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Wasps Rugby Discussion / Saracens’ dominance will not end any time soon after Champions Cup victory over
« on: May 13, 2019, 09:00:20 AM »
From Owen Slot in The Times :
For the last five minutes of this Heineken Champions Cup final, Leinster laboured away in their own 22, hammering at the Saracens defence, pounding away again and again to try to find a way through. They had, by then, been brought well and truly to heel and the question they left behind was: if they could not find a way, then who can?
Saracens have one half of the double and, with due respect to Exeter Chiefs, Gloucester and whoever qualifies fourth, they were favourites to win the Gallagher Premiership before the weekend and, surely, even stronger favourites now.
An exhibition of their ridiculous array of qualities was magnificently staged at St James’ Park, in Newcastle, on Saturday: their ability to come back from behind, their refusal to be rattled by a ten-point deficit, their ability to think for themselves and turn it around and then, in the last half hour, their sheer power and the accuracy with which they applied it, negating so much of their Irish opposition and thus reining in the influence of Johnny Sexton, the world player of the year.
When Leo Cullen, the Leinster head coach, addressed this in his press conference, he described the Saracens forwards and how he found himself looking up at them in the tunnel before the game with a sense of awe.
“They are big, big men,” he said, “very big men. We don’t have access to many players like that.” And he asked openly the question that his Leinster team had failed to answer: “How do you play against this type of team that suffocates you? They try and steamroller you and they are very good at it.”
For Saracens’ rivals, the hope may fester that, at some point, they will hit their peak and start to decline. For now, though, there is absolutely no sign of this.
What Saracens achieved was to push their performance to new heights. Jamie George has had already won two European titles, a grand slam with England and a Lions Test in New Zealand, but he was unswerving in the opinion that, “That’s the best feeling I’ve ever had on a rugby field”.
How so? “That was the hardest we have had to work for a European trophy; that’s why it’s the best feeling.”
And might there be a sense that they are sated, that they have laurels upon which they can rest? This is George again: “The season that we’ve had, the amount of outside negativity that we’ve had — it just goes to show that if we stay tight as a group we can do anything. Yeah, it’s us versus the world and that’s fine by us.”
The squad are agreed that Leinster forced probably their best ever rugby from them. Their performance in the final two years ago, when they beat Clermont Auvergne in Murrayfield, had been considered a benchmark, but, not any more.
“I thought we went to a level in that second half, against a high-class team, that we haven’t been at,” Mark McCall, the Saracens director of rugby, said.
And as for the double, McCall referenced Saracens’ semi-final defeat against Exeter, two years ago, which came the week after their Clermont win. “A big regret that we have, in 2017, is that we had Exeter away in the Premiership semi-final and we lost in the last minute,” McCall said. “It was seven days after the European Cup final and we had partied too much.
“Exeter are a brilliant team so we didn’t quite blow the opportunity but we weren’t as prepared as we needed to be. The fact that we have two weeks for the semi-final gives us no excuse.
“We are capable of continuing our season. We have got a home semi-final and we have worked dammed hard to get a home semi-final over 22 weeks. We have used 50 players to do that. I don’t want us to blow that.”
A big part of all this is the team’s ability to perform on the day. “That’s the best thing about the group,” George said. “Genuinely all the players are so reliable and they love the big occasion.”
Thus it was, on Friday in the team meeting, that Billy Vunipola stood and addressed the players. “He told us he was going to show up,” Maro Itoje said. “And he did that in abundance.” Indeed he did.
According to George, “he’s the best No 8 in the world at the minute”.
That may be a slightly rose-tinted opinion. Vunipola has not quite asserted himself this year as he did in 2016 and 2017. In the Champions Cup semi-final against Munster, though, he was man of the match and closer to his awesome peak. In this final, he raised his game back to its very best.
The try he scored, with four defenders failing to stop him, was a finish that few players on the planet would have managed. There was intelligence, here, as well as brute force. Leinster were a man down after Scott Fardy’s yellow card and had just been smashed in a scrum.
When Jérôme Garcès, the referee, called for a scrum reset, Leinster pulled in Robbie Henshaw from his position at inside centre and, as Vunipola said: “I knew they were a man down, so I just thought I’d have a go.”
