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#Post#: 115122--------------------------------------------------
Pat Lam hits out at ‘dangerous’ schedule that sees Premiership
teams play 16 weekends in a row
DIR By: deadlyfrom5yardsout
Date: November 8, 2023, 2:29 am
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Pat Lam, the Bristol Bears director of rugby, has warned of a
“dangerous situation” as Premiership clubs face a “relentless”
run of fixtures without a break until February.
Starting last weekend, clubs in England’s top flight have had to
prepare for 16 consecutive weekends of elite domestic and
European fixtures until the Premiership Rugby Cup returns during
the 2024 Six Nations.
“I believe we’re in a really dangerous situation at the moment,”
Lam said. “Having 16 games non-stop until February is a
dangerous situation and we’re seeing lots of players go down. I
know it’s the World Cup but, before Covid, we were playing four
or five games and then getting a break. In back-to-back seasons
after Covid, that became eight or nine and I thought: ‘Here we
go’.
“Now, with 16, it’s a big ask. It’s going to need depth and a
bit of luck because injuries are going to bounce. It’s
relentless at the moment.
“What we can do is manage our week and manage individuals. Some
guys might only have one session in the week to get ready. Your
training programme is the big one in the week that you have to
manage. We’re only four rounds in and when you add Europe,
you’re not coming up for water until... February. That’s a big
challenge.”
Exeter and Bristol players compete - Pat Lam slams ‘dangerous’
schedule of Premiership sides playing 16 weekends in row
Exeter and Bristol players put their bodies on the line last
Sunday, at the start of 16 consecutive weekends of top-level
domestic and European rugby matches CREDIT: Getty Images/Bob
Bradford
As Simon Massie-Taylor, Premiership Rugby chief executive,
confirmed to Telegraph Sport in an exclusive interview last
week, the new Professional Game Partnership (PGP) – the
agreement between the Rugby Football Union and England’s
top-flight clubs – will be unveiled next month, and Lam believes
it must “benefit everyone”.
“Country, club, players and competition,” he said.
Lam’s counterpart in Bristol’s Premiership loss at Exeter on
Sunday, Rob Baxter also called on the game’s authorities to make
sure that players were front and centre in shaping the sport,
while lamenting the negativity surrounding the club game.
“Crowds are down across the board,” said Exeter’s director of
rugby, whose Chiefs currently sit atop the Premiership table.
“We’ve got to bring a feel-good factor. Every game has good
things and bad things. We’ve got to promote the good stuff and
stop bringing up the bad stuff as the only important thing in
the game.
“For me, we’ve got to stop having games decided because there
are 13 or 14 players on the field. We’ve got to move on from
this stuff and make the game more responsible for keeping people
involved in it.
“My only hope is that the game as a whole in this country comes
to an agreement about how we can all talk and feel positively
about everything that is important in rugby. For me, it’s
heart-breaking to see people not talking positively about
England at the World Cup. I actually thought [the criticism] was
over the top.
Exeter Chiefs' Director of Rugby Rob Baxter
Rob Baxter wants to attract more people to English rugby by
replacing negative reaction with a more positive approach
CREDIT: Getty Images/Bob Bradford
“Even now, with England’s positive performances in the last two
games, there hasn’t been a lot of positive chat about it. We
need to be talking positively about England. We need to be
talking positively about the Premiership. We need people who are
outside the game to want to come and watch it and to be
intrigued, not be put off.
“We need to get on top of the head-injury process properly,
across the group, so the players know where they stand. I
actually think if you asked professional players to set the
standard of what should be a yellow card, we’d get a way better
perspective on it than what we have now. And they’re the most
important people, so why aren’t they leading the chat on it?
“There are some very, very common-sense things that we’re not
doing, but we need to do. We need to make the game attractive to
everybody. That’s how you stop clubs from going bankrupt, by
making it so that they want to come to games and spend their
money at the bar or to invest as a sponsor. That’s the
responsibility of all of us.”
#Post#: 115123--------------------------------------------------
Re: Pat Lam hits out at ‘dangerous’ schedule that sees
Premiership teams play 16 weekends in a row
DIR By: Banstead Quin
Date: November 8, 2023, 3:07 am
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OK so they moan when there's breaks, they moan when they have to
play games during International windows and they lose all of
there 'stars' and now they moan that they have to play 16
weekends on the trot....
