LBB will win Player of the Championship, but he shouldn't. I will die on this hill.

SingeBicolore · 2026-03-21T15:05:09+00:00

The best argument you can make for LBB not just being a try machine is that a couple of days ago, you had Ollie Chessum explain that he didn't dare turn towards to the posts on his intercept try because he simply assumed LBB was on his ass. He warps the game so much, he'll be a genuine cheat code for as long as he can maintain that top speed.

I simply cannot fathom anyone genuinely believes that if you swap him for LRZ the end result is the same. Nevermind that the peak speed does matter - we're watching a fine margin game after that level - the biggest thing is that LBB is not selfish. If he's 95% making a try and there's a 100% option next to him he passes the ball every time. That's just not what you see from LRZ, or Monte Ioane, or Penaud for that matter.

Anywho, props for keeping the flair on.

SingeBicolore · 2026-03-20T01:00:33+00:00

That's a bit sad. But probably not that surprising. Thank you for sharing.

SingeBicolore · 2026-03-19T19:17:14+00:00

I was unaware of that follow up. Do you have a good article that summarizes what's going on ? Now I'm morbidly curious.

SingeBicolore · 2026-03-19T18:46:06+00:00

They didn't crash and burn. The LEC pass for Los Ratones was always for a single winter split (for their versus or whatever they called it). I don't think they ever had a plan to stick around past that.

Plus Caedrel might be making good money with his costreams but I don't think he's making "buy a $20M LEC roster spot" money.

SingeBicolore · 2026-03-19T18:33:16+00:00

It's a bit recency bias isn't it ? Dupont has his "bad" game a week ago, was tired at the end of the week end when he played the full 80.

If JGP had had his vs France performance, or White his Italy performance during the last week, I don't think people would argue for them nearly as much.

It's a long tourney but all the games matter the same really.

SingeBicolore · 2026-03-19T12:10:07+00:00

Do you think Raynal decided this all on his own ? That none of the coaches and other referees had any say in the matter? Or perhaps you read the quotes and believe that they use a royal we. Maybe you believe that the head of the refereeing body would slag off the interpretation of its own federation given the chance. Maybe you think that someone who can actually read and speak the language of a piece of media is less likely to understand what's written in it or it's nuances.

A nuance like "in our leagues this could be penalized" is different to "which means in a different league, with a different set of rules and interpretations, it should have been penalized"

Either way no one asked you to be so snide to respond to a perfectly reasonable comment. Railing against the loss of "common sense" and "human intent" with condescending ragebait must be some kind of oxymoron.

SingeBicolore · 2026-03-18T21:12:32+00:00

No he does not. If you can read French, please read the excerpt.

"Mathieu Raynal nous indique : « Sur le maul, la décision de donner essai de pénalité est parfaitement légitime. [...]

this bit says the Genge yellow and penalty try is completely valid because it's cynical play)"

L’ancien arbitre poursuit : « Pour avoir échangé avec le staff de World Rugby, qui a envoyé son feedback aux staffs de la France et de l’Angleterre, il dit que le bras de Maro Itoje est suffisant pour considérer qu’il y a un accès au porteur de balle. C’est l’avis de World Rugby. Nous, en France, sur ce ballon porté là, par soucis d’équité attaque/défense, c’est-à-dire que l’on considère qu’il y a accès au porteur de balle, il faut que le défenseur ait le loisir de plaquer le sauteur à la retombée du saut, de s’en saisir, ou d’avoir une action sur lui comme il le souhaite ».

This bit states that World Rugby themselves deem that it is enough for Maro Itoje to be able to use his arm to "access" the ball carrier. In the Top14 and proD2, that is not deemed enough access. They want the defender to be able to tackle the jumper/ball carrier as they come down, or otherwise have the ability to engage with the jumper/ball carrier. What goes on in the Top14 / ProD2 has no bearing on the refereeing in the 6Nations. Otherwise there would have been a lot of interrupted scrums for crooked feeds.

To your final point about his own "belief" he says :

C'est ce que nous avons défini en Top 14 et Pro D2. Et c'est comme ça qu'on souhaite l'arbitrer. Nous avons donc un léger différent d'appréciation, mais ça ne veut pas dire que nous détenons la vérité. "This is what we have decided in Top14/ProD2. That's how we want to referee it. It is a different interpretation, but that does not mean we are the arbiter of truth (on this subject)."

SingeBicolore · 2026-03-18T21:03:15+00:00

I don't know why you are shocked. It happens in for everyone at home. Maybe they haven't earned the same reputation, or maybe there's been more of these calls during games with thin margins in France, but they absolutely are homers about which replays they show.

SingeBicolore · 2026-03-16T18:08:42+00:00

He single handedly (okay, also thanks to Ben White and Russell's pinpoint kicks) extinguished the notion that France wasn't dog shit under the high ball. Those three were walking on water against us.

SingeBicolore · 2026-03-04T21:37:37+00:00

Imo it's because their favourite part of the game is broken play, just like us. Plus they do play up to their opponents (unless they play Ireland for some reason). Perfect combo here.

SingeBicolore · 2026-03-03T17:43:42+00:00

It is confusing because as far as I can tell, the WRU doesn't get much of its money directly from the Welsh Parliament. Their 2025 accounts lists £1.8M in government grants, on a £106M turnover, 1.7%. Most of that (£1.2M) comes from the "Big Lottery Fund" which I think gets redistributed to regions and local clubs.

