[url=http://www.rugbyleaguenorge.com/2012/01/rugby-league-converting-union-players-to-the-greatest-game/Flekkefjord Tigers have become the latest club to join the sport of Rugby League after the former Union club decided to make the switch to Rugby League in 2012.[/url

[url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jan/19/chris-ashton-northampton-saracens?Chris Ashton making more friends.[/url

Lets hope they enjoy it and pass the word on to other ru clubs

Fantastic news,good to see that a union club has seen the light,let's hope more of them come over to the proper game of rugby.

[url=http://www.espnscrum.com/scrum/rugby/story/157891.html?CMP=OTC-RSSThe International Rugby Board has confirmed that the player who failed the drugs test during the 2011 World Cup was the USA's James Paterson.[/url

[url=http://www.rugbyweek.com/news/article.asp?id=33492Toulouse RU blamed for Airplane incident.[/url

[url=http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_7449949,00.html?All Black in court on assault charge.[/url

[url=http://www.espnscrum.com/six-nations-2012/rugby/story/157981.html?CMP=OTC-RSSIreland coach Les Kiss: Scrum is not an attacking platform.[/url

London Irish describe a loss of £1m as "promising given the economic climate". That's a £3m trading loss in two years. How sustainable is the current financial model in English domestic rugby union?

I may be wrong but I think quite a few 'big' clubs would have already gone pop by now if it hadn't been for Twickenham and the RFU. I don't think many will go down under to Super 15 as I honestly don't believe there are sufficient numbers of players in the English game who are good enough. [url=http://www.sportinglife.com/rugbyunion/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=rugby/12/01/24/manual_104445.html&BID=504France seems the likely option for me should clubs start tightening their belts.[/url

The Toulouse thing is bizarre. Thought their game with Gloucester was excellent. Watched it in Toulouse in ex-Irish international Trevor Brennen's bar, which is highly recommended.

Les Kiss is the ex North Sydney and Kangaroos winger and London Broncos coach. Reading the article, it is not a typical Union lack of attacking flair, but more a comment on the present lottery of union scrums

The Toulouse thing just wasn't very clever. I've been there (the city not the bar) before to watch rugby and last year ended up in a bar the night Toulouse won the French league.
As for Kiss' comments, I think he's saying what a lot of us already know. I didn't know he'd coached at London.

Two mentions of bars in Toulouse and neither are about the Melting Pot? You call yourselves RL fans?!!

If that's the one I'm thinking of, it was closed last time we went.

Sorry didn't realise I was obligated to avoid rugby union bars. I was in one in Perpignan too this weekend owned by a French union international. Should I be excommunicated?

[urlhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sport/rugby_league/486603.stm[/url

He was originally assistant and then became joint coach with Tony Rea in 1999 after dan Stains got the chop. If I recall rightly it was somewhat controversial amongst the fans when he too was pushed out of the way at the end of the season for Rea to take on the job on his own

Easy tiger


I think you've misunderstood his post. The Melting Pot is popular with rugby league fans when in Toulouse, nothing more.
These paranoid league fans with a giant chip on their shoulder, eh gutterfax

Welsh, Essex & Yawnion - you shouldn't have been allowed in in the first place.

Apologies if that's the case. One reads such tedious nonsense at times that it is easy to jump to conclusions

I try to cover all the bases in unpleasantness! I'm also a lawyer, if that makes you a little bit more queasy!

OMG. Presumably you are not allowed to have children?

[url=http://www.watoday.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/rebels-crank-up-battle-for-union-son-cronk-20120126-1qjr2.html?Melbourne Rebels union club in for Cooper Cronk.[/url


Some interesting and worrying points raised in an article I read this week. Rugby union in Britain isn't as healthy as some may like to think. London Irish this week announced an annual loss of a few grand over £1m: considerably better than the previous year's loss of more than £2m but an illustration of the tough trading climate for professional clubs. Ten months ago, the Northern Ireland executive announced that Ulster Rugby would be given a £14.7m grant to complete the project which will raise the capacity at the ground from 12,000 to 18,200. Wasps, twice Heineken Cup winners, are up for sale after the club's owner, Steve Hayes, despaired of getting the club out of its cycle of debt when his plans for a sports village in Wycombe, including a 17,500 all-seat stadium, were rejected by the local authority last October. The three Welsh regions taking part in the Heineken Cup, Ospreys, Scarlets and Cardiff Blues, attracted between them in their last pool matches 23,371 spectators.
Where is the investment in English rugby from outside the game? London Irish are far from alone in the Premiership in trying to stem losses, with only two clubs operating at a profit. The salary cap is cited as the biggest single reason why England's leading clubs have struggled in Europe in recent seasons, but if it was raised to £8m how many would be able to afford to meet it? The bills run up by many in recent seasons in drawing up development plans would pay for a good few marquee players. No £14.7m grants to share between the 12 of them, never mind enjoyed by one.

I work for a bank, if it makes you feel better!

Delon Armitage dropped from England Saxons squad after being arrested on suspicion of assault.

I think we all do now, ultimately.

Given the way he tackles, I'm surprised he made enough contact with someone to be accused of assaulting them.

[url=http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/story-15111182-detail/story.html?Biscuit boy proving a hit in rugby union.[/url
[url=http://www.espnscrum.com/scrum/rugby/story/158683.html?Saracens forward fancies NFL switch.[/url
[url=http://www.espnscrum.com/france-top-14-2011-12/rugby/story/158672.html?Chabal leaves Racing Metro. £830,000 a year

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