Pool C - Wales, Australia, Fiji, Georgia, Portugal

[Uppercut]

Have to correct here, participation in England has dropped off a cliff. Regular schools now don't enforce rugby in p.e compared to when I went to school. Parents and children now given a choice so most who have no previous involvement or family interest choose they would rather not get thrown about in the mud in December. Most of my school team were more academic lads who weren't naturally built for football/ athletics but found their physique enabled them to be good at rugby. Had they not been told they are playing rugby in p.e they would never had tried it and most likely been playing ping pong indoors with the youngsters these days. Most amateur clubs had 3 teams now they are struggling to get 2 out. I play at a lower level and at least eist half our games are concerned by oppo through not enough players or we even up the teams to play 13-13 or something like that.
And it does compete with league of course but that has always been the case and isn't the issue

Being forced to play rugby felt like class warfare when I was in grammar school, so I’m glad to hear it’s changing.

 

[social]

English rugby has nowhere near the competition faced by Australia

Football (soccer) is not a direct competitor with rugby as the physiology of the players is completely different

The NRL is massive compared to English rugby league

AFL dwarfs the NRL

We had a preseason basketball tournament here last week and there were scouts from 24 NBA teams in attendance

RA is one of the most incompetent sporting bodies on the planet and they aren’t helped by the fact that Australia is seen by many sports as a talent factory

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Football (soccer) is not a direct competitor with rugby as the physiology of the players is completely different

Doubt this really makes a huge difference to pre teens.

 

[social]

I’ve no reason to think social’s point about Australian rugby is wrong, but I don’t know why he insists on making it by talking about sporting cultures in other countries that he knows absolutely nothing about.

huh?

English rugby has no real competition for young talent and that’s a fact

It’s biggest issue is the same faced by physical sports virtually everywhere - they’re being wiped out at school involvement and parents don’t want their kids to play them

 

[social]

Doubt this really makes a huge difference to pre teens.

Pre teen Messi could kick goals from anywhere

Adult Messi weighs 70kgs and would be a speed bump in rugby

Harry Kane weighs 10+ kgs less than your average halfback

There’s about as much chance of an EPL footballer being an elite rugby player as there is of Skelton playing in the EPL

 

[BoyBrumby]

It's pretty much impossible to overstate how much the round ball code dominates over here.

Plus I reckon one could make a reasonable XI out of union players who were on the books of football teams as youths.

There's Toby Flood, Alex Goode, Danny Care, Danny Cipriani, Alex Lozowski (Arsenal boy), and even Owen Farrell off the top of my head.

Well an eleven is a stretch, maybe, but there's clearly competition between the codes.

 

[ripper868]

A CB pairing of Castrogiovanni and Tamieafuna would be worth seeing tbh.

 

[BoyBrumby]

A CB pairing of Castrogiovanni and Tamieafuna would be worth seeing tbh.

Given Castro was an Argentine with Italian antecedents I'm willing to bet he must've played at some point!

Not sure how big footy is in Tonga. Although I bet the players are effing big.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Pre teen Messi could kick goals from anywhere

Adult Messi weighs 70kgs and would be a speed bump in rugby

Harry Kane weighs 10+ kgs less than your average halfback

There’s about as much chance of an EPL footballer being an elite rugby player as there is of Skelton playing in the EPL

Most of that's irrelevant, the competition among sports occurs way before anyone becomes a professional athlete and trains specifically towards a certain skillset.

 

[GIMH]

The idea that Rugby doesn't have competition from Football is a take. It's a hot take. And a very, very wrong one.

There is not a sport played in autumn, winter, spring that doesn't face competition from Football. Football is life in England. This is basic stuff.

 

[Molehill]

Harry Kane weighs 10+ kgs less than your average halfback

There’s about as much chance of an EPL footballer being an elite rugby player as there is of Skelton playing in the EPL

That's just rubbish. Are you suggesting that Kane couldn't develop the physique of an average rugby full back?

