Is rugby being priced out of our hands?
has any one noticed the rise in price of the games in the last few years.
yes some might say that to see good teams you pay for the privilage but............are we heading for the prawn cracker type supporter going to the games and not having a clue of what is actually going on?
I think so. for many years ireland had and still has in certain towns and cities a posh schooling idea of you have to have money to play rugby. That for a few years slowed up in munster with the introduction of the celtic league and the h cup, more games to see and more exposure on tv. bringing it to the the screens for everyone to see.
Every one started to buy the shirt and want to be seen at the games. this did a few things
got more people involved and brought more money into the sport but as in every sport the finance boys said hey we can jump on the wagon here and make a killing.
Sadly this could be the killing factor.
Greedy peolpe that will sadly make us all be reduced to rugby on tv..
Will be back to the local clubs on the rainy sarurdays.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
While the All Blacks touring squad is mostly made up of familiar names, there are also seven new caps included.
Props Ben Franks and Jamie Mackintosh, back rowers Scott Waldrom, Kieran Read and Liam Messam, winger Hosea Gear and full-back Cory Jane are the new players pressing for Test match recognition.
Messam and Gear both played for the New Zealand Maori against Ireland 'A' in the 2007 Barclays Churchill Cup in England.
Influential backs Leon MacDonald (concussion problems) and Brendon Leonard (knee) are notable absentees due to injury.
But lock Jason Eaton and winger Joe Rokocoko are back in the reckoning, as is Corey Flynn who last lined out for the All Blacks in 2004.
New Zealand coach Graham Henry said: "We believe it's a very talented squad that we have got for this tour.
"We feel we have got the right balance with a nucleus of experienced All Blacks as well as seven new caps, who have shown their class in the Rebel Sport Super 14 and the Air New Zealand Cup, for what will be the most demanding Test match tour schedule faced by an All Blacks team in the professional era."
Henry's charges will start the tour next Saturday (November 1) when they face Australia in the first ever off-shore Bledisloe Cup match in Hong Kong.
Scotland are next up the following Saturday (November 8), then Ireland at Croke Park (November 15), followed by that historic encounter with Munster (November 18) and further Test matches against Wales (November 22) and England (November 29).
NEW ZEALAND Tour Squad (November Tour 2008): John Afoa (Auckland), Anthony Boric (North Harbour), Dan Carter (Canterbury), Jimmy Cowan (Southland), Stephen Donald (Waikato), Jason Eaton (Taranaki), Andy Ellis (Canterbury), Ross Filipo (Wellington), Corey Flynn (Canterbury), Ben Franks (Tasman), Hosea Gear (Wellington), Andrew Hore (Taranaki), Cory Jane (Wellington), Richard Kahui (Waikato), Jerome Kaino (Auckland), Richie McCaw (Canterbury) (capt), Jamie Mackintosh (Southland), Keven Mealamu (Auckland), Liam Messam (Waikato), Malili Muliaina (Waikato), Ma'a Nonu (Wellington), Kieran Read (Canterbury), Joe Rokocoko (Auckland), Sitiveni Sivivatu (Waikato), Conrad Smith (Wellington), Rodney So'oialo (Wellington), Adam Thomson (Otago), Brad Thorn (Tasman), Neemia Tialata (Wellington), Isaia Toeava (Auckland), Anthony Tuitavake (North Harbour), Piri Weepu (Wellington), Scott Waldrom (Taranaki), Ali Williams (Tasman), Tony Woodcock (North Harbour).
Props Ben Franks and Jamie Mackintosh, back rowers Scott Waldrom, Kieran Read and Liam Messam, winger Hosea Gear and full-back Cory Jane are the new players pressing for Test match recognition.
Messam and Gear both played for the New Zealand Maori against Ireland 'A' in the 2007 Barclays Churchill Cup in England.
Influential backs Leon MacDonald (concussion problems) and Brendon Leonard (knee) are notable absentees due to injury.
But lock Jason Eaton and winger Joe Rokocoko are back in the reckoning, as is Corey Flynn who last lined out for the All Blacks in 2004.
New Zealand coach Graham Henry said: "We believe it's a very talented squad that we have got for this tour.
"We feel we have got the right balance with a nucleus of experienced All Blacks as well as seven new caps, who have shown their class in the Rebel Sport Super 14 and the Air New Zealand Cup, for what will be the most demanding Test match tour schedule faced by an All Blacks team in the professional era."
Henry's charges will start the tour next Saturday (November 1) when they face Australia in the first ever off-shore Bledisloe Cup match in Hong Kong.
