The lugby…..

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Re: The lugby…..

Wales will be back.

All sport is cyclical

Not necessarily. Now I admit I'm not Welsh rugby's greatest fan, but I can see bigger problems ahead for the egg chasers.

Wales is a small country. We shouldn't really be able to compete at the highest level at much, except occasionally. Wales qualifying for a Euros or WC in football is an example here. But Wales is consistently one of the top rugby nations and has been one of the best in the Northern Hemisphere, partly by it being out national game at international level while it is much less of a big deal at other countries.

I don't think it is wrong to suggest that, if England and France made rugby such a priority, Wales shouldn't really live with either most of the time. So it stands to reason that, if interest levels and participation levels drop in Wales, we will struggle to compete.

It is true that the WRU has shot itself in the foot many times over the years. Grass roots rugby is on its arse. Clubs and regions survive because of the national team and the WRU.

Kids will have been inspired by the football team and its exploits at Euros and a World Cup, playing against famous names they see in the PL and beyond. At club level, football continues to grow. I understand that participation in cricket is on the increase amongst young people with the introduction of fun training programmes for kids.

For Wales to be successful at rugby it cannot afford a decade in the doldrums. Football will wave it goodbye as it slides down the plughole.

[Dorcus]

Re: The lugby…..

Is that for real? Trebanog seniors lol….

At least they didn't lose to the Juniors; now that would be really embarrassing.

[D. Advocaat]

Re: The lugby…..

Not necessarily. Now I admit I'm not Welsh rugby's greatest fan, but I can see bigger problems ahead for the egg chasers.

Wales is a small country. We shouldn't really be able to compete at the highest level at much, except occasionally. Wales qualifying for a Euros or WC in football is an example here. But Wales is consistently one of the top rugby nations and has been one of the best in the Northern Hemisphere, partly by it being out national game at international level while it is much less of a big deal at other countries.

I don't think it is wrong to suggest that, if England and France made rugby such a priority, Wales shouldn't really live with either most of the time. So it stands to reason that, if interest levels and participation levels drop in Wales, we will struggle to compete.

It is true that the WRU has shot itself in the foot many times over the years. Grass roots rugby is on its arse. Clubs and regions survive because of the national team and the WRU.

Kids will have been inspired by the football team and its exploits at Euros and a World Cup, playing against famous names they see in the PL and beyond. At club level, football continues to grow. I understand that participation in cricket is on the increase amongst young people with the introduction of fun training programmes for kids.

For Wales to be successful at rugby it cannot afford a decade in the doldrums. Football will wave it goodbye as it slides down the plughole.

You may ne right, but there's no reason why a country like Wales should not be reasonably competitive at both football and rugby- it shouldn't be one or the other- although there will be peaks and troughs over time.

Look at the list of recently retired rugby internationals- how many of them would have been international footballers- Ken Owens as a false 9 anyone?

[JamesWales]

Re: The lugby…..

Not sure where to begin with this as there is so much going on.

I guess the first thing is to get things in context a little. There's the temptation in sport to think declines are terminal but it's rarely the case. It's only a year since we stuffed Australia at the world cup in one of the most complete sporting performances I have ever seen. Rugby is also finally getting more international. Fiji beat us last week..this week they struggled to beat Spain and were losing at half time. There's professional leagues in North and South America and Japan that have started in recent years and the French leagues are flying. This is helping all nations rise up a little.

The big issue is the utterly shite league our teams are in, with a general lack of jeopardy, lack of promotion/relegation with a corresponding impact on all the club teams. A functioning league system would have seen Newport Dragons relegated and Ponty or Neath or whomever promoted in recent years. That's not happening and it begs the question of what is the point in watching them? I enjoy games at the Arms Park but apart from European games there is never really anything resting on the result.

