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I'm a relatively newcomer to rugby, so forgive me if this is a stupid question, but what can Bristol do to change things as far as bringing in players? From what I gather there isn't a transfer window as such, and players just seem to join teams without transfer fees etc? Does this happen thoughout the season, or is it pretty much settled that you go with the players you have? What about us, if we have a player who is doing well can we suddenly lose him to another team?

obviously changing the manager is an option, like I said I know very little about how the game works as far as players and coaches, but didn't the Bath manager, Mike Ford (?) become available last season, I was surprised instead of going for him we very much kept Robinson. So I guess the option to replace is not so easy now?

Did we fail to strengthen badly, ie did we do a Bristol City in our last Cotterill season and chase after players out of our reach?  Are we not attractive as it's thought newly promoted teams are also certainly relegation candidates? 

I did notice in our home match that we just weren't getting any distance when kicking the ball into touch. Gavin was again injured and we look much weaker without him, although I was impressed with Pisi and the player we got from Doncaster.

So if any of you want to help answer my stupid questions, go ahead. They say you can learn something new everyday if you are prepared to.

 

 

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27 minutes ago, RedM said:

I'm a relatively newcomer to rugby, so forgive me if this is a stupid question, but what can Bristol do to change things as far as bringing in players? From what I gather there isn't a transfer window as such, and players just seem to join teams without transfer fees etc? Does this happen thoughout the season, or is it pretty much settled that you go with the players you have? What about us, if we have a player who is doing well can we suddenly lose him to another team?

obviously changing the manager is an option, like I said I know very little about how the game works as far as players and coaches, but didn't the Bath manager, Mike Ford (?) become available last season, I was surprised instead of going for him we very much kept Robinson. So I guess the option to replace is not so easy now?

Did we fail to strengthen badly, ie did we do a Bristol City in our last Cotterill season and chase after players out of our reach?  Are we not attractive as it's thought newly promoted teams are also certainly relegation candidates? 

I did notice in our home match that we just weren't getting any distance when kicking the ball into touch. Gavin was again injured and we look much weaker without him, although I was impressed with Pisi and the player we got from Doncaster.

So if any of you want to help answer my stupid questions, go ahead. They say you can learn something new everyday if you are prepared to.

 

 

Players don't tend to switch clubs before their contracts run out, though it is possible if they're not wanted ir a compensation package is agreed. Teams can also take players on short-term contracts, basically loans, from other teams. That's not so unusual with non-international southern hemisphere players coming to the northern hemisphere as injury cover.

I think the playoffs make it difficult for Bristol to recruit as players would be less willing to commit to a side who might not be playing top flight rugby. If they survive this season then I'd expect them to bring in lots more players in the summer.

Coaches/directors of rugby don't often leave before their contracts are up or the end of the season either. I know that Holley was let go as head coach but no idea who has replaced him.

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14 minutes ago, MichaelRobartes said:

Players don't tend to switch clubs before their contracts run out, though it is possible if they're not wanted ir a compensation package is agreed. Teams can also take players on short-term contracts, basically loans, from other teams. That's not so unusual with non-international southern hemisphere players coming to the northern hemisphere as injury cover.

I think the playoffs make it difficult for Bristol to recruit as players would be less willing to commit to a side who might not be playing top flight rugby. If they survive this season then I'd expect them to bring in lots more players in the summer.

Coaches/directors of rugby don't often leave before their contracts are up or the end of the season either. I know that Holley was let go as head coach but no idea who has replaced him.

Thanks for that. So I guess we have to go with what we got and hope we can beat the teams that are more equal to us and also like yesterday hope for results like when Newcastle narrowly lost to help us. 

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8 minutes ago, RedM said:

Thanks for that. So I guess we have to go with what we got and hope we can beat the teams that are more equal to us and also like yesterday hope for results like when Newcastle narrowly lost to help us. 

They also have utility back Jason Woodward to come from Wellington. Don't recall seeing him play, but he has 44 Super Rugby caps for the Rebels and Hurricanes and a couple of bad injuries prevented him from playing more so he's obviously not useless! 

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Bristol have had a fairly awful start to the season in the Premiership with three losses including a 70 point drubbing on Sunday.  It seems to me that Andy Robinson has followed Cotterill's transfer policy and not strengthened properly on winning promotion.  They lost one very good player (Genge)  from last year's squad and have introduced half a dozen journeymen and couple of decent Championship players. Hence the team is already looking uncompetitive.

I am surprised that Steve L wasn't asked to fund a few big name internationals over the summer.    

As only an occasional Bris fan I don't know if there is transfer window in rugby but it would be a real shame if they do a London Welsh and go down with a whimper (not to mention trying to sell seats for a team that is leaking tries).

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33 minutes ago, Nongazeuse said:

Bristol have had a fairly awful start to the season in the Premiership with three losses including a 70 point drubbing on Sunday.  It seems to me that Andy Robinson has followed Cotterill's transfer policy and not strengthened properly on winning promotion.  They lost one very good player (Genge)  from last year's squad and have introduced half a dozen journeymen and couple of decent Championship players. Hence the team is already looking uncompetitive.

I am surprised that Steve L wasn't asked to fund a few big name internationals over the summer.    

