Treviso v Ulster Sat 10th Sep

[Cracker]

With the exception of those injured surely all our internationals will be back by next week. If not the league is becoming a total farce as far as Irish rugby is concerned.

[Rooster]

With the exception of those injured surely all our internationals will be back by next week. If not the league is becoming a total farce as far as Irish rugby is concerned.

The IR FU don't give a single feck about the league

[scrum5]

They should though if they want to keep their players at home rather than getting flogged in England or France

[FrannosPen]

The disdain with which the IRFU treat the Pro12 is grim. The league is becoming a farce.

[Cracker]

The total stupidity of it all is that if the Irish teams stop performing in the league attendances will drop as we saw with Munster last year. Players will start to move away and where will it all end. It is so evident that Irish teams start with a disadvantage every year against full strength opposition and will always be playing catch up. Teams we would have beaten with full strength teams are beating us.
No one in Irish rugby has ever come out and said why Irish players need a further rest after a summer of not having played rugby for nearly three months.
I know they are the paymaster but other countries players don't appear to need the rest the IrIsh players get.
You can bet your bottom dollar that after the Lions tour the English and Welsh players will be straight in at the start of the new season.

[Rooster]

The total stupidity of it all is that if the Irish teams stop performing in the league attendances will drop as we saw with Munster last year. Players will start to move away and where will it all end. It is so evident that Irish teams start with a disadvantage every year against full strength opposition and will always be playing catch up. Teams we would have beaten with full strength teams are beating us.
No one in Irish rugby has ever come out and said why Irish players need a further rest after a summer of not having played rugby for nearly three months.
I know they are the paymaster but other countries players don't appear to need the rest the IrIsh players get.
You can bet your bottom dollar that after the Lions tour the English and Welsh players will be straight in at the start of the new season.

With any luck then we won't have any players in the circus

[FrannosPen]

The total stupidity of it all is that if the Irish teams stop performing in the league attendances will drop as we saw with Munster last year. Players will start to move away and where will it all end. It is so evident that Irish teams start with a disadvantage every year against full strength opposition and will always be playing catch up. Teams we would have beaten with full strength teams are beating us.
No one in Irish rugby has ever come out and said why Irish players need a further rest after a summer of not having played rugby for nearly three months.
I know they are the paymaster but other countries players don't appear to need the rest the IrIsh players get.
You can bet your bottom dollar that after the Lions tour the English and Welsh players will be straight in at the start of the new season.

you can also be sure that the Lions will be an English - Welsh love in

[big mervyn]

The total stupidity of it all is that if the Irish teams stop performing in the league attendances will drop as we saw with Munster last year. Players will start to move away and where will it all end. It is so evident that Irish teams start with a disadvantage every year against full strength opposition and will always be playing catch up. Teams we would have beaten with full strength teams are beating us.
No one in Irish rugby has ever come out and said why Irish players need a further rest after a summer of not having played rugby for nearly three months.
I know they are the paymaster but other countries players don't appear to need the rest the IrIsh players get.
You can bet your bottom dollar that after the Lions tour the English and Welsh players will be straight in at the start of the new season.

With any luck then we won't have any players in the circus

Hendo must be a candidate.

[scrum5]

Don't bet on it FP, the 1st Lions game is 4 days after the English premiership final.

[Neill_M]

1st Lions game is on June 3rd, 1 week after the Pro 12 and AP finals. Top 14 final is on June 4th.

[scrum5]

Thanks Neill I knew they were close, stupid scheduling, team made up of weegies and sorries

[Amiga500]

The disdain with which the IRFU treat the Pro12 is grim. The league is becoming a farce.

Is that the same IRFU that had 3 provinces in the play-offs last season and an all Irish final?


Its good to see hyperbole is alive and well on the UAFC!

[Nightsoil]

Hendo must be a candidate.

Strong candidate.

I imagine 2-3 Ulster players will go - Henderson, Best and Payne all have decent shouts and wouldn't be utterly surprised if one of the young centres had a big season and went. You can just see Gatland loving McCloskey.

Not sure why all the complaining about Irish players returning a few weeks later. Considering how strong Irish sides tend to be at the end of the season, maybe the rest would like to consider it as an option themselves.

And the Pro 12's weakness is mostly down to the Welsh making a horlicks of it and the Italian expansion going badly. Dare say the Irish could do more but given that the Irish dominate the league and provide its only competitive representation in Europe... yeah.

[Rooster]

I imagine 2-3 Ulster players will go - Henderson, Best and Payne all have decent shouts and wouldn't be utterly surprised if one of the young centres had a big season and went. You can just see Gatland loving McCloskey.

Press has more or less said Dylan the villan is captain, you can see Gatland loving Roberts more though than McCloskey

[Spiffsson]

Hendo must be a candidate.

Strong candidate.

I imagine 2-3 Ulster players will go - Henderson, Best and Payne all have decent shouts and wouldn't be utterly surprised if one of the young centres had a big season and went. You can just see Gatland loving McCloskey.

Not sure why all the complaining about Irish players returning a few weeks later. Considering how strong Irish sides tend to be at the end of the season, maybe the rest would like to consider it as an option themselves.

And the Pro 12's weakness is mostly down to the Welsh making a horlicks of it and the Italian expansion going badly. Dare say the Irish could do more but given that the Irish dominate the league and provide its only competitive representation in Europe... yeah.

Nothing wrong with giving the international players a rest, but three months is too long, and their provinces are being denied their talent. Not only that, but after such a long break it can take a few games to get back into the swing of competitive rugby. Don't be surprised to see Jackson, Best, Hendo, Trimble looking rusty. They could easily be brought back sooner, especially if used sparingly off the bench. In this respect, does the IRFU look at the total number of games in which a player appears, or his total of actual minutes on the field? In the latter case, players like Cronin, Ryan, who usually get 10-15 mins for Ireland, probably don't need a rest at all.