They absolutely massacred Waterloo at the weekend running in 12 tries. They looked head and shoulders above everything we've seen so far (aside from goal kicking). It'd be such a shame if Rob Andrew nails the trapdoor shut on them (or anyone who finishes higher than them). SB
They were **** last season and they're shitter now. Good riddence if the trap door is closed... No one likes them, their fans are all 13 man kickitaway hooligans and they suck donkey balls.
Well that explains the numerous donkeys they brought to the game with them! Seriously though, they looked class...can't comment on their fans past the usual "Yorkshire, Yorkshire!" thing. You can go down and come back stronger....look at Saints. Daws says in his book that it was the kick up the pants they all needed. SB
You can go down and come back stronger....look at Saints. Daws says in his book that it was the kick up the pants they all needed. [/b][/quote] Saints went down in the amateur days though. Coming back up just as strong is a totally different proposition in todays professional environment.
True enough, although 1.5 million pound *pauses to do the Doctor Evil thing with his little finger* will certainly help.
Leeds were pathetic when we beat them. Spilling the ball and kicking away possession. The only reason they got anywhere near us was because our fullback was an idiot and left the game after 60 minutes by breaking his leg trying to run out of his in-goal area!!! Saying that though we put 7 tries past you with relative ease.
Leeds were so clinical it was unreal...Your lot where never head and shoulders above us the way the Tykes were. Odd stuff...the only teams we've beaten all year are two of the most highly rated. They are deffo the best we've seen though. SB
I really dont want them back up,there fans were awful last season when we played them away last season.We were the better team that day we just couldn't finish of our chances.
L**ds are garbage - fact! Despite that they'll still go up cos they've a stupid amount of money from the parachute payment (and a generous benefactor) and if it's ever in doubt they'll just go out and sign another 5 players. They are 'in favour' with the blazers who will do anything to get them back in the league. Just wait for the ring-fencing at the end of this season if Worcester finish bottom and L**ds finish top of Nat1. Not that I'm bitter of course.....
If the RFU could choose the club to come up it would be Roth, Leeds or Cornish. It's basically a precursor to franchising. People talk about ringfencing as if it is not already here but think about it. The team coming down from the Prem gets: £750,000 parachute payment A place in the guiness 'A' league A certain amount of leiniancy over ground conditions The RFU is, for better or worse, a business and businesses run on money, something which the only major team in a region would provide a large amount of. I'm just sorry to say that when the trapdoor closes it will strand a lot of ambitious clubs below. And if I must choose a side to go up this year other than my own it has to be Cornish Pirates for the way in which they have developed over the last 3 seasons to be a team which could one day be Prem champion contenders.
But Norhtern Lad..... The benefactor behind the Pasties has said that even if they finish top they will take the parachute payment?! They are having all kinds of problems finding a ground apparently. They would have been better off staying at Penzance and developing there. As for Roth I'd be very (pleasantly!!) surprised if we finished top but you're wrong in that the RFU (and perhaps more importantly, Premier Rugby) DO NOT want us to go up. They made that perfectly clear a few years ago when they wouldn't let us up. I can understand why because we simply do not get the crowds and we don't have a big money man to buy the start names needed to improve the attendances significantly. Doesn't make it right though, and I agree, you could argue that ring-fencing is already there with the parachute payment geared up to getting the relegated team back up there at the expense of the ambitious Nat1 Clubs. That sucks by the way!!! All this about not having the parachute payment ruining the relegated club is absolute tosh, Nat1 sides only £200k out of the RFU deal and most of us don't have enormous benefactors that are rife in the Prem!!! I also agree they want franchising and I'm afraid it's an inevitability now Andrew's the England boss.
But of course...Finishing top of Nat1 is no longer a ticket to promotion. The most irritating thing about the rules surrounding the state of grounds is that, even if they fit within the rules, you have to have primacy of tenure. When you consider that London Irish, Sale and Wasps (whose ground doesn't even fit seating criteria) don't have this it makes me at least very annoyed. The fact is that the only team in Nat1 with a ground avle to qualify for promotion is Leeds (even though Exeter moved to a new ground this season, it was ineligible :blink: :cheers: ) although there are several teams in this division, including Bedford and Rotherham, who bring in bigger crowds and therefore more gate money. PS: Looking forward to the cup match on the 20th. If you're coming I hope you enjoy yourself at Goldington Road (but not too much).
I think you need to put it perspective. The GP is slowly increasing in terms of average ground size. Soon the smallest ground will be roughly 13,000. In another ten years it will probabbly be 16,000. And in another ten? Who knows? Frankly it would be lunacy to introduce to this big league a club who's ground, like Bedfords, is tiny compared to that of say even Worcester or Harlequins. Then again introducing a club from a town that almost beats Harlow for an imbred population like Bedford is sheer lunacy also (j/k )
I think you need to put it perspective. The GP is slowly increasing in terms of average ground size. Soon the smallest ground will be roughly 13,000. In another ten years it will probabbly be 16,000. And in another ten? Who knows? Frankly it would be lunacy to introduce to this big league a club who's ground, like Bedfords, is tiny compared to that of say even Worcester or Harlequins. Then again introducing a club from a town that almost beats Harlow for an imbred population like Bedford is sheer lunacy also (j/k ) [/b][/quote] My point was not that refusing a club entry because of ground size is mad but that allowing one which, although it fits the criteria, does not pull a large a crowd as a club with a smaller ground. I also have a problem with the way in which the RFU or, more importantly, Premier Rugby do not enforce the rules on some of the teams already in the Premiership. I am not bitter (well at least not about this), Bedford have had their chance and we nearly destroyed ourselves trying to maintain Prem status last time, but the hypocrisy surrounding the GP really irritates me.
I totally agree Norhtern Lad. :bravo: Why should a team in Nat1 that earns the right to go into the Prem be denied just because they're not percieved to be a 'big club'. The Sarries fans view is typical Premiership snobbery where he's basically saying 'we're Saracens, we should be in the Premiership (ringfenced?) because we've always been there' When my local footy team, Barnsley, got promoted to the Prem it was brilliant for the town and everyone in the Prem footy league welcomed them with open arms, despite them being a 'small club'. Just because we don't play at a two-thirds empty football stadium and a lot of Rotherham and Bedford fans don't go round wearing blazers and saying 'ra-ra-ra old boy' we shouldn't be denied!! Struck a nerve? Bet your bloody life it has!! :ranting: PS. Would imagine I'll be at the cup game on the 20th, went to both our play-off games at Goldington Road and the atmosphere was brilliant! Which is more than can be said at certain grounds where 5000 folk are shoved in the corner of a large football stadium..... hope both teams are at full strength, got a feeling we'll rest a few