As only an occasional Bris fan I don't know if there is transfer window in rugby but it would be a real shame if they do a London Welsh and go down with a whimper (not to mention trying to sell seats for a team that is leaking tries).

In a nutshell, because the play offs in the championship go on so long the best players have already gone to the guaranteed Premiership rugby clubs rather than joining Bristol and hoping they go up. By the time Bristol confirmed promotion the best players had already moved leaving mostly championship players and premiership cast offs to bolster Bristol's ranks.

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You will be told by die hard arse lickers of Mr Robinson that it wasn't possible to bring in quality because of the short time between the end of the playoffs and the start of the season. I dont actually believe this. There are loads of quality players in the southern hemisphere and Bristol is due to pick up a couple in November - just a couple mind along with the other past sell by date players who were brought in..

The squad is maybe the largest in the division and also the weakest. Therefore whoever is in charge of player recruitment and retention isn't doing a very god job.

Robinson had three seasons to get it right with a relatively massive budget and limped over the line in May. He may get it right this season but I doubt it. SL seemed surprised at only 5000 ST sales but its clear there are lots of fans who are very disappointed at the business done in the summer and are waiting to see what happens over the next couple of months.

Tye difference with Steve Cotterill is that he used the relatively big budget well and smashed the league below. If you believe the rumours his Championship targets weren't backed and the rest in history (SC simply had to go)

As things stand the two rivals for the drop look far better than Bristol so SL needs to stop trusting his mucker Mr Booy and get some quality people into the club asap.

Theres a salary cap all clubs must adhere to plus you can sign a "marquee" player that doesn't affect the cap. All loose change to SL

The question people should ask is which other Premiership club would have Andy Robinson as its coach ?  he is the problem so far as i'm concerned.

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14 minutes ago, Loon plage said:

You will be told by die hard arse lickers of Mr Robinson that it wasn't possible to bring in quality because of the short time between the end of the playoffs and the start of the season. I dont actually believe this. There are loads of quality players in the southern hemisphere and Bristol is due to pick up a couple in November - just a couple mind along with the other past sell by date players who were brought in..

The squad is maybe the largest in the division and also the weakest. Therefore whoever is in charge of player recruitment and retention isn't doing a very god job.

Robinson had three seasons to get it right with a relatively massive budget and limped over the line in May. He may get it right this season but I doubt it. SL seemed surprised at only 5000 ST sales but its clear there are lots of fans who are very disappointed at the business done in the summer and are waiting to see what happens over the next couple of months.

Theres a salary cap all clubs must adhere to plus you can sign a "marquee" player that doesn't affect the cap. All loose change to SL

Imagine part of the problem until these other players see that Bristol won't be a one season wonder - why would anyone want to sign?

I was under the impression that it was now TWO marquee signings

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What a strange title and OP.

Robinson would not have survived in the cutthroat world of football, he could have been sacked 3 play offs ago, should have been sacked 2 play offs ago and came far too close to blowing it last season for comfort.

Do you believe that Cotterill, Robinson or even LJ actually determine transfer budgets? which is what ultimately defines transfer policy.

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On 20 September 2016 at 14:30, Esmond Million's Bung said:

Robinson would not have survived in the cutthroat world of football, he could have been sacked 3 play offs ago, should have been sacked 2 play offs ago and came far too close to blowing it last season for comfort.

Do you believe that Cotterill, Robinson or even LJ actually determine transfer budgets? which is what ultimately defines transfer policy.

Only just saw your post EMB.

You must have a crystal ball because there was a lengthy discussion about Robinson ability to actually win anything. Failed with Scotland and hasn't achieved anything with any team he's coached. Definately some unrest amongst the rugby faithful for sure.

Bristol have been hammered in three of the first four PL games and last night they were truly hopeless in the first 20 mins,  Now I'm the first to admit that don't know a great deal about the finer points of rugby but even I could see just how great the step up is from the championship to the PL. They were outclassed all over the pitch.

Things need to change at Bristol Rugby or it's a return to the Championship in double quick time. 

 

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Exeter just seemed to have more players on the pitch on Friday! They move the ball so well and Bris had no answers. Bris seem to rely on playing a pack game whereas Exeter's running and  passing was just too much for us to deal with. 

BUT realistically these first 4 games were never going to provide wins, but missing out on a couple of bonus points could prove crucial. Games against Sale, Newcastle, Glos and Wuss should be the crucial ones - failure in those and it really will be curtains. 

Bloody loads of Chiefs fans dotted around the ground mind, not surer about the head-dresses tho!

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The game tonight against Saracens was a bit of a lesson.  That Itoje is an absolute beast.  Stole 3 line outs from us not to mention playing like a number 6 in spite of being a 2nd row. 

Tusi Pisi needs to be dropped.  His kicking is atrocious.  Saracens regularly had 4 players back and he found one of them every time.  Despite the negatives, we actually defended a lot better in the first half than the previous 3 games.  I saw the Saracens - Worcester game before the Quins - Bristol game at Twickenham and it was virtually identical.  Saracens wore them down first half and then took them to the cleaners 2nd half.  On the positive side, there is little difference between Bristol and Worcester to be honest.  We're not doomed.  Test is going to be how we fare against Newcastle, Worcester, Sale, Gloucester.  

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