As an Ulster fan, the only Irish team on another level is Leinster. I think French teams will dominate the next 5-10 years, with Leinster. Unfortunately, as you mentioned, there is nothing you can do against the budgets those teams have. Exciting prospects about the English U20s lads coming through! World Rugby needs a dominating English side again - nothing more daunting than a massive English team IMO. Especially when they are whooping at every massive tackle and turnover. So intimidating.
Genuinely think since Joe marler and Daniel ceres went to work on Dan Cole's potato farm English rugby has been shakey. I believe that if our players were paid an Extra 250,000 grand like there french brothers they would be cooking up a right treat in Europe and we would have rugby on toast in Europe. I also humbly think Daniel cares has a bright future in media and these snooze vest chats are going nowhere, it's time to go more interactive my or go bigger the choice is yours just believe in your potential.
@@PocketRugbyI agree del boy . The Irish are a spent force, fading into Bolivion as quick as Daniel Cares hair line . The Road ahead is bleak for Irish rugby. When the motherland teams have a jump in Fortune's it's an eneverbilty that they dominate in Europe again and the mighty Leinster are also run . But chin up merry Christmas and a lovely new year
No English team are going to win the Heineken cup for the next 2 to 3 years based on the quality of the french teams and leinster at present. Something that the eng never memtion when it comes to discussing budgets is how the french and irish teams have limits on the number of foreign players that can be signed. In Ire we can only have 3 non irish qualified players in our entire squad. As a result we have to invest in academies and bring through talent where as Eng teams spend big on foreign players for short term success rather than planning for long term success
@101MIGHTYJOE you are absolutely correct my jolly friend, no English team will win the Heineken cup.......or french or Welsh or Irish. As they no longer sponsor the competition. Go steady on that Guinness.
English and French teams ruined the old European cup and clubs now get 20% of the previous money that sky sports paid and Heineken were paying to sponsor it. The difference is the top 14 is hugely popular and every club makes a profit every year due to huge public interest, tv money and ticket sales and have able to remain strong where as the prem is full of bankrupt clubs .
The representation of the Irish teams in the English media is bizarre. They never seem to want to actually find out any facts. Firstly, Connacht are not Leinster. They have a tiny playing base and get the least funding possible from the IRFU. Munster and Ulster have better player pools and bring in better sponsorship because of their bigger populations but are nowhere close to Leinster’s position. Leinster are the star studded team but they created almost all of those players. They didn’t sign them from elsewhere. The only Irish test player they signed from another province is Henshaw. And because they created these players, they get away with paying them a pittance early in their career. Sexton was reportedly only on 90k a year when he won his second Chamoions Cup. The pay ramps up as they become more valuable and ramps down again as they approach the end because they know a lot of guys who are married and have kids won’t bother moving on at that stage. The estimates of their salary outlay is based on presuming every player is getting their market value in salary, ignoring the figures (that we actually get to see) include coaches, backroom staff etc. Is it higher than English teams currently? Yes. Is it unfair? Meh! I don’t remember much sympathy for Irish teams when the likes of Leicester and Wasps were bestriding Europe. We accepted they were just really good players and really good coaches and we needed to get better. Ireland started to invest heavily in coaches and very judicious overseas players. Cheika, Nienaber, Schmidt, Erasmus, Lam, Gatland, Lancaster, Farrell etc. Ireland only has the same population as London and has to manage its playing resources extremely carefully to be able to compete. That’s why players aren’t flogged (even though when you check the figures, this too is overstated). We don’t have a dozen tightheads or hookers like England of France to call upon when the first choice breaks. I know I’m answering things not mentioned in this video but this stuff is taken as Gospel in England and it’s completely misrepresented.
@ 7.2 vs 8.8. Near enough for a country job. Prior to recent hiccups in teams going bust, it’s as if England had to rely on the 4 historic London teams (Quins, Wasps, Irish and Saracens) for their entire test squad.
Lol. Leinster has a player budget of €15 million - by far the highest in Europe. And that’s before you take into account the tax incentives offered by the Irish Government which mean rugby salaries can effectively be tax free. And RG Snyman and Jordie Barrett are home grown now??? Give over. The fact that Leinster can offer Jordie Barrett €100k A MONTH for his five month sojourn shows just how stuffed with cash they are. The Irish trying to pretend they are in poverty here is a joke.
@ Where did you get that figure? Three players they signed this season, two long term overseas players in Lowe and JGP. The rest are homegrown apart from Henshaw, who, like i said, is the only Irish test player signed from another province. I didn’t cry poverty. I said Connacht are badly funded, Munster and Ulster well funded and Leinster are wealthy. And I don’t care. They earn it. Whinging English fans can get their tiny violins out. But I do want a quote for the €15 million.
@ England has the richest rugby union on the planet the most resources the best facilities the biggest player pool, yet they have a pretty dismal international team. It’s not about the money it’s about how you use it. Leinster doesn’t have any rich benefactors, their success came through their team and its management their fans and their success from winning, they didn’t wake up one morning and suddenly they could pay any amount of salaries to any amount of players, they didn’t wake up one morning and they could pay any amount of money they didn’t have to any players. They are also restricted to the amount of foreign players they can have or play. Don’t be jealous of teams or countries that have a lot less than your own but managed to use it much better in the sport of rugby. Ireland has a player pool of approx 160 pro players England has 8/10 times that.
‘Irish teams’, Connacht, Ulster and Munster have budgets no bigger than the premiership sides Danny, just look at their 23s, they have very few star names there. Leinster obviously have a huge budget, but given they produce 97% of their squad homegrown unlike the Manchester City Nature of Toulouse and La Rochelle they probably deserve it.
I don’t understand why England rugby make things so hard. Wage caps on England teams and then not allowing players that are based overseas to play for the national team. It’s difficult enough to win these tournaments without putting more obstacles
The salary cap in France is just under 11 million euros, though it can increase slightly with a large number of international players, which entitles teams to a discount. It should not be confused with the budget, which is much higher for a club like Toulouse, but includes expenses unrelated to the professional team such as operating costs on shops or restaurants owned by the club. However, all of this contributes to the club's financial stability by diversifying its revenue streams.
