Always a Wasp

Of course they have imported players, and have done for a while.
England, however, should be smashing Scotland. Money, players, you name it England have more.
Our domestic self interest and rfu incompetence has a lot to answer for. It is beyond Eddie Jones, who was unorthodox in every way apart from tactics, we have not had a progressive coach in terms of tactics since Ashton, and only two since professionalism. Conservative coaches are fine, you need pragmatism sometimes. But it is too easy to blame Eddie for England's woes. It is deeper.

25 years ago we needed an Anglo Welsh league. Looking domestically and internationally at both England and Wales, we need one again.

So much for England players having fewer games and not being released to their clubs in 6N rest weeks, they looked like they hadn't met each other at times and definitely looked over coached and to be forgetting plays. Although TBF the first try was well worked.

Rather than pick up waif and strays from the southern hemisphere they should allow Borthwick to select England players playing overseas. He might not have them for as much time which may be a good thing as there'll be less time to coach spontaneity out of them.

But the main reason for doing it will be to provide some competition to the cosy club that the Premiership is becoming and give players more of an incentive to become adventurous.

Jut to dip my oar in:

NWW is right about the cause of accidents, perhaps adding the odd act of God eg trees falling, mechanical failure at the wrong time, and its accidents that cause deaths, but that doesn't change the calculations because we're dealing humans.

As backdoc says there is a trade off between the opportunity cost of time lost and other externalities of driving slower (in areas where you could be driving faster) and lives saved. Yes I know its a horrible calculation but we do it all the time: NICE uses Quality Life Years when calculating whether or not a drug or treatment should be available on the NHS. The last time I heard a figure it was that Network Rail values a life saved at ?1m. So the question is how many fatalities are we prepared to put up with and at what cost.

But there's another area to consider: Risk mitigation. We've made driving and being a passenger incredibly safe and the survival numbers must be trending towards zero by now, or would be if drivers didn't feel so safe*. That added safety: seat belts, air cushions, roll cages, crumple zones etc means that drivers can be more inattentive or drive faster for the same level of risk if they didn't have all those safety features.

I'd add that drivers going slower are also less attentive either through frustration, boredom or the belief that they aren't in danger, but the numbers do show the accidents are more survivable for pedestrians.

If you really want drivers to slow down and pay attention, strip out all the safety features and put a 6" metal point in the middle of the steering wheel.

I'm not against 20mph zones in principle, just blanket legislation. We visit Germany a lot and they have them outside schools and kindergartens, old people homes and the like and also for noise reduction between 10am and 6am in some villages. (Its a Federal country so States differ).

*One of the biggest drivers of survivability is response times, but that's the same for pedestrians.
We also value people's time quite highly cf the huge amounts to be spent on HS2 to save 10 to 20 minutes between Birmingham and London (And yes I'm aware the Dept for Transport screwed up the numbers and then had their fingers on the scales, but the premise still stands).

Wales' Rees-Zammit to leave rugby for NFL move - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/67995451

I've just seen it and that was my reaction. Can't blame him given the state of rugby at the moment and the potential money on offer. I wish him every success.

Quote from: Bloke in North Dorset on January 10, 2024, 07:20:26 PM

Seeing that article on the Championship clubs and RFU proposals made me think of Josh for some reason. What?s he up to now?

If you mean Josh Bassett, playing for Tigers today.

I did and thanks.

Thought he'd go on forever. Bacterial meningitis apparently.

I never thought of meningitis as an old(er) persons problem, just something you look for in young people. You live and learn.

Anyway, RIP JPR, you brought us many great moments.

I've just come across Gen HR McMaster's Battlegrounds podcast and he has a very interesting interview with Ritchie McCaw. I've heard Gen McMaster talk about his love of the game before so its an informed discussion:

In this episode of Battlegrounds, H.R. McMaster and Richie McCaw discuss the state of rugby and the lessons the sport offers for developing leaders, fostering teamwork, strengthening communities, and building a better future,

There's also a nice potted history of the sport including and interesting, but sad, stat of how many rugby players dies in WW1.

Its on all the platforms including here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4JniOGAEJgv52Iu1C4cdI7

That's the Dales. Always been a big rugby union area, Ilkley and Otley being 2 of the better known teams. One of my early RU heroes (even though I'm older than him) was Peter Winterbottom and he comes from that area.