Rugby World Cup

[lukesdad]

England is now history. Next Saturday is the present and more important. Allez la France!

The following sat you mean and 4 th place

 

[lukesdad]

Flair is an excellent thing to strive for, but it is only part of the game. Without quick and competitive back row forwards scavenging at the breakdown securing all your ball and turning over some of theirs, securing scrums and linouts etc., all the flair in the World will be pretty hollow.

Wales suffered from this for a decade.

 

[brokenflipflop]

not if you think getting worse each time is acceptable. winners runners up and runners up again would be far better.

Yeah, but, other countries have got more people in the population to select from - We're limited in that if you factor out anyone north of Birmingham, everyone that's obese, couch potatoes, techno/gadget geeks, foreign nationals and women then you're just about left with enough posh blokes from the south that qualify to play for England RU.

Top eight in the world is pretty good under the circumstances.

Scotland are also handicapped in the fact that their national dish is cholesterol AND a very small population. So they are overperforming for sure.

 

[trustysteed]

Yeah, but, other countries have got more people in the population to select from -

New Zealand aren't exactly struggling with a population of about 5 million, are they?

 

[subaqua]

Yeah, but, other countries have got more people in the population to select from - We're limited in that if you factor out anyone north of Birmingham, everyone that's obese, couch potatoes, techno/gadget geeks, foreign nationals and women then you're just about left with enough posh blokes from the south that qualify to play for England RU.

Top eight in the world is pretty good under the circumstances.

Scotland are also handicapped in the fact that their national dish is cholesterol AND a very small population. So they are overperforming for sure.

does the fact that Wales has a smaller population than England and Scotland escape you

 

[brokenflipflop]

New Zealand aren't exactly struggling with a population of about 5 million, are they?

I'm working on the basis that after I've factored out all the people in England that are ineligible due to never having heard of RU, being too fat, being women or too pre-occupied with gadgets to have played sport and the fact that RU is a religion in NZ then they probably have a bigger pool of quality players to pick from.

I might be wrong but Tarquin and Giles sat indoors playing X-box and re-formatting Daddy's hard drive in Godalming compared to Brett running after sheep and hurdling boulders on the South Island might indicate why NZ are so much better at rugby.

 

[brokenflipflop]

does the fact that Wales has a smaller population than England and Scotland escape you

I've spent 3 minutes thinking about this and all I can conclude is that the Welsh are just better than both England and Scotland.

I don't know if they are genetically superior. I don't know if they are more active as a nation. I don't know if they play more rugby because football in Wales is not really that good. I don't know if they are tactically superior. I don't know if they just have the David & Goliath, we've got our own language, us against the bigger boys mentality. It might be a bit of everything.

I hope they win it

 

[trustysteed]

I might be wrong but Tarquin and Giles sat indoors playing X-box and re-formatting Daddy's hard drive in Godalming compared to Brett running after sheep and hurdling boulders on the South Island might indicate why NZ are so much better at rugby.

that's true and with friends in NZ who tell me the weather's just as crap in Auckland rain-wise, there's no excuse for them not to be outside manning the F up.

but when you have schools refusing to have sports days to avoid there being any 'loser', it's no surprise england are shoot.

 

[trustysteed]

[QUOTE 1547921"]
Only 7 people play rugby in Scotland. FACT!
[/quote]


Hong Kong 7's should work out well for them, then.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

New Zealand aren't exactly struggling with a population of about 5 million, are they?

NZ's strength largely comes from the fact that they draw not only on NZ but on all the Polynesian islands, whose populations are generally big guys to begin with. Auckland is the de facto capital of Polynesia. My cousin is a big guy for Britain and used to play flanker (I think) for Blackheath, but when he moved to NZ, he realized that he would never have made it there, as he's relatively tiny compared to the Polynesian guys (or he'd have had to have been a fly-half or something).

This is also the reason why Fiji, Tonga and Samoa can't get a look in - basically most of their best players become NZ citizens. And of course NZ (and Australia) keep it this way, by keeping the smaller island nations out of the Tri-nations etc., which makes playing for their home nations less attractive for any ambitious, talented Polynesian player.

 

[User482]

NZ's strength largely comes from the fact that they draw not only on NZ but on all the Polynesian islands

England are getting in on the act: Manu Tuilagi was born in Samoa. I'm sure that his burgeoning international career had nothing to do with the Home Office's decision to stop deportation proceedings...

 

[brokenflipflop]

England are getting in on the act: Manu Tuilagi was born in Samoa. I'm sure that his burgeoning international career had nothing to do with the Home Office's decision to stop deportation proceedings...

Although I heard he thought England were so shoot that he jumped off the ferry to swim back to Samoa.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

More people, an order of magnitude more people*, play Rugby Union in England on the average Saturday during the season than in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, France, Ireland and Wales combined.*

We should be way better than we are..... but the game is in decline here at every level.

*a slight exaggeration but not a massive one.

 

[User482]

More people, an order of magnitude more people*, play Rugby Union in England on the average Saturday during the season than in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, France, Ireland and Wales combined.*

We should be way better than we are..... but the game is in decline here at every level.

*a slight exaggeration but not a massive one.

In decline since when? Isn't it the case that England are usually rubbish, with occasional periods of success?

 

[lukesdad]

More people, an order of magnitude more people*, play Rugby Union in England on the average Saturday during the season than in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, France, Ireland and Wales combined.*

We should be way better than we are..... but the game is in decline here at every level.

*a slight exaggeration but not a massive one.

"play" being the key word .