The actual structure of the game in England is chaotic, if we are being honest. The current situation with the uproar over the RFU Execs getting bonuses based on performance targets is a perfect example of this 'chaos'. There appears to have been little oversight of how the RFU itself determined what the parameters actually were that garnered them the bonuses - and at literally the same time, several other employees of the RFU were being laid off!! How confident is Danny Care that the players who recently won the U20s World Cup will get the proper training and coaching to continue their progress in the professional game? What degree of continuity in player development (particularly for young players leaving schools at 17/18/19 years of age) can be expected under the auspices of this current RFU board? The suspension of Promotion-Relegation between the Premiership & Championship is just plainly ridiculous, made even more so with the folding of 3 Premiership Clubs in the last few years. Prominent England players are being forced to choose between earning proper money in France and a ridiculous Salary Cap restraint at home. I could go on but, there's no need to. It is eminently clear that the structure of how the game is being administered by both the RFU & Premiership owners is not working.
Try supporting a Welsh team in the URC. The no salary cap situation makes it virtually impossible for any of our sides to compete. The SRU basically fully fund two teams, the Irish teams, especially Leinster and Munster have massive budgets, The Italian Union have thrown their full backing behind Benetton and the South African sides have so many players it blows you away.
The squint feed into the scrum has caused what i call the de - hookerisation of the scrum. . No longer do we need the diddly squat but agile Eddie Jones types in the front row (yes mate). Just chuck in yer Malcom Marx megaliths instead. They don't hook because the ball bypasses them into the second row
As an Irish fan I'd be scared what would happen if they had no salary cap in England. Club rugby would explode because there's a market for it there if it can be grown.. England has a great tradition of investment when it comes to sports so there is a massive gaping hole there for growing the product of club rugby into the homes of non traditional fan bases. Its there.
I half agree, that with the population and the history of the game, and the amount of money in England, we should be able to make something work. But for some reason(s), that seem to be difficult to pin down, it just doesn't seem to work out the way you'd think. Is it just rugby losing popularity in younger generations? Is the poorly run premiership struggling to keep up in an increasingly financially rich European club rugby landscape? Is it the poor media coverage, and seemingly endless amounts of subscriptions to watch the games? Is it the numerous poor decisions made by those at the RFU in tandem, more interested in themselves than the growth of the game? Or maybe it's just that rugby is just tied to a bit of a classist divide, which stops it truly being released to its true potential for most of the population? Point is, I think it's more than just money.
I think having Irish provincial matches on public tv is what made the explosion in popularity of rugby in Ireland possible. Combine that a well run machine and Bob’s your uncle and Fanny’s your aunt.
@@toma411 you raise some fair points and the last one is certainly true from what I can see, that it’s more than just money. That’s true. I would think though, increasing the standard of the product isn’t a bad thing. Removing salary caps and focusing on marketing the product to everyone - like what the football did with the premier league in 1992. That changed football in England forget and the marketing team sat in a shed near Heathrow airport for years! They did a stellar job. Obviously that’s different as football has global appeal but rugby is in my opinion, a sitting unicorn. It’s being held back by class divide that’s purposely never challenged by the old guard. And just that, the old boys club doesn’t want to ruffle the feathers. There’s potential for England to be the best rugby club competition on the planet maybe jointly with the URC & Top14 - I think even better. It just needs some first principles thinking.
@@LeMerch I hope you're right, I'd love to see it as the best league! I think the difference with the Premier League is that there was already the the best football pyramid of teams in the world in place already, with football baked into the culture of pretty much every town in England. Rugby doesn't (currently) have a strong pyramid at all, which is a big part of what drove the competition of the Premier League, and therefore it's watchability. I'm really hoping we can sort out the divide between top division and second division rugby clubs soon. It's a big missed opportunity atm.
Glasgow have the second highest budget in the URC after Leinster. They’re right up there in the same ballpark as many Top 14 teams. Why would you imagine they don’t have money - one look at their squad would tell you how well off they are: it’s packed with internationals.
Very rich from the English boys giving out about Leinster 😂😂 I’m a munster fan but Leinster have 2 overseas stars for the first time in over a decade . Remind me of the saracens squad who won the European cup. Glass Fckin houses
And look what happened to Saracens? Got demoted and fined with Rob Baxter calling for their trophies to be withdrawn. To assemble a team of national players - who all basically play for the same national team - which wasn't the case with Sarries - would cost an absolute fortune in the premership even if it were legal to do so. The European Cup is a club competition being played by what is, effectively, the Irish National team. The only surprising thing is how they haven't won it more often.
@@danedwadd62 lol You're saying that like those players were playing for Ireland before playing for Leinster. The vast majority of them are home grown via the academy system. Toulouse is made up of predominently players who play for France, with a good few other world class players from other countries. These club sides are just as good as the top international sides, arguably even better.
@@danedwadd62 The Glasgow side is basically the Scottish national side and they haven't even gotten close to winning a European Cup yet. I don't hear you complaining about them never winning it. Leinster have at least won it 4 times.
English teams crying is always amusing , the country with more than double Irelands playing numbers , two professional leagues , thousands more players to choose from etc 😂. Leinster entire squad bar like 4 players are Leinster men who’ve been developed from grassroots, Most prem teams are mercenaries bought from all over the globe. English teams use their money to buy Pollards, Esterhuzens, Radradras, Piutaus, Montoyas while Leinster use their money to develop youngsters that’s the difference
Oh come on Leinster have the spending power of a Stade Toulouse . There is a clear €6million disparity over a premiership , a welsh or a South African club. It's not a matter of bleating it's about reality squad size and budgets win European Champions fact
@@danedwadd62 how much of that squad are kids from the academy or a couple years out of the academy? They have 4 imports in that entire squad of 50 … that’s less than any premiership club who just buys its players on eBay
@@patrickchilds2987 Leinster spending power isn’t remotely close to Toulouse, and Toulouse don’t produce half the amount of players Leinster do, Toulouse has bought more than half their entire squad from other countries/clubs and systems
@danedwadd62 what are you talking about they have won it more than any English team. Only toulouse have won it more. And if you have watched the last 3 finals the games went right to the wire.
One of the budgets misunderstandings I often see when people talk about the fictious massive budget at Leinster is the central contracts. People contend that the central contracts are part of the budget and add to the playing pool for Leinster. The fact is it is the exact opposite. The central contracts pay the players NOT to play. Freeing up the resource to pay players like Max Deegan to play because Josh Van de Flier is not permitted to. There are therefore 10 players at Leinster with very restricted gametime per season.
