Catalancs what are your thoughts on the Ackford interview with Ashton.

Bit?


It's nothing to do with the sport he plays to be fair. It's a terrible waste of talent in my opinion. Cipriani isn't one to go hiding when it gets a bit rough as Charlie Hodgson and to a lesser extent Jonny Wilkinson have done throughout their careers.


First of all I think it's a rather poor read. I wanted to give up after the first paragraph or so but I'd been asked to read it by a friend so stuck it out till the end. Ackford may have been an England international (preferred Wade Dooley myself) but he's more village pub team when it comes to journalism. Maybe he was looking for a way to get some attention and couldn't be bothered thinking of anything original or thought provoking so went for the easy option.
Ashton seems to be an intelligent lad when he's interviewed on television or radio but now I'm really starting to wonder if it's just a media created image or indeed if it's a case of myself getting him all wrong. He famously went down the M6 to pose in a Northampton RU shirt while he was still a Wigan player. At the time I put that down to him being a naive young lad pressured into a cheap publicity stunt by his new club and his agent (Phil Clarke's brother, Andy). Now you could say that he was naive this time and that Ackford shamelessly manipulated and exploited him, but after spending the last two or three years in the national media spotlight I'm not having that for one minute.
If he's happy in union then that's fine and he'll obviously feel he made the right decision to leave rugby league, but I really don't understand why he needs to revisit Wigan and his first sport in such a negative and dismissive way if he has truly feels he has moved up and moved on.

Seem according to the League press that the Mirror interview was more balanced.

Ashton gave an honest and frank interview. For a young kid to upsticks and move to a new area, by himself and learn a new sport takes guts. To then succeed at that sport shows the measure of the man and you will have to excuse him if he is a tad bitter towards his home town, but then you would be too if you had to endure the stuff he did when he announced his move.

The best of it is, if this was an article slamming union, RLFANS would be in meltdown with adulation. The hypocrisy on these boards is unreal

Was listening to 5 Live on the way home tonight and they have the Thursday ‘Rugby’ show at 9.00pm. Rugby to the BBC is of course Union but tomorrow they have a piece talking about the demise of Rugby Union in the North... should make interesting listening

I'll be working! Hopefully I'll be able to catch it on the listen again service.
If they're talking about the three first division clubs then I might not bother actually. If the programme is about the sport as a whole then I definitely will.

I'm sure it will be the former - I will try and catch it as I am interested to hear what Union commentators make of the decline of Sale, Leeds and Newcastle and see if they can put some positive spin on the 'game as whole' in the North

Paul Ackford is an amateur. Nick Bryant, take a bow my son. www.spectator.co.uk/australia/67 ... ruit.thtml Absolute brilliant surrealism.

Paul Ackford is an amateur. Nick Bryant, take a bow my son. www.spectator.co.uk/australia/67 ... ruit.thtml Absolute brilliant surrealism.

Quote ="Catalancs"Paul Ackford is an amateur. Nick Bryant, take a bow my son. www.spectator.co.uk/australia/67 ... ruit.thtml Absolute brilliant surrealism.'" What a surprise that he works for the BBC. Absolute rubbish as usual coming from an idiot who obviously doesn't grasp that RL in Aus is in far better health than union,the mind boggles.

Quote ="Catalancs"Paul Ackford is an amateur. Nick Bryant, take a bow my son. www.spectator.co.uk/australia/67 ... ruit.thtml Absolute brilliant surrealism.'" What a surprise that he works for the BBC. Absolute rubbish as usual coming from an idiot who obviously doesn't grasp that RL in Aus is in far better health than union,the mind boggles.

He doesn't just work for the BBC, he's their chief Australia correspondent.



Dunbar, did you catch the programme? I was working till late then watched the football. There's a piece up on the BBC sport website which doesn't really tell me anything I didn't already know.

It's tonight at 9.00pm but I won't be able to catch it... not too bothered, had a stressful day at work and I'm pretty sure 5Live 'rugby' chat will wind me up more

Getting my days mixed up. It's been one of those kinds of weeks.

Currently you can get 3 tickets for the price of 2 to the Premiership Final or so the latest email I've received tells me.


Australian RU looking to get Wayne Bennett on board in sone capacity ahead of rugby union world cup.

Leeds drop out of the Premiership - and unless Newcastle and Sale up their game, one of them may follow next season

Doubt it. More than likely be Worcester although from what I've heard Leeds Carnegie may struggle to come straight back up.

Leeds aren't down yet. They finished bottom of the table but they haven't been officially relegated. It depends on the Championship Final outcome between Cornish Pirates and Worcester. Only Worcester can get promoted, so there's still a couple of weeks of hope

Worcester will probably come back stronger if they do. They've eased through this league and have all the facilities and fanbase that Sale and Newcastle haven't got.

They should have sent us down anyway. I predicted a record defeat today since I've been watching the club at least. 68-17 is something I can't really put into words. 10 tries against too. I remember only 3 years ago when we became the first club to ever go 4 games in a row without conceding a try.

I booked to go months ago but woke up this morning knackered and decided not to go. We lost heavily last season on my first visit to Kingsholm and glad I decided not to as I would have been annoyed.

At least Leeds put up a spirited performance. 24-3 up at one stage in the first half.

Shark J, what do see happening over the summer at Edgeley Park. What can we expect next season from Sale Sharks?

Chaos mate, in a word.

The club is falling apart. Feel free to have a read of our forum sometime and you'll see what the vibe is.

