2014 Canadian Rugby Championship and General Canadian Rugby Chat.

[Beerfalo]

Hopefully Hassler becomes to Ospreys what DTH has to Glasgow. Minus all the injury time. He's right in that teams will be paying more attention to him but I think he's more than up for the challenge.

 

[canadafan]

Braid signed by Glasgow today to a 3 month contract. Hopefully he impresses and can get a full season. I think he is a good 10, so hopefully he gets a lot of game time there.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

Braid signed by Glasgow today to a 3 month contract. Hopefully he impresses and can get a full season. I think he is a good 10, so hopefully he gets a lot of game time there.

im not 100% sure on that, he wouldn't be glasgow starting 10, i think he is a cover 10 if anything happen's to Finn Russell but for the Glasgow Squad going to Harlequins its only Braid and Weir who can play 10 so i think Braid will start but wouldn't be glasgow overall best 10

 

[LittleGuy]

Braid is a decent 10, nothing special but an OK game managing type player in that position, he can play at FB(or even in the Centres in an emergency) as well but is much weaker there than he is at FH, he might actually do allright in the Scottish setup and style of play.

 

[LittleGuy]

Some tweaks to the November schedule. Here is the update, the changes are mostly negative, with the Namibia game becoming more difficult to watch for Canadian viewers(especially on the West coast) and we are once again exiled to Colwyn Bay so we'll probably be playing in front of a couple of thousand fans at best for that match. The RFU game however has been put at Sixways Stadium in Worcester which is good news though it's been moved to the Sunday, the shorter rest means there will probably be an even more experimental lineup for that game.

Here is the updated schedule.....


November 2nd. (K.O. TBD) vs. RFU Championship XV, Sixways Stadium, Worcester, England
November 7th. 19:30 (local time) vs. Namibia, Parc Eirias, Colwyn Bay, Wales
November 14th. (K.O. TBD) vs. Samoa, Stade La Rabine, Vannes, France
November 22nd.(K.O. TBD) vs. Romania, Stadionul National Arcul de Triumf, Bucharest, Romania

 

[Beerfalo]

Wikipedia says the game against Samoa is on November 14th not the 15th. Which leaves us with a Sunday game, 2 Friday games and a Saturday game. Glad to see the IRB cares so much about us up here in the Great White North.

 

[LittleGuy]

Wikipedia says the game against Samoa is on November 14th not the 15th. Which leaves us with a Sunday game, 2 Friday games and a Saturday game. Glad to see the IRB cares so much about us up here in the Great White North.

Glad you noticed that change to the schedule(it also says 14th on the official IRB memo) http://www.irb.com/mm/document/newsmedia/mediazone/02/07/23/16/novembert22014fixtures.pdf, I had overlooked that at first.

The Friday games are especially bad for everyone west of Ontario, I can quit work slightly early and catch the games live at 4-5 p.m. here, going to be very difficult for Western fans to watch at 1:30 p.m. It will likely lead to less people in the seats for the actual stadiums as well as expats will likely be hard pressed to get to Friday night games after work especially in Colwyn Bay which is off the beaten path.

Edit: I'm more and more looking forward to the Romania game as the one I really want to see for the tour, I want some revenge for last year(most frustrating game ever right guys!!!! LOL) and it's the only one not at a neutral site and is on a half decent time. It will likely be the only solid crowd turnout we play in front of as well unless French fans surpise me and come out to Vannes in strength.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

Glad you noticed that change to the schedule(it also says 14th on the official IRB memo) http://www.irb.com/mm/document/newsmedia/mediazone/02/07/23/16/novembert22014fixtures.pdf, I had overlooked that at first.

The Friday games are especially bad for everyone west of Ontario, I can quit work slightly early and catch the games live at 4-5 p.m. here, going to be very difficult for Western fans to watch at 1:30 p.m. It will likely lead to less people in the seats for the actual stadiums as well as expats will likely be hard pressed to get to Friday night games after work especially in Colwyn Bay which is off the beaten path.

Edit: I'm more and more looking forward to the Romania game as the one I really want to see for the tour, I want some revenge for last year(most frustrating game ever right guys!!!! LOL) and it's the only one not at a neutral site and is on a half decent time. It will likely be the only solid crowd turnout we play in front of as well unless French fans surpise me and come out to Vannes in strength.

yeah im glad to see that you have took time to read my suggestion for this side off the forum and letting me know what you think

 

[LittleGuy]

yeah im glad to see that you have took time to read my suggestion for this side off the forum and letting me know what you think

Sorry been working a lot recently, have fallen behind in a number of areas here, and only had a few minutes tonight to add some depth to this thread. I'll take a another look on the weekend.