Earl is half right but Leinster don't even play their best team in Europe anymore or at least not for most of the tournament 7 or 8 of their best players where rested or held back with injuries this weekend. But they will all be there come semi final and final. Thats when the tournament really steps up
I think saying that a kicked ball in the air is a 50/50 isn't actually true the defender or the person receiving the ball now has to catch the ball, while the attacking player (chaser) just has to tap it back. Seems so unfair and is a massive advantage to thr attacking team
The escort rule is a great change. People have been just trying to tap the ball back without catching it for years now, so this rule doesn't impact this. I do think if you jump for a ball you must be seen to try and catch it otherwise it should be a penalty, this would stop lads flying in with no control hitting guys who are actually trying to catch it.
Biggest playing population, great under 20s historicallly, club rugby in England must look closer to home first. In saying that, thought England played well in Autumn! UK teams should be hammering Irish teams based on the pool of players at their disposal!
Great channel, I’ve commented on a different video but wanted to say again I love the fact that you’re taking a different route to the other pods that have and are springing up. I think it’s all great for the game (and likability of the English side who are probably now unfairly still disliked by many by virtue of being English).
Great video! My thoughts below. 1. The English teams are a step behind overall, as the Top 14 is like the Premier League in football. Having said that, anything can happen in sport so 5 years is very hard to predict but it will be very tough. The competition might benefit from a different format and only 16 teams in it as opposed to 24. 2. Depends on what the celebration is - often the result dictates whether it was "over the top" or not. An example might be the celebration when Patrick Tuipulotu knocked on off the post at Twickenham, England players celebrated then bottled the finish and lost. If they had won, the celebration might've seen as positivity. Maybe save the big celebrations once the result has been locked off or at the end of the game, nothing wrong with emotion in such a physical game. 3. I'm indifferent to the law, having a wall for the catcher shouldn't be allowed because it is obstruction however the really silly penalties being called are also a bit confusing. If a player has clearly been blocked off by a player turning his back on him then it should be a penalty but we have seen some really soft/non existent penalties called, which often have a big impact on the game as it can happen in the 22 off kick offs etc.
English players need to drop the plastic energy. It’s embarrassing at the best of times, and even more so when you’re not actually performing. Just all feels so forced and fake. Celebrate when you score points and when you win. Not when people make mistakes or you do something basic like make a tackle.
On the aerial challenge debate, do you think that an amendment to the law that states players must attempt to catch, no slap backs would improve safety in the aerial battles.
I agree with Ben (ew) on the first on the first. I think we proved it last season with the run Quins went on, but the problem is that the squad depth has to be spot on and all the cards have to be in your deck to maintain the form in both your national and european league. And this might be complete fan delusion but we could do it again.
The Munster OH got penalized by Luke Pearce for ‘swearing at a Stade Francais player’. Explain how that is worse than whooping? I played my first rugby game in the 50’s and since then I have never seen such a call made…unless the swearing was directed at an official.
I think the issue the number of players available during the whole season to play both the URC, Premiership or Top 14, plus the 6 nations for the clubs that have many internationals. It is now common for players to have at least one injury during the season, light or serious, so teams need to have at least 3 top level players at key roles. In France, there are Top 14 matches during the 6 nations, so UBB, La Rochelle and Toulouse need a second team to handle both player's rest and these matches, and almost a third one to tackle the injured players problem. Right now it seems only Toulouse and Leinster have this number of top level players, and they were still plagued with injuries for last season final..
Saracens have fallen off, that's the reason. It's not like loads of different English teams were doing well at that time. I'd say Exeter's was a flash in the pan moment during a weird time)
Man, I wish the Scottish sides could compete financially with France and Leinster. Bath have Finn on 1/5th of Edinburgh's budget alone, even with the salary cap in the Prem. I think there's good things coming through for English rugby but Toulouse, Bordeaux, Leinster are a different level from everyone else just now.
Edinburgh’s player budget is around £8 million. It’s higher than any English side. They are not remotely poor. Bath can choose to throw crazy money at one player if they want. But Edinburgh have way more internationals in their squad.
More people in Scotland should go to their games then. They arent big sides because they arent that popular. Rugby isnt a popular sport at all, its why we only have two pro teams and our premiership games get a couple of hundred people at them. Most fans at Scotland home games are day trippers that wont have ever watched a club game so there isnt a consistent flow of money in to the game.
I get the wage cap thing, but if it were really the problem there would be more than just one top English players playing outside the country. Yes you can’t bring in a marquis player but the player pool is huge compared to say the Irish teams. Depth is the issue. Not one English team has a bench as good as those they replace. That all said, the prem has become a very watchable product with an exponential increase in the quality of rugby being played and I can see its commercial success directly parallel its teams success rate in Europe.
English always complaining anyway when not winning. 2 options : ask to change the rules to favor them, or blame whatever or whoever (salary cap, referees, weather…). Better ask why there are so many people packing for TOP14 matches. Maybe because their kids play in the local team. And it’s the same for basketball, handball…
SA here, I just accept our URC teams are not going to dominate. Talent outside SA. I feel there is this huge gap between what English rugby capabilities are and the gloomy commentators. You made RWC semifinals lost by 1 points. Spent 2024 playing all the top teams losing by v narrow margins……don’t follow 6 nations so no idea there. Playing a Euro league simultaneously with the 3 leagues is ridiculous. Year should end with playoffs with top teams from URC Top14 and Prem. similar rules to the old Super Rugby conference/play-off system. Change rugby to a summer sport!
We will either see peeps running towards their own try line making the effort to catch the high ball or. I used to jump with studs showing, not many are stupid enough to run into a set of studs face 1st 🤷♂️
The whole of the urc don’t have the debt either so it’s not like they are paying massive wages. None of URC clubs are went bust in last few years so it’s clearly down to mismanagement. There’s also too much arrogance and entitlement in English game.
More crying by the English, the English have the richest rugby union in the world yet so many international teams preform better than them . But the complaint about clubs having more money is a complaint in every sport.
Since the 1980's we wrap our kids in cotten wool, making them weak minded and bodied. Last week I spoke to a volunteer coach who is giving up coaching under 15's because he has been told not to urge the forwards to push too hard in the scrum, in case they get hurt. Does anyone know if other Countries do this?
Of course french teams are better only because od yhe money... Thats why national team is rubbish and there is no french players in the mains top 14 Squads. Come on guys, instead of crying start play rugby and admit the british 50 years old technic kick ocupation plus pick and go doesnt work anymore.
