Bloodstock Community

June internationals have started.
Pro 14 has just finished.
Champions Cup won.
Challenge Cup won.
First US Major League Rugby in full swing.
Super Rugby.
Western Force's "league" in "full swing".

Let's have a good discussion about scrum resets and Eddie Jones

Despite being English I've barely even noticed the Premiership, although that might be down to ITV never functioning on my phone, so I'd been keeping up with the tail end to the Pro 14 (the BBC sometimes show full Glasgow/Edinburgh matches (sometimes in Gaelic), Ulster home matches and the Welsh matches are usually well served - in fact Scrum V have a good Sunday show that provide highlights from the rest of the league, although the focus primarily on the Welsh teams).

I'm also really interested in the new US professional league. Most matches are available on the USMLR youtube channel, albeit they're raw footage as they're designed for the US tv channels to do their own thing with, so you get lots of silence and some dodgy camera angles, setting up for post-breaks. My first impressions are that they're not doing too badly for this attempt. 7 teams in this first league with 2 more signed up for the 2019 season - Glendale (Colorado), NOLA (New Orleans), Seattle, Houston, Austin, San Diego, Utah. The vast majority of the teams are comprised of US players (7 capped Internationals in Seattle, 6 in Glendale) and Canadians (Phil Mack is player/coach of Seattle), with a few South Africans, Tongans, Fijians, Samoans and Aussies. There's also a few Brits (Will Magie, Fly-Half and US qualified in Glendale, Dave Williams, Glendale coach) and some Kiwi coaching staff dotted around. Apart from Seattle and usually Glendale, defence is easily broken, but there's a lot of interesting attacking talent that's exciting to watch. It'll take a few years to settle in with crowds still fairly small (although Seattle have managed to sell out all of their home games) but I think the Sevens world cup and a decent performance from the US squad in Japan will help build interest. It's still very much Tier 2 quality, but we'll see how things go in a few years. I'm enjoying it, at least. Glendale to win the league in a close final against Seattle with Austin and Utah making the playoffs will be my prediction.

Scotland got a really easy ride against Canada at the weekend. Nothing much to suggest their depth has been challenged.

Wales were fantastic against Argentina. The Pumas were just rattled by the Welsh defence and were just not able to get into it.

South Africa deserved that win. Excellent recovery effort after the start. Things are looking brighter for rugby over there. I know Eddie Jones is in heavy experimental mode, but if he's not careful England are in danger of forgetting how to win. I really hope this gameplan works out... South Africa to win the second match, I reckon.

Aus vs Ireland. What a game! Aus worked hard for that win and I'd say it was fully deserved. The country needed it too to help rebuild their reputation. Intelligent coaching won this one. Ireland are still looking pretty good to make it a good overall series down there.

Dear Noodle,

although you may not be a fan, there are two versions of the game. The superior one; and rugby union. Please can you amend the thread title to reflect which code is being promoted : )

Sorry, I forgot about Northern Rugby. No need to amend the title or anything. If you wish to talk about... I think the official name is "League"? Go for it. Is St Helens still the national team up there?

Bloody hell Japan beat Italy! And they deserved it! Two of their tries were absolutely brilliant! Italy played with their usual heart and usual penalty and handling error count. I still don't think they'll be able to play their way out of their pool in the world cup, but clearly having the Sunwolves in the Super League is doing them good.