RugbyRebels

Townsend’s recent selection of Lang at 12 suggests to me he wants a second playmaker. Redpath is better than Lang so on that logic, he’s in with a good shout of starting.

I’m annoyed to lose him, but if that’s what he wanted, I don’t think there’s that much we can do about it.

It least he’s more Scottish than a large chunk of the Scotland squad.

There aren’t many teams in a great position to criticise selecting foreign born players, to be honest. Maybe England are better now than in recent years.

The dual nationality thing is interesting though. I certainly support Scotland ahead of England in the rugby, but I wouldn’t make a claim to actually be more Scottish than English. I don’t see it as a binary thing.

A point they brought up on Ugo Monye’s BBC podcast, and something I hadn’t considered, was that potentially some England players may make themselves unavailable for this years 6 Nations. It’s got to be a possibility at least. Apparently they’ll be in a strict 8 week Covid secure bubble, so that's a hell of a commitment for those with young families.

They should have a chat with the England cricket players.

Timbo wrote:A point they brought up on Ugo Monye’s BBC podcast, and something I hadn’t considered, was that potentially some England players may make themselves unavailable for this years 6 Nations. It’s got to be a possibility at least. Apparently they’ll be in a strict 8 week Covid secure bubble, so that's a hell of a commitment for those with young families.

Indeed. I'd be much more afraid of my wife than Eddie Jones...(not even joking)

Mellsblue wrote:They should have a chat with the England cricket players.

They obviously do long tours, and many cricket players have spoken about how detrimental they are to well being and mental health.

But the Covid bubble the cricketers were in last summer was, by a number of accounts, pretty awful for the players. Eoin Morgan did say that they wouldn’t do it the same way again.

You could fly all the teams to NZ, isolate for 2 weeks, then get amongst free living.

For 90% of TV revenue, of course.

morepork wrote:You could fly all the teams to NZ, isolate for 2 weeks, then get amongst free living.

For 90% of TV revenue, of course.

Tbh, I've heard far worse ideas!

Not about giving NZ a single penny, but about going someplace where there could be crowds.

Puja

I'm sort of half way serious. Probably too late now, but we have the rich mans boat jolly down there now, we've had the Windies and Pakistan for cricket...it's actually doable.

Puja wrote:

morepork wrote:You could fly all the teams to NZ, isolate for 2 weeks, then get amongst free living.

For 90% of TV revenue, of course.

Tbh, I've heard far worse ideas!

Not about giving NZ a single penny, but about going someplace where there could be crowds.

Puja

No idea why the Lions aren’t considering it with SA moving into NZ’s slot.

Timbo wrote:

Mellsblue wrote:They should have a chat with the England cricket players.

They obviously do long tours, and many cricket players have spoken about how detrimental they are to well being and mental health.

But the Covid bubble the cricketers were in last summer was, by a number of accounts, pretty awful for the players. Eoin Morgan did say that they wouldn’t do it the same way again.

Which is why they should have a chat with them. Coping strategies etc.

Mellsblue wrote:

Timbo wrote:

Mellsblue wrote:They should have a chat with the England cricket players.

They obviously do long tours, and many cricket players have spoken about how detrimental they are to well being and mental health.

But the Covid bubble the cricketers were in last summer was, by a number of accounts, pretty awful for the players. Eoin Morgan did say that they wouldn’t do it the same way again.

Which is why they should have a chat with them. Coping strategies etc.

Test cricket contracts are worth in the region of £750k, that is the coping strategy for many

Digby wrote:

Mellsblue wrote:

Timbo wrote:
They obviously do long tours, and many cricket players have spoken about how detrimental they are to well being and mental health.

But the Covid bubble the cricketers were in last summer was, by a number of accounts, pretty awful for the players. Eoin Morgan did say that they wouldn’t do it the same way again.

Which is why they should have a chat with them. Coping strategies etc.

Test cricket contracts are worth in the region of £750k, that is the coping strategy for many

That's not a coping strategy but is probably the reason they put themselves in the situation. If you're feeling enclosed, lonely and depressed 'thinking of the money' probably isn't going to get you through. Really should have mandated sessions with a sports psychiatrist, someone like Steve Peters. Healthy mind is just as important as healthy body.

FKAS wrote:

Digby wrote:

Mellsblue wrote: Which is why they should have a chat with them. Coping strategies etc.

Test cricket contracts are worth in the region of £750k, that is the coping strategy for many

That's not a coping strategy but is probably the reason they put themselves in the situation. If you're feeling enclosed, lonely and depressed 'thinking of the money' probably isn't going to get you through. Really should have mandated sessions with a sports psychiatrist, someone like Steve Peters. Healthy mind is just as important as healthy body.

