European Cup Rugby

Rog living rent free in so many heads

The RDS doesnā€™t sell out because there is zero jeopardy to the games. We need less games but more jeopardy. Leinsterā€™s season tickets stagnated in sales a year after the third European Cup because the URC of the day was too easy.

Bit of a problem now that 80% of the season are play in games. Winning trophies covers over that crack but two years now with zero trophies.

You can be sure he would be

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Partly thatā€™s because Leinster appear to invincible at home that teams donā€™t bother sending a fully loaded team, Leinster donā€™t get tested properly and so on etcā€¦

Said it 12 months ago too but sending weakened sides to SA feels like a great idea but you are actually losing an opportunity to play decent sides away from home in an inconvenient situationā€¦be interesting to see how many away games Leinster top players actually play in a season

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Nigh on 20 years now the same mutton heads are popping off him on here and being proven wrong time and time again. Itā€™s fucking magic :joy::joy:

The RDS is a nice ground and very enjoyable to watch a game but it rarely attracts casual audiences.

I think the fact that the 14k season ticket holders were scrambling to get a ticket to Saturday when they are paying ā‚¬500+ for a season ticket underlines how badly rugby has gotten it with its club game.

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Always been the way in fairness since outset of European cup that they sell the tickets that early

Iā€™m only relaying what Iā€™ve been told. I know fuck all about rugby but beating Leinster like that was a great achievement and good luck to him.

In fairness pal. Your a harmless lad but ffs what your pal told you about a young lad being a bollix 30+ years ago when he was 12 is hardly relevant :joy:

Your point on SA extends to inter pros.

Absolute nonsense that we rest so many players for marquee games.

Remember some of the Stephenā€™s Day encounters between Leinster and Munster. Contepomi giving it to Munster fans in the RDS and Thomond abusing Sexton. Whatā€™s the value of the second stringers with a couple of starters playing?

Weā€™re talking rugby, most things are irrelevant.

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Fuck allā€¦Leinster slow to twig this really considering how much else they get right . Could/should have 2 in a rowā€¦just didnā€™t keep enough in reserve either year when la rochelle generally get going

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Lowe boots a ball into touch or eventually cuddles a lad to the ground every second or third tackle, and does a lap.of honour. No wonder heā€™s bad. He must be exhausted.

2/3 lawnster 1/3 antipodean.

The problem with the URC is that outside of the other Irish teams there is little appeal to Irish spectators to playing the other teams in it. Nobody in Ireland gives a fuck about Glasgow or the Ospreys or the new South African teams.

Itā€™s like the Leinster hurling championship, a jumble of a competition comprising teams from all over the place whose supporters arenā€™t at all exercised about the oppostion.

Leinster v Munster is a bit like Kilkenny v Wexford, the only real local rivalry in the competition, and even thatā€™s now mainly a one way thing.

Rugby would be as well off to wind up the competition and have a UK Superleague and let the Italians go in with the French and the South Africans go back to Super Rugby. That way youā€™d have three very strong competitions rather than one very strong one and three ones on life support and it would benefit the international game across several countries too.

Where would the Irish teams go?

The British Isles Superleague.

You could have a top 14 with:
Leicester
Gloucester
Bath
Exeter
Saracens
Bristol
Leinster
Munster
Ulster
Llanelli
Cardiff
Ospreys
Glasgow
Edinburgh

Then a second tier with, say:
Northampton
Sale
Wasps
Worcester
London Irish
Harlequins
Newcastle
Coventry
Orrell
Preston Grasshoppers
Rosslyn Park
Connacht
Dragons
A third Scottish team

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Had great time for Lam before him too.

Been some excellent men come through their ranks

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Iā€™d Def agree the UK league is the solution. The English actually need it as well now but Ireland have such a strong negotiating position, being the only union with money who donā€™t actually need it, that it nearly makes it less likely to happen

Some of the rest of the post I donā€™t agree with. I think the main reason at the moment there is limited attraction to some URC games is that the Welsh for example are shit. Munster have a bitter enough rivalry with Glasgow, Iā€™d say a lot more emnity there between teams and fans than there is with Leinster in reality.

The SA teams coming in was brilliant for it. They play strong sides full of internationals all the time. I think in a few years the URC will be stronger. SA have brought cash to the party. Scots teams are ok, benneton are ok. The Welsh are an absolute shambles though and still on freefall, the Welsh fans only want a league with the English. They have convinced themselves itā€™s the only thing holding them back. The English donā€™t want them though (because they donā€™t bring money to the table) and any joining up of Welsh and English would be like two alcoholic paupers getting together. Destined for failure.

The only solution to the club game lies with the unions. The English union donā€™t have control over the clubs but the clubs financial position means they might have leverage here soon, but probably donā€™t have the money to actually save the club game now it is so far gone down the tubes with London Irish now looking likely to fold as well.

The Welsh union is a mess. And they donā€™t have money to put into the clubs to make them competitive. A major sponsor pulled the plug today in protest at the shambolic management. The decision to pump all that money into gatland when they have nothing will prove to be one of the worst decisions of all time for them IMO. Tipuric and AWJ retiring in the space of 30 mins the other day stinks

The top 14 is a fantastic league and a model to aspire to. The English had the chance to have it but fucked it up royally and will never get there now.

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In fairness La Rochelle have sold out their home ground off 17k for four or five seasons in a row or something crazy like that and itā€™s only a town of 75k.

Lads on here do be losing their mind when 30k turn one up at one of a handful of Munster championship games are played every year.

If gaa counties were playing 20 odd home games a year I doubt any county bar Dublin would break 17k consistently.

By and large Irish people arenā€™t great attendees at sporting events itā€™s no different for gaa, soccer or rugby.

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