@@DannyCareYT Looking at the constant law changes most of are wondering what kind of sorry excuse rugby will turn into. My OP comment probably is ludicrous but maybe we should just go back a couple of decades and roll with those rules.
I personally love the no escorting law, because of the contest it invites. Seeing teams like Saracens, Chiefs and others do it for years in the stands or on TV is so frustrating. It deserves to be a contest. I understand the players point of view, in that it can invite more danger, but I ultimately think it's good for the game.
0:38 totally wrong about wage caps in France... For 2024 the salary cap in the Top 14 teams is at 8.9 millions £ ( 10.7 millions €) far from the 30 millions £ he talks about
English rugby has not fallen that much, because it also shines through some of your fantastic players like Jack Willis playing for our french sides, and if it cannot benefit at the moment the english clubs, it could at least benefit the england national team if you change the rules. After all in football the greatest players have the right to play in foreign clubs while playing for their national teams (like brasilian players in madrid for example). Why not in rugby with England.. remember our french players playing for english clubs (chabal, picamoles..) it wasn't a problem for french rugby that they played for english clubs, it was a good opportunity for them to work for english clubs while keeping an important role in representing the french rugby with the national team. So don't forget the quality of your english players, even outside the 'home' premiership league.
Middle class sport that has made no attempt to expose new fans and players from the working class majority to the game. A game that is run, and has been run for far too long, by dinosaurs that have no interest in making decisions for the good of the game
In France rugby is from South particuliary Gascony the puplic are behind their team rugby is a religion in south west and we are tje scottish or the welsh of France our culture is different of Parisian Region Toulouse and Bordeaux are in the top
I have an idea that would win England the World Cup- encourage some players who drop their T's instead of changing then to D's. Some more working class players would make England much bedder :)
The models in England and Wales are simply not fit for purpose. Wales is the bigger casualty. I can see a way back for England. It has a tradition and a structure that it can work with - and Labour's loony school tax proposals will be defeated in the long term. In Wales, there is no economy outside of its dopey and unproductive public sector swamp. It's schools are the worst in western Europe and produce nothing in terms of culture or sport. No one's gonna bail out 4 useless clubs that are all on the M4 corridor and distant from valleys communities - where the supporters live - if there are any left. England can turn the corner and compete. Welsh efforts should be on being able to use the Cardiff stadium as a cash cow - which puts on concerts and the like for people willing to travel to an , at best, 2nd world economy that can't even get them on trains to take them home.
American here from Miami where our big rivals are NYC teams in Basketball, our Football and Hockey and NYC media is like England Rugby and soccer national teams media... NYC teams win one game and start planning the victory parade, one loss and the world is ending burn down the stadiums, stop playing sports and fire all the managers.... And you guys are the same... It hurts you in Soccer and Rugby with the media and the fans overactions and it puts stress on the players where they feel miserable and enjoy playing for their clubs more than they do for the country... England played side by side against all the teams they lost to recently and could have won all of them... Heck the Australia loss was a Joke of a lucky stroke at the end after a courageous comeback win for England... Stop crying for the love of God and England will be just fine,... Now in soccer, I am a Germany fan so not rooting for you to stop THAT madness.
I don’t think it is a club issue. I think your international team shows the same symptoms. I think you have castrated yourselves. The England I grew up with, Carling, Underwoods,Guscott,Moore, Teague through to your World Cup winning squad Johnson , Wilkinson, Robinson and Leonard were all very different but talented. With all due respect a ragtag of Englishness which was formidable. The first indication I got that something was wrong was when Mathew Tait, who I thought was explosive and exciting had to bulk up and lost all his flair. The sidelining of Cipriani another example, because he would not conform. So mistaking hardness for passion, inappropriate strength and conditioning routines, and enforcing conformity rather than getting individuals to play as a team(just a shift in man management) are some of the issues I see. So in a nutshell, not just method acting some classical acting is also needed. And that starts at grassroots. My two pennies.
Do any English teams genuinely stand a chance in Europe...or are French and Irish teams simply on another level? Keen for your honest thoughts.
As an Ulster fan, the only Irish team on another level is Leinster. I think French teams will dominate the next 5-10 years, with Leinster. Unfortunately, as you mentioned, there is nothing you can do against the budgets those teams have.
Exciting prospects about the English U20s lads coming through! World Rugby needs a dominating English side again - nothing more daunting than a massive English team IMO. Especially when they are whooping at every massive tackle and turnover. So intimidating.
Genuinely think since Joe marler and Daniel ceres went to work on Dan Cole's potato farm English rugby has been shakey. I believe that if our players were paid an Extra 250,000 grand like there french brothers they would be cooking up a right treat in Europe and we would have rugby on toast in Europe. I also humbly think Daniel cares has a bright future in media and these snooze vest chats are going nowhere, it's time to go more interactive my or go bigger the choice is yours just believe in your potential.
@@PocketRugbyI agree del boy . The Irish are a spent force, fading into Bolivion as quick as Daniel Cares hair line . The Road ahead is bleak for Irish rugby. When the motherland teams have a jump in Fortune's it's an eneverbilty that they dominate in Europe again and the mighty Leinster are also run . But chin up merry Christmas and a lovely new year
No English team are going to win the Heineken cup for the next 2 to 3 years based on the quality of the french teams and leinster at present. Something that the eng never memtion when it comes to discussing budgets is how the french and irish teams have limits on the number of foreign players that can be signed. In Ire we can only have 3 non irish qualified players in our entire squad. As a result we have to invest in academies and bring through talent where as Eng teams spend big on foreign players for short term success rather than planning for long term success
@101MIGHTYJOE you are absolutely correct my jolly friend, no English team will win the Heineken cup.......or french or Welsh or Irish. As they no longer sponsor the competition. Go steady on that Guinness.
English and French teams ruined the old European cup and clubs now get 20% of the previous money that sky sports paid and Heineken were paying to sponsor it.
The difference is the top 14 is hugely popular and every club makes a profit every year due to huge public interest, tv money and ticket sales and have able to remain strong where as the prem is full of bankrupt clubs .
The representation of the Irish teams in the English media is bizarre. They never seem to want to actually find out any facts.
