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'I'm not sure Bastareaud was a smart signing... you want proper value and Robshaw ticks that box'

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

USA Eagles boss Gary Gold believes San Diego Legion have made the “perfect signing” by convincing Chris Robshaw, the former England captain, to join Major League Rugby after his illustrious career with Harlequins in the Gallagher Premiership finishes later this year.

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Unlike Rugby United New York’s decision to bring in an overweight ex-France midfielder Mathieu Bastareaud, whose short-lived MLR stint ended with the centre joining Lyon in April, Gold suggested the arrival of Robshaw on a two-year deal at Legion can have significant benefits for the American league and its ambitious expansion plans.

MLR are aiming to be a genuine alternative to Japan and signing Robshaw, who won 66 England caps and led his country 43 times – including at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, is a major statement of intent. 

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Lions coach Warren Gatland guests on The Lockdown, the RugbyPass pandemic interview series

Robshaw will head to California when he completes a short-term extension that will see him help Harlequins, whom he skippered to 2012 Premiership glory, finish their delayed season which is due to restart in August.

“It is critically important for the MLR to sign a player like Chris Robshaw,” said Gold to RugbyPass after it emerged that the 33-year-old flanker will join Legion, the Californian-based club whose squad includes Ma’a Nonu, the double World Cup-winning All Black centre. 

“Chris is such a good guy, a great rugby player and an inspiring leader in a critical position and it is a perfect signing. The USA guys at San Diego are going to get the chance to find out what it is like to play alongside Chris Robshaw and Ma’a Nonu and that will be a wonderful experience. 

“Neither Chris or Ma’a are past their sell-by date and have a huge amount of value to add. It will enhance the value of the MLR. I remember Martin Johnson being asked about Josh Kronfeld joining Leicester and concerns about an influx of foreign players into England.

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“He said it was a critical balance but that they needed to be playing week in, week out with players of the quality of Kronfeld and Joel Stransky because there could be so much to learn from them. Ma’a Nonu in San Diego and Tendai Mtawarira for Washington are also great signings but there have also been some bad ones where you pay over the odds for a guy well past his sell-by date and it doesn’t help the game. 

“I have nothing against him, but I’m not sure Mathieu Bastareaud was a smart signing when you are so limited financially. If you spend that kind of money you want proper value and Chris Robshaw ticks that box.

“It’s a brilliant acquisition for San Diego and the players who will be playing alongside him. At Old Glory DC in Washington, those players were around Tendai, who had played over 100 times for the Springboks. Now the San Diego guys are going to play with a guy who captained England for four successful years.”

Earlier this month, Legion confirmed that former Scotland captain Scott Murray and USA Sevens legend Zack Test will be their new joint head coaches for 2021 after the 2020 campaign was halted just five games in due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

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“Ultimately, you want MLR to become as fiercely competitive and as powerful as possible,” added Gold. “There are some good teams in Japan but there are still some question marks over whether the Japanese league is such a powerful one.

 

“Undoubtedly it is important for players like Robshaw, Mtawarira and Nonu to be seen to be choosing the MLR but there also has to be a management of expectation because we don’t have Japanese money in the US game. 

“You counter that with the lifestyle and people do want to experience the USA. While I haven’t spoken to Chris, I did speak to Ma’a and it was something that was of interest to him. There is a huge amount of interest from South African guys who would like to try the MLR and some may even want to fulfil the qualification rule to play Test rugby.

“It is important that the MLR is seen as a rugby destination while accepting that you don’t want teams jam-packed with foreign players to the determent of the USA game.”

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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