Planet Rugby Forum

DeDoc

Who do you reckon the players Murray is talking about who were on decent money but duds? Does anyone have an easy to consult NIQ list from his time at Munster? This is what Gemini told me when I asked for non IQ signings from 2010-11 onwards: 2010-11 Peter Borlase (New Zealand) Sam Tuitupou (New Ze...

DeDoc

First of all, congratulations to Ireland who certainly coulda, shoulda and esp. woulda, had Berthomieu's bite had been addressed at the time. Even without justice there, that felt like the closest game since USA v Aus. What I like about TMOs is that reviews do often come up with the RIGHT decision....

DeDoc

I see one of my local TDs, Eoin Hayes, is in the news again. He issued a statement apologising for dressing up in 'blackface' when impersonating Obama at Halloween 2009, when President of the UCC students union. Deep down he's not really a SD, is he ? :lol: Do these lads honestly believe that sort ...

DeDoc

Matt Williams in today's Irish Times. Munster do not have a coaching problem. They have a cultural problem with players and administrators not taking responsibility for their performances. Munster’s scapegoating of coaches has allowed generations of players and administrators to avoid the necessary,...

DeDoc

WHO CAN STILL QUALIFY? The three remaining vacancies will be claimed via (a) Pacific Nations Cup, (b) Sudamérica 2 vs Pacific 4 play-off series and (c) Repechage – Final Qualification Tournament. Either Samoa or the USA will qualify via the Pacific Nations Cup. World Rugby allocated three places to...

DeDoc

What do people make of Murray's criticism of Munster in general and Rowntree in particular? Surprised he went so hard into Rowntree, the general Munster stuff is something a lot of us have been saying for a long time. It's interesting to see it come from a player. Albeit my own view was always that...

DeDoc

Dupont is a powerful ball carrying 9, amongst other things . Like being the best current rugby player, one of the all time greats, being nicknamed "The Martian" because he isn't human... :lol: I think AJs point is generally true - more of a premium now on SHs who provide tempo, less on being an ind...

DeDoc

Question (genuine) for team green - is Conor mcgregor going to be a Farage type character ? I heard rumblings of him wanting to run for president - but he’s starting to appear on social media a lot now. I don’t listen to him and swipe down, just thought I’d ask here for a quicker smart viewpoint. N...

DeDoc

Just thinking more about this, did they make the seasons run later to accommodate the French for the summer tests and then the French turn around and still send B teams on those tours? There is some element of that for sure. I think (but far from sure) that there was also some degree of accommodati...

DeDoc

I am completely in favour of looking after players and ensuring they're not playing too much, but I'm not sure the season structure is optimal. The challenge is that you've a group of players who play international rugby and a bunch (the majority) who don't. International rugby largely pays for the ...

DeDoc

Tonga, Uruguay and Canada all qualified over the weekend, Yes, Chile won 21-18 in Montevideo, but Uruguay qualified on aggregate points difference. Chile are doing something right, hope they get there again, they would have a big following in Oz. Great to see Chile keeping that momentum. So, if I'm...

DeDoc

Perhaps I'm the only one that's really put out by this? You're not. I'm agin it. Also quite a few of my (RL, not posting here!) rugby mates. I don't get why we can't start the season in early September for all NH rugby, and finish in May for all URC and GP rugby. Let the French continue for another...

DeDoc

I'm probably just slow but how does having a four month break in the URC work towards the aligning of the global calendar? Both can be true :lol: Yeah, it is designed with regard to the global calendar (which I'm increasingly thinking is a load of me bollox) Round 18 of the 2024/25 URC was the 16/1...

DeDoc

Both Ita-Irl and Ita-Arg would possibly be competitive. In practice one of them would likely be. At a stretch, maybe. But only 2 of the last 10 games have Italy finished within 2 scores, and only once (this year) within a score. 6 have been blowouts. Italy-Argentina has been a bit more competitive ...

DeDoc

Was it a Spiv thing? Thought it was part of getting a global calendar going. Maybe French spivs? I'm probably just slow but how does having a four month break in the URC work towards the aligning of the global calendar? Both can be true :lol: Yeah, it is designed with regard to the global calendar ...

DeDoc

No URC till end sept is crazy. Our top liners will only be back a couple of weeks before Chicago on Nov 1. Yeah it's madness Some players won't have played in four months. It's nuts. Bloody Spivs. June rugby (other than internationals) doesn't do it for me, and I'm pining for domestic rugby now, an...

DeDoc

That makes sense. Groups of 5 was sub-optimal. Compared to some theoretical ideal, where there was a perfect balance between a supply of games for the TV audience, and reasonable rest between games maybe. However, in my opinion 20 teams is better than 16 or 24 in terms of number of comeptitive team...

DeDoc

Ah had completely memory holed that one. So there’s 6 groups and a round of 16? That’s going to be a very long intake of breath before the action starts. It's six groups of four. Because there's no one waiting for a match, the competition will actually be shorter and we'll hit the knockout stage ea...

DeDoc

In the past 5 seasons, only 5 teams have featured in the finals. Three of those who've featured multiple times (Leinster, Bulls, Stormers) are stacked with test players, with the sort of wage bills that the remaining 13 sides could only dream of. If we're all happy with the UFC turning into the EPL...