Scotland are next up the following Saturday (November 8), then Ireland at Croke Park (November 15), followed by that historic encounter with Munster (November 18) and further Test matches against Wales (November 22) and England (November 29).
NEW ZEALAND Tour Squad (November Tour 2008): John Afoa (Auckland), Anthony Boric (North Harbour), Dan Carter (Canterbury), Jimmy Cowan (Southland), Stephen Donald (Waikato), Jason Eaton (Taranaki), Andy Ellis (Canterbury), Ross Filipo (Wellington), Corey Flynn (Canterbury), Ben Franks (Tasman), Hosea Gear (Wellington), Andrew Hore (Taranaki), Cory Jane (Wellington), Richard Kahui (Waikato), Jerome Kaino (Auckland), Richie McCaw (Canterbury) (capt), Jamie Mackintosh (Southland), Keven Mealamu (Auckland), Liam Messam (Waikato), Malili Muliaina (Waikato), Ma'a Nonu (Wellington), Kieran Read (Canterbury), Joe Rokocoko (Auckland), Sitiveni Sivivatu (Waikato), Conrad Smith (Wellington), Rodney So'oialo (Wellington), Adam Thomson (Otago), Brad Thorn (Tasman), Neemia Tialata (Wellington), Isaia Toeava (Auckland), Anthony Tuitavake (North Harbour), Piri Weepu (Wellington), Scott Waldrom (Taranaki), Ali Williams (Tasman), Tony Woodcock (North Harbour).
Munster`s run comes to an end
Saturday 25th October 2008
Ulster lifted themselves off the foot of the Magners League table with only their second league win of the campaign and consigned table-toppers Munster to their first reverse of the season in any competition, with a 22-6 Magners League win at Ravenhill on Saturday. Ulster's Fijian winger Timoci Nagusa stole the show with two first-half tries in which the man of the match showed some devastating finishing to set his side on the way to ending a miserable record of only having won one game from seven starts in both league and Heineken Cup prior to this clash. Munster, with most of their star names rested for this encounter, simply had no answer to Ulster's pace, passion and precision both in attack and defence. The omens certainly did not look good for Ulster after Niall O'Connor's awful early penalty miss, especially as Munster then managed to get down field and force a penalty. Paul Warwick showed how it should be done with a strike that opened the scoring for the visitors. However, with Ulster winning the collisions and showing more appetite for the game, it was no surprise that they levelled the scores with a 24th-minute penalty from Ian Humphreys - on the field for O'Connor who departed with no obvious sign of injury before a quarter of an hour was up. With the momentum behind them, Ulster struck again when Paddy Wallace's pop pass saw Nagusa jink and accelerate past three Munster defenders to score his 28th-minute try under the posts and give Humphreys a straightforward conversion. The sin-binning of second row Ryan Caldwell for cynically taking out Denis Hurley then allowed the visitors close Ulster's lead to 10-6 with Warwick's second penalty. Even so, the force remained with Ulster and after Wallace's 33rd-minute surge for the corner was rightly ruled out by the TMO for the ball having entered touch, it was Nagusa, four minutes later, who again ripped open the Munster cover to make the left corner from over 40 metres. Humphreys missed the conversion and then Bryn Cunningham's intervention did enough to prevent Anthony Horgan from scoring a long-range kick and chase, with the TMO again called upon to adjudicate, allowing Ulster to thrive before Caldwell's return to go in 15-6 ahead at half-time. The second half, which saw a raft of substitutions from both sides, brought little in the way of scoring but Ulster certainly did not release their grip on the game. Humphreys missed a long-range penalty before replacement scrum-half Isaac Boss spun away from a scrum to make the line and Humphreys added the extras to give the home side an unassailable 22-6 lead.
The scorers: For Ulster: Tries: Nagusa 2, Boss Cons: Humphreys 2 Pens: Humphreys For Munster: Pens: Warwick 2
Ulster: 15 Bryn Cunningham, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Niall O'Connor, 9 Cillian Willis, 8 Robbie Diack, 7 David Pollock, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Ryan Caldwell, 4 Ed O'Donoghue, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Justin Fitzpatrick. Replacements: 16 Nigel Brady, 17 Tom Court, 18 Carlo Del Fava, 19 Tom Anderson, 20 Isaac Boss, 21 Ian Humphreys, 22 Mark McCrea.
