URC Season 2024/2025 Official Thread

[OomStruisbaai]

Stormers playing in Stellenbosch and PE. It's great for them.

[fishfoodie]

Stormers playing in Stellenbosch and PE. It's great for them.

Yeah it looked like they had a good crowd in, & braais were going, everyone was enjoying the day out with the family.

[Uncle fester]

Plenty of non-Dubs following Leinster these days. If anything, it's been one of their most significant achievements that they stopped the encroachment of the Lunsters.

[OomStruisbaai]

Stormers playing in Stellenbosch and PE. It's great for them.

Yeah it looked like they had a good crowd in, & braais were going, everyone was enjoying the day out with the family.

Stellenbosch is a Varsity crowd. They pull 10,000 when the Varsity Cup is on. Rich in rugby culture and history in Danie Craven's home town. Paul Roos and the famous Maties, mighty Maroonrugby machines. A Munster supporter will feel at home.

PE also thick with rugby culture and history. English set foot there, home of Kolisi and Xhosas. Also the home of our famous posters like Nipper and captain of the braai team, Chillie

[PornDog]

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2024/11/19 ... gby-clash/

I think matches like this are a great idea.

If you're a provincial team, then you need to have some matches out on the road, & MacHale is great venue, & Castlebar a lovely town, & Rugby seems to be going from strength to strength in Mayo, so getting families in the area in for the game would be brilliant, & they'll have more capacity than they would have in Galway, so they can do a bunch of family ticket lotteries etc in schools, & bring them if for next to nothing.

I think a minor roadtrip is in the offing for a night out in Castlebar

I thought the place was dog rough but it is a great idea. Whatever about Leinster but Ulster are really missing a trick playing all their games in Belfast.

The Leinster guys get the shakes if they're more than a Ben Youngs pass away from the Horse Show , but agree about Ulster, they could go on the road, & maybe even put the GAA knuckledraggers to the test, & look for similar permission to play outside Ulster Rugbys traditional comfort zone

GAA heads in Ulster are more than just a bit different though. Don't know how much support there would be to let rugby into their stadiums, and even if they got it there'd be a backlash.

[fishfoodie]

I thought the place was dog rough but it is a great idea. Whatever about Leinster but Ulster are really missing a trick playing all their games in Belfast.

The Leinster guys get the shakes if they're more than a Ben Youngs pass away from the Horse Show , but agree about Ulster, they could go on the road, & maybe even put the GAA knuckledraggers to the test, & look for similar permission to play outside Ulster Rugbys traditional comfort zone

GAA heads in Ulster are more than just a bit different though. Don't know how much support there would be to let rugby into their stadiums, and even if they got it there'd be a backlash.

Well then remind them that Casement park can stay a wreck as far as we’re concerned, because wasn’t the whole point with it to host soccer matches there too ?

They can’t pick & choose when they want to take from the public purse

[Slick]

I see the Walrus is having another tantrum in the papers today. The URC is an “abysmal” league and one of the main reasons Wales are crap.

To be fair he does also say Saffer supporters are cunts so maybe we shouldn’t judge him too harshly

[robmatic]

I see the Walrus is having another tantrum in the papers today. The URC is an “abysmal” league and one of the main reasons Wales are crap.

He's got that the wrong way round. The Welsh teams and supporters being pish is the biggest drawback of the URC.

[SaintK]

I see the Walrus is having another tantrum in the papers today. The URC is an “abysmal” league and one of the main reasons Wales are crap.

To be fair he does also say Saffer supporters are cunts so maybe we shouldn’t judge him too harshly

He also mentioned that George Ford, Fin Smith and Charlie Atkinson!!!!! should be ahead of Marcus Smith as England's fly half because the other backs can't read his plays

[OomStruisbaai]

Wales rugby problems is deeper then their top team.

[OomStruisbaai]

Sharks vs Stormers next weekend. Sharks will walk it. At least SMZ , Moerat and BJD back.

[Slick]

I see the Walrus is having another tantrum in the papers today. The URC is an “abysmal” league and one of the main reasons Wales are crap.

