Patterson: "Magner's League > Guinness Premiership"

[Sir Speedy]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7510444.stm

Seems to me he's bitter he got no game-time at Gloucester.

 

[Bullitt]

lol, bless him. He really sucked last season.

 

[Sir Speedy]

lol, bless him. He really sucked last season.
[/b]

He should have just left the Premiership with dignity by keeping his gob shut. His only strength is his goalkicking and he proved that to be flawed when under pressure against Munster in the Heineken Cup quarter-final. The fact he was 2nd choice to Ryan "O'Gara's understudy" Lamb ever since he joined shows a lot.

 

[Bullitt]

In fairness, Lamb has bucket loads of talent, it's his attitude and his bottle which are in doubt.

 

[An Tarbh]

Bit of a pointless parting shot to be honest, doubt he'd be saying that had he not choked in the HEC quarter final as his season would have gone in a completely different direction.

Magners League will never have credibility in the eyes of some as there's no promotion or relegation so hence no pressure on teams to tighten up their play at crucial stages in the season but that's a moronic argument given the number of teams at our disposal so all a bit pointless really, fact is the ML can't be that bad given how competitive teams are in the HEC and I wager they'd more than hold their own in the GP or the Top 14 but we're never going to get that.

 

[Thingimubob]

he does seem a bit bitter doesn't he? I've never bought into the whole 'Premiership Rugby is miles ahead of Magners Rugby' theory, but I still don't believe it's true the other way round either. But the Magners isn't as weak as some make out, as An Tarbh said, the Celtic teams are more than competitive in the Heineken, with 3 Quarter Finalists last season, with one going on to win it. Same with the Welsh teams in the EDF, not as if they get hammered regularly by all the English teams.

 

[gingergenius]

in a way he's right. this season's HC winners came from the Magner's league after all...

however it smells fishy when someone with a reputation like Paterson comes down to play for Gloucester, completely flops and then leaves and blames it on the league...

How about this: The Magner's League, AND the Guinness Premiership are both fantastic leagues capable of producing highly exciting, physical and tense rugby and don't really need to score points off each other with useless comparisons... There are 3 outstanding leagues in Europe, there's no point comparing them...

 

[Prestwick]

Oh dear, with all this dick waving going around, you don't see the French coming on here yelling "my god! our league is so much better than the GP/ML/Super 14", do you?

No, thats because they don't have to, 'cos they know their league is at the very least one of the finest around. It has the best fights for a start!

 

[cyRil]

If the teams took it seriously the Magners would be a decent league. As it is, it's a joke.

 

[Prestwick]

Now, I didn't really want to say that..but..

..I'm just going to say I'm happy to be regular spectator of a league that provides exciting, nail biting rugby that entertained over two million punters and many more millions of television viewers last year. The best? Maybe not but it does the job in my opinion.

I'll definetely be getting a four match ticket package for this season.

 

[An Tarbh]

If the teams took it seriously the Magners would be a decent league. As it is, it's a joke.
[/b]

It's only Munster who consistently don't take it seriously.

 

[Prestwick]

Would you suggest that Munster only do enough to qualify for the HEC? Does that detract from the hard work Leinster, Ulster and Connacht put in?

 

[crispy]

If you listen to the audio interview he doesn't sound bitter at all and he hardly slammed the GP, it was an off hand comment, the BBC is just stirring things.

 

[An Tarbh]

Would you suggest that Munster only do enough to qualify for the HEC? Does that detract from the hard work Leinster, Ulster and Connacht put in?
[/b]

Yeah they do but it doesn't detract from Leinster or any of the Irish sides as whenever they meet they're full strength going at it hell for leather, so if anything it gives the Welsh and Scottish sides a more inflated finish.

 

[Prestwick]

I was kind of thinking more along the lines of tarred with the same brush, that fans abroad think that all Irish provinces operate along the same lines when the reality is different?

 

[Gavin]

Munster do the business to qualify for the HEC because they know that they are strongest in that competition. They concentrate more on the HEC because, perhaps in the fans minds, it's worth more.

 

[Sir Speedy]

Munster do the business to qualify for the HEC because they know that they are strongest in that competition. They concentrate more on the HEC because, perhaps in the fans minds, it's worth more.
[/b]

Well, it is worth more. The Magner's League is worthless (well, not entirely) because at the end of the day, only a few sides try in it. You have the Dragon's and Connacht who try so they can qualify for Europe, and you have Leinster who try to please their fans after being knocked out of Europe. The Ospreys are the Welsh equivelant of Munster; neither try.

 

[Gavin]

It depends where you come from. People may rate the Currie Cup over the Super14 because the Currie Cup is all South African. In the Magner's League it's Celt's against Celt's, probably something tribal from 2000 years ago.

 

[stormmaster1]

Magner's v GP.

2 very different competitions. IMO the GP is more competitive, but by that i simply mean more sides have more at stake, so losing is a worse result than for many in the MAgner's. The GP is imo more physical and more defensive while the MAgner's is more open (so considered a better spectacle by some).



None of this makes either competition better than the other.



With regards to Paterson's somments, he also said the Magner's suited his style better. Could be that there is less pressure to succeed at Edinburgh than in an ambitious Gloucester side, or simply that he is a less physical player and suits a more open game better. Added to that the fact he made no real impact in the competition.

 

[Bullitt]

Basically what he was saying by "the Magners League is better, for my game" really meant "I actually start more games and the number of penalties conceded per match means more pops at goal..."