European Club Rugby
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So I watched the 2 HEC semis.
Saracens vs Munster was men vs boys. Saracens remarkably had not a single Kiwi in their side. Munster had Bleyendaal starting at 10 - not our world cup 3rd choice 10 based on this anonymous display (admittedly behind a beaten pack). Munster also had Rhys Marshall off the bench at hooker and Alby Mathewson as back-up 9.
Leinster vs Toulouse. Leinster had James Lowe who scored a very good try and looked lively throughout. Leinster also had Michael Bent off the bench.
Toulouse, who were tactically and mentally a shambles, had Faumuina at 3, still in fine fettle, Kaino at 8 (pulled early in the 2nd half) and unbelievably they stuck Pita Ahki at starting 12.
Think Saracens will win, at a neutral ground, they will play smarter rugby than Toulouse and have just a little too much for Leinster.
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@Billy-Tell Sean Maitland is a kilted Kiwi.
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Leinster bearing Toulouse.
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@sparky said in NH club rugby:
@Billy-Tell Sean Maitland is a kilted Kiwi.
Wasn’t in saracens team though for this game.
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Okay, David Strettle was a late injury replacement.
A tenuous one then. Mako Vunipola was born in Wellington.
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@Billy-Tell said in NH club rugby:
Toulouse, who were tactically and mentally a shambles, had Faumuina at 3, still in fine fettle, Kaino at 8 (pulled early in the 2nd half) and unbelievably they stuck Pita Ahki at starting 12
Whaaaaat. He is fat and a unfit and was fucked after ten minutes. He was walking and offside for most of the game that I saw and offered zero.
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@Bones said in NH club rugby:
@Billy-Tell said in NH club rugby:
Toulouse, who were tactically and mentally a shambles, had Faumuina at 3, still in fine fettle, Kaino at 8 (pulled early in the 2nd half) and unbelievably they stuck Pita Ahki at starting 12
Whaaaaat. He is fat and a unfit and was fucked after ten minutes. He was walking and offside for most of the game that I saw and offered zero.
Nah he was grand. Maybe you had a few, for this game I was stone cold sober.
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@Billy-Tell said in NH club rugby:
@Bones said in NH club rugby:
@Billy-Tell said in NH club rugby:
Toulouse, who were tactically and mentally a shambles, had Faumuina at 3, still in fine fettle, Kaino at 8 (pulled early in the 2nd half) and unbelievably they stuck Pita Ahki at starting 12
Whaaaaat. He is fat and a unfit and was fucked after ten minutes. He was walking and offside for most of the game that I saw and offered zero.
Nah he was grand. Maybe you had a few, for this game I was stone cold sober.
Yeah must have been that strong water I was drinking. I only watched the first half, so he must have had a massive energy boost in the 2nd. I was laughing at him taking ten seconds to get up off the ground everytime he did anything, then standing there for a sec and walking back. Which was happening within ten minutes of kick off.
Although I obviously made that up what with being so drunk I couldn't read numbers.
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i dipped in and out of the game as it looked a foregone conclusion to me. From what I saw fat Charlie carried well but did little else in the loose. The Toulouse scrum was also pants for the best part of the game.
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Toulouse thumped Pau 83-6........
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James Haskell is retiring from Rugby:
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Is anyone surprised by this? FFS no matter how good artificial turf, it's still not as flexible as real grass. One day maybe, but I think they jumped on it far too early in NH. England's (now stopped cos they ran out of money) RWC legacy was supposed to be a ton of these pitches. Probably lucky for them they did run out of cash!
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@Machpants said in NH club rugby:
Is anyone surprised by this? FFS no matter how good artificial turf, it's still not as flexible as real grass. One day maybe, but I think they jumped on it far too early in NH. England's (now stopped cos they ran out of money) RWC legacy was supposed to be a ton of these pitches. Probably lucky for them they did run out of cash!
Well please don't complain when NH rugby becomes even more turgid in the winter months.
And before you trot out the 'simple solution' that the answer is for the NH to switch to a Summer schedule, the second wettest month in Wales is July.
And is one of the biggest factors Glamorgan cricket club rarely win anything - 4pt no result draws.
The plastic pitch at Cardiff Blues has allowed for a better spectacle and games to actually take place.
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Oh I agree that it's a better spectacle, but that won't be great at the expense of lots of broken players. If they start playing on all plastic pitches, will injuries increase exponentially? Looks pretty nasty to me, this sort of thing is not the real problem, it's the trapping/catching of limbs as people fold over in contact situations.
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