<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Bovidae" data-cid="592920" data-time="1467241777"><p>
Perhaps for a club game. The 2 Bledisloe Cup games at Stadium Australia in 1999 and 2000 had 100,000+ in attendance.</p></blockquote>
Oh yeah, of course.<br><br>
The reason I though this was last year during RWC the NZ v Arg game at Wembley was trumpeted as a record crowd, then broken by Ireland v Rumania.<br><br>
I don't recall any of the media I read about those records limiting the conditions to record World Cup crowds.
<p>The 2000 Bledisloe "Best Game Ever Played" was in front of 109,874.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://stats.espnscrum.com/scrum/rugby/records/team/highest_attendance.html?id=1;type=class'>http://stats.espnscrum.com/scrum/rugby/records/team/highest_attendance.html?id=1;type=class</a></p>
8 days later
<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Some interesting stats from the 2015-16 Top14 season in an AGM report adopted by the French rugby union:</span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">- the Top 14 final in Barcelona had a world record crowd for a <strong>club </strong>game of 99,124</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">- the total number of spectators for the entire season was 2,620,870 for the Top 14 (an average of 13,425 per round robin game) and 1,197,000 for the Pro D2 (an average of 4,816 per round robin game)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">- the average number of tries scored per match in the Top 14 was 4.5 (an increase of 36% since 2014) and in the Pro D2 4.1 (an increase of 12% since 2014)</span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">They're also going to change the promotion-relegation procedure between the Top14 and Pro D2 from the 2017-18 season.</span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.lnr.fr/ligue-nationale-de-rugby/actualites-ligue-nationale-de-rugby/assemblee-generale-du-9-juillet-2016'>http://www.lnr.fr/ligue-nationale-de-rugby/actualites-ligue-nationale-de-rugby/assemblee-generale-du-9-juillet-2016</a></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The Top 14 semi finals in 2017 (26, 27 or 28 May) will be played in Marseille. lâ€
Orange VÃ
lodrome has 67,404 seats.</span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.lnr.fr/rugby-pro-d2/actualites-rugby-pro-d2/top-14-marseille-accueillera-les-demi-finales-2017'>http://www.lnr.fr/rugby-pro-d2/actualites-rugby-pro-d2/top-14-marseille-accueillera-les-demi-finales-2017</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Top 14 final will be played in Stade de France (Paris, 81,338 seats) on 4 June 2017.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.lnr.fr/ligue-nationale-rugby/actualites-ligue-nationale-rugby/top-14-finale-2017-places-en-vente'>http://www.lnr.fr/ligue-nationale-rugby/actualites-ligue-nationale-rugby/top-14-finale-2017-places-en-vente</a></p>
Would like to see a stats comparison of that data across all pro comps<br><br><br><br>
But I'm a lazy bugger...
<p>Interesting development, which will promote the development of local French players:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Major rule change in Top 14 regarding young players</strong></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Date published: July 11 2016</span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) have ruled that foreign players signed to youth contracts will no longer be considered as JIFF players from next season.</span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">JIFF players – <em>joueurs issus des filières de formation</em>, otherwise known as academy-trained players – are required to have either been registered with the FFR for five years by the age of 23, or to have spent three years in an FFR-approved training centre by 21.</span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Each team last season was required to have 55 percent of their matchday squad (12 out of 23) made up of JIFF players.</span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">However the law change now means that the number of young French players featuring on a regular basis is set for a substantial increase, with those young players from overseas now set to be listed as foreigners rather than JIFF players from 2017, according to <em>Midi Olympique</em>.</span></span></p>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.planetrugby.com/news/major-rule-change-in-top-14-regarding-young-players/'>http://www.planetrugby.com/news/major-rule-change-in-top-14-regarding-young-players/</a></p>
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Stargazer" data-cid="595920" data-time="1468242487">
<div>
<p>Interesting development, which will promote the development of local French players:</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.planetrugby.com/news/major-rule-change-in-top-14-regarding-young-players/'>http://www.planetrugby.com/news/major-rule-change-in-top-14-regarding-young-players/</a></p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>That has to be good news for French rugby.</p>
2 months later
So the first player (Jourdain, 23) got red - as I understand it from the media - for punching Taumalolo. Taumalolo got red for lifting Jourdain in the scrum (by lifting his leg). And Hunt, did he punch someone as well?
I find it a bit strange how the ref and AR just watch it unfold and don't do anything. In NZ (and Oz), the refs blow their whistle (twice) and tell them to stop. Not that that always helps, and sometimes they repeat it several times, but these Frenchies don't do anything at all.
