NPR

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 9:26 am It was inevitable that a negative but brave loss in the semi final against the first good opponent we faced would lead to calls for Borthwick to be re evaluated and that the future is bright.

We had an extremely effective Plan A for this match that got beaten because of how this team has been coached to ignore opportunities, because of selections that were fucking stupid at the time and were proven so, because the captain's discipline was terrible and additionally he panicked at one stage to give away a penalty when he dummied his own team with a kick, and most importantly because we had no Plan B when the scrum situation and South Africa's improved competition in the air made Plan A far riskier.

But hey, we got to the semi final and lost bravely. Let the bunting fly, coach parades for all.

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 9:26 am It was inevitable that a negative but brave loss in the semi final against the first good opponent we faced would lead to calls for Borthwick to be re evaluated and that the future is bright.

We had an extremely effective Plan A for this match that got beaten because of how this team has been coached to ignore opportunities, because of selections that were fucking stupid at the time and were proven so, because the captain's discipline was terrible and additionally he panicked at one stage to give away a penalty when he dummied his own team with a kick, and most importantly because we had no Plan B when the scrum situation and South Africa's improved competition in the air made Plan A far riskier.

But hey, we got to the semi final and lost bravely. Let the bunting fly, coach parades for all.

We’re starting to see what a genius Steve is, in terms of how he’s starting to get this team going. You won’t find a harder working man and his approach to the game is a little bit like Alan Turing.

“If anybody is going to crack the code to rugby, it will be Steve. He’s getting ever closer each week. He’s got an analytical brain, evidence-based, scientific, Spock-like approach.

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 4:17 pm

SaintK wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 4:34 pm

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 4:17 pm

Hmmmm!
Anybody know whereabouts?

The club is actively engaged with Sevenoaks District Council to identify a suitable location and ensure that the development meets both the needs of the club and the broader community. ...By working with Sevenoaks District Council...

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 4:50 pm

SaintK wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 4:34 pm

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 4:17 pm

Hmmmm!
Anybody know whereabouts?

Well....

The club is actively engaged with Sevenoaks District Council to identify a suitable location and ensure that the development meets both the needs of the club and the broader community. ...By working with Sevenoaks District Council...

https://www.wasps.co.uk/club-announceme ... t-in-kent/

At what level would they be allowed back into competition?

SaintK wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 4:34 pm

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 4:17 pm

Hmmmm!
Anybody know whereabouts?

Dinsdale Piranha wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 5:04 pm

SaintK wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 4:34 pm

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 4:17 pm

Hmmmm!
Anybody know whereabouts?

From the council website, Pedham Place @ Swanley.

inactionman wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 4:19 pm Damning with faint praise, Johnny May thinks Borthwick is very, very clever

We’re starting to see what a genius Steve is, in terms of how he’s starting to get this team going. You won’t find a harder working man and his approach to the game is a little bit like Alan Turing.

“If anybody is going to crack the code to rugby, it will be Steve. He’s getting ever closer each week. He’s got an analytical brain, evidence-based, scientific, Spock-like approach.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/ ... -world-cup

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 7:26 pm Feel like Quins have already cornered the market there but good luck to them

tc27 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 7:57 pm

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 7:26 pm Feel like Quins have already cornered the market there but good luck to them

Its not easy getting tickets these days frankly and your doing at least two train journeys to get there for most of the SE.

North Kent particularly has loads of rugby clubs (I know because I have had to go and play against them usually in the depths of winter) and presumably loads of potential fans/match day attendees.

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 7:26 pm Feel like Quins have already cornered the market there but good luck to them

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 8:18 pm

tc27 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 7:57 pm

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 7:26 pm Feel like Quins have already cornered the market there but good luck to them

Its not easy getting tickets these days frankly and your doing at least two train journeys to get there for most of the SE.

North Kent particularly has loads of rugby clubs (I know because I have had to go and play against them usually in the depths of winter) and presumably loads of potential fans/match day attendees.

I suppose it depends what they’re aiming for in terms of a crowd. Viable championship set up? Sure. Prem? Colour me deeply unconvinced

tc27 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 6:05 pm A top level rugby club in Kent is a great idea. Affluent area with lots of rugby clubs.

Not having the get into SW London to watch a game will appeal to those in the SE commuter belt.

