Finlay MacLeod

@BSMIrugby

[Tier 2 Rugby @T2Rugby]

Colour, atmosphere, and passion in the stands at the 🇺🇾 Uruguayan club final between Old Christians and Old Boys.

Obviously none of this exists for Los Teros or Peñarol matches. South America has some good tribal fan cultures at amateur level but just hard to translate that to a commercially successful professional setup.

That is the difficulty as you can find some fans both in South America but also Iberia to whom loathing professionalism and loving amateurism is the point - or in other words some still have a version of upper class 20th century British attitudes to amateurism that have now become antiquated and peculiar in 21st century.

Those fans are entitled to their views, but in the context of being competitive globally, or the sport being able to reach lower classes and broader parts of the population, such amateurism is not ideal (obviously those two things may not bother some fans who are happy without that but they concern those who want to see Uruguay grow).

In fairness there are some in Uruguay who have worked very hard since 2015 to increase professionalism and it has resulted in stronger Teros teams being more competitive at 2019 & 2023 RWCs. In fact they have achieved near miracles to be able to beat Fiji, or be competitive in games against France, Italy or Scotland, considering Uruguay's very small player pool and very small resources. In fact Uruguayan rugby arguably more than any other RWC nation was squeezing the absolute most of the small amount it had and they should be very proud of their efforts to be competitive.

The problem is they have not had so much success in selling this project to the Uruguayan people (unlike in Chile) and so in longer term it is going to be harder to adequately support and fund it to continue or progress further and have any big dreams. Top level team sport ultimately needs the buy in of its people.

[Finlay MacLeod @Fin277Mac]

@TheRugbyIssue This is presuming that Fiji keeps 100% of ticket revenue at rented stadiums?

[Ignacio Chans @ignaciochans]

La entrevista a Pichot ya tiene disponible los subtítulos, la traducción de subtítulos en inglés y la transcripción a texto
https://t.co/whaXmFyVQx

[Finlay MacLeod @Fin277Mac]

@ignaciochans @AP9_ Is there a way to get it with English subtitles?

[Will Kelleher @willgkelleher]

📺

A step into the Wild West saloon, aka the French TV truck.

A lot of conversations -- with referees, TMOs, telly types and executives -- have led to this deep dive.

Did you know that, largely, the "French TV director" is one man?

@TimesSport

https://t.co/VHBuIluzgD

[Finlay MacLeod @Fin277Mac]

🎯🎯🎯
👌 Santi

@BSMIrugby

[Tier 2 Rugby @T2Rugby]

@AmericasOval @willgkelleher @TimesSport A considerable percentage of the panel that approved the exception for BJVR were English including the RFU CEO himself so they essentially asked themselves to make him eligible. It is ridiculous and makes a mockery of the international game.

[Asia Pacific Lions Rugby @APL_RUGBY]

The Asia Pacific Lions Rugby officially launched in Sydney, bringing together talent from across Asia & the Pacific ahead of a historic match in Sri Lanka.
https://t.co/wZgbKRi9DP

@asiarugby
@WorldRugby
@DavidCampese
@RusselArnold69
@SaabirCader
#APL #Rugby #Sydney #SriLanka

[Finlay MacLeod @Fin277Mac]

The stagnation of Georgian rugby is World Rugby’s responsibility.

When you don’t create pathways and the opportunity for progression, and leave nations at a level that they have outgrown, fans switch off, players lose ambition and the sport suffers as a consequence.

[Tier 2 Rugby @T2Rugby]

🇬🇪 Georgia over the past 12 months have been on their worst sequence of performances in a long time.

This includes the following:
- losing 5-34 at home to a very depleted Ireland, and looking like a pub team late on vs South Africa last July.
- trailing for nearly 65 minutes and conceding 30 pts to a USA team that had lost 85-0 to Scotland second string the previous week, and losing to a Japan team that had median of 1.5 caps on the bench last November.
- only leading Switzerland 7-3 at HT, conceding 30 pts at home to an off form Spain team, conceding 30 pts at home again to one of the weakest Romania teams to feature in REC, then embarrassingly losing to an inexperienced and limited Portugal team - the weakest opponent Georgia has lost to in 15 maybe 20 years.

