The Official English Rugby Thread

[Paddington Bear]

Sale’s defence totally shut us down there and their power game was too much. A tough watch

Sale will be very disappointed not to have got the bonus point

Yes - even as a man who always advocates taking the three I was very surprised by their decision to do so late on

[Brazil]

Another game at Welford road where Kay and Healey make sure that every slight transgression against Tigers gets repeated over and over an over.

[sockwithaticket]

Quins getting taken apart while down to 13. Even when they get back to 14, you'd think it's game over.

[Oxbow]

Mitchell looking like the Lions scrum half so far this evening.

[Hal Jordan]

Mind you, Quins aren't just by the pool for the remainder of the season, they've been hitting the all inclusive bar since they meandered out of the restaurant, bloated and turgid after a massive fry up for breakfast.

[sockwithaticket]

Bit of a dodgy start, but Saints are carving Bristol open almost at will now. Bonus point on 31 minutes.

Edit - maybe not. Chalked off. Even still, Saints very much on top now.

[Oxbow]

Saints playing some gorgeous stuff.

[sockwithaticket]

Do Bristol have a bet on not making the playoffs? Suicidal rugby.

[Oxbow]

Bristol are a really stupid side. Not that I'm complaining.

[sockwithaticket]

The Saints coaching staff will be overjoyed that this game has shown a clear work on for Pollock - one-handed offloads.

[Oxbow]

Needs to work on his splash too.

[sockwithaticket]

I've barely seen Exeter this season, they're looking dreadful against Gloucester.

[SaintK]

I've barely seen Exeter this season, they're looking dreadful against Gloucester.

79 17
Absolutely abject from Exeter
Never in it from minute one

[Bullet]

Gloucester players saying Exeters' Welsh lock had called them soft and provided the motivation to win every contact

[duke]

Gloucester players saying Exeters' Welsh lock had called them soft and provided the motivation to win every contact

Do you think Jenkins will learn to keep his trap shut pre game? He said something similar before the England game with the same outcome

[SaintK]

Gloucester players saying Exeters' Welsh lock had called them soft and provided the motivation to win every contact

Do you think Jenkins will learn to keep his trap shut pre game? He said something similar before the England game with the same outcome

Jenkins appears to be as thick as mince and not half as good as he thinks he is

[sockwithaticket]

Having once been annointed as a generational talent and the saviour of Welsh rugby, I must say Jenkins is fairly unremarkable.

I've barely seen Exeter this season, they're looking dreadful against Gloucester.

79 17
Absolutely abject from Exeter
Never in it from minute one

Scoreline flatters them to be honest. Couple of fairly late tries when the game was beyond done.

[duke]

Gloucester players saying Exeters' Welsh lock had called them soft and provided the motivation to win every contact

Do you think Jenkins will learn to keep his trap shut pre game? He said something similar before the England game with the same outcome

Jenkins appears to be as thick as mince and not half as good as he thinks he is

Believes the smoke that’s been blown up his arse

[Rhubarb & Custard]

Good news mind, if he believes in smoke up the arse he's at the right club in Exeter. Proud to be backwards and all that!

[SaintK]

Two pretty interesting coaching appointments for the England summer tour.

Bath’s Lee Blackett and Sale Sharks’s Byron McGuigan will join Steve Borthwick’s coaching ticket for England’s tour to Argentina and the United States, Telegraph Sport can reveal.

With senior coach Richard Wigglesworth joining the Lions coaching team for the tour to Australia, Borthwick has brought in two of the Premiership’s highest-rated coaches. Blackett, 42, is the attack coach of Premiership leaders Bath, who boast the league’s most potent attack having plundered 83 tries and 568 points. He seems likely to take over from Wigglesworth during his secondment with the Lions.

McGuigan, meanwhile, was only appointed as Sale’s defence coach in November but the 35-year-old has quickly established a reputation as one of the brightest minds in the English game. On Friday night, Sale’s defence limited fellow play-off chasers Saracens to a single try in their 25-7 victory at the AJ Bell Stadium. Afterwards, Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall was full of praise for Sale’s stifling defensive performance.

It is not clear what role McGuigan, who won 10 caps for Scotland as a winger, will perform with defence coach Joe El-Abd expected to go on the tour. England face Argentina in Buenos Aires on July 5 followed by a second Test against the Pumas in San Juan on July 12 before travelling to Washington to face the United States on July 19.

[Hal Jordan]

"Will perform with Joe El-Abd"

And now, ladies and gentlemen, two burly men will re-enact the Battle of Waterloo via the medium of interpretative dance!

