Good kick by Murray. Has Bleyendaal missed one already or was that a range thing?
Itâs on lads. Itâs fucking on. Saracens are over weight donât like the heat
Be up there with the tiger Woods come back. Might even eclipse it.
Mahony lucky to escape the card there? Not a try-scoring opportunity I suppose.
None of the London clubs have ever built up much of a following. The names donât help. âSaracensâ, âWaspsâ, âHarlequinsâ - they were like the names of Super Rugby franchises before Super Rugby ever existed. They donât have an identity and identity and place is what attracts people to sports teams.
Leicester, Gloucester, Northampton, Bristol and Bath at least all have that.
Itâs no surprise that the Ospreys are being wound up - another franchise - which destroyed the identity of Neath and Swansea and supporters of neither were much inclined to follow. Itâs no suprise that the Scarlets, which effectively were a continuation of Llanelli RFC which has a rich and wonderful history, were always the most successful Welsh team.
Harlequins are a decent club.
It is the biggest failure by Premiership rugby that they could not translate the huge audience in London for rugby to regular attendances.
Harlequins are always the club Iâve most identified with rugby in London but theyâve never had much of a following.
Tradition and identity canât be manufactured in a short period of time, itâs incredibly difficult to manufacture at all - if you donât have it, thatâs pretty much it, really, especially in Europe where tradition and identity are a key currency for teams in all sports - it might be slightly different in the US and Australia as regards new sports teams, but even the Aussies have failed miserably with their Super Rugby franchises.
French club rugby is almost totally based on place and identity and thatâs why itâs turned into such big business. And Ligue 1 in football isnât the same counter attraction as the Premier League.
The provincial teams in Ireland already had all that when the IRFU decided that was the path they would go down.
Billy V is some size
Rugby was always a club orientated game. Tough to translate but compare how English football managed to Hoover up middle class fans all willing to pay top money for games. Football has the edge in that it has a more day to day edge than rugby but they still managed to do it.
Wow
Man there is a game on what fucking rubbish you clogging up this thread. Stick to the game or fuck off.
Munster have no shape.
English rugbyâs clubs were invariably tiny ramshackle operations.
George Hook used to say that Leicester, Gloucester, Northampton and Moseley were the four biggest English clubs. Iâd add Bristol and Bath to that. But none were hugely above the status of ramshackle.
You had the three London clubs plus London Irish and Welsh and Scottish.
Beyond that it was Orrell, Rosslyn Park, Blackheath, Preston Grasshoppers etc.
English rugby didnât even have a nationwide club competition until 1987.
English football was able to target middle class spectators because there were dozens of clubs which had long, long histories of attracting massive crowds - it was about almost reclaiming lost history, but that history never dies.
Rugby has had to try and create a new one and thatâs very difficult.
Sarries starting to wear them down now, no frills but itâs effective.
Could be the killer blow here.
The dying roar of some drunk munster munster munster
I canât stand to see Munster losing. Itâs so against their natural flow. Awfully disappointing stuff.
Anyone with a basic level of rugby knowledge knew Munster would be hosed
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Murray was quick there, terrible try for Saracens to give away at the same time.
Yes