The Fiji game was poor. The atmosphere was dull, it's a corporate experience so they don't even have the "aura" of attending games anymore. If anyone needed to reintroduce terracing for example, it's Welsh rugby. Get back the "hwyl" or whatever it is. You just feel like a customer there even more than at City.

Someone cited the under 20s earlier but at the world championship in the summer we played five games, lost four and won one (against Spain 31-10). We did a little better the year before but nothing to suggest game changers coming down the line.

The WRU are useless, the league is really poor, and other teams are improving. It's gonna be a tough few years I suspect.

The biggest single difference would be to get out of the shitty league and merge with the English league in my opinion. That at least provides a framework for growth.

Until then we have the world champions next week and then the six nations and I would bet on us losing all six.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Re: The lugby…..

You may ne right, but there's no reason why a country like Wales should not be reasonably competitive at both football and rugby- it shouldn't be one or the other- although there will be peaks and troughs over time.

Look at the list of recently retired rugby internationals- how many of them would have been international footballers- Ken Owens as a false 9 anyone?

I think the point I'm making is that Wales might only dine at the football top table on occasions but we're used to that. It could be that Wales struggles to do the same in rugby but that would be much more damaging for the sport. Wales' international football team does much less to inspire youngsters as kids have role models in the PL and at other countries. Rugby doesn't have that.

[tforturton]

Re: The lugby…..

Welsh clubs need to be playing the top English and Scottish sides in some sort of National League. Problem is that England are doing just fine right now (club rugby), and why would they want to share the spoils with Wales?

[Cardiff Ultra]

Re: The lugby…..

I wouldn't be so sure about the health of English club rugby, 7 of the clubs are technically insolvent. They are living way behind their means.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-union/premiership-rugby-finances-clubs-insolvency-b2619252.html

[JamesWales]

Re: The lugby…..

Welsh clubs need to be playing the top English and Scottish sides in some sort of National League. Problem is that England are doing just fine right now (club rugby), and why would they want to share the spoils with Wales?

A British and Irish professional league with promotion and relegation would be massive. You would likely be looking at crowds averaging 20,000. Not a threat to the premier league of course but would be the nearest challenger to it we've seen in 30 years.

[Moodybluebird]

Re: The lugby…..

Why don't Wales do what New Zealand and Australia do ?

They have lots of pacific south islanders in their squads who often have very loose links to either country ?

Wales seem to have the occasional aussie or kiwi with long lost Welsh grandparents etc?

They clearly need more

Maybe include those born on Lundy or Steep Holm perhaps.....

[The Bloop]

Re: The lugby…..

I thought the English clubs are now quite open to discussions about a UK league?

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Re: The lugby…..

20000 gates at Welsh club rugby games ?absolutely no chance

[Pearcey3]

Re: The lugby…..

We have a competitive domestic League as it is. We don't need to set up a new League with English clubs. Many of their clubs are in deep financial trouble.

[Packerman]

Re: The lugby…..

The answer seems simple. Scrap the super clubs masquerading as regions and form two new actual regions. East and west playing games around the various club grounds in each area. Won’t happen to much vested interest from the big 4 clubs. Alternatively three regions the third being north as a feeder region like Connaught

[Pearcey3]

Re: The lugby…..

The answer seems simple. Scrap the super clubs masquerading as regions and form two new actual regions. East and west playing games around the various club grounds in each area. Won’t happen to much vested interest from the big 4 clubs. Alternatively three regions the third being north as a feeder region like Connaught

The only concern I have with going down to two regions is that limits the numbers of players playing regularly on match day

[goats]

Re: The lugby…..

I don’t understand this rugby format, probably because I pay no attention at all to it, but why do they merge teams up to make regions etc…even in recent times Wales did ok with plenty of club teams, Cardiff, Newport, ponty, pontypool, Neath, Llanelli Swansea etc….what happened to make them even consider merging? Is like if we merged with the jacks we’d have some form of super south wales region fc or both Bristol clubs united? Doesn’t really equate to success does it?