Please continue.....

ooh, shiny new thread...
meanwhile the Sale Sharks farce rolls on. Redpath rewarded for Sale's WONDERFUL start by being moved to head coach. what is the difference between that and a director of rugby anyway!?

then Sale go and win last night! But before a Salford-esque crowd of 5700

Yes, it's a great shame they won. For the good of RL, both Sale and Wigan Athletic need relegating but Wigan Athletic are like dracula. You have to put a stake through their heart to finally kill them off.

I want Wigan Ath. to be relegated, if anything to see how much of their fanbase stays with them once they are back in the lower leagues. (arguably where they belong)

Same with Sale. Be interesting to see what the media would say about a national Premiership without a single northern team. (unless of course Newcastle come back, which is looking increasingly likely. Though they have a fanbase about the size of Salford's!)

I've no beef with Latics, but they are a bit like a credit-crunch Coventry City, i.e. you can't get rid of them. Unflushable. I suspect their support would dwindle but they still have a hardcore. Oddly enough I was having a conversation about them with my uncle, who is an Altrincham fan, and he remembers when they used to duke it out in the non-league scene...and it's very, very recent.

As for Sale- stuff 'em. If they go down, I'd be shocked if they come up anytime soon. But- as RU becomes more overtly southern (Exeter established, Bristol and Cornish Pirates surely going to end up there at some point), I suspect the RFU will expand rather than lose its big names and its geoegraphical spread.

Why do we belong in the lower leagues when for the last 8 years we've been good enough to stay in the PL?

To put that into perspective. We're 80 years old this year and have spent 10% of that time in the Country's top league. We have only been in the league for 34 years, meaning we were promoted from the very bottom division to the very top in just 26 years and then stayed there. If you like percentages, we've spent 23.5% of our league lives in the top division. In that time clubs such as West Ham, Newcastle, Bolton, Sunderland (twice), Derby, Wolves (twice) Sheff Utd and Birmingham (twice) who I would consider to be bigger clubs than us have all been relegated. Two of them by us. Some of them have never returned and have even been relegated again since. The only team currently in the Premier League that we haven't beat is Norwich but in the same breath we haven't lost to them either. We are the only team to be promoted to the top flight but never relegated (or something like that anyway)

We may only have a small fanbase, but until that equals points or goals we couldn't give a flying f*ck and I'm sure the majority of Leeds, Sheff Utd, Sheff Weds etc etc fans would be happy to sit in a ground with 7000 empty seats if it meant being in the top flight. Similarly I reckon most Geordies would be happy to see a few of their fanbase drop off if it meant winning a trophy.

So, I'm interested to hear. Why do we belong in the lower leagues?

Since you were effectively bankrolled to the top by Mr Whelan.

Despite spending less money than some clubs who are still not in the Premier League?

Does that mean the 5 winners of the Premier League don't deserve their titles because they bought players?

SO, getting back to rugby...

Big test for England tomorrow but if they can get their scrum going as it should do then they could really give the Aussies a going over. I expect they'll be taking the scrum option 9/10 as opposed to the line out.

Agreed, the Aussies were very poor last week by all accounts, I expect a backlash but England should edge it. Samao with an +11 handicap (Skybet) look a decent bet considering how bad Wales were last week also.

Wales 19 Samoa 26.

Scoreline flattered Wales.

Given how bad they were against the New Zealand 4th XV to night I dread to think what the All Blacks will do to them next week.

I'm looking forward to it personally

England 14 Australia 20.

England appear in a monstrosity of a strip, but pride in the jersey doesn't appear that important as half of the team appear to come from anywhere in the globe apart from England.

With five minutes to go and a try required to win they call for the creative skills of Owen Farrell. His first act is to pass the ball approximately two yards in front of a colleague's boot straps.

Hopeless rabble crushed last week by France comfortably hold on to win.