Firstly, Connacht are not Leinster. They have a tiny playing base and get the least funding possible from the IRFU. Munster and Ulster have better player pools and bring in better sponsorship because of their bigger populations but are nowhere close to Leinster’s position. Leinster are the star studded team but they created almost all of those players. They didn’t sign them from elsewhere. The only Irish test player they signed from another province is Henshaw. And because they created these players, they get away with paying them a pittance early in their career. Sexton was reportedly only on 90k a year when he won his second Chamoions Cup. The pay ramps up as they become more valuable and ramps down again as they approach the end because they know a lot of guys who are married and have kids won’t bother moving on at that stage. The estimates of their salary outlay is based on presuming every player is getting their market value in salary, ignoring the figures (that we actually get to see) include coaches, backroom staff etc.
Is it higher than English teams currently? Yes. Is it unfair? Meh! I don’t remember much sympathy for Irish teams when the likes of Leicester and Wasps were bestriding Europe. We accepted they were just really good players and really good coaches and we needed to get better.
Ireland started to invest heavily in coaches and very judicious overseas players. Cheika, Nienaber, Schmidt, Erasmus, Lam, Gatland, Lancaster, Farrell etc.
Ireland only has the same population as London and has to manage its playing resources extremely carefully to be able to compete. That’s why players aren’t flogged (even though when you check the figures, this too is overstated). We don’t have a dozen tightheads or hookers like England of France to call upon when the first choice breaks.
I know I’m answering things not mentioned in this video but this stuff is taken as Gospel in England and it’s completely misrepresented.
Population of Ireland 6.5 million London 9 million, just saying, agree with everything else you said
@ 7.2 vs 8.8. Near enough for a country job. Prior to recent hiccups in teams going bust, it’s as if England had to rely on the 4 historic London teams (Quins, Wasps, Irish and Saracens) for their entire test squad.
Lol. Leinster has a player budget of €15 million - by far the highest in Europe.
And that’s before you take into account the tax incentives offered by the Irish Government which mean rugby salaries can effectively be tax free.
And RG Snyman and Jordie Barrett are home grown now??? Give over.
The fact that Leinster can offer Jordie Barrett €100k A MONTH for his five month sojourn shows just how stuffed with cash they are.
The Irish trying to pretend they are in poverty here is a joke.
@ Where did you get that figure? Three players they signed this season, two long term overseas players in Lowe and JGP. The rest are homegrown apart from Henshaw, who, like i said, is the only Irish test player signed from another province.
I didn’t cry poverty. I said Connacht are badly funded, Munster and Ulster well funded and Leinster are wealthy. And I don’t care. They earn it. Whinging English fans can get their tiny violins out. But I do want a quote for the €15 million.
@ England has the richest rugby union on the planet the most resources the best facilities the biggest player pool, yet they have a pretty dismal international team. It’s not about the money it’s about how you use it. Leinster doesn’t have any rich benefactors, their success came through their team and its management their fans and their success from winning, they didn’t wake up one morning and suddenly they could pay any amount of salaries to any amount of players, they didn’t wake up one morning and they could pay any amount of money they didn’t have to any players. They are also restricted to the amount of foreign players they can have or play. Don’t be jealous of teams or countries that have a lot less than your own but managed to use it much better in the sport of rugby. Ireland has a player pool of approx 160 pro players England has 8/10 times that.
‘Irish teams’, Connacht, Ulster and Munster have budgets no bigger than the premiership sides Danny, just look at their 23s, they have very few star names there. Leinster obviously have a huge budget, but given they produce 97% of their squad homegrown unlike the Manchester City Nature of Toulouse and La Rochelle they probably deserve it.
Fair comment Eoin. Leinster are a quality side!
@@DannyCareYT They are primarily from the Leinster academy.
You need to check your facts about Toulouse
@@mahasamatman12 Toulouse do produce some players, but their best players are foreigners or have been recruited from other French Clubs.
@@eoinh3816 Also a big difference with Man City is that french kids grow up wanting to play for Toulouse.
I prefer the rule change on escorting. To me escorting was always just a form of obstruction.
Agree. The South Africans were masters at using it to this effect.
@davidhughes8795 Personally, I thought the Irish were really good at it.
Fans are right to hate over celebrations.
Grow up
because thefrench top14 is the best league in the world and attracts the best players
I don’t understand why England rugby make things so hard. Wage caps on England teams and then not allowing players that are based overseas to play for the national team. It’s difficult enough to win these tournaments without putting more obstacles
Ireland don't pick overseas Irish players either and never have. Afaik, the only exception they made was when Sexton was at Racing.
The salary cap in France is just under 11 million euros, though it can increase slightly with a large number of international players, which entitles teams to a discount. It should not be confused with the budget, which is much higher for a club like Toulouse, but includes expenses unrelated to the professional team such as operating costs on shops or restaurants owned by the club. However, all of this contributes to the club's financial stability by diversifying its revenue streams.
The actual structure of the game in England is chaotic, if we are being honest. The current situation with the uproar over the RFU Execs getting bonuses based on performance targets is a perfect example of this 'chaos'. There appears to have been little oversight of how the RFU itself determined what the parameters actually were that garnered them the bonuses - and at literally the same time, several other employees of the RFU were being laid off!!
How confident is Danny Care that the players who recently won the U20s World Cup will get the proper training and coaching to continue their progress in the professional game? What degree of continuity in player development (particularly for young players leaving schools at 17/18/19 years of age) can be expected under the auspices of this current RFU board?
The suspension of Promotion-Relegation between the Premiership & Championship is just plainly ridiculous, made even more so with the folding of 3 Premiership Clubs in the last few years. Prominent England players are being forced to choose between earning proper money in France and a ridiculous Salary Cap restraint at home.
I could go on but, there's no need to. It is eminently clear that the structure of how the game is being administered by both the RFU & Premiership owners is not working.
Try supporting a Welsh team in the URC. The no salary cap situation makes it virtually impossible for any of our sides to compete. The SRU basically fully fund two teams, the Irish teams, especially Leinster and Munster have massive budgets, The Italian Union have thrown their full backing behind Benetton and the South African sides have so many players it blows you away.
The celebrations from English players when other countries make mistakes should be met with fines call it a clown fine 😂😂😂
Bongi called it plastic energy...
@@pietsmit5587 Think Bongi might need a bit of plastic on his face...what a looker
@@toma411seems unnecessary
@@irishmiddle idk, I think he could do with it
Remember or ask yourselves how many English teams have gone bankrupt?
The squint feed into the scrum has caused what i call the de - hookerisation of the scrum. . No longer do we need the diddly squat but agile Eddie Jones types in the front row (yes mate). Just chuck in yer Malcom Marx megaliths instead. They don't hook because the ball bypasses them into the second row
Great to see Earl. Top player!
