Heineken cup
I am amazed no one makes a comment about what is probably the best rugby club competition int he world, especially the Welsh posters who seem to outnumber the English ones here.Mind you their regions have not done particularly well so far .TYhei year every one thought The Ospreys would do something special and yet Leinster beat them well last weekend, at home.Scarlets have done remarkably well in beating Quins away whereas Cardiff Blues were rubbish .Early doors of course but having watched the first round of matches it looks very much like Toulon are the team to beat Think it will be a great Heineken Cup this year. Back to wind up the Welsh then lgs? As that is all you're doing basically.If you want to talk about the rugby rather than just try to wind people up, then yes there was some good matches and some interesting results (Quins as you mentioned, Edinburgh beating Munster).
There were some good performances by Exeter, Toulon (as you'd expect), Racing, Gloucester (although do many French teams ever win away?! Apart from Montpellier beating Treviso of course).
And the final question of course, what will we have next season?! i wasnt actually otherwise i would not have mentioned Scarlets excellent result, but you musty admit the Welsh regions have constantly failed to deliver and bar Scarlets , this past weekend seemed ton continue that trend .Having said that I cannot see Ospreys or Cardiff playing as badly as they did.Does that seemlike a wind up? I suppose the other question that needs asking is regarding the threat to the competition itself ie English /French clubs setting up their competition inviting the Celtic clubs but under very different conditions.Whilst i understand their reasons for wanting to do so, I wonder if its not also about money as well as underminingthe European Rugby Cup I was going to start a thread on this, but was so shocked at the appalling Cardiff Blues performance during the first 50 minutes last week I couldn't bring myself to data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Some great games last week - thoroughly enjoyed the Edinburgh, Scarlets and Gloucester games.
Glad to say a much better showing today saw a great victory over the reigning champs. Fantastic atmosphere at Cardiff Arms Park - I'm old and lucky enough to remember when it was like that at most home games.
Moving on to the future of the competition, you can't blame the English & French clubs - I think they have a reasonable point. They have a much tougher qualification process than the Rabo sides, who also pick up a bigger slice of the pot. Not sure a breakaway competition is the answer, but something definitely needs to be done. Great result for Cardiff, just hope they keep it up. But what a game at Parc y Scarlets (remember Bob West is Best). Ospreys? Just what is going there. At least Wales has one side topping their group.
But the competition's future? I just don't think an English/French cup will last, it could become too predictable and boring. Having the Celtic Nations and Italy in the competition spices things up, the Irish do so well in it. I hope we will see the competition keep the same format with maybe making qualification for the Rabo harder (not that that will make a difference to the Ospreys). If there are no Welsh or other Rabo nations represented some years then so be it. That in itself could make the Rabo a far more competitive league.
Anyway. Move over Bigger, Rhys is back.data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 Who is this Bob West of whom you speak? data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
After a dreadful start to the League, the Scarlets have clearly leapt up several gears, which is great to see.
Like you, I'm not sure what's occurring down in Ospreylia - but I'm really looking forward to their clash with the Dragons this weekend. They (Dragons) are playing some great rugby at the moment - the Feletau/Rees/Tovey combination is really working for them.
Agree with your comments about the HC.
The Biggar/Priestland argument is really interesting. Lots of stuff on Twitter & FB about it and, of course, a certain Mr. Hook is in the form of his life at the moment - admittedly at 15, but we all know he can play at 10 or 12 equally.
Tomorrow's squad announcement will be interesting. I can't see anything other than a Jon Davies/Scott Williams centre-paring at the moment.. data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 If the press is to believed then Hook will, yet again, be s*** on by Gatland. He is such a gifted player and, as you've said, in real form and can cover three positions on the field. At least he's in the squad.
Looks like a good squad - glad to see all the Scarlets Williams "brothers" get a break - especially Scott, who seems to be in the form of his life.
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