To be fair he does also say Saffer supporters are cunts so maybe we shouldn’t judge him too harshly

He also mentioned that George Ford, Fin Smith and Charlie Atkinson!!!!! should be ahead of Marcus Smith as England's fly half because the other backs can't read his plays

Thankfully we don’t get his full repertoire every week up here

[PornDog]

The Welsh issue isn't really with the URC (or its prior itterations), it's with their own regions which they've never taken to. The league is just a handy outlet!

[robmatic]

The Welsh issue isn't really with the URC (or its prior itterations), it's with their own regions which they've never taken to. The league is just a handy outlet!

Cardiff and Llanelli are basically just continuations of clubs though, you would think that should be a foundation to build on.

[OomStruisbaai]

ireland still playing on the weekend. This would make the Bulls, Lions and Ulsters task a bit easier.

[PornDog]

The Welsh issue isn't really with the URC (or its prior itterations), it's with their own regions which they've never taken to. The league is just a handy outlet!

Cardiff and Llanelli are basically just continuations of clubs though, you would think that should be a foundation to build on.

True, but the other 90% of Welsh rugby fans feel some degree or another that they've been abandoned/are too stubborn to row in with everyone else.

That in turn affects the likes of Cardiff and Llanelli. Shitness doesn't help either of course.

Glasgow and Munster have a nice burgeoning rivalry, as do Edinburgh and Ulster (must be a Saffa thing!). That never existed before. The world is what you make of it, and if all you make is depressing shit then that'll be your lot!

[OomStruisbaai]

The Welsh issue isn't really with the URC (or its prior itterations), it's with their own regions which they've never taken to. The league is just a handy outlet!

Cardiff and Llanelli are basically just continuations of clubs though, you would think that should be a foundation to build on.

True, but the other 90% of Welsh rugby fans feel some degree or another that they've been abandoned/are too stubborn to row in with everyone else.

That in turn affects the likes of Cardiff and Llanelli. Shitness doesn't help either of course.

Glasgow and Munster have a nice burgeoning rivalry, as do Edinburgh and Ulster (must be a Saffa thing!). That never existed before. The world is what you make of it, and if all you make is depressing shit then that'll be your lot!

You can always start measuring rugby culture with the local derbies. Stormers vs Bulls will draw maximum crowds no matter if they clash 10 times in 1 season. Suppose the same goes with Munster vs Leinster.

The URC moved now in it 3rd season. There are already rivalries formed.

I am sure with the Lions now start winning again that their crowds will increase, specially now that the supporters can us GauTrain to get to the Stadium.

[robmatic]

The Welsh issue isn't really with the URC (or its prior itterations), it's with their own regions which they've never taken to. The league is just a handy outlet!

Cardiff and Llanelli are basically just continuations of clubs though, you would think that should be a foundation to build on.

True, but the other 90% of Welsh rugby fans feel some degree or another that they've been abandoned/are too stubborn to row in with everyone else.

That in turn affects the likes of Cardiff and Llanelli. Shitness doesn't help either of course.

Glasgow and Munster have a nice burgeoning rivalry, as do Edinburgh and Ulster (must be a Saffa thing!). That never existed before. The world is what you make of it, and if all you make is depressing shit then that'll be your lot!

I naturally compare it with things in Scotland, where the SRU did make an arse of the regions at the dawn of professionalisation but Glasgow and Edinburgh have since both developed real followings. When I first got a season ticket for Edinburgh there would be about 1500 of us in Murrayfield some games and now they get a minimum of four times that despite underachieving on the pitch for an entire decade.

[Uncle fester]

Yep, Scots have done well to create viable pro teams away from where the key player generation area is (borders).

[_Os_]

I see the Walrus is having another tantrum in the papers today. The URC is an “abysmal” league and one of the main reasons Wales are crap.

Had a hate read. Article very thin on content on how to actually improve Welsh rugby. Of all his opinions the one he's been most wrong on is the one he gets called out on the least. It turns out the English Premiership isn't the best league, that's partly a subjective view but not many objective metrics anyone could come up with would put the EP top. It turns out that transnational plastic competitions run by national unions that play basketball rugby (this is how he views Super Rugby and now presumably the URC), do produce the strongest international teams, again a partly subjective view but again any number of objective metrics on national team performance do show this.

