Guinness Pro 12 2014/15: Three changes for next year

[iINDOMINUSxx]

Also being a bit of a Hibs fan (not hugely into football) I would never step foot on enemy turf lol

Isn't Tynecastle going to be closed for a while as it is being rebuilt, or part is being rebuilt to make the stadium bigger than Easter Road? If so then Tynecastle size will be another option of moving to a stadium that's far to big.

Really don't know to be honest, I don't seem to listen to the news about Hearts or they're stadium

 

[Jerry Blue]

Better to move the dragons from newport to north wales and the Blues can cover Gwent as well as the Dragons do get the worse crowds and then with a team in North Wales we would have true regional rugby! Maybe Ponty should be renamed! Cardiff Blues A?

 

[valley commando]

Better to move the dragons from newport to north wales and the Blues can cover Gwent as well as the Dragons do get the worse crowds and then with a team in North Wales we would have true regional rugby! Maybe Ponty should be renamed! Cardiff Blues A?

Why would you do that, the Blues are ****e, better call the region Ponty, the support will double over night.
The Dragons are more of a region than the Blues, most real rugby people outside of Cardiff and Llanelli could not understand why 2 clubs were allowed to 'stand alone' which is pretty much what happened, the Dragons and Ospreys together with the Warriors were proper regions.

 

[Rich Taff]

Why would you do that, the Blues are ****e, better call the region Ponty, the support will double over night.
The Dragons are more of a region than the Blues, most real rugby people outside of Cardiff and Llanelli could not understand why 2 clubs were allowed to 'stand alone' which is pretty much what happened, the Dragons and Ospreys together with the Warriors were proper regions.

That petty minded 'tribalism' is the main problem we have in Wales with regional rugby.

For gods sake, wake up and smell the bacon. Valley's teams are small, they may have a proud history, but that was back in the amateur era. For rugby to progress, changes had to be made. The obvious changes were to combine areas, and no matter how it was done, some people would whine about it.

If you don't want to come down to Cardiff to support the Blues, then that's up to you. Don't expect it to be renamed 'CardiffPontyRhondda BlueBlackWhites', Just to please the self ***led 'heart of rugby' who are more interested in slagging off people than actually supporting teams.

 

[valley commando]

That petty minded 'tribalism' is the main problem we have in Wales with regional rugby.

For gods sake, wake up and smell the bacon. Valley's teams are small, they may have a proud history, but that was back in the amateur era. For rugby to progress, changes had to be made. The obvious changes were to combine areas, and no matter how it was done, some people would whine about it.

If you don't want to come down to Cardiff to support the Blues, then that's up to you. Don't expect it to be renamed 'CardiffPontyRhondda BlueBlackWhites', Just to please the self ***led 'heart of rugby' who are more interested in slagging off people than actually supporting teams.

Funny how the only people to label us as petty minded and tribalist are Blue or Scarlet, look at the stats we were the most successful Welsh side in Europe over the years leading up to the regions.

 

[Amiga500]

Funny how the only people to label us as petty minded and tribalist are Blue or Scarlet, look at the stats we were the most successful Welsh side in Europe over the years leading up to the regions.

... and what did you win in europe?

... and how were Wales doing when Ponty were strutting their stuff in the professional era?


Big fish in a small pond.

 

[Jbobo]

Let's just quit the pro 12 and have a welsh league again....

Or even better, make a whole European league with different tiers. It would be so much better than current.

 

[gaston le gaff]

Great idea but as Welsh clubs have little attendances and are more or less strapped for cash how would they finance the away games Planes hotels etc etc i personally would love an all season Euro league plus a FA Cup type KO competition, but everybody participating would have to be solvent which is not the case, especially in Wales.
The stadiums are empty and sponsors sparse on the ground, this is nota dig at Walesits just reality and Scotland are not far behind , but they only have 2 teams so a little easier for the Scots.

 

[valley commando]

... and what did you win in europe?