Where does this all end? Not for the foreseeable future. The age profile of the team suggests that they are more likely, still, to improve rather than recede.
There are a few essential parts of the machine who are in their thirties — Brad Barritt is 32, Alex Goode is 31 — but no panic, they have the England star Elliot Daly arriving next season.
The internal production line looks as good as ever too because it was not just the one final for Saracens in Newcastle. This evening, at Kingston Park, Saracens Storm, the A-League team, will contest their final against Newcastle Falcons — which suggests that the strength-in-depth is set to get even deeper.
They are already deep enough to allow most protagonists a week off, this Saturday, against Worcester Warriors. The following weekend they will be all guns blazing in a home Premiership semi-final. And on it goes.
Scorers: Leinster: Try Furlong (32min). Conversion Sexton. Penalty goal Sexton (4). Saracens: Tries Maitland (40+2), B Vunipola (67). Conversions Farrell 2. Penalty goals Farrell 2 (39, 59).
Scoring sequence (Leinster first): 3-0, 10-0, 10-3, 10-8, 10-10 (half-time), 10-13, 10-20.
Leinster R Kearney; J Larmour, G Ringrose, R Henshaw, J Lowe; J Sexton, L McGrath; C Healy (rep: J McGrath 62), S Cronin (rep: J Tracy 51), T Furlong (rep: M Bent 70), D Toner (rep: M Deegan 74), J Ryan, S Fardy (sin-bin 58), S O’Brien (rep: R Ruddock 62), J Conan.
Saracens A Goode; L Williams, A Lozowski, B Barritt, S Maitland; O Farrell, B Spencer (rep: R Wigglesworth 56); M Vunipola (rep: R Barrington 30), J George, T Lamositele (rep: V Kock 30), W Skelton (rep: N Isiekwe 62), G Kruis, M Itoje (sin-bin 30), J Wray, B Vunipola (rep: S Burger 75).
Referee J Garcès (France).
English clubs reign supreme
3 Times Saracens have won the tournament — in three of the past four years. It brings them level with Toulon’s haul and only one behind Toulouse and Leinster, who have won it four times each. They are now clear of Leicester Tigers, Munster and Wasps who have two titles apiece.
9 Titles won by English clubs (Saracens 3, Leicester and Wasps 2 each and Northampton and Bath 1), moving one clear of French teams (eight) and two clear of Irish teams (seven). A Scottish or Welsh team has never won it.
For the last five minutes of this Heineken Champions Cup final, Leinster laboured away in their own 22, hammering at the Saracens defence, pounding away again and again to try to find a way through. They had, by then, been brought well and truly to heel and the question they left behind was: if they could not find a way, then who can?
Saracens have one half of the double and, with due respect to Exeter Chiefs, Gloucester and whoever qualifies fourth, they were favourites to win the Gallagher Premiership before the weekend and, surely, even stronger favourites now.
An exhibition of their ridiculous array of qualities was magnificently staged at St James’ Park, in Newcastle, on Saturday: their ability to come back from behind, their refusal to be rattled by a ten-point deficit, their ability to think for themselves and turn it around and then, in the last half hour, their sheer power and the accuracy with which they applied it, negating so much of their Irish opposition and thus reining in the influence of Johnny Sexton, the world player of the year.
When Leo Cullen, the Leinster head coach, addressed this in his press conference, he described the Saracens forwards and how he found himself looking up at them in the tunnel before the game with a sense of awe.
“They are big, big men,” he said, “very big men. We don’t have access to many players like that.” And he asked openly the question that his Leinster team had failed to answer: “How do you play against this type of team that suffocates you? They try and steamroller you and they are very good at it.”
For Saracens’ rivals, the hope may fester that, at some point, they will hit their peak and start to decline. For now, though, there is absolutely no sign of this.
What Saracens achieved was to push their performance to new heights. Jamie George has had already won two European titles, a grand slam with England and a Lions Test in New Zealand, but he was unswerving in the opinion that, “That’s the best feeling I’ve ever had on a rugby field”.
How so? “That was the hardest we have had to work for a European trophy; that’s why it’s the best feeling.”
And might there be a sense that they are sated, that they have laurels upon which they can rest? This is George again: “The season that we’ve had, the amount of outside negativity that we’ve had — it just goes to show that if we stay tight as a group we can do anything. Yeah, it’s us versus the world and that’s fine by us.”