In more interesting NH club rugby news: the French Top 14 season is now 4 weeks underway and there have been some surprising results.
La Rochelle, the club of Victor Vito and Jason Eaton has won 3 and drew 1 of their 4 games. This sees them top the table, but they have only played one of the stronger teams - Clermont. That was the draw at home.
Clermont comes 2nd, with two wins and two draws. One of their wins was away against Nemani Nadolo's Montpellier, and the two draws were also in away games, including a game against 2015 Champions Stade Francais. On Sunday, they smashed Racing 92 (without Carter who has taken up sailing) 47-10. Hosea Gear and Isaia Toeava haven't played yet this season because of injury (knee and shoulder, respectively).
Stade Francais and Toulon come next on equal points, but Toulon already having lost two games, against lowly Bayonne (promoted from Pro D2; NZ players incl Tanerau Latimer, Adam Whitelock, Thom Donelly) and -at home- against Brive, and two away wins against Pau and Toulouse. Ma'a Nonu started for Toulon in all four games.
Racing 92 (Dan Carter, Chris Masoe, Ben Tameifuna, Casey Laulala) sits 8th on the table, also with two wins and two losses, but with fewer bonus points.
7 days later
Chris Ashton accused of biting twice within a minute
Jaysus he seems to get into a lot of wierd trouble
Unlucky or perhaps a bit not right in the head (maybe just rugby gods karma for those ridiculous dives)
@Siam said in NH club rugby:
Jaysus he seems to get into a lot of wierd trouble
Unlucky or perhaps a bit not right in the head (maybe just rugby gods karma for those ridiculous dives)
He combines being very stroppy & excited on the pitch, with being a little bitch. So he gets done for cheap shots, eye gouges, biting, talking back to players / refs etc.
I've given up on my number 1 wish in rugby which was him swan diving in to win the world cup & dropping the fucking ball mid dive.
The video was not really conclusive and you could well ask questions of Waller with his hand and arm all over Ashton's face but to me it just looks like a rugby incident and nothing much to be concerned about. Having said that though, Ashton's growing rep as a tool cannot help him in circumstances like these and he is unlikely to get much sympathy. FWIW I thought the eye gouge last year was questionable too.
@Catogrande If that was the case, you'd think the other player would say it didn't happen?
@Bones
Not sure if you mean the biting or the gouging incident? Assuming it is the former, you would need to add context - the match itself was pretty brutal and there was a lot of niggle. Both sides were up for it and there was plenty of bitch play going on. In the context of the match it wouldn't surprise me that someone had got bitten or that someone could claim a bite when another time they might just wash it off as something and nothing. But yeah I would like to assume that if a guy had claimed he'd been bitten that there was some sound reason for doing so..
During the game Waller (not alone by any means) was playing the tool card at every opportunity and got yellowed himself for a stupid off the ball dump tackle at one point. In itself the tackle was not much of anything other than being plain stupid. Does that have a bearing on his claims? Who knows but the video posted below doesn't show much to me - certainly not 13 weeks.
@Catogrande It's a dirty filthy bite! 13 weeks is pretty sweet.
you cant really accidentally bite someone, and having been bitten, you know you've been bitten, so I don't think you would confuse some other niggle with a bite.
The rumour on PR from someone who likes to think he is in the know is that Ashton is going to head back to league after the suspension.
@Smudge said in NH club rugby:
The rumour on PR from someone who likes to think he is in the know is that Ashton is going to head back to league after the suspension.
That's already been reported in media before today - e.g. Guardian newspaper
"“What I am hearing is absolutely not the Chris Ashton I know,” said the club’s chairman, Nigel Wray. “I very much hope that Chris is not forced out of English rugby because he is a very well-liked and respected member of our family, one of the hardest workers in the game. I am not a lawyer, but if this were a legal matter the case would not come to court.”
The implication was that the 29-year old Ashton would, once his suspension was completed, look at finishing his career in France or return to rugby league having left Wigan for Northampton in 2007."
Mourad Boudjellal contemplates selling Toulon
God I had the miss fortune of watching the Toulon v Clermont and the Toulouse v SFP games. For teams with high profile stars in them the passing, ball control, and running lines were of the standard to would expect to see at amateur level, because most of the team were on the piss the night before.
Jake White gone from Montpellier,Vern Cotter to take over. I wonder what side hes going to be "fully committed to" next?
@Stargazer said in NH club rugby:
Mourad Boudjellal contemplates selling Toulon
My heart bleeds!
