Help Support The Rugby Forum :

Reply to thread

Message

it's still interesting to me. There's a gap between those explanations, the ones I could imagine and then the results. I mean, I'd made a thread some months ago comparing English and French players. A majority of the main English ones (Mike Brown vs Brice Dulin, Tom Wood vs Nyanga, and so on) actually played fairly more minutes in fact than their French counterparts. An absolute surprise. Debunks the myth some (French players are tired, etc etc). Then some English posters made the argument one needs to look at 'what minutes' we're talking about, and that's where it all lies to me: what is it about the French/Top 14 club style that is so taxing, so grueling that they have real issues with it ?...
England doesn't benefit from any less injuries. They've been notoriously bit by the injury ***** (or injury bug, can't remember which...). France all the same, though. England has 12 teams, we've got 14, okay. I can't quite remember you guys' relegation system...anyways, it's like for whatever reason Prem is "smoother". For me, it's a better system because you guys can afford a healthy league AND fresh int'ls ready to go; but I prefer Top 14 if we're comparing leagues only (w/o the int'l dimension) because it gives me such a deep pool of players, high intensity, lots of high profile teams and good players..etc.....but then again the downside: we're fkd because it takes up too much space ! Test Rugby wise, especially.

About the Tln Nico Sanchez bit: yeah that's just the exaggerated amount of money clubs like Toulon have. Wilko retires, okay we've got Giteau. Giteau's out long term, okay let's get a Top 5 world-wide flyhalf...

About the LOU Stade Friction game:
hugely intense first 30min, very enjoyable. Paris did fantastically well to hang in there, amazing the 12 points Lyon had were off the 2 tries, fantastic discipline from the Parigots. Very promising signs for them. A scrum is a scrum, and still today can keep you in a game on its own, even when down one player for 75% regulation time. Plisson as brilliant this season as he is miserable. High highs, and low lows (dear lord, I'm just NAILING this prose right now...). Hilarious how neither team could "win" that ending ! Lyon couldn't get their bonus third try point, and Paris were just petrified of tying. Both losers, really.

- - - Updated - - -

YES, he does.

<blockquote data-quote="Big Ewis" data-source="post: 700310" data-attributes="member: 57076">it&#039;s still interesting to me. There&#039;s a gap between those explanations, the ones I could imagine and then the results. I mean, I&#039;d made a thread some months ago comparing English and French players. A majority of the main English ones (Mike Brown vs Brice Dulin, Tom Wood vs Nyanga, and so on) actually played fairly more minutes in fact than their French counterparts. An absolute surprise. Debunks the myth some (French players are tired, etc etc). Then some English posters made the argument one needs to look at &#039;what minutes&#039; we&#039;re talking about, and that&#039;s where it all lies to me: what is it about the French/Top 14 club style that is so taxing, so grueling that they have real issues with it ?...England doesn&#039;t benefit from any less injuries. They&#039;ve been notoriously bit by the injury ***** (or injury bug, can&#039;t remember which...). France all the same, though. England has 12 teams, we&#039;ve got 14, okay. I can&#039;t quite remember you guys&#039; relegation system...anyways, it&#039;s like for whatever reason Prem is &quot;smoother&quot;. For me, it&#039;s a better system because you guys can afford a healthy league AND fresh int&#039;ls ready to go; but I prefer Top 14 if we&#039;re comparing leagues only (w/o the int&#039;l dimension) because it gives me such a deep pool of players, high intensity, lots of high profile teams and good players..etc.....but then again the downside: we&#039;re fkd because it takes up too much space ! Test Rugby wise, especially.About the Tln Nico Sanchez bit: yeah that&#039;s just the exaggerated amount of money clubs like Toulon have. Wilko retires, okay we&#039;ve got Giteau. Giteau&#039;s out long term, okay let&#039;s get a Top 5 world-wide flyhalf...About the LOU Stade Friction game: hugely intense first 30min, very enjoyable. Paris did fantastically well to hang in there, amazing the 12 points Lyon had were off the 2 tries, fantastic discipline from the Parigots. Very promising signs for them. A scrum is a scrum, and still today can keep you in a game on its own, even when down one player for 75% regulation time. Plisson as brilliant this season as he is miserable. High highs, and low lows (dear lord, I&#039;m just NAILING this prose right now...). Hilarious how neither team could &quot;win&quot; that ending ! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick Out Tongue&nbsp; &nbsp; :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /> Lyon couldn&#039;t get their bonus third try point, and Paris were just petrified of tying. Both losers, really.- - - Updated - - -YES, he does.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Big Ewis, post: 700310, member: 57076"] it's still interesting to me. There's a gap between those explanations, the ones I could imagine and then the results. I mean, I'd made a thread some months ago comparing English and French players. A majority of the main English ones (Mike Brown vs Brice Dulin, Tom Wood vs Nyanga, and so on) actually played fairly more minutes in fact than their French counterparts. An absolute surprise. Debunks the myth some (French players are tired, etc etc). Then some English posters made the argument one needs to look at 'what minutes' we're talking about, and that's where it all lies to me: what is it about the French/Top 14 club style that is so taxing, so grueling that they have real issues with it ?... England doesn't benefit from any less injuries. They've been notoriously bit by the injury ***** (or injury bug, can't remember which...). France all the same, though. England has 12 teams, we've got 14, okay. I can't quite remember you guys' relegation system...anyways, it's like for whatever reason Prem is "smoother". For me, it's a better system because you guys can afford a healthy league AND fresh int'ls ready to go; but I prefer Top 14 if we're comparing leagues only (w/o the int'l dimension) because it gives me such a deep pool of players, high intensity, lots of high profile teams and good players..etc.....but then again the downside: we're fkd because it takes up too much space ! Test Rugby wise, especially. About the Tln Nico Sanchez bit: yeah that's just the exaggerated amount of money clubs like Toulon have. Wilko retires, okay we've got Giteau. Giteau's out long term, okay let's get a Top 5 world-wide flyhalf... About the LOU Stade Friction game: hugely intense first 30min, very enjoyable. Paris did fantastically well to hang in there, amazing the 12 points Lyon had were off the 2 tries, fantastic discipline from the Parigots. Very promising signs for them. A scrum is a scrum, and still today can keep you in a game on its own, even when down one player for 75% regulation time. Plisson as brilliant this season as he is miserable. High highs, and low lows (dear lord, I'm just NAILING this prose right now...). Hilarious how neither team could "win" that ending ! :p Lyon couldn't get their bonus third try point, and Paris were just petrified of tying. Both losers, really. [COLOR="silver"][SIZE=1]- - - Updated - - -[/SIZE][/COLOR] YES, he does. [/QUOTE]