In that article on Welsh rugby he's trying to be serious, it's not a trolling article. But he's so one eyed he cannot even recognise when he gets it wrong, let alone reassess mistakes then change his views. He's serious about not rating the URC, just as he's serious about dismissing Super Rugby. It's why he says in the article Welsh regions need to improve their finances to buy "influential foreign players". which is the EP/Top14 model. Wasting money paying a fortune to one player and particularly a foreign player, is precisely not what Wales should be doing. Nor should they really be worrying about some of their top players leaving Wales to earn fortune in England/France/Japan, choosing not to select them for Wales is a choice.

What they should be doing is getting their structures and player pathways as good as they can be. Which means investing in their own coaches. Somewhere like Wales with a large amount of clubs and players, then doesn't need to recruit foreign players and doesn't need to worry about keeping their best players. A lot of things will fall into place for them if they make the foundations as strong possible. Which also means the best coach for the national side, will be one that has been involved with the age grade structures and literally knows all the players. The best Bok coaches this century have been Jake White, Peter de Villiers, Rassie and Jacques. They were all involved with the age grade teams before being national coach and then won titles at test level, HM and AC did well in Super Rugby and won nothing. Rassie and Jacques have been involved in the age grade structures since 2013, they built a lot of those structures, the reason the Boks now have extreme squad depth is the national coaching team has known a lot of the players since they were boys and has no restrictions on who they can pick.

I could go on, but Jones isn't trolling and is wrong on everything in that article.

To be fair he does also say Saffer supporters are cunts so maybe we shouldn’t judge him too harshly

Had a hate read. Very silly, says in the match report Bok fans don't applaud injured opposition players. As they say every accusation is a confession. What the UK press dislike about us, is that we're ungovernable. It's Brendan Venter eating the biscuit, it's Rassie saying "Sir" means nothing in SA (in response to a journo asking him about some Woodward comments). Stupid game to play. Zavos the Aussie rugby journo also got frustrated with being ignored by us and resorted to some edgy takes to get noticed by us - which granted did work - ended up with a section of our fanbase taking that as the green light, finding out everything about him and his family sending death threats/racism etc, Zavos literally had to publicly beg them to stop.

[OomStruisbaai]

What they should be doing is getting their structures and player pathways as good as they can be. Which means investing in their own coaches. Somewhere like Wales with a large amount of clubs and players, then doesn't need to recruit foreign players and doesn't need to worry about keeping their best players. A lot of things will fall into place for them if they make the foundations as strong possible. Which also means the best coach for the national side, will be one that has been involved with the age grade structures and literally knows all the players. The best Bok coaches this century have been Jake White, Peter de Villiers, Rassie and Jacques. They were all involved with the age grade teams before being national coach and then won titles at test level, HM and AC did well in Super Rugby and won nothing. Rassie and Jacques have been involved in the age grade structures since 2013, they built a lot of those structures, the reason the Boks now have extreme squad depth is the national coaching team has known a lot of the players since they were boys and has no restrictions on who they can pick.

Very true. In South Africa its very easy. Rugby culture starts with the 7 year olds.I have seen this so mant times. If I can take Paul Roos as example. They always have about 20+ teams. For years their 1st team produce in the top 5. But overall they won only 5 matches against the top schools losing 15 teams. Corne Uys came in as DiR and work with all the age group coaches . Take three years and last year they were nr1 and undefeated and in total only a few teams lost. Same goes as Ox explained. Wales need to be healthy from bottom to top. Only gain with pain.

[_Os_]

What they should be doing is getting their structures and player pathways as good as they can be. Which means investing in their own coaches. Somewhere like Wales with a large amount of clubs and players, then doesn't need to recruit foreign players and doesn't need to worry about keeping their best players. A lot of things will fall into place for them if they make the foundations as strong possible. Which also means the best coach for the national side, will be one that has been involved with the age grade structures and literally knows all the players. The best Bok coaches this century have been Jake White, Peter de Villiers, Rassie and Jacques. They were all involved with the age grade teams before being national coach and then won titles at test level, HM and AC did well in Super Rugby and won nothing. Rassie and Jacques have been involved in the age grade structures since 2013, they built a lot of those structures, the reason the Boks now have extreme squad depth is the national coaching team has known a lot of the players since they were boys and has no restrictions on who they can pick.