Sevenoaks and Tonbridge will be a bit miffed about being overshadowed but they are never going to compete with a brand like Wasps.

Slick wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2023 3:22 pm

tc27 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 6:05 pm A top level rugby club in Kent is a great idea. Affluent area with lots of rugby clubs.

Not having the get into SW London to watch a game will appeal to those in the SE commuter belt.

Sevenoaks and Tonbridge will be a bit miffed about being overshadowed but they are never going to compete with a brand like Wasps.

How happy are those clubs going to be if a Prem (I know) club comes in and starts taking away their local support, sponsors etc. Sounds like a potential disaster

Slick wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2023 3:22 pm

tc27 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 6:05 pm A top level rugby club in Kent is a great idea. Affluent area with lots of rugby clubs.

Not having the get into SW London to watch a game will appeal to those in the SE commuter belt.

Sevenoaks and Tonbridge will be a bit miffed about being overshadowed but they are never going to compete with a brand like Wasps.

How happy are those clubs going to be if a Prem (I know) club comes in and starts taking away their local support, sponsors etc. Sounds like a potential disaster

Exeter Chiefs summer signing Junior Kpoku has left the Premiership club to join French Top 14 heavyweights Racing 92.
Kpoku, still just 18, is an absolute monster of a teenager, standing at 6ft 8in and weighing in at 18st 5lbs, and was immediately marked out as one to watch when he was signed to Exeter's academy this summer following his time at Finborough School. The second row arrived at Sandy Park having come through Saracens academy and had already represented England U18s. He made his debut off the bench in Chiefs' opening pre-season game against Bristol where he provided fans with a glimpse of his physicality.

SaintK wrote: ↑Wed Oct 25, 2023 8:38 am And another Kpoku buggers off to France. Potentially the best of the trio!

Exeter Chiefs summer signing Junior Kpoku has left the Premiership club to join French Top 14 heavyweights Racing 92.
Kpoku, still just 18, is an absolute monster of a teenager, standing at 6ft 8in and weighing in at 18st 5lbs, and was immediately marked out as one to watch when he was signed to Exeter's academy this summer following his time at Finborough School. The second row arrived at Sandy Park having come through Saracens academy and had already represented England U18s. He made his debut off the bench in Chiefs' opening pre-season game against Bristol where he provided fans with a glimpse of his physicality.

tc27 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2023 7:07 pm

Slick wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2023 3:22 pm

tc27 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2023 6:05 pm A top level rugby club in Kent is a great idea. Affluent area with lots of rugby clubs.

Not having the get into SW London to watch a game will appeal to those in the SE commuter belt.

Sevenoaks and Tonbridge will be a bit miffed about being overshadowed but they are never going to compete with a brand like Wasps.

How happy are those clubs going to be if a Prem (I know) club comes in and starts taking away their local support, sponsors etc. Sounds like a potential disaster

I doubt there is a massive cross over in potential sponsor's between National 2 and a Prem(?) side with the brand value of Wasps and their own stadium. Whilst both clubs have loyal followings they are not bringing in huge crowds from people not already associated with the club who may go to a Wasps game.

Showing my parochialism here a bit but TJs in particular have spent loads of dosh making themselves a big fish in Kent semi pro rugby - the effect Wasps may have on them is no different to the effect they had on attracting smaller clubs players and sponsors.

SaintK wrote: ↑Wed Oct 25, 2023 8:38 am And another Kpoku buggers off to France. Potentially the best of the trio!

Exeter Chiefs summer signing Junior Kpoku has left the Premiership club to join French Top 14 heavyweights Racing 92.
Kpoku, still just 18, is an absolute monster of a teenager, standing at 6ft 8in and weighing in at 18st 5lbs, and was immediately marked out as one to watch when he was signed to Exeter's academy this summer following his time at Finborough School. The second row arrived at Sandy Park having come through Saracens academy and had already represented England U18s. He made his debut off the bench in Chiefs' opening pre-season game against Bristol where he provided fans with a glimpse of his physicality.

geordie_6 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 25, 2023 11:14 am

SaintK wrote: ↑Wed Oct 25, 2023 8:38 am And another Kpoku buggers off to France. Potentially the best of the trio!

