The Rugby Thread

[Cormack74]

The news was delayed until the end of the WC which has given them all manner of issues.

The RFU should have just relegated them, then let the season play out. I agree it is hard for them to do anything this season, but ultimately it devalues the competition if they are still breaking the rules.

I think I might go and put a bet on for the Champions Cup because if they are going down anyway they will just rest all their big guns for those games.

Which in itself makes a bit of a mockery of the Gallaghers Prem' because some teams have already had to play them at full strength (or near) but from now on (or very soon) everyone could be playing their second (or even 3rd) team for the rest of the season.

[Buzzo]

I think I might go and put a bet on for the Champions Cup because if they are going down anyway they will just rest all their big guns for those games.

Which in itself makes a bit of a mockery of the Gallaghers Prem' because some teams have already had to play them at full strength (or near) but from now on (or very soon) everyone could be playing their second (or even 3rd) team for the rest of the season.

100% agree, particularly on the strength of team put out.

If they go down apparently they won’t be allowed to play Champions Cup next season whatever happens. Even if they win it this.

[Cormack74]

Clermont re-visiting the French habit of taking the utter piss out of the replacement rule to get their best prop back on when they needed to win a scrum.

It's about time an opposing team did something similar.

[Buzzo]

Saracens relegated.

[ame]https://twitter.com/bbcsport/status/1218616404817170432[/ame]

[Irishnev]

Saracens relegated.

https://twitter.com/bbcsport/status/1218616404817170432

proper order - strip the cheats of their European Cups also

[dom9]

Saracens accept their punishment and apologise for wrongdoing.

Could you imagine City in that position? They'd fight it in every court imaginable.

[Cormack74]

proper order - strip the cheats of their European Cups also

Not deliberately siding with Saracens here but the CC isn't a level playing field because the English salary cap is lower than the French one and Ireland have some odd arrangements that you posted about a few days back. No idea about the Scots and I think the Welsh regions are WRFU funded.

Anyway the point I'm making is that they haven't broken any CC rules so I'm not sure how they could be stripped of the titles - it doesn't even look as if they will have their Premiership titles taken away, although that one is less up for debate IMO.

[Cormack74]

Slightly amusing (maybe not for an Irishman) that the top team in the CC will end up playing them in the Qtrs. Bet Leinster are livid

[Irishnev]

Slightly amusing (maybe not for an Irishman) that the top team in the CC will end up playing them in the Qtrs. Bet Leinster are livid

Ya tough game for Leinster no doubt - the winner should come from this game

[Cormack74]

Not banging my own drum (much ) but noticed that Nigel Owens and Alex Rieder have clearly read one of my earlier posts in this thread

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/51200652

International referee Nigel Owens suggests fewer substitutions could help make modern rugby union safer.

Speaking on Radio 4's Today Programme, he said big and strong players tend to run directly at opponents rather than trying to go past them.

But with fewer substitutions, Welshman Owens believes players would need to be smaller and lighter which would "reduce the impact" of collisions.

But he added a lot of research needed to be done first.

Owens was joined on the programme by Alex Rieder, a regular for English Premiership side Wasps until last year when his latest injury turned out to be his last - and he retired at just 28.

Rieder now wants a change in the rules to prevent further career-ending injuries and highlights a lack of enforcement of the law that prohibits players charging into a ruck to clear out players.

"I worry that could be an area where someone could have a seriously catastrophic injury," he said, with players "flying into it without repercussion"

Owens has taken charge of 76 Test matches in an international career that began in 2005 and will be in the middle when France host England in the 2020 Six Nations' opening round on Sunday, 2 February.

He said World Rugby is doing everything it can to minimise the risk of injuries.

"The negatives of playing the sport are outweighed by the positives by a long way," he said.

"It's a physical sport, a lot of people go through rugby without having a serious injury. Unfortunately for some people, they do receive an injury or they're unlucky."

But Owens believes there are "simple things" which could change the game and points to how it used to be played.

"If you think 20 or 30 years ago, or even less than that, your aim as a player when you had the ball was to beat the man in front of you and that was to try to either dummy a pass or side step around him.

"What you see now, because of the physicality and big men in the sport, is instead of running around the player they run through them.

"It comes down a lot to the coaching, the way the game is played and the players playing the game."

And he thinks allowing fewer substitutions could be the way forward with players having to adapt their approach in games to avoid impact and stay on the pitch longer.

"We as referees and referee managers in World Rugby, we're always looking at things that need to be applied firmer, which contributes to the safety of the game and that is an ongoing process," said Owens.

"It is a physical game and unless you change it beyond total recognition of what the sport is, you are going to have to accept that there is going to be a risk of injury, but a minimal risk if you compare it to people that are injured everyday in walking about doing nothing."

[Buzzo]

It would definitely be good for us.

I think it makes sense, when you have an entire front row coming on after 50 mins, its purely to shore up a scrum/ensure dominance, and whereas before the contest would involve mainly the same players now you are seeing 4-5 scrum replacements.

Re. Salary cap in Scotland. We have central contracts for Edinburgh and Glasgow International players, but both have relatively small budgets so Cap not an issue. The reason marquee players (Russell, Hogg, Gray, Laidlaw) have left reviously is for the money.

[dom9]

Saracens accept their punishment and apologise for wrongdoing.

Could you imagine City in that position? They'd fight it in every court imaginable.

[ame]https://twitter.com/sportingintel/status/1220110687936163842[/ame]

[Buzzo]

Yep, what Saracens have done to the league is disgraceful, and their actions subsequently have not been amazing. They new what they were doing, no matter what anyone says.

However they have accepted their punishment and will now begin to work to rectify.

No chance of that happening in football. The clout and power of club owners ensures it.

[Zapater]

Not banging my own drum (much ) but noticed that Nigel Owens and Alex Rieder have clearly read one of my earlier posts in this thread

As I said before, can't see it happening as it would render a large percentage of forwards almost useless. We'd need to find a whole bunch of rugby league styled players and Schalk Brits would need to come out of retirement to reign as the best player in the world.

Although I do get the point, as a boxing man we always speak about PEDs as dangerous if someone punches as hard in the 2nd round as they do in the last. Which obviously a sub is, in disjointed terms.

[Buzzo]

For **** sake.

[ame]https://twitter.com/Scotlandteam/status/1220329648887943168[/ame]