Why is it so hard for Tindall to compliment Kolisi on how he’s playing? In fact, Kolisi has played the best rugby of his life. It’s like Tinds sucks all the happiness up around him and has to put nice words back down his throat.
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!
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
I don't buy that Dupont is a bigger brand than Kolisi. More rugby fans around the world (and even non-rugby fans) know who Siya Kolisi is - but not Dupont. And it's only the NH who raves about the latter... but for some reason, whenever he plays agains SH teams, and we go "ok, let's see how good you are", he never justifies the hype...
Kolisi is a non-entity on the field often, doing less flashy hard graft. Dupont is more visually impactful consistantly. French competition is going gangbusters to a broader audience in general. Outside of playing they're branded quite differently.
Kolisi is a fantastic man, a great captain, and a very good rugby player. But outside of South Africa, he'd struggle to make the top 3 list for open side flankers for any neutral observer.
Mate if you don't even know who Maher is, the most famous rugby player in the world, how on earth are you in position to know anything about famous people rugby people in the world. You don't care about rugby because the only thing you watch is your team
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.
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.
I'm probably too old for the demographic this appears to be aimed at... I pay money to watch rugby 15's & 7's, I like the players giving back to the younger generations at the games, in the schools, but I don't give a rats about a social media profile or what they ate for dinner. I don't understand how your biggest "star" is an unproven entity on the rugby pitch? I hope she helps grow the game and has a wonderfully successful marketing company... but for something like this where branding (which social media is a part of) accounts for 50% of your scoring, just seems wrong and silly! Why not have the scoring weighted, something like 20points for rugby performance/ ability and 10points for marketing/ social media.
Because it's the only way of making the women's game 'relevant'. As a pure sporting spectacle no one cares. I wouldn't be surprised if the guys feel embarrassed having to plug this all the time. They probably don't believe it themselve.
@jonbrook4009 Actually, I really like the women's game, I prefer the women's 7's to the mens! The last women's WC between Roses & Ferns was epic. Without decent money, I'm not sure how you grow their game as I would suggest there is statistically far less numbers of women who want to beat the suitcase out of each other, compared to men. But without the spectacle and skill there wouldn't be any money flowing in the gate to justify the decent salary. 🤷🏻♂
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.
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..
This. If Antoine Dupont was from any of the Home Unions (especially England), or a Kiwi (the All Black mystique), he would get 5 times the exposure he currently gets.
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?
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
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.
@@SmcdMcd-d2kUnfortunately in South Africa, we kind of have to. Government did ask the very legitimate question of funding a team that isn't representative of the nation and instead only show the minority that ruled during Apartheid on the field. Rassie Erasmus has been absolutely massive in this - he started seeking out black talent in the early 2010's with what he calls his Mobi units. Kolisi, Mapimpi, Mbonambi are all products thereof. I know this sounds offensive to someone from somewhere else ,but consider this: South Africa during the entire amateur era was the mist dominant team in the world and we effectively achieved that using 10% of our population. Then Rassie comes in with the talent he had been growing and we win two world cups on the bounce, a Lion's Tour and we beat the All Blacks four times in a row. Activating more of our demographics to play rugby isn't "woke"; it is us busy working on the equivalent of a rugby nuclear bomb.
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...
@@struandickson9082Siya is in the Times 100 list and that should end all discussion right there. He is not just a bigger star than anyone else in rugby, but the gap is measured in lightyears.
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.
Why is it so hard for Tindall to compliment Kolisi on how he’s playing? In fact, Kolisi has played the best rugby of his life. It’s like Tinds sucks all the happiness up around him and has to put nice words back down his throat.
Racing 92 fans would have a different opinion. Kolisi, as nice as man and good a player he is showed absolutely nothing playing for them.
the opinion of racing does not matter @@johnnyguitar6697
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!
Cheslin is a 11 in everything.
Except when he's 14
No idea who Ilona Maher is...
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
I don't buy that Dupont is a bigger brand than Kolisi. More rugby fans around the world (and even non-rugby fans) know who Siya Kolisi is - but not Dupont. And it's only the NH who raves about the latter... but for some reason, whenever he plays agains SH teams, and we go "ok, let's see how good you are", he never justifies the hype...
Kolisi is a non-entity on the field often, doing less flashy hard graft. Dupont is more visually impactful consistantly.