[sockwithaticket]

That's quite the career ascent for McGuigan, even if it's only a temporary appointment.

Really interested to see what Blackett might be able to do, albeit he won't have that much time to bed anything in.

[SaintK]

Exeter have suspended Hunter and Hepher. Surely the DoR should take full responsibility?
They've all been there far too long.

Exeter have suspended head coach Rob Hunter and attack coach Ali Hepher following their record Premiership loss at Gloucester.
The pair have been stood down pending what the club describe as a "full review of the match and the 2024-25 season to date" after Chiefs' 79-17 loss at Kingsholm.
Hunter had only been promoted to the role last month after Hepher's demotion as the struggling side tried to turn results around.
Director of rugby Rob Baxter will oversee the club's coaching for the remainder of the season.

[sockwithaticket]

Hasn't Hunter been in place only a few weeks? Seems a bit harsh to demote the guy already having thrown him in at the deep end with the season well underway and the squad already not achieving much.

Given the obvious slashing of the playing budget and that the main man has been around for a very, very long time I'm not sure what they expect shuffling the coaches to do.

[SaintK]

Hasn't Hunter been in place only a few weeks? Seems a bit harsh to demote the guy already having thrown him in at the deep end with the season well underway and the squad already not achieving much.

Given the obvious slashing of the playing budget and that the main man has been around for a very, very long time I'm not sure what they expect shuffling the coaches to do.

Hunter replaced Hepher who was demoted a couple of weeks back. Rumour has it that Chiefs couldn't afford the pay-off to get rid of Hepher
They've both been there for years since Chiefs recruited them from Saints

[ASMO]

Exeter have suspended Hunter and Hepher. Surely the DoR should take full responsibility?
They've all been there far too long.

Exeter have suspended head coach Rob Hunter and attack coach Ali Hepher following their record Premiership loss at Gloucester.
The pair have been stood down pending what the club describe as a "full review of the match and the 2024-25 season to date" after Chiefs' 79-17 loss at Kingsholm.
Hunter had only been promoted to the role last month after Hepher's demotion as the struggling side tried to turn results around.
Director of rugby Rob Baxter will oversee the club's coaching for the remainder of the season.

Baxter should have been handed his cards too

[Paddington Bear]

Baxter went stale years ago, as soon as other teams cottoned on to how to deal with relentless pick and drives he had no plan B

[Kawazaki]

Baxter went stale years ago, as soon as other teams cottoned on to how to deal with relentless pick and drives he had no plan B

Yep. He's got a bizarre fan club though who think he can do no wrong. They consider him a miracle worker who operates on a pittance, develops loads of young West Country lads into top players and is fantastic at recruiting hidden gems.

He isn't.

[sockwithaticket]

His name was still being thrown around in England coach discussions before Borthwick was appointed. I'm far from ol' Scabnose's biggest fan, but he's an infinitely superior choice to Baxter.


Anyway, some good news for Sale fans, the Curry's have re-signed for another couple of seasons.

Stu Townsend to Quins apparently, so Care finally retiring?

[Hal Jordan]

Baxter went stale years ago, as soon as other teams cottoned on to how to deal with relentless pick and drives he had no plan B

Yep. He's got a bizarre fan club though who think he can do no wrong. They consider him a miracle worker who operates on a pittance, develops loads of young West Country lads into top players and is fantastic at recruiting hidden gems.

He isn't.

He should have gone either after Exeter's run finished when we beat them in 2020-2021, or if not then the season after when they didn't even make the playoffs.

[SaintK]

Sweeney attempting to strengthen his position.

Barely a month after Bill Sweeney, the RFU chief executive, survived a vote of no confidence at a special general meeting, a proposal has been announced in which the council, the traditional conscience of the English game, will be scrapped.
This would leave the RFU executive, headed by Sweeney, and the board in complete control of the English game in what amounts to a stunning power grab. As well as surviving the vote of no confidence by 66 per cent, Sweeney won a second vote at the SGM promising governance review, including devolution of powers to the regions, by an 80 per cent majority, which has been interpreted as a mandate to press ahead with radical reform.
The consultation period will last until June 30 at which point the review group will make its final recommendations to go to the 63-strong council, who could effectively approve its own demise. Even if it rejects the proposal, the RFU board is likely to demand an SGM, which would be a requirement of such a governance change anyway.

Edit:
The Times has a better take on what's happening
https://archive.ph/jx77j

[SaintK]

Baxter went stale years ago, as soon as other teams cottoned on to how to deal with relentless pick and drives he had no plan B

Yep. He's got a bizarre fan club though who think he can do no wrong. They consider him a miracle worker who operates on a pittance, develops loads of young West Country lads into top players and is fantastic at recruiting hidden gems.