 

[Tom Flint]

English rugby has nowhere near the competition faced by Australia

Football (soccer) is not a direct competitor with rugby as the physiology of the players is completely different

The NRL is massive compared to English rugby league

AFL dwarfs the NRL

We had a preseason basketball tournament here last week and there were scouts from 24 NBA teams in attendance

RA is one of the most incompetent sporting bodies on the planet and they aren’t helped by the fact that Australia is seen by many sports as a talent factory

I'm not disagreeing with the fact Australia has more competion for union than England with the other codes. I was just picking up on your comment that participation here is massive which I can tell you for certain isn't true.

 

[Uppercut]

It's pretty much impossible to overstate how much the round ball code dominates over here.

Plus I reckon one could make a reasonable XI out of union players who were on the books of football teams as youths.

There's Toby Flood, Alex Goode, Danny Care, Danny Cipriani, Alex Lozowski (Arsenal boy), and even Owen Farrell off the top of my head.

Well an eleven is a stretch, maybe, but there's clearly competition between the codes.

Most of that's irrelevant, the competition among sports occurs way before anyone becomes a professional athlete and trains specifically towards a certain skillset.

The idea that Rugby doesn't have competition from Football is a take. It's a hot take. And a very, very wrong one.

There is not a sport played in autumn, winter, spring that doesn't face competition from Football. Football is life in England. This is basic stuff.

That's just rubbish. Are you suggesting that Kane couldn't develop the physique of an average rugby full back?

I'm not disagreeing with the fact Australia has more competion for union than England with the other codes. I was just picking up on your comment that participation here is massive which I can tell you for certain isn't true.

Running sweepstakes on how many different ways social’s next post will be wrong. Can he beat 5?

 

[the big bambino]

Rugby has always been under resourced in Australia but still found the sporting talent to compete and occasionally dominate. Social is on stronger ground when he talks about the fate of Matraville. When your sport has limited appeal it needs to safeguard its nurseries. If what he says about RA's investment in youth development is true then it's worse than I imagined and I hated them enough before that. Apart from the abandonment of youth footy we can't seem to get the best out of coaches. Deans, Rennie and even Jones had success outside Australia but their careers just die here.

 

[ripper868]

Given Castro was an Argentine with Italian antecedents I'm willing to bet he must've played at some point!

Not sure how big footy is in Tonga. Although I bet the players are effing big.

The tonga football pedigree is uh...questionable.


Suspect Castro could paneka with the best of them.

 

[Smudge]

I woke up this morning expecting to be able to have a bit of a chuckle at another loss, but tbh reading the thread and checking out some highlights it genuinely seems sad. It's so bad that even I don't want to sink the boot into the Aus rugby fans on here. There's a lot of passionate supporters on here and rn I feel for them.

To be fair, Burgey, I'm glad you haven't sunk the boot in here. Because, quite frankly, it's a ****ing disgrace that you're allowed to continue your anti-rugby and Aus rugby diatribe on thread after thread across multiple subforums. If it was any other poster, you would have been warned off long ago for your flagrant disregard for the forum atmosphere ffs. But, like Kohli in the eyes of slippy, you're untouchable. It is a constitutional outrage.

And this is from someone who likes you. Not like like, but you're not the worst bloke going around.

 

[Furball]

Pre teen Messi could kick goals from anywhere

Adult Messi weighs 70kgs and would be a speed bump in rugby

Harry Kane weighs 10+ kgs less than your average halfback

There’s about as much chance of an EPL footballer being an elite rugby player as there is of Skelton playing in the EPL

Impressively awful take this.

Weirdly enough Harry Kane doesn't have the physique of a halfback because he doesn't play rugby professionally.

 

[GIMH]

you're not the worst bloke going around.

Big call

Tbf to Burgey isn’t it specifically Aussie Rugby Union he detests?

 

[Tom Flint]

Impressively awful take this.

Weirdly enough Harry Kane doesn't have the physique of a halfback because he doesn't play rugby professionally.

Kane looks a bit like Liam Williams

 

[Smudge]

Big call

Tbf to Burgey isn’t it specifically Aussie Rugby Union he detests?

Mainly. But he's made that point many times over. We get it.