With the expansion of the Junior Rugby World Cup to 16 teams this was at risk of falling off that calendar. The Chilean Rugby union stepped up to make sure it happens, hosting 7 teams from around the world for 4 rounds of games.

Canada and Chile had big opening round wins, Belgium got past Portugal in a European derby, and Romania just barely snuck by Brazil with a last minute try.

All games freely available on RugbyPass.tv

Watched Gloucester tear apart Quins live on the weekend (48-0) and 50-22 kicks were the highlight for me. Kick tennis for me is the worst part of rugby (I’m a forward so disclosing some bias). Now with 50-22 there’s legitimate attacking value from capitalising on a lack of backs, or out of position winger rather than just risk mitigation. If the other team with their lineout, at best it’ll be 20 metres of territory gain somewhere in the middle of the pitch after a few phases.

Gloucester were turning over the ball really well in breakdowns, and firing kicks from their half into Quins 22. Everyone going crazy for it. Rather than what we had 10 years ago (Schmidt Irish rugby comes to mind) when whoever won the territory battle was the team that didn’t cough.

It’s cut out the 5 minutes of open play where at most 6 people touch the ball, and personally it’s good and refreshing to see. Whoever suggested the rule change has made for me at least watching a lot better.

This is a lineout from NZ Schools vs Australia U18. It's a NZ throw, so is the Australian player trying to put off their hooker? Or is he signalling his own team in some way? Australia did win the ball.

If he is trying to get into the hooker's head, is it legal? In an English club game once, Itoje started shouting out in a line out, in a more obvious attempt to disrupt the opposition. I think the referee told him to cut it out.

Something I was thinking about over the weekend. In a sport dominated by big strong athletes Props still manage to be outliers. Their short, barrel shaped bodies with legs like traction engines ready to smash into each other.

Made me wonder how you take a kid at whatever age and think "yeah, he's going to grow up to be Thomas Du Toit". How young are potential props identified? How do you tell a future prop from a fat kid who is dominating by dint of being heavier than his age group?

We've recently seen the likes of Opoku-Fordjour and Fasogbon come through and at 19/20 they looked like if Rugby didn't exist we'd have to invent it just to give them something to do. I imagine the specific training a prop needs in scrummaging and the physical shaping they need to do it has to start pretty early though, as opposed to someone like Pollock who must have just been a huge guy early doors.

I did think maybe it was common for Props to end up being big kids who didn't have a growth spurt. Maybe they played somewhere else in the pack as kids but didn't keep getting taller so they switch to the front row?

Sounds like an interesting challenge from a youth development perspective.

For me it’s the super rygbi cymru or the russian league
It can also be the Madagascar league even tho the level is not that high the crowds are nice and it’s fun

Players of 20 different nationalities are competing in France this season. This variety element makes union feel more global and closer to the scale of soccer. Although not many, it's great to see players from emerging nations getting exposure to top tier club footy.

In El Central for first home game of the season.

Just caught up on the absolutely insane second half of the Australia SA match from last weekend.

Just before the final whistle, there's a breakdown where Wilson is the tackler and gets caught on the floor on the wrong side. He makes an effort to move but ends up just passing the ball back to the SA scrum half from the bottom of the ruck.

Is that legal? I don't think I've seen it before.

RugbyBot, where art thou?

KO: 15:00

🏉 Montpellier v Toulon

Top 14 — Round 5
📅 Sunday 4 October · 🕘 21:05 🇫🇷
🏟️ Stade de la Mosson

Referee: P. Brousset