Re: 5pm

by Chunky Norwich Mon 28 Apr 2014, 6:45 pm

First topic message reminder :

Zebre v Ospreys 17:00

Thursday 1st May 2014

RaboDirect Pro12

by GoodinTightSpaces Tue 29 Apr 2014, 2:24 pm

Chunky Norwich wrote:
No 7&1/2 wrote:
Yeah, it's terrible to have to find excuses to get more fans through the gates. Seriously what's your point?

?????

pLAYIGN THAT GAME AT 6.30PM GOT MORE FANS THROUGH THE GATE?

WTF?

excellent point, disband the league they scheduled one match poorly

by HammerofThunor Tue 29 Apr 2014, 3:25 pm

Chunky Norwich wrote:
HammerofThunor wrote:
Chunky Norwich wrote:Many 5pm weekday games in the Aviva prem, super15 or Top 14 this season?

Well they play them on bokking day don't they? Even when it's a week day Of course the Premiership have all the same national holidays so it's not an issue.
And S15? Seriously? With the time zone differences and travel you think this would be an issue? south Africa have similar time zone to us but the games in New Zealand and Australia are often played on Friday morning aren't they?

Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear.

I think the answer you're looking for is "no"

Yes, 09:35am and 11:40am games on Fridays are much better than 5pm on Thursday

by Chunky Norwich Tue 29 Apr 2014, 3:28 pm

HammerofThunor wrote:
Yes, 09:35am and 11:40am games on Fridays are much better than 5pm on Thursday

Is someone going to tell him?

by No 7&1/2 Tue 29 Apr 2014, 3:33 pm

That you're on the wind up? Think he knows.

by Chunky Norwich Tue 29 Apr 2014, 3:50 pm

No 7&1/2 wrote:That you're on the wind up? Think he knows.

Yes. It's clearly a wind up, I have nothing better to do and this league is a model competition.

Brian O'Discoll hasn't played a league game in Wales for 6 years.

#BestLeagueInTheWorld

by Scrumpy Tue 29 Apr 2014, 3:53 pm

Chunky Norwich wrote:Brian O'Discoll hasn't played a league game in Wales for 6 years.

Is that right? Laugh

by Chunky Norwich Tue 29 Apr 2014, 3:54 pm

Scrumpy wrote:
Chunky Norwich wrote:Brian O'Discoll hasn't played a league game in Wales for 6 years.

Is that right?

6 seasons. 5 and a half years

But it's the best league in the world. With the best players on show right?

by GoodinTightSpaces Tue 29 Apr 2014, 3:55 pm

Chunky Norwich wrote:
No 7&1/2 wrote:That you're on the wind up? Think he knows.

Yes. It's clearly a wind up, I have nothing better to do and this league is a model competition.

Brian O'Discoll hasn't played a league game in Wales for 6 years.

#BestLeagueInTheWorld

yeah but sure he has NEVER played a league game in England if thats how you would like to measure leagues.

by No 7&1/2 Tue 29 Apr 2014, 3:56 pm

You really don't have anything better to do!

by Chunky Norwich Tue 29 Apr 2014, 3:56 pm

GoodinTightSpaces wrote:

yeah but sure he has NEVER played a league game in England if thats how you would like to measure leagues.

eh?

by Scrumpy Tue 29 Apr 2014, 3:58 pm

It's a sad stat and sums up why the Rabo struggles to attract fans to games.

by GoodinTightSpaces Tue 29 Apr 2014, 4:03 pm

Chunky Norwich wrote:
GoodinTightSpaces wrote:

yeah but sure he has NEVER played a league game in England if thats how you would like to measure leagues.

eh?

i just seems to me that you think when BOD last played a league match in Wales as the measure of the league. i'm just pointing out that he has never played a league game in England which must mean the Aviva is a poopie league

by clivemcl Tue 29 Apr 2014, 4:10 pm

Wow, i wish I'd looked at this thread sooner. Very entertaining. Chunky versus 606. Not one person backing him up. Valiant effort Chunky, but futile.