Very true. In South Africa its very easy. Rugby culture starts with the 7 year olds.I have seen this so mant times. If I can take Paul Roos as example. They always have about 20+ teams. For years their 1st team produce in the top 5. But overall they won only 5 matches against the top schools losing 15 teams. Corne Uys came in as DiR and work with all the age group coaches . Take three years and last year they were nr1 and undefeated and in total only a few teams lost. Same goes as Ox explained. Wales need to be healthy from bottom to top. Only gain with pain.

SA gets a lot of schools and varsity rugby, the club system needs more work though part of the player pool isn't being used fully.

Back to Wales. They have a lot of clubs, the restructure they need is for them to become better feeders. As I posted on another thread, a rugby festival similar to Craven Week will do a lot for them, youth sides (over 16 below 20), teams from lots of clubs, all playing in the same location (needs more than one field) over 2 to 4 days. Having all the youth players in one place means all the coaches from the national and URC sides can see them all in one go. Wrong to think as the player pool for the national side as just the current amount of registered players, it's really the amount of players that are 16-20 years old, over time (someone in their 30s isn't going to start a test career, but someone in their late 30s could still be playing test rugby). Over time those players fill out 4 URC squads and replace anyone that leaves for teams outside Wales. As you know in SA school teams are coached by former test players that have all the coaching certificates, Wales should be aiming for that at least in a few clubs, not some rugby moron who selects his own son as the captain.

Once a start is made on that, then the URC sides are improved (which Jones does mention being fair, but is thin on what to do). Which means investing in coaching, cannot invest in coaching if you don't back your own coaches though. Jones gets it very wrong in that article saying only a megastar foreign coach can get results (he mentions Eddie Jones). It does not matter if foreigners do not rate any Welsh coach, being okay and knowing Welsh players since they were young will be worth a lot. Being a Welsh age grade coach that has some success, should mean at least being an assistant coach with the test side. Ackermann is coming back to SA as an assistant in the U20 SA side, because everyone knows doing well with the age grade side is the inside track into the test side coaching staff. Have to back your own coaches cannot just buy foreign players and foreign coaches, which seems to be a lot of the Jones answer.

[OomStruisbaai]

I also rate Kevin Foot, who coached at Ikeys and Dave Wessels , old Bosch boy that coached the Rebels.

https://www.springboks.rugby/news-featu ... ance-role/

https://www.sarugby.co.za/news-features ... -stuck-in/

[Uncle fester]

Plenty of talent in Welsh rugby. I've seen enough of their clubs to see some outrageously talented players who should be playing at a higher level but that's where the culture breaks down.

[Slick]

I see the Walrus is having another tantrum in the papers today. The URC is an “abysmal” league and one of the main reasons Wales are crap.

Had a hate read. Article very thin on content on how to actually improve Welsh rugby. Of all his opinions the one he's been most wrong on is the one he gets called out on the least. It turns out the English Premiership isn't the best league, that's partly a subjective view but not many objective metrics anyone could come up with would put the EP top. It turns out that transnational plastic competitions run by national unions that play basketball rugby (this is how he views Super Rugby and now presumably the URC), do produce the strongest international teams, again a partly subjective view but again any number of objective metrics on national team performance do show this.

In that article on Welsh rugby he's trying to be serious, it's not a trolling article. But he's so one eyed he cannot even recognise when he gets it wrong, let alone reassess mistakes then change his views. He's serious about not rating the URC, just as he's serious about dismissing Super Rugby. It's why he says in the article Welsh regions need to improve their finances to buy "influential foreign players". which is the EP/Top14 model. Wasting money paying a fortune to one player and particularly a foreign player, is precisely not what Wales should be doing. Nor should they really be worrying about some of their top players leaving Wales to earn fortune in England/France/Japan, choosing not to select them for Wales is a choice.

