In the battle between two former Champions, it was La Rochelle who physically dominated their English counterparts en route to a comfortable victory.
Were these quarter finals matchups a reflection of how far ahead France and Ireland are from the chasing pack?
24 Comments
I think Leicester Tigers competed really well against Ireland this weekend. Saracens couldn't beat Andrew Brace, and Gloucester very very nearly won last weekend. In all seriousness though money is at the root of the problem for English clubs.
Agreed. English rugby was lauded as the best competition in world rugby in 2016/16 when we were winning Grand Slams, Heineken cups etc but now it a a disgrace. End of the day English rugby is on a bit of a downer at the moment due to a variety reasons. I don’t believe it is due to a dearth of talent though, that is absolute rubbish. Just need to give the younger players time at test level and they will improve for example Earl, Smith, Lawrence, Marchant, Mercer, Arundell all need to be starting regularly for England after this World Cup
La Rochelle hardly dominated Leinster. La Rochelle won by 3 points and were behind with 3 minutes to go in 2022.
Blaming referees when you lose is generally seen as sour grapes. When you win not so. So as a Leinster supporter i thought Andrew Braces refereeing of the rucks was non existent. Watch back if you can but as the game progressed one or two, mainly giant, La R forwards, when attacking a Sarries ruck, would lie flat on Sarries right side forcing them to play left where the LR forwards bunched. That tactic is specifically outlawed under the rules of rugby.
The La Rochelle pack is big but the Saracens pack was actually a good bit heavier. La Rochelle 938kg – Saracens 951kg. Not like Saracens didn’t have big men. Mako & Billy, Maro, Iziekwe, Riccioni & Tizard are massive men! But yeah the fact that Itoje who is a huge guy himself is almost 5 stone lighter than big Will Skelton is crazy! Likewise Meafou at Toulouse who’s also 6’8, 23 stone like these guys are absolute freaks. Just shows with the right type of coaching, you can actually get the full potential out of these guys who would in other words be known as ‘big bruises who are slow and can’t do much else’
Provinces versus mega money French clubs v. fragmented and broke English clubs. It's apples and oranges. The only reason Saracens won recent is the at they were financially cheating!
The Premiership doesn't prepare Saracens for Europe
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The gulf is nowhere near as large as you say, Gloucester should have beaten La Rochelle just last week, not to mention the fact that Saracens easily could have won against La Rochelle had the ref been competent. The big issue for English teams is they are used to a certain standard of officiating, e.g this will get pinged and this won't, but in the EPCR the refs are different and work to the Pro 12 rule book more which benefits the French teams who know what they will and won't get away with. Have that Sarries, La Rochelle match with Wayne Barnes at Stone X and I have genuinely no doubt that Saracens either win, or dominate that game. Just unlucky on the day with a few decisions going against them and passes not going to hand.
It would be nice if Leinster would win this year, a community based team rather than money teams.
Playing victim doesn’t suit England with the resources you’ve always had not to mention your playing pool dwarf Ireland, Scotland and wales
For once a different country has a better system than yours, cry more
Leinster are not the biggest or most physical team but they can hold a very fast pace for 80 minutes and they can change tack on the fly. Remember, the bigger you are the harder it is to keep the pace up, especially in the last quarter.
England men and women play thump thump crash crash rugby. Great when you play against smaller sides but when you come up against the "big boys" it's different
Maybe we need to accept that club rugby will never be massive again in England.
Most people in this country care about playing/watching their kids play at their local grassroots team or they will jump on the rugby bandwagon once the international fixtures come about.
Maybe the premiership should be entirely concentrating on developing young English talent to send to the national team rather than buying foreign imports to compete in Europe and nearly sending out clubs under.
If an English team can develop a golden generation that can win a champions cup then good luck to them.
The French teams along with the South Africans from schoolboy level routinely take hgh. The testing isn't as strict or as broad.
Sarries /Thanos v Galactus/La Rochelle
Appears there's only grudging respect for ROG's contribution…..
I love watching and following rugby but this rugby mentality towards excessive drinking should be questioned. The wives of these two kidults must have the patience of Job. Their personalities are infectious, especially Jim but they are now parents. As role models grow up and stop boosting about irresponsible behaviour and calling people legends because of how much alcohol they can consume. For some people alcohol is a dangerous and destructive influence so just remember that. Stick to the rugby on which you are genuinely insightful and worth listening to!
Gloucester came close to knocking off la rochelle, they used speed, saracens had no plan B
Why "big Willie little Willie" comment? What are they referencing ?
How do you overcome a team with the likes of Skelton in it there must be a way ? Keep the ball and speed I am a Leinster fan and feel this id perhaps the way to do it. Knowing O'Gara he will have a game plan to prevent the opposition from playing and a rock solid defense attack is never in his mind set he was brought up on Munster 8 man rugby so its second nature to him now he is in a position as a coach to buy these monsters. I hope for the style of rugby. Leinster and Ireland play prevails and not just because its Leinster but love that type of game.
The Irish Ref wasn’t streets ahead he was a nightmare for Saracens…. Or it might have been different.
Not a real surprise. It's the teams with the most money that are dominating.
The fact is England has a sizeable population, about nine or ten times larger than Ireland, so there’s no reason why English clubs can’t compete if they run things properly. That’s why the English Rugby Football Union should have more of a say in the administration of the clubs. Leinster, like the other three professional teams in Ireland, are controlled by the IRFU. It is effectively the IRFU that “owns” Leinster, Ulster, Munster and Connacht. However, while the IRFU is the overall “parent body” each club has its own autonomous and independent off field management and administrative staff which decides day to day issues, including generation of finance. But this all depends on the team being successful. On the field of play, it is the playing management and staff (players) whose success also drives the generation of finance. There is no one big “Sugar Daddy” owner of any of the Irish clubs. That’s not how the game is run in Ireland.
Success on the field of play means more and more fans spending their money, entering at the gates. Where there are more and more people gathered to see a Leinster game, that’s where more and more advertisers, merchandisers and sponsors start spending their money also.
But the development of players in Ireland isn’t based on money. Particularly in Leinster, player development starts at a very young age in the schools and also increasingly, in the amateur clubs that are dotted around the Leinster area. An examination of the entire Leinster playing staff will reveal that the vast majority are local lads, with a few foreign imports such as Ngatai and Jenkins and a few others that were brought in at a young age and then developed further at Leinster (Lowe, Gibson-Park).
That’s all a very simplified version of how it works in Ireland. There’s no reason why it can’t work that way too in England. It just takes a bit of willingness at the top of the game to change things.