Premiership Suspended

[Doorzetbornandbred]

I think this is interesting, but I’m not totally sure.



Certainly nothing surprising from a Quins perspective. Average basically everywhere but fortunately don’t let teams make many clean breaks.

Those stats make a lot of sense from a Leicester perspective too. Not actually bad on tackle percentage, metres conceded, penalties conceded, clean breaks conceded, the fewest turnovers given away, but all that balanced out by the clear message that we don't want the ball. Fewest passes, runs, and metres by a significant distance and the most kicks - just stultifyingly unambitious and dour. Rightly bottom.

Most notable is Sale's defensive stats. Those are phenomenal. Reflected in them having the fewest points conceded by a reasonable distance.

Puja

Exeter near the bottom of the table for tackle percentage is a surprise but being at the bottom for offloads is less surprising, even if it is boring.

It'll be interesting to see if offloads become more the norm now with the "new" application of the old laws regarding the tackle. No more gymnastic displays on the ground, 2nd man in gets hands on and attempts a lift of the ball its a penalty. Its hot and sunny, grounds hard should make for some entertaining rugby though the whole Sarries thing may have some bearing on who makes the playoffs, could they put out strong sides against some and not others?

[Scrumhead]

TBH, I think they’ll mostly put out weaker/mixed sides for the most part. The England players will still want to play towards the end of the season so they’re fit for the end of the 6N and the 8 team tournament.

I think they’ll definitely play their best side against Quins though ...

[Timbo]

TBH, I think they’ll mostly put out weaker/mixed sides for the most part. The England players will still want to play towards the end of the season so they’re fit for the end of the 6N and the 8 team tournament.

I think they’ll definitely play their best side against Quins though ...

Remember they have match fitness and cohesion to build for their best team to take on Leinster in the Chamions Cup.

[twitchy]

I think this is interesting, but I’m not totally sure.



Certainly nothing surprising from a Quins perspective. Average basically everywhere but fortunately don’t let teams make many clean breaks.

Those stats make a lot of sense from a Leicester perspective too. Not actually bad on tackle percentage, metres conceded, penalties conceded, clean breaks conceded, the fewest turnovers given away, but all that balanced out by the clear message that we don't want the ball. Fewest passes, runs, and metres by a significant distance and the most kicks - just stultifyingly unambitious and dour. Rightly bottom.

Most notable is Sale's defensive stats. Those are phenomenal. Reflected in them having the fewest points conceded by a reasonable distance.

Puja

Exeter near the bottom of the table for tackle percentage is a surprise but being at the bottom for offloads is less surprising, even if it is boring.

Related stat.

[twitchy]

[Puja]

Squidge earning a bit of (well-deserved) money, I see! Good video though.

Puja

[twitchy]

[Mellsblue]

What the deal with Champ Cup quali? I’m reading and hearing that both the ‘top’ 7 and 8 qualify.

[Croft_No.5]

Seems it is 8 from each of the leagues, 8 groups of 3. 1/4 finals home and away for group winners. Not sure about rules around the previous season's champions if they fall outside the top 8. Just saying!!

[Puja]

Seems it is 8 from each of the leagues, 8 groups of 3. 1/4 finals home and away for group winners. Not sure about rules around the previous season's champions if they fall outside the top 8. Just saying!!

So do the ECC winners get anything?

Puja

[Mikey Brown]

I had pretty much refused to believe that the premiership really was starting up again. I missed Fridays game and only saw little bits of the Exe game until catching up on highlights.

Being an audio nerd I may be the only one who's interested in this but, judging by the BT sport coverage I've just seen, the approach to canned audience/atmospheric sounds being played back in the stadiums* seem very different between clubs. I have no idea how convincing it feels as a player on the pitch but I think anyone would be missing out to not at least try and replicate that feeling of a home advantage.

Bath seemed to have nothing. Exeter have done it fairly well but it sounded as though they were either piping the referee in along with the other sounds, unless he's so loud that you're hearing the reflections from all the empty stands. I can see the appeal of a ref being able to communicate with anyone on the pitch with ease, but it feels like it would be very strange to chop and change whether you're hearing it through the PA week by week.

