M

[M @boxkick9]

Here the issue is more that the level of players has dropped off substantially. Samu Manoa would still be an elite lock or blindside today. From the USA team in 2018 that beat Scotland, the majority of the starters either were playing in a top 3 European league (Prem/T14/URC) or would shortly after. Today's team was missing a few players who fit that description due to club duties but for the most part the players just aren't of the same standard.

[M @boxkick9]

There is exactly 1 player who was largely raised in Samoa or Tonga in the 46 players who was selected for the All Blacks and Wallabies this weekend. Big time raid. WR does fund the Samoan and Tongan unions. They're horribly corrupt and poorly run. Good luck to the NRL navigating that.

[M @boxkick9]

@wallybechara @Mr_K1W1 @DavidOc49156723 There are more players who were raised in Tier 3 European countries (2) in the ABs team tomorrow than there are players who were raised in Samoa or Tonga (0)

[M @boxkick9]

I actually don't doubt this RLWC is having a positive impact in the islands. We've seen support from those communities in the US as well. It's pretty much the only sport where they can have even an outside chance at a world title, regardless of where the players are from. But what that actually translates to long term is effectively little. Maybe a little more popularity with Samoans and Tongans in Australia, who already tend to like league. It won't change the player pool much, if at all. It won't change TV rights by more than a rounding error. So while it seem great, the actual impact is minimal. It's true in rugby union as well, which is why it's generally a waste of money for WR to focus on Samoa and Tonga when it comes to Tier 2 funding. They'll be roughly the same strength teams regardless of development funds because they will only ever get the best eligible players who don't make the ABs or Wallabies. There are other countries where WR would get much more bang for its buck.

[M @boxkick9]

@wallybechara @DavidOc49156723 Tonga just played Romania in Bucharest today and play Georgia in Tbilisi and Hong Kong in HK the next 2 weeks. Samoa play Zimbabwe in England this weekend, and Portugal and Uruguay in Lisbon the following two weekends.

[M @boxkick9]

There are homegrown Samoans and Tongans in rugby union but the bulk of their teams are Kiwis of Samoan and Tongan ancestry with the occasional Aussie. Rugby league can talk up Samoa and Tonga all they want but even if league were to take over the islands, that by itself would have minimal impact on the player pool in either sport. They are small, poor countries with poor ability to develop modern athletes. The latent talent pool is outstanding, which is why they do so well in both codes when immigrating to Aus/NZ, but on island development is not.

[M @boxkick9]

I know it's hard for league fans to understand but there is a world outside of Australia. Ignoring the salaries available in France and Japan, not to mention England, plus reasonable salaries in French Pro D2 for those who don't make the cut at the top level while entirely focusing on Australia as if it's the center of the world is ridiculous. Further, if the talent is as poor in rugby union as you regularly claim, it should be easier to make the All Blacks, or Top 14, than it is to make an NRL squad. Can't have it both ways.

[M @boxkick9]

17 wrestlers and 18 T&F. Some of the wrestlers look like they'd be a bit small for international rugby, though. Added as tabs to the Google doc above. It also found an additional 92 college football players with rugby experience last year who are not on rosters this year. These are players USAR/MLR could go after today (one of them actually was drafted in the MLR draft already).

[M @boxkick9]

@USARugbyWAKEUP @USARugby ChatGPT makes this easy. Will run it right now and let you know.

[M @boxkick9]

@campaignist1 @carlsson808 @ArmandDoma There are 4 Jews in "Arab" parties in the Knesset and many Arabs and Druze on the lists of Zionist parties in the Knesset

[M @boxkick9]

@RugbyBat @T2Rugby It does if teams have a tendency to score in the corner vs under the posts, e.g. a team who scores more from mauls than normal.

[M @boxkick9]

It's supposed to be a world cup. Being nonexistent in its second biggest (or biggest depending on how you slice it) market and basically anywhere outside of the South Pacific makes a mockery of it. Great that it's doing well in Australia and it's impressive what the NRL has done but it's basically dying off outside of the South Pacific and is little more than a bunch of Aussies and Kiwis playing for various countries beating the hell out of everyone even with a 10 team format. People jumping all over a 1.5m rating for Aus-Fiji but that was dwarfed even in per capita terms by the ratings for the last RWC, including in countries that were not contenders and in a bad time zone, such as Japan:

[M @boxkick9]

The RWC is nowhere near the FIFA WC, but that's just not true even for the RWC. Japan had the 3rd highest viewership for the 2023 RWC, despite not being even close to the same time zone, their team not performing well and countries such as France, England and South Africa being in favorable time zones.

https://t.co/XV4qmWiqhG

[M @boxkick9]

It's because there is no point investing in the PIs. They produce very few players on island. Australia and NZ produce basically all of their internationals, who are generally not good enough for those national teams. Add on extremely corrupt and poorly run unions and the investment is a poor choice. The countries worthy of T2 investment are those who can produce more elite players. At the moment that's a bunch of European T2 countries (Spain, Portugal, Georgia, Belgium and Netherlands) and a couple South American countries. And perhaps Zimbabwe, USA and Canada although the European and South Americans are better bang for buck.

[M @boxkick9]

It's players with no prior connection to a country targeting playing for that national team like it's a club shirt. Holland and Segner in NZ are good examples but so are the project players in Ireland. Residency qualification should be for when you move somewhere as a child with your family, not targeting playing for a better national team.

[M @boxkick9]

@goldust02 @MikeMeehallWood He doesn't care. He's got a chip on his shoulder the size of Everest.

[Tier 2 Rugby @T2Rugby]

🇬🇪 Black Lion has shown themselves worthy of being involved in the European Challenge Cup. However we shouldn't stop there. 🇮🇱 Tel Aviv Heat with some canny recruitment has proven to be close in level to them so EPCR should be looking to include them next as well.

[Tel Aviv Heat @TelAvivHeat]

Important fixture change update:

Due to the ongoing situation in Israel, the Tel Aviv Heat will host the Black Lion on Saturday, November 18 in Limassol, Cyprus.

The match will be played in Tsirio Stadium.
Kickoff will be at 7:00 PM.

https://t.co/BN6AQqy8EP