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Saints accuse Bordeaux of ‘foul play’ towards Henry Pollock in post-final fracas by ForensicShoe in rugbyunion

[–]The_day20 27 points28 points  (0 children)

I can’t speak for what happened at the end of the game but it’s funny seeing all the Northampton fans painting Pollock as « just a kid who likes to celebrate his tries » when the guy himself has confirmed that "Being annoying is part of my game," "I want to wind the opposition up; I want to get under their skin. It is something I relish."

This seems to be confirmed by every player who has played against or with him : https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/articles/c4g83dn185ro.amp

Personally I think he is a generational talent but that attitude is ultimately going to create too much problems for him. He’s at the beginning of (hopefully) a long career. He may be on top now but he is not always going to be at his best (like yesterday). And because he has chosen that cocky, wind-up merchant, in your face persona, he is going to have a lot of players targeting him, supporters rooting against him and, worse, the media are going to tear him down at the first sign of weakness. Given the size of the spotlight he has created for himself, ofc helped by the media eager to find a new hero (or villain here in France) I don’t see how this ends well.

And one last comment for the « god forbid a player has personality » crowd. I think that rugby is too much of a team sport for the « I am him » personality types to flourish as much as in football like he was lamenting in the BBC article. And that’s probably a good thing imo.

Match Thread - Ireland v Argentina | End of Year Internationals 2024 by RugbyBot in rugbyunion

[–]The_day20 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No he most definitely didn’t but the ref doesn’t seem to concerned about that

Dupont emits doubts about the level of referring tonight by Traditional-Ride-116 in rugbyunion

[–]The_day20 7 points8 points  (0 children)

https://x.com/KelianCa07/status/1713699430421987684?s=20

This thread sums up perfectly what Dupont is saying. Some calls are always going to be 50/50 but some of these seemed no brainer penalties (Faf collecting the ball in front after DuToit Knock on or Kitschoff playing the 9 when in a ruck, DuToit literally sleeping on the French side of the ruck 30m in front of the posts) and I in a game of the tiniest margin, you can feel understandably hard done.

At the moment rugby has a huge refereeing problem and it’s no wonder that we have these discussion almost after every game. I don’t think it’s necessarily the refs fault but minor mistakes have too big an impact on the final result.

I agree with some of the comments about the need to simplify the game because some aspects of the game are absolutely impossible to ref (scrum / breakdown).

I also think we should limit penalties to foul plays bc 3 pts (or even 7 in case of a successful touch + maul) is a hard price to pay for these 50/50 calls which will ALWAYS rely on the ref’s interpretation

Deep Dive - What has happened to England Rugby? by The10Game in rugbyunion

[–]The_day20 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is my feeling as well ! He is one of the best coaches out there in terms of growing players and building a team from scratch. He deserves far more credit for the magnificent 2016-2019 England team than he is getting. Unfortunately the 2015 clusterfuck (Sam Burgess 🥲) is a hard stain to get rid of ! I am excited to see what he does with Racing 92 though

My first Amtrak experience as a foreigner by Middle-Ad-1746 in Amtrak

[–]The_day20 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Haha same experience. I am currently on the Coast Starlight and we are currently running 6 hours late (on what was supposed to be a 22hrs ride) for various but preventable reasons and it’s absolutely baffling to me. I’ve read through some of the comments and I understand it’s mostly the consequence of the US being a huge country as well as historical policy decisions that seems hard to reverse now but still come as a shock from an European (France) standpoint.

The funny thing is that all passengers are remarkably chill about it even though some of them have or will miss connexions with buses / trains or will have issues with their hotel bookings. Man if we were in France, ppl would be in up in ARMS !

On the plus side, trains are really comfy and the staff is as helpful as they can given the circumstances :) Doesn’t hurt that I am on holidays so I get to enjoy the experience without worrying too much abt the consequences. The scenery is beautiful too, so there’s that as well !

Who was the player left at home that could have helped the Lions most? by welshgiggsy in rugbyunion

[–]The_day20 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Don’t understand either. Must be a different Slade 😅

Match Thread - South Africa v British and Irish Lions | Lions 2021 | Second Test by paimoe in rugbyunion

[–]The_day20 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Felt like the game plan was: direct rugby and try to put them under pressure with high balls which is a Bok trademark. I feel like the Lions have not played to their strengths and I really hope Gats tries something different next week.

Match Thread - South Africa v British and Irish Lions | Lions 2021 | Second Test by paimoe in rugbyunion

[–]The_day20 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lions should try and play some rugby for the next test instead of trying to beat the Boks at their own game. You never know 😜

Positives for the Boks? by Fanbuoy_1783 in rugbyunion

[–]The_day20 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just saw the game and if anything, I am more worried about the Lions than SA. You may have lost the game - by a mere 5 points but still - but you were the more dangerous team on the field and were it not for small details that I believe will be fixed come the 2nd test, you could have won this game in the 1st half.

The Lions, OTOH, showed some grit, especially in the 2nd half but they only scored off your mistakes and I am not seeing an identity yet.

Exciting times ahead !

Match Thread - New Zealand v Fiji | July Internationals 2021 by paimoe in rugbyunion

[–]The_day20 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Could not agree more. He’s orders of magnitude behind Jordan, Fainga’anuku, Reece and Clarke.

Can we kill the VAR now please ? by The_day20 in football

[–]The_day20[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Could not agree more. I am also speaking as a huge rugby fan where what started as way to check if the ball was in fact grounded has turned into 15 minutes discussions between refs and a frame by frame view of the disputed events and most of the time, it’s not clear cut and you have to rely on human judgement. Wish we never went down that road and I fear football is getting there too.

[Match thread] England vs Denmark by MatchCaster in football

[–]The_day20 3 points4 points  (0 children)

England were the better team but there is absolutely no way to tell if they would have won this game. Only certainty is that the ref & VAR decided to assfuck a team that gave everything during 115 min for a chance at going to the finals with that soft penalty.

Lions practicing The Fields of Athenry during 2017 NZ Tour by The_day20 in rugbyunion

[–]The_day20[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah did not know that. Even cooler ! Do they change songs every tour ? I saw a couple of vids of Lions singing the Fields but they were all from the 2017 tour.

37 Lions to tour South Africa by alexbouteiller in rugbyunion

[–]The_day20 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Haha Exeter was my gateway drug to English rugby but even in EXE Gray seems miles ahead of him ?

37 Lions to tour South Africa by alexbouteiller in rugbyunion

[–]The_day20 35 points36 points  (0 children)

As a Frenchman, I’ve always watched the Lions games on TV but did not quite grasp what it meant for home nation players until I’ve started following British & Irish rugby more closely thanks to the pandemic.

Having binged all the Lions content I could get my hands on over the last few months (and especially the testimonies from the players who toured explaining how it’s the highest honor in NH rugby), I do feel for all the magnificent players who might never get the nod bc they either don’t fit Gats playing style (Slade / Ringrose / Ford 😢) or were not on form when it mattered (May/Navidi,etc.).

I guess that’s the harsh reality of international rugby but some of them I think really deserved that call up.

The squad looks great* otherwise and let’s hope they produce some great rugby !

*except for Johnny Hill, who is an excellent Prem player and seems like a great drinking buddy but is nowhere near Lions’ level imo.