The squad are agreed that Leinster forced probably their best ever rugby from them. Their performance in the final two years ago, when they beat Clermont Auvergne in Murrayfield, had been considered a benchmark, but, not any more.
“I thought we went to a level in that second half, against a high-class team, that we haven’t been at,” Mark McCall, the Saracens director of rugby, said.
And as for the double, McCall referenced Saracens’ semi-final defeat against Exeter, two years ago, which came the week after their Clermont win. “A big regret that we have, in 2017, is that we had Exeter away in the Premiership semi-final and we lost in the last minute,” McCall said. “It was seven days after the European Cup final and we had partied too much.
“Exeter are a brilliant team so we didn’t quite blow the opportunity but we weren’t as prepared as we needed to be. The fact that we have two weeks for the semi-final gives us no excuse.
“We are capable of continuing our season. We have got a home semi-final and we have worked dammed hard to get a home semi-final over 22 weeks. We have used 50 players to do that. I don’t want us to blow that.”
A big part of all this is the team’s ability to perform on the day. “That’s the best thing about the group,” George said. “Genuinely all the players are so reliable and they love the big occasion.”
Thus it was, on Friday in the team meeting, that Billy Vunipola stood and addressed the players. “He told us he was going to show up,” Maro Itoje said. “And he did that in abundance.” Indeed he did.
According to George, “he’s the best No 8 in the world at the minute”.
That may be a slightly rose-tinted opinion. Vunipola has not quite asserted himself this year as he did in 2016 and 2017. In the Champions Cup semi-final against Munster, though, he was man of the match and closer to his awesome peak. In this final, he raised his game back to its very best.
The try he scored, with four defenders failing to stop him, was a finish that few players on the planet would have managed. There was intelligence, here, as well as brute force. Leinster were a man down after Scott Fardy’s yellow card and had just been smashed in a scrum.
When Jérôme Garcès, the referee, called for a scrum reset, Leinster pulled in Robbie Henshaw from his position at inside centre and, as Vunipola said: “I knew they were a man down, so I just thought I’d have a go.”
Where does this all end? Not for the foreseeable future. The age profile of the team suggests that they are more likely, still, to improve rather than recede.
There are a few essential parts of the machine who are in their thirties — Brad Barritt is 32, Alex Goode is 31 — but no panic, they have the England star Elliot Daly arriving next season.
The internal production line looks as good as ever too because it was not just the one final for Saracens in Newcastle. This evening, at Kingston Park, Saracens Storm, the A-League team, will contest their final against Newcastle Falcons — which suggests that the strength-in-depth is set to get even deeper.
They are already deep enough to allow most protagonists a week off, this Saturday, against Worcester Warriors. The following weekend they will be all guns blazing in a home Premiership semi-final. And on it goes.
Scorers: Leinster: Try Furlong (32min). Conversion Sexton. Penalty goal Sexton (4). Saracens: Tries Maitland (40+2), B Vunipola (67). Conversions Farrell 2. Penalty goals Farrell 2 (39, 59).
Scoring sequence (Leinster first): 3-0, 10-0, 10-3, 10-8, 10-10 (half-time), 10-13, 10-20.
Leinster R Kearney; J Larmour, G Ringrose, R Henshaw, J Lowe; J Sexton, L McGrath; C Healy (rep: J McGrath 62), S Cronin (rep: J Tracy 51), T Furlong (rep: M Bent 70), D Toner (rep: M Deegan 74), J Ryan, S Fardy (sin-bin 58), S O’Brien (rep: R Ruddock 62), J Conan.
Saracens A Goode; L Williams, A Lozowski, B Barritt, S Maitland; O Farrell, B Spencer (rep: R Wigglesworth 56); M Vunipola (rep: R Barrington 30), J George, T Lamositele (rep: V Kock 30), W Skelton (rep: N Isiekwe 62), G Kruis, M Itoje (sin-bin 30), J Wray, B Vunipola (rep: S Burger 75).
Referee J Garcès (France).
English clubs reign supreme
3 Times Saracens have won the tournament — in three of the past four years. It brings them level with Toulon’s haul and only one behind Toulouse and Leinster, who have won it four times each. They are now clear of Leicester Tigers, Munster and Wasps who have two titles apiece.