Is there a full episode of this Danny ?
As an Irish fan I'd be scared what would happen if they had no salary cap in England. Club rugby would explode because there's a market for it there if it can be grown.. England has a great tradition of investment when it comes to sports so there is a massive gaping hole there for growing the product of club rugby into the homes of non traditional fan bases. Its there.
I half agree, that with the population and the history of the game, and the amount of money in England, we should be able to make something work.
But for some reason(s), that seem to be difficult to pin down, it just doesn't seem to work out the way you'd think. Is it just rugby losing popularity in younger generations? Is the poorly run premiership struggling to keep up in an increasingly financially rich European club rugby landscape? Is it the poor media coverage, and seemingly endless amounts of subscriptions to watch the games? Is it the numerous poor decisions made by those at the RFU in tandem, more interested in themselves than the growth of the game? Or maybe it's just that rugby is just tied to a bit of a classist divide, which stops it truly being released to its true potential for most of the population?
Point is, I think it's more than just money.
I think having Irish provincial matches on public tv is what made the explosion in popularity of rugby in Ireland possible. Combine that a well run machine and Bob’s your uncle and Fanny’s your aunt.
It seem that the RFU management is more interrested in increasing their own bonuses than the the development ofn the sport.
@@toma411 you raise some fair points and the last one is certainly true from what I can see, that it’s more than just money. That’s true. I would think though, increasing the standard of the product isn’t a bad thing. Removing salary caps and focusing on marketing the product to everyone - like what the football did with the premier league in 1992. That changed football in England forget and the marketing team sat in a shed near Heathrow airport for years! They did a stellar job. Obviously that’s different as football has global appeal but rugby is in my opinion, a sitting unicorn. It’s being held back by class divide that’s purposely never challenged by the old guard. And just that, the old boys club doesn’t want to ruffle the feathers. There’s potential for England to be the best rugby club competition on the planet maybe jointly with the URC & Top14 - I think even better. It just needs some first principles thinking.
@@LeMerch I hope you're right, I'd love to see it as the best league! I think the difference with the Premier League is that there was already the the best football pyramid of teams in the world in place already, with football baked into the culture of pretty much every town in England. Rugby doesn't (currently) have a strong pyramid at all, which is a big part of what drove the competition of the Premier League, and therefore it's watchability. I'm really hoping we can sort out the divide between top division and second division rugby clubs soon. It's a big missed opportunity atm.
Glasgow warriors managed it, they haven't got a huge budget
@@kevinwillis6707 It’s very well reported that Glasgow have a budget of 9-10 million, which is definitely within the top 10 per cent of clubs.
Proof?
Glasgow have the second highest budget in the URC after Leinster. They’re right up there in the same ballpark as many Top 14 teams.
Why would you imagine they don’t have money - one look at their squad would tell you how well off they are: it’s packed with internationals.
As did Munster down in the western cape.
Very rich from the English boys giving out about Leinster 😂😂 I’m a munster fan but Leinster have 2 overseas stars for the first time in over a decade . Remind me of the saracens squad who won the European cup. Glass Fckin houses
Leinster literally have 50 man squad and like 20 Irish players, the fact they haven’t won it in 5 years is embarrassing
Diarmuid am I the only Munster supporter who thinks getting rid of Synman in favour of Bluer is good.
And look what happened to Saracens? Got demoted and fined with Rob Baxter calling for their trophies to be withdrawn. To assemble a team of national players - who all basically play for the same national team - which wasn't the case with Sarries - would cost an absolute fortune in the premership even if it were legal to do so. The European Cup is a club competition being played by what is, effectively, the Irish National team. The only surprising thing is how they haven't won it more often.
@@danedwadd62 lol You're saying that like those players were playing for Ireland before playing for Leinster. The vast majority of them are home grown via the academy system. Toulouse is made up of predominently players who play for France, with a good few other world class players from other countries.
These club sides are just as good as the top international sides, arguably even better.
@@danedwadd62 The Glasgow side is basically the Scottish national side and they haven't even gotten close to winning a European Cup yet.
I don't hear you complaining about them never winning it. Leinster have at least won it 4 times.
"Escorting" is obstruction pure and simple. As for the argument that it would make the game harder for the players my reaction is "bless 'em".
English teams crying is always amusing , the country with more than double Irelands playing numbers , two professional leagues , thousands more players to choose from etc 😂. Leinster entire squad bar like 4 players are Leinster men who’ve been developed from grassroots, Most prem teams are mercenaries bought from all over the globe. English teams use their money to buy Pollards, Esterhuzens, Radradras, Piutaus, Montoyas while Leinster use their money to develop youngsters that’s the difference
Oh come on Leinster have the spending power of a Stade Toulouse . There is a clear €6million disparity over a premiership , a welsh or a South African club.
It's not a matter of bleating it's about reality squad size and budgets win European Champions fact
Leinster have 50 man squad and like 20 world class players and still can’t win
@@danedwadd62 how much of that squad are kids from the academy or a couple years out of the academy? They have 4 imports in that entire squad of 50 … that’s less than any premiership club who just buys its players on eBay
@@patrickchilds2987 Leinster spending power isn’t remotely close to Toulouse, and Toulouse don’t produce half the amount of players Leinster do, Toulouse has bought more than half their entire squad from other countries/clubs and systems
@danedwadd62 what are you talking about they have won it more than any English team. Only toulouse have won it more. And if you have watched the last 3 finals the games went right to the wire.
One of the budgets misunderstandings I often see when people talk about the fictious massive budget at Leinster is the central contracts. People contend that the central contracts are part of the budget and add to the playing pool for Leinster. The fact is it is the exact opposite. The central contracts pay the players NOT to play. Freeing up the resource to pay players like Max Deegan to play because Josh Van de Flier is not permitted to. There are therefore 10 players at Leinster with very restricted gametime per season.
30 million would be all the expenses of the top French teams. 10 million would be a better estimate of the wage bill.
Earl is half right but Leinster don't even play their best team in Europe anymore or at least not for most of the tournament 7 or 8 of their best players where rested or held back with injuries this weekend. But they will all be there come semi final and final. Thats when the tournament really steps up
I think saying that a kicked ball in the air is a 50/50 isn't actually true the defender or the person receiving the ball now has to catch the ball, while the attacking player (chaser) just has to tap it back. Seems so unfair and is a massive advantage to thr attacking team
The escort rule is a great change. People have been just trying to tap the ball back without catching it for years now, so this rule doesn't impact this.
