European Club Rugby
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Rugby World Cup winner Stephen Donald rolls back the years to touch the ball twice as part of a 65 metre try in Japan. Pretty good handling and he looks in good nick, especially considering Ulster rejected him on medical grounds.
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Wasps have dropped Lima Sopoaga to the bench for their away game to Toulouse. A relatively unheard of 22 year called Billy Searle is being picked as the Wasps 10 ahead of him. Lima has really struggled to settle in Coventry and get to grips with NH Rugby.
Kaino is playing Number 8 for Toulouse.
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In his last season sopoaga was struggling in th highlanders and ABs teams. Just don’t think he is much good anymore
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Well Lima did say he was there pretty much just for the money...
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@sparky said in NH club rugby:
Wasps lost 27-42. Lima Sopoaga only got on the paddock for the last 12 minutes. He seems to really struggling outside of the ABs and Highlanders playing environments. Wasps must be wondering whether the big money for Sopoaga was worth it.
Nope - the ex-test rarely are. Much better value in uncapped Kiwis.
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@derm-mccrum James Lowe is a gun player for Leinster:
"I'm here to play rugby and it is the one thing I'm decent at" - James Lowe
Class insight - during Baz & Andrew's House of Rugby Live - to James Lowe's early days playing rugby back in his native New Zealand.
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@sparky said in NH club rugby:
@derm-mccrum James Lowe is a gun player for Leinster:
Class insight - during Baz & Andrew's House of Rugby Live - to James Lowe's early days playing rugby back in his native New Zealand.
Yep. Scored a cheeky quick tap in last night’s European game against Bath and assisted well for Gibson-Park coming off the bench to getting a sixth on the night for Leinster. Hayden Triggs was another two seasons ago - liked him a lot.
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Dan Carter, now 36, led Kobe Steelers to victory in yesterday's Japanese Top League final and was named league MVP:
Search results - The Japan Times
News on Japan, Business News, Opinion, Sports, Entertainment and More search
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@sparky said in NH club rugby:
Wasps have dropped Lima Sopoaga to the bench for their away game to Toulouse. A relatively unheard of 22 year called Billy Searle is being picked as the Wasps 10 ahead of him. Lima has really struggled to settle in Coventry and get to grips with NH Rugby.
Kaino is playing Number 8 for Toulouse.
Lima was struggling here. Hardly surprising his form has continued.
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@billy-tell said in NH club rugby:
In his last season sopoaga was struggling in th highlanders and ABs teams. Just don’t think he is much good anymore
Read. The. Thread.
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@derm-mccrum said in NH club rugby:
@sparky said in NH club rugby:
Wasps lost 27-42. Lima Sopoaga only got on the paddock for the last 12 minutes. He seems to really struggling outside of the ABs and Highlanders playing environments. Wasps must be wondering whether the big money for Sopoaga was worth it.
Nope - the ex-test rarely are. Much better value in uncapped Kiwis.
Is that down to the fact that their form is on a downward trajectory? ie., they're ex test players for a reason.
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@booboo said in NH club rugby:
@derm-mccrum said in NH club rugby:
@sparky said in NH club rugby:
Wasps lost 27-42. Lima Sopoaga only got on the paddock for the last 12 minutes. He seems to really struggling outside of the ABs and Highlanders playing environments. Wasps must be wondering whether the big money for Sopoaga was worth it.
Nope - the ex-test rarely are. Much better value in uncapped Kiwis.
Is that down to the fact that their form is on a downward trajectory? ie., they're ex test players for a reason.
I dunno, booboo. Some have maintained their form - Howlett was superb at Munster for example and Brad Thorn for the 3 months he was at Leinster. For the most part though, I’ve been far more impressed by the uncapped/journeymen players - not all obviously but a good chunk of them. Mind you, there aren’t any ex-ABs playing in the PRO14 anymore so I’m not a constant watcher. Just my personal observation.
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I think part of it maybe that the drive to perform at the level for which they're known has disappeared.
The other aspect is unreasonably expecting people to be such a point of difference when they may be working within unfamiliar patterns or players.
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I think why they are playing the game probably drives them a bit more too.
