Rugby world cup is only a couple weeks out. What's everybody's take on it? First time it's going to be broadcast in force in north america. Super excited for that. It's a sport that really deserves more recognition than it gets right now in NA.

I want Scotland to win, I think South Africa will actually win, and I want the US to not play like balls.

Rugby world cup is only a couple weeks out. What's everybody's take on it? First time it's going to be broadcast in force in north america. Super excited for that. It's a sport that really deserves more recognition than it gets right now in NA.

I want Scotland to win, I think South Africa will actually win, and I want the US to not play like balls.

What channel is sponsoring it? I didn't know it was going to be covered here.

As always, I love the world cup but don't get into it because the play times are always during work and the coverage sucks ass. I wish they had the games on the internet for any-time viewing.

Unfortunately, the US is going to get creamed as always, there is just not enough support for the team to have a well fielded 22 guys who can train continuously year round. I have a plan to fix it, but it will cost around $2-$3 million dollars.

Here is my plan:
1. Scrape the talent from washout NFL and NBA players (the guys who sit the bench and then get kicked off the team but are still super athletic).
2. Pay them a decent wage, enough to move to a central location and not have to work a full time job on the side (ie $75-$100k a year).
3. Train the bejeesus out of them, a la "Miracle".
4. Make a reality series of the whole process, from try outs to the world cup.

The idea is that the series finale would cooincide with the World Cup. The country would have names and faces and a story to rally behind. With the talent from the other sports, and the ability to train together all year without having to work, we could have a decent team. The reality show would be slowly training the viewer on how the game is played, so when the world cup happens everyone gets the basics of the game and how it's played. Hopefully at this time we would do well in the cup, and then the sport would garner enough attention here to get more and better players and decent tv coverage.

What channel is sponsoring it? I didn't know it was going to be covered here.

NBC and Universal sports are both going to be showing games. Pretty sure most of them won't be live, but it's better than usual. Setanta lost the exclusive web rights too it too, so we might see them online as well.

Unfortunately, the US is going to get creamed as always, there is just not enough support for the team to have a well fielded 22 guys who can train continuously year round. I have a plan to fix it, but it will cost around $2-$3 million dollars.

Here is my plan:
1. Scrape the talent from washout NFL and NBA players (the guys who sit the bench and then get kicked off the team but are still super athletic).
2. Pay them a decent wage, enough to move to a central location and not have to work a full time job on the side (ie $75-$100k a year).
3. Train the bejeesus out of them, a la "Miracle".
3. Make a reality series of the whole process, from try outs to the world cup.[/quote]
We don't need to scrape washout NFL/NBA players. There's plenty of solid rugby talent in USA rugby. The big problem I think we have is most of the best US players aren't professionals, they are still amateurs (largely because of money). They lose out on a lot of the training luxuries most other countries get. We do have a handful of great athletes though. We do pretty solidly in the international 7s, which is better than nothing. I just hope we don't do terribly because it's finally on TV in the US and we need a team to get behind for it to really catch on here.

4. would be cool though.

We don't need to scrape washout NFL/NBA players. There's plenty of solid rugby talent in USA rugby. The big problem I think we have is most of the best US players aren't professionals, they are still amateurs (largely because of money). They lose out on a lot of the training luxuries most other countries get. We do have a handful of great athletes though. We do pretty solidly in the international 7s, which is better than nothing. I just hope we don't do terribly because it's finally on TV in the US and we need a team to get behind for it to really catch on here.

4. would be cool though.

I've never played an international match so I dont' know what the world Rugby talent pool is like for say Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. I have played with a few Eagles in various capacities, and though they were definitely awesome, the strength, speed, and raw athletic ability they had paled in comparison to the former NFL draft players I have played against. I just imagine if we are going to start paying our athletes a reasonable wage, that NFL washouts would probably be the biggest bang for the buck.

That being said, just getting the 22 best Rugby players in the country and paying them enough so that they could move to Boulder and wouldn't have to work would do wonders for our team. I get pissed when I see the worst PGA golfers pulling in six figures, and yet our best Rugby players, who abuse themselves on a regular basis, still have to work 40 hours a week at an office somewhere.

Im in Nelson we've got a few games here, including the Eagles.
I prolly wont be going to any games. I was hoping the tournament was going to be played in Japan and not here.



Hopefully I win more this time than last time (though $900 taxfree aint to be sniffed at)

Here are the current odds, Australia looks like a good bet

1 New Zealand $1.62
2 Australia $5.00
3 South Africa $6.50
4 France $17.00
5 England $10.00
6 Ireland $30.00
7 Wales $50.00
8 Argentina $100.00
9 Scotland $100.00
10 Italy $500.00
11 Fiji $500.00
12 Samoa $100.00
13 Tonga $2000.00
14 Canada $2000.00
15 USA $2000.00
16 Georgia $10000.00
17 Namibia $10000.00
18 Russia $10000.00
19 Japan $10000.00
20 Romania $10000.00

played here in Nelson
Tues Sept 20 19.30 Italy v Russia
Tue Sept 27 19.30 Italy v USA
Sat Oct 1 15.30 Australia v Russia (was in CHCH)

I have played with a few Eagles in various capacities, and though they were definitely awesome, the strength, speed, and raw athletic ability they had paled in comparison to the former NFL draft players I have played against.[/quote]
Even more important than those traits for rugby is fitness, NFL guys would have strength/speed but would need to train to survive 80mins as its a much harder workload than NFL. Thats what sets the good teams apart from the guys that dont play as much, fitness ( as well as skills ) i.e. strength/speed are important but not as much.

Scotland haven't played any decent rugby in years. South Africa are looking particularly terrible this year

Scotland didn't look that bad in the 6 nations. They played well even though they caught some rough breaks that made them look a lot worse than they are. They have a lot of good talent and I think summer was enough time to work out the kinks that hurt them in the 6 nations. They did beat Ireland just recently...

and the US? Well, it's an nth tier sport there, so I really don't see you doing much.[/quote]
I don't think the US is going to do any good at all. I just want them to not do horribly so the sport gains some momentum in NA. If I expected them to do well I would have said I wanted them to win instead of scotland :-p

The All Blacks are looking typically unbeatable in the run up to the RWC, so I'm guessing that will mean a humiliating exit against a team "they should have beaten" in the quarters or semis. The Aussies and the English always rise to the occasion, but I think the Pumas (Argentina) will have another good tournament.

As for me, I'm going to see Ireland play Italy in Dunedin and maybe Ireland Australia if I can get around the 400% markup on accommodation in Auckland. I'm not picking Ireland to do well, but ya never know, so I will be supporting (in the following order):
Ireland
New Zealand
Argentina
[/quote]
Ireland's a solid guess. NZ will probably play well, but similar to what you said I feel like they're going to choke at some point. If ireland performs to the ability they did against england in spring I can't see anybody stopping them (except scotland). Not sure they could keep up that tempo through the whole cup though.

My thoughts: Rugby is the most awesome sport I've seen, and (luckily) not yet commercialized in the same perverse way as soccer and american football (and.... hooligan-free).

Having said that, who cares who's the winner as long as the matches are good.

Having said that, who cares who's the winner as long as the matches are good.

;)