WRW FRIDAY: BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN
THE LATEST FROM THE FABIEN GALTHIE BOOK OF DIPLOMACY (ABRIDGED)
Thank you for screwing up the entire Six Nations, eating waffles in Rome and wandering off from the bubble, costing Scotland a packet to get players out of their club commitments and making us wait an extra week.
But by all means, make a tame joke afterwards…Merci.
Bonne Chance L’Ecosse.
RUGBY ON TV THIS WEEKEND
Friday
Gallagher Premiership
Gloucester v Exeter, 5.30pm, BT Sport 1
Six Nations
France v Scotland, 8.00pm, BBC1
Saturday
Gallagher Premiership
Bristol v Harlequins, 2.00pm, BT Sport 1
London Irish v Bath, 3.00pm, BT Sport Extra
Worcester v Northampton, 3.00pm, BT Sport Extra
Wasps v Sale Sharks, 4.30pm, BT Sport 1
Pro 14
Glasgow v Benetton, 1.45pm, Premier Sports
Final - Leinster v Munster, 5.00pm, Premier Sports
Sunday
Pro 14
Dragons v Edinburgh, 2.00pm
Gallagher Premiership
TIGERS v Newcastle, 3.00pm, BT Sport 2/BBC Radio Leicester
TEAMS OUT
A rare chance to see all of Leicester’s internationals and signings in contention - well, mostly. Genge starts among an all-new front five, with Martin on the bench as the forwards are assimilated straight away. No Lavanini in the 23 at all, with Henderson among the replacements (Martin to start at 5 v Connacht?).
In the backs, Scott misses out on the squad entirely, with Kelly retained at 12 alongside the returning Moroni.
As for the visitors, they make similar changes with Wilson returning to ranks and 4 out of the front five are rotated. Remember Falcons have lost their last three..
As you can see, Leicester are within touching distance of the top six here, with Bath at London Irish in a game that might be significant for the losers. Northampton may be at Worcester but will have more difficult assignments to follow. Sale are in a tricky encounter at Wasps.
But here’s the thing.
Leicester are in top six form right now over the last seven games, in contrast to Newcastle’s one win during that period. With 22 tries (only the top three have more), Tigers are starting slowly to move through the gears. They, Bath and possibly Northampton are in for a right old end-of-season scrap.
CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW
Saracens had a bye last weekend, so have a game in hand. But Ealing have maximum points, with Pirates and Doncaster not far behind.
One of those records will go tomorrow, as Doncaster host Cornish Pirates on Saturday.
24 hours later, Ealing host Hartpury, while Saracens are at lowly Richmond. Expect some familiar names from Sarries… the spoilsports..
LIGHTNING PREVIEW
Tomorrow might be a big day for Loughborough Lightning’s hopes of a playoff place in the Premier 15s.
Having lost to Wasps at home last weekend, they travel to in-form debutantes Exeter knowing a win or a bonus point would put them into the top four playoffs for another year. Defeat and it starts to get tight.
Lightning have two home games remaining after this weekend - leaders Saracens and then 9th-placed Sale. They might well get five points from that final game, but it’s getting a bit close for comfort.
QUICK HITS
So it’s impossible to defend a maul, is it?
Take 1:
Aaannnd Take 2:
Also, do we always prioritise “the journey” ahead of the here and now? A fascinating conversation between the BBC’s Chris Jones and RFU Chief Exec Bill Sweeney:
Also….
I don’t doubt his quality, but at 33 and given how Cipriani organises a backs division in his own image which will then be reassembled after he leaves, how short-term is the thinking here? It might work though..
RUNNING FROM DEEP
Intriguing to see World Rugby investing in the Super Rugby franchises - the Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika. This is alongside private equity investment into the Fijian option and New Zealand Rugby support, to get them into a Aus/NZ Super Rugby competition in 2022:
The Drua have competed in Australia's second-tier National Rugby Championship since 2017 and won the title a year later.
"This is the missing piece to our rugby puzzle in the Pacific Islands and more importantly to Fiji rugby," Fiji Rugby chief executive John O'Connor said.
"Being included in Super Rugby completes our elite pathway and will allow our best players to have the opportunity to play professional rugby right here at home."
Moana Pasifika played their first and only game to date last May and included Fijian, Tongan and Samoan players in the loss to the Maori All Blacks.
"We have been reliant on our overseas-based players representing Manu Samoa, but the Moana Pasifika provides the missing link and pathway for our players to stay in the southern hemisphere," Samoa's rugby union CEO Vincent Fepuleai said.No doubt Fijian and Samoan players will benefit
Don’t underestimate the appeal to Samoan and Fijian players playing at home (including South Auckland), earning less money perhaps but not nearly the same levels of Covid-19. This is a worthwhile project for
But one thing I can’t quite work out is this. Do New Zealand Rugby get a cut, if any?
In a bid to show there are some good Irish journalists out there (thank you to those who tried to get me into a Twitter pile on since Monday), this from the RTE Sport podcast intrigues:
Donal Lenihan - a former Lions tour manager in 2001 - has an interesting view on why the Lions are now going to South Africa, having balked at Australia and the UK. The whole thing is worth a look but for all of the supposed romance of the Lions being the last great adventure in rugby, it’s not the most flattering view of the Home Unions:
"To be fair to the Lions board, they looked at every avenue they could get to host a tour in the UK. It just wasn’t stacking up, so they’ve now gone back to the basics.
"The basics is the tour agreement [which] says that South Africa have to host a tour, that they are the hosts of the tour and we have to turn up.
"So I think the Lions have now said, 'okay lads, we’re turning up, we are picking a team, we’re going to South Africa, tells us how you are going to host it'.
"The bottom line is, I think, it’ll cost a minimum of €7 million to run the tour.
"If you don’t have crowds and the sponsors aren’t getting the exposure that they thought they were going to get, well then there is a very strong danger that the four home unions could lose their drawers on this at a time when all the unions are haemorrhaging money at the moment because of Covid.
"So they’ve passed the buck to South Africa, and South Africa are the host nation, so therefore they are quite entitled to say to them, 'okay lads, we are going to turn up, tell us how you are going to run it’.
"That’s exactly what’s happened, in my opinion."
In this climate, the moral duty is surely for the Home Nations to share the costs. Surely??
This is particularly true if the Six Nations sign a bumper TV deal this week. Now, all bets are off, but if Martin Ziegler’s reporting in The Times (£) is on the money, the demise of free-to-air Six Nations coverage is distinctly premature:
The sale of the rights for both the Six Nations and the autumn internationals is being done together to maximise revenues. Amazon is understood to be prepared to leave the way clear for the Six Nations to go to terrestrial broadcasters.
Sky and BT Sport are also understood to have thrown their hat into the ring for the rights but would want them exclusively to attract subscribers, and there is little optimism at either that they can achieve a successful outcome with the political pressure around free-to-air coverage.
I’d be checking your broadband speeds before next November, if I were you..
AND YOUR VIEWS ARE VERY WELCOME…
Much touted, here’s the link to follow for the survey, if you’d be so kind…
You should see a Google form which should look much as below and the whole thing shouldn’t take much more than 5 minutes to complete.
Please be honest. Your answers will help shape the future of this little pet project. Email welfordroadweekly@substack.com if you have any issues fillling out the form.
Thanks for your help and co-operation.
Enjoy your rugby weekend and see you Monday.
Chris