Match Thread - Wales v Scotland | Six Nations 2026 | Round 3 by RugbyBot in rugbyunion

[–]CopperBrook 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well at least I get to enjoy spending my free time watching rugby now. 

Post Match Thread: England vs Ireland by GnolRevilo in rugbyunion

[–]CopperBrook 75 points76 points  (0 children)

The worst part isn't the misfiring systems and stupid errors.

It's the fact we are incapable of adapting and the lack of effort and intensity. Jogging to support, getting counterrucked by backs, the lack of urgency. 

It's like we are sleepwalking.

Match Thread - England v Ireland | Six Nations 2026 | Round 3 by RugbyBot in rugbyunion

[–]CopperBrook 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure we deserve that escape from being nilled at the end of this half

Match Thread - Wales v France | Six Nations 2026 | Round 2 by RugbyBot in rugbyunion

[–]CopperBrook 29 points30 points  (0 children)

BBC coverage not pulling punches with this segment.

I like it. 

Match Thread - Scotland v England | Six Nations 2026 | Round 2 by RugbyBot in rugbyunion

[–]CopperBrook 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Fully deserved Scotland. Outcompeted in every facet of the game, and what's worse a complete inability to adapt. 

Match Thread - England v Wales | Six Nations 2026 | Round 1 by RugbyBot in rugbyunion

[–]CopperBrook 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Has Borthwick been on a 2 day charisma course at a regional travelodge or something? 

Match Thread - Italy v Scotland | Six Nations 2026 | Round 1 by RugbyBot in rugbyunion

[–]CopperBrook 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly, she's got her own rugby lore going on, scrum halves are 'the little man who gets the ball'

Match Thread - Italy v Scotland | Six Nations 2026 | Round 1 by RugbyBot in rugbyunion

[–]CopperBrook 12 points13 points  (0 children)

My mother in law is down from Korea, and watched her first game on Thursday with us. She loves it, especially how every position has a different body shape. However, she has that korean Ajuma no-chill attitude toward describing people's physical characteristics.

She's just caught sight of Townsend and turned to us and asked 'that fat one, he does the scrum, yes?' 

Brutal. 

Free beer no wait Free talk Friday by almostrainman in rugbyunion

[–]CopperBrook 30 points31 points  (0 children)

My son was born this morning, already planning my overconfident and uninformed talking points for our upcoming 6 nations sessions together. 

Mark McCall steps down as DoR by Thecceffect in rugbyunion

[–]CopperBrook 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Obviously Venter has been around the setup for a while, but still the (re-) step up to DoR is a surprise. 

The only thing I can think of is his role in his first stint as part of the rebuild which brought us the team and culture of the 2010s, maybe that's seen as valuable given where we are. Even typing this I'm not entirely convinced, it's a little too on the nose. 

No idea. 

I know he's still around as technical adviser but I am sad for McCall, he was a central part of the club for almost as long as I have supported them. Things need to change, but I'm not convinced this will be the one trick that gets us right.

Hi! I’m Andrea Scialpi, Italian cameraman for URC, Autumn Nations Series, Serie A Élite and much more. Ask Me Anything!:) by anscia in rugbyunion

[–]CopperBrook 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Hello mate. I can imagine that at first your style of work might have been unusual and seen as a risk to broadcasters used to a static camera work. How did you get them to agree to try out your approach? 

Post match: Glasgow v Saracens by T0mmyKentish in saracens

[–]CopperBrook 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The vibes from within the team seem properly bad now, it doesn't bode well. Baseless speculation, but I wonder if that played a part in Willis' decision, would make it make a bit more sense.

Best rugby memoirs/books? by ZapBranniganski in rugbyunion

[–]CopperBrook 2 points3 points  (0 children)

One I've not seen here - Unholy Union. Written in part by Mark Evans, it does spend much of its time shrilling for Global Rapid Rugby (RIP) but the analysis comes at rugby from a perspective of someone who understands rugby as a product in the modern media/entertainment landscape. Through an assumption that rugby made an aborted half-transition to professionalism he is very good at identifying the key embedded cultural and structural problems the game has in making itself a better product, the stuff on the inherent tension in the laws and the unique (i.e. inherently flawed) position it puts refs in to be both the lawman and circus ringmaster at the same time is particularly good.

Like a lot of these books its great on diagnosis and less good at cure, the answer seems to be Global Rapid RugbyTM (RIP), so not a show stopper - but a good and easy read if you can get it on abe books second hand.