European and South African teams in Champions' Cup 2023/24

[anz3001]

Bulls 20 Sarries 6 HT

Billy red card.

Is that a statement or his new nickname?

[Rugbygramps]

Completely out of control although it was only a glancing head blow he was never legal so all mitigation removed 3 or 4 week ban coming up.
Thought Goode yellow was harsh but Itoje was just cynical. Saracens losing some of their discipline maybe.
Bulls will be disappointed not to get tbp

[Rugbygramps]

In the challenge cup Black Lion from Georgia only lost by 5 points 15-10 to Gloucester, and seemed to be a good atmosphere from the Georgian crowd

[Rugbygramps]

Next weeks Tigers opponents Stade playing Sale in the 1pm fixture on TNT be interesting to get a look

[Rugbygramps]

This is incredibly attritional 5 injuries inside 15 minutes

[Rugbygramps]

Not sure what to make of Stade seemed devoid of ideas and pedestrian at times. 11 changes from the side that beat Toulouse last week where they made over 200 tackles so possibly happier without the ball

[Tigerbeat]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/67701719

Billy Vunipola red card has been overturned and he is free to play immediately.

[Old Hob]

Phillippe Saint-Andre unimpressed with SA teams in the Championship.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/fifa-wo ... 3950&ei=11

[Rugbygramps]

Sale are sending an under strength team to Leinster as you would expect.

[ads]

Phillippe Saint-Andre unimpressed with SA teams in the Championship.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/fifa-wo ... 3950&ei=11

I Can't disagree with anything he says really.

[DeadlyDunc]

Phillippe Saint-Andre unimpressed with SA teams in the Championship.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/fifa-wo ... 3950&ei=11

I Can't disagree with anything he says really.

Nope me neither

[Scott1]

Yes blame the SA teams for the rubbish European cup,completely forgetting the powers that be started messing with the format before they even entered it and posters were already moaning about having no chance of winning it and it already being geared up for Leinster and the French teams ,yaaawwwnnnnn!

[mol2]

The problem isn't the presence of South African teams alone. But the cost to clubs is huge, shipping a playing squad over for the odd match and bring them back and getting them recovered to play the next game is impractical. The time zone isn't an issue but some of the away matches are 20 hours travelling by the time transfer flights have been factored in.
The tinkering with the format hasn't helped.
The Irish rugby using the competition to act as a training vehicle for the national side squad.
The demise of top level club rugby in Wales and resultant loss of fan base. (Soccer competing too)
An acceptance that the top tier tournament is beyond the squads of the English clubs within their salary cap. Sarries did for a while but circumvented the salary cap.
The French clubs seem able to gain sponsorship in a way outside of the English clubs' dreams

TV audiences are down - so sponsors get to know that their target market is reduced. The French TV audience of 60million may well be unchanged but the other big audience of England is down.

[Rugbygramps]

Re the travelling which many say is an excuse, Dobson said during one of his interviews on Sunday, that his Stormers squad would be arriving back in Cape Town after La Rochelle had arrived for todays fixture. No wonder he sent a shadow squad.

How anyone can say that is good for player welfare or the game itself is beyond me

[Scott1]

And let's stop being selfish from a fans point of view and think about the players. I know you get this playing Leinster or maybe a top French club away from home but for some that will never get an international cap playing a gun SA side away from home in one of the worlds most famous stadiums could be one of the pinnacles of their playing career. They're here to stay,they've made the URC a better competition already and been in 2 finals winning one so time to stop moaning and just accept it and get on with it.