France 30 - 29 Nouvelle-Zélande : les stats de la victoire

-SA sides travelling back and forth In Europe on successive weekends before playing big URC matches means they have to rest players somewhere or lose them for big matches in either comp

-European sides traveling to SA one week and playing in Europe the next is a huge disadvantage for them as well compared to those sides who just stay in Europe and they have to manage player loads as well

-Springbok players currently play the year round and must be rested during the regular season according to player welfare regulations and the national teams mandated rest periods. This means the franchises have to choose when and where they will rest players which puts them on the back foot and leads to them prioritising either the URC or European comps

-The Currie Cup is essential because it provides a pathway for provincial teams and young players but it means anyone who plays in Currie Cup and in URC plays the year round and wears out players

-The Rugby Championship means that while Europeans players are resting the Springboks are playing and with injuries occurring many SA teams lose their best and brightest.

The Sharks showed what you can do when you go full tilt in Europe when they won the Challenge Cup by keeping players fresh and fit for the whole comp. SA sides can do well in Europe but they must start prioritising it. Something has to be done to get players to the levels they need to be. Perhaps SA derbies in December and January is not the best idea, perhaps have European fixtures stand alone in the Calendar during December and Jan is what SA sides need to put their best players in and try to win those games and get the best seeding for the knockouts. SA derbies can be played during the Six Nations or some other window which takes some pressure off the season but this can only happen if the URC allows it. What is clear is that Europe does not need to change for SA and if they do it has to be on their terms. SA must find a way to adapt and address this latest problem or they must opt out of European comps altogether. They have earned their keep in the URC. That is their bread and butter. Now they need to earn their keep in Europe or just stick with the URC. The choice is theirs.

Good luck in your rehab, and remember theres plenty of time for hard work, on the knee, or the drafting table, take it easy.

We'll see.

Nick Bishop has come out with an article where he suggests it is just a South African problem, but I think this earlier reply of mine to Finn is pertinent to your question (and that article) so I'll include it here a well.

the appeal of pools of 4, but 6 pool games might not go down well with the French or the South Africans given already cramped schedules.

This is more of a suggestion for NBs new article on SA but I'd argue more pool games mean its easier to have a structure based on region system where say all of the SA teams that qualified are in the same pool, and you can play all those away games against them consecutively. Then return home and they come to you etc.

I don't think its necessarily needed as I think it would be quite easy for EPCR to take into account/do in conjunction with each leagues fixture list.

(I also go on to say I don't like that pool idea in the perfect world but you can ignore this)

To me, pool play should be sort to just acheive a ranking system. The bottom team of each pool is kicked out or 'culled' (perhaps to Challenge Cup, I'm fond of that exchange), but the fixtures then go into consecutive knockouts of home/away fixtures, say 1 v 16, then go thru to 1 v 8(or worst seed of the other winners etc) home/away, 1v4, etc etc. Maybe the Semi's onwards are 'neutral' fixtures and those last three games are just do or die fixtures?

He accused me of hating English rugby because I thought having 8 (of 10) sides was ridiculous.

I would be interested on just how many teams would have gone out of contention in the last few years using your system, my thought is that it would not be a lot. Winning a quarter of your games might be enough to remain in it each year. It greatly depends one how much the leagues fluctuate, and I see that becoming less and less.

the appeal of pools of 4, but 6 pool games might not go down well with the French or the South Africans given already cramped schedules.

This is more of a suggestion for NBs new article on SA but I'd argue more pool games mean its easier to have a structure based on region system where say all of the SA teams that qualified are in the same pool, and you can play all those away games against them consecutively. Then return home and they come to you etc.

I don't think its necessarily needed as I think it would be quite easy for EPCR to take into account/do in conjunction with each leagues fixture list. To me, pool play should be sort to just acheive a ranking system. The bottom team of each pool is kicked out or 'culled' (perhaps to Challenge Cup, I'm fond of that exchange), but the fixtures then go into consecutive knockouts of home/away fixtures, say 1 v 16, then go thru to 1 v 8(or worst seed of the other winners etc) home/away, 1v4, etc etc. Maybe the Semi's onwards are 'neutral' fixtures and those last three games are just do or die fixtures?

They'll be wanting to prime one of the other two to take over from Dmac in 2026, when it sounds like Dmac will join La Rochelle much the same way Jordie joined Leinster for next season.

There perspectives differ, but not their views.

Kolisi grew a lot from that situation, and good on him.

Beauden was treated and used as a cash cow. There's no other way to say it.

Theres been no announcement so we don't know when he signed. All we know is he was excluding from the squad naming last month.

I'm pro having West Coast teams in SR, and even Santiago, but even the Jaguares all the way over on the other side of the Americas seems a bit ludicrous a destination for Aussie or Japanese sides.

I'm actually more pro URC EMEA (Europe Middle East Africa) as one league and URC SixNations another. You have like four pools, Berlin Madrid, Milan, Monaco, Lisbon and Dubai x2, Qatar, Tbilisi, Istanbul, along with your 10 African (perhaps more african sides) teams in the other pool.

Maybe you'd want it to have the same number as URC6N but eventually those teams should grow too. There is branding symmetry, as theyre already partners and it's just the sorta thing that makes sense (much more than a new private investor), but that doesn't necessary mean theres any cross over of competitions.