, Glasgow, Castres
Pool 5 - Leinster, Clermont, Scarlets, Exeter
Pool 6 - Cardiff, Toulon, Sale, Montpellier

Was watching it live on the erc wesbite

Never an easy pool in the H cup anymore but pools 1, 2 and 5 are difficult.

Was just about to say that the draw hasn't exactly been kind to Edinburgh. Should be some good rugby in the pool stages.

Leinster v Clermont could be the final. Likewise for Leicester v Toulouse.

Pool 6 would've been slightly nicer..

Does anyone know where I can watch the SAvsLions tomorrow around SouthBank?

Lions, surely you mean England?

Walkabout.

I don't like the walkabout and I didn't know there was one south of south bank

Anything around towerbridge?

I don't know if there is one and don't particularly like them either but they are always an acceptable fallback for watching sport.

Looks like I'm playing in a special 'Old-boys' team for the National 7s tournament this weekend.

chews tip of pipe, and curls toes in plaid slippers

You show those young-uns how real men played in the good old days!

In other news Fuji 25 - Scotland 37, watched the first half then fell asleep on the couch. We won, which I was afraid we wouldn't do after a good result against the Aussies, perhaps more surprisingly we scored 3 tries 1 from Laidlaw and 2 from Visser AND we bossed the scrum enough for Fuji to concede a penalty try. Good points let down by the fact we tried to let them back in in the 2nd half but all considered an improvement. Samoa next.

Properly enjoying being neutral in this match.
Great, grinding play by both sides at the moment.