Official United Rugby Championship thread

[OomStruisbaai]

If Connacht can't beat this Sharks team they can be invited to play CC rugby.

[fishfoodie]

If Connacht can't beat this Sharks team they can be invited to play CC rugby.

It's as good an opportunity as they'll get to secure a TBP this weekend, & they need it !

We've our Internationals back, but a few injuries, & like Sharks, two wins in Europe, so they can focus on their League position this week.

Afraid the weather isn't looking good for this weekend though.

WEATHER
There are tricky conditions forecast for Munster v Lions in Cork on Friday. While it will be a mild 10C, there's a strong likelihood of rain, and winds of between 20-30km/hr are expected. Ulster and Benetton will have far easier conditions in Treviso, temperatures of around 9C, and a dry afternoon predicted.

The worst of the weekend's weather will be in Galway for Connacht v Sharks, where plenty of rain is forecast on Saturday, as well as winds of up to 40km/hr. Likewise, it's expected to be a wet and windy evening in Swansea for Ospreys v Leinster.

[OomStruisbaai]

If Connacht can't beat this Sharks team they can be invited to play CC rugby.

It's as good an opportunity as they'll get to secure a TBP this weekend, & they need it !

We've our Internationals back, but a few injuries, & like Sharks, two wins in Europe, so they can focus on their League position this week.

Afraid the weather isn't looking good for this weekend though.

WEATHER
There are tricky conditions forecast for Munster v Lions in Cork on Friday. While it will be a mild 10C, there's a strong likelihood of rain, and winds of between 20-30km/hr are expected. Ulster and Benetton will have far easier conditions in Treviso, temperatures of around 9C, and a dry afternoon predicted.

The worst of the weekend's weather will be in Galway for Connacht v Sharks, where plenty of rain is forecast on Saturday, as well as winds of up to 40km/hr. Likewise, it's expected to be a wet and windy evening in Swansea for Ospreys v Leinster.

Weather for the Stormers in Glasgow?

Kitshoff struggling with the flu.

[fishfoodie]

If Connacht can't beat this Sharks team they can be invited to play CC rugby.

It's as good an opportunity as they'll get to secure a TBP this weekend, & they need it !

We've our Internationals back, but a few injuries, & like Sharks, two wins in Europe, so they can focus on their League position this week.

Afraid the weather isn't looking good for this weekend though.

WEATHER
There are tricky conditions forecast for Munster v Lions in Cork on Friday. While it will be a mild 10C, there's a strong likelihood of rain, and winds of between 20-30km/hr are expected. Ulster and Benetton will have far easier conditions in Treviso, temperatures of around 9C, and a dry afternoon predicted.

The worst of the weekend's weather will be in Galway for Connacht v Sharks, where plenty of rain is forecast on Saturday, as well as winds of up to 40km/hr. Likewise, it's expected to be a wet and windy evening in Swansea for Ospreys v Leinster.

Weather for the Stormers in Glasgow?

Kitshoff struggling with the flu.

5-6C, ~20kph breeze, & ~40% chance of rain

[fishfoodie]

Character building weather down in Cork

The Lions can count themselves lucky they're not playing on the old pitch; my brother nearly drowned at the bottom of a ruck on it, during a schools match.

[Tichtheid]

Character building weather down in Cork

The Lions can count themselves lucky their not playing on the old pitch; my brother nearly drowned at the bottom of a ruck on it, during a schools match.

The pitches in Galashiels were like that, then they froze and you were playing on solid rutted ground.


Hollie Davidson will be doubling her weight with the water her shirt soaks up

[Chilli]

Link yo the Bulls game?
Rugbystreams is not working.

[Tichtheid]

Jack O'Donoghue gets through so much work, terrific player

[Tichtheid]

Jack O'Donoghue gets through so much work, terrific player

and of course he knocks on the next ball

[fishfoodie]

Character building weather down in Cork

The Lions can count themselves lucky their not playing on the old pitch; my brother nearly drowned at the bottom of a ruck on it, during a schools match.

The pitches in Galashiels were like that, then they froze and you were playing on solid rutted ground.


Hollie Davidson will be doubling her weight with the water her shirt soaks up

I think being originally part of a swimming club called Dolphin, doomed the clubs ground to always be a swimming pool !