I don't buy into it all, the "revolution" nonsense. Every year we're told it's a transitional season. We're like a revolving door. We're becoming a club with no identity. I sit in one of the ends, and I have always admitted I'm more a fan of a game than somebody who knows the game inside out. I have knowledge, but I couldn't tell you which player should play at loosehead and which player should play at tighthead before the start of a game. Sitting where I do, it's sometimes hard to tell which player is which and with the way we have a completely different team every year it's no wonder when you basically have 17 games to get to know a player before they're off.

There's something like 30 coming and going this summer. Steve Diamond is scrapping people from on the field, right through to media and backroom staff. Will it make a difference though? I don't know if he was letting this season just fly by and waiting to call next season his own, but in the time since he's been back at the club we haven't had very pretty results. We've conceded over 50 4 times this season and we've now only won 2 away games in 2 years, both being Leeds. Steve seems like a down to Earth guy and although I'm not sure where he's from, I know he's a local lad and the club are in his heart. He guided Russia to the World Cup and left to come to a struggling English club side, so the passion is there.

There's just so much tension and friction at the club on so many levels.

Last night Brian Kennedy addressed the Stockport fans via an e-mail and told them that we are looking at moving elsewhere. The rumours have been there for years but finally, the man himself admitted it. I think he's had enough of his name being bad mouthed and realises the relationship is never going to build. At Edgeley Park today chants of "we want Sale out" could be heard and 30 people invaded the pitch and sat on the centre circle in protest.

It's ed a lot of the fans off, not just now but all season how badly our media side is communicated. We have a policy where we announce signings, but don't announce when a player is leaving. Plenty of times this season a player has left, it's been on messageboards, Sky, the other clubs have confirmed it, but we won't. I find that a bit spoilt and a bit bratty. To have an approach that "we'll let the other club announce it". So there have been so many times when we don't know what's going on. Now for our owner to privately confirm we're looking at options but not to tell us first has infuriated a lot of people.

I really can't think of anything for us that is going right - oh, apart from our youth set up. Our a team actually throw the ball around and score a few tries. We lost the final of the A League against a Leicester team that included an England international or two, so were beaten by an experienced side.

I want to be positive but can't. It's just been a forgetful season and I'm not even sure what's happened. It's been that bland. The season's felt like it's been over for weeks and we've had nothing to play for. We should be happy that we didn't get relegated but there aren't many cheering, let me tell you. Next year will be a big test, attendance wise. I can see numbers coming close to the other Northern clubs. A lot of people are talking about not renewing.

Looks like the defences have finally been sorted out. Spain 3-5 England.

For those interested – here is the attendance results for the premiership... a comparison of those in the league both this year and last

This is for all home games played at the teams home ground (i.e. no double headers or Twickenham/Reebok games)

Wasps – 2009-10 average 8,543, 2010-11 average 7,902 (-7%)
Leeds – 2009-10 average 6,046, 2010-11 average 5,751 (-5%)
London Irish – 2009-10 average 14,303, 2010-11 average 10,339 (-28%)
Newcastle – 2009-10 average 6,038, 2010-11 average 5,317 (-12%)
Sale – 2009-10 average 7,562, 2010-11 average 7,430 (-2%)
Saracens – 2009-10 average 9,033, 2010-11 average 7,517 (-17%)
Leicester – 2009-10 average 22,461, 2010-11 average 21,096 (-6%)
Bath – 2009-10 average 11,573, 2010-11 average 11,798 (+2%)
Quins – 2009-10 average 11,427, 2010-11 average 12,680 (+11%)
Northampton – 2009-10 average 13,122, 2010-11 average 13,358 (+2%)
Gloucester – 2009-10 average 12,588, 2010-11 average 12,911 (+3%)

Overall – 2009-10 average 11,272, 2010-11 average 10,638 (-6%)

Leicester leading the way yet again. Maybe the RFU should send the marketing men from the other clubs round to Welford Road to learn a thing or two. Leeds Carnegie crowds will surely fall even further next season, relegated or not. I agree with Shark J that Sale Sharks will see a decrease along with Newcastle unless they can come up with some very generous ticket offers. I'm surprised such a big drop for London Irish as whenever I've seen them they've played some good attacking rugby. The one that stands out for me is Saracens. Top two finish and favourites to make it to the final and yet down from 9,000+ to 7,000+.

For me, what stands out is traditional teams playing in traditional grounds doing well (Leicester, Quins, Bath, Gloucester) while those that are traditional teams in ‘borrowed’ stadiums are struggling (Wasps, Irish, Saracens etc) and the Northern teams continue to find it tough

Overall, it seems that Union is struggling to extend its reach beyond its existing fan base

[url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/may/06/leeds-premiership-relegation-neil-backNeil Back looks up to Super League[/url

[url=http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/super-rugby/a-cross-between-benny-hill-and-mating-season-for-wild-pigs--welcome-to-the-modern-scrum-20110508-1ee5h.htmlA cross between Benny Hill and mating season for wild pigs - welcome to the modern scrum[/url
[i'Even the referee was sick of it all. After 68 minutes of meandering otherwise known as the Waratahs-Force match on Saturday night, Stu Dickinson strode in between the two packs of forwards, and said: ''People are getting bored of this rubbish. Get it right.'[/i

And that despite plenty of column inches, being proclaimed the sport of choice by many on national television and radio (ie BBC Radio 5), superstar players and god knows how many plugs left, right and centre.

Back looks at a route whereby Leeds could guarantee themselves a place at the top table for the foreseeable future more like...

Even if they don't get relegated because Worcester have a brain explosion (they only beat Bedford by virtue of a very late try from a scrum five yards out), Leeds have lost a couple of their best young players for next season already in Burrell and Myall who have gone to Sale.

Sport England reduces funding for rugby union by £1.1m because of poor participation figures