Premiership Rugby 22/23 - Rd 2

[Crash Hamster]

 

[Reiser99]

Assuming some players refusing to play.

 

[Which Tyler]

Assuming some players refusing to play.

Gallows humour, surely

 

[Reiser99]

Gallows humour, surely

No, genuinely wondering as there are some big names missing.

 

[Not Mike Brown's Sock]

No, genuinely wondering as there are some big names missing.

Who? Smith, that back row, and Sutherland + DVDM (who I assume are intl stand down anyway?)

 

[Which Tyler]

No, genuinely wondering as there are some big names missing.

Ah, ok, I'm not familiar enough with their squad, or injury status, to comment

 

[Reiser99]

Who? Smith, that back row, and Sutherland + DVDM (who I assume are intl stand down anyway?)

Hill or is he injured?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Hill injured, as are most of their big spenders - those of us who enjoy tinfoil headwear could say that that's a big coincidence, but tbh I reckon Hill would go out there and play for free, he loves it/loves Worcester

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Harlequins baffled after Marcus Smith is forced to miss Saracens match

Harlequins have had a request to play the England fly-half rejected while Saracens have been cleared to pick five England internationals

www.theguardian.com

So it appears Quins request to play Smith has been rejected due to the England rest period but Sarries are ok to play Farrell, Vunipola x2, George and Itoje...? Am I missing something here? Surely the laws should have clear cutoffs but it seems there is a massive inconsistency in how they are applied. Teams need predictability and if one team basically starts all their England internationals whilst another isn't allowed to under identical circumstances then something is very wrong and those making the decisions need to be called into question.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Harlequins baffled after Marcus Smith is forced to miss Saracens match

Harlequins have had a request to play the England fly-half rejected while Saracens have been cleared to pick five England internationals

www.theguardian.com

So it appears Quins request to play Smith has been rejected due to the England rest period but Sarries are ok to play Farrell, Vunipola x2, George and Itoje...? Am I missing something here? Surely the laws should have clear cutoffs but it seems there is a massive inconsistency in how they are applied. Teams need predictability and if one team basically starts all their England internationals whilst another isn't allowed to under identical circumstances then something is very wrong and those making the decisions need to be called into question.

Did Smith play more club rugby than the others last year?
Sanderson talks about the protocols in the first three mins of this video and says that club minutes also play a factor in an early release


It is a very weird decision though, it's not like his body went through the ringer more than the forwards who have come back sooner
Sanderson does say part of it is the mental aspect - that could be a factor

 

[Reiser99]

Times like this is when the rules need to clear and there needs to be transparency on the decision, because when it doesn't make sense, people lose trust.

 

[Which Tyler]

It would if rules that say "madatory 10 week rest between final game of one season and first game of the next season" meant... exactly that, rather than "10 weeks rest... spread as you like over a 6 month period, so feel free to give them a break on weekends they wouldn't have been playing anyway, and count that towards their EPS rest period" - like it has this year, for the first time in the 15 or so years that the EPS agreement has existed.

No shit, once Exeter and Bristol were given permission to ignore the rest periods, everyone else was going to try.

I'm sure Marcus's 1550 minutes were a lot more wearing than Owen's 1990 minutes

 

[TRF_Olyy]

It's Rugby reckons Smith had 2109mins and Farrell 1379,
Though it also says Itoje had over 2000 so that's still doesn't make sense

Marcus SMITH - Player statistics - Year stats - It's rugby

Owen FARRELL - Player statistics - Year stats - It's rugby

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Saints vs Irish has been a weird first half,
Complete dominance by Irish for about 30mins, but still find themselves down on the scoreboard and then lose two players to injury and get three yellow cards

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Nick Schonert red card after 6 mins,
Nightmare, just tackle lower ffs

 

[Which Tyler]

Yeah, I think he crouches more than Ridley thinks, but not enough, and it's not news that you just have to go low.

 

[Which Tyler]

Sale tempers don't seem happy.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Massive scrum, doesn't bode well

Harper was out on loan to the National leagues to return from injury but called back due to Oosthuizens failed HIA last week
Gonna be a long afternoon if that's the standard, hopefully just needs to warm into the game

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

It's Rugby reckons Smith had 2109mins and Farrell 1379,
Though it also says Itoje had over 2000 so that's still doesn't make sense

Marcus SMITH - Player statistics - Year stats - It's rugby

Owen FARRELL - Player statistics - Year stats - It's rugby

Genge must be around 2000 minutes also

 

[Which Tyler]

Arse