There are very few certainties in life but one is that when it comes to the crunch the Scottish will bend their servile knees to the English. Another is that the Welsh will do it before the Scots.
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Are you heading up to Twickenham on Saturday after Cheltenham?
Thereās a strong argument that Colin Deans should have been captain in 1983 as well.
There is alway arguments about who should captain the Lions . That is what makes the whole concept fascinating .
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Please keep politics out of rugby union .
I wasnāt talking about politics. I was talking about character
I have no firm plans. Im due home Wedn night but there is plenty excuses i could make to keep myself in the UK til the weekend. Will be plenty tickets flying around now the English are on a dead rubber
To be fair Wales and Scotland have a great tradition of putting it up to England .
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One of those situations where not having a job works in your favour
Except when it matters. They love a wee bit of a rebellion from time to time in fairness. I wonder does 'flower of Scotland ā have the same gusto since their effin referendum?
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Fellas only need a job if they need money or fulfilment? Why would I need a job
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To make amends for the crash?
I donāt know and donāt care .
The Scottish people spoke in a referendum and made a choice , none of my business .
Ah go on, sure itās only banter
Yeah but give or take a couple of thousand, Ireland has the same number of senior male players as New Zealand (25k to 27k), yet look at the difference in achievement there.
Luck was the primary factor, but you still have to capitalise on that luck.
The fact that the professional teams were readymade, with a history, based on pre-existing provinces meant there was an instant geographical and historical identification. Every club in Ireland was already affiliated to one of these four provinces. Thus there were no messy mergers causing bitterness such as happened in Wales.
The geographical identification meant ready made supporter bases, thus meaning higher gates than the Scottish and Welsh, and usually even English and French teams. This meant more money coming through the gates and the teams were more attractive to sponsors. Rugby was already attractive to sponsors because sponsors generally like to target affluent demographics and rugby corresponded with that.
The provincial teams being based in cities, as well as helping with the attendances, meant they were more attractive places to play for imports, and the Irish have generally selected their imports well - good selection of imports reinforced a virtuous circle.
The IRFU have certainly played their hand well, but geography dealt them a great hand going into the professional era.
Their looming problem, and itās one faced by a lot of countries including the big southern hemisphere countries, is if the money in the French club game, and/or the English game, grows to such an extent that the top international players cannot turn it down and you get a Premier League/La Liga duopoly type situation, or even worse, an NBA-type situation. That would cripple the Irish domestic sides. Protectionism in the form of blacklisting players who play abroad from international duty can only last for so long.
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Jeez. Forget about logic and just look at those Maori fuckersā¦and New Zealand donāt play in the six nations???
Wales beat England in Twickenham in the last World Cup and eliminated them in the process. They eliminated them in the inaugural tournament in 1987 too. Englandās sole World Cup win against Wales came in the 2003 quarter-final, when the Welsh, who were rank outsiders, almost stunned the English in what would have been a monumental upset.
Make no mistake, Wales have never feared England in rugby, and especially in World Cups - itās very much the other way around.
I didnāt say the English earned it