Understanding why you're wanting or willing to do something, and then keeping that in mind would work for many. Whereas I'd be hugely pissed off if someone wanted to book time with a psychiatrist.

Not that living out of a hotel is much fun even if you're allowed out to pubs and restaurants, but I'd be willing to do it for a few months for a lot less than the cricketers get out of it.

Digby wrote:

FKAS wrote:

Digby wrote:
Test cricket contracts are worth in the region of £750k, that is the coping strategy for many

That's not a coping strategy but is probably the reason they put themselves in the situation. If you're feeling enclosed, lonely and depressed 'thinking of the money' probably isn't going to get you through. Really should have mandated sessions with a sports psychiatrist, someone like Steve Peters. Healthy mind is just as important as healthy body.

Understanding why you're wanting or willing to do something, and then keeping that in mind would work for many. Whereas I'd be hugely pissed off if someone wanted to book time with a psychiatrist.

Not that living out of a hotel is much fun even if you're allowed out to pubs and restaurants, but I'd be willing to do it for a few months for a lot less than the cricketers get out of it.

Mrs Digby would probably pay £750k....

Digby wrote:

FKAS wrote:

Digby wrote:
Test cricket contracts are worth in the region of £750k, that is the coping strategy for many

That's not a coping strategy but is probably the reason they put themselves in the situation. If you're feeling enclosed, lonely and depressed 'thinking of the money' probably isn't going to get you through. Really should have mandated sessions with a sports psychiatrist, someone like Steve Peters. Healthy mind is just as important as healthy body.

Understanding why you're wanting or willing to do something, and then keeping that in mind would work for many. Whereas I'd be hugely pissed off if someone wanted to book time with a psychiatrist.

Not that living out of a hotel is much fun even if you're allowed out to pubs and restaurants, but I'd be willing to do it for a few months for a lot less than the cricketers get out of it.

We'd all go for it because that kind of money is potentially life enhancing. Whilst I'm pretty good at tuning out I know others are not and I'd much rather the employers made sure there was an expert who they could talk to rather than leave them crying in their rooms or awake at night staring at the ceiling.

Mellsblue wrote:

Digby wrote:

FKAS wrote:
That's not a coping strategy but is probably the reason they put themselves in the situation. If you're feeling enclosed, lonely and depressed 'thinking of the money' probably isn't going to get you through. Really should have mandated sessions with a sports psychiatrist, someone like Steve Peters. Healthy mind is just as important as healthy body.

Understanding why you're wanting or willing to do something, and then keeping that in mind would work for many. Whereas I'd be hugely pissed off if someone wanted to book time with a psychiatrist.

Not that living out of a hotel is much fun even if you're allowed out to pubs and restaurants, but I'd be willing to do it for a few months for a lot less than the cricketers get out of it.

Mrs Digby would probably pay £750k....

She's more likely to knife me in my sleep and dump the body

The full judgement in the Sinckler case released - nice summary of it here: https://www.rugbypass.com/news/kyle-sin ... d-bristol/

Puja

Digby wrote:

Mellsblue wrote:

Digby wrote:

Understanding why you're wanting or willing to do something, and then keeping that in mind would work for many. Whereas I'd be hugely pissed off if someone wanted to book time with a psychiatrist.

Not that living out of a hotel is much fun even if you're allowed out to pubs and restaurants, but I'd be willing to do it for a few months for a lot less than the cricketers get out of it.

Mrs Digby would probably pay £750k....

She's more likely to knife me in my sleep and dump the body

Ha! That made me lol.

Puja wrote:The full judgement in the Sinckler case released - nice summary of it here: https://www.rugbypass.com/news/kyle-sin ... d-bristol/

Puja

I must say Exeter players are getting less and less likeable. It can't be just that they're winning things now, right?

Are they the only players who talk shit and try to wind people up? Sinckler himself isn’t exactly shy of it.

Nope, of course not. My soft spot for them is disappearing rather quicker than I thought it would with their stupid name, covid idiocy, etc.

Probably just bored and reading in to things too much, but at 00:48 he talks about Udogwu having power/x-factor and England needing another centre with those qualities, then corrects himself to centre or winger.

Very crappy Kitson article in the Graun in my view. I reckon I could knock out 1000 words of supposition each week to a deadline: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/ ... lish-rugby

Always dislike these. Give anyone named a spot and you can complain about whoever was kicked out by them.