The level this team over this period has been dire and been going backwards which is incredibly disappointing considering their U20s have been top 10 in the world for nearly a decade. Yet any prospects of getting as high as top 10 now looks far less promising especially as they will rarely ever play a top 12 opponent outside RWCs anymore.

Furthermore off field they've stained their reputation with a drug scandal, and crowds and fan interest appear to have waned, suggesting boredom and apathy.

[Finlay MacLeod @Fin277Mac]

🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[Russ Petty @rpetty80]

'Japan and Fiji will also compete in the competition but they are invited guests and will receive a participation fee rather than a cut of the commercial revenues'

[Russ Petty @rpetty80]

'Japan and Fiji will also compete in the competition but they are invited guests and will receive a participation fee rather than a cut of the commercial revenues'

[Finlay MacLeod @Fin277Mac]

The journey continues... good luck Santi!

@BSMIrugby

[Chicago Hounds @HoundsChicago]

The Chicago Hounds confirm the signing of versatile back Santiago Videla 😈🐺

Read about Chile's all-time leading points scorer here: https://t.co/SXivJUqyVQ

[Francisco Isaac @francisaac87]

'Lo máximo pateador' de los Cóndores, Santiago Videla: a Chilean hero. Do you know him? 👟

His story, ambitions, and hopes shared in this interview for @RugbyPass

https://t.co/An7pyq6GxU

[Tier 2 Rugby @T2Rugby]

ON THIS DAY in 2015: DTH van der Merwe finishes a classic try straight from the restart for 🇨🇦 Canada against 🇮🇹 Italy at the RWC.

[Finlay MacLeod @Fin277Mac]

$250m investment into the US market means -14% reduction in funding to
Rugby’s biggest growth market - South America and further cuts across Tier 2 nations.

World Rugby seem prepared to die on this hill to get rugby going in US. If it doesn’t work it could sink the game

[Ignacio Chans @ignaciochans]

Más recortes en World Rugby: le anunció a Sudamérica Rugby que recorta 14% su aporte para 2026, por lo que el Super Rugby Americas y otros programas deberán ajustarse el cinturón
Más detalles en esta nota
https://t.co/d0z6epz6IV

[Finlay MacLeod @Fin277Mac]

Broken system...

[Ignacio Chans @ignaciochans]

#Rugby
Datos de lo que cuesta a Chile el playoff vs Samoa
Pasajes: US$ 150 mil (WR aporta 38 mil)
WR cubre costos en USA (lo consideran parte del PNC). 🇼🇸no paga casi nada (no podría)
En 🇨🇱 el local se hace cargo de todo (15 mil de aporte de WR). Solo estadía de Samoa sale 50mil

[Rugby World Cup @rugbyworldcup]

Securing their spot for the first time since 1991! 🇿🇼

Congratulations to Zimbabwe for winning the Rugby Africa Cup. We will see you in Australia 👏

#RWC2027

[RWC 2031 Qualifying @2027Rwc13708]

🇳🇦 28-30 🇿🇼

THE SABLES HAVE DONE IT!

WHAT A NAIL-BITER

36 YEARS OF HURT END AS THEY SNATCH THE AFRICAN THRONE

This backline and their passion will be lots of fun to see at #RWC2027

🇳🇦 Now play 🇦🇪 (July 26) for a FQT spot

6 Places remain between 🇼🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇾 🇹🇴 🇨🇱 🇧🇪 🇳🇦 🇧🇷 🇵🇾 🇦🇪

[Francisco Isaac @francisaac87]

theeey haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaveeeeeeeeeeeeeeee dooooooooooooneeeeeeeeeeeee ittttttttttttt

ZIMBABWE IS QUALIFIED FOR THE 2027 MEN'S RUGBY WORLD CUP

SENSATIONALLLLLLLLLL

WHAT A FREAKING CHAOTIC GAME

CONGRATS SABLES!! 🇿🇼🇿🇼🇿🇼🇿🇼🇿🇼🇿🇼🇿🇼🇿🇼🇿🇼

[Finlay MacLeod @Fin277Mac]

Another big day for Matt in the Champ!

@mattmcnab98
@BSMIrugby

[Cornish Pirates @CornishPirates1]

Ending the weekend right with four first half stunners from @mattmcnab98 who was on 🔥 yesterday!