Rugby - The Game They Play In Heaven II

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Exeter don't manipulate anything. It's not their fault they were left largely untouched by international call ups. So were many other teams. Who still couldn't finish beter than mid-table. It's a rare thing to come up from the Championship and be immediately competitive without any star players. It speaks volumes for the club's culture. More power to them, I say. Saints might be more entertaining to watch but they're also loaded with internationals. It's all relative.

I read somewhere yesterday that there will be a Wasps buyout led by a former player by the name of Ken Moss.

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Gold from Newcastle to Bath. He apparently wants Toby Booth on board, too. With B. Smith increasingly flexing his muscles at Irish, Booth might find the coaching box a tad cramped. Booth aside, the weakness in the Bath set up will be J. Wells.

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Mmmmm. Newcastle's hopes of staying up look a lot brighter this morning. Cornish Pirates walloped Bristol 45-24 in the first leg of their play-off. Bristol are the only Championship contender with the facilities required for promotion, so, short of a superhuman effort on their part, Newcastle look safe.

Though having once more seen Wasps' facilities during their match against Newcastle, you have to wonder how they qualify under the Premiership's rules.

[Havak]

IIRC the protocols did not apply to incumbents. Very fair.

*Tigers, with a dedicated rugby union ground that holds 24000, are in a very solid position on that one.

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Ya, but pity about the new strip that manages to make them look like a poor man's Stade. Which, relatively speaking, is pretty dang poor. And there I was thinking the East Midlands was the home of bland stoic conservative turnip-growing yeomen.

Present company excepted, natch.

[Havak]

It is quite a strip isn't it? The worst I can remember. But then we have jumped ship to the Kiwi outfit.

[kittenOFchaos]

It is ridiculous that the Pirates can't get promoted. A stadium upgrade or relocate should be funded for them as part of the promotion. Hell, given how much they beat Bristol by, shouldn't they get Bristol's stadium? It would be appropriate given they are pirates.

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I read somewhere that Pirates actually aren't that interested in promotion. They're not prepared to risk the sort of investment needed even if they had access to the means. The joke - indeed, the rank hypocrisy - is that the likes of Wasps, and others, blatantly flout the facilities requirements. The requirements, when introduced, didn't apply to incumbent clubs - a joke in itself - but I believe timelines for improvements were put in place. All ignored.

[Havak]

Of course they were ignored. Several London franchises would have fallen foul of them otherwise. I believe the facilities requirements had a stipulation about not being tenants initially, and that simply had to be ignored because four high profile sides are tenants.

I don't support giving promoted sides incommensurate financial aid - where is the fairness in that?

There are already too many loss making top flight franchises. What is needed is a rethink on how the money is distributed. Too many clubs rely on sugar daddies, even kOc would have to admit Sale would not be solvent without Kennedy (their crowds don't cover their costs above the central pot of gold from the Premiership).

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It's a curly one. Only a small core group of clubs can survive financially based on membership, associated spin-offs, attendances, et al. Strip away those that can't and you have a three- or four-club competition.

[Havak]

And I am torn on that. Because it would get rid of a lot of clubs I care very little for of course.

More seriously though I recognise the evil necessity of sugar daddies. Beyond that I want consistency - if the league requires a certain standard of ground then ALL clubs should adher to it. TV money should be divided to clubs equally but EPR should directly compensate clubs who supply EPS players.

That kind of thing.

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Indeed.

What a bloated squad selected by Lancaster. How many 12s and potential 12s are there? It's a busy tour, I know, but the end result smacks of Lancaster avoiding some tough decisions. Good to see the children being given a chance, and the likes of Allen, but what on earth is Stevens still doing there? CH, I assume, is there to guide the midweek team along.

[Havak]

I suspect so. The squad size suggests the mid weekers will be a distinct 22.

Nice to see Kitchener get a call up. And the uncapped hooker is also a converted 12 (And yes he is Ben's older brother I believe)

[kittenOFchaos]

I don't support giving promoted sides incommensurate financial aid - where is the fairness in that?

Too many clubs rely on sugar daddies, even kOc would have to admit Sale would not be solvent without Kennedy (their crowds don't cover their costs above the central pot of gold from the Premiership).

1. Fairness? Is it fair a team can't get promoted because they don't have top-notch facilities (add to that your point about the original clubs not having to meet these rules) and that without being in the top-flight they don't get access to the big money. It is almost catch-22. You don't have the facilities, so you can't get the big bucks needed for the facilities.

2. "even kOc" should be replaced with "especially kOc". I've been to games at Sale. We've a small stadium, small turnstills for many games and we have star players. Of course we need a sugar-daddy...just a shame ours is rich, not wealthy.

[kittenOFchaos]

For a play-off semi-final, that is quite a thumping: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/18006903

Ospreys 45 - Munster 10

Had most of my money following an Ospreys win, but never considered such a scoreline.