If Ulster scheduled a home game for 5pm on Easter Monday, I'd have no issue. I may even incorporate it into my plans for the public holiday. Which is what Zebre are trying to encourage.

Honestly don't see the issue here - We have allready given examples of S15 fans having their away games at less than ideal times.

But for the benefit of the sport, we sometimes just deal with it. Most of us have TV recorders these days.

Goodness, if one game in the season was too early for me to watch, i don't think I would lambast the entire league...

You couldn't write this... Very Happy

by clivemcl Tue 29 Apr 2014, 4:13 pm

Chunky Norwich wrote:
Scrumpy wrote:
Chunky Norwich wrote:Brian O'Discoll hasn't played a league game in Wales for 6 years.

Is that right?

6 seasons. 5 and a half years

But it's the best league in the world. With the best players on show right?

Goodness, imagine Leinster being top of the league whilst supposedly not even playing their good players?

or... maybe... maybe Leinster have other top class players other than this single household name.

but you probably don't know the names of the other players do you?

by GoodinTightSpaces Tue 29 Apr 2014, 4:14 pm

clivemcl wrote:
Chunky Norwich wrote:
Scrumpy wrote:
Chunky Norwich wrote:Brian O'Discoll hasn't played a league game in Wales for 6 years.

Is that right?

6 seasons. 5 and a half years

But it's the best league in the world. With the best players on show right?

Goodness, imagine Leinster being top of the league whilst supposedly not even playing their good players?

or... maybe... maybe Leinster have other top class players other than this single household name.

but you probably don't know the names of the other players do you?

how dare you counter Chunkys argument with logic

by Scrumpy Tue 29 Apr 2014, 4:31 pm

But not playing one of the all time greats denies the Welsh fans from watching him play against their team, you must remember the Rabo is a product at the end of the day and it must be sold to the paying public, this is where the Irish have it all wrong imo. As long as they are alright then Feck the rest of the league.

by **Notch** Tue 29 Apr 2014, 4:51 pm

clivemcl wrote:If Ulster scheduled a home game for 5pm on Easter Monday, I'd have no issue. I may even incorporate it into my plans for the public holiday. Which is what Zebre are trying to encourage.

Gods above! If clive has no issue with it, it really is reasonable... ;-)

Here's the thing. BOD plays between 9 and 13 test matches a season. Between 6 and 9 Heineken Cup games. Leinster have made the playoffs every year since they were reintroduced so another 2 games onto that. Then there are 22 League games. He's in his mid-thirties. He's not going to be able to play every week and he has to be carefully managed to be at his peak for the international games. The IRFU have a limit set on the amount of minutes all Irish qualified players can be on the pitch in a season. For most players the maximum number of games they can play is 30 games in a season. Half of BODs are used up before you even get to the Pro12.

What do people want- to see players in the Pro12, or to see guys perform to their pinnacle at test rugby? The truth is, you can't have it all. The body has it's own limits. There's a reason why Toulon love guys like Roussouw, Wilkinson, Giteau, the Armitage bros. They aren't current internationals. International players cause them a lot more problems.

by westisbest Tue 29 Apr 2014, 5:07 pm

Having read through this.

Here's an idea Chunky, being serious.

If you think the Rabo is a pathetic league, why do you comment on it?

by Chunky Norwich Tue 29 Apr 2014, 5:27 pm

What an odd question. I comment on it becsuse I have an opinion on it......which is.... I dearly wish the team I have a season ticket for were in another, more appealing, competent competition.

why do you comment on things?

Should we let everything that we think is wrong or improvable be swept under the carpet? Or should only things that YOU think are worth discussing be discussed?

by GoodinTightSpaces Tue 29 Apr 2014, 5:37 pm

Chunky Norwich wrote:What an odd question. I comment on it becsuse I have an opinion on it......which is.... I dearly wish the team I have a season ticket for were in another, more appealing, competent competition.

why do you comment on things?

