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Wales' Warburton expecting to miss Six Nations

Wales flanker Sam Warburton in action for the British and Irish Lions

Former Wales captain Sam Warburton does not expect to recover from injury in time to feature at the Six Nations next year.

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Warburton was ruled out for four months after undergoing neck surgery on a “long-standing issue” in September.

The flanker led the British and Irish Lions to a 1-1 series draw against New Zealand in June and July, despite struggling with an ankle injury in the build-up to the tour.

Having taken time to get up to speed ahead of the Tests against the All Blacks, Warburton does not anticipate being in a position to play any part for Warren Gatland’s side in February and March.

“I think if I did manage to play in the Six Nations next year then I’d see that as a big bonus,” Warburton said in quotes reported by the BBC.

“I’m not going to get my hopes up, purely because I wouldn’t have played since July and like the Lions tour showed, it took me a good four games to get up to speed there.

“So I presume I need a good month of rugby at the [Cardiff] Blues before I can think about playing internationals again.”

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W
Werner 8 minutes ago
URC teams aren't proving Stephen Donald wrong

3 things:


1) I don't think you have an understanding of what sort of politics goes on in SA, you are assuming it's very competitive and performance focused same as NZ, I can tell you it's a lot greyer and more ambiguous but green and gold goes along way in greasing wheels. Often revenue at the state and national level are prized more by some in the SARU despite the impact of accepting it, but you will never heard them own it.


2) While we're comparing national teams performance to gauge the ‘domestic’ comps, you do realise that both Ireland and Scotland are higher in rankings and have better recent record than Fiji and Australia who are in the SRP right? And when was the last time either of them made a final in SR? 2014! But here's the thing…. I never said URC is better than SRP, imo they are about the same each with their benefits and different style. Where as you harp on about how crap URC teams are but not why SRP is better. Have SRP teams faired better against European teams? No? So how do you know and ‘demonstrate’ this inferiority? both have a range of good and bad countries competing (URC has slightly more higher ranked teams). Both are dominated historically by one country and team (Leinster/crusaders). So what is this demonstrable fact I'm missing? What's the point of difference other than subjective opinion


3) let me understand this, the only decent team in the URC is Leinster as they are good enough to make Eurochamps finals but not good enough to make the finals of the URC the last 2 years. So they despite beating Leinster (the EC finalists and good team) the other URC teams are still crap?

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P
PR 32 minutes ago
'Love him or hate him, Henry Pollock has got the rugby world talking.'

There are degrees of taunting. In my opinion Pollock is slightly OTT. Nothing offensive, just what Australians call “a goose”. Like James Lowe and Ben Earl. Celebrating wildly and often towards the crowd throughout the game. “Plastic energy” as Bongi calls it. It’s the kind of behaviour that turns a hostile crowd more hostile and motivates opponents even more - so probably works against your own team. Pollock is young and having the time of his life so his antics are understandable but I think most people find that kind of showboating annoying - hence the ‘love him or hate him’ tag.


The reason why the behaviour of Pollock makes headlines is because it is still quite rare in rugby. Your examples go back to 1974, 2003 and 2022. Of course there are chirps between players during a game but what Pollock is doing is more like the showboating you see after a touchdown in NFL. He’s not the only one of course. Just about every Stormers try comes with an elaborate handshake or routine. Perhaps the future of rugby is more like NFL but I reckon it will always be annoying to a lot of people.


Also, unless you are Matt Williams or Gregor Townsend, 6-2/7-1 was never against the spirit of the game. It’s an argument brought up by pundits to get attention or frustrated coaches who are trying to justify poor results. Most coaches, players and supporters get it. Even World Rugby gave it the thumbs up. It should be celebrated for its innovation.

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