 

[Draggs]

yeah im glad to see that you have took time to read my suggestion for this side off the forum and letting me know what you think

Chill out mate, we have lives and can't get to everything instantly.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

sorry draggs do forgive me, i do have a big thing with being very un-patient

 

[Draggs]

It's all good mate.
As far as posting weekly match threads, it can be difficult to get information on some of the leagues, and some are of lesser interest to our members than others. They might not always generate enough discussion to merit a weekly thread, so having just a league thread (such as this one for the CRC) works.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

i totally understand that even if we do weekly CRC fixtures threads i have a feeling it would work but like about maybe 45 posts so it might work but the others wouldn't

 

[LittleGuy]

Hey Scotty had a read of your suggestion and I have to agree with Draggs, I don't think the weekly round threads would generate enough traffic to justify starting them up. I'd think we'd end up with 4-8 posts on each weekly thread best case and the time to start them it really isn't economical. I'd certainly revisit that if the CRC became available on mainstream Canadian television or went professional, but I don't think the interest is there at the moment.

 

[Beerfalo]

I wish the CRC was broadcast across Canada. I'm still holding out hope that TSN gives it a look for next year heading into the World Cup. They have done wonders for the CFL and even curling. Right now the only reliable way to watch a game is to see it live. The only game I've seen online right now is the Wolf Pack/Bears game in Calgary back from August 9th. I'm assuming that means the Bears/Wolf Pack game in Kelowna and the Blues/Rock games weren't streamed or recorded for the public?

 

[LittleGuy]

I wish the CRC was broadcast across Canada. I'm still holding out hope that TSN gives it a look for next year heading into the World Cup. They have done wonders for the CFL and even curling. Right now the only reliable way to watch a game is to see it live. The only game I've seen online right now is the Wolf Pack/Bears game in Calgary back from August 9th. I'm assuming that means the Bears/Wolf Pack game in Kelowna and the Blues/Rock games weren't streamed or recorded for the public?

The Bears/Wolf Pack game was streamed, and the other Blues/Rock game was recorded but played only on local cable access channels tape delayed there may be an archive online somewhere at this point.

 

[canadafan]

I can't see how the CRC can't get on to one of those 5 channels TSN now has. It just makes no sense that they couldn't put the CRC onto one of them.

 

[Beerfalo]

Well the TSN channels just launched. I wouldn't expect a deal to start until next year, if one ever happens. TSN needs time to work with the clubs/unions and Rugby Canada and to advertise the hell out of the CRC to the public. I can't see why TSN wouldn't want to? Team Canada men and women are getting more and more popular and I'm sure they'd want to tap into local product and try and increase it's profile like they did the CFL. With the RWC next year and the Canada success in the WRWC this year, now is the perfect time for TSN to advertise the hell out of rugby, though they may be distracted next summer by the FIFA WWC here.

 

[LittleGuy]

Trying to do a list of overseas guys.... so far I have....

Top 14

Jamie Cudmore - Clermont

Aviva Premiership

Jebb Sinclair - London Irish
Phil Mackenzie - Sale Sharks

Pro 12

Tyler Ardron - Ospreys
Jeff Hassler - Ospreys
DTH Van de Merwe - Glasgow
Connor Braid - Glasgow
Shane O'Leary - Connacht (uncapped and still eligible for Ireland)

Pro D2

Taylor Paris - Agen
Cam Pierce - Pau

ITM Cup

Hubert Buydens - Manawatu
Jason Marshall - Hawke's Bay

RFU Championship

James Pritchard - Bedford
Aaron Carpenter - Cornish Pirates
Matt Evans - Cornish Pirates
Tyler Hotson - Doncaster
Jon Phelan - Doncaster
Andrew Tieddemann - Plymouth (spotted by Beerfalo)
Brett Buekeboom - Plymouth
Mark Kohler - Plymouth (uncapped)

Federale 1

Benoit Piffero - Blagnac

Australia

Evan Olmstead - Parramatta


Other possibles....

Richard Townsend - Ealing (not sure if he's still there and whether thay are professional after being relegated last season)
Josh Jackson - ? (Was lurking in Federale 2 last year, which is fully amateur and has been slowly dropping down tiers in France, probably safe to say he's just playing for love of the game and has a job in France)

 

[Beerfalo]

Andrew Tiedemann got signed by Plymouth this summer and it should hopefully be a great developmental period for him. I don't know what competition he has there with the other props but hopefully he gets some good playing time.

Looking at that list really disappoints me. Canada NEEDS a way to get more of our players better training and high level games. We can only go so far with our current model.