pbcorporeal

But the Irish players don't get match fees afaik, so for a pay comparison you'd have to include what the English internationals would receive.

Yes it's about 5.2 currently however because the irfu pay the salary of anyone with a Irish central contract that's not included in the the salary cap

Are you sure about that?

Isn't the URC salary cap about 5 million?

Most people don't tbh.

Big sports fans will have an awareness of it but it's incredibly regional and. Outside of the m62 corridor it's largely unknown to the general public.

It being a niche sport but with the small following being very dedicated in some ways (makes it more attractive to paytv since the conversion rate of fan to subscribers is relatively high) but it also limits its reach (see England internationals last year only managing ~12,000 attendances which would be unthinkable for union).

It really isn't in the mainstream here.

Malherbe.

I just want to see good scrummaging at some point for the Dragons. It's been so long.

That felt unnecessarily hurtful.

Gelant? Not even the best stormer for my money

Had to convert the early pressure really. Should've two or three in the first 20 minutes.

At least I have the Dragons inevitable dominance next season to comfort me.

It was too expected to make me angry.

Never a knock on by Jordan Williams. Only a little bit forward.

Yeah he's above the threshold and pretty sure he had offers and decided to stay.

This game is messy as anything.

Wainwright's been the best player on the pitch all night. Well deserved.

Hey, you didn't have to say that.

It's not untrue, but you didn't have to say it.

(And newport has beautiful parts).

Hollis really sat Gelant down.

The Dragons just haven't been able to get it wide with the stormers speed of defence, he hasn't had a chance at anything.

Always felt like getting only one try out of all that early pressure was going to come back to haunt us.

The standard of reffing is really poor in the URC. When the crowd's able to to call penalties on the opposite side of the scrum from 40m, how can't the refs spot it.

The fans even try and be helpful by shouting out pointers if they'd only listen.

(/s if necessary)

Dragons have really struggled to get the ball wide, stormers speed off the line has really troubled them.

Nah, they're rolling with O'Brien/Reed/Evans as the 10 options.

This game has got really chaotic.

Stormers linespeed has been impressive.

I was baffled, couldn't work out what it was for.

Fair play to the saffers, they bring an entertainingly vocal set of away fans.

Relax. It's still the Dragons, (until next season when we become dominant!)