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As a rugby fan, what/who do you look forward to over the next 4 years?

I am looking forward to -;

4 Welsh 6 Nations ***les ( 2 Grand Slams)
4 league and cup doubles for Ponty
Either the Scarlets or Ospreys winning the European Cup at least once.
USAP getting promoted back into the top 14
Promotion and relegation in the 6 Nations with Hoggs side being replaced by Georgia and Italy replaced by Romania
Cardiff rfc getting relegated twice
The Blues going bust and a valley franchise taking over
The government banning vegetarianism and the wearing of tights by women
The speed limit raised to 90mph on motorways and 80 on duel carriageways
Middle lane hoggers getting 12 months in prison
Simon Cowell hung drawn and quartered
Cheryl whatever her name is (was Cole) never being allowed to sing or indeed speak in public ever again
Caravans banned from public roads between 7am and 7pm
Cyclists prosecuted for overtaking on the inside and running red lights and wearing lycra (with the exception of official road races or really fit females)
Lager to only be drunk by women (Unless abroad on holiday)
Soccer becoming a mixed game at every level (Most premiership players are big girls anyway.
 
So much to look forward to, rugby wise.

Looking forward to the Olympic Sevens in 2016, and the Lions tour in 2017.

Also keen to see what players will fill the gaps in the ABs, after all those retirements, and how they will perform in the test matches.

I'm hoping my Tasman Makos can improve in the ITM cup, and finally win the premiership, and that the Crusaders can have a resurgence and win another ***le ... actually, I'm keen to see how the new format and teams go in Super Rugby.
 
I'm abroad most of the time so it is very difficult for me to follow Argentine rugby, except the National team, thou i do online every now and then, but time difference destroys me.
I'm mostly looking forward to Super Rugby, now that we'll have a franchise. Olympic games' sevens should be interesting and i'm planning to go to a few games of the 6N. RC of course, too.
Will probably attend some Pumas games if they come to Europe next year, thou as far as i understand most friendlies will be in Argentina and i don't think i'll be there at the time.
 
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The man, the myth, the legend, I may have touched him but nowhere near as much as he's touched me. I am talking of a man who I, in my greatest act on a rugby pitch, tackled in a 50 to jack point loss, a man who is being called BOD 2.0, BOD harder, the man who will lift a little gold cup in Tokyo in 2019, of course I am talking about Gary Ringrose.
 
I'm looking forward to seeing how the All Blacks will deal with the loss of the super six.

Not so much of a worry with Kevin Mealamu as he has become specialist bench hooker over the last couple of years, Dane Coles has the starting position nailed down and Codie Taylor really looks like the goods for a second hooker. Similarly, I think we'll be OK with replacement players for Dan Carter (Aaron Cruden, Beauden Barrett), Ritchie McCaw (Matt Todd, Sam Cane) and Tony Woodcock (Joe Moody, Wyatt Crockett). Its replacing Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith that could be problematic; how do you replace the world's most experienced and successful midfield combination? Their departure leaves a big hole in the midfield for next year (especially as SBW will be playing in the sevens in 2016).

So, what will the All Blacks' 12/13 look like for next year

Crotty - Fekitoa?
Fekitoa - Moala?
Ngatai - Fekitoa?

I think all four will be in the mix.
 
For the next four months I am looking forward to cricket, golf and swimming.

In Feb 2016 I will be very upbeat about the start of SANZA Super Rugby, with all the new talent, plus the Argies coming in. How will Tana do with the Blues? Will the Highlanders back up? Will the All Black players be tired? Can the Mighty Hurricanes replace Ma's and Conrad? Does a closely marked Milner Skudder suffer the 2nd season blues? etc.

What I will have no interest in will be the Six Nations. Based on the World Cup, I doubt my rugby playing teenage boys will learn any new skills from watching that.

From April it will all be College Rugby. On the side line, in the cold, hard running rugby, testostrone of young bulls, kids trying too much, but at least having a crack. The foundation of NZ rugby. You can't beat it.

I will watch the internationals from June onwards with one eye, but I'm sure I will soon tire of the talk about "rebuilding for the next World Cup" (and I think the Wallabies will likely win the Southern Hemisphere Four Nations thing)

In Sept I will be geared up for the NZ Provincial ITM Cup. My favourite comp as the young talent starts to rise to the top (i.e Milner-Skudder and Noholo in 2014) .