"There is a strong chance that this will be my last year," Boudjellal said on AFP. "I do not have a huge fortune but it's reasonable.
"I am much depleted by the club and I don't know if many presidents do this.
Scotland coach Vern Cotter to join Montpellier for season 2017/18
By IAIN MORRISON
Wednesday 28 September 2016
Scotland coach Vern Cotter has, as was widely anticipated, found himself a post with Montepllier in France’s Top 14 from the end of the current season when his contract with Murrayfield expires.
Cotter was controversially replaced by Glasgow boss Gregor Townsend just a few short months ago despite taking Scotland to within a whisker of the World Cup semi-finals in 2015, losing to Australia in the last minute thanks to a incorrectpenalty.
Cotter made his name in France, first as a player and more recently as the head coach of Clermont, who he led to the Top 14 Championship in 2010 after innumerable failures in the final. He moved to Scotland in 2014, one year later than expected after the Scottish Rugby Union failed to inform Clermont of their signing and the club duly held Cotter to his contract rather than release him one season early.
The current Montpellier coach, World Cup-winner Jake White, is leaving the club to make way for Cotter. What is less clear is just how many of the South African counterparts that White signed are leaving with him.
After failing to make much of an impact in the Six Nations to date – two wins in ten attempts – Cotter has one final season of Six Nations rugby to make his mark in Europe before a return to the club game.
The official announcement by Montpellier: http://www.montpellier-rugby.com/news/communique-officiel-0
Not in the official announcement, but according to the French paper Midi Libre, Cotter has signed a deal for 3 seasons (so until June 2020): http://www.midilibre.fr/2016/09/28/rugby-montpellier-l-ancien-clermontois-vern-cotter-a-signe-au-mhr,1400186.php
15 days later
This weekend, the European Club Rugby competitions kick off and the first game has already been played.
Aviva Premiership team Harlequins absolutely smashed 2014-14 Top 14 champions Stade Français Paris, scoring 7 tries to 3, in a 43-21 bonus point win.
This weekend's games:
From Sky's FB page:
Get your European Rugby Champions Cup fix on the Rugby Channel!
Saturday: LIVE - 7.40am: Glasgow Warriors v Leicester Tigers
Sunday: LIVE - 7.40am: Scarlets v Sale Sharks
Delayed - 9.45am: Wasps v Zebre
Delayed - 11.45am: RC Toulon v Saracens
Delayed - 1.45pm: Connacht v Toulouse
Monday: LIVE - 12.55am: Bordeaux-Begles v Ulster
LIVE - 3.10am: Racing 92 v Munster
LIVE - 5.25am: Exeter Chiefs v ASM Clermont Auvergne
European Rugby Challenge Cup
Monday: Delayed - 11.30am: Pau v Bath
Watching Glasgow Warriors v Leicester Tigers and it's an awesome game. Never thought Glasgow would be so dominant.
It's 22-10 to Glasgow at the moment.
That Leonardo Sarto chap (Glasgow) is a very handy player if this Glasgow v Leicester game is anything to go by. Scored a try and almost a second in this first half. He's in the Italian squad for the November internationals.
Leicester is getting smashed by Glasgow. 35-13 with 10 minutes to go. Toomua had a nightmare debut for the Tigers, including a yellow card that could have been red if they'd had another ref.
Bloody hell, Leicester are really bad. Another intercept try for Glasgow, scored by the Italian Sarto. This is going to be a very good bonus point win for the Warriors.
And it's all over. Glasgow Warriors beating Leicester Tigers 42-13. Well-deserved bonus point win from the Scottish club.
Bundee Aki MOTM as Connacht beat Toulouse.
Nacewa and Gibson-Park got a win over a pretty terrible Castres.
Toulon showing that you can have all that money and sign world class players, but it doesn't guarantee you wins. Toulon lost at home to Saracens: 23 - 31
Noteworthy is that in all Champions Cup and Challenge Cup games between French clubs and English/Celtic opponents, the French club lost. Still 3 games to play in the Champions Cup (all involving one French club), but it doesn't bode well for French rugby.
There was no mercy where Italian or Romanian clubs were the opponents. Some really big scores!
By the way, most points in the La Rochelle match v Treviso (41-10 to La Rochelle) were scored by Southeners: tries by Uini Atonio (2x), Hikaïro Forbes and Jason Eaton, and Brock James kicked most of the penalties & conversions.
All Challenge Cup games of round 1 have been played. Results:
