The death of southern hemisphere Rugby

[Vulcan]

Mav, our sporting system is remakably different to the US system.

And as such our leading sportsmen ARE our heros. To be an All Black is to become a living legend. You have to work hard, to put yourself physically and mentally on the line to become an All Black. The road to being an All Black is not paved with college Scholarships, vendor sponsorships and all that other US crap. It is paved with blood and sweat.

When the All Blacks take to the field, the represent 3 million Kiwis who are backing them every step of the way. When they win, the nation feels their joy, when they lose, the nation feels the loss too.

Having seen tidbits of US sports I can understand how you might be so cynical. But until you set foot over here and attend a rugby international I hardly think you are qualified to judge our nations finest. When was the last time one of your top players set foot on a suburban park to play a club level game?

I think you'll find the Aussies, South Africans, French, Pommies, Welsh, and Scots feel exactly the same way: our sportsmen are our heros and deservedly too.

As for children, the captain of my home team (Wellington Lions) played the last 25 mins of the NPC final with a broken arm. It was the first time we've won in a long long time, and it was also his retirement game. That earns my respect.

Gatso my home team is the Lions (NPC) and Hurricanes (Super 12). We have Lomu, Umaga, and Cullen in our back lineup

[Pei]

Originally posted by steely07
That's always been the thing that puzzled me about the "World Series" of baseball,no other country plays in the series......

Well Canada has 2 teams in Major League baseball, so I guess that counts

Attributed to John Cleese during the Clinton era:

3 differences between the British and the Americans:

1) We speak English and you don't.
2) When we hold a world championship we invite teams from other countries to compete.
3) When you meet our Head of State you only have to go down on one knee.



Mav: you made one crucial mistake: you failed to understand one simple fact of reality:


RUGBY IS LIFE




Gatso and Vulcan: i think the proffessionalization of Rugby is starting to bear fruit in the Northern hemisphere: 10 years ago we wouldn't be having this debate: Vulcan would be crowing about how the All Blacks roundly trounded all the home nations and the same goes for the SPringboks and Wallabies. However despite the new arrangements the home nations players, escpecially the English, play far too many games a year.

[gatso]

I totally agree Pei. The change in the last 10 years is staggering and it's all for the good so far. The majority of the player base are still products of the 'old' system. the really exciting thing is going to come in 5 years time when the young uns come through with all the benefits of profesional coaching from a young age.

The league format is a bit silly this year. How you can win the league but not be given the title is a bit strange and the playoffs are not helping bring the number of games down any.

An interesting stat I saw the other day. Average attendances at premiership rugby games are now larger than those for Division1 Football games! Thats got to be good news.

Sell out crowd of 16,000 at Welford Road last friday and not a single one of them was an on duty policeman which really is something to be proud of.

Vulcan, I envy your back trio. We managed to start our season a month ago with 80% of our back line already injured . Not good. Our pack is awesome though - Johnson/Kay/Moody/Back/Kronfeld/Corry - thats 6 guys for 5 spots and thats without the ones you wouldn't have heard of! Stunning.

I'm really hoping our respective RFU's can sort out a Super12-European Cup showdown next season. I just hope we can win it (again) so we get to be the first to play for true 'world champion' status.

Gatso