He isn't.

He should have gone either after Exeter's run finished when we beat them in 2020-2021, or if not then the season after when they didn't even make the playoffs.

Rob Hunter gone “by mutual agreement”
So they found enough dosh to pay him off

[sockwithaticket]

Seems incredibly harsh to promote a guy with the season well underway and sack him after 4 games. Even if he's an absolute disaster at it, the failure there is on the part of those who elevated someone unsuited to the role.

Last week''s result was horrendous, but Gloucester were dealt similar last season while in possession of a more settled and experienced head coach with, it could be argued, a longer history of under-performance. Look at them now - in contention for a playoff spot.

[Kawazaki]

Seems incredibly harsh to promote a guy with the season well underway and sack him after 4 games. Even if he's an absolute disaster at it, the failure there is on the part of those who elevated someone unsuited to the role.

Last week''s result was horrendous, but Gloucester were dealt similar last season while in possession of a more settled and experienced head coach with, it could be argued, a longer history of under-performance. Look at them now - in contention for a playoff spot.

The people responsible for Hunter's appointment have corrected their mistake.

I don't like Exeter because of all the faux-humbleness associated with them and the idolatry afforded to Baxter, however, I give them credit for acting swiftly in response to a record defeat.

[sockwithaticket]

Seems incredibly harsh to promote a guy with the season well underway and sack him after 4 games. Even if he's an absolute disaster at it, the failure there is on the part of those who elevated someone unsuited to the role.

Last week''s result was horrendous, but Gloucester were dealt similar last season while in possession of a more settled and experienced head coach with, it could be argued, a longer history of under-performance. Look at them now - in contention for a playoff spot.

The people responsible for Hunter's appointment have corrected their mistake.

I don't like Exeter because of all the faux-humbleness associated with them and the idolatry afforded to Baxter, however, I give them credit for acting swiftly in response to a record defeat.

They could have simply returned him to being forwards coach or hung on to see if he and the players could use that result as fuel for their last few fixtures. Exeter aren't in contention for anything, not even European quaification, so these final games could have been used to get more experience into Hunter or to run the rule over the squad as Borthwick did when he took over Leicester mid-season and took some bad beatings initially.

Gloucester didn't turf out Skivington last season when they got done 90 - 0 and generally had a bad season (9th place, 5 wins), now they're 1 point behind 4th and look to be in genuine contention for a playoff place. A record defeat doesn't necessarily mean the coach is no good or will continue to be no good.

[SaintK]

Seems incredibly harsh to promote a guy with the season well underway and sack him after 4 games. Even if he's an absolute disaster at it, the failure there is on the part of those who elevated someone unsuited to the role.

Last week''s result was horrendous, but Gloucester were dealt similar last season while in possession of a more settled and experienced head coach with, it could be argued, a longer history of under-performance. Look at them now - in contention for a playoff spot.

The people responsible for Hunter's appointment have corrected their mistake.

I don't like Exeter because of all the faux-humbleness associated with them and the idolatry afforded to Baxter, however, I give them credit for acting swiftly in response to a record defeat.

I agree with your sentiments about Exeter.
Baxter should have taken full responsibility and been pensioned off back to his farm.
A new DoR could then have been bought in to make the coaching changes

[Oxbow]

Saints have signed Callum Chick for next season, a decent replacement for Augustus. You have to feel a little sorry for Newcastle and their fans losing their best players, but maybe not for Steve Diamond because he's a dick.

[SaintK]

Saints have signed Callum Chick for next season, a decent replacement for Augustus. You have to feel a little sorry for Newcastle and their fans losing their best players, but maybe not for Steve Diamond because he's a dick.

Excellent signing
Good carrier, good hands and a big engine!

[sockwithaticket]

Good for him. He's been a loyal servant to the Falcons and probably stuck with them longer than he ought to have done. Time to see about winning something and earning more.

The continued degredation of Newcastle's playing squad means they're unlikely to climb off the bottom any time soon which means we have a de facto ring-fenced 9 team league...

[geordie_6]

Good for him. He's been a loyal servant to the Falcons and probably stuck with them longer than he ought to have done. Time to see about winning something and earning more.

The continued degredation of Newcastle's playing squad means they're unlikely to climb off the bottom any time soon which means we have a de facto ring-fenced 9 team league...

If finances don't improve soon, it'll be an actual 9 team league...