[fishfoodie]

Link yo the Bulls game?
Rugbystreams is not working.

https://sportshd.co/live/

the PremierSports 1 or 2 ought to have it

[fishfoodie]

Lions are playing with a wind that must be worth 10 points & they're 9 points behind.

The Saffas are going to have to learn to adjust their tactics to deal with this kind of mucky weather

[Tichtheid]

The Lions tighthead has had a good Christmas

[fishfoodie]

The Lions tighthead has had a good Christmas

He wanted to make sure he didn't have to share a row of seats with anyone else on the way up !

[Tichtheid]

You have to wonder why the Lions don't keep going at the Munster scrum to get a man binned

[fishfoodie]

You have to wonder why the Lions don't keep going at the Munster scrum to get a man binned

Their game management has been non-existant

[Tichtheid]

I don't know if that was brilliant from the Munster winger or total shite from the Lions defence

[fishfoodie]

Hollie nearly got stampeded there, she was lucky one of the Munster players pushed her out of the way of Coombs

[Tichtheid]

Easy peasy for that one

Lions are unfathomable, there are some good players in there but they are a bit of a shambles collectively, it must be the coaching

[fishfoodie]

Easy peasy for that one

Lions are unfathomable, there are some good players in there but they are a bit of a shambles collectively, it must be the coaching

Yep !

If they're not careful, the Cheetahs will take their spot.

[Uncle fester]

I don't know if that was brilliant from the Munster winger or total shite from the Lions defence

Shite defence but Coombes is pretty damn handy, one of the players that supporters have been looking to get more gametime.

[Uncle fester]

Jack O'Donoghue gets through so much work, terrific player

He's a fine player and super grafter but hits a hard ceiling at upper club level. Very much lacking in power.

[OomStruisbaai]

Good bonus point win for the Bulls. Lions disappointing. Hendricks still have a lot to learn and far from Bok material. Munster not surprising to good for the Lions.

[OomStruisbaai]

Expecting the Sharks and Stormers to struggle in this conditions.

[Chilli]

Expecting the Sharks and Stormers to struggle in this conditions.

Stomps to win.
$harks to get klapped

[OomStruisbaai]

Thats still a long haul
Why not direct flights into UK?
Is it costs, logistics?

Quatar sponsor.

SS

The Stormers took more than 40 hours to get to Glasgow, where they face the Warriors on Sunday, and such trips are becoming common place. The Sharks’ journey to Galway would have been similarly drawn out.

The travel factor, with South African teams all traveling economy class via Doha, is becoming a big influencer on how the coaches select and prepare their teams

Bloody hell!
Hopefully the travel costs are fully subsidised by the sponsorship otherwise that's ridiculous

Saw in today's newspaper the real reason.

They couldn't got booked in one flight and had to travel in 3 groups.
They first group (3) couldn't get Qatar flights and fly from Cpt-Frankfurt-Londen-Glasgow.
2nd Group (biggest) couldn't get a direct flight from CPT-Doha and had to go CPT-JHB-Doha-Lond.
Group 3 had to fly on Tuesday CPT-DOHA-LDN.

According to Dobson the plan was to stay in London (playing the Exiles next week) but wasnt allowed to URC policies. Have to stay in the city of the opponent.

[SaintK]

Saw in today's newspaper the real reason.

They couldn't got booked in one flight and had to travel in 3 groups.
They first group (3) couldn't get Qatar flights and fly from Cpt-Frankfurt-Londen-Glasgow.
2nd Group (biggest) couldn't get a direct flight from CPT-Doha and had to go CPT-JHB-Doha-Lond.
Group 3 had to fly on Tuesday CPT-DOHA-LDN.

According to Dobson the plan was to stay in London (playing the Exiles next week) but wasnt allowed to URC policies. Have to stay in the city of the opponent.

Bloody hell, that's a logistical nightmare

[fishfoodie]

Expecting the Sharks and Stormers to struggle in this conditions.

Pity they're not playing now; its sunshine & clear blue skys in Galway

If it's like this now, I don't think it'll be too bad later.

[GrahamWa]

Saw in today's newspaper the real reason.

