The Road to Bilbao and Beyond: Rugby 2018

[Antepli Ejderha]

Shaun Edwards: Wales defence coach set to join Dragons part-time - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/44272514

Will he have the same impact there as he did with the Blues?

[Antepli Ejderha]

England concede 60 plus points to the Barbarians, it might only be a friendly and England might not have been at full strength but Uncle Eddie must be starting to get worried. Four defeats on the bounce and Gustard leaving is cause for concern.

[Ray de Galles]

I love The Baa Baas, both as an institution and watching them play, but I struggle to see the point for England of the annual games against them as tour warm ups. I’m not sure you really find anything out about your squad (good or bad) and selections like Mike Brown on the wing just make an absolute mockery of the whole event.

They’d be far better as a season opener or Xmas time game. The Baa Baas should play more of their old club games too.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Jared Payne: Ireland and Ulster centre handed coaching role after announcing retirement - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/44279099

He's suffered from recurring headaches since his last appearance for the Lions nearly a year ago.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Brive have signed Stuart Olding. That must mean Paddy Jackson is likely to get a club soon, almost certainly he'll be in France too.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

I love The Baa Baas, both as an institution and watching them play, but I struggle to see the point for England of the annual games against them as tour warm ups. I’m not sure you really find anything out about your squad (good or bad) and selections like Mike Brown on the wing just make an absolute mockery of the whole event.

They’d be far better as a season opener or Xmas time game. The Baa Baas should play more of their old club games too.

I think Jones choosing Brown on the wing - and Cipriani at 15 - is a sign that he has completely lost focus and is now looking for inspiration through randomness. And no national team - no matter how threadbare - should be shipping 60 points against a team that trained twice before playing.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Daly started at 15 but moved to centre after an injury allowing Cipriani to play 53 minutes at full back, he did very little apparently.

Wales 2nd team versus South Africa 3rd team on Saturday in Washington D.C. is live on Channel Four.

[Bored Of Education]

I think Jones choosing Brown on the wing - and Cipriani at 15 - is a sign that he has completely lost focus and is now looking for inspiration through randomness. And no national team - no matter how threadbare - should be shipping 60 points against a team that trained twice before playing.

Hey, three, if you don't mind. Also, there was a full week's drinking.

[Antepli Ejderha]

South Africa team to face Wales: Curwin Bosch (Cell C Sharks); Travis Ismaiel (Vodacom Bulls, uncapped), Jesse Kriel (Vodacom Bulls), Andre Esterhuizen (Cell C Sharks, uncapped), Makazole Mapimpi (Cell C Sharks, uncapped); Elton Jantjies (Emirates Lions), Ivan van Zyl (Vodacom Bulls, uncapped); Ox Nche (prop, Toyota Cheetahs, uncapped), Chiliboy Ralepelle (Cell C Sharks), Wilco Louw (DHL Stormers), Jason Jenkins (Vodacom Bulls, uncapped), Pieter-Steph du Toit (capt, DHL Stormers), Kwagga Smith (Emirates Lions, uncapped), Oupa Mohoje (Toyota Cheetahs), Dan du Preez (Cell C Sharks).

Replacements: Akker van der Merwe (Cell C Sharks, uncapped), Steven Kitshoff (DHL Stormers), Thomas du Toit (Cell C Sharks, uncapped), Marvin Orie (Emirates Lions, uncapped), Sikhumbuzo Notshe (DHL Stormers, uncapped), Embrose Papier (Vodacom Bulls, uncapped), Robert du Preez (Cell C Sharks, uncapped), Warrick Gelant (Vodacom Bulls).

Seven debutants in the starting fifteen and six on the bench. I presume Wales announce their side tomorrow.

[jefe]

I was looking forward to going to this, but I don't know if it's worth at least $60 to see the depths of everyone's bench.

[Antepli Ejderha]

I was looking forward to going to this, but I don't know if it's worth at least $60 to see the depths of everyone's bench.

This is the most inexperienced Springbok side to take the pitch since their return to test rugby. I'd save your money.

[Ray de Galles]

Wales' team announced. Main points are North at outside centre as mooted, Tomos Williams' makes his debut at scrum half Prydie's return which means Amos is full back ;

Wales team: Hallam Amos; Tom Prydie, George North, Owen Watkin, Steff Evans; Gareth Anscombe, Tomos Williams; Nicky Smith, Elliot Dee, Dillon Lewis; Cory Hill, Bradley Davies; Seb Davies, Ellis Jenkins (capt), Ross Moriarty.

Replacements: Ryan Elias, Wyn Jones, Rhodri Jones, Adam Beard, Aaron Wainwright, Aled Davies, Rhys Patchell/Gareth Davies, Hadleigh Parkes.

