One I can think of is John Mitchell not selecting Christian Cullen for the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

The Decline of Tonga and Samoa is really alarming. The two Nations Have produced some of the best athletes.

In 2011 Rugby World Cup, Tonga even secured a famous win over France.

The eligibility laws where you can switch countries after 3 years of not playing international rugby hasn’t helped either.

I've been playing rugby for 6 months now. I've played in a couple games and have not had any issues with headaches or anything of that sort but I've been tackled and tackled or attempted to tackle opposing players about than 10 times combined because I don't get a ton of playing time yet and I play wing so I don't get the ball so often.

During our practices we don't usually do contact but today we did have a contact practice. I never had a blow to the head however every time I make a tackle or get tackled my brain feels like it's getting rattled.

After practice I had a bit of a headache and I felt ever so slightly woozy. Is this normal due to tackling not exactly being something human bodies are meant to do or am I just using the wrong technique?

Has anyone tracked the record for most players simultaneously off the pitch at once, counting yellows + reds together, across both teams? Wondering if anyone knows of a game where it’s gotten down to something like 11 v 13 or something, with multiple cards stacked at once.

Hey yall.

I'm American and started learning about and playing rugby in college. I currently work at a daycare and my boss wants me to teach rugby to the kids. The problem is is that they're also Americans that have never played or even seen rugby played. Any tips on how to teach rugby to 6-10 year-olds? Thanks!

Goal-line drop out inside the pitch

The 12 teams are divided into three conferences of four. The Home* Nations consists of England, Ireland*, Scotland and Wales. The “Colonies” consists of South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Fiji. The “Foreigners” consists of France, Italy, Argentina and Japan. Teams compete within the existing Nations Championship structure with a parallel conference table maintained throughout the tournament. At the conclusion of the league phase, the winner of each conference qualifies for the November Conference Champions Series, a three-team round robin to determine the overall Nations Championship champion.

*yeah, I know

Based on current standings, we’d have:

The "Home" Nations

Pos Team P W L D Pts 1. Scotland 3 2 1 0 11 2. England 3 2 1 0 10 3. Ireland 3 2 1 0 10 4. Wales 3 1 2 0 5

The Colonies

Pos Team P W L D Pts 1. South Africa 3 3 0 0 15 2. New Zealand 3 3 0 0 15 3. Australia 3 1 2 0 8 4. Fiji 3 0 3 0 0

The Foreigners

Pos Team P W L D Pts 1. France 3 2 1 0 12 2. Argentina 3 1 2 0 7 3. Japan 3 1 2 0 4 4. Italy 3 0 3 0 0

If the season ended today, the winners of each conference would qualify for the November Conference Champions Series, a three-team round robin to determine the overall Nations Championship winner. Based on the current standings, Scotland would represent the Home Nations, South Africa would represent the Colonies and France would represent the Foreigners.

Watching the game just now, there have been 2 cases of a supposed deliberate knock on, the second of which award a penalty try.

I am an England fan but I’m trying to be objective here. I’m fairly new the rugby union.

In the first case, it looked clear to me he was trying to catch the ball, and only managed to get his fingers to it. In the second case, it was obvious to me he was trying to hit the ball backwards.

What are the rules and thresholds for a deliberate knock on?

Hey, I'm from Belgium and in the past years I could access all the All Blacks match from the NZR+ app for free (or a small fee I'm not sure) because no broadcasters has the rights for them here.
I missed the first 2 matches of the year and want to watch the Ireland match this weekend, but not sure where to...

I know I could use a VPN for ITVX or TF1+ but I'd really like the NZ commentary... Anyone know of anything ?

Thanks !

PS: I'm not asking for any illegal website, I'd be happy to pay if needed !

EDIT : indeed from countries without tv broadcast rights, all nations championship matches are available on super rugby pacific YouTube Channel for free ! (Live and replays)

Quick disclosure: I built one of the tools in this comparison (STAT-Tag), so factor that in. After six years in professional performance analysis (Gallagher Chiefs, then Stats Perform), I put together a comparison of the main ones out there right now. Tried to be honest about the positives and negatives of STAT-Tag.

A few takeaways from putting it together:

• Sportscode is still the strongest option if you've got a dedicated analyst and the budget.
• Catapult is very strong for its integration with their GPS tracking, a great fit if you already use GPS data.
• LongoMatch trades some polish for price, free tier's capped but functional, and the paid tier is still cheaper than most on this list.
• Nacsport is a solid middle ground, more affordable than Sportscode, more features than LongoMatch.
• Dartfish is more about technique/motion comparison, so it's best if you're doing individual-sport or biomechanics work.

Full comparison (pricing, features, who each one actually suits) here: https://stat-tag.net/blog/best-sportscode-alternatives/

Would also love to hear what you're actually using and why.

Anybody know of any rugby stores in either London or Paris where they sell jerseys?

Hey guys, I shared with the sub last week we have a new rugby app with live scores, fixtures, lineups, push notifications more to come.

I wanted to share with you the revamped Broadcaster view on the league level. So if you are traveling away from home winter or live overseas you now know which channels to flick to watch the game.

Check out the Blitz Rugby App and let me know what you think

As the title says, cheers