In NZ in the ABs they are playing more for the jersey and what it represents (a bit dramatic maybe) and less money knowing there is a player who could take it all away just sitting there waiting.
While the NH they get paid a shed load more, less pressure, less scrutiny, lower level of rugby...sure there is personal standards, but sometimes you need other things to drive you along as well.
Not to mention many of the established ABs are usually past thier prime as well.
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@taniwharugby said in NH club rugby:
I think why they are playing the game probably drives them a bit more too.
In NZ in the ABs they are playing more for the jersey and what it represents (a bit dramatic maybe) and less money knowing there is a player who could take it all away just sitting there waiting.
While the NH they get paid a shed load more, less pressure, less scrutiny, lower level of rugby...sure there is personal standards, but sometimes you need other things to drive you along as well.
Not to mention many of the established ABs are usually past thier prime as well.
Funny that you mention this. I read a piece of analysis done by Esportif International on salaries the other day and they said that the ABs average salary of the starting 15 players was about £306k, slightly more than Ireland at £297k and England at 294k. This doesnt include match fees which are far greater in England.
https://esportif.com/the-numbers-dont-lie/ -
@derm-mccrum said in NH club rugby:
@taniwharugby said in NH club rugby:
I think why they are playing the game probably drives them a bit more too.
In NZ in the ABs they are playing more for the jersey and what it represents (a bit dramatic maybe) and less money knowing there is a player who could take it all away just sitting there waiting.
While the NH they get paid a shed load more, less pressure, less scrutiny, lower level of rugby...sure there is personal standards, but sometimes you need other things to drive you along as well.
Not to mention many of the established ABs are usually past thier prime as well.
Funny that you mention this. I read a piece of analysis done by Esportif International on salaries the other day and they said that the ABs average salary of the starting 15 players was about £306k, slightly more than Ireland at £297k and England at 294k. This doesnt include match fees which are far greater in England.
https://esportif.com/the-numbers-dont-lie/Is that before or after sportsperson relief?
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@derm-mccrum I would have thought that was more likely the senior AB salary, including thier Super contract, I believe Super contract and 7s is about £80k, basic Mitre 10 Cup Salary is about £5k....newbie ABs are less.
I think Read, like McCaw and DC before him were up around $1,000,000 of salary (circa £550k) so you'd think the likes of Read, BBBR, Whitelock, BB, BFA, FRanks, Reiko would distort figures slightly, with NZR probably paying them pretty much top dollar to retain them.
I believe they can then have sponsor endorsements as long as they do not conflict with NZR sponsors...although I saw Ardie is Asics Brand Ambassador, which is obviously competition for Adidas, so assume maybe this was a bit of wiggle room given when he recently renegotiated?
I guess for French and English players if they play for thier Nation and get paid by club they can earn alot more.
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@antipodean said in NH club rugby:
@derm-mccrum said in NH club rugby:
@taniwharugby said in NH club rugby:
I think why they are playing the game probably drives them a bit more too.
In NZ in the ABs they are playing more for the jersey and what it represents (a bit dramatic maybe) and less money knowing there is a player who could take it all away just sitting there waiting.
While the NH they get paid a shed load more, less pressure, less scrutiny, lower level of rugby...sure there is personal standards, but sometimes you need other things to drive you along as well.
Not to mention many of the established ABs are usually past thier prime as well.
Funny that you mention this. I read a piece of analysis done by Esportif International on salaries the other day and they said that the ABs average salary of the starting 15 players was about £306k, slightly more than Ireland at £297k and England at 294k. This doesnt include match fees which are far greater in England.
https://esportif.com/the-numbers-dont-lie/Is that before or after sportsperson relief?
Sportspersons Tax Relief only comes into play when you retire from your chosen professional sport. It’s a tax credit applied to the gross salary you’ve earned in 10 of the previous 13 years and that tax has already been paid in Ireland - you get back the difference in revised PAYE tax due after relief vs what you’ve already paid. It doesn’t cover expenses, or income from sponsorships, publicity or related marketing gigs. Nor does it cover other taxes such as Social Insurance or Universal Social Charge. It wasn’t designed specifically for rugby players, more horse jockeys as it was a horse-racing mad Minister who brought it in - 2001 I think.