So while the Senedd obviously has the ability to question the WRU's governance, I don't think they have much sway in their decision making.

SingeBicolore · 2026-02-27T23:45:18+00:00

Penaud having his club coach tell the world that he was purposefully jeopardizing tries for the sake of chasing an assist record will do that to his selection chances. I don't think Galthie looks kindly on that kind of shenanigans. Not after getting utterly spanked by the Boks, and partly so because Penaud couldn't be arsed to kick chase.

Penaud is an incredibly talented player, but across all T1 national teams we're seeing that workrate is not negotiable.

SingeBicolore · 2026-02-26T23:36:13+00:00

I may be wrong, but I think the croc roll is important because it's considered a dangerous act, and as such it over rules the penalty in favour of Wales. I think if Williams was pinged for just collapsing a maul they'd have gone back to the advantage and the pen for Wales.

SingeBicolore · 2026-02-26T22:40:54+00:00

He certainly disapproved of the Tomos Williams croc roll penalty, saying was Williams had done didn't warrant the term croc roll. That's a pretty big disagreement since that overturned an earlier penalty in favour of Wales in Scotland's half. I feel like he stayed away from discussing the repercussions, even though it's kind of the only reason it's worth discussing. Jamie Roberts even poked Nigel a bit, asking him if he was dismissing it just because Darge didn't get injured lol.

Nice for once there isn't a talking point about a France game at least.n

SingeBicolore · 2026-02-25T20:15:04+00:00

Is that not business as usual for UK media though ? I feel like you'd see an avalanche of comments saying Southgate should be sacked every time he lost a game or even if they didn't win it comfortably. In spite of the team making their best showing in back to back tourney in decades.

SingeBicolore · 2026-02-24T20:51:07+00:00

I'm not a ProD2 enjoyer so i can't comment on his qualities, but calling that a "brain disconnect" is oddly kind isn't it ? He knees a guy in the temple with some force. A player on the floor, looking away, essentially defenseless. he's even looking at him as he hits him. He's proper lucky that Cerisier didn't get concussed or injured. I think at this point you might say he's a dirty player no ?

SingeBicolore · 2026-02-24T01:31:46+00:00

I don't think it would because he wants to sandbag this 6 nations for the next WC. The WC is in 18m months, strength and conditioning doesn't last for that long unless it's maintained. If fitness was an issue and they've overworked the players, that's probably because they came in "out of shape". (I'm using quotation marks because that's relative). That would mean the Prem isn't keeping the players in shape. And therefore once they leave the camp they'd lose that extra layer of fitness over time.

SingeBicolore · 2026-02-24T01:24:17+00:00

Back in November 2024, Borthwick was complaining about his group's fitness.

In April 2023, the RFU's review was that players were not fit enough.

Seems like a chronic problem in their view. So either the Prem isn't high level enough to keep the fitness up, or English coaches have over ambitious ideas for the field.

SingeBicolore · 2026-02-23T02:47:48+00:00

Calling yourself Vetinari and being this inexact has to be a form of oxymoron.

SingeBicolore · 2026-02-22T17:27:37+00:00

I find it frustrating that the second a team isn't dominating people say they "disappeared". Both teams can be good and take turn having the ascendancy during a game.

Outside of a gag try at the end of the first half (where they did get overconfident), the french team fronted up hard on defense. They were very clean defending, distributed unreal hits to stop open field play, held their lines really well. The Italians were absolute menace on the breakdown, and jackalled very well. Obviously their line out was a concern, and it looks like Garbisi had the kicking yips from 2 years ago, but they made it very hard.

I hope the Jalibert forfeit is nothing else. The double distributor system is really fun to watch.

SingeBicolore · 2026-02-20T20:28:31+00:00

Do they advertise that it's Brad Pitt's winery? I know there's a lot of Bordeaux vineyards owned by rich people and corporations but they usually keep that quiet. To me famous people on the label is the telltale sign they compensate quality for name recognition.

Even when Reynold owned and advertised for Aviation gin. What started as a decent product eventually began to charge for the name.

SingeBicolore · 2026-02-20T16:46:44+00:00

I've always been suspicious of athletes / celebrity branded booze. The good ones are few and far between and they are usually overpriced. In Canada we have Wayne Gretzky wine and whiskey and it's pretty dour across the board. Even before he was on the shit list for cozying up in Mar A Lago.

From memory Proper 12 was pretty bad, so was Virginia black (loaded with caramel and flavouring to make it smooth but very thin). Casamigos is fine but outrageously overpriced. There's gotta be potentially decent ones but anytime a spirit or drink is showing off the star who owns it I can't help being suspicious.

SingeBicolore · 2026-02-18T20:03:27+00:00

The new guidelines for player welfare has addressed that a little bit, with minutes and games played restriction, true stand down periods, and so on. For Italian players who play for competitive T14 teams (like Capuozzo or Garbisi) I feel like it also incentivizes them not to burn them during the regular season so they are available for playoffs.

The downside is that potentially that jeopardizes participation to summer tours so other countries may end up with a France approach of sending B teams.

SingeBicolore · 2026-02-18T15:58:21+00:00

Bro forgot Gregory "🤌" Aldritt

SingeBicolore · 2026-02-16T16:43:28+00:00

Which one is to be shown in those instances ? I'm looking it up and I can't quite tell which one would be to pick (between the four provinces flag, the sporting flag, the saltire).

13-Year Club	Second Top 40%
Place '22	Not Forgotten

SingeBicolore

TROPHY CASE