Not sure I'm feeling the sympathy here, plus they get 5 weeks
off in the Spring
#Post#: 115125--------------------------------------------------
Re: Pat Lam hits out at ‘dangerous’ schedule that sees
Premiership teams play 16 weekends in a row
DIR By: Rocker
Date: November 8, 2023, 3:41 am
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But it isn't like he didn't know this was going to happen. It's
her just getting his excuses in early due failing to build his
squad properly? I have to say I'm not very impressed with Pat as
a DOR. If I was his employer I'd be asking some very tough
questions about performance and spending. They must have I've of
the more expensive teams in the competition but still fail to
deliver.
#Post#: 115129--------------------------------------------------
Re: Pat Lam hits out at ‘dangerous’ schedule that sees
Premiership teams play 16 weekends in a row
DIR By: JammyGit
Date: November 8, 2023, 4:38 am
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You can't build a squad for a one-off season. He's right, the
schedule is crazy and when it was first announced a year ago
there was broad agreement that it's crazy.
#Post#: 115134--------------------------------------------------
Re: Pat Lam hits out at ‘dangerous’ schedule that sees
Premiership teams play 16 weekends in a row
DIR By: Nico Wilson
Date: November 8, 2023, 6:07 am
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There’s apparently a “new deal” for the Premiership being
thrashed out so I wonder if Pat Liam’s comments are lobbying on
the deal:
HTML https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/nov/07/the-breakdown-english-rugby-union-premiership-wasps-london-irish-worcester
#Post#: 115137--------------------------------------------------
Re: Pat Lam hits out at ‘dangerous’ schedule that sees
Premiership teams play 16 weekends in a row
DIR By: Rocker
Date: November 8, 2023, 8:12 am
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--- Quote from: JammyGit link ---
>
> You can't build a squad for a one-off season. He's right, the
schedule is crazy and when it was first announced a year ago
there was broad agreement that it's crazy.
>
--- End Quote ---
Fair enough, but his squads haven't impressed since we gave them
a drubing in the semi a few years ago. Still think it's a bit of
a whinge....
#Post#: 115139--------------------------------------------------
Re: Pat Lam hits out at ‘dangerous’ schedule that sees
Premiership teams play 16 weekends in a row
DIR By: euroquin
Date: November 8, 2023, 8:53 am
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Looking at their website, Bristol have a first team squad of 45
and a senior academy of 23. For 18 premiership games. He just
needs to rotate.
But harder to do when you splash most of the salary cap on just
a few superstars I guess.
#Post#: 115140--------------------------------------------------
Re: Pat Lam hits out at ‘dangerous’ schedule that sees
Premiership teams play 16 weekends in a row
DIR By: Yareet
Date: November 8, 2023, 9:09 am
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--- Quote from: euroquin link ---
>
> Looking at their website, Bristol have a first team squad of
45 and a senior academy of 23. For 18 premiership games, 4
European games, 5 PRC games and any Euro/Prem KO matches.. He
just needs to rotate.
>
> But harder to do when you splash most of the salary cap on
just a few superstars I guess.
>
--- End Quote ---
I'm not disagreeing with the sentiment of your post nor
suggesting that Bears are any sort of special case but it's not
as if Lam can call up a whole other squad for the non-Prem
games.
#Post#: 115141--------------------------------------------------
Re: Pat Lam hits out at ‘dangerous’ schedule that sees
Premiership teams play 16 weekends in a row
DIR By: euroquin
Date: November 8, 2023, 9:23 am
---------------------------------------------------------
True but nevertheless, there are 6 fewer premiership games than
in recent seasons! (And you can play the academy and even guest
ringers in the PRC). The only real difference in season
structure is that the PRC games were in Sep/Oct during the RWC
group stage rather than during the Nov internationals or 6N. And
there is a nearly 2 month break during the 6N this season!
This really does seem like whinging from a DoR who has built a
top-heavy, unbalanced squad.
#Post#: 115142--------------------------------------------------
Re: Pat Lam hits out at ‘dangerous’ schedule that sees
Premiership teams play 16 weekends in a row
DIR By: Yareet
Date: November 8, 2023, 9:41 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: euroquin link ---
>
> True but nevertheless, there are 6 fewer premiership games
than in recent seasons! (And you can play the academy and even
guest ringers in the PRC). The only real difference in season
structure is that the PRC games were in Sep/Oct during the RWC
group stage rather than during the Nov internationals or 6N. And
there is a nearly 2 month break during the 6N this season!
>
> This really does seem like whinging from a DoR who has built a
top-heavy, unbalanced squad.
>
--- End Quote ---
Fully agree with that bit.
And with the sentiment expressed elsewhere that DoRs complain
when they lose players to Test matches but now Lam is
complaining that there are no club games on to avoid a clash
with Test matches.
As for Baxter's assertation that the players have the best idea
how high a tackle should be to warrant a card 🤪
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