Bath v. Leicester, week 4, Televised -- Kind of

I'm all set to watch the Bath/Leicester match today. It's televised, it's at noon my time. A friend of mine who appreciates the rugby journey I'm on joins me at the bar near my house that has the channel I need...and it's not on.

Apparently the game will be on tape delay on Sunday night.

Thoughts on Round 3

Bath defeated Sale on the road for their first win of the year. Carraro had two tries and Banahan had one. It was my first exposure to Carraro, and I already documented my fondness for Banahan. Bath’s kicking game appeared improved also.

London Irish firmly crushed newly-promoted Leeds Carnegie. The exiles scored 7 tries. This prompts two questions: is the gap between National Divison One and the Premiership so large that a quality team like London Irish ought to be expected to pounce on ND One’s last champion? And two, I’m curious if there is any unwritten rule in rugby as to running up a score when a game has been reasonably put away? London Irish were leading 35-7 with 30 minutes left – and THEN scored three more tries. I understand that tries scored is a distant tiebreaker in the fixtures, but at what point do rugby fans feel that enough is enough?

Gloucester lost at home to Northampton. The game featured seven penalty tries! Two observations from the highlights. One, Gloucester has (had?) a flanker, Akapusi Qera, who scored a try. I could see myself rooting for that guy. Two, after the loss at home, the crowd was audibly cheering, suggesting a decent Northampton fan presence. Is Northampton a good road draw, or do Gloucester fans not show up adequately?

London Wasps took care of business against Worcester at home. It doesn’t appear that the Wasps ticket is a hot commodity, which is a bit disappointing. And, of the four finalists, the Wasps’ website forum is the only one I’ve struggled to log in to.

Next week’s match between Bath and Leicester at the Rec is televised in the US. I’ll be tuning in.

London Irish, Round 2

London Irish absolutely took care of Gloucester last week in a match I was not able to watch.

From the brief iTV mention on the Guinness Premiership's site, it would appear that there weren't all too many fans in attendance at Madejski Stadium, at least beyond the try zone.

Just observing...

Knock on Bath

Bath Rugby TV on Bath's website: not regularly updated. This is VERY disappointing from the standpoint of professionalism. Either have Bath Rugby TV on your website and update it regularly, or don't have it at all. Someone at Bath is not doing their job, to the detriment of their marketing efforts.

This is a knock against media availability.

A Tale of Two Videos

I just watched this video from the London Wasps in the 2004 Heineken Cup Final...

I must say, besides being among the greater athletic displays I've ever seen, that is just a ridiculously clutch play that anyone can get behind.

Compare that to this one of Bath from the Heineken Cup semis. I'm not sure what year this was...


Looks to me like all Bath needs to do is not turn it over AND not commit a penalty. Oops.

Letter to the Nominated Teams

While this form is addressed to Bath, a copy went to each "final four" team, except for London Irish (for whom I ran out of postage!). They'll get a hard copy soon...

Bath Rugby

Marketing/Fan Relations

11 Argyle Street

Bath, Somerset, England

BA2 4BQ

To whom it may concern:

My name is Tom Lyons. I am a 27-year-old American living in Madison, the capital city of the State of Wisconsin. Recently, I’ve come to be interested in Premiership League Rugby. I’m writing to your team to learn more about Bath Rugby.

Rugby has an enjoyable feel to watch and appreciate that popular American sports either do not or have with a great deal of commercial breaks. I’ve also been pleasantly surprised to learn that the Premiership League is quite available on the television and internet for American fans.

I will be following Premiership Rugby for the forthcoming season. After researching each of the teams, I’ve decided to specifically learn more about Bath, Gloucester, and the London Wasps toward the end of being a fan of one of those teams. Those three were selected largely by what I can learn of their cities from the internet, their ease of viewing on television or the internet, prior successes in Premiership play, and their potential for avoiding relegation, among others.

I believe that toward my end of ultimately choosing a team for which to be a fan, each of the teams ought to be informed and given the chance to help in this decision to whatever extent they might like. Might there be anything to know about your team that an American new to the sport might not otherwise know or appreciate? Might there be any other reason to be a fan of your team besides what I’ve mentioned above?

Geographic constraints might forbid me from, for instance, being an active season ticket holder. I believe, however, that the United States is an untapped area for Premiership League new fans. My home of Madison has a club rugby team. I largely came to appreciate the game of rugby from a friend who plays on another area club team. We will be hosting a Heineken Cup Final barbecue next spring with dozens of area guests! My point is that I hope to promote my new team and be every bit as much of a fan as one in Bath would.

