Dire England....again

[mania]

Last time England beat NZ. NZ public said it. I'm not going through social media just to find posts..

k.

On that last point about players growing, most Lions players have gone backwards since it on the whole. The ones who have made great strides forward are the ones who missed out. (Bar freaks like Sexton).
How about we have a home union tour?
Make a SH team come to us for a change and the home unions can get the cash then see how up for it the SH unions are for the tour.

i dont think that would such as good a concept. NZ SA Aus (and Arg if they wanted to join in) dont have anywhere near the same history that britain does. you guys go back thousands of years. NZ Aus and SA only go back about 100 or so
i dont see the irish players or welsh (faletau in particular) going backwards. those guys are owning in beast mode

 

[mania]

It's a great honour .

youve basically answered my question . its a great honour.
injuries can come in club games as well. maybe that work load should be looked at first.
tests are infinitely more important to players than club games.
these players (Stephen Ferris, Luke Fitzgerald, Tom Croft, Cian Healy, Alex Corbisiero, Jared Payne) werent forced to tour. they were offered and accepted a place on the tour. in hindsight i imagine most of them would still have accepted.
its a level of rugby that if done properly is above the level of 5 nations. the best of the best from britain working together? that is an awesome possibility and concept and should be preserved.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

youve basically answered my question . its a great honour.
injuries can come in club games as well. maybe that work load should be looked at first.
tests are infinitely more important to players than club games.
these players (Stephen Ferris, Luke Fitzgerald, Tom Croft, Cian Healy, Alex Corbisiero, Jared Payne) werent forced to tour. they were offered and accepted a place on the tour. in hindsight i imagine most of them would still have accepted.
its a level of rugby that if done properly is above the level of 5 nations. the best of the best from britain working together? that is an awesome possibility and concept and should be preserved.

"Hey Jared, would you like to play three matches against NZ club sides this summer or not be forced to retire with headaches every time you exercise?"

"Cian, those 60mins you played over two meaningless games or avoid getting that injury which would take you from arguably the best loosehead in the world to second choice in your club for four years?"

What a stupid statement...

The Lions tour comes after less than two years after a World Cup with two full club seasons, two six nations, a summer tour and EOYT with one summer rest period in between and results in a shorter rest period for the following season. It's too much.

@Tigs Man completely agree about the Churchill cup, '09 was some of the best rugby I've ever seen from an Irish side, a joy to watch.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

people forget that club rugby is the one that sets a player up for the future on the whole.
I'm sure the Lions is a nice pay boost
But 70K one off v earning 250K+ a year (250 K starting to get on the low side of that) .........
Prestige is nice but it isn't the amateur era anymore.

Let's face it would NZ rugby be so keen if it wasn't for the £££££
"We have to manage expectations," he added. "We work on five-year projections, but really the Lions income is a 12-year hit. Lions tours are considered a righting of the north-south revenue flows. We can't spread it over 12 years but we're going to have to spread it over a decent period.

@The Alpha Bro yeh the weather was great and all the teams tried to play in quite a decent style, seemed like a fun comp. shame they never

 

[mania]

What a stupid statement...

no need to get personal. i just wanted an intelligent discussion.
ignore

 

[mania]

Let's face it would NZ rugby be so keen if it wasn't for the £££££

i cant speak for the NZRFU but i'd be keen regardless of how much money it makes.
its different and theres a tradition to it now. get bored with the 5 nations coming over, a few tests then going home. i got to see the lions players grow and get better with each game.
the last tour was epic. at first i was a bit stunned with the final whistle but then i realised how much the lions players had grown and taken on everything NZRFU could throw at them and came out with their pride entact and enhanced.
and i loved the fans. met heaps of them and there wasnt 1 i didnt bond with over rugby.
it was awesome getting different rugby insights from other nations. i hope the fans loved it because we loved having them

 

[mania]

people forget that club rugby is the one that sets a player up for the future on the whole.
I'm sure the Lions is a nice pay boost
But 70K one off v earning 250K+ a year (250 K starting to get on the low side of that) .........
Prestige is nice but it isn't the amateur era anymore.

yeah but i'm more interested in test rugby. whilst your right; club is their bread and butter, test rugby is where they earn their worth and show their wares against the best of the best that any given nations has to offer. more tests would mean bigger contract $$$

 

[Genghis]

Dan Cole

I've nothing against Dan Cole, but I did find this amusing....

https://mobile.twitter.com/WillDangerEvans/status/972533734162526209/photo/1

(Couldn't master the skill of actually embedding the photo!)

On a more serious note, England were never really as good as the media made them out to be two weeks ago. And they are not as bad as the media are saying now. Typical overreaction, and the knives are out for the team and the coach now. That's a shame, those guys played as hard and as well as they could, never gave up and kept scrapping. They've lost two games to two good team (and both away from home). No shame there lads.

 

[Fuzzy du Plessis]

I've nothing against Dan Cole, but I did find this amusing....

https://mobile.twitter.com/WillDangerEvans/status/972533734162526209/photo/1

He's just written 'Sir' on his forehead in grass to show maximum respect to the referee, because that's just how courteous and humble all England players are.

 

[Which Tyler]

Could do with finding this table again I wanna show it some fake Irish at work

For those who are interested in that chart going around a while ago about minutes played by the various Lions; I put this together last night during insomnia.
Domestic rugby only; but all domestic rugby (the previous chart was only Prem / Pro14 / Top14 - this includes EPRC and AWC)
Coloured by where the player plays as I'm interested in that, so not just league, but not nationality either:

Depressingly, it's reminded me that the likes of Kristian Dacey, Cory Hill, Matt Stevens, Ugo Monye, Riki Flutey etc all get to call themselves Lions Tourists

 

[TRF_Olyy]

How has Binny racked up that many minutes while being perpetually injured?
That's both impressive and also depressing at it shows how much he's been run into the ground in between a series of bad injuries.

 

[j'nuh]

So in theory, England loses to Ireland (likely), Italy loses to Scotland (very likely) and Wales lose to France (50/50), then England will end in 5th place.

 

[Which Tyler]

For those who are interested in that chart going around a while ago about minutes played by the various Lions; I put this together last night during insomnia.
Domestic rugby only; but all domestic rugby (the previous chart was only Prem / Pro14 / Top14 - this includes EPRC and AWC)
Coloured by where the player plays as I'm interested in that, so not just league, but not nationality either:

[Pics]

Depressingly, it's reminded me that the likes of Kristian Dacey, Cory Hill, Matt Stevens, Ugo Monye, Riki Flutey etc all get to call themselves Lions Tourists

I'm not allowed to edit the above to make it clearer that the colours are for the player's club; and to correct my cock-ups on the likes of Billy or Payne who haven't played a part in this year's 6N, and thus I cocked up and looked at their 2016/17 season. Have also added the average number of minutes played for the squad as a whole; just... because I could.
So here are the new pics: