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Bath RFC	InTheFastLane
Exeter Chiefs	Driver - RIP 606
Gloucester	Anonmattyt
Harlequins	Steven_Sharks
Leicester Tigers	LukeLovesLuka
London Irish	stnick88
London Wasps	Arry
Newcastle Falcons	Sgt_Pooly
Northampton Saints	Dammit_Chris
Sale Sharks	SirJohnnyEnglish
Saracens	Ozzy3213
Worcester Warriors	prop_lyd

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Waiting List
1. pullthestrings
2. Bathite

Hooper is some 7 very destructive and carries ok.He is in the pocock destroyer mode and jake white has really improved him. Was great in their under 20s

White would have been great England coach a true visionary and great man.


Hooper gill pocock Aussies have some decent 7s all young.

All in a similar style also. Hooper destroyed so much highlanders ball. Haskell struggled to clear him quite a few times. Great technique of releasing the tackler and then contesting the ball

I am with you on 6 months. Burger 6 weeks on stormers forum. Their young 4 is playing at moment is some player. Elstadt will do well to displace him which is some compliment

Hooper is quality Steve, tried for him remember but you done me! Can see him pushing Pocock for 7 jersey in next few years.

Think O.Franks was in there too for his demolishing of Cheetahs scrum.

Chris......Savea made it too, was canny at weekend.

Elstadt starting BS this weekend

Franks and BDP both had top games at the weekend.

This Brodie Retallick who SJE signed looks handy aswell. Didn't realise he had been snapped up he was very much on my transfer target list.

Desperately need some 2nd rowers in the summer with Sharpe retiring. either that or Donnelly starts showing some of his AB form.

Donnally has improved since last few seasons. He was fantastic a few years back, prob form 5 in world at time. Think Whitelock coming in knocked him, similar with Boric although I'm not a huge fan.

I've got a fair few locks if your short Steve

Whitelock was a blow for Donnelly. Not quite sank as badly as Isaac Ross though!

Hopefully when crusaders improve donnelly will improve.

I need to decide whether I need enforcers or lineout men before I start cracking out deals

Eben etzbeth has been best 4 in super 15 he will be my target in foreigns
. Good to see deon Fourie back this weekend after long injury lay off. Elstadt playing flank yes.

Beuden Barrett looks some ten. Defence needs work but very dynamic.

Big jaco taute fan also

Etzbeth on my list as well matt. Very decent player.

I would imagine Etzebeth will be on most peoples lists, he's had a fantastic start to the season. Stormers have excellent depth in their pack but really lacking a bit of spark behind it at the moment.

So many good locks in SA, such a strong position for them. Big talk of Kruger making Bok team for England tour.

Think I am top of cash list Steve so should be ok. Good to have Horne jdj and gear back in form also. I think Sam Whitlock will move to 4 to replace thorn for Ab's interesting to see who plays 6 for ab's with kaino out. Thompson tried and failed too many times could see mccaw 6 and a different 7 maybe

He has a great chance. Expect Bakkies to partner Bekker if everyone on form but kruger not far down the list.

Will Meyer be selecting players outside of South Africa?

I think the time is now for them to move on from Bakkies to be honest and get a new pairing in there. As Pooly has said, they have plenty of locks to choose from.

Seen Hansen say McCaw will play 7 as his best position. Think he does the 6 job well personally but with Kaino gone probably more important to bring through BS.

I'm a big fan of Thompson, just always seems to fade by the time 3N comes. Prob because Highlanders play him every minute.

A SA party went to meet Bakkies, Steyn & Fourie a few weeks back apparently. Nothing been said though

Whilst we are on the topic of foreign transfer targets, the window will open on Monday 4th June, and you will only be able to bid on 1 player at a time. The summer transfer window will close on 31st August.

Du Preez also

The answer is simple will bakkies be at the next world cup ??? The answer for me is no so move on.

The only reason I would play him is if they went for inexperienced props or to bring on elstadt, bekker and etzbeth, Kruger etc. they may be light on leaders though !

Back row will pick itself if fit and Hooker nailed down. Could see greyling and coonie etc in an inexperienced front row.


Best way to introduce new players is in a settled side and I know Meyer said that when appointed he wanted bakkies and a few others overseas available for selection. Meyer is his biggest fan and also bakkies respects him hugely.

Bakkies like most south Africans is massive Christian and leads the bok prayer group. Weird!!!

Meyer also wanted Matfield to come out of retirement. I am not sure his appointment is really the right one for South Africa moving forward.

Very good coach plays power rugby which suits SA for me the right choice and better than PDV which ain't hard.

Wonder if he will pick any cheetahs?? Traditionally pretorians don't like the free staters

I thought they might have gone for Rassie Erasmus. Meyer won't evolve their game at all. He will be solid and play power rugby. Expect plenty of Bulls players in his squads.

Maybe too many bulls players I agree pete. If Olivier gets in the squad then that will tell you his intentions !!

anyone recommend any props at all - ideally playing on both sides etc?

