Top 14, 13e j. : la composition des équipes des matchs de samedi

Three Springboks, three All Blacks named in L’Equipe's Best XV 2024

Jmann 39 minutes ago

Better than Goode's team - but missing Lomax which is a slam dunk for that spot. Plus - way too many Frenchmen

Three Springboks, three All Blacks named in L’Equipe's Best XV 2024

GM 1 hour ago

Agree with Nickers. Aki dropped by Ireland but selected here out of position. Furlong at tight head? This is selection by committee at its worst.

Springboks dominate my team of 2024 – Andy Goode

Jmann 1 hour ago

meh

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Bull Shark 2 hours ago

Three Springboks, three All Blacks named in L’Equipe's Best XV 2024

Agreed. They should do a News24 version. There’d be 12 springboks in the starting 15. And an all Bok bench.

frandinand 2 hours ago

I have been doing some research on immigration into Australia and it's revealing that the number of immigrants from the UK has been radically dropping over the last 30 years.The vast majority are from non rugby playing countries. It appears that the same trend is happening in NZ. If this continues it must mean that the number of Australasian players who qualify for the 4 home unions by dint of their parentage or grandparentage will greatly diminish in the future.

frandinand 2 hours ago

Another misrepresentation of the facts by Jacko. The leopard can't change his spots.

Six Nations headache for France as Gael Fickou undergoes operation

NK 5 hours ago

What's the situation with Arthur Vincent? I haven't watched MHR recently but if he's in good nick, I reckon he should be considered as he fared quite well for France in the early days of Galthie's reign.

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NK 5 hours ago

Springboks dominate my team of 2024 – Andy Goode

Toulouse with a Top14/EPCR double and only two of their players in this XV. If Willis was not English, he could have been left out as well. Mauvaka on the bench and Ramos not even in the 23 is very difficult to agree with.

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GP 5 hours ago

Three Springboks, three All Blacks named in L’Equipe's Best XV 2024

On form it was not Ardie's best year . 2022-23 , the best . But he is a great. Jordie Barrett had a great year. Particularly pleased Will Jordan was selected and at Fullback. He came back late due to rehab and eventually was picked at 15, after being on the wing.Will is instinctive and intelligent as a 15. Codie Taylor is unlucky not to be picked. When he came back after a sabbatical to the Crusaders and during the AB's campaign he was inspirational. He had some stiff opposition in the All Blacks case to.

Brodie Retallick becomes unlikely secret weapon in Japan

SC 7 hours ago

He retired because he knew moving to Japan to play made him ineligible

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Nickers 9 hours ago

Springboks dominate my team of 2024 – Andy Goode

If it came to a team actually taking the field I don't think Jordan has been so good that he demands selection in literally any position just to get him on the field. I thought he had a very inconsistent season for the ABs, with some great things done but also made a huge number of unforced errors. He is in this team on 2023 reputation.

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GP 9 hours ago

We will see.

Three Springboks, three All Blacks named in L’Equipe's Best XV 2024

Nickers 10 hours ago

This team should be called the "2023 Form and Reputation with a French Bias XV"

Three Springboks, three All Blacks named in L’Equipe's Best XV 2024

Tom 11 hours ago

Gotta love the French. Nearly half the team is French including a fullback at 10. :D

The future of rugby: Sale and Leinster mount the case for the defence

SK 12 hours ago

I think the argument behind the future of Rugby and defence vs attack is a pertinent one but also misses a big point. Rugby is a game about momentum and big swings of momentum makes games entertaining. You get and lose momentum in a few ways. You kick a 50-22 after defending for multiple phases (huge momentum swing), you get two penalties in a row thanks to bad opposition discipline allowing you to peel of large meters, you maintain large amounts of territory and possession tiring opponents out, you get a penalty from the set piece, a yellow or red card etc. The laws in the past years that have made the biggest impact has addressed stale games where no team can seize the momentum. The 50-22 has been a raging success as it allows huge momentum swings. The interpretations around ruck time and changes there to favour the team in possession has allowed sides like Ireland to wear teams down with possession-based play and maintain and build momentum. The Dupont law (which killed momentum) and now the reversing of it has had a huge impact and now the access interpretation of the laws around kick chases which forces teams and players to allow access to the catcher is set to make a big impact and everyone loves it because it allows a contest on the catch and more importantly could lead to huge swings in momentum. The worst laws have failed to allow teams to seize momentum. When rugby allowed teams to pass the ball back into the 22 and clear it was clearly a bad law as it allowed nobody to build momentum. Clearly the laws that changed several penalty offences around ruck and set piece to free kicks was aimed at speeding up the game but was a poor law because it killed momentum as teams would infringe regularly without major consequences from penalties and also it did not reward the team that made a big play to win possession from a penalizable offence. In the modern game you can win matches in many ways. You can dominate possession and territory like Ireland or play off counterattack and turnovers like France. You can dominate with the set piece and seize momentum that way like SA, or stifle teams with momentum killing defence. You can run strike moves off first and second phase and score in the blink of an eye like NZ. Every team with every style has a chance. World cup finals are all about ensuring that your opponent cannot seize momentum. Every team is so afraid to make mistakes that give away momentum that they play conservatively until they no longer can afford to. The game favours no style and no type of play and thats why the big 4 teams are so closely matched. In the end it all comes down to execution and the team that executes better wins. For my mind that is a well balanced game and it is on the right track.

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NB 13 hours ago

Who could have any problem with Ardie Savea repping Samoa in future? He was born in Wellington but his parents are both Samoan, so what's the problem?

NB 13 hours ago

Ofc.

There has always been a lot of circulation between the PIs and NZ, more so than any other country.

I always remember the shock up here when guys like the Bachops, Bunce and Tuigamala effortlessly swapped Samoa for the ABs or vice versa back in the day. Nothing like that had ever happened up here at the time.

I don't see it is any more immoral for that to happen than for FB to represent Scotland now. They are all multi qualified after all.

NB 13 hours ago

The better correlation for someone like Tupou in this instance is he isn't playing to potential because he's playing for a nation he doesn't really care much about.

A huge and unjustified reach JW. TT made it clear he chose Aussie over NZ because he felt more at home there...

NB 13 hours ago

Good point Fran.