They're pretty important if you're professional or paying some of your players.

I think the point he's making is that as a percentage of the overall revenue for the year, attendances at that level are peanuts compared to sponsorship and central funding.

If London Welsh pull in 1,500 punters at £10 a head, that's £15,000 every two weeks. I'd guess that's dwarfed by what they receive from other funding sources.

More or less what I said three posts up.

Hadden has left SRU.

Tuesday's Lions game was pretty shocking viewing, thought to be fair, it was played in shocking conditions. The midweek side did look pretty weak though. It doesn't have much bearing for Saturday.

The test side is tba soon. Expect Fitzgerald to be on the wing in place of Monye.

Sean McGuire (former Sainst cheif exec.) was less than impressed with the first test:

"To cut through the absurd post morte masquerading as post match analysis, basically one of their big lads was able to push one of our big lads back in a few scrums with some success. It was as simple as that."

"Similarly the Lions defeat was not the result of some geopolitical, unpredicatble event but a simple lack of skill."

"But that does'nt stop there being faux complex explanations of why a key tactic is kicking the ball back and forth with tedious frequency - most of it without any tactical benefit to anyone - usually until it is dropped or goes into touch."

"RL fans like me can be overly critical of union form time to time, but the one thing we are correct about is our characterisation of RU as kick-and-clap."

"It always reminds me of everything I have read about World War I. A massive struggle, but all for a few yards of no man's land."

Good of McGuire to write something at a level your average Saints fan might understand.

Test side is out:

Adam Jones for Vickery
Matthew Rees for Mears
Simon Shaw for Alun Wyn Jones
Kearney for the injured Byrne
Fitzgerald for Monye

Simon Shaw? Why?

Get your money on the Boks kicking at least four or five penalties.

Because Simon Shaw is a big nasty man who will provide some physicality in the forwards.

Sadly he's also too stupid to play either within the laws of the game or at least be sly enough not to get caught.

where did you find this info pal

rlThe Beebrl

Plus Lee Byrne will take no further part, due to injury.

Shame for Byrne, looked really good in the opening weeks of the tour and his kicking game would have been a weapon at altitude.

Kearney is a good kicker, maybe better than Byrne. The Lions will miss Byrne's running however. I wish Earls was on the bench, he's more dangerous with ball-in-hand than Kearney.

14.00 kick off. The Lions need to win to keep the Series alive. As per. I hope I'm wrong, but I can't see the Lions pulling it off, especially at altitude.