Equally though, it's really interesting to get that bit more of a sense of who on the pitch is communicating clearly and with what frequency. Perhaps being able to hear all your calls that bit more clearly is worth more?

I've never played at a level with more than 20 people on the sidelines so I haven't got a clue.

[Which Tyler]

As far as I'm aware, it wasn't in the stadiums, BT were adding it themselves on top of the commentary. They didn't bother with Bath, for example, because it was on the red button, not a "proper" broadcast.

Personally, I loved being able to hear the ref and TJs clearly - but then, I often bemoan the lack of clarity there. Even enjoyed hearing then players communicating with each other

[Mikey Brown]

Really? There’s been so many weird things going on with the sound.

I would have thought when you’ve got the opportunity to make it feel like a home game for your players then clubs would have looked at that. Maybe a waste of time or against the rules for some reason, but I thought that was what I was hearing.

[Digby]

The only side I know for sure that has sound inside the stadium upon the return to sport is QPR, because they looked into providing sounds which would inspire their side given how they could control aspect. It didn't remotely work for QPR, but they did try, normally as WT says it's the broadcaster adding the crowd noises just to the outside broadcast

[twitchy]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union ... gby-union/

[Mellsblue]

With the number of one sided matches growing I wonder if BT are starting to think they should’ve scratched the season and just started afresh with 20/21 or accepted/asked for a shortened 19/20.

I’ve caught two matches so far this weekend, Sale v Bristol and now Glos v Leicester, and both have been one sided and therefore pretty boring.

[Mr Mwenda]

I've yried to watch the game on 5 each week and found the fare very poor.

[fivepointer]

Its been a mixed bag for sure. We've had some mismatches due to sides resting a lot of players, which was always a possibility given the condensed nature of the fixture list. Its also effectively pre season as we've had no rugby for 5 months. Plus the new reffing directives might have had an impact. The penalty counts have been horrendous, though do show signs of coming down.
Hopefully we'll see better, more competitive games now that everyone has had the chance to shake off the rust.

[twitchy]

I'm really noticing the lack of crowds now. Watching the glos/tigers game yesterday in front of an empty shed was depressing.

[Mikey Brown]

I didn't know where else to vent.

I can never remember this guy's name, but I think I would nominate this commentator for having the most annoying voice I've ever heard. He seems to speak almost entirely through his nose. Just a honking, nasal mess from start to finish. Then we get to his actual choice of words and the way he will just draw out any random vowel for several seconds at a time while trying to think of what he'll say next.



I find it too weird watching these clips with the sound off, so if he happens to be the commentator when I try to catch up on a game I've missed it basically means I wont ever watch it.

[fivepointer]

Its Mark Robson. He can, occasionally, be quite entertaining. I've a bit of a soft spot for him as he memorably once described the Argentinian pack as "prime pampas beef on the hoof" Well, I thought it was funny.

[Puja]

Had Radradra as my captain this week and screaming at the television as Bristol continually used him as the dummy runner. It was massively effective as he opened holes for others by Saints defence panicking about where Radradra was going, but it didn't earn me any bloody points!

And don't get me started about Thacker not giving him a try-scoring pass. Don't these players understand that there are important things riding on their actions?!

Puja

[Mellsblue]

I know we’ve been discussing the quality of the post lockdown fare elsewhere but this seemed the best place to put this



Symptomatic of boring Prem rugby.

[Puja]

I know we’ve been discussing the quality of the post lockdown fare elsewhere but this seemed the best place to put this



Symptomatic of boring Prem rugby.

Incidentally, what are people's opinions now of my proposal of banning box kicks by requiring a pass from a breakdown before a kick? Got pooh-poohed a year or so back, but I get the feeling it'd have a few more supporters after this turgid restart. It's surely worth at least an ELV trial.

Puja

[Which Tyler]

I'mm still much more in favour of banning the caterpillar and reducing the SH's time on the ball.
5 seconds from when the ruck competition is over should do it.
Not 5-10 seconds to put a caterpillar together, then 5 seconds to get the ball to the back of it, 5 seconds for the ref to get impatient, and 5 seconds to do something.

Nothing wrong with a box kick, so long as it doesn't take an unreasonable amount of time - much like scrums, the problem isn't that it exists, but that it takes too long.