Rugby
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There is an ongoing debate here about hiring southern players in droves in French clubs. Some think that by hiring experienced stars from the south we're sacrificing younger French players and dont groom them. For instance about 70% of the props are foreign. Teams like Toulon are all star casts: Wilkinson, mat giteau, dannie roussow, bakkies botha, the armitage brothers, simon shaw, andrew sheridan, chris masoe, carl hayman, fernandez lobbe, and now bryan Habana, and thatson topofall the French players they have broughtin, like Michalak… They have only one homegrown player in their squad. RacingParis is going the same way, they just hired Morne Steyn for next year, on top of another all star squad.
Sometimes Imiss the 70's. they had a ludicrous rule that said that if a player changed teams, he would be barred from playing for France in the international games. Mad, but it ensured that teams were homegrown. The great Beziers was 100% locally sourced, and what a team it was.
When you watch games from that era, it looks like another game. Players look skinny. But they had some serious ball handling skills and knew how to run in zig zags! Back in the days, a winger was 1.80 meter tall and weighted 80 kilograms!!!
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Yes, it is a balance. NZ always looks to develop local talent first in fact you're not eligible for the All Blacks unless you play in NZ. They do give special leave for star players who want a short stint in another country.
I assume teams in Europe are privately owned which means the national team may not be their priority? The NZ Rugby Union still runs everything here meaning all levels of Rugby must support the All Blacks. Every players dream is to play for the All Blacks, every coaches wants to coach the All Blacks and every Club, Provincial and Super 15 teams goal is to produce All Blacks.
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Yes, it is a balance. NZ always looks to develop local talent first in fact you're not eligible for the All Blacks unless you play in NZ. They do give special leave for star players who want a short stint in another country.
I assume teams in Europe are privately owned which means the national team may not be their priority? The NZ Rugby Union still runs everything here meaning all levels of Rugby must support the All Blacks. Every players dream is to play for the All Blacks, every coaches wants to coach the All Blacks and every Club, Provincial and Super 15 teams goal is to produce All Blacks.
You're right, there is a huge conflict of interest between club who pay the players, and the national rugby league. It's so fucked up that during international games, clubs continue to play. So you have Toulouse without its 8 international players meeting another team. Utter nonsense and everyone knows it and nobody does anything except whine. England has figured out so much and the national rugby league there pays clubs money to retain international players so they can train together for 3 weeks before the 6 nations. Here in France, the players had just 3 days to prepare for the 6 nations. It used to be possible to win games but recent games show it no longer is. And every 4 years, I am disappointed we dont win the RWC… Cant believe I still have any illusions at all!
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this is turning out to be a season in HELL for France. What a disastrous game against Ireland. Two extremely weak, uninspired tams in cold pouring rain. The game was boring to death. I even took 20 minute off the game to start cooking. I had leaft at 13-3 Ireland and at the 63d minute or so, it was, guess what 13-3 or 13-6 Ireland. Nothing but kicking, waiting for the other team to do something foolish. The worst thing is that we cant get Super Rugby on regular channels here. I'm not even sure cable has those games live. No NRL either. So all we have is those dreary 6 Nations games… Europe is in crisis...
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Glorious Wales trashed (a not so bad, by the way) England 30-3. I hate to sound anglophobe, but in Rugby, just cant help it. And this destruction felt awesome.
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Weird? what makes you say that?
what I find interesting is that it's not always the same team winning.
It's enjoyable although it is far from the 4 nations or the super 15 competitions in terms of speed, skill, intensity. When each team plays their traditional type of game, it is very entertaining because it is like going through the history of Europe.But a lot of games have become quite boring. I have to confess I was watching a super 15 game on youtube on my tablet while the France Scotland game was on on TV. And some NRL too. Cant fathom why Sonny Bill Williams went back to that code, but that question alone is worth a thread by itself.
