Babbling 'brook

Theleafysuburb wrote: ↑March 27th, 2024, 6:33 pm Players find out about academy contracts this Friday. Wilhelm De Klerk rumoured to have already accepted deal at Ulster.

I like de Klerk, would have liked to see him at Leinster. Not sure that Ulster is any better of a landing spot for him with Hume and Postlethwaite at No13.

It's the right move. He made an absolute tits of the situation last year around the Ravenhill pitch and the La Rochelle game, and it looks like bedlam up there at the moment around the short term future of the squad. It is the right move. He has had a decent run in the job to make his mark. After i...

Is there any club in world rugby who regularly attracts 28,000 to it’s home fixtures? Even 75% of them? UBB in the Top14 - according to this report [here: https://www.rugbyworld.com/countries/france-countries/top-14-attendance-records-broken-this-season-according-to-league-154367 ] they average 28,...

And Bayonne clip the wings of 'the Great one' by 13 - 12 in Bayonne. LAR were not very impressive - although Bayonne is a hard place to win. Very poor game - La Rochelle's lineout was atrocious. Situation only really improved when they replaced Tola Latu at hooker with Quentin Lespiaucq. Hastoy mis...

. Would like to see some more of Henry McErlean, some nice moments ... I reckon he will get a run in South Africa next month. I like McErlean a lot, but does he take the tackle a little upright, making it more difficult for him to get to ground and easier for the defense to hold him up? I noticed i...

Really impressive performance from Max Deegan. I thought that he was pretty obviously the standout player on the pitch. He was extremely active in the lineout, really took control of it. I like seeing him up there at the front of the lineout on opposition ball, he's able to get up in the air very qu...

RoboProp wrote: ↑March 23rd, 2024, 9:56 pm

cormac wrote: ↑March 23rd, 2024, 9:00 pm

Breakfast wrote: ↑March 23rd, 2024, 8:53 pm Russell and Turner are quality. Solid players with solid surnames. If they both continue to kick on they could be first team material

What’s not a solid surname?

Waters, Mercury

Lol!

Yeah but equally so, Scotland could have nicked it at the end because we hadn't closed the game out and not for the first time our defensive systems failed and we missed tackles. Obviously delighted by the championship win and particularly given that we were missing Sexton, Hanson, Ringrose, Earls,...

I like Crowley, I think he's excellent. I thought that the baton change from Sexton to him went amazingly well. Crowley started every game at No10 in only his second season at test level and we won the tournament. That's a hell of a result. Like anybody, he had moments that he could improve. But he ...

Hurley being retained is interesting. He’s fine without being spectacular. I think there is a season there to prove he can be a pro. By all accounts we’ve approached a few guys to add to the mix. They are being decent with Hurley. He has spent the guts of a season injured and has probably signed on...

It's an intriguing rumour. Huge upside to Tupou, huge downside as well. Upside is that he is an athletic marvel. Downside is that he is a seriously injury-prone athletic marvel.

In terms of Farrell's selections, the biggest win was clearly at No10. Crowley played every minute and we won the championship. That is an incredibly smooth handover from the very long and very successful Sexton era. It went almost as well as you could realistically want it to go. We had been extrem...

Careful balance needs to be struck over the next few games: need to maintain our lead in the URC, while ensuring we are ready for the Leicester game. Zebre have also been going well this season. Whoever ends up starting at 10 for us against Leicester has played very little (in the position) over th...

Who was Player of the Tournament? Smyth, Gabriel, and Monyihan the 3 that stood out to me. Personally would give it to Gabriel as I think he elevated that Terenure team to a level they didn't have without him. Unfortunate he only got to play the 1st half against Michaels. They seem to have been the...

Lots of very, very tight games in this edition of the championship. Most rounds had two one-score games. Round 1 Italy 24 - 27 England [-3] Wales 26 - Scotland 27 [-1] Round 2 Scotland 16 - 20 France [-4] England 16 - 14 Wales [+2] Round 3 France 13 - 13 Italy [+/-0] Round 4 Italy 31 - 29 Scotland [...

I was reflecting on Farrell's point about our win against Italy and it makes a lot of sense. We hockeyed them off the park, but every other game they played was really, really tight. That goes for the game before they played us as well, against England. Granted they got a consolation score to close ...

Would it be unthinkable for Andy Farrell to ask Tom O'Toole to switch across to LH, literally "for the good of Irish rugby" ? We are now in the unusual position of having better strength at TH than at LH. I don't think anybody who has been keeping even one eye on Irish rugby would dispute ...

It’s a weird feeling to win the Six Nations but play so poorly. Maybe it’ll look different on rewatch Scotland’s defence was outstanding, but some of our decisions to kick for the corner were poor. We could have kicked a handy 9 points in that second half and been out of sight. Instead we were dang...

As per GT Ireland (possible) v Scotland: Keenan; Nash, Henshaw, Aki, Lowe; Crowley, Gibson-Park; Porter, Sheehan, Furlong; McCarthy, Beirne; O’Mahony (capt), van der Flier, Doris. Replacements: Kelleher, Healy, Bealham, Baird, Conan, Murray, H Byrne, Ringrose. If that happens it says an awful lot a...

George North retiring. This week will be his last international. A great servant to Welsh rugby and a hell of a player – 49 test tries [47 for Wales and 2 for the Lions] is an outstanding accomplishment. He has always come across as a bright, decent and hard-working lad, particularly so for somebod...