With all respect of opinions, great curating & questions from host. Love how James gives straight answers, & trend analyst very clear. Mike confuses me in simply articulating his rugby views/opinion, but mostly about why he "is not smellimg the coffee". He might be right, but would love to ask questions to him.
My 1st questions I would ask to Mike, is to ask who are his top 5 rugby players in current rugby internationally, best coaching administration & with a clear explanation why?
6 Nations, Champions Cup, Lions Tour, PWR & Women's Rugby World Cup - huge opportunities for both men & women both on & off that Top 10 list in '25 to really make a name & set themselves apart to the wider public!
It's an interesting balance for players, if they're more interested in doing good than making themself a brand. It's very clear with Maro and Marcus that culture and family have such importance to them; Siya and Ardie as well. Being paid what you're worth but knowing where you belong as part of a team or community. I think Ellie is quite shy or introverted but is aware of inspiring others and hosting a pod of her own. A lot of the women's players talk about accessibility to the game and inspiring young girls more than making themselves stars. To be honest I tend to stop following actors if all they're doing is promoting their own product or sponsorships; show me you're more than a corporate mouthpiece.
Wow. Ilona Maher actually got 7.5 points for her rugby from Tinds….. Will she even make it into the Bears team if talent/form is a pre requisite for selection. Bench maybe. Only there for the marketing opportunity, not the rugby ability. With the PWR salary cap effectively meaning she shouldn’t get paid (assuming Bears are already maxed out) and with selection for the USA in the World Cup by no means a certainty, a media role would have suited better.
@@walterstevens8676 It’s in your answer. Hardly anyone has seen her. No one even sure if she’ll be flanker, centre, wing. Starts training next year. Here for 3 months. Don’t expect anything
Du Pont is seriously limited by being really French AND a rugby player, so he's not a global sporting figure ( Since rugby isnt massively global sport) and English..
Im just gonna be honest i have never heard that name, ill have to go look up who this Ilona Maher Person even is. So i think she just makes your top 10. But thanks ill have a look who this is
Most Instagram followers of any rugby player (men/women/7s/union/league). Also was just on Dancing with the stars. Doing a lot to raise the profile of rugby in the states. Her move to Bristol bears meant her first scheduled game moved from a 3000 seat stadium to 20000 seat stadium due to overwhelming ticket demand.
Call me old fashioned but if you're a 'star' a lot of people in and out of the 'business' know who you are. No matter how hard you try and ram the women's game down our throats it has limted appeal to an even more limted amount of people. If it's a valid 'product' people will flock to it. If not, they won't - regardless of how much you hype it.
Opening international list is rubbish - it's MAYBE a USA list 2 gymnasts in the top 5 - horse manure No cricketers?? Final list is also a nonsense. DuPont Kolisi Kolbe are levels above everything
20:26 I think mostly the European nations have a love affair with him, down south we never really get to see this brilliance and when we do match up with him, mostly adequate performance. over hyped
@@neilharvey3099 It's impossible to sum him up in a few sentences. His progression, his talent, his defensive returns, his playmaker dimension, his creativity, the fact that he's capable of launching the game with both feet... There's only one like him in every generation. It's almost unheard of. He's achieved a status comparable to that of Richie McCaw, the legendary New Zealand captain. Rugby needs characters like Antoine to continue to develop.
I'm from South Africa 🇿🇦Rugby needs to appeal more to younger people especially black kids to appear as "cool" most of my friends view rugby as too white rugby has potential though
@@SmcdMcd-d2k because South African rugby has a chequered history linked with racism so to fix the problem you have to address it head on. As I’m sure you know white South Africans made it very clear they didn’t want to play with black South Africans for a very long time…
@SmcdMcd-d2k I was just talking about what I've seen from most people. People want to relate to the athletes first especially in South Africa most people in the township don't relate to most rugby players south africa football players are more relatable to most people and race does come in when you're trying to sell something to people... I'm not saying I'm correct I was just putting out there for people to consider it I still live in the township went to white schools in the suburbs there is a culture gap in our country when it comes to rugby if there's no rwc no one talks about rugby like that in the township.
Disagree with dropping Ellie Kildunne from 3rd, she is the best player in the world by a long way. If she was a man you would have never considered dropping her.
Ellie Kildunne has 60k followers on instagram, Siya has 1.4M. Siya is 100% a bigger star than Ellie Kildunne. Personally I think he is by far the biggest name in rugby. Outside of rugby fans, almost nobody will know who Ellie Kildunne is. Where I’m pretty confident more people will of seen Siya for what he represents to SA.
@@struandickson9082 Absolutely agree. It's becoming a proper cringe-fest all this ramming the women's game down our throats. No one cares. Just look at the viewing figures for GBR Women's episodes...
Who is your favourite rugby player and why?
What about Stuart Hogg? He'd make a good role model as to what not to do.
With all respect of opinions, great curating & questions from host. Love how James gives straight answers, & trend analyst very clear. Mike confuses me in simply articulating his rugby views/opinion, but mostly about why he "is not smellimg the coffee". He might be right, but would love to ask questions to him.
My 1st questions I would ask to Mike, is to ask who are his top 5 rugby players in current rugby internationally, best coaching administration & with a clear explanation why?
@@nqabamagwa9591 across both codes Kildunne, Dupont, Etzebeth, Kolbe, and we can argue the fifth but I'd go Maddie Levi
Cheslin is a 11 in everything.