Should we let everything that we think is wrong or improvable be swept under the carpet? Or should only things that YOU think are worth discussing be discussed?

who exactly are your team

by Jenifer McLadyboy Tue 29 Apr 2014, 5:57 pm

GoodinTightSpaces wrote:
clivemcl wrote:
Chunky Norwich wrote:
Scrumpy wrote:
Chunky Norwich wrote:Brian O'Discoll hasn't played a league game in Wales for 6 years.

Is that right?

6 seasons. 5 and a half years

But it's the best league in the world. With the best players on show right?

Goodness, imagine Leinster being top of the league whilst supposedly not even playing their good players?

or... maybe... maybe Leinster have other top class players other than this single household name.

but you probably don't know the names of the other players do you?

how dare you counter Chunkys argument with logic

Why would we waste the best centre in the world on a shower who don't give a fock about our league and want out of it?

Drico is famous for not playing overseas games in the Rabo. He has more HC caps that Rabo and waaay more International caps than either.

Not sure if he has played an away league game in Scotland or Italy either.

And may I say. Oh Dear Oh Dear. Pathetic! Is someone going to tell him? and any other little girl phrases that are popular on this thread.

Just waiting on " I'll squeam and squeam" to complete the set. Let's see if we can get a third page out of this load of barry white.

by Chunky Norwich Tue 29 Apr 2014, 6:09 pm

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:

Why would we waste the best centre in the world on a shower who don't give a fock about our league and want out of it?

.

Well precisely. You don't even have to play your top players anymore because the league is so devalued. Save them up for the Euro comp.

I'll point out though.....that this isn't really Leinster's fault. I'd do exactly the same if I was their head coach. The fault is with the league. It does not work. There are too many parameters that make it vanilla at best.

by Chunky Norwich Tue 29 Apr 2014, 6:09 pm

GoodinTightSpaces wrote:
who exactly are your team

The Scarlets

by Nachos Jones Tue 29 Apr 2014, 6:11 pm

I must admit Jen. I do understand the reasons why BOD has not played the games you refer to but your explanation as to why is ever so slightly arrogant to be honest.

Its just one or two posters behaving in a bad way, not the rest of the teams and their supporters.

by justified sinner Tue 29 Apr 2014, 6:16 pm

Risca Rev wrote:That Dragons v Edinburgh date/time was pretty inexcusable.

Iirc that one was dictated by Welsh TV, it was a rearranged game on an Amlin/Heineken weekend and presumably didn't want a clash. Hard to blame 'The League' for the Welsh TV deal.

by clivemcl Tue 29 Apr 2014, 6:21 pm

Scrumpy wrote:But not playing one of the all time greats denies the Welsh fans from watching him play against their team, you must remember the Rabo is a product at the end of the day and it must be sold to the paying public, this is where the Irish have it all wrong imo. As long as they are alright then Feck the rest of the league.

Hold on... who are these fans? I thought fans wanted their team to win? If I hear that my team's upcoming opposition is missing one of their best players, I'm normally happier.

Then again, I'm not somebody who goes to matches to celebrity spot.

by GLove39 Tue 29 Apr 2014, 6:27 pm

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:
GoodinTightSpaces wrote:
clivemcl wrote:
Chunky Norwich wrote:
Scrumpy wrote:
Chunky Norwich wrote:Brian O'Discoll hasn't played a league game in Wales for 6 years.

Is that right?

6 seasons. 5 and a half years

But it's the best league in the world. With the best players on show right?

Goodness, imagine Leinster being top of the league whilst supposedly not even playing their good players?

or... maybe... maybe Leinster have other top class players other than this single household name.

but you probably don't know the names of the other players do you?

how dare you counter Chunkys argument with logic
Drico is famous for not playing overseas games in the Rabo. He has more HC caps that Rabo and waaay more International caps than either.

Not sure if he has played an away league game in Scotland or Italy either.