Munster: 15 Denis Hurley, 14 Anthony Horgan, 13 Barry Murphy, 12 Lifeimi Mafi, 11 Ian Dowling, 10 Paul Warwick, 9 Paul Stringer, 8 Justin Melck, 7 John O'Sullivan, 6 Alan Quinlan, 5 Donncha Ryan, 4 Mick O'Driscoll (c), 3 Tony Buckley 2 Denis Fogarty, 1 Frederico Pucciariello. Replacements: 16 Jerry Flannery, 17 Darragh Hurley, 18 Mark Melbourne, 19 James Coughlan, 20 Mike Prendergast, 21 Jeremy Manning, 22 Keith Lewis. Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland) Touch judges: David Keane (Ireland), Dudley Phillips (Ireland) Television match official: John Carvill (Ireland)
Saturday 25th October 2008
Ulster lifted themselves off the foot of the Magners League table with only their second league win of the campaign and consigned table-toppers Munster to their first reverse of the season in any competition, with a 22-6 Magners League win at Ravenhill on Saturday. Ulster's Fijian winger Timoci Nagusa stole the show with two first-half tries in which the man of the match showed some devastating finishing to set his side on the way to ending a miserable record of only having won one game from seven starts in both league and Heineken Cup prior to this clash. Munster, with most of their star names rested for this encounter, simply had no answer to Ulster's pace, passion and precision both in attack and defence. The omens certainly did not look good for Ulster after Niall O'Connor's awful early penalty miss, especially as Munster then managed to get down field and force a penalty. Paul Warwick showed how it should be done with a strike that opened the scoring for the visitors. However, with Ulster winning the collisions and showing more appetite for the game, it was no surprise that they levelled the scores with a 24th-minute penalty from Ian Humphreys - on the field for O'Connor who departed with no obvious sign of injury before a quarter of an hour was up. With the momentum behind them, Ulster struck again when Paddy Wallace's pop pass saw Nagusa jink and accelerate past three Munster defenders to score his 28th-minute try under the posts and give Humphreys a straightforward conversion. The sin-binning of second row Ryan Caldwell for cynically taking out Denis Hurley then allowed the visitors close Ulster's lead to 10-6 with Warwick's second penalty. Even so, the force remained with Ulster and after Wallace's 33rd-minute surge for the corner was rightly ruled out by the TMO for the ball having entered touch, it was Nagusa, four minutes later, who again ripped open the Munster cover to make the left corner from over 40 metres. Humphreys missed the conversion and then Bryn Cunningham's intervention did enough to prevent Anthony Horgan from scoring a long-range kick and chase, with the TMO again called upon to adjudicate, allowing Ulster to thrive before Caldwell's return to go in 15-6 ahead at half-time. The second half, which saw a raft of substitutions from both sides, brought little in the way of scoring but Ulster certainly did not release their grip on the game. Humphreys missed a long-range penalty before replacement scrum-half Isaac Boss spun away from a scrum to make the line and Humphreys added the extras to give the home side an unassailable 22-6 lead.
The scorers: For Ulster: Tries: Nagusa 2, Boss Cons: Humphreys 2 Pens: Humphreys For Munster: Pens: Warwick 2
Ulster: 15 Bryn Cunningham, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Niall O'Connor, 9 Cillian Willis, 8 Robbie Diack, 7 David Pollock, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Ryan Caldwell, 4 Ed O'Donoghue, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Justin Fitzpatrick. Replacements: 16 Nigel Brady, 17 Tom Court, 18 Carlo Del Fava, 19 Tom Anderson, 20 Isaac Boss, 21 Ian Humphreys, 22 Mark McCrea.
Munster: 15 Denis Hurley, 14 Anthony Horgan, 13 Barry Murphy, 12 Lifeimi Mafi, 11 Ian Dowling, 10 Paul Warwick, 9 Paul Stringer, 8 Justin Melck, 7 John O'Sullivan, 6 Alan Quinlan, 5 Donncha Ryan, 4 Mick O'Driscoll (c), 3 Tony Buckley 2 Denis Fogarty, 1 Frederico Pucciariello. Replacements: 16 Jerry Flannery, 17 Darragh Hurley, 18 Mark Melbourne, 19 James Coughlan, 20 Mike Prendergast, 21 Jeremy Manning, 22 Keith Lewis. Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland) Touch judges: David Keane (Ireland), Dudley Phillips (Ireland) Television match official: John Carvill (Ireland)
Saturday, October 25, 2008
the first event
hi all
this is the start of the real supporters club, are you the type of fan that will stand in the rain and shout for your team?
yes its a hard thing to do in this country but we do for the passion of sport
comments and additions are welcome so come on lets get this blog going
ken
this is the start of the real supporters club, are you the type of fan that will stand in the rain and shout for your team?
yes its a hard thing to do in this country but we do for the passion of sport
comments and additions are welcome so come on lets get this blog going
ken
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