Then it's summer again.
 
Akira Ioane has the potential to be the greatest No8 ever - he is that good. The world has never seen a no8 like him.





He can't be the greatest number 8 ever . Olyy has told me on more than one occasion that that's going to be Josh Beaumont ......
 
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I will be in Germany for all of next season, so I guess I'll take what rugby I can get. Hoping Akira Ioane progresses well. Outside of that I hope Tana does well in the Blues, the Canes win the ***le, and England appoints a half decent coach with a total overhaul of the RFU. France to look good after going with Noves. Interesting to see how the ABs squad go with so many huge losses (pretty confident they'll bounce back well). I always find the seasons after a RWC really interesting in terms of player selection and building. Sometimes more so than the RWC.
 
I look forward to someday seeing a backline of:

9. McGrath
10. Jackson
11. Byrne
12. Olding
13. Ringrose
14. Kelleher
15. Scholes

Not in a proper match mind, but a BaaBaas match or something.
 
In the northern Hemisphere, 4 years of welsh dominance.
In the Southern Hemisphere, watching the supremely talented young Springboks team develop into a world cup winning team
 
I hope I can continue to watch the SH matches in the rugby wasteland that is the US. Thankfully, most of the matches can be found a day or two later in the back allies of the Interwebz.

And oh yeah, looking forward to seeing the ABs reclaim the RC. :)
 
I will be in Germany for all of next season, so I guess I'll take what rugby I can get. Hoping Akira Ioane progresses well. Outside of that I hope Tana does well in the Blues, the Canes win the ***le, and England appoints a half decent coach with a total overhaul of the RFU. France to look good after going with Noves. Interesting to see how the ABs squad go with so many huge losses (pretty confident they'll bounce back well). I always find the seasons after a RWC really interesting in terms of player selection and building. Sometimes more so than the RWC.

There's some Rugby to watch over here, too ! :)
 
Looking forward to seeing a new midfield combo and how that develops, also a new 7 and how the dynamics change for that role.

Also seeing how Sopoaga develops on the next season, game wise, Olympics and Lions over the next 2 years.

Keen to see how Aus goes next year as well, promising signs this year so expecting big things from them next year.

Argentina Super team excites me also.

So I expect next year to be quite promising on the rugby front.
 
In the northern Hemisphere, 4 years of welsh dominance.
In the Southern Hemisphere, watching the supremely talented young Springboks team develop into a world cup winning team
...

... if their efforts aren't shafted by the continuation of their absurd, goverment imposed selection policy!!
 
There is a lot to look forward too:

I'm getting into 7s more and more and the start of the new season is around the corner. With Rio coming up and a few of my 'heroes' getting involved (De Allende, Jaco Kriel, SBW) in the lead up to the Olympic this interest is now peaking.

I'm hugely excited for the new Super Rugby season not least because of the Stormers getting in Eddie Jones to coach; a big piece of the puzzle even if I feel we are still a world class halfback paring short of going all the way and I suspect Jones would need more than a couple of pre-season months to change the rugby culture at the Stormers. The OP is giving us 4 years, right? I hope Jones gives us the same. Despie the awkward format it'll be interesting to see what the Jaguares and Sunwolves bring to the table especially after the fantastic RWC tournaments of both Argentina and Japan.

On the test arena it's going to be interesting to see how things progress for every team. I'm going to be keeping close eyes on quite a number of teams; SA - Is Meyer going to stay on, are our youngsters going to develop further, what will the effect of the much vaunted quotas be, are we going to back our form halfbacks and give our backline opportunities? NZ - will probably take the transition in its stride they've planned it so well but it'll still be interesting to track, Aus - can Cheika continue with this upward curve?, Argentina - same as Aussie, Japan, Georgia etc - will they get more exposure to the top teams? They look ready for taking on more, France - can they turn it around post-PSA? Ireland - will be touring SA in 2016 and I am hugely excited about this as they last came here in 2004. Ireland have had the rub on us in this fixture of late even if the overall tally is greatly in our favor. Its time to turn it back around in these 3 upcoming matches. I'm hoping for a Springbok team containing the core of our young stars with a splash of old hands as well as esciting rookies to take on the tactically astute Ireland;