Thank you for your time and attention. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Thomas Lyons

Week 2

I was all set to watch Bath host London Wasps or London Irish vs. Gloucester. I can't get the online broadcast thing to work. I'm a bit upset.

Guiness Premiership's website tells me that it's 17-10 London Wasps at half-time. Varndell has two tries. Claassens has one. I was hoping to watch Varndell play a bit. I'm now more bummed.

Week 1 - Bath at Gloucester

I watched Bath at Gloucester on Sunday morning of 9/4/09. Here are my observations.

*I was subconsciously watching the game through the lens of a Bath fan without admitting it to myself.

*The final score was 24-5, Gloucester. Bath missed 3 penalty kicks and a conversion. Penalty kicks look like easier versions of field goals, so it would seem to me that an 0-for-4 kicking day would be bad. Gloucester missed one penalty kick.

*Gloucester was clearly the better team. Bath could have outscored Gloucester and perhaps stolen a game had they:

a) Made their kicks, and

b) Not handed Gloucester a try or two, and/or

c) Scored a try when they had a chance.

*I have a mancrush on Bath wing Matt Banahan. He started on the bench. I also could get behind Bath Captain Michael Claassens, a South African scrum half.

*Bath’s outside wing, Joe Maddock, led the league in tries last year, but looked to me like he had a bad game and made a couple of dumb errors including hand Gloucester a try and force his teammates offside (which handed Gloucester a penalty). Reading the box score, he led the game in turnovers with five. I’ll have trouble getting behind him right away, despite his apparently great 2008-09.

*Scrum.com has a neat breakdown of post-game stats. Bath had 288 meters run with the ball, Gloucester had 412. I’m guessing the bulk of Gloucester’s came on its two longer tries, but that statistic is revealing nonetheless.

*Bath’s fullback, Nick Abendanon, wasn’t able to get me on board with him Sunday either. In hindsight, he had an ok game.

*Gloucester’s forwards didn’t exactly dominate Bath, but were clearly better or wanted it more.

*The man of the match was Gloucester fly half Nicky Robinson. James Simpson-Daniel scored two tries, one was given to him by a Bath turnover and one was given to him by a heads up play by Robinson. I could get behind both guys.

* Gloucester has a center, Eliota Fuimanono-Sapolu, who is the kind of guy you love him if he’s on your team and you hate him if he isn’t. He showed me that Sunday, he’s shown me that on Youtube. He had three penalties on the day. See also: Dennis Rodman, Bill Laimbeer, Bob Probert.

*Gloucester fans are definitely into it, but definitely not psycho. I admit, I was hoping for psycho.

*Their stadium, Kingsholm, is in the middle of a residential neighborhood. As in, you can see houses and apartment buildings from TV. If the neighborhood were Lakeview, I wonder if Kingsholm would be Wrigley. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Also, in researching the city of Gloucester, it appears to be a dump. If I’m supposed to potentially vacation to my team’s city, this is a knock, albeit a minimal one.

*London Wasps broadcast, at least through radio, all of their games on their website. This is a big plus. Next week, Bath hosts London Wasps, which is another game I’d like very much to watch but it is not televised in the US. This only really occurred to me as an issue for the forthcoming week 2, as Gloucester’s telecast is apparently unavailable in the US and the Bath v. London Wasps game is only available on their website.

*London Wasps chairman is a fellow named Mark Rigby. He is a partner in a British Commercial Property group, which whatever, but he is a former player and co-authored a blog! Freegin sweet.

*The grammar of the British media breaking down rugby matches is not exactly up to American par.

Pre-Season Ranks

Ok, the jury is back. Here are your findings. To reiterate, this doesn't solve anything, it's just giving us a starting point. It's like the pre-season polls in college football.
152.7 - Bath
137.5 - London Wasps
124.35 - London Irish
108.2 - Gloucester
103.15 - Worcester Warriors
92.67 - Northampton Saints
88.3 - Saracens
79-Harlequins
55-Sale Sharks
53.26-Newcastle Falcons

I'm thinking let's take a closer look at the top four during the year, but not necessarily rule anyone out.

Let's break this down.


Bath: Have won 7 league titles, televised routinely (but not always), really impressive tourism website does well to promote the city of Bath. Stadium was the most impressive, jersey is the best fit for me. Bath scored reasonably well in everything, but not dominating in anything. Lead the league in pre-season scheduled televised games.



London Irish: Great current talent.





London Wasps: Bonus points for being near London and winning Premiership titles without being the #1 seed.





