Harry Byrne gets the nod as Leinster face Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle

Maybe because their players now qualify for France given the Top 14 is the only viable destination and clubs don’t like their players getting injured unless for them?

Sorry, j/k’s..

I help coach an U-12 team. The IRFU had set up tackle schools all around the place last summer to help coach good habits in the kids around the new tackle heights.

One of our young lads tackled low in the first game of the season. His first contact of the match. He got the other lads knee and knocked himself clean out.

There are risks high and low.

He is 113, probably a good number for Hoskins (who looks fairly overweight these days) to be at too.

He is tall I’ll give him that, maybe that was his lock weight growing up? Personally I think he needs to bulk up if he wants to play international footy, he’s not that dynamic, like Ardie, that he can get away with such a lite weight. He just needs to be a little bit more tougher and it would improve his abrasive game immensely.

That goes for French rugby in general really, so maybe just let them be, but that team was giving up 30kg to the All Black pack and it showed. BTW you see Tizzano talking about adding on weight in the offseason? Around 15kg.

From WRs 21’ financials that showed up on google I see they spent

Tournaments - 17m pound

Grants 13mil

Admin expenses of 9mil

Wages of 13m

Improving and marketing the game 16m

The previous year they gave out nearly 100mil point in grants (from 19’ WC no doubt).

Im not a financial guy, but I’d assume that largest area would be direct investment in those countries pros scenes, and that second largest area have a portion on rugby initiatives in those T2 countries. Nearly 50mil net loss for the year btw, from having 100m reserves. You still think the Top 14 contributes more than that to T2 nations?

I'm not saying you wouldn't get some ugly scorelines early in that type of comp, you could imagine Japan getting caught cold in their first game and getting banjaxed. It would bed in though.

Seems to be a huge fan base in Japan and the Fijian fans have always looked mental. Good mental.

They were probably the form team of the 2019 RWC by the end of the pools stage. Their running game was ridiculous.

They've dropped the ball since I think. They are now prioritising their league and the money streams. Eddie Jones hardly helps either.

Yeah Fiji have a lot to fight against. The day that team regularly becomes an 80 min team, the world order will change. They simply don't produce average athletes.

I would only get on board with the RC changes if it genuinely brought Fiji, Samoa and Tonga into the light. I've doubts. Even the proposed Nations Cup seems purely to ring fence the world order of rugby.

I agree on Georgia but more for form. They missed their chance. It's peaked.

You could argue that by the time Italy finally joined they'd already peaked. They were a proper, serious outfit in the 90’s but by the time they joined their moment had passed.

I wasn't at the recent IRE V Georgia game but I was in that stadium a few years back. It has it's charms.

Nobody wants to say it but regular games against tier 2 nations to get back in the winning habit is what Wales need at test level. A second division 6N would be just the ticket for that.