He started for Leinster when they lost away to Edinburgh in December last year.

by Guest Tue 29 Apr 2014, 9:23 pm

justified sinner wrote:
Risca Rev wrote:That Dragons v Edinburgh date/time was pretty inexcusable.

Iirc that one was dictated by Welsh TV, it was a rearranged game on an Amlin/Heineken weekend and presumably didn't want a clash. Hard to blame 'The League' for the Welsh TV deal.

Yeah, but I don't think we should be dictated to by tv. How did a paying supporter like me benefit, when I couldn't get back from Brize Norton for it? To be fair, I didn't criticise the league though (as far as I'm aware).

by **Notch** Tue 29 Apr 2014, 9:31 pm

Totally agree on the Dragons-Edinburgh game. VERY frustrating for fans. Can totally understand that.

by Guest Tue 29 Apr 2014, 9:34 pm

I do understand it's technically only our fault that the game got postponed in the first place though, but there are better ways to rearrange a game.

by Engine#4 Wed 30 Apr 2014, 5:29 am

As has been pointed out above O'Driscoll plays enough games per season. His physical well being is more important to Leinster than putting an extra few bums on seats in Wales, not to mention the fact that he has a young family. Compare Dan Cole and Mike Ross last season and see the difference an extra half dozen appearances can make.

by Scrumpy Wed 30 Apr 2014, 9:26 am

clivemcl wrote:
Scrumpy wrote:But not playing one of the all time greats denies the Welsh fans from watching him play against their team, you must remember the Rabo is a product at the end of the day and it must be sold to the paying public, this is where the Irish have it all wrong imo. As long as they are alright then Feck the rest of the league.

Hold on... who are these fans? I thought fans wanted their team to win? If I hear that my team's upcoming opposition is missing one of their best players, I'm normally happier.

But don't you want to beat the best?

by MunsterMac Wed 30 Apr 2014, 11:34 am

I think the one thing that is being conveniently ignored here are the inherent problems associated with trying to run a multi-nation league.

4 different rugby unions all with different ideas as to what they want to get out of it, 5 different TV deals, 2 different timezones, a sea between 3 of the competing countries and a continent between them and one of the others, 2 different languages, and on top of all that one of the competing nations would prefer to be competing elsewhere in another league and its RU has minimum control over its clubs.

And before anyone holds up the S15 as an example of how a multi-nation league can be run let's not forget that they have had problems of their own and at the moment the Aussies are suggesting that the league would be better off without the South Africans on board.

by lostinwales Wed 30 Apr 2014, 11:43 am

Engine#4 wrote:As has been pointed out above O'Driscoll plays enough games per season. His physical well being is more important to Leinster than putting an extra few bums on seats in Wales, not to mention the fact that he has a young family. Compare Dan Cole and Mike Ross last season and see the difference an extra half dozen appearances can make.

Not really the best comparison going with 2 props vs BOD. However physically aggressive he is its a different order of physical stress in the front row

by Engine#4 Wed 30 Apr 2014, 2:00 pm

Apologies my point was compare Ross vs Cole and see difference between a player who was managed prop(erly) and one who was overplayed. I'm on my phone now so can't check but I had a look at their respective appearances at the time Cole's injury was announced.

by Engine#4 Wed 30 Apr 2014, 2:01 pm

Apologies my point was compare Ross vs Cole and see difference between a player who was managed prop(erly) and one who was overplayed. I'm on my phone now so can't check but I had a look at their respective appearances at the time Cole's injury was announced.

by HammerofThunor Wed 30 Apr 2014, 2:03 pm

Cole played 4 more games than Ross last season. He played 3 fewer than Ross the season before that. So was Ross 'overplayed' the previous year?