Gloucester: 3 season titles, 0 league championships. That hurts. But, the stadium is revered, they score well on current talent.





Honorary Mention
Worcester Warriors: see London Wasps. Pretty slick uniforms. Not enough to get over the lack of history and promotion only 5 years ago.






So, we'll spend extra time watching and researching these teams, but none of our 10 eligibles have been eliminated. Suggestions?

So, how are we going to go about picking a team?

For those of you who are new to Premiership Rugby, there are 12 teams in the league. Each team plays a home and away against their 11 peer teams. Points in the standings -- England calls them the 'league table' -- are awarded for wins (4), draws (2), games in which four tries are scored (1) (rugby's touchdown equivalent), and games lost by 7 or fewer points (1). You add up your points at the end of the year, top four points-getters go to the playoffs, lowest point total is relegated to National Division One. (The National Division One winner is promoted to Premiership for the subsequent year.)

Got it? Ok, let's find a team to root for. First, our criteria. I turn to Bill Simmons of ESPN.com who faced a similar task in finding an English Premier League Soccer team to root for in 2006. Copying some of his criteria, and adding my own, we have my list of what I'm looking for. (Relative weights of each criterion are in parentheses).
1.) TV Viewership/Media Availability (8)
I don't live in England. I might vacation there at some point, but in large part my ability to watch Premiership rugby depends on the efforts of the league or the team to broadcast itself. If a team isn't broadcast, it's more difficult to root for it, and then I might as well mow the lawn. Bonus points for a Youtube presence.
2.) Key Players/People (6)
Does the team have rootable players that I could get behind? Is the owner or coach a cool guy? I don't need choir boys here, but if I can avoid rooting for bad guys I will. Let's just say I don't want to be rooting for Bad Boys if I can help it...
3.) Current Talent (5)
All else being equal, I'd prefer to not root for a team going through a rebuilding process. If I'm going to make a jump and follow a team, I'm going to need some early momentum. If you're good now that's better than being good in a year or two.
4.) Jersey (4)
England calls these 'kits.' Not a big deal, but if your uniforms are hideous than you're a tougher sell to the wife. Sorry.
5. & 6.) Season Titles, Premership Titles (3 each)
If you've won before you're more likely to win again. All I have to grade you is your history.
7.) Premiership Titles minus Season Titles (2)
If a team can pull off an upset and win a premiership title when they don't have the #1 seed in the playoffs, that's really impressive to me. Likewise, if a team DOESN'T win the premiership if they have the #1 seed, that is equally unimpressive. This category measures that.

8. & 9.) Stadium (2) & Vacationability (3)
Not a big deal, but if your stadium is cool and your city is or should be on my vacation destination list, it's easier for me to root for your team. Sorry, it just is.
10.) Demotion Potential (-6)
I wish I could tell my new team that I have time for them in National Division One. I don't. I stand no chance of ever watching you if you're relegated, you have to avoid last place.
11.) Bandwagon Potential (-7)
You know how way more UNC fans, Yankee fans, Cowboy fans, and Laker fans show up whenever those teams are doing well? I hate that. Everyone hates that. I can't just be the American fan of English rugby who jumped on the who's-hot-now bandwagon; I refuse to do it.


So, before we start, we have two teams that I'm vetoing off the bat.

Leicester Tigers. Having seen a few of Leicester's games, they seem well-run, well-mannered, and well-coached. They've won 8 titles and 2 of the last 3. Bandwagon potential is way too high, and this pick is way too easy. Pass.


Leeds Carnegie. Recently promoted. Congratulations. That puts you at the #1 risk for relegation. Pass.



I'll rate each of the other 10 teams on a 1-8 scale, multiply the rating by the category's rating, and see what kind of a list that helps us narrow things down to. That's not the whole story, but it gives us a starting point.

Welcome!

This site is devoted to journaling my thoughts toward the end of finding an Guinness Premiership League Rugby team to root for.

Why?
1.) If English Premier League soccer is going to take off in the US, I'd just assume be proactive in my efforts to avoid by demanding a different Euro sport. I hate soccer.
2.) While I am an avid Chicago Bears fan, the sport of American football -- particularly at the professional level -- does very little for me. It is too long, too commercial, and too predictable.
3.) Rugby is a very accessible game and demands as much diversity in physical fitness as I can recall seeing in any other sport.
4.) Of rugby leagues in the English speaking world, England's league is the most accessible and professional, in my opinion.
5.) Rugby demands the most amount of manhood of any non-barbaric sport I've seen.

Feel free to comment.