Pro 14

[Sandydragon]

PremierSport subscription renewed.
Beer in fridge.
Dragons top still fits (minor miracle)
Dog well walked.
Wife taking child to a play date without me.

Bring it on!!!

[Sandydragon]

Interesting game between Scarlets and Blues. The home team were clearly superior without being anything special. Both teams were rusty but some promising touches.

Hopefully Gareth Davies and Tomis Williams aren’t too badly hurt.

Jonny Williams looks like a decent signing.

Otherwise it was great to watch some live rugby.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Interesting game between Scarlets and Blues. The home team were clearly superior without being anything special. Both teams were rusty but some promising touches.

Hopefully Gareth Davies and Tomis Williams aren’t too badly hurt.

Jonny Williams looks like a decent signing.

Otherwise it was great to watch some live rugby.

Yeah, great to see something. It was pretty decent too, considering the amount of rust you'd expect to have built up. Clearly they were not taking it easy in the lockdown.

Big question - what was that on Steff Evans' head? The unholy offspring of a mohican and a mullet? Is the mullehican a deliberate thing or just the cruel outcome of lockdown?

[Sandydragon]

Interesting game between Scarlets and Blues. The home team were clearly superior without being anything special. Both teams were rusty but some promising touches.

Hopefully Gareth Davies and Tomis Williams aren’t too badly hurt.

Jonny Williams looks like a decent signing.

Otherwise it was great to watch some live rugby.

Yeah, great to see something. It was pretty decent too, considering the amount of rust you'd expect to have built up. Clearly they were not taking it easy in the lockdown.

Big question - what was that on Steff Evans' head? The unholy offspring of a mohican and a mullet? Is the mullehican a deliberate thing or just the cruel outcome of lockdown?

Surely a bet? It is ludicrous

[Ross. S]

Looks like it'll be the Pro 12 for next season, Both SA teams have withdrawn, Kings sound close to collapse, Cheetahs withdrawn because of travel restrictions.

[Sandydragon]

Looks like it'll be the Pro 12 for next season, Both SA teams have withdrawn, Kings sound close to collapse, Cheetahs withdrawn because of travel restrictions.

I suspect the SA teams will be back in time. Unless they decide just to recreate their internal fixtures and be done with it.

[Sandydragon]

Perfectly good try disallowed.

Bastard TMO.

Scarlets the better team and deserved a win, but that was terrible refereeing. What precisely is Basham supposed to do, lie there and be penalised for not rolling away?

[Numbers]

Perfectly good try disallowed.

Bastard TMO.

Scarlets the better team and deserved a win, but that was terrible refereeing. What precisely is Basham supposed to do, lie there and be penalised for not rolling away?

Aye, a ludicrous decision which really took the game away from the Dragons with the 10 point swing.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Close match vs Toulon, tough loss for the Scarlets. Brilliant try-saving tackle from Halfpenny in the first half.

[Sandydragon]

Close match vs Toulon, tough loss for the Scarlets. Brilliant try-saving tackle from Halfpenny in the first half.

Absolutely perfect tackle.

Hopefully he isn't seriously hurt.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Close match vs Toulon, tough loss for the Scarlets. Brilliant try-saving tackle from Halfpenny in the first half.

Absolutely perfect tackle.

Hopefully he isn't seriously hurt.

I was thinking Halfpenny's not big enough to stop that guy, he's got too much momentum. But no, perfect execution. Coaches should keep a video of that.

McNichol looked in a bad way, hope it's not as bad as it seemed.

[Numbers]

Close match vs Toulon, tough loss for the Scarlets. Brilliant try-saving tackle from Halfpenny in the first half.

Absolutely perfect tackle.

Hopefully he isn't seriously hurt.

I was thinking Halfpenny's not big enough to stop that guy, he's got too much momentum. But no, perfect execution. Coaches should keep a video of that.

McNichol looked in a bad way, hope it's not as bad as it seemed.

It looked like he'd disclocated his ankle to me, Steff Evans also took a knock quite early on but appeared to shrug it off,.

The game itself was there for the taking had the Scarlets been a bit more clinical, whilst Johnny Williams made excellent ground with some hard carries he doesn't have the vision yet to put players through, McNicholl would have walked in under the posts from the one break, he also got turned over by running away from support on a few occasions, some things for him to work on for sure, Sam Lousi also gave a few silly penalties away.

Samson Lee looked like he's getting back to his destructive best, at last, so that's a good thing.

The Halfpenny tackle was textbook.

Why on earth did Toulon play Serin at 10, they were markedly better when he went off.

[francoisfou]

Seems like the Bulls, Sharks, Lions and Stormers could be heading your way!

[morepork]

The NZRFU have given up on the Super comp in this current climate, so the SA teams need a new comp. NZ is able to host crowds for most domestic fixtures, and if Oz can manage to get it's infected masses under control, there is the possibility of a trans-tasman comp. That might be enough revenue to survive for now. I assume the Pro14 is/will be TV viewing only?

