Always a Wasp

I used to really admire the Haka when I first saw it, that ancient cultural heritage argument meant I was in favour of respect for an opponent's traditions. Then NZ started changing it, suddenly there were different versions of the Haka, now we seem to have a war spear involved. Then you get the huddle and collective prayer before the challenge. It all starts to smack less of culture and heritage and more of brand.

Why are the opposition required to face it? Can the players not be engaged in warm up drills while you do your thing in your half? And if you are required to face it why can you not issue a challenge of your own, the advancing forward or standing close enough to hear it etc etc.

I assume OP was trying to be funny. Do they really think 30k+ opposition fans are meant to stand in silence while 1 team gets to do what it likes to a global audience??? Singing your team's song isn't booing, jeering or showing disrespect. It's meeting a vocal challenge vocally isn't it? Or should England fans wait their turn and delay kick off further?

To be fair its much easier to act and react like that when your sole objective is to win one game, any game.

I loved that game, it was great to watch, but Portugal had nothing to lose given the draw with Georgia was being called a win but for the last kick. If watching games with nothing resting on it is your thing then the bottom of the Prem match-ups without relegation at season end are for you. 

What I find pretty crap is the press attempts to pile on this narrative of no-one supports England anymore. The Times today has a story about the 1000s of unsold tickets available for the 1/4 final in Marseille "even though England qualified 2 weeks ago". The tickets on the official sale website didn't go on sale until yesterday, so doesn't matter when England qualified you couldn't buy them any earlier. I checked the resale site Sunday night and there were 135 tickets available, Monday night a little under 300, by yesterday near 2000. So ticket holders are slowly putting unwanted seats up for sale. The Times has a dig at England clinging to the line these are Aussie ticket sellers. Wouldn't surprise me, same happened in 2007 in France and 2019 in Japan.

It's not so much not supporting England, my Marseille weekend in Week 1 was bloody expensive. Trains or flights and hotels have surge priced to the max. Not being able to go and not wanting to go are not the same thing at all.

Alfie fit again:-

https://www.bathrugby.com/content/injury-update-ahead-of-double-fixture-weekend

From the BBC:

Quote

"At one stage at the end of last season it appeared there was a viable way forward for the second tier once the new Professional Game Agreement was implemented from summer 2024, but Championship clubs have been left in the dark since that point and this led to a growing fatigue among those who may have invested, but could not be given any concrete assurance about when the new structure would come in, or how it would be funded."

and

Quote

"Championship clubs had clear confirmation from the RFU on funding for the 2023-24 season and we have been working with the Championship and Premiership Rugby on the new Professional Game Partnership and shape of Premiership 2 with funding levels to be confirmed at the end of this calendar year.

So, who to believe ....

To be fair the 2 statements are not mutually exclusive, nor do they contradict each other. One says there is uncertainty about the model and funding post new game agreement in Summer 2024, the other says you had certainty of funding for the 2023/24 season, which ends pre-new agreement.

For all the "its the RFU's fault" they do have a small point when asking why Jersey's investors would allow the squad building all summer knowing the funding for the up coming season and then pull the plug once that season has begun. Nothing for this season has changed. So why the last minute change of heart? That seems a fair question to ask doesn't it?

Do those banging on about the RFU and EPL not realise this is an IRB match and the panel were all Australian? I'm all for a knee jerk hot take but honestly.....

That being said, insane decision really. Faz was always upright and made no attempt to wrap. It could never be a legal tackle and as 2nd tackler Faz could never be in control of point of impact given the technique (or lack thereof). So to give mitigation because Basham wasn't where Faz thought he'd be? Nonsense.

And I agree with B&GSunglasses, think it damages the bunker system which I though worked well for Fagerson. The game got going again much quicker whilst a decision was made.

You just know that a game like that in England would have had a couple of cards & endless ref/TMO chats. If they can do it France why not in England?

If that game would have generated a couple of cards then you are implying there were infringements at least serious enough to warrant yellows? But only if the ref was alerted to them by the TMO? What is it you are arguing for, that the laws of the game be totally abandoned in favour of uninterrupted play?

Why is it a ref that blows up for infringements has "no feel for the game", but a ref that doesn't penalise the opposition for constant offsides, flying in at the ruck etc etc clearly has a conscious bias against us?

From the Bath website Season Ticket Q&A

"WHY HAVE PRICES INCREASED FOR THE 2023/24 SEASON?
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on sport, on rugby, and on the club was heavy. Whilst this impact was felt most significantly in the 2020/21 season, it has continued to have an effect. The club has also felt the pinch of the cost of living crisis which has impacted the rate of inflation and costs of energy, services and supplies across the UK.

Adult season tickets have therefore been subject to a small price increase, but the increase has remained below the rate of the inflation. The club has frozen its season ticket prices for juniors."

I also have a friend who is a Sarries ticket holder (honest apart from that he's alright) who says they have gone up a chunk and he's dropping at least 1 of the family tickets as a result. Purely anecdotal I know.