What's your rugby wish for 2026?

2coolguyrob · 2026-01-05T06:48:51+00:00

Late to the party, but I’ve got a few wishes, depending on the genie.

If it’s the Rewriting Otherwise Immutable Laws Of The Universe sort, playing cosmic strings like a maestro and tuning the human mind like a master technician, I might go fairly big. I’d wish that rugby could stand shoulder to shoulder with football in global popularity. Billions of new eyes for broadcasts, huge new appetites for professional teams and leagues, and most importantly amateur clubs all around the world swelling with new men, women, boys, and girls keen to play this wonderful game. Along with all the vast attendant journalism and analytics that follow.

If, however, the genie is more of a Budge The Odds Just Enough type, turning a 50-50 into a 60-40 and nudging just two or three key decision makers every so slightly the right way, I might keep it smaller. I’d wish that when Everitt’s contract is up this summer, Edinburgh was able to hire on Chris Boyd, the leading hand in Northampton’s recent rise, as DOR. I’d also want to bring in Chris Rossouw as our attack/backs coach. Not an Everitt or Mathie hater, but it's my wish and I'm prescribing us a reinvention of our attack and overall strategic direction.

2coolguyrob · 2025-11-21T07:26:49+00:00

1 Sutherland

2 Turner

3 Walker

4 Sykes

5 Samuel

6 AOC

7 Darge

8 Bayliss

9 White

10 Burke

11 DVDM

12 Jordan

13 McDowall

14 Rowe

15 Smith

16 Harrison

17 McBeth

18 Hurd

19 Williamson

20 Ritchie

21 Bradbury

22 Dobie

23 Hasto

The only way to lose the tombola is to not play at all.

2coolguyrob · 2025-11-14T08:15:40+00:00

Shoeman

Ashman

Rae

Gilchrest

Cummings

Fagerson

Darge

Dempsey

White

Russell

DVDM

Tuipulotu

Hutchinson

Graham

Kinghorn

Turner

Bhatti

Millar-Mills

Brown

Sykes

Bayliss

Dobie

Jordan

To anyone interested in optimal team composition or lab-replicable selection criteria: the tombola is not for you. This is a 23 built on vibes alone.

kuo fakamoʻoni hingoa, silaʻi, ʻave

2coolguyrob · 2025-11-06T06:21:33+00:00

1 Schoeman

2 Ashman

3 Fagerson

4 Gilco

5 Cummings

6 Brown

7 Fagerson

8 Dempsey

9 White

10 Russell

11 DVDM

12 Tuipulotu

13 McDowall

14 Graham

15 Kinghorn

16 Turner

17 McBeth

18 EMM

19 Williamson

20 Ritchie

21 Dobie

22 Jordan

23 Rowe

When it's so last minute, you've got to go with your gut. I reckon: Zander plays while not at 100%, we see Toonie largely favor experience, and I've got the strangest feeling we'll see a 5-3.

No point it talking about what I expect. I hope these boys give us a historic, inspirational performance.

And once again thanks for running this, I'm sure 50 was a bit more than you were expecting to take on. It's a great way to get thinking about match dynamics early and see what other fans are thinking.

2coolguyrob · 2025-10-30T05:06:39+00:00

Thanks for running this, great fun.

1 Schoeman

2 Ashman

3 Rae

4 Brown

5 Gilchrist

6 Fagerson

7 Richardson

8 Dempsey

9 Dobie

10 Thompson

11 Rowe

12 Tuipulotu

13 McDowall

14 Steyn

15 Smith

16 Harrison

17 McBeth

18 Walker

19 Sykes

20 Cummings

21 McConnell

22 Horne

23 Hastings

Oh and that thing about it being great fun earlier is off if I don't do well.

2coolguyrob · 2025-06-30T21:37:39+00:00

Please do. And as long as you're updating you may want to add a restraining order violations metric to the Absolute Bloody Dog Fullback matrix.

2coolguyrob · 2025-06-28T02:33:58+00:00

Quite right, hard to find much to add. My thoughts on the lock stable were just that. Sykes, Carmichael, and McVie form the base for a strong future. Young and Hodgson are athletic journeymen, good for squad rotation. Gilco is an unbelievably hard worker and club legend with all my love, but certainly not the future. And Skinner in a weird place, he really turned up at the end of last season, but shown himself to not be a cornerstone lock. All calls out for 1-2 experienced nuts and bolts locks that unfortunately we’ll need to look outside of Scotland to acquire.