[Numbers]

The NZRFU have given up on the Super comp in this current climate, so the SA teams need a new comp. NZ is able to host crowds for most domestic fixtures, and if Oz can manage to get it's infected masses under control, there is the possibility of a trans-tasman comp. That might be enough revenue to survive for now. I assume the Pro14 is/will be TV viewing only?

Yep, TV only for the foreseeable future, I'm not sure how some clubs will survive, I suspect the Irish team will be ok and the WRU has taken a 20 million loan to support the Welsh clubs, I'm not sure about the Scottish clubs or the Italians, although they are impacted the least by the lack of crowds as they don't have many anyway, similarly the SA teams.

There is a case that Edinburgh and Leinster could certainly maintain social distancing with their crowd numbers and respective stadium sizes, Leinster will be losing the most cash I suspect as they have the largest crowds.

[Sandydragon]

So a good win for the Ospreys, a not unexpected humping for the Dragons and scrappy win for Cardiff and a bit of a feck up by Llanelli.

Ospreys looked reasonably good in awful conditions for their win, Cardiff I only saw part of and they hung for a win despite being a man down for a long period.

Dragons completely outclassed.

Scarlets had the win i the bag but lost focus completely.

[Son of Mathonwy]

So a good win for the Ospreys, a not unexpected humping for the Dragons and scrappy win for Cardiff and a bit of a feck up by Llanelli.

Ospreys looked reasonably good in awful conditions for their win, Cardiff I only saw part of and they hung for a win despite being a man down for a long period.

Dragons completely outclassed.

Scarlets had the win i the bag but lost focus completely.

Great first 60 from the Scarlets. Then a totally embarrassing capitulation to 14-man Munster. I thought, shit, Munster are going to sneak a draw here. I was too optimistic.

[Sandydragon]

So a good win for the Ospreys, a not unexpected humping for the Dragons and scrappy win for Cardiff and a bit of a feck up by Llanelli.

Ospreys looked reasonably good in awful conditions for their win, Cardiff I only saw part of and they hung for a win despite being a man down for a long period.

Dragons completely outclassed.

Scarlets had the win i the bag but lost focus completely.

Great first 60 from the Scarlets. Then a totally embarrassing capitulation to 14-man Munster. I thought, shit, Munster are going to sneak a draw here. I was too optimistic.

The worst bit were the plethora of mistakes that just handed the game to Munster. I did think the final penalty was a real 50/50, but to be in that position after commanding the game with a man advantage is really poor.

[Wallpaperman]

I was very pleasantly surprised by the Ospreys, although Edinburgh were missing a few players. I didn’t see much mention of Dan Evans after the match but I thought he was excellent. Time will tell if the Ospreys have turned a corner, but I like the appointment of Toby Booth. Brock James could be an inspired choice of backs coach, too.

The last 15 minutes of the Scarlets match was amazing. Munster’s attitude once they were down to 14 was brilliant. Something for all the regions to aspire to.

I watched 3 of the 4 regions at the weekend - I didn’t bother with Dragons-Leinster. I also watched Connacht v Glasgow. Not sure I will get away with watching 8 hours of rugby too often...

[Sandydragon]

I couldn’t face watching the dragons. But I do
Like getting my money’s worth out of my subscription.

[Wallpaperman]

Leinster away was a horrible first fixture, especially after they got turned over by Saracens. I couldn’t bear it (and my wife likes to watch ‘Vera’ on a Friday night !) The Dragons are putting a strong squad together, but it’s going to take them a while to gel. We mentioned Rowlands on the other thread, is he definitely going to come to the Dragons ?

I’ve noticed that they have picked a bulky back row for their last couple of fixtures, and Basham has been on the bench. Hopefully that’s just because Ryan wanted to select the big units for Bristol & Leinster away as he knew the front five would be up against it.

Is Ollie Griffiths nearing fitness ? I think he would be in the Wales team if he could stay fit for more than three games at a time.

Sorry for all the questions !!

[Sandydragon]

I'm not sure about Rowlands. He was definitely coming not so long ago, but he has 'finished the season' with Wasps, so I suppose we might see in for the Dragons after the Autumn Internationals.

Completely agree about Ollie Griffiths - a superb player who is cursed with injuries.

[Sandydragon]

So Turnbull is banned for 3 weeks following his red card.

O'Mahoney gets away with no ban despite a clear intent to cause some harm to a Scarlets player on the floor.

Once again the disciplinary process looks inconsistent.

[normanski]

So Turnbull is banned for 3 weeks following his red card.

O'Mahoney gets away with no ban despite a clear intent to cause some harm to a Scarlets player on the floor.

Once again the disciplinary process looks inconsistent.

It will be interesting to see what punishment Henderson gets after his shoulder tackled Dan’s chin. Odds on the Irish bias in the justice system will get him off like O’Mahoney.

[Sandydragon]

So Turnbull is banned for 3 weeks following his red card.

O'Mahoney gets away with no ban despite a clear intent to cause some harm to a Scarlets player on the floor.

Once again the disciplinary process looks inconsistent.

It will be interesting to see what punishment Henderson gets after his shoulder tackled Dan’s chin. Odds on the Irish bias in the justice system will get him off like O’Mahoney.

I did think that as Henderson was sent off. I'm not expecting much of a sanction.