Comments on: Best of the weekend: English sides set European pace

By: Paul RugbyXV

Paul RugbyXV — Thu, 26 Nov 2015 14:29:49 +0000

Well, French rugby has not made very good results this week-end…. due to the events.
But wait and see, we french are gonna waken up !
http://www.comeonsport.com/RUGBY,68.html

By: Staggy

Staggy — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 18:22:14 +0000

Brighty I would imagine that 90% or so of Welsh fans expect Wales to win every game at the Mill Stad. Doesn’t particularly make the Welsh arrogant does it. Realistic – possibly. Optimistic – definitely (like all sports supporters!). So why then should the fans at Twickenham be labelled arrogant if they expect England to win at home – where to be fair they have a very good record. I think we can disregard the ABs as opposition in this discussion for both sets of fans. I think that it might be a separate matter the number of English fools who are easily parted with their money betting on nothing more than blind optimism. But then again you could go to Chepstow race course and find plenty of those and not just English ones at that.

I still maintain that the English are somewhat unfairly labelled as an arrogant nationality. I bet that there are a similar percentage of arrogant Welsh, Scots and Irish, but because we have a larger population, it seems disproportionate. And then sadly because of this larger number the press then pander to a point of view because there are enough idiots out there to sell stories to! Just remember that numbers wise we probably have more rational considered individuals than the other nations as well, but we/they don’t make the headlines! Sermon over!

By: Leon

Leon — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 16:28:07 +0000

Yes and no
Stupid (Translate to Enoch: Arrogant) Welsh, Irish and Scottish fans are also put down money on their teams but due to the dis-propotinate size of the fan bases the value of money put down by the stupid English fans tips the odds towards England

By: brighty

brighty — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 15:21:29 +0000

Other 10 options are, in probable current pecking order:

Anscombe/Patchell/MMorgan/Davies(Sam) …… Shingler/Tovey …. Hook.

That is assuming Williams is excluded but it is never clear if he is or isn’t.

Makeup is case by case – in some cases WRU portion is small e.g. 15K of a 60K contract, in some cases much bigger. Don’t think there are any where it is 50%. I expect the size to increase now it’s more cooperative than before.

Not sure what happens in the future given the change of leadership at the WRU. There is hope that this stops the Lewis v Clubs period we have been going through and we get something that works for Wales and the Clubs. Initial noises are good and some solid results – JD returning (which is both Jonathan Davies and Judgement Day), Prem Select XVs in the B&I, increase of funding to clubs, etc. It is going to be a long hard road (especially for Cardiff) but I am much, much more optimistic than I was 12 months ago.

By: Liono

Liono — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 14:49:40 +0000

No worries, can’t say I catch much Pro12! I didnt mention in my last post, but I do think you are right though, I dont think the way Bath are playing at the moment provides we with much hope for the Toulon fixture, the only good thing is it’s not til the end of Jan so time to find the better version of the attacking game, just the double fixtures v Wasps to get through first!

By: Jacob

Jacob — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 14:42:06 +0000

Apologies for the mass questioning by the way; I do realise that you don’t actually work for the WRU! But you always seem to know what is going on in Wales far more than media sources I use to rely on.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 14:39:32 +0000

Didn’t realise that about Priestland. Who has a rest midway through their career? Strange! What other 10 options do Wales have? I assume this opens up a debate about Owen Williams? He looks a top player at Leicester but that doesn’t really solve the issue.

I knew the contracts were “dual”, as opposed to central contracts. What is the make up of that? I.e. is it 50/50 or do the WRU pay a lot more of the contracts? Or it on a case by case?

Difficult one for Wales. Are the WRU able to contribute more and more to address the problem? Would they even want to?

By: brighty

brighty — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 14:02:55 +0000

Fair enough – I rarely see them. I don’t watch the Prem so it’s just the odd game in the Euro cup when I do see them. I think the last time I watched them was twice against Glasgow last year.

By: brighty

brighty — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 14:01:14 +0000

Priestland is “having a rest” from international rugby so I think it’s Halfpenny but couldn’t swear to it. That’s how confusing it is.

I think the centrals are better but still not some of the silly french money (or what is now starting to look like the silly English money given the Madigan reports). If you add up club salaries and Welsh appearance money then they start getting closer but Halfpenny is on 600Kpa, no Welsh club could dream of matching that, even with a top-up from central (I’m sure you know this but just in case, the central contracts are actually duals – top up cash added by WRU to the club salary). However, locally the boys would be better managed, etc. if that is what they want. I’m sure that was a huge part of Jonathan Davies returning plus the home factor – it seems like some of the Welsh boys just didn’t enjoy being overseas as much as they thought.

By: Liono

Liono — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 13:54:10 +0000

As for Bath Brighty, yes and no, at their best Bath can play a wide front foot attacking game combined with a rapid counter-attacking with quick hands and lots of different angles, the semi-final v Leicester last year is a good example of this, however, at the moment, and I think missing JJ at the moment isn’t helping, they are playing a tighter game (as you suggest) than the back end of last season and I don’t think they are at their best when they revert to that type of play.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 13:44:09 +0000

Is it not Roberts and Priestland? Thought Halfpenny signed before the rule? I’ve been thinking Gatland may drop Priestland and go with, “I’ll only pick two that ignore the rule/law/guidelines/whatever it is”.

Are the central contracts that are being offered now not competitive with what is on offer elsewhere? I would assume they must be for so many to sign? Maybe not though.

By: brighty

brighty — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 13:35:08 +0000

Totally understand that Leon. It’s the last part that brings it back around to what tends to rile some Welsh fans in the build up to things. They’re the faves because, paraphrasing you here, some stupid Eng fans are putting down so much money because there is an assumption of winning. Yes, I know Enoch is a proper mentalist, but there is a tiny, tiny grain of truth in what he says, that he manages to twist and twist, in that if you took a Twickers Eng fan crowd and did a quick poll you’d get more than 50% assuming they’re always going to win, no matter what the form, oppo, etc So if someone wanted to make a jibe/dig about “arrogant English” then they have some stats to go with that reflect their prejudices. However, no different to a sizable proportion of a Mill Stad crowd assuming Eng will stick it up the jumper, Scotland will be plucky, all Irish fans are our celtic brethren and hence won’t mind losing, etc.

I fear I’ve chased my tail down the rabbit hole here making a long winded explanation of what was meant to be a quick quip about the clueless fans making predictions based on 1 weekend of results….