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Rugby Thread

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Doon frae Troon said:
Do you think England should follow Scotland's example and reduce their professional teams to two. ;) (y)
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Not 2 but I think that 4 or 5 is all that is sustainable and that would be dependent on inclusion in the URC. Ireland have it right with 4, 2 with the starting internationals as focus and 2 focusing on development. You can see the difference when 3/4 of the Ireland squad play together week in week out. Then again it failed for the Welsh regions. Tricky to work it out with such established loyalties but at the moment we have the worst of both worlds and a game in danger of going bankrupt
 
Bunkermagnet said:
Considering England have a new coach and direction, and quite a few young players coming in I would be more concerned that Scotland didn't beat them by more, and probably without DvdM would have lost.
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Absolute garbage, England are a mile off it at the moment.
Something needs to change and quickly.
 
BrianM said:
Absolute garbage, England are a mile off it at the moment.
Something needs to change and quickly.
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There is no quick change. Everything takes time to bed in and with no such thing as a friendly there is little opportunity to bed in new players and systems. The whole game in not just England but also in other countries is in danger to economic collapse. What is needed is a tear down if the whole club and national system to develop something that works for both but vested interests and baked in fan attitudes mean nothing will change
 
GB72 said:
Not 2 but I think that 4 or 5 is all that is sustainable and that would be dependent on inclusion in the URC. Ireland have it right with 4, 2 with the starting internationals as focus and 2 focusing on development. You can see the difference when 3/4 of the Ireland squad play together week in week out. Then again it failed for the Welsh regions. Tricky to work it out with such established loyalties but at the moment we have the worst of both worlds and a game in danger of going bankrupt
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Scotland's team is from a core of two sides but their stars are scattered around England and Europe.
You can see the developing youngsters like Patterson and Thomson making good progress and getting chances that they would probably not get in England and France,
 
Doon frae Troon said:
Scotland's team is from a core of two sides but their stars are scattered around England and Europe.
You can see the developing youngsters like Patterson and Thomson making good progress and getting chances that they would probably not get in England and France,
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That is true, France have the advantage of good finances and good support across 2 leagues but even they are looking a shell of themselves at the moment without Dupont

England are also just not developing players in key positions, both props, 8, centre are all places we lack quality. Couple of good props coming through at under 20 level.
 
GB72 said:
That is true, France have the advantage of good finances and good support across 2 leagues but even they are looking a shell of themselves at the moment without Dupont

England are also just not developing players in key positions, both props, 8, centre are all places we lack quality. Couple of good props coming through at under 20 level.
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Inside centre could have been solved if bonehead Jones had selected Tomkins
 
Doon frae Troon said:
This strikes me as being pretty petty.
It has to be an unfair advantage to England.

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I can agree with many things but that is not one of them. Club rugby lose their international players far too much already. This arrangement has been around for years and is set at a World Rugby level with agreed international release windows. It is up for discussion again in 2026.

The RFU pay the clubs extra in their separate player release agreement that is up for discussion again this year. That said, the clubs are always short of cash and I am sure if the SRU and the WRU wanted to offer the clubs suitable recompense in exchange for further release dates then they would be open to discussion.

Basically, no, teams should not get further player release days free of charge as the clubs then need to fill the gaps that those players leave. If the unions want to pay some money for further release days and enter a formal agreement with premiership clubs then I am sure a deal could be reached.

It is actually a positive and a negative to England. Yes, they get the extra release days but it is also why selection is only made from players in premiership clubs and as soon as you move outside of the league you a removed from England selection.
 
GB72 said:
I can agree with many things but that is not one of them. Club rugby lose their international players far too much already. This arrangement has been around for years and is set at a World Rugby level with agreed international release windows. It is up for discussion again in 2026.

The RFU pay the clubs extra in their separate player release agreement that is up for discussion again this year. That said, the clubs are always short of cash and I am sure if the SRU and the WRU wanted to offer the clubs suitable recompense in exchange for further release dates then they would be open to discussion.

Basically, no, teams should not get further player release days free of charge as the clubs then need to fill the gaps that those players leave. If the unions want to pay some money for further release days and enter a formal agreement with premiership clubs then I am sure a deal could be reached.

It is actually a positive and a negative to England. Yes, they get the extra release days but it is also why selection is only made from players in premiership clubs and as soon as you move outside of the league you a removed from England selection.
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I don't disagree with most of that.......but.......... there are no gaps to fill as the English league fixtures are closed when the 6N is being played
 
Doon frae Troon said:
I don't disagree with most of that.......but.......... there are no gaps to fill as the league fixtures are closed when the 6N is being played
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First year that has happened. Normally we have full fixtures and that may come back if we add teams to the premiership but this is the player release agreements have been in place for years. Irrespective, as the RFU have to do, if you want extended player release periods, come up with a suitable financial offer or do what other teams do:

Wales: Must play for a Welsh region until you have over 25 caps as the WRFU control the release dates.
Ireland: Have total control of the provinces and so can release players whenever they want.
England: Have to play for a premiership club so as to fall under the player release agreement.

So, the options for Scotland are to insist on players playing for Glasgow or Edinburgh to play for Scotland or negotiate a payment to the premiership and other clubs to have players released in fallow weeks.

Alternatively, the unions could stop with the break periods in the 6 nations, play it over 5 weeks as it always was and have their players for the duration. As for talk of expanding the tournament, clubs are now going to swallow losing players for even longer.
 
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