I do think if you jump for a ball you must be seen to try and catch it otherwise it should be a penalty, this would stop lads flying in with no control hitting guys who are actually trying to catch it.
The salary cap in France is not 30 million, it's 10,7 million.
Great video love the hits different sereis👍
Thanks Harrison. 👌
Biggest playing population, great under 20s historicallly, club rugby in England must look closer to home first. In saying that, thought England played well in Autumn! UK teams should be hammering Irish teams based on the pool of players at their disposal!
Re over celebrations: I agree with what Ben said in general, but there is a difference between celebrating and over celebrating.
Two of the best hope u are ok after the game last week good luck this week bro love u loads great podcast ❤❤❤️
Great channel, I’ve commented on a different video but wanted to say again I love the fact that you’re taking a different route to the other pods that have and are springing up. I think it’s all great for the game (and likability of the English side who are probably now unfairly still disliked by many by virtue of being English).
Great video! My thoughts below.
1. The English teams are a step behind overall, as the Top 14 is like the Premier League in football. Having said that, anything can happen in sport so 5 years is very hard to predict but it will be very tough. The competition might benefit from a different format and only 16 teams in it as opposed to 24.
2. Depends on what the celebration is - often the result dictates whether it was "over the top" or not. An example might be the celebration when Patrick Tuipulotu knocked on off the post at Twickenham, England players celebrated then bottled the finish and lost. If they had won, the celebration might've seen as positivity. Maybe save the big celebrations once the result has been locked off or at the end of the game, nothing wrong with emotion in such a physical game.
3. I'm indifferent to the law, having a wall for the catcher shouldn't be allowed because it is obstruction however the really silly penalties being called are also a bit confusing. If a player has clearly been blocked off by a player turning his back on him then it should be a penalty but we have seen some really soft/non existent penalties called, which often have a big impact on the game as it can happen in the 22 off kick offs etc.
English players need to drop the plastic energy. It’s embarrassing at the best of times, and even more so when you’re not actually performing. Just all feels so forced and fake.
Celebrate when you score points and when you win. Not when people make mistakes or you do something basic like make a tackle.
@@Zveebo Fair comment.
On the aerial challenge debate, do you think that an amendment to the law that states players must attempt to catch, no slap backs would improve safety in the aerial battles.
I agree with Ben (ew) on the first on the first. I think we proved it last season with the run Quins went on, but the problem is that the squad depth has to be spot on and all the cards have to be in your deck to maintain the form in both your national and european league. And this might be complete fan delusion but we could do it again.
The Munster OH got penalized by Luke Pearce for ‘swearing at a Stade Francais player’. Explain how that is worse than whooping? I played my first rugby game in the 50’s and since then I have never seen such a call made…unless the swearing was directed at an official.
I think the issue the number of players available during the whole season to play both the URC, Premiership or Top 14, plus the 6 nations for the clubs that have many internationals. It is now common for players to have at least one injury during the season, light or serious, so teams need to have at least 3 top level players at key roles. In France, there are Top 14 matches during the 6 nations, so UBB, La Rochelle and Toulouse need a second team to handle both player's rest and these matches, and almost a third one to tackle the injured players problem. Right now it seems only Toulouse and Leinster have this number of top level players, and they were still plagued with injuries for last season final..
Saracens have fallen off, that's the reason. It's not like loads of different English teams were doing well at that time. I'd say Exeter's was a flash in the pan moment during a weird time)
Man, I wish the Scottish sides could compete financially with France and Leinster. Bath have Finn on 1/5th of Edinburgh's budget alone, even with the salary cap in the Prem. I think there's good things coming through for English rugby but Toulouse, Bordeaux, Leinster are a different level from everyone else just now.
All bar 3 players in Leinster came through their academy? Smelling Scottish jealousy for the 100th time
Smelling arrogance. @@diarmuiddonnellan2939
Edinburgh’s player budget is around £8 million. It’s higher than any English side. They are not remotely poor.
Bath can choose to throw crazy money at one player if they want. But Edinburgh have way more internationals in their squad.
More people in Scotland should go to their games then. They arent big sides because they arent that popular. Rugby isnt a popular sport at all, its why we only have two pro teams and our premiership games get a couple of hundred people at them.
Most fans at Scotland home games are day trippers that wont have ever watched a club game so there isnt a consistent flow of money in to the game.
Edinburgh just lost to Gloucester who made the final despite last year being second last in the Prem
I get the wage cap thing, but if it were really the problem there would be more than just one top English players playing outside the country. Yes you can’t bring in a marquis player but the player pool is huge compared to say the Irish teams. Depth is the issue. Not one English team has a bench as good as those they replace. That all said, the prem has become a very watchable product with an exponential increase in the quality of rugby being played and I can see its commercial success directly parallel its teams success rate in Europe.
Winners don't over celebrate if any celebrations at all go watch NZ and ZA. Its not football
English always complaining anyway when not winning.
2 options : ask to change the rules to favor them, or blame whatever or whoever (salary cap, referees, weather…).
Better ask why there are so many people packing for TOP14 matches. Maybe because their kids play in the local team. And it’s the same for basketball, handball…
Earl is wrong about u20 - England has won once and the previous three were all France
previous 4*
SA here, I just accept our URC teams are not going to dominate. Talent outside SA.
I feel there is this huge gap between what English rugby capabilities are and the gloomy commentators. You made RWC semifinals lost by 1 points. Spent 2024 playing all the top teams losing by v narrow margins……don’t follow 6 nations so no idea there.
Playing a Euro league simultaneously with the 3 leagues is ridiculous. Year should end with playoffs with top teams from URC Top14 and Prem. similar rules to the old Super Rugby conference/play-off system.
Change rugby to a summer sport!
Lots of great, smart logic here. Thanks for the comments. Keep an eye on England in the 6 Nations…lots of potential.
We will either see peeps running towards their own try line making the effort to catch the high ball or. I used to jump with studs showing, not many are stupid enough to run into a set of studs face 1st 🤷♂️
You gents should get in the URC. Play the Irish and Saffas more often.
The whole of the urc don’t have the debt either so it’s not like they are paying massive wages. None of URC clubs are went bust in last few years so it’s clearly down to mismanagement. There’s also too much arrogance and entitlement in English game.