What they should be doing is getting their structures and player pathways as good as they can be. Which means investing in their own coaches. Somewhere like Wales with a large amount of clubs and players, then doesn't need to recruit foreign players and doesn't need to worry about keeping their best players. A lot of things will fall into place for them if they make the foundations as strong possible. Which also means the best coach for the national side, will be one that has been involved with the age grade structures and literally knows all the players. The best Bok coaches this century have been Jake White, Peter de Villiers, Rassie and Jacques. They were all involved with the age grade teams before being national coach and then won titles at test level, HM and AC did well in Super Rugby and won nothing. Rassie and Jacques have been involved in the age grade structures since 2013, they built a lot of those structures, the reason the Boks now have extreme squad depth is the national coaching team has known a lot of the players since they were boys and has no restrictions on who they can pick.

I could go on, but Jones isn't trolling and is wrong on everything in that article.

To be fair he does also say Saffer supporters are cunts so maybe we shouldn’t judge him too harshly

Had a hate read. Very silly, says in the match report Bok fans don't applaud injured opposition players. As they say every accusation is a confession. What the UK press dislike about us, is that we're ungovernable. It's Brendan Venter eating the biscuit, it's Rassie saying "Sir" means nothing in SA (in response to a journo asking him about some Woodward comments). Stupid game to play. Zavos the Aussie rugby journo also got frustrated with being ignored by us and resorted to some edgy takes to get noticed by us - which granted did work - ended up with a section of our fanbase taking that as the green light, finding out everything about him and his family sending death threats/racism etc, Zavos literally had to publicly beg them to stop.

You seem to say that last bit with pride?

[_Os_]

You seem to say that last bit with pride?

Sounds like I'm being accused of something!

[Sandstorm]

You seem to say that last bit with pride?

Sounds like I'm being accused of something!

If the velskoen fits.....

[Slick]

You seem to say that last bit with pride?

Sounds like I'm being accused of something!

Not necessarily accused, but death threats to someone’s family seems a decent area to slap down a red line

[_Os_]

You seem to say that last bit with pride?

Sounds like I'm being accused of something!

Not necessarily accused, but death threats to someone’s family seems a decent area to slap down a red line

Sounds a lot like some angry news presenter asking some lowly Palestinian activist "before we start, DO YOU CONDEMN THE TERRORISTS ACTIONS OF HAMAS!!!". Which always starts proceedings on an odd footing.

[robmatic]

Plenty of talent in Welsh rugby. I've seen enough of their clubs to see some outrageously talented players who should be playing at a higher level but that's where the culture breaks down.

And a lot of mediocre players at the regions.

I read that semipro level in Wales pays surprisingly well.

[PornDog]

Plenty of talent in Welsh rugby. I've seen enough of their clubs to see some outrageously talented players who should be playing at a higher level but that's where the culture breaks down.

And a lot of mediocre players at the regions.

I read that semipro level in Wales pays surprisingly well.

Despite the WRU bringing in more revenue than the IRFU, they tend to piss it away very poorly. Instead of investing in grass roots facilities and coaching, they're covering amateur players club dues and bar tabs across the country.

I suspect Wales and Australia (and to a lesser extent Munster), have too much of the amateur era blazers with far too much of a say in the organisations running.

[_Os_]

Plenty of talent in Welsh rugby. I've seen enough of their clubs to see some outrageously talented players who should be playing at a higher level but that's where the culture breaks down.

And a lot of mediocre players at the regions.

I read that semipro level in Wales pays surprisingly well.

Despite the WRU bringing in more revenue than the IRFU, they tend to piss it away very poorly. Instead of investing in grass roots facilities and coaching, they're covering amateur players club dues and bar tabs across the country.

I suspect Wales and Australia (and to a lesser extent Munster), have too much of the amateur era blazers with far too much of a say in the organisations running.

Wales = Not a player issue. It's a transmission of young players between their club player base and URC pro contract issue, then after that a funding/resources issue in the URC sides. They have the players and interest though, so it can be turned around.

Wobblies = Fundamental problem is it's not a big sport in Australia, but their admins have always behaved like it is or could be, without building the things which could maybe grow the sport there (all the failures they've had down the years establishing a national comp below Super Rugby). Worse their admins often do get what they want from SANZAAR, they've often ended up wearing the clothes too big for them which they asked for. They had 5 Super Rugby sides at one point. Probably a lot they could learn from the Irish and Scottish structures, they've both got smaller player pools too, not sure they've got that in them. An Aussie RWC winning coach doesn't become an assistant coach at Leinster to learn new things.

