This weekend and the Euro championship thingy

[Dai Perk]

ok, I know y'all have warned me off of the Egg Chasers podcast as far as their insight into Premiership vs. Pro14, but I gotta ask...

Those guys seem to be picking a LOT of Pro14 teams to win this weekend, am I crazy, or does that go against both logic and history of their analysis?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Premiership sides often underperform in Europe, realistically.

Partly due to the premiership and top 14 being tougher leagues. In the pro14 the sides rest their best players so they're fresh going into Europe, in England and France the sides can't afford to do that.

 

[Leinster Fan]

To be honest, except for Exeter/Saracens, all the English teams are average at best in a European context. The prevailing 'logic' (among English fans) is that the Pro14 teams rest players to give them an advantage. (The idea that the Pro14 teams might actually be better doesn't appear to cross their mind).

 

[stus768]

To be honest, except for Exeter/Saracens, all the English teams are average at best in a European context. The prevailing 'logic' (among English fans) is that the Pro14 teams rest players to give them an advantage. (The idea that the Pro14 teams might actually be better doesn't appear to cross their mind).

Can't it be both? Pro 14 definitely rest players but they also have good teams. Although I'd say Leinster are the stand outs but don't think the rest are much better than the English lot atm. Are Munster looking much better this year?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

To claim that pro14 teams don't rest their best players for Europe is deluded.

It's not the only reason, Leinster/Munster etc. are very good sides, no one claims otherwise. It still helps though.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Premiership and Top 14 sides overplay their players leading to constant underperformance in their own leagues as well as Europe. It only becomes evident in Europe because they play clubs who manage their players adequately.

Eggchasers do rate Pro 14 teams in Europe but they completely disrespect the league. This stems from them failing to see that modern rugby is a squad game due to there being more games in a season than an individual can physically play. Most Pro14 teams won't let their players play more than three weekends in a row as studies have shown chance of injury increases exponentially after this and performance decreases. In contrast Wasps were happy to play Willie le Roux three weeks ago after he had played two test matches in New Zealand and Australia the weeks previously and had two more test matches in South Africa the weeks after, he'll probably play Leinster tomorrow too, it's madness.

 

[Dai Perk]

Wow, again, thanks so much for all the feedback ... there is simply no comparable example in the US, so these dynamics are truly fascinating to me. If the NBA took a 2 or 3 week break in the middle of their season to go play international teams, I would DEFINITELY watch that, but everything is totally buttoned up here.

Cheers, folks, I am really learning a lot from your thoughtful responses!