The Rugby thread

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It's a packed finals weekend.

SuperRugby final.
Gallagher Prem final.
URC final.
Currie cup semi finals which the Bulls already lost....
 
Intense final but was there any doubt that the Crusaders will take it?

Next game.

Curry Cup semi-final. Cheetahs vs Pumas in Bloemfontein @ 13:30
Gallagher Premiership final. Leicter Tigers vs Saracens @ 16:00
URC Final. The Stormers vs The Blue Bulls @ 19:30
 
Lol England lost badly against the Barbarians....
 
As a Japan rugby supporter, I think they are going to get hammered. They haven’t had a proper camp since the RWC, and they had limited preparation with their tests during the pandemic in which their head coaching was mostly absent. I hope that Jamie Joseph worked hard with this squad, but the extended squad is almost all new (overemphasised, but still). They pitched an experimental team against Uruguay this past weekend, and they struggled whilst dominating the scrum, they won 34-15, but it was not convincing.

Not to mention that they have John Mitchell now, though it isn’t bad news, it is an alteration they need to get in motion with. Their players who are playing at premier clubs now also seems to be locked… don’t know.

I can’t see this team beat France; they haven’t played together in a LONG time. I would rate Japan anywhere between 12-15 at this time. Their emerging team, including some regulars, played Tonga Samurai (Japan-based Tongan players) the other day in a charity match, and they won that 31-12, but that isn’t Tonga though many are based in Japan, and they had Barbarian-class coaches.

France won't put up a slouch team. Japan is looking a bit more Japanese, looking at their extended squad which is ~70 players about ~50 are Japanese so 70% more or less.
 
France announced their touring team to Japan, and it seems that they did skimp out on some quality players. Basically the Barbarians team which won England with more French,

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U20's kick off their European summer series this afternoon at 5pm, against England.

It's a tough 3 match series v England today, Ireland on the 29th and France on the 5th July.
 
Japan has announced a more experienced, but still experimental and wholesale, team to play Uruguay in their second round. Still some new players in the team, and Jamie Joseph has given a start to players he considered to be too young at a time. Happy to see Takuya Yamasawa in the starting line-up. Only 13 players in the team are ethnic Japanese, though some Tongans and Leitch was schooled in Japan. Still, the team is only 57% ethnic Japanese.

Ignoring the above, and seeing that Japan has two teams being tested here, they want depth to go up against the European teams next month which is good news since their national team has long struggled with depth. Perhaps I was wrong, the Japanese could be top 10 competitive which is to be expected given their stature.
 
30-22 to the baby boks.

Very good result considering these chaps haven’t played a competitive game together.

Had 2 tries disallowed, butchered another 2 and missed 4 conversions of the 5 they did score. The scoreline flatters England somewhat.

I really enjoyed watching them play.

They look a well coached side and their handling was impressive, something which has been incredibly frustrating from previous seasons U20’s…
 
A much better game by Japan in their second outing against Uruguay, though not an enterprising game at all. They won 43-7.

Next up is France.
 
Congrats to the Pumas. A very entertaining game.
Now - looking forward to the International Tests this weekend -:
- All Blacks vs Ireland,
- Australia vs England,
- Boks vs Wales
 
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