DeDoc

kiap wrote: ↑Wed Sep 03, 2025 8:28 pm That German election map is also stark.

I hadn't realised parts of the old lines were still so pertinent.

thanks for posting that. Extraordinary - almost 40 years since the wall came down and the old divisions appear largely unchanged...

DeDoc

On some level, I think it's a pity the Celtic Warriors (?), the Borders and Aironi didn't work out - honestly a case of the more the merrier for me, unless it's Spiv run clubs. Zebre and Aironi are pretty direct replacements for each other and in the same part of the the country - a large chunk of ...

DeDoc

"We added teams from 8,000 miles away with massive stadiums, so the league's average attendance went up." Jaysus. Is that it? I saw a graph** a few months ago, which showed that the average home attendance figures for every single URC team had increased over the past few years (some significantly) ...

DeDoc

I get the overseas students subsidise the med school argument but it still stinks. We have a growing population who need doctors. It does stink. Pragmatically though, it ain't changing until the funding model in the Med Schools fundamentally changes. The med schools are just the thin end of the wed...

DeDoc

He is talking absolute shite sorry. AV won't work for mass transit full stop. Our urban environment (for one) makes it impossible to work like he envisages. You can even see how it won't work if you look at Uber. The fundamental model of networking effects requires a balance between supply and dema...

DeDoc

Obviously there were some issues, eg with Camille Chat. But Lancaster didn't learn French and was frankly too boring to overcome that. Lorenzetti at least accepted responsibility for the wet rag's failure, even if Lancaster won't do the same. I'm pretty sure I heard him interviewed in his first yea...

DeDoc

Firstly, the tech is not largely there, there's all sorts of issues with how automation will interact with the outside world, in some scenarios we need things like entirely segregated autonomous road networks closed to outside influences such as other drivers, people running onto the road, animals ...

DeDoc

AI will make Dublin’s MetroLink obsolete, says Dermot Desmond https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/2025/08/05/dublins-planned-metrolink-will-be-obsolete-because-of-artificial-intelligence-says-dermot-desmond/ WTF are the IT doing running stories like this. AI and self driving cars will render ...

DeDoc

Problem with the Irish team for the last 30 years It’s harder to play yourself off the team than on to it It's less the Irish team and more the provincial set up. People always talk about how the French Under-20s play more Top 14 than our lads but the reason is the higher number of games and the la...

DeDoc

I appreciate as you get far enough down the list you're into semi-pros and even amateurs who have 'real jobs' they need to get back to. But to some depth, surely you are talking people earning a living in the pro game. For example in the last world cup, the 3rd, 4th and 5th placed teams were: Teams ...

DeDoc

And there will be the same minnow nations getting battered again this time around. But perhaps the whole Cup-Plate-Bowl thing would work in a 20-team tournament. Top 2 in the groups go through to the Cup QF, next 2 in each to the Plate and the bottom 4 compete in the Bowl. Not sure how to make the ...

DeDoc

@CM Yes, something like 70% or so of our pharma exports are to EMEA destinations, but the 30% that end up in the States are by far the most profitable because of the high prices prevalent there. The 15% tariff agreement appears to cover all pharma (and semi-conductor, important for INTEL) goods. Fr...

DeDoc

I don't think there will actually be more blow outs really as the tournament is only increasing by 4 games in total. There will be fewer true blowouts just by not having short rest gaps as was necessary when you had pools of 5. Watching USA's seconds take on the top team in each pool because of the...

DeDoc

I'd have gone for less qualifiers with top 12 only, top 4 best finishing teams automatically into the quarter finals. The round of 16 will be too big imo. 12 would have created jeopardy and kept good contests for a Wild Card round. As it happens the group stages won't have that many big games but w...

DeDoc

I don't think there will actually be more blow outs really as the tournament is only increasing by 4 games in total. At the last world cup, with 4 groups of 5, the bottom teams agains the top 2 (i.e. quarter finalists) were: Namibia - scored 3, conceded 167 in two matches Romania - scored 8, conced...

DeDoc

Quins89 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 19, 2025 9:04 pm
CM11 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 19, 2025 8:33 pm McCarthy off due to plantar fascia. Very uncomfortable injury. Hopefully won't rule him out next week.
What type of injury is this?

I think it is something to do with "Ulster face"

DeDoc

My best guess is it is related to insurance

DeDoc

lnstr93 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 14, 2025 5:25 pm The 20s are proper shite

And/or the coach is shite...

DeDoc

CM11 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 13, 2025 10:43 pm Who are we playing and which placing match?

Scotland and 9-12

DeDoc

And it’s cover with 10 days to playing Heyes could easily make it. Is Farrell just trolling us now, calling up all these useless Leinster journeymen? It’s the Lions ffs! England, Wales and Scotland have test matches this weekend. If Farrrell called up one of their players, they'd have to bring out ...

DeDoc

He's a shadow of his former self in terms of his ability to troll, but he does still retain a capacity to dangle some tasty morsels in the water occasionally I still enjoy reading his articles, but more in a 'there, there' kind of curiousity rather than expecting something outrageous. A bit like wat...

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