I sent Gutterfax a PM asking him to contact the Clan,thought he would have but obviously not,do I smell a union troll.

Ok. Maybe not in the current setup, but in the game. The problem with the moves imo was not the players involved but the coach and the gameplan. MJ was always going to favour a forward game.

The likes of Ashton, Foden, Flutey and Tuliagi play some cracking attacking stuff at club level.

"Martin Johnson has gone but has anything else changed? I have a serious fear that all the mistakes made at Twickenham, which have reduced England to something of a laughing stock around the world, are about to be made again and four more years will then be wasted. All the people who appointed Johnson - a man who had never coached anyone at any level - are still in place. There is nobody who understands elite performance and rugby at the very top. Equally disturbing, the same people are going to appoint the next coach."
- [iClive Woodward[/i


Worcester struggled to get past Crociati but luckily for them there were only 250 people there to see it. Wasps came from behind to beat Rovigo with Exeter and Sale Sharks smashing Cavalieri 68-0 and La Vila 59-6 respectively.

2 Points.
Firstly, I shouldn't need to PM anyone....if it's the real deal, then links to proof would have been provied....which dovetails nicely into Point 2.........proof, or lack of it.
Why is it that someone can post hearsay, with no tangible evidence to back it up and it be accepted, whilst the minute I post that I will personally make sure that if there is a shred of truth in the claims, I will bust a gut to make sure it is made public by the UK press, I am trolling?

I'm disappointed in you gutterfax. I mean biting, sorry chomping at one of the worst anglers on RLFans.
Any news on another possible restructuring of NZ domestic union?

So the at one stage it was quite an honour to be picked to play in the black and white hoops. Now it just seems a joke last year with Mason and now picking tomkins.

Quite. Last year's biggest draw was a washed-up ex-rugby league player while this year it'll be little Sam. I hope he takes his iPod, a book and some gloves with him. Wouldn't want him cold and bored out there on the Twickenham pitch.

Tickets can't be going very well. They must need someone to draw the fans in.

They had sold over 40k 3 weeks ago...I suspect it will get more than the top 3 RL nations in the world and Wales managed between them at Wembley.......and there are no tickets for a tenner available either...they start at 35 notes each...so minimum income from the game already 1.4 million.

What little sammy may well do is bump the SKY TV vieing figures....

Do you compare everything that happens in union with events in rugby league?

www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/no ... sfeed=true

www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/no ... sfeed=true

The Biggest draw is the fixture itself, certainly not Sam Tomkins. ST was officially announced on Monday, are you suggesting that more tickets will be sold from Monday to match day than all other tickets sold purely for the reason ST is playing? Only Willie Mason's mother would have claimed he was the biggest draw last time around most would have been blissfully unaware of who he was. The only arguable exception to this would have been SBW.

As for keeping warm, given how slowly he was moving on Saturday and his reluctance to get involved he could well have done with a pair of gloves.

I may be wrong but I'll say there will be more people watching the game from their armchair than a plastic seat at Twickenham. I have no doubt that many more people will now watch the game on television because Tomkins is playing. It's been all over the union and sport press since the Barbarians/change of sports rumours started and with the recent move to rugby union of his brother I'm sure hundreds of thousands of people are fully aware of him and exactly who he is.
I think you do the rugby union fans of Britain a disservice by stating that the majority of them had no idea who Mason was. As a follower of the sport with friends who are passionate supporters I can assure you we aren't that ignorant.

A major tournament final or a trumped up, meaningless friendly


Unlike union, gloves aren't allowed in rugby league

More mess coming out of The RFU today with another leaked report.

The whole organisation needs a complete revamp from top to bottom, get rid of Rob Andrew and start again from scratch.

Andrew should have gone already but amazingly I think he'll keep his job. This is a complete PR disaster for the RFU and it once and for all brings that Twickenham ivory tower crashing down... well it should do, but I get the feeling not much will change and soon enough the sport will be held up as a paragon of fair play, decency and values again.

We all knew RU players were mercenaries, this just helps confirm it

Funny how it gets leaked out just before Tindalls appeal. Conspiracy?

Wasps have signed second row forward Ed O'Donoghue

It doesn't seem that long ago that Dudley Wood reliably informed us that 'one' played rugby league for money and rugby union for fun.

It seems things have taken a 180 degree turn.

One did, in fact in the lower leagues one still does. Unfortunately the RFU have taken away most of the central funding from the grass root clubs to finance these over paid Hooray Henrys.

How low are these lower leagues where union is played for fun and not money? I'd say you don't have to go as low in rugby league to find the game being played more for enjoyment than financial reward.

Probably as high up as the third tier - National League One, the equivalent of RL's Championship One - you'll find players who are semi-pro and have main jobs outside the sport.

The levels below that you'll find players getting match payments/expenses but not contractual payments I reckon.

England had an attacking coach? [size=150 [/size news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_u ... 876443.stm

England had an attacking coach? [size=150 [/size news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_u ... 876443.stm

[url=http://www.joe.ie/rugby/rugby-news/anonymous-english-rugby-player-ireland-behaved-worse-than-us-at-the-rwc-0017989-1?Anonymous English rugby player: Ireland behaved worse than us at the RUWC[/url
"Ireland had been in there [the Altitude Bar in Queenstown and were much worse, but I think they might have taken the press with them," said one English player hiding behind the cloak of anonymity.




[url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-2065587/England-drinking-games-players-named-leaked-RFU-reports.html?Another cartload of muck[/url
The England players involved in drinking games are named by The Times as: Tindall, Nick Easter, Mark Cueto, Dylan Hartley, Chris Ashton and Ben Foden. One player also said: 'Drinking games are something that happen. It's a part of how a group of lads relax. it helps build relationships to gel a squad together.'

I've got a mate at Hull RUFC in National 2 North and a couple at Huddersfield RUFC in the same league and none of them get any money at all for playing the game at First Team level. (4th tier rugby) There are players at both clubs who gets some decent match expenses even at that level though.

What purpose do the Barbarians serve? Time to end what is now a circus?
Playing for a team who lacked enthusiasm, ideas and seemingly the most basic skills, largely ignored by his teamates and still manages a try. Well done Sam Tomkins.