9 Titles won by English clubs (Saracens 3, Leicester and Wasps 2 each and Northampton and Bath 1), moving one clear of French teams (eight) and two clear of Irish teams (seven). A Scottish or Welsh team has never won it.
407
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Dai's thoughts about our injuries
« on: May 08, 2019, 02:04:56 PM »
https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/rugby/wasps-rugby-injury-news-updates-16241614
Food for thought by the backroom guys before the preparation kicks off for next season.
Food for thought by the backroom guys before the preparation kicks off for next season.
408
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Time for change
« on: May 05, 2019, 05:32:46 PM »
The playing and coaching need reenergising. We need fresh impetus and that has to come from the top.
Dai is a nice guy but, for me, he has run his course.
Next season's squad gives me no confidence that we will be any better than this. Indeed it could be worse. Too many fundamentals have failed to be addressed in the coaching and playing areas.
DC's presence papered over the cracks for too long.
Dai is a nice guy but, for me, he has run his course.
Next season's squad gives me no confidence that we will be any better than this. Indeed it could be worse. Too many fundamentals have failed to be addressed in the coaching and playing areas.
DC's presence papered over the cracks for too long.
409
Wasps Rugby Discussion / LS link to The Ricoh gets a step nearer
« on: May 03, 2019, 05:50:53 PM »411
Wasps Rugby Discussion / RFU Council refuse to take their snouts out of the trough!
« on: May 01, 2019, 09:22:59 AM »
Plan to curtail free trips rejected by RFU council
Owen Slot, Alex Lowe
May 1 2019, 12:01am, The Times
The 55 members of the RFU council have controversially refused to accept proposed cuts to their expenses budget so that they can continue to go on their preferred number of free trips to Rome and Paris during the Six Nations Championship.
The RFU is having to make huge budget cuts across all departments of between 10 and 20 per cent. The community game recently signed off on cuts of £5 million, and the professional game is soon to have to agree to a trim of £2.5 million. When the council was asked to fall into line, it voted against such austerity and agreed only to make 6 per cent cuts and lose one free trip a year.
The council is an influential decision-making body consisting mainly of the elected chairmen and women of the counties, who work on voluntarily as representatives of their constituent bodies. The council gets sign-off on many of the RFU’s big decisions. It is the same body that Will Carling, when he was England captain 24 years ago, famously described as “57 old farts”.
The council has a rewards and recognition group that has been working for more than a year on how to make cuts to its budget. Before the most recent council meeting, on April 12, the group had formulated a proposal that cut the expenses budget by more than £100,000. However, before the meeting an amended proposal was made which stipulated that the council should only slim down by one trip a year and thus cut the budget by £56,000.
The council’s privileges encompass free travel, hotels and dinners for England’s away games during the Six Nations. These trips are for two nights each at hotels such as the Westbury in Dublin, the Balmoral in Edinburgh and the Intercontinental Le Grand in Paris, where the quoted prices start at more than €400 (about £340) per night.
For home games at Twickenham, the council is treated to three nights in the Twickenham Marriott, which is no cheaper, plus a black-tie dinner on the night before the game. These dinners have been held recently at venues such as the Cliveden House hotel and Claridges.
The council members also get two free tickets to home games plus lunch and an all-day free bar.
Not all council members accept all the privileges. There are some who book their own travel and cut costs accordingly.
At the meeting on April 12, there were a number of members who felt that the privileges that they enjoyed were not aligned with the rest of the RFU.
A proposal was made that, for home games, there should no longer be a post-match function for the council to attend. This proposal was voted in.
It was on the foreign trips that there was less unity. The big years are known as “the blue years” because England play away against the nations whose teams wear blue shirts: Italy, France and Scotland. The non-blue years, such as this year, are away games in Dublin and Cardiff. On average, an away trip costs the council £56,000 though the blue-year trips tend to be more expensive.
For non-blue years, the proposal made was to go from two away trips to one. This was voted in.
For blue years, the initial proposal was to go from three trips to one. This would have given the council a budget reduction of 12 per cent.
However, this was where the late amendment was made: to lose only one trip, not two. When it went to the vote, the majority voted to keep two.