You can't just pick out one example because a play was injured and pretend that that makes a point (well you can but you shouldn't). What you would really have to do is a larger scale look at all (for example) the Irish squad players and English squad players over several years, look at how many minutes are played, and the rate of injury (and type of injury). That's if you want to make a real point rather than a vague anecdotal statement (which might have been what you're going for Smile

)

by Engine#4 Wed 30 Apr 2014, 2:31 pm

Ross was overplayed the season before last. There werent a whole lot of tightheads in Irelands at the time as was demonstrated when Ross (inevitably) got injured against England and the scrum got demolished. Plenty on here suggested that Cole had been overly relied upon last season. The point, as has been noted above, is that players cannot be expected to play 12 tests, 6-9 euro matches, 1-2 playoff games, and 20 odd league games a season. That was a response to the normally very balanced and knowledgeable poster who suggested that BOD missing a few away games each year is a travesty and am endightment of the league in general

by **Notch** Wed 30 Apr 2014, 2:32 pm

Scrumpy wrote:
clivemcl wrote:
Scrumpy wrote:But not playing one of the all time greats denies the Welsh fans from watching him play against their team, you must remember the Rabo is a product at the end of the day and it must be sold to the paying public, this is where the Irish have it all wrong imo. As long as they are alright then Feck the rest of the league.

Hold on... who are these fans? I thought fans wanted their team to win? If I hear that my team's upcoming opposition is missing one of their best players, I'm normally happier.

But don't you want to beat the best?

Yeah, of course. But you will in the playoffs and knockout stages of Europe. You can never win a trophy without coming up against teams at full strength. Week in week out there's a lot of rotation all around Europe.

by Scrumpy Wed 30 Apr 2014, 2:43 pm

Notch wrote:
Scrumpy wrote:
clivemcl wrote:
Scrumpy wrote:But not playing one of the all time greats denies the Welsh fans from watching him play against their team, you must remember the Rabo is a product at the end of the day and it must be sold to the paying public, this is where the Irish have it all wrong imo. As long as they are alright then Feck the rest of the league.

Hold on... who are these fans? I thought fans wanted their team to win? If I hear that my team's upcoming opposition is missing one of their best players, I'm normally happier.

But don't you want to beat the best?

Yeah, of course. But you will in the playoffs and knockout stages of Europe. You can never win a trophy without coming up against teams at full strength. Week in week out there's a lot of rotation all around Europe.

But BOD hasn't played a league game in Wales for 6 years!
That is ridiculous. Erm

by MunsterMac Wed 30 Apr 2014, 2:52 pm

No it isn't.

by Scrumpy Wed 30 Apr 2014, 2:52 pm

Oh yes it is.

by Engine#4 Wed 30 Apr 2014, 2:53 pm

So what? How many tests and HC games has he played there?

by Scrumpy Wed 30 Apr 2014, 2:55 pm

This is about the Rabo and why it isn't a serious league in the eyes of European Rugby. Wink

by Engine#4 Wed 30 Apr 2014, 3:13 pm

Fair enough mate. I was going to ask how many frontline players Sarries would be using for their 'vital to both teams' clash with Worcester but we should stay on topic :smile:

by ME-109 Wed 30 Apr 2014, 3:15 pm

I thought it was about helping Chunky Norwich understand where Europe is. That Italy is part of Europe, is a different country, with different public holidays.

by Scrumpy Wed 30 Apr 2014, 3:20 pm

Sarries are going to finish top of the league and have a HC final place booked, whilst Worcester have already given up.

The truth is BOD hasn't play in Wales in 24 league games, that is a sad stat for Rabo fans in Wales if yourself or anyone else can't see that then there is no hope for the Rabo.

by MunsterMac Wed 30 Apr 2014, 3:45 pm

So we have Zebre playing a match at 17:00 on a public holiday and BOD not playing a league match in Wales for 6 years as 'evidence' that the Rabo isn't a serious league.

I can live with that.

by LeinsterFan4life Wed 30 Apr 2014, 3:51 pm

Don't forget having no relegation too MunsterMac... Evey league must have relagation to be taken seriously of course.

by ME-109 Wed 30 Apr 2014, 3:54 pm

Also providing the winners for four of the last six HCs is a clear indication of how poor it is

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