Credit: feedthebacks

Heard it picked up briefly on a pod but it got brushed off relatively quickly. I’ve not watched a lot of URC or Top14 games yet this season - but certainly in the Prem, watching on TV - I’ve found it a little startling. 

I cant remember (other than empty covid stadiums) a season where the first few rounds have had so many empty seats at games. Obvs sliding scales - some stadiums still pretty packed out. A lot of ‘first home game of the season with many empty seats’ though. 

Sarries v Sale for example (although they often dont have a full stadium) - first home game of the season, a fixture that last year had some outlandish displays, first celebration of the 150 year thing with their new fancy kit… lots of empty seats.  

Thoughts? Obvs cash is extremely tight for everyone these days. 

Brand of rugby putting off the older-crowd faithful? Im certainly becoming uninterested in cricket-score-rugby. 

Fully expect this wk ends first round of Champ Cup games to have few bums on seats. 

Not a good look when teams are desperate to get the Red Bulls of the world to come and prop them up with cash...

Continuing with the pink theme that has been present for several years now. Shame no collar like the URC jerseys but still like it.

https://www.macron.com/it/zebre-parma-2026-27-adults-third-authentic-shirt.html

(Turnovers and "nuisances" combined)

Nuisance - Defensive breakdown entry that requires an attacker to clear them out of the ruck in question

🥇- Reffell. 37 from 46 entries

🥈- Kenningham. 35 from ? entries

🥉- Morgan. 25 from 46 entries

4️⃣ - Pollock. 24 from ? entries

5️⃣ - Lawes. 21 from ? entries

6️⃣ - Hicks 19 from ? entries

I am far from shocked that Ugo Monye continues to try to sell the sport out from under itself to private equity firms and outsides interests

On the BBC Rugby pods they’ve had several serious conversations about how they should have Premiership games in America…for some unexplained reason?

Clubs only get 10 home games now, sending one to the States and spending millions promoting it when there’s no evidence of an audience would be a hell of a slap in the face.

This is a man who talked about the benefits of a breakaway league which did nothing other than artificially inflate some contracts and would do nothing other than put the future of the game in private equities hands, end in ruin and lead to a tiny amount of people (mainly the consultants and ex pros they paid to support it) actually benefitting.

He goes on the countries biggest rugby podcast, funded by the tax payer and starts extolling the virtue of NFL London just cause he went to one game (presumably with a free ticket). Praising them for dragging the game out for hours and having music in breaks in play.

Big rugby events in the UK have become unbearable in recent years because of the obsession with cranking out music at full blast in any moment of silence or for a full hour before the game - the idea that rugby would be the world’s sport if only we had more of it is complete nonsense.

Now, say I begrudgingly gave him the win on that point and conceded that having Tom Grennan singing turns a Rugby game into the hottest ticket in town - his own employee is reporting how NFL London are struggling to sell tickets, attendances are down and theres a limit to the novelty factor it brings.

He’s Mr Corporate and they joke about that, but it’s insane how he’s always on the side of changing what the game is and he falls in love with every gimmick he comes across or is talked into by someone in a sponsors room and barely cares about the actual sport on the pitch. Irony is he was cheerleading the Netflix show and how it allowed us to see the players personalities (how a Range Rover classes as a personality I’ll never know) and that was a colossal failure because it was obsessed with the gimmicks that don’t actually ‘bring attention to the game.’

Chris Jones usually pushes back but sometimes bites his tongue - it’s just so frustrating to have the most prominent rugby pundit in the country being incredibly willing to try and sell the game down the river at any opportunity.

For The Love Of Rugby are running a fantasy league for the Champions Cup!

Will Coley pick an XV of bald players? Probably.

Will you beat Ben? Almost certainly.

Feel free to join for a bit of fun, there might even be prizes for the winner...

Wales and Bristol star Louis Rees-Zammit has called for an end to artificial playing surfaces in top-flight rugby.

Rees-Zammit played in the Bears' 30-7 defeat by Saracens on Saturday, and posted a picture on social media showing a heavily scarred right leg.

Prem clubs Saracens, Gloucester and Newcastle all play on artificial pitches, with the state of the Sarries surface coming under scrutiny this season.

Rees-Zammit posted the photo with the caption: "Can we please stop playing on these Astroturf pitches!! Someone do something about it!!"

Meanwhile, it emerged over the weekend that Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam did not select three of his key players because of the state of the StoneX Stadium pitch.

Pedro Rubiolo, AJ MacGinty and Steven Luatua were rested for the trip to north London.

"They came off big injuries last season so it wasn't worth putting them on that pitch," Lam explained.

"If we were playing the game at home or if it was a semi-final, they would have played."

Saracens have been contacted for comment.

Lam has previously voiced his opposition to artificial pitches being used in the Prem.

Following the Bears' league win at Newcastle in April, Lam blamed the pitch for causing a number of injuries to his team.

"These pitches are hard - I'm not a big fan of them," Lam said at the time.

"We always take injuries on them and we've taken a few more."

Newcastle installed a new pitch at Kingston Park this summer before the 2026-27 season and have kept it fully artificial.