A number of council members are known to be embarrassed that their constituent body voted for a 6 per cent cut every other year, rather than the proposed 12 per cent.
At the RFU, 62 staff were made redundant last year. A number of those were community coaches. If the council was to cut a second free trip from their blue year travel schedule, they would be able to get two community coaches back into work.
This is not the first time that the council has rejected cuts. For the autumn internationals, in November, they turned down a proposal that they should pay for their partners’ tickets and post-match meals, which would have saved the RFU an estimated £30,000.
Chris Kelly, the RFU president, told The Times: “Changes were agreed to reduce costs associated with the running of the council. While the 2019-20 business plan is yet to be finalised, council costs will be lower next season.”
Owen Slot, Alex Lowe
May 1 2019, 12:01am, The Times
The 55 members of the RFU council have controversially refused to accept proposed cuts to their expenses budget so that they can continue to go on their preferred number of free trips to Rome and Paris during the Six Nations Championship.
The RFU is having to make huge budget cuts across all departments of between 10 and 20 per cent. The community game recently signed off on cuts of £5 million, and the professional game is soon to have to agree to a trim of £2.5 million. When the council was asked to fall into line, it voted against such austerity and agreed only to make 6 per cent cuts and lose one free trip a year.
The council is an influential decision-making body consisting mainly of the elected chairmen and women of the counties, who work on voluntarily as representatives of their constituent bodies. The council gets sign-off on many of the RFU’s big decisions. It is the same body that Will Carling, when he was England captain 24 years ago, famously described as “57 old farts”.
The council has a rewards and recognition group that has been working for more than a year on how to make cuts to its budget. Before the most recent council meeting, on April 12, the group had formulated a proposal that cut the expenses budget by more than £100,000. However, before the meeting an amended proposal was made which stipulated that the council should only slim down by one trip a year and thus cut the budget by £56,000.
The council’s privileges encompass free travel, hotels and dinners for England’s away games during the Six Nations. These trips are for two nights each at hotels such as the Westbury in Dublin, the Balmoral in Edinburgh and the Intercontinental Le Grand in Paris, where the quoted prices start at more than €400 (about £340) per night.
For home games at Twickenham, the council is treated to three nights in the Twickenham Marriott, which is no cheaper, plus a black-tie dinner on the night before the game. These dinners have been held recently at venues such as the Cliveden House hotel and Claridges.
The council members also get two free tickets to home games plus lunch and an all-day free bar.
Not all council members accept all the privileges. There are some who book their own travel and cut costs accordingly.
At the meeting on April 12, there were a number of members who felt that the privileges that they enjoyed were not aligned with the rest of the RFU.
A proposal was made that, for home games, there should no longer be a post-match function for the council to attend. This proposal was voted in.
It was on the foreign trips that there was less unity. The big years are known as “the blue years” because England play away against the nations whose teams wear blue shirts: Italy, France and Scotland. The non-blue years, such as this year, are away games in Dublin and Cardiff. On average, an away trip costs the council £56,000 though the blue-year trips tend to be more expensive.
For non-blue years, the proposal made was to go from two away trips to one. This was voted in.
For blue years, the initial proposal was to go from three trips to one. This would have given the council a budget reduction of 12 per cent.
However, this was where the late amendment was made: to lose only one trip, not two. When it went to the vote, the majority voted to keep two.
A number of council members are known to be embarrassed that their constituent body voted for a 6 per cent cut every other year, rather than the proposed 12 per cent.
At the RFU, 62 staff were made redundant last year. A number of those were community coaches. If the council was to cut a second free trip from their blue year travel schedule, they would be able to get two community coaches back into work.
This is not the first time that the council has rejected cuts. For the autumn internationals, in November, they turned down a proposal that they should pay for their partners’ tickets and post-match meals, which would have saved the RFU an estimated £30,000.
Chris Kelly, the RFU president, told The Times: “Changes were agreed to reduce costs associated with the running of the council. While the 2019-20 business plan is yet to be finalised, council costs will be lower next season.”
412
Wasps Rugby Discussion / TRP Front page - Shaun
« on: April 20, 2019, 10:24:31 PM »
2 year deal with Wasps on the table.
413
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Wasps 'A' team
« on: April 19, 2019, 10:40:19 PM »
Has their season finished?
