Fijian Drua thump reds, end Highlanders' season

The cheap seats there were £70 and that's pre-covid!

And still pump money back into grass roots.

I don’t see how them winning one or two games a year for the foreseeable will help them. And that's nothing to do with finances. Their win ratio across the last 2 years is 5%.

It could take them a decade to even hit the 20% heights that Italy had in the 00’s and 10’s.

Wake up, lad.

just very different priorities.

You'd know well about the crusaders or the chiefs, highlanders, canes, blues super fans who want their team to do well. But ultimately they want their boys having a big representation in the ABs and doing the business.

I'd say plenty of French fans would take their team winning the Top 14 and CC over a world cup without a second thought.

Other contact sports could have a higher percentage of injuries but many wouldn't be of the general severity of rugby union.

The university of Bath anyalsis has it at around 80 injuries per 1000 minutes of rugby played.

Even the number of 20-25 games can be misleading as few of those players are walking straight into a match day squad. To get a run at 80 mins in those 20-25 games they are clocking at least an equivalent 80 mins per match on the practice fields in training. Training is still going to be full contact.

The central contracted players are managed but they can't be protected on the field. It's still the same risk however more or less frequently they take to the field.

It is for two reasons.

Firstly, Ardie Savea is a world class player, but not a world class captain as of yet. He still has brainstorms (like chip kicking in his own 22, for example). He can still be inspirational to the team with or without the captain’s armband and is part of the leadership team already.

Secondly, the All Blacks need more valid locking options, not less. Tuipolutu made really important contributions effectively as part of a ‘bomb squad’ last year. If he starts, then you will still need a player of that ilk coming off the bench. It is great that we have unearthed Holland as a viable option now, but we need 6 world class locks - not just 4. The notion of ditching one of them - Barrett, no less - is just dumb.