... and how were Wales doing when Ponty were strutting their stuff in the professional era?


Big fish in a small pond.

The 2005 Grand Slam Squad had the following ex Ponty Players -:
Prop Gethin Jenkins
Hooker Mefin Davies
2nd rows Brent Cockbain, Rob Sidoli and Ian Gough
Open side Martin Williams
No 8 and captain Michael Owen
Fly Half Ceri Sweeney
Centre Sonny Parker
Full back Kevin Morgan

Incidentally Rob Sidoli is back at Ponty coaching, (as are Gareth Wyatt and Garin Jenkins both Wales Internationals)
Ceri Sweeney has just rejoined from Exeter.
Ponty is a proper community club, many ex players such as Neil Jenkins and Martin Williams can be seen on match day from time to time.

 

[valley commando]

... and what did you win in europe?

... and how were Wales doing when Ponty were strutting their stuff in the professional era?


Big fish in a small pond.

What have the regions won in Europe

 

[goodNumber10]

What have the regions won in Europe

An Amlin Cup (cardiff 2009/10).

though to be fair Ponty did lose in the final in 2001/02

 

[Amiga500]

The 2005 Grand Slam Squad had the following ex Ponty Players -:

So, the players spent 2 years in a proper environment and managed to deliver a grand slam?

Why did the same group of players do the square root of f__k all prior to the regions then?

What have the regions won in Europe

More than Ponty.

 

[Jbobo]

Great idea but as Welsh clubs have little attendances and are more or less strapped for cash how would they finance the away games Planes hotels etc etc i personally would love an all season Euro league plus a FA Cup type KO competition, but everybody participating would have to be solvent which is not the case, especially in Wales.
The stadiums are empty and sponsors sparse on the ground, this is nota dig at Walesits just reality and Scotland are not far behind , but they only have 2 teams so a little easier for the Scots.

Yeah, the suggestion about reverting back to a Welsh league was just a jest. I agree totally, Wales just couldn't sustain a competitive league of it's own. I don't think any European country could except for England and France. Ireland wouldn't be able to either, although would do a bit better than Wales and Scotland. The attendances wouldn't stay up and the quality would drop dramatically like the latter countries.

The second point about Euro league was serious. I agree with your point, it would be fantastic and i think smaller rugby nations like Romania, Georgia, Russia etc would benefit hugely.

 

[Amiga500]

Ireland wouldn't be able to either, although would do a bit better than Wales and Scotland. The attendances wouldn't stay up and the quality would drop dramatically like the latter countries.

Definitely. The interest just isn't there at the min.

While the All-Ireland league has been a bedrock of the IRFU till now, I feel its a millstone in the current era [I know this is a mighty unpopular view].

We (Ireland) need a semi-pro or very low level pro league, like the ITM cup to bridge the gap to professional standards of rugby. 12-14 teams in a franchise league for financial stability, all at population centres and all affiliated to the provincial squads (so instead of playing for the 'A' sides, the academy/squad players turn out in this league against other pros or wannabe pros).

Of course, to make room for this, the current AI league will drop in importance a bit - I'd make it branch (province) only league with AI end of season knockout (bit like the GAA) - to cut down on travel time and expense for men and women that just cannot afford full weekends away from work/family.

 

[Jerry Blue]

Yet the Dragons only play in Newport and Newport rfc insisted in having Newport in the name. None of them are regions the Ospreys are just Swansea, because Llanelli and Cardiff were the 2 most powerful clubs at the time plus weren't the warriors rejected by Ponty? The Valleys is to small to support a pro team of their own.

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Cardiff got to the final of the Heineken cup Ponty got into a fight in Brive!

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Yet they all played for Wales after they played for the regions. Ponty are a development club for the Blues. Ponty are a small club in a small town. Welsh rugby has to move on from the amateur era and back the 4 pro clubs which run correctly can be a success. Ponty were never one of the big clubs anyway they had a bit of success in the 90's and that's about it.