414
Wasps Rugby Discussion / World Rugby proposing some new laws after RWC.
« on: March 21, 2019, 10:01:07 AM »
I will C&P the article later (from The Times).
More laws on safety and introducing the RL 40-20 (to be called 50-20 in RU) kick to touch whereby the side kicking to touch get the lineout put in. Rationale is to reduce numbers in midfield defensive line by forcing more players having to defned in back field.
Edit : Now posted below.
More laws on safety and introducing the RL 40-20 (to be called 50-20 in RU) kick to touch whereby the side kicking to touch get the lineout put in. Rationale is to reduce numbers in midfield defensive line by forcing more players having to defned in back field.
Edit : Now posted below.
415
Wasps Rugby Discussion / STH offer
« on: February 21, 2019, 09:55:34 AM »
3 free tix for either the Sale or Falcons game. Look out for your email.
416
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Something to bear in mind for the start of next season.
« on: February 04, 2019, 09:00:23 PM »
I was mulling on the availabilty of players at the start of next season and dug this out from the RFU site :
From 2019/20, the Premiership will start at least one week later in September for the next three seasons, with the final taking place over the last two weeks of June before the summer tests kick-off in July - the one exception being next year when four rounds of Premiership Rugby Cup are played alongside the Rugby World Cup - starting on September 20 - before the league begins on 20 October.
So JTA (and any other potential SH imports) will get a break after S15 and reasonable preseason.
It will be interesting to see the Heiny schedules for next season. Possibly first pool round in December.
RWC is September 20 until November 2.
From 2019/20, the Premiership will start at least one week later in September for the next three seasons, with the final taking place over the last two weeks of June before the summer tests kick-off in July - the one exception being next year when four rounds of Premiership Rugby Cup are played alongside the Rugby World Cup - starting on September 20 - before the league begins on 20 October.
So JTA (and any other potential SH imports) will get a break after S15 and reasonable preseason.
It will be interesting to see the Heiny schedules for next season. Possibly first pool round in December.
RWC is September 20 until November 2.
417
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Tim Fisher : CCFC worth £930K to Wasps
« on: January 27, 2019, 09:08:43 PM »
Apologies for posting here as well as on the DW site.
Coventry City Chairman Tim Fisher has said that the Sky Blues are worth more than £930,000 to Wasps over the course of a season.
Using the programme v Blackpool, for his latest piece of avoiding any reference to the legal action that the two companies that he is a main director of, are taking against Wasps, Arena Coventry Limited and the City Council, Mr Fisher wrote:“There is seemingly one point of confusion upon which the club would like to add clarity.
“We have all seen published statements that the Club contributes around £100,000 each year to the landlord's stadium finances.
“However, for the avoidance of doubt, during the 17/18 season, the club contributed somewhere in the region of £930,000 to the landlord’s stadium finances.
“This included the £80,000 (this was League 2 – in League 1 it is £100,000), ACL matchday costs (e.g floodlights, undersoil heating etc), payments made to IEC (the stadium catering Joint Venture company) and revenue from Food & Beverage sales on our matchdays.
“This does not include other stadium related income such as car parking, for example, and secondary revenue such as fans drinking in the café and Bar in the atrium, booking hotel rooms or the value our matchdays with fans frequenting the on-site casino.
“On top of this figure, there was also non-matchday events we held at the stadium such as Evenings with Kevin Keegan and Harry Redknapp.
“Outside of the stadium there is a financial ‘halo effect’ with local pubs and shops benefiting from match day attendance.
“The Club directly employs a total of nearly 400 full-time and part time staff, which includes matchday stewards and employees, and indirectly employ many more local people, including over 200 each game at the stadium in catering.
“Beyond a substantial financial contribution to the City, Coventry City is a significant part of this City’s history and culture and is undoubtedly a cornerstone institution.
“Indeed, there is no price or value put on the feelings that the supporters have for their club and that is why it is imperative that the Club continues to push for a solution and a resolution to the current impasse.”
Coventry City Chairman Tim Fisher has said that the Sky Blues are worth more than £930,000 to Wasps over the course of a season.
Using the programme v Blackpool, for his latest piece of avoiding any reference to the legal action that the two companies that he is a main director of, are taking against Wasps, Arena Coventry Limited and the City Council, Mr Fisher wrote:“There is seemingly one point of confusion upon which the club would like to add clarity.