They couldn't got booked in one flight and had to travel in 3 groups.
They first group (3) couldn't get Qatar flights and fly from Cpt-Frankfurt-Londen-Glasgow.
2nd Group (biggest) couldn't get a direct flight from CPT-Doha and had to go CPT-JHB-Doha-Lond.
Group 3 had to fly on Tuesday CPT-DOHA-LDN.

According to Dobson the plan was to stay in London (playing the Exiles next week) but wasnt allowed to URC policies. Have to stay in the city of the opponent.

I have full sympathy but the fixtures were released ages ago when the flights would have been available to book. Better admin would help.

[OomStruisbaai]

Saw in today's newspaper the real reason.

They couldn't got booked in one flight and had to travel in 3 groups.
They first group (3) couldn't get Qatar flights and fly from Cpt-Frankfurt-Londen-Glasgow.
2nd Group (biggest) couldn't get a direct flight from CPT-Doha and had to go CPT-JHB-Doha-Lond.
Group 3 had to fly on Tuesday CPT-DOHA-LDN.

According to Dobson the plan was to stay in London (playing the Exiles next week) but wasnt allowed to URC policies. Have to stay in the city of the opponent.

I have full sympathy but the fixtures were released ages ago when the flights would have been available to book. Better admin would help.

Dunno how the admin processe work but look like it's the same for all SA teams & the reason why they send B teams.

Meantime Benneton look on song against Ulster

[OomStruisbaai]

Benneton kick to much. Look dangerous when they spin it

[OomStruisbaai]

Big win for Benneton. Doing the Saffers a massive favor

[OomStruisbaai]

Embra B doing well

[Sandstorm]

Saw in today's newspaper the real reason.

They couldn't got booked in one flight and had to travel in 3 groups.
They first group (3) couldn't get Qatar flights and fly from Cpt-Frankfurt-Londen-Glasgow.
2nd Group (biggest) couldn't get a direct flight from CPT-Doha and had to go CPT-JHB-Doha-Lond.
Group 3 had to fly on Tuesday CPT-DOHA-LDN.

According to Dobson the plan was to stay in London (playing the Exiles next week) but wasnt allowed to URC policies. Have to stay in the city of the opponent.

Bloody hell, that's a logistical nightmare

URC should approach Qatar and ask to use an A330 exclusively for the tournament. Kit it out with 100 lie-flat seats and use it to shuttle all 16 teams around Europe and to SA/back again.

Up to 3 teams could fly together at any one time and get anywhere in 11 hours. Could fly into smaller airports like Parma or Cardiff from eg. Durban or go direct to Dublin or Edinburgh without having to use Heathrow or Doha as a hub.

Add URC livery to the jet and use it for marketing purposes in all locations. Win win for everyone, especially the players.

[OomStruisbaai]

Glasgow Warriors v Stormers
(Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow – Kick-off: 15.00; 15.00 GMT; 17.00 SA time)

Teams:

Glasgow: 15 Ollie Smith, 14 Sebastian Cancelliere, 13 Sione Tuipulotu, 12 Huw Jones, 11 Kyle Steyn (C), 10 Tom Jordan, 9 George Horne, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Sione Vailanu, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 JP du Preez, 4 Lewis Bean, 3 Lucio Sordoni, 2 George Turner, 1 Jamie Bhatti.
Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Nathan McBeth, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Alex Samuel, 20 Euan Ferrie, 21 Cameron Neild, 22 Ali Price, 23 Domingo Miotti.

Stormers: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Willie Engelbrecht, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Ben-Jason Dixon, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Junior Pokomela, 21 Marcel Theunissen, 22 Imad Khan, 23 Angelo Davids.

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Jonny Perriam (Scotland), Ross Mabon (Scotland)
TMO: Mark Patton (Ireland)

[OomStruisbaai]

Huw Jones another player Dobson brought through the system like Etsebeth at UCT. Huw and Sione Tuipulotuis going to be a handful for the Stormers midfield

[OomStruisbaai]

Happy ending for Embra. Zebre came very close.

[OomStruisbaai]

Sharks vs Connacht next up. Sards are you ready?

[Sards]

John reckons Connaught. Hopes for a competitive match. I will go with that.
Sharks dissing the URC. Obvious they have higher ambitions. I hope we win.

[Sards]

Geez it looks cold. Decent crowd