6 Nations, Champions Cup, Lions Tour, PWR & Women's Rugby World Cup - huge opportunities for both men & women both on & off that Top 10 list in '25 to really make a name & set themselves apart to the wider public!
Whos BOD going to drop if Waboso starts for the Lions? Darcy Graham is better so he obviously starts as well right?
Really interesting pod
It’s the ‘Haskell Helmet’!
Whys Haskell looking younger? Fair play Hask.
It's an interesting balance for players, if they're more interested in doing good than making themself a brand. It's very clear with Maro and Marcus that culture and family have such importance to them; Siya and Ardie as well. Being paid what you're worth but knowing where you belong as part of a team or community. I think Ellie is quite shy or introverted but is aware of inspiring others and hosting a pod of her own. A lot of the women's players talk about accessibility to the game and inspiring young girls more than making themselves stars.
To be honest I tend to stop following actors if all they're doing is promoting their own product or sponsorships; show me you're more than a corporate mouthpiece.
Wow. Ilona Maher actually got 7.5 points for her rugby from Tinds…..
Will she even make it into the Bears team if talent/form is a pre requisite for selection. Bench maybe.
Only there for the marketing opportunity, not the rugby ability.
With the PWR salary cap effectively meaning she shouldn’t get paid (assuming Bears are already maxed out) and with selection for the USA in the World Cup by no means a certainty, a media role would have suited better.
Isnt she that great a player? I have only see her as a personality, never seen her play.
@@walterstevens8676
It’s in your answer. Hardly anyone has seen her. No one even sure if she’ll be flanker, centre, wing.
Starts training next year. Here for 3 months. Don’t expect anything
Du Pont is seriously limited by being really French AND a rugby player, so he's not a global sporting figure (
Since rugby isnt massively global sport) and English..
Im just gonna be honest i have never heard that name, ill have to go look up who this Ilona Maher Person even is. So i think she just makes your top 10. But thanks ill have a look who this is
Most Instagram followers of any rugby player (men/women/7s/union/league). Also was just on Dancing with the stars. Doing a lot to raise the profile of rugby in the states. Her move to Bristol bears meant her first scheduled game moved from a 3000 seat stadium to 20000 seat stadium due to overwhelming ticket demand.
Call me old fashioned but if you're a 'star' a lot of people in and out of the 'business' know who you are. No matter how hard you try and ram the women's game down our throats it has limted appeal to an even more limted amount of people. If it's a valid 'product' people will flock to it. If not, they won't - regardless of how much you hype it.
Opening international list is rubbish - it's MAYBE a USA list
2 gymnasts in the top 5 - horse manure
No cricketers??
Final list is also a nonsense.
DuPont
Kolisi
Kolbe
are levels above everything
Nah after kolbe fake diving against ireland. He’s gone down. And there are players who are on their level
No player needs to be a ‘brand’. This world now of folk becoming commodities… nah, keep it real.
Nobody watches womens rugby. Women don't watch womens rugby. An under 16 average schoolboy team could beat the England team. Utterly pointless.
20:26 I think mostly the European nations have a love affair with him, down south we never really get to see this brilliance and when we do match up with him, mostly adequate performance. over hyped
Why are South Africans always parading their ignorance as a form of pride? He's one of the best players in the world hands down
You should really not talk about 'ignorance', or 'arrogance' for that matter.
@@neilharvey3099 It's impossible to sum him up in a few sentences. His progression, his talent, his defensive returns, his playmaker dimension, his creativity, the fact that he's capable of launching the game with both feet... There's only one like him in every generation. It's almost unheard of. He's achieved a status comparable to that of Richie McCaw, the legendary New Zealand captain. Rugby needs characters like Antoine to continue to develop.
So ignorant
@@SmcdMcd-d2k he is mid
I'm from South Africa 🇿🇦Rugby needs to appeal more to younger people especially black kids to appear as "cool" most of my friends view rugby as too white rugby has potential though
Not sure why we have drag race into it
@@SmcdMcd-d2k because South African rugby has a chequered history linked with racism so to fix the problem you have to address it head on. As I’m sure you know white South Africans made it very clear they didn’t want to play with black South Africans for a very long time…
@SmcdMcd-d2k I was just talking about what I've seen from most people. People want to relate to the athletes first especially in South Africa most people in the township don't relate to most rugby players south africa football players are more relatable to most people and race does come in when you're trying to sell something to people... I'm not saying I'm correct I was just putting out there for people to consider it I still live in the township went to white schools in the suburbs there is a culture gap in our country when it comes to rugby if there's no rwc no one talks about rugby like that in the township.
Prendergast overhyped , talk about sour grapes. Martin has overhyped many players in his day.
Disagree with dropping Ellie Kildunne from 3rd, she is the best player in the world by a long way. If she was a man you would have never considered dropping her.
Ellie Kildunne has 60k followers on instagram, Siya has 1.4M. Siya is 100% a bigger star than Ellie Kildunne. Personally I think he is by far the biggest name in rugby. Outside of rugby fans, almost nobody will know who Ellie Kildunne is. Where I’m pretty confident more people will of seen Siya for what he represents to SA.
@@struandickson9082 Absolutely agree. It's becoming a proper cringe-fest all this ramming the women's game down our throats. No one cares. Just look at the viewing figures for GBR Women's episodes...