 

[Jerry Blue]

If the Pro 12 was shortened and grouped by country or region and copied the Super rugby model and only played teams outside their group once it would cut down on the travel costs and might provide extra dates for events like Judgement day. Maybe then a shortened Premiership could be fitted in.

 

[valley commando]

So, the players spent 2 years in a proper environment and managed to deliver a grand slam?

Why did the same group of players do the square root of f__k all prior to the regions then?




More than Ponty.

You have no idea what your talking about.

*EDIT BY TRF_SAINTS - No foul and or abuse language.*

 

[valley commando]

Yet the Dragons only play in Newport and Newport rfc insisted in having Newport in the name. None of them are regions the Ospreys are just Swansea, because Llanelli and Cardiff were the 2 most powerful clubs at the time plus weren't the warriors rejected by Ponty? The Valleys is to small to support a pro team of their own.

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Cardiff got to the final of the Heineken cup Ponty got into a fight in Brive!

- - - Updated - - -

Yet they all played for Wales after they played for the regions. Ponty are a development club for the Blues. Ponty are a small club in a small town. Welsh rugby has to move on from the amateur era and back the 4 pro clubs which run correctly can be a success. Ponty were never one of the big clubs anyway they had a bit of success in the 90's and that's about it.

Typical Cardiff supporter, at least we won our fight in Brive, Ponty stick together on and off the field. cardiff were not the one of the 2 biggest clubs pre pro, they nearly got relegated not to long before the regions, in fact they would have if the WRUin hadnt changed the rules to prevent 2 teams going down, in that period Ponty won the cup and league in successive seasons cardiff struggled to win a raffle.
Everyone knows the only reason cardiff were ever any good historically (pre the pro game) is that they paid boot money to players that had been developed by proper community clubs.
For the record as you seem to no sod all, the official European Rankings for Welsh clubs the year before the regions were as follows -:
11th Ponty
12th Scarlets
19th Neath
24th Bridgend
28th Newport
34th cardiff
37th Swansea
40th Ebbw Vale
50th Caerphilly

And you lot got a region how f*****g fair is that.
Those rankings based on all European 1st class clubs previous 30 domestic and European games.

 

[valley commando]

An Amlin Cup (cardiff 2009/10).

though to be fair Ponty did lose in the final in 2001/02

You mean the Parker Pen Shield in 2002, to be fair Ponty only had a small squad and had 6 games between the 27th of April and the 26th of May, including 2 Celtic league games, 2 cup semis and 2 cup finals, that short of resources Mathew Nuttall aged 16 played in the cup final victory against Llanelli, a match which incidentally went into extra time, leaving the PPS final the following week a step to far.

 

[Jerry Blue]

You seem to believe that from a golden patch in the nineties that Ponty should be the top club in the world and if I remember didn't Ponty go bankrupt or near after that period. The history of Cardiff rfc is a lot more touring test sides beaten is just an example and but you don't get the point Cardiff Blues are not Cardiff rfc they are a separate team that was setup by Cardiff rfc. The reason why Cardiff got a pro team is because Cardiff is the capital city of Wales and is where a lot of the wealth in the country is and a population of 350,000 concentrated in a small area. Pontypridd is a small town with a population of 30,000. Yet because the pro team was based in Cardiff and not Ponty and the one Ponty fans did get was shared with Bridgend you seem to believe the capital should lose it's pro team and that it should be moved to a small town. There was nothing stopping Ponty fans supporting a pro team based out of Cardiff and named Cardiff and still supporting Ponty. Welsh rugby has changed and has moved on from small clubs in small towns who can't support pro rugby to bigger franchise style clubs in cities with the population to support pro rugby. Even if there was ever the money to create a 5th pro team then because of the way Ponty has behaved towards Welsh rugby then you can bet it will be in North Wales and not Pontypridd.