Ian McGeechan to review English rugby

Hey SARS how u been?

I think it would be very beneficial to look into the structural differences/divides between the National outfit and the clubs. i.e. the contractual obligations and pressures the players are put under regarding their club obligations when they are called up to the national side.
Page from the NZ book would be beneficial i think.

what does rob andrew think of this i wonder ?

cant even remember if he's still there tbh ?

Hi there DBM

Fine here, how about yourself, looking forward to the season ahead? How many trophies will it be this year?

I think the club - country one seems to be reasonably good at the moment, but I wonder if that balance might be upset if changes come in - I'd be very reluctant to see the end of promotion / relegation, which Jeremy Guscott now seems in favour of

I guess it a serious question into what Rob Andrew has been doing and what value he's delivered

Ye all good here, no complaints... YET. Could be another good year for Leinster me thinks. With a less hectic schedule for the players they might actually get that elusive double! Ireland however are going to struggle and will be mediocre and inconsistent. one massive game in the 6N's tho and everyone will forgive and forget. Now I wonder who will be the victims of an upset.

Rob Andrew

The elephant in the room or the snake in the grass

It's impossible he has lasted this long. I wonder what dirt he has on someone that allows this situation. Am i right in saying that no one at all seems to know what he does for a living? "Director of Operations" says wikipedia.... really? Thats sounds awfully important.

Will be very interesting to find to see the results of his investigations.

The point about Relegation and promotion is a contencious one. Before i've always been in favour of it, however there are clear positives to discarding the process. If a team isn't faced with the challenge of survival it should in theory allow them to give more game time to their youngsters, which is vital to a players development. However, there needs to be a clause written in to enforce this if promotion/relegation is abandoned, such as the starting team must include 3 under 21 players, or 5 under 23 players etc.

For the good of the national team i'm against removing the wage cap. If we did it would open the flood gates for times to overlook their academies and buy big name players, having a seriously detrimental affect on the red rose.

One major thing though, as it is in football, is a change of focus at the younger age groups. Playing at school a few years ago we had some very talented players in our team, leading us to the qaurter final of the daily mail vase, many went for county trials, and a couple for England. The common concensus: add a couple of stone and come back next year. Is that really the message we should be sending out to young aspiring players? Because gyms are now littered with 14,15 and 16 year old rugby players training like body builders, benching and curling away to add the extra pounds that coaches deem so necessary.

it is far easier to bulk up a player by a stone or two due to the investment in stength, conditioning and nutrition than it is to teach a 16 year old the basics of rugby and attempt to hone his skills.

Surely NZ are a model to follow, get the basics right first, the handling, passing, tackling, offloads etc before you even look at a bench press.

This makes me glad i'm a Gloucester supporter, with the likes of Sharples, May, Burns and Trinder coming through the academy, all more suited to ball skills and the running game than the crash bang and steriod infused whallop.

Final part of the rant: remove the snobbery at the school and academy levels of the game. Again, going back to my own experience several of my team mates went to county trials only to discover that all the coaches were from our rival school, miraculously only one of our players was picked, whilst all of the rivals got a place.

Many good young players are overlooked as they are not fashionable enough, are from the wrong area, went to the wrong school, leaving a glut of wasted talent in its wake.

England has the potential to be a superpower in rugby at both a club and international level, hopefully changes are made to make progress towards this.

Am i right in saying that no one at all seems to know what he does for a living?
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I thought it was the sort of thing which according to this article they've now asked Geech to do ?

GPB

Apparently he even failed in a press conference to define his own duties. Apparently after being questions as to his exact duties he was unable to give a straight answer and so the assembled media left scratching their heads. In another situation i might say this guy is a hero for having the ability to literally do nothing and get paid for it. If you can't define your own damn job and in public no less, then get made the "Director of Operations" after, you have got to be one seriously skilled bull$~itter !

Captain Verminator

Very thoughtful comment im sure SARS will appreciate that.
Tho i have to say that following the NZ system is a bridge too far, tho i agree, it would mean that the RFU take over the contracts of the players centrally and removing the clubs from the process. This system really works to be fair, but the RFU are far too conservative to make a radical change like that.

Honestly, i also have a concern about geech. That is he is well and truly a member of the RFU boys club and has literally failed in his last post for the past few years. His day is well gone, and this seems to me like the boys club just looking to create a job for one of their mates rather than having any real substance. I predict his report will be perfectly diplomatic and filled with easy to digest suggestions that ultimately will amount to very little.

Haw SARS

Haven't been on for a while. Busy at work etc, etc. Yadda yadda.

Onnyhoo, oh, the irony of it all. When English rugby thinks it's in a bit of turmoil, who do the turn to?

None other than a Scot, a Jock, a sweaty if you will.

LMFAO. PMSFL.

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Is this perhaps the start of Scotland's World Cup winning strategy - get Scotsmen into every other nation and uttely wreck their system, leaving the Scots as the last men standing?

It's as good a strategy as any SARS.

Trust the dumb Sassenachs to fall for it first.