Not many props specialise on both sides, you'd be best off just looking for a TH or LH. Attoub could be a good shout, dirty bugger though

Greyling bulls lh is improving all time and supremely mobile. Attoub is a nasty tight head although a bit old

The kiwi props one young and one old who keep getting in planet rugby teams of week ain't bad.

Montpelier tight head very good.

Do you want starting prop or impact ??

Paul James welsh bench is either side and ok although not for me. Kepu the Aussie and waratahs tight head gets better every game also

Plenty of props in the game Chris, I'm sure somebody would do a deal for somebody to do a job for you.

i was basically looking for the fattest prop I could find and assumed that would mean he would be the best.

There's a NZ kid 130kg....

Sold!

The prop Bordeaux bought on against toulouse is the fattest pro player ever seen lasts 20 minutes but effective

I like the sound of him too - now I am torn. I am sure that forward play is as simple as this.

1. the fatter the front row player the better he is.
2. the taller the second row player the better he is.
3. back row is a bit more complicated, but seems to be if you can tackle and run a bit then you are in my team.

Chris this says it all

http://www.theroar.com.au/2011/06/07/forwards-are-better-than-backs/

was that written by someone from the Daily Star? Seems very factually inaccurate, its almost suggesting that forwards are important in a game of rugby

Telegraph apparently saying Lancaster has got the job.

Daily Mail saying he has it as well. Can't stand the Mail but they have got some very good sources in the England camp, normally get their stories spot on.

One unclear issue that needs to be sorted is that Lancaster wants to keep a small coaching setup, whilst RFU want a few more specialists in. Sounds like potential for a bit of dispute there.

Read this article on the Hartley incident - is it just me or does this sort of thing basically say that it is ok for another player to pull someone by the mouth etc basics are that if Ferris didnt do what he did nothing would have happened, so why isn't Ferris even given a ticking off for what he did? Makes no sense to me.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/international/england/9169574/England-hooker-Dylan-Hartley-suspended-for-eight-weeks-for-biting-Irleands-Stephen-Ferris.html

for me Lancaster will be a steve Mclaren. All matey matey with the players never works for me.

Hope i am wrong but see this as disastrous for England.

What experience does he have for what is arguably the biggest job in world rugby.

In essence it is a total punt on an RFU lackey. No experience of ever managing a big side apart from caretaking the england role.

Rob Andrew will be licking his lips

Hopefully Wayne Smith will come in too if Lanc gets it. I fear for our backline if the current setup is retained

I agree with you Pooly - think Wayne Smith needs to come in - if you watch the way Sarries backline play, you really dont want Farrell coaching them.

Think he could become an exceptional defence coach, but backs coach requires someone whose first thought isnt defence - we've got some electric backs and our only tactic seemed to be give the ball to Tuilagi and let him run through the line and hope he offloads it!

Just found the link to Ben Youngs, naughty lad!

http://www.rugbydump.com/

One/two weeks for punching, but the knee could easily double that. Why do it though.

Callum Clark gets his hearing tonight - how long a ban? 6-12 months I think.

3 months for Clark is my bet.

not so fussed about the punching, it was the knee drop that annoyed me. when you have someone pinned down, a knee to the face is bang out of order.

Very interesting to see who gets the England captaincy full time now.

A punch is a punch in rugby, it happens - but the knee drop was completely out of order and lucky Gibson wasn't injured - think Youngs was also lucky that it was Alinson that saw him do it and not one of the Irish pack!

How long a ban do you think he will get? With the punches I think he'd get 1-2 weeks, but very cowardly punching a guy on the floor - yet just 1-2 weeks as Gibson shouldnt have held onto him. Reckon a 4 week ban for the knee.

I reckon Robshaw is going to be captain - Lancaster seems very loyal and chummy with the players, which is great when things go well, but can also make decisions to drop certain players very difficult when things dont go so well!

I think it will be between Robshaw and Wood. With Robshaw as favourite.

Honestly is robshaw good enough to command a place in side long term?? For me no!! Could be borthwick all over again. Coach should not be matey with players that is the big issue with Lancaster

Robshaw must be favourite with Lancaster in charge. Good enough to command a starting place with Wood/Croft I honestly don't know.

Croft looks great playing Robshaw as he does dirty work and a backrow is about balance. Big fan of all 3 flankers if I'm honest and all 3 streets ahead of others. Good to have the completion I guess.

I really like Wood though but he needs to fight his way back into side.

Pretty accurate there pooly. Robshaw did well in 6n. Nobody has mentioned that the 6 nations after wc is always a shambles. Wales usually do well and lots of teams are starting over in terms of players and coaches so hard to know if we did well or the others were poor.

That;s the trouble as we were truly, truly awful against SCotland and Italy, should have lost both games easily. Then we raised our game, but did we ever really look any good in attack?

I can just remember some very good breaks by Morgan and Tuilagi and Croft looking good again in the final game.

Wonder who will go on the summer tour, and whether if Cipriani will get a look in?

Clark gets an 8 month ban...