Exeter Chiefs summer signing Junior Kpoku has left the Premiership club to join French Top 14 heavyweights Racing 92.
Kpoku, still just 18, is an absolute monster of a teenager, standing at 6ft 8in and weighing in at 18st 5lbs, and was immediately marked out as one to watch when he was signed to Exeter's academy this summer following his time at Finborough School. The second row arrived at Sandy Park having come through Saracens academy and had already represented England U18s. He made his debut off the bench in Chiefs' opening pre-season game against Bristol where he provided fans with a glimpse of his physicality.

He's only been at Exeter two minutes!

Premiership academies are set for a radical shake-up with the introduction of an NFL-style draft system as part of the new Professional Game Agreement, Telegraph Sport can reveal.
Improving the development of talent has been seen as a key priority by both the Rugby Football Union and Premiership Rugby with a collective recognition that young English players are not getting enough game time.
During their Under-20 Six Nations match this year, France’s squad had made 102 starts in the Top 14 versus England’s eight starts in the Premiership. England Under-20s lost the match 42-7.
With the Premiership losing three teams to insolvency over the past 12 months, there will be a significant redrawing of the academy boundaries as well as the introduction of a draft-style system to ensure a more equitable distribution of the best young players around the 10 teams and in future to clubs in the proposed second tier Premiership 2.

Each team would be allowed to keep a certain number of players from each year group of their own academy intake and the remainder would be allocated via a form of draft, although the precise mechanism has yet to be decided. In the NFL, the worst team from the previous season gets the first pick of that year’s best college players and it has grown into one of the biggest spectacles of the American sporting calendar.
The RFU would also have a more direct role in individual players’ development programmes and although Premiership clubs would still retain control of all playing decisions.

Part of the issue within the current model is in the inequitable distribution of talent among the clubs, who are only allowed to recruit players to their academy from within set geographical boundaries. As Pat Lam, the Bristol Bears director of rugby, has repeatedly pointed out, their patch only includes just two of the 100 leading rugby schools while Harlequins have more than 20 within their catchment area.

“I can tell you now that I’ve been here nearly six years, the system is flawed for young players,” Lam said. “When you look and you ask the question, and I used to always say this when I was back in New Zealand and coaching in Ireland, ‘how is the country that has the most resources, financially and player-wise, not the No1 rugby nation in the world?’ And the problem that you’ve got is that it’s the only country that has a system that has boundaries on young players which is, to me, the biggest problem you’ve got.”

Under the new system, if a club had three promising locks on their books they may only be able to retain two and the third would be allocated to a team short of cover in the second row to provide greater playing opportunities. The Rugby Players’ Association are also lobbying to ensure there is a minimum wage for academy players and they would be compensated for moving across the country.
“We can’t just continue with clubs having 40 academy players and teams just hoovering up anyone they can, hoping they find a gem,” a source close to the negotiations said. “We need to make it more elite than that. At the same time, we don’t want teams just hoarding the best talent for the sake of it.”

SaintK wrote: ↑Wed Oct 25, 2023 12:42 pm Squad for 3/4 play off
Steward on the wing
No game time at all for Malins and Walker
15 Marcus Smith, 14 Freddie Steward, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Henry Arundell, 10 Owen Farrell (c), 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Tom Curry, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Theo Dan, 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Bevan Rodd, 18 Dan Cole, 19 David Ribbans, 20 Lewis Ludlam, 21 Danny Care, 22 George Ford, 23 Ollie Lawrence

SaintK wrote: ↑Wed Oct 25, 2023 12:42 pm Squad for 3/4 play off
Steward on the wing
No game time at all for Malins and Walker
15 Marcus Smith, 14 Freddie Steward, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Henry Arundell, 10 Owen Farrell (c), 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Tom Curry, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Theo Dan, 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Bevan Rodd, 18 Dan Cole, 19 David Ribbans, 20 Lewis Ludlam, 21 Danny Care, 22 George Ford, 23 Ollie Lawrence

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Wed Oct 25, 2023 12:51 pm Why play Marchant if he’s off to France?

Agree re Youngs. I’ve given him plenty of stick but this should be a nice send off for him. He’s never lacked for effort

ASMO wrote: ↑Wed Oct 25, 2023 12:53 pm

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Wed Oct 25, 2023 12:51 pm Why play Marchant if he’s off to France?

Agree re Youngs. I’ve given him plenty of stick but this should be a nice send off for him. He’s never lacked for effort

With Farrell and Youngs, the centres and wings are not gonna see much ball anyway.