1 Trevor Nyakane (Aged 26/23Caps) / Steven Kitshoff (23/0)
2 Adriaan Strauss (29/54) / Lets see who is in form during Super Rugby.
3 Frans Malherbe (24/12) / Vincent Koch (25/2)
4 Eben Etzebeth (24/44)
5 Lood de Jager (22/19) / Pieter-Steph du Toit (23/8)
6 Marcell Coetzee (24/28)
7 Jaco Kriel (26/0) / Lets see who is in form during Super Rugby.
8 Duane Vermeulen (29/35)
9 Faf de Klerk (24/0) / Cobus Reinach (25/9)
10 Handre Pollard (21/20) / Pat Lambie (25/51)
11 Lets see who is in form during Super Rugby. Time to say thank you and goodbye to Habana.
12 Damian de Allende (23/10)
13 Jesse Kriel (21/11)
14 Lets see who is in form during Super Rugby. It might be that we play someone out of position. Rio 7's will make things interesting.
15 Warrick Gelant (20/0) / Willie le Roux (26/34)

Allowing for new caps on the wing that is only 259 caps in the starting XV. I hope whoever is coach will have the balls to back our form players and play to their strengths rather rely on what has gone on in SA rugby since 2008. This is my biggest hope and what I am looking forwad to over the next 4 years if the politicians can drop their using rugby as a soap box post elections hopefully.
 
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1 Trevor Nyakane (Aged 26/23Caps) / Steven Kitshoff (23/0)
2 Adriaan Strauss (29/54) / Lets see who is in form during Super Rugby.
3 Frans Malherbe (24/12) / Vincent Koch (25/2)
4 Eben Etzebeth (24/44)
5 Lood de Jager (22/19) / Pieter-Steph du Toit (23/8)
6 Marcell Coetzee (24/28)
7 Jaco Kriel (26/0) / Lets see who is in form during Super Rugby.
8 Duane Vermeulen (29/35)
9 Faf de Klerk (24/0) / Cobus Reinach (25/9)
10 Handre Pollard (21/20) / Pat Lambie (25/51)
11 Lets see who is in form during Super Rugby. Time to say thank you and goodbye to Habana.
12 Damian de Allende (23/10)
13 Jesse Kriel (21/11)
14 Lets see who is in form during Super Rugby. It might be that we play someone out of position. Rio 7's will make things interesting.
15 Warrick Gelant (20/0) / Willie le Roux (26/34)

When you look at those ages and the number of caps you realize how much potential SA have if they can just find the right style.

Most of those players should see 2 more WC's if they stay in there positions, and they are quite good quality players as well.
 
I see SA's potential, you see it but its a big question whether it might be realized between political interference, injuries and coaching or simply sometimes players (and teams) just don't seem to develop further than a point (because of a lack of rugby intellegence?).

When it comes to finding the right style I don't think we are too far off. I feel apart from scrum half and new wings we have the right personell. Its not a case of changing overly much its more a mindset change of allowing the ball to move through the hands and back our outside runners. Jesse Kriel had 1 run against NZ, making a clean break and 21 meters. Against Wales he made 4 runs for 38 meters, 1 clean break and 2 defenders beaten. I'm not saying he'd make a clean break or 10 meters every run but give the man the opportunity to have 5+ runs and I'm sure we'd see a try off it somewhere along the line. We have to be careful to not try and force De Allende to be a battering ram even if he is suited to this- there is more to his play much like Nonu. We've seen during the group stages and in the lead up that our outside backs can score tries. The sad thing is we lost in many of those matches and Meyer seems to think its ecause we tried to play too much rugby. He says our players just aren't skillful enough and its not his fault.
What a depressing thought and how do you expect those players to play with this lack of faith from their coach? I am so hoping to see the back of him come the 4th of December even if the list of probable replacements is all that inspiring.
 
With the announcement of the American Pro League, I can add this to my list of something that I will find very interesting.

It is safe to say, "the Americans are coming..". Will they have an Argentinian-esque "dark horse" status before 2019? We will see.
 
With the announcement of the American Pro League, I can add this to my list of something that I will find very interesting.

It is safe to say, "the Americans are coming..". Will they have an Argentinian-esque "dark horse" status before 2019? We will see.

Will take longer than 2019 if you ask me, they need to be playing against top tiers regularly to know where to benchmark themselves.

10 years and we could see some exciting rugby from them.
 

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