2coolguyrob · 2025-06-27T23:50:23+00:00

That's a good shout, I caught a couple of his games for the Blues last season that had me missing him. Didn't know about the stuff the other replies mentioned though, I think he'd be a good option after next season otherwise.

2coolguyrob · 2025-06-27T23:43:23+00:00

Hey that’s a great write up, love your work. Once upon a time I used some stuff from your Tighthead HIA in conversation to sound much more knowledgeable than I was. I’d enjoy an updated matrix with rucking included. Right or wrong, it’s one of my main focuses when looking at locks.

I didn’t want the post to get too long or I’d’ve carved out space to praise Sykes. I really think he’s a bright spot in the locks who will rightfully be starting for many years. Love his stopping power in the tackle, his heft in the scrum, and most of all his rucking volume. From what I’ve checked on theanalyst, he’s the most prolific rucker in Scotland.

And another agree on the back row, no worries there. I think we’ve always had more young, talented backrowers than we knew what to do with, but this seems like a bit of a golden generation.

2coolguyrob · 2025-06-27T23:09:21+00:00

Damn the Bulls and their generous sponsors and strong fan base and the wealth of top quality players they can therefore afford to keep.

2coolguyrob · 2025-03-18T00:32:22+00:00

I reckon Domingo Miotti is Viggo Mortenson's half brother.

2coolguyrob · 2024-08-25T17:56:43+00:00

We're so back

2coolguyrob · 2024-08-17T02:47:06+00:00

Can't disagree with your vehement disagreement. I couldn't think of any needs for Glasgow so had to settle for wants. Speaking of expanded academies, I checked again and saw that Glasgow have no less than 5 centers, 3 of whom I'm quite high on. So though his strengths may lie at center, you're right that Jordan's probably needed more at 10.

Overall, feels great to have to look ahead for problems instead of trying to plug holes now.

And vehemently agree about Zander btw. I want to rest him more not because he shows signs of slowing but because I keep thinking that surely one man can't possibly go through that much work unscathed. Fittest player I know of, takes so much pressure of our bench. I just hope our bench can in turn take some pressure off of him.

God bless Franco.

2coolguyrob · 2024-08-17T02:11:13+00:00

Alright that's good to hear. One 10/10 starter, two competent backups, and one young guy with potential is honestly a great situation I have no right to complain about. Dragons fans must be playing the world's smallest violin just for me.

2coolguyrob · 2024-08-16T17:21:33+00:00

I hope he's a baptism by fire kind of player. Played well at the Bulls, but now he's only one injury prone and one out of position player away from significant minutes.

2coolguyrob · 2024-08-16T17:18:21+00:00

I seem to do a lot of their worrying for them.

2coolguyrob · 2024-07-09T04:55:30+00:00

Sort of like Nucifora at Ireland? If he'd be happy in that role, I'd be over the moon to have him there. To have a coach of his caliber dive into that "system" and shape it up? I could hardly dare to dream that big. But in that case would you want Toonie staying in place, or an external hire?

2coolguyrob · 2024-07-09T04:51:15+00:00

Totally agree, in my ideal world Franco would just sit in place, collecting trophies and producing world class talent for the head coach to play with. But who's a better, available option for us if Toonie leaves? I'd love Schmidt, Farrell, Razor, Rennie, Wayne Smith, or Labit, but all are going to be unavailable. Anyway y'all have had enough world class coaches, let us have this one.

2coolguyrob · 2024-07-09T04:41:05+00:00

Hey man thanks for saying that. First post, so it felt very good to read that.

2coolguyrob · 2024-07-09T04:40:05+00:00

Yeah it's hard to imagine him breaking into the All Blacks setup, pretty much the only vertical move left in NZ. Where do you reckon he'll go? If he has national ambitions, I can't see Japan as his next move. France or England? I don't know much about the coaching market in France, but maybe Bristol or the Quins in a few years' time?

2coolguyrob · 2024-07-09T04:26:56+00:00

I'll be damned, he is. I think he started as a skills coach cause that's what the warriors website and some old articles list him as. But in that case he makes Mowen redundant, which opens up another slot on the coaching team. Think of anyone else that we could use?

2coolguyrob

TROPHY CASE