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Yes I did, I can't imagine Ian Jones there, although if he was South African, maybe he'd have ended up playing with a 7 on his back! My glimpses of MICHAEL Jones were few and far between, as for that matter were anything not shown on Rugby Special.

It's possible. IIRC there has been talk about playing rugby being the only thing that gets Billy match fit, so there's every chance he's not at the moment.

That's just about the best ever best ever team I've seen! I'd swap an ox for a beast in the front row and number 8 is a super close call, but that near as damn it nails it for me. I go back between five and ten years before the professional era. From that era, I'd settle the number 8 debate by...

How much money is a lot and how does it compare to the what the existing markets bring in? I don't think that anyone's disputing the fact that the addition of South African teams would lead to increased revenues, but those revenues will need to be split one more way. That being the case, there...

Poor buggers, they couldn't have got themselves a quarter of a Moonshot testing programme for that! I feel sorry for them missing out on their shop window on the world stage, but suspect that they will do legacy better than anyone has so far.

It might be better for the European Champions cup, but would it be better for the English and French teams? They'll be making their decision from a purely selfish perspective. The way I look at it, to get the thumbs up, the SA teams will need to bring enough to the table to compensate for the...

Agreed. I was intending to imply that there's no point complaining about a specific sanction and that any complaints need to address what is wrong with the existing framework and how it can me improved.

Having finally got around to looking over the sanctions and checked out his record (and with the benefit of hindsight), I think he's bang to rights, if not a bit lucky to have got off so lightly. As per the Tweet, he's been banned for "disrespecting the authority of a match official" (insert...

With England vs New Zealand tinted spectacles, yes. I only watched the game live and then one or two analysis videos shortly afterwards, but my recollection is that in that game, they didn't pose too many problems for New Zealand, it was a number of forwards having outstanding carrying games...

Ignoring the autumn series, I think that's an oversimplification. If England are better with the Ford / Farrell axis, what's to say that that's not because it means that Ford's on the pitch?

Why? It seems strange to suggest something as radical as this without explaining why it is a good idea. Given the stated difficulties of finding a 14th team to add, finding a 15th and 16th is going to be fun. You're also looking at a hard sell to get the 12 (or 13?) teams who currently get a...

Thanks. The spike in the last week recorded makes perfect sense. Re: the original spike, I think I may have accidentally read one or two Julia Hateful-Spewer et al tweets! Given that the graph is showing deaths with covid on the death certificate as opposed to deaths within x days of a positive...

Surely if the GB&I based option is being considered, it is being costed on the basis of limited or no crowds.

I haven't heard any news from the good ship Pirate for ages, but the song remains the same as far as I know - all ambitions are contingent on getting the Stadium For Cornwall built. I believe that they are still waiting for the money that David Cameron promissed when he was on the campaign trail...

What's your analysis of this? The spike in non-covid deaths at the start of lockdown 1.0 and in the final week seems weird, can this be attributed to non-covid patients getting the treatment that they need due to the stress that covid has the NHS under?

You appear to have answered your own question @munstermuffin. Funny that the answer turned out to be what I've been advocating while apparently dodging questions.

Of course they could, but would they want to if they didn't have access to the home unions' international squads? The unions have already stated their position. Unless the home unions alter their stated position, you don't. My point is that some form of compromise is going to achieve...

I don't either, I'm just saying that it would be preferable to having an odd number of teams in the league. Just my opinion. My take on the hype is that it comes from lazy journalists who know very little about rugby outside the GP, so talk about Ealing as the next big thing. FWIW, I'm taking...

As per my previous post, if the home unions stick to their guns and won't tour in 2022, how is calling the whole thing off and ending up with nothing going to do a better job of refunding the sponsors than making the best of a bad situation would?

I think you're missing my point. The amount of revenue that crowds bring is irrelevant if you can't have them. I'm saying that something is better than nothing and that calling the whole thing off (the home unions have reportedly said no to a 2022 tour) because there won't be crowds is throwing...