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"England has the quantity, but Wales has the quality". Discuss.

Tooting Carmen

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I cannot remember where I read that quote, but I think it is insightful even so. Basically, England has by far the most high standard rugby players in absolute numbers, not least because it is, well, a much bigger country and with a huge player base. However, relative to their much smaller population and player base, Wales does produce a lot of high quality rugby players, even if in absolute terms and numbers they cannot reach what England can.
 
I have to say, i just read the ***le and a large grin came about my face as i thought 'what an excellent trolling effort for this forum, couldnt have been more carefully devised'. And then reading the post, the apparent straight face coming across in the tone of the post, perfect. You could just see the poster smirking on the inside, holding in a laugh, while looking thw other forum members straight in the eye, with a serious tone, keeping a straight face. Well done.

and when you think about it, you have the likes of lawes and hill, kruis, launchbury, itoje, plenty of quantity there.
 
Isn't it true though that Wales very much punches above its weight, even if in an absolute sense England has achieved more? (It has actually won a World Cup, and its record against the Australia-NZ-SA axis is much better than Wales').
 
Depending on who you listen to, every nation that is not England punches above their weight because UR poPuLAtIoN iZ sO LarGe U ShuLD wIN aLL thE TImE!!!
 
Depending on who you listen to, every nation that is not England punches above their weight because UR poPuLAtIoN iZ sO LarGe U ShuLD wIN aLL thE TImE!!!
South Africa and France don't punch above their weight either - at least not based on the population argument.
 
Isn't it true though that Wales very much punches above its weight, even if in an absolute sense England has achieved more? (It has actually won a World Cup, and its record against the Australia-NZ-SA axis is much better than Wales').
Yeah, possibly a bit true to be fair. Not as much as the pacific island nations though. You could say new zealand punches above its weight, although other countries probably lose players to other sports more. For instance england, perhaps their best potential tens, wingers and fullbacks end up playing football. I dont really know, i dont watch football.
 
South Africa and France don't punch above their weight either - at least not based on the population argument.
South Africa has won 3 world cups, that is quite an achievement. Also my response wasn't a statement of fact but pointing out that the people who go on about "punching above their weight" are always from smaller nations and invariably it is used as part of an axe to grind, ie we are punching above our weight so by extension you are punching below your weight, therefore if you win it means nothing and if we win it's fantastic. A huge part of sport is the coaching, not the players and all countries select from the same pool of international coaches.
 
Welsh people are just a lot more passionate than the upper class, Tory voting, private school attending, English rugby community. That's all it is.
 
If Wales produced high quality players they wouldn't need to steal everyone elses
In the days of empire we sent many good, God fearing Welshman out to the four corners as missionaries. Their descendants are just returning home to the land of their fathers. That's all.
 

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