Earl and his celebrations are ridiculous, looks so stupid then you go on to lose 🙄 😂😂
Or…at times it lifts the energy of your team and you go on to win…many times.
I think both arguemnet s have merit..England is simple to fix...bring in new young forwards
More crying by the English, the English have the richest rugby union in the world yet so many international teams preform better than them . But the complaint about clubs having more money is a complaint in every sport.
You can't really buy the best players for your International teams tho can you 😂
2nd & 3rd last 2 WCs 👀😉
There is more money in French rugby that is why Owen farrle and Courtney Lakes left to go france
@@dogocody8440 OWEN Farrell went because he was driven out.
Since the 1980's we wrap our kids in cotten wool, making them weak minded and bodied. Last week I spoke to a volunteer coach who is giving up coaching under 15's because he has been told not to urge the forwards to push too hard in the scrum, in case they get hurt. Does anyone know if other Countries do this?
Of course french teams are better only because od yhe money... Thats why national team is rubbish and there is no french players in the mains top 14 Squads. Come on guys, instead of crying start play rugby and admit the british 50 years old technic kick ocupation plus pick and go doesnt work anymore.
Bring back vanilla rugby!
Eh?
@@DannyCareYT Looking at the constant law changes most of are wondering what kind of sorry excuse rugby will turn into. My OP comment probably is ludicrous but maybe we should just go back a couple of decades and roll with those rules.
I personally love the no escorting law, because of the contest it invites. Seeing teams like Saracens, Chiefs and others do it for years in the stands or on TV is so frustrating. It deserves to be a contest.
I understand the players point of view, in that it can invite more danger, but I ultimately think it's good for the game.
0:38 totally wrong about wage caps in France... For 2024 the salary cap in the Top 14 teams is at 8.9 millions £ ( 10.7 millions €) far from the 30 millions £ he talks about
English rugby has not fallen that much, because it also shines through some of your fantastic players like Jack Willis playing for our french sides, and if it cannot benefit at the moment the english clubs, it could at least benefit the england national team if you change the rules. After all in football the greatest players have the right to play in foreign clubs while playing for their national teams (like brasilian players in madrid for example). Why not in rugby with England.. remember our french players playing for english clubs (chabal, picamoles..) it wasn't a problem for french rugby that they played for english clubs, it was a good opportunity for them to work for english clubs while keeping an important role in representing the french rugby with the national team. So don't forget the quality of your english players, even outside the 'home' premiership league.
Middle class sport that has made no attempt to expose new fans and players from the working class majority to the game. A game that is run, and has been run for far too long, by dinosaurs that have no interest in making decisions for the good of the game
English rugby fails because of English Premiership.
Rugby is propabably 3rd or 4th most played sport in Ireland
Some of the French Teams are better coz they have Great English &Boks players like Willis &Skelton 😅
Skelton a Bok, lol. You know as much about rugby ax Brexiteers about Europe
In France rugby is from South particuliary Gascony the puplic are behind their team rugby is a religion in south west and we are tje scottish or the welsh of France our culture is different of Parisian Region Toulouse and Bordeaux are in the top
I have an idea that would win England the World Cup- encourage some players who drop their T's instead of changing then to D's.
Some more working class players would make England much bedder :)
Yep, that wd defo work. Bedder the devil you knows
Best English team of all time, early 2000’s England had the most working class players in history.
@@OscarOSullivan Is it a class issue Oscar, not enough rugby in state schools?
South African teams have a cap and its way less then all the other teams.
South Africa teams have serious player pool though
@@aidanmasterson50 They're so far ahead of everyone else when it comes to strength in depth, they don't even need to sign any foreign born players.
@@johankotze3718 Only because the South African currency is worthless really.
The models in England and Wales are simply not fit for purpose. Wales is the bigger casualty. I can see a way back for England. It has a tradition and a structure that it can work with - and Labour's loony school tax proposals will be defeated in the long term. In Wales, there is no economy outside of its dopey and unproductive public sector swamp. It's schools are the worst in western Europe and produce nothing in terms of culture or sport. No one's gonna bail out 4 useless clubs that are all on the M4 corridor and distant from valleys communities - where the supporters live - if there are any left.
England can turn the corner and compete. Welsh efforts should be on being able to use the Cardiff stadium as a cash cow - which puts on concerts and the like for people willing to travel to an , at best, 2nd world economy that can't even get them on trains to take them home.
American here from Miami where our big rivals are NYC teams in Basketball, our Football and Hockey and NYC media is like England Rugby and soccer national teams media... NYC teams win one game and start planning the victory parade, one loss and the world is ending burn down the stadiums, stop playing sports and fire all the managers.... And you guys are the same... It hurts you in Soccer and Rugby with the media and the fans overactions and it puts stress on the players where they feel miserable and enjoy playing for their clubs more than they do for the country... England played side by side against all the teams they lost to recently and could have won all of them... Heck the Australia loss was a Joke of a lucky stroke at the end after a courageous comeback win for England... Stop crying for the love of God and England will be just fine,... Now in soccer, I am a Germany fan so not rooting for you to stop THAT madness.
French teams have a wage cap around 8 million pounds £ not 30 million euros lol
9 millions £, sorry
DC didn’t say it, but he meant over 2-3 years…time to build a team. So there or there abouts!
I don’t think it is a club issue. I think your international team shows the same symptoms. I think you have castrated yourselves. The England I grew up with, Carling, Underwoods,Guscott,Moore, Teague through to your World Cup winning squad Johnson , Wilkinson, Robinson and Leonard were all very different but talented. With all due respect a ragtag of Englishness which was formidable. The first indication I got that something was wrong was when Mathew Tait, who I thought was explosive and exciting had to bulk up and lost all his flair. The sidelining of Cipriani another example, because he would not conform. So mistaking hardness for passion, inappropriate strength and conditioning routines, and enforcing conformity rather than getting individuals to play as a team(just a shift in man management) are some of the issues I see. So in a nutshell, not just method acting some classical acting is also needed. And that starts at grassroots. My two pennies.
4:25 “poo out”
Over hyped 🤷🤣🤪
SA rugby teams export rugby players Dont have any foreigners playing in SA teams
@@peterwomersley Nobody would want to - the pay is crap, and an actual working electrical grid is something most people see as a basic requirement.
Saracens players didn’t chase the money in France. Hmmm, I wonder why?
It gives ya ‘plastic energy’ baby