What a nice talent being mismanaged. He could be the greatest AB of his era. But he is just a mercenary clown. His manager is a damager…
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Weird because all of these 6 Nation teams struggle with consistency and will play poorly, this is one of the key areas that make the All Blacks so good. Consistently good teams force you to be innovative (as you will see in the Super 15 & Tri Nations) otherwise you won’t survive. From an outsides view (and I might be a bit harsh) it seems like the 6 Nation games can be won because the other side played so badly?
… But I’m looking forward to watching the Lions tour. That is one great traditional team!
Don’t worry about Sonny Bill, Rene Ranger has been amazing this year and if he continues will almost certainly make the All Blacks. He scored this try a couple of weeks ago against those monsters from South Africa the Bulls.
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Weird because all of these 6 Nation teams struggle with consistency and will play poorly, this is one of the key areas that make the All Blacks so good. Consistently good teams force you to be innovative (as you will see in the Super 15 & Tri Nations) otherwise you won’t survive. From an outsides view (and I might be a bit harsh) it seems like the 6 Nation games can be won because the other side played so badly?
… But I’m looking forward to watching the Lions tour. That is one great traditional team!
Don’t worry about Sonny Bill, Rene Ranger has been amazing this year and if he continues will almost certainly make the All Blacks. He scored this try a couple of weeks ago against those monsters from South Africa the Bulls.
You are so totally right about consistency or lack thereof. In a normal world, France and England should be winning the tournament every year. Thats why all but one world cup went to a southern team.
Regarding the south, I'm totally awed by the depth of talent in addition to skills, speed, etc… I mean, look at France, we keep using winger Vincent Clerc (dont get me wrong, I love the guy) who is 30 without launching those 21-20 year old kids. The only one new face this year in the back rows is 18 year old Gael Fickou, who should leave Toulouse and go play 3-4 years in NZ to become the best in the world.
Lets get delirious for a moment: if I was president of the French rugby league, I'd spend some of the mountain of money they get from TV rights to pay NZ provinces to train a squad of 10-15 promising players from the age of 18 to 21, send our coaches to NZ to study for a year or two how rugby should be coached, etc... And NZ should open rugby universities and make a tonload of money teaching the rest of the world how to play rugby. They might end up not winning the RWC, though...
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The try is great, but the offload to Ranger is spectacular. Love it, love it love it
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Jerry Collins: I hope he's going to be alright
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Some seriously badasss rugby here
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Clermont - Munster HCup semi final was a good game yesterday.
Do you get those games in the Sourhern Hemisphere or is it deemed unnecessary since you have so much league and union already? -
Hemi: Blues or Crusaders?
What do NZ bookies say?
If I had more cash, I would have flown to go see it, but … -
Just saw that the Blues got sold to an investment fund
I hope this is not the end of NZ Rugby as I have come to appreciate it.
It will be interesting to see if other franchises are going this way and how it will affect the Rugby scene in NZ (and therefore the rest of the world)
It could mean that NZ is able to retain more players if new money is spent on increasing salaries to match France and England… -
Its been on the cards for a while… NZ Rugby can't survive without some type of private investment, we're just too small. I think only one Provincial team makes a tiny profit each year and the rest trade at a loss or break even at best. One of the oldest Unions had to be bailed out last year after facing bankruptcy.
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This side of the universe Toulon beat Clermont in the Euro Cup final. Defense + Wilkinson overcame offense. I was gutted.
Next week semis for the French championship my team Toulouse will probably suffer the same fate vs Toulon, while Clermont will crush Castres. So we could have a rematch of the Euro for the French final.
Anyway, wouldnt it be great if there was a final between the Euro winner and the Super 15? It happened once unofficially in 1997 and the NZ team crushed Brives. And wouldnt it be nice if there was a euro Super 15? These national championships drag on and on and are not as exciting as Eu games…
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Hemi, a quick question for you:
nowadays, we see quite a number of League players thriving (Folau being the latest sensation) in Union.
Do you know if there are similar successes the other way round (Union guys trying League and becoming "superbad" in League)?
Here in France, there is nobody I can think of, and I dont think there are examples in England, where League is a force (unlike here).