French competition is going gangbusters to a broader audience in general.
Outside of playing they're branded quite differently.
Kolisi is a fantastic man, a great captain, and a very good rugby player. But outside of South Africa, he'd struggle to make the top 3 list for open side flankers for any neutral observer.
Kolisi is in the Time 100 list. Dupont isn't. It's really simple.
watch more rugby @@johnnyguitar6697
Mate if you don't even know who Maher is, the most famous rugby player in the world, how on earth are you in position to know anything about famous people rugby people in the world. You don't care about rugby because the only thing you watch is your team
Would have at least liked some discussion of Maddi Levi as World Rugby 7's player of the year.
She is amazing
Whos BOD going to drop if Waboso starts for the Lions? Darcy Graham is better so he obviously starts as well right?
...do you guys know what the Times 100 list is? Siya is in the rarified air of people like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Sir Alex Ferguson.
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.
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.
I'm probably too old for the demographic this appears to be aimed at...
I pay money to watch rugby 15's & 7's, I like the players giving back to the younger generations at the games, in the schools, but I don't give a rats about a social media profile or what they ate for dinner.
I don't understand how your biggest "star" is an unproven entity on the rugby pitch? I hope she helps grow the game and has a wonderfully successful marketing company... but for something like this where branding (which social media is a part of) accounts for 50% of your scoring, just seems wrong and silly!
Why not have the scoring weighted, something like 20points for rugby performance/ ability and 10points for marketing/ social media.
Because it's the only way of making the women's game 'relevant'. As a pure sporting spectacle no one cares. I wouldn't be surprised if the guys feel embarrassed having to plug this all the time. They probably don't believe it themselve.
@jonbrook4009 Actually, I really like the women's game, I prefer the women's 7's to the mens! The last women's WC between Roses & Ferns was epic.
Without decent money, I'm not sure how you grow their game as I would suggest there is statistically far less numbers of women who want to beat the suitcase out of each other, compared to men. But without the spectacle and skill there wouldn't be any money flowing in the gate to justify the decent salary. 🤷🏻♂
I think the idea here is to assess impact outside of the pitch. Think Jimi Hendrix to guitar, or Muhammad Ali to boxing.
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.
No player needs to be a ‘brand’. This world now of folk becoming commodities… nah, keep it real.
Agreed. This whole concept is against the rugby ethos. As a Kiwi, I like the ABs for the team first mentality they demand.
It’s the ‘Haskell Helmet’!
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..
Especially in the social media field.
This. If Antoine Dupont was from any of the Home Unions (especially England), or a Kiwi (the All Black mystique), he would get 5 times the exposure he currently gets.
Where is Ruby Tui's social media manager....
Whys Haskell looking younger? Fair play Hask.
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
Really interesting pod
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
@@walterstevens8676start watching 7s. That is where a lot of top mens players get blooded.
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
Nobody watches womens rugby. Women don't watch womens rugby. An under 16 average schoolboy team could beat the England team. Utterly pointless.
Yep. Totally agree. Unfortunately there is an agenda to push.
Lol😂
Prendergast overhyped , talk about sour grapes. Martin has overhyped many players in his day.
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.
@@SmcdMcd-d2kUnfortunately in South Africa, we kind of have to.
Government did ask the very legitimate question of funding a team that isn't representative of the nation and instead only show the minority that ruled during Apartheid on the field.
Rassie Erasmus has been absolutely massive in this - he started seeking out black talent in the early 2010's with what he calls his Mobi units. Kolisi, Mapimpi, Mbonambi are all products thereof.
I know this sounds offensive to someone from somewhere else ,but consider this: South Africa during the entire amateur era was the mist dominant team in the world and we effectively achieved that using 10% of our population.
Then Rassie comes in with the talent he had been growing and we win two world cups on the bounce, a Lion's Tour and we beat the All Blacks four times in a row.
Activating more of our demographics to play rugby isn't "woke"; it is us busy working on the equivalent of a rugby nuclear bomb.
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...
Dude she won't hang with an under 16 from our local club. Please, for the love of God, stop doing this.
@@struandickson9082Siya is in the Times 100 list and that should end all discussion right there. He is not just a bigger star than anyone else in rugby, but the gap is measured in lightyears.