[fishfoodie]

And a lot of mediocre players at the regions.

I read that semipro level in Wales pays surprisingly well.

Despite the WRU bringing in more revenue than the IRFU, they tend to piss it away very poorly. Instead of investing in grass roots facilities and coaching, they're covering amateur players club dues and bar tabs across the country.

I suspect Wales and Australia (and to a lesser extent Munster), have too much of the amateur era blazers with far too much of a say in the organisations running.

Wales = Not a player issue. It's a transmission of young players between their club player base and URC pro contract issue, then after that a funding/resources issue in the URC sides. They have the players and interest though, so it can be turned around.

Wobblies = Fundamental problem is it's not a big sport in Australia, but their admins have always behaved like it is or could be, without building the things which could maybe grow the sport there (all the failures they've had down the years establishing a national comp below Super Rugby). Worse their admins often do get what they want from SANZAAR, they've often ended up wearing the clothes too big for them which they asked for. They had 5 Super Rugby sides at one point. Probably a lot they could learn from the Irish and Scottish structures, they've both got smaller player pools too, not sure they've got that in them. An Aussie RWC winning coach doesn't become an assistant coach at Leinster to learn new things.

Dr Phil learnt a lot just as a player, & he's managed to learn from Cheika too, in both operations. The Argentina situation is a lot like Scotland, & Wales; they have a small player pool, & have to let their players play abroad, as they just don't have a setup that can finance keeping them at home.

[_Os_]

Despite the WRU bringing in more revenue than the IRFU, they tend to piss it away very poorly. Instead of investing in grass roots facilities and coaching, they're covering amateur players club dues and bar tabs across the country.

I suspect Wales and Australia (and to a lesser extent Munster), have too much of the amateur era blazers with far too much of a say in the organisations running.

Wales = Not a player issue. It's a transmission of young players between their club player base and URC pro contract issue, then after that a funding/resources issue in the URC sides. They have the players and interest though, so it can be turned around.

Wobblies = Fundamental problem is it's not a big sport in Australia, but their admins have always behaved like it is or could be, without building the things which could maybe grow the sport there (all the failures they've had down the years establishing a national comp below Super Rugby). Worse their admins often do get what they want from SANZAAR, they've often ended up wearing the clothes too big for them which they asked for. They had 5 Super Rugby sides at one point. Probably a lot they could learn from the Irish and Scottish structures, they've both got smaller player pools too, not sure they've got that in them. An Aussie RWC winning coach doesn't become an assistant coach at Leinster to learn new things.

Dr Phil learnt a lot just as a player, & he's managed to learn from Cheika too, in both operations. The Argentina situation is a lot like Scotland, & Wales; they have a small player pool, & have to let their players play abroad, as they just don't have a setup that can finance keeping them at home.

The crucial element is the throughput, how many teenage male players there are playing XV rugby in a club or school structure which can lead to a pro contract. Most pro players are contracted in some way by age 20.

Don't have the time to do too much research, so Wiki will have to do (numbers from 2011/2012). Top 15 countries for teen male players (age 13 to 19). Argentina doesn't provide a breakdown by age, but their total number would place them in the middle of this lot:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_r ... _countries
England 602k,
SA 199k,
Ireland 57k,
France 57k,
Sri Lanka 48k,
USA 47k,
NZ 40k,
Japan 37k,
Kenya 27k,
Wales 21k,
Malaysia 20k,
Aus 19k,
Italy 17k,
Scotland 15k,
Zim 12k.

... No doubt some of those numbers are cooked. Aus claims far more clubs than both Wales and NZ for example, they're almost claiming as many as NZ and Wales combined, at best they're using a very generous definition of a rugby club. Aus also seems to count 7s and touch players as registered players, counts school XVs and 7s together as school players. It's so cooked even that Wiki link has a note attached to the Aussie numbers, their number should probably be taken as a ceiling estimate.

EDIT: Checking some of those numbers the Welsh numbers on that link are way out (doesn't even match its own citation). Corrected it, Wales does have a smaller player pool than I thought then.

[Tichtheid]

I think those wiki numbers for players and clubs have been debunked several times over the years when this subject has come up.

