[imirish06]

I would really appreciate this thread getting stickied. The Rugby World Cup thread shown there are enough of us on here that would love to have an outlet to talk about the sport

[El_Jeffe]

lovin' it. i thought the world cup thread would just be me & maybe one other random auzzie haha but i was really stoked when so many people got into it & added plenty of input

that being said, i don't want to mention "the all blacks" for a long time now haha. i've been watching our npc (national provincial championship) competition since the world cup. my province is doing rather average, as we have over the last few years due to lack of funding to keep the big name players or players with great potential here. but some great talents nationwide are being given a chance to come through the ranks & gain that valuable game time at this level of rugby, which is great for the depth of our national side

what other competitions are going/people watching?

[imirish06]

There is another 7's tourney coming here soon.

El Jeffee! There has been talk about the Americas having their own tri/6 nations!

Like us, canada, brazil, argentina, etc...

all the minnows are wanting more competition....

I tell you one thing, 2011 might lay ground to one of the most competitive world cups we've ever seen!

[bunkernate]

I played rugby once a week untill i got on a soccer team. I really enjoyed playing, but i wish i had cable so i could watch the rugby world cup.

[El_Jeffe]

Originally Posted by imirish06

There is another 7's tourney coming here soon.

El Jeffee! There has been talk about the Americas having their own tri/6 nations!

Like us, canada, brazil, argentina, etc...

all the minnows are wanting more competition....

I tell you one thing, 2011 might lay ground to one of the most competitive world cups we've ever seen!

yea 7's is bloody good to watch. keep an eye on the fiji team if ya want some excitement. their games are great & their one of two (the other being us) best teams in the world in 7's. they often turn absolutely nothing into some full field running rugby, try scoring magic. it's wonderful to see mate

yea i've heard about that, argentina have really been pushing to put this together & i couldn't be more in support for it to get the go ahead. it would do rugby as a whole so much good & really help develop each of those squads, which argentina obviously proving recently that they're a team to be taken seriously

2011 world cup is held in nz, can't wait either. it'll be huge for us, to have the world cup in the home of rugby

[C.R.U.X]

IM welsh, but im all about the super 14's.

[imirish06]

Kutztown just upset Navy today (#3 in nation). Such a huuuuge win for their program(theyre such a small school too). They beat us too

[El_Jeffe]

Originally Posted by C.R.U.X

IM welsh, but im all about the super 14's.

as in the international (us, auzzie & south africa) provincial tournament? it's one of the best alright mate. didn't realize you got it over in wales, but that's really cool. something quite notable is just how competitive pretty much every team is now. it wasn't too many years ago when there would be a top 3 or 4 sides who would just dominate right the way through. but now it's much more even, perhaps suggesting a lot of depth within each three countries sides. do ya support any team in particular?

Originally Posted by imirish06

Kutztown just upset Navy today (#3 in nation). Such a huuuuge win for their program(theyre such a small school too). They beat us too

are rugby leagues done by state or is there some sort of national/inter-state program in place? i know we've touched upon it before, but that's where you guys are lacking development, in that grass-roots level. a few tournaments which a similar structure to our npc (national provincial championship) tournament would do you guys wonders

[C.R.U.X]

Originally Posted by El_Jeffe

as in the international (us, auzzie & south africa) provincial tournament? it's one of the best alright mate. didn't realize you got it over in wales, but that's really cool. something quite notable is just how competitive pretty much every team is now. it wasn't too many years ago when there would be a top 3 or 4 sides who would just dominate right the way through. but now it's much more even, perhaps suggesting a lot of depth within each three countries sides. do ya support any team in particular?

The tournament. Last year i followed the blues, mainly due to luke mcallister, i might follow the crusaders this year, i am not too sure. If you guys get the european cup id advise you to watch it. It is going to be intense.

[Zeran]

Originally Posted by imirish06

There is another 7's tourney coming here soon.

El Jeffee! There has been talk about the Americas having their own tri/6 nations!

Like us, canada, brazil, argentina, etc...

all the minnows are wanting more competition....

I tell you one thing, 2011 might lay ground to one of the most competitive world cups we've ever seen!

that'd be incredible. not sure what the reception would be like in the states, really, but i'd be excited. what other nations would be competitive though? argentina, us, canada... who else?

[Zeran]

Originally Posted by El_Jeffe

are rugby leagues done by state or is there some sort of national/inter-state program in place? i know we've touched upon it before, but that's where you guys are lacking development, in that grass-roots level. a few tournaments which a similar structure to our npc (national provincial championship) tournament would do you guys wonders

i believe he is talking about ncaa/college sports, much like college football or basketball. come to think of it, college rugby is gaining a lot of momentum. i have a few friends that play and it's really awesome.

[El_Jeffe]

Originally Posted by C.R.U.X

The tournament. Last year i followed the blues, mainly due to luke mcallister, i might follow the crusaders this year, i am not too sure. If you guys get the european cup id advise you to watch it. It is going to be intense.

ooo ya might want to keep that on the quiet side mate haha. within nz rugby there's a big rivalry between those who live in auckland... & everyone else who doesn't haha. hence the saying "i support two teams -insert your province here, in my case 'otago'- & any team playing auckland" haha. but yea both the blues (as much as i hate to admit it) & the crusaders are strong sides & can play some exciting rugby. yea they don't show the euro cup much here, but with the rugby channel being added in the last couple years, we might just get it soon enough

Originally Posted by Zeran

that'd be incredible. not sure what the reception would be like in the states, really, but i'd be excited. what other nations would be competitive though? argentina, us, canada... who else?

those mentioned & off the top of my head teams like chile, paraguay, uruguay, barbados, venezuela, colombia, peru all have reasonable sides, some having even qualified for the world cups in the past. with those sorta sides, the real trouble is consistency, having great seasons one year & real crappers the next, so a tournament like this would benefit everyone. i really hope it happens

Originally Posted by Zeran

i believe he is talking about ncaa/college sports, much like college football or basketball. come to think of it, college rugby is gaining a lot of momentum. i have a few friends that play and it's really awesome.

ahh i'm with ya mate. that's great to hear it's getting a lot of uni level support though, that's just the drive ya's need. as long as you can keep the top end players interest once uni is over with, you'll be a solid side in the next 4-8 years. i'm really going to try & keep an eye on your national side now

[Zeran]

the problem is that, once they're done with ncaa, what are their options? i'm not sure what the level of play/amount of salary is in england or other rugby leagues, but i think most players would make a better living, and have an easier time doing it, having regular jobs than with rugby. but the game on this side of the ocean has been getting better and better and hopefully that just keeps continuing.

[edquinlan]

I'm a newbie here but i play a lot of fugby myself back home. I love it.

[TwoPartsGabe]

I've been playing club rugby at school for the past few months. Once I got used to the gameplay and all the rules its been a lot of fun. Our team is trying to join a union this spring so we can actually have matches against other schools.