Gatland finally explains what he really meant about England playing their final in the semi-final

This will be a very similar question Leinster have to ask themselves. Have they set in motion their own curse?

It would be enough to kill the belief of a lesser club at a venue like Dublin.

Have we segued here? I hope we have segued here to the Premiership lol

They ran for 147 metres more than the hosts on 41 fewer carries, and made 11 more tackle busts.

That’s how New Zealand teams used to be able to play, scoring tries from anywhere in their own half with very little ball, often even less than the 40% Saints had this game. It was exciting stuff.

None of which will bother Dowson and his charges.

Won’t it? Don’t they now have three must win games in the Premiership? How are they going to balance those are a Champions Cup Final.

On the game, I’m not sure I agree with the referee bottling it and putting away his whistle at the end, has that been the norm up north? In Super rugby theyve been starting to play their hands a lot more and using the TMO, which I have liked. It’s increased the accuracy of the contest but also brought back in the howlers like going back 10 phases to a knock on that wasn’t even a knock on. I just don’t understand why they can’t get it right, but that’s pretty much the same perspective placed on Cullen right?

Now, i know you are twisting the topic of conversation rather than acknowledge you were exaggerating on the original topic, but ill answer your question anyway. They were missing nobody bar James Ryan. So what’s your point? I’m not a Leinster supporter .

Obviously getting JN in is a big one, but even that is possible more adding to rather than changing. He’s obviously changing things on the field though, which is why we all pretty much didn’t expect results from them this year. Looks like that’s the way it played out, and definitely with the sort of encouraging results that make you believe you’re on the right track.

Would be a superb outfit if they put that all together with trying to find a better way to manage the unique challenge of having a national representee team as your make up. I can only imagine what problems the old Auckland Blues team would have encountered, but they might want to look at the Crusaders example? While not the same scope the Crusaders star players were key All Blacks who often just meandered through the season and that affected results, but were always able to turn it on at the back end when it counted.

Re-read my initial post. Despite your claim I never mentioned financials. I focused purely on the political consequences for SA rugby structures of the Springboks decline in RWC's. My focus in relation to that was entirely on the issue of competitiveness.

SA, as I said, has a much better structured domestic season now than it had in SR. Domestic teams playing in a round robin comp they are in every year is a domestic comp for competitive/development purposes. And as you say, SA's URC teams have to run significantly bigger squads, again a function of having a proper full season for those teams. That is something NZ will eventually emulate.

And, as I said in my second post, after you dragged in financials, the URC's popularity/financials are greater in SA because its a full season and its teams are winning [again something I recognised] in the distinctly lower quality URC, whereas it spent almost all its time in SR losing in much higher quality but shorter comp. The story is radically different in the much higher quality European comps, where the SA are getting crushed year after year.

So, to repeat yet again, what will be the political consequences in SA of the Springboks decline in RWC/WR standings? Will the financial/popularity advantages of getting a proper domestic season be seen to be damaging the Springboks, given the distinctly lower quality of the URC in comparison with SRP? My bet is such a blame game is almost certain. To give themselves a substantial domestic comp and keep the Springboks in TRC [They have no choice] SA are being forced to play 12 months a year. SA, like NZ and Aussie, have developed a habit of improvising solutions instead of building durable structures. A 12 month season is just another improvisation.

And as for the fairy story that being in Europe is better prep for RWC/Test rugby than SR, it fails even on its own facts, let alone in application. SA teams only play Ireland/Wales/Scotland/Italy in the URC. All have been crap at RWC's. And SA teams don't play in Europe long enough to benefit from playing against club teams from England and France. And if you think that playing in Ireland/Wales/Scotland on a wet winters day is less challenging than playing in NZ, April-June, then you're welcome to your short memory.