The Scottish numbers are pure hokum, and I've heard from English contributors online that the numbers for them are too.

[_Os_]

I think those wiki numbers for players and clubs have been debunked several times over the years when this subject has come up.

The Scottish numbers are pure hokum, and I've heard from English contributors online that the numbers for them are too.

Ja, some of it looks cooked. But what else is there to go on?

Have to admit my impression was always that Wales had a large amount of players (relative to their population size blah blah). Their current club structure is 298 clubs in 30 divisions, presumably a lot of those are pillar of the community type affairs with a full complement of age grade sides? If so that would confirm the 21k number I Googled up for Welsh teen male players, would be low balling it if anything. But I'm definitely not going to that effort for every 6N/RC side.

One thing I can say about them, is they've built an impressive club league. I reckon they've over funded it to the point where it could eat them, but it's still some beast!
https://community.wru.wales/2024/06/17/ ... divisions/

[OomStruisbaai]

Those numbers are club players. Most of South Africa players are schoolboy players.

[OomStruisbaai]

Bulls going full strength against Connacht and Saracens

Bulls squad to face Connacht in the URC clash this weekend & Saracens in the Champions Cup on the 7th of December

Forwards: Akker van der Merwe, Alulutho Tshakweni, Cameron Hanekom, Celimpilo Gumede, Cobus Wiese, Deon Slabbert, Dylan Smith, Elrigh Louw, Francois Klopper, Gerhard Steenekamp, Jannes Kirsten, JF van Heerden, Johan Grobbelaar, Juann Else, Kuyenzeka Xaba, Marcell Coetzee, Marco van Staden, Mornay Smith, Sebastian Lombard, Ruan Vermaak, Wilco Louw.

Backs: Aphiwe Dyantyi, Boeta Chamberlain, Canan Moodie, David Kriel, Devon Williams, Embrose Papier, Harold Vorster, Johan Goosen, Keagan Johannes, Sebastian de Klerk, Stedman Gans, Willie le Roux, Zak Burger.

[Biffer]

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2024/11/19 ... gby-clash/

I think matches like this are a great idea.

If you're a provincial team, then you need to have some matches out on the road, & MacHale is great venue, & Castlebar a lovely town, & Rugby seems to be going from strength to strength in Mayo, so getting families in the area in for the game would be brilliant, & they'll have more capacity than they would have in Galway, so they can do a bunch of family ticket lotteries etc in schools, & bring them if for next to nothing.

I think a minor roadtrip is in the offing for a night out in Castlebar

I thought the place was dog rough but it is a great idea. Whatever about Leinster but Ulster are really missing a trick playing all their games in Belfast.

The Leinster guys get the shakes if they're more than a Ben Youngs pass away from the Horse Show , but agree about Ulster, they could go on the road, & maybe even put the GAA knuckledraggers to the test, & look for similar permission to play outside Ulster Rugbys traditional comfort zone

Might Munster use the ground in Cork for a big game? 40k capacity, recently redeveloped, looks pretty good. Dragging Leinster over to Cork for a game with a big crowd would be great. The park in Waterford is being redeveloped at the moment as well, so I've just found out.

[PornDog]

I thought the place was dog rough but it is a great idea. Whatever about Leinster but Ulster are really missing a trick playing all their games in Belfast.

The Leinster guys get the shakes if they're more than a Ben Youngs pass away from the Horse Show , but agree about Ulster, they could go on the road, & maybe even put the GAA knuckledraggers to the test, & look for similar permission to play outside Ulster Rugbys traditional comfort zone

Might Munster use the ground in Cork for a big game? 40k capacity, recently redeveloped, looks pretty good. Dragging Leinster over to Cork for a game with a big crowd would be great. The park in Waterford is being redeveloped at the moment as well, so I've just found out.

Don't know if the size difference between Thomond and Pairc Ui Caoimh (about 18k extra) would merit the extra rental costs they'd have to pay. Should probably still do it anyway, but it wouldn't be as cut and dried as the extra 30k Leinster get from moving from Aviva to Croke Park (or the 32k extra going from the RDS to the Aviva).

Waterford is tiny, the sportsground at the moment is only 5k capacity. No idea what size the redevelopment will be but would be amazed if they doubled it to 10k.