[Ray de Galles]

Great result for Wales in the u20 World Cup yesterday, beating Australia 21-26 with 16 points coming from Ieuan Evan's son Cai playing at full back.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Great result for Wales in the u20 World Cup yesterday, beating Australia 21-26 with 16 points coming from Ieuan Evan's son Cai playing at full back.

You forgot the try by Nigel Owens' nephew. It's the first time we ever beaten Australia at the U20 RWC. Next up is the Baby Blacks.

[Antepli Ejderha]

England and clubs have hit roadblock over injuries, admits clubs chief - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/44316808

Bruce Craig, owner of Bath, has criticised Uncle Eddie about the number of injuries suffered to players during England training caps. He has a point but I'd like to see the stats compared to other countries.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Joey Carberry is joining Munster from Leinster for next season so that he can play ten. It looks very much like the IRFU have pushed for this move and Joe Schmidt pushed him to go.

[Gangster Octopus]

What are those weird breastbones that the Welsh have?

[Antepli Ejderha]

Well that was poor, as poor as expected, hopefully they've made enough money to cover costs and not enough to make them do it again.
Argentina will be as physical but with home advantage and a game plan are going to be much tougher opponents.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Nine changes for Wales for the first test against Argentina on Saturday.

Wales: Hallam Amos; Josh Adams, Scott Williams, Hadleigh Parkes, George North; Rhys Patchell, Gareth Davies; Wyn Jones, Elliot Dee, Dillon Lewis, Adam Beard, Cory Hill (capt), Seb Davies, James Davies, Ross Moriarty.

Replacements: Ryan Elias, Rob Evans, Tomas Francis, Josh Turnbull, Aaron Wainwright, Aled Davies, Gareth Anscombe, Owen Watkin.

Argentina: tbc

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland).

Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Mathieu Raynal (France).

TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)

[Flynnie]

Well that was poor, as poor as expected, hopefully they've made enough money to cover costs and not enough to make them do it again.
Argentina will be as physical but with home advantage and a game plan are going to be much tougher opponents.

Supposedly World Rugby had to bail out USA Rugby's marketing arm (which no longer exists as a result of this) to ensure the teams got their $750,000 each.

I was shocked at how many people showed up - 21,000 isn't a horrible crowd - as this couldn't have been organised any more poorly.

[Ray de Galles]

21,000 is certainly a decent crowd, I presume the capacity of the stadium was a lot higher than that though (I saw nothing of the game)?

[Flynnie]

It's RFK Stadium in DC, the old home of the Washington football team, DC United, and the Senators/Nationals. It has about 55,000 seats.

I really thought they were going to sell about 7,000 tickets for the game as the organisers and the WRU went out of their way to alienate people (the WRU president basically saying something patronising like "it's good for Americans to see proper rugby and not just the Eagles") and it clashed with the Collegiate Rugby Championships. Plus we're hosting the Sevens World Cup in a month. I suspect much of the crowd was South African expats, for whom a visit to DC is gonna be way cheaper than going to SA. And tickets weren't really that overpriced by modern standards. You could get decentish seats for about $25.

[Ray de Galles]

Oh christ, yes, RFK is massive. Didn't realise they'd put it there. Wonder what the thought process was behind that.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Joey Carberry is joining Munster from Leinster for next season so that he can play ten. It looks very much like the IRFU have pushed for this move and Joe Schmidt pushed him to go.

This is the end of quite an embarrassing saga, that was quite revealing about the attitudes of Dublin people in general and the Upper middle class in particular. From what I've been told, Leinster have three no. 10's that they could more or less use interchangeably, but can only pick one. (It was explained to me as being like when Barcelona had Xavi, Fabregas, and Thiago to play the same position) When it was suggested that Carberry should move to Ulster to replace Paddy Jackson, you had a parade of former players on saying that you couldn't force someone to play for a team that bad etc, but what they were really complaining about was that you couldn't force someone to move down (or up) the country. The thing is that Joey Carberry isn't a soft south dublin Gobshite. (Includes coastal parts of the Northside) he moved to Ireland from New Zealand at the age of 11 and lived in Kildare.

It also reveals that Leinster players and fans have kind of forgotten that the point of the province system isn't to turn leinster into a massive super club, but to develop Irish players, and they have to share players, rather than just hang onto them, keep them under the bed and never let them out.

[ursus arctos]

There really aren't a lot of smaller grounds near DC that could have hosted (the Naval Academy football ground in Annapolis comes to mind, but even that is 35,000 (and Field Turf, not grass)). I think Flynnie is right about SA expats being a key target market and there are quite a few in an and around DC (some for reasons best not examined), while the city also has excellent international air connections.

USA Rugby seem to be leaving the promotion of these international matches primarily to locals, with the result that there is no continuity or similarity in the quality of the effort. The All Black matches in Chicago have been a huge success in part because the city and promoters pulled out all the stops to make it a real event that appealed to people who had never seen a rugby ball.