“We have all seen published statements that the Club contributes around £100,000 each year to the landlord's stadium finances.
“However, for the avoidance of doubt, during the 17/18 season, the club contributed somewhere in the region of £930,000 to the landlord’s stadium finances.
“This included the £80,000 (this was League 2 – in League 1 it is £100,000), ACL matchday costs (e.g floodlights, undersoil heating etc), payments made to IEC (the stadium catering Joint Venture company) and revenue from Food & Beverage sales on our matchdays.
“This does not include other stadium related income such as car parking, for example, and secondary revenue such as fans drinking in the café and Bar in the atrium, booking hotel rooms or the value our matchdays with fans frequenting the on-site casino.
“On top of this figure, there was also non-matchday events we held at the stadium such as Evenings with Kevin Keegan and Harry Redknapp.
“Outside of the stadium there is a financial ‘halo effect’ with local pubs and shops benefiting from match day attendance.
“The Club directly employs a total of nearly 400 full-time and part time staff, which includes matchday stewards and employees, and indirectly employ many more local people, including over 200 each game at the stadium in catering.
“Beyond a substantial financial contribution to the City, Coventry City is a significant part of this City’s history and culture and is undoubtedly a cornerstone institution.
“Indeed, there is no price or value put on the feelings that the supporters have for their club and that is why it is imperative that the Club continues to push for a solution and a resolution to the current impasse.”
418
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Wuss v Wasps Feb 3 on BT Sport
« on: January 22, 2019, 10:56:33 PM »
Wuss will be targeting this game as they are 2/3 and chasing the best r/up spot for the semis. Given that there are no games this weekend, I reckon Dai might put out a half decent side for this one. We also have a free week on 9/10 Feb before the Bears game on Feb 17.
419
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Rugby injuries get worse as weight of stars leaps 25%
« on: January 20, 2019, 09:50:47 PM »
From the Sunday Times :
The average Six Nations player weighs 3 stone more than in 1955, prompting calls for rule changes to reduce harm from tackles
World Rugby faces mounting pressure to change its rules to protect players from explosive tackles and potentially devastating injuries as a report reveals the average weight of international players has increased by nearly 25% since the 1950s.
A study of international rugby union players reveals that the average weight of a player in the Five Nations championship in 1955 was 13 stone 5lb (84.8kg). The average weight of players in the England squad announced last week for the upcoming Six Nations is just under 16 stone 7lb (105kg).
“Injury severity is increasing, and this may be linked to greater forces (caused by greater body mass) occurring in contact,” says the study published in the BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine journal in November. “[Rugby union] law makers should adjust the rules to encourage speed and skill at the expense of mass.”
The authors searched for matchday programmes on eBay for the Five Nations and Six Nations tournaments between 1955 and 2015 to obtain details of the weight and height of the players.
In 1955, just one out of 75 players in the Five Nations weighed more than 15 stone 10lb (100kg). In the Six Nations competition in 2015, this had soared to 49 players out of 75. The average player weight in the tournament was 16st 8lb.
In March, World Rugby, the governing body for rugby union, will meet in Paris for a review of possible laws that could help reduce injuries. There have been calls for reform after the deaths of four rugby players in France in just eight months, and the increasing severity of injuries suffered by players in England.
The researchers found that forwards had become steadily heavier between 1955 and 2015, with the weight of the pack, comprising eight players, increasing from 112 stone to 144 stone.
The report says that Isaac Newton’s second law of motion — the force applied is the product of mass and acceleration — is an important one in rugby. “Most humans cannot significantly increase their maximum running speed or their acceleration, but it is possible to modify body mass,” states the report.
When Ireland played England in the Five Nations at Lansdowne Road stadium in Dublin in February 1955, team captain Nim Hall, from Huddersfield, weighed just 12 stone 6lb. Hall’s modern-day counterpart, the England full back Elliot Daly, weighs about 14 stone 11lb. Harry Williams is one of the heaviest members of the England Six Nations squad at 19 stone 12lb.
