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The moment Tom Robinson's All Black quest came to an end….. for this year

Tom Robinson of the Blues. (Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)

Tom Robinson the red-haired whirling dervish, ginger-ninja blindside flanker has been setting the pace in this year’s Super Rugby tournament. His energy levels seem to know no bounds; it’s great to see a player exhibit so much fervour and eagerness, piling himself into rucks and tackles and bound with ball-in-hand in open spaces, what a breath of fresh air!

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His humility, the “aw-shucks” persona is making him a huge hero not just in far north (his home region) and Blues country but all over the rugby-mad nation.

We all love a ‘rookie comes from nowhere’ story, something a little off the normal “AB script”. Robinson seemed to be heading down that road.

Last Saturday as the Blues knocked off their fourth victory in succession against the Waratahs, the Big Red opened the try-scoring account screaming down the left flank. All through the game, he impressed with another lung-busting shift.

Then in the 75th minute with the Blues 32-24 ahead the Waratahs had an attacking scrum 12-metres out. Scrum-half Jake Gordon was off like a flash, probing the tight blind side where Harry Plummer stationed on the wing. That’s when the blindside flanker has to spring into action, off the scrum and cover the 9. Sadly Robinson had his head down adding his weight and strength to the pack. In the end, openside flanker Dalton Papalii got closest to Gordon, coming from the other side of the scrum. Akira Ioane was also head down, bum up.

Luckily the Blues held out to win the game but that moment underlined that Tom Robinson has a bit to learn about wearing the 6 jersey at a high level.

He’s spent a lot of time at lock and even though he has the physical attributes and energy levels for being a world-class blindside, when you look at the pantheon of world class 6s in the last 40 years, they have the physicality but also the knowledge of how to read a game, the anticipation to be at the right place at the right time.

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It was noticeable the error was barely mentioned in the post-match breakdown as Tom Robinson has the admiration of everyone and he hasn’t blown his trumpet. It seems almost unfair to expose the mistake and grill him about it. The press and public have been speculating on whether he will be the World Cup bolter for 2019. Robinson has remained grounded and realistic.

When he was asked what he was looking forward to in 2019 a couple of weeks ago, he said: “getting stuck in for the Blues and the Taniwha” (Taniwha is the nickname for Northland, his Mitre 10 side).

He knows he has a load to learn at 6 and he will, and odds are on he’ll go on to be an outstanding All Black. But not this year.

Richie Mo’unga ahead of Highlanders’ derby:

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N
NB 41 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Nice bit if revisioniusm but that's all it is JW.


For your further education, I found the following breakdown of one prominent club's finances in the Top 14 [Clermont].


For Clermont (budget of €29.5 million for 2021-2022) :

- 20% from ticket sales

- 17% from the LNR (includes TV Rights, compensation from producing french internationals and other minor stuff)

- 5% from public collectivities (so you're looking at funds from the city of Clermont, the department of Puy-De-Dôme and the region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes)

- 4% from merchandising and events

- 3% from miscellaneous

- 51 % from sponsorships and partnerships. They've got 550 different partners. The main ones are CGI, Groupama, Limagrain/Jacquet, Omerin, Paprec, Renault and of course Michelin (not surprising since they're actually the founders of the club).


As you can see nothing comes from the FFR at all. The LNR is a separate entitiy to FFR and their aims frequently do not accord.


It is also why the European breakaway plotted by LNR and PR back in 2013 had nothing to do with the governing bodies of either England or France - and it most certainly did not have their blessing https://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/story/_/id/15331030/jean-pierre-lux-anglo-french-cup-detrimental-european-rugby


And from the horse's mouth [ex AB skipper Sean Fitapatrick] about the comp between Top 14 and Super Rugby:


"The Top 14 in France is probably the best rugby competition in the world at the moment, purely for the week-in, week-out.”


“I think the quality of players. They are bigger, they are faster, they are stronger. Which then carries on into the international game.”

Take it from someone who knows JW😅

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