Doug Baker, 89, fly half with Hall in the 1955 England team, weighing in at about 13 stone 7lb, said the game in the amateur era seemed gentler and more friendly, with training sessions only once or twice a week. “We would meet on the Friday and have a runaround on the pitch and play the game on Saturday,” Baker said. “We were much lighter then and did not have the collisions they have today. ”
The England Professional Rugby Injury Surveillance Project, published earlier this month, revealed that the average severity of match injuries — the time taken for a player to recover — for the 2017-18 season was 37 days, compared with just 16 days in 2002-03. On average, there are 3.6 injuries for each match.
Dr Simon Kemp, medical services director at the Rugby Football Union, said: “We need to look at the injury data and see if there are changes to the laws that can be made.”
The average Six Nations player weighs 3 stone more than in 1955, prompting calls for rule changes to reduce harm from tackles
World Rugby faces mounting pressure to change its rules to protect players from explosive tackles and potentially devastating injuries as a report reveals the average weight of international players has increased by nearly 25% since the 1950s.
A study of international rugby union players reveals that the average weight of a player in the Five Nations championship in 1955 was 13 stone 5lb (84.8kg). The average weight of players in the England squad announced last week for the upcoming Six Nations is just under 16 stone 7lb (105kg).
“Injury severity is increasing, and this may be linked to greater forces (caused by greater body mass) occurring in contact,” says the study published in the BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine journal in November. “[Rugby union] law makers should adjust the rules to encourage speed and skill at the expense of mass.”
The authors searched for matchday programmes on eBay for the Five Nations and Six Nations tournaments between 1955 and 2015 to obtain details of the weight and height of the players.
In 1955, just one out of 75 players in the Five Nations weighed more than 15 stone 10lb (100kg). In the Six Nations competition in 2015, this had soared to 49 players out of 75. The average player weight in the tournament was 16st 8lb.
In March, World Rugby, the governing body for rugby union, will meet in Paris for a review of possible laws that could help reduce injuries. There have been calls for reform after the deaths of four rugby players in France in just eight months, and the increasing severity of injuries suffered by players in England.
The researchers found that forwards had become steadily heavier between 1955 and 2015, with the weight of the pack, comprising eight players, increasing from 112 stone to 144 stone.
The report says that Isaac Newton’s second law of motion — the force applied is the product of mass and acceleration — is an important one in rugby. “Most humans cannot significantly increase their maximum running speed or their acceleration, but it is possible to modify body mass,” states the report.
When Ireland played England in the Five Nations at Lansdowne Road stadium in Dublin in February 1955, team captain Nim Hall, from Huddersfield, weighed just 12 stone 6lb. Hall’s modern-day counterpart, the England full back Elliot Daly, weighs about 14 stone 11lb. Harry Williams is one of the heaviest members of the England Six Nations squad at 19 stone 12lb.
Doug Baker, 89, fly half with Hall in the 1955 England team, weighing in at about 13 stone 7lb, said the game in the amateur era seemed gentler and more friendly, with training sessions only once or twice a week. “We would meet on the Friday and have a runaround on the pitch and play the game on Saturday,” Baker said. “We were much lighter then and did not have the collisions they have today. ”
The England Professional Rugby Injury Surveillance Project, published earlier this month, revealed that the average severity of match injuries — the time taken for a player to recover — for the 2017-18 season was 37 days, compared with just 16 days in 2002-03. On average, there are 3.6 injuries for each match.
Dr Simon Kemp, medical services director at the Rugby Football Union, said: “We need to look at the injury data and see if there are changes to the laws that can be made.”
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Wasps Rugby Discussion / HEC last 8
« on: January 19, 2019, 11:48:30 PM »
So it is :
Sarries, Racing, Leinster, Edinburgh, Ulster, Toulouse, Munster and Glasgow. Final seeding will be determined after the two games tomorrow. Hard to see anything but wins for Leinster and Toulouse.
Ireland 3/3, Scotland 2/2, France 2/6 England 1/7 and Wales 0/2.
A bit of a damning indictment on how rugby in France, England and Wales is managed.
Sarries, Racing, Leinster, Edinburgh, Ulster, Toulouse, Munster and Glasgow. Final seeding will be determined after the two games tomorrow. Hard to see anything but wins for Leinster and Toulouse.
Ireland 3/3, Scotland 2/2, France 2/6 England 1/7 and Wales 0/2.
A bit of a damning indictment on how rugby in France, England and Wales is managed.