Dave Vernalls

@daviesGDD If he'd picked Doyle up by the scruff of his neck and dumped him off the pitch that might have been a bit borderline but still ok. Alternatively a quiet word to his kickers to drop random bombs on the presenters unexpectedly would have been a lesson.

Is this an acceptable way for a professional coach to behave?

@Rhodri152 @neilfissler Yep - picked up by the scruff of the neck and dumped off the pitch would have been way better..... ;-p

@neilfissler Im with Parling but could’ve handled it better

I’m with Geoffrey Parling on this one. TV shouldn’t be anywhere near the pitch when players come out to warm up.

@AndyGoode10 The alternative is its fair game for all in which case presenters can expect to get peppered while trying to broadcast from the side of the pitch during the warm ups. See if its still as over reacting when you cop a George Ford special spiral bomb out of the blue!

@AndyGoode10 Nope - there is always a pause after the warm up. If you want some random taking a kick at goal, do it then not when players are focusing on warming up and getting in the zone, not on a ball dropping out of the sky potentially causing an injury if they don't see it coming.

Geoff Parling had a stinker today pushing Craig Doyle, no need for acting like that when the TV broadcasters fund the game

@The_Ice_Creamy @DriverPotter @rachelmccourt_ There are no extra coaches sitting spare and the number they have was dictated by Government at the time of franchise. Punctuality tends to go down the toilet when station stops get longer due to people struggling to get on and off.

@DriverPotter @rachelmccourt_ Having extra coaches, as I mentioned. Most of them are tiny, but the ability to make them longer is there. It just needs to be implemented And also improving punctuality. When I was travelling on them, they were notorious for not being on time.

Finally negotiated the nightmare of getting @rugbyontnt set up in yet another new app. Now going to have to go and do this for elderly parents who can't cope with all this streaming app shifting. Move around more often than @sainsburys store layouts and about as welcome.

@rugbyontnt Brainless. 4 of the ten Prem Clubs are in the south west. There is no nearby big stadia as evidenced by Gloucester struggling to sell Villa Park. So one of the biggest existing markets is going to have travel costs imposed on them for neutral semis. Expect dead beerfests.

PREM Rugby Playoffs at neutral venues 🔜

@GBPolitcs As a practical point, there won't be many left by 2030 - manufacturers have been planning for an EV Europe for some time so petrol/diesel ranges have been run down in preparation. Ford for example have very little left even now. Changing the rules won't suddenly change that!

🚨NEW: Up to 40 Labour MPs have reportedly written to senior cabinet ministers to request a rethink of Ed Miliband's plan to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030

@joshbond97 @talkMacca Shame there's so few Welsh sides left - most of the time it would be an Anglo Anglo league with the occasional rare sampling of Welsh. Far cry from the old Bath fixture list crammed with Welsh teams ready for battle.

@dvernalls @talkMacca Tbh the only thing I’d want is an Anglo Welsh league and the final to alternate each year between Twickenham and the Millennium

Struggling to get my head around neutral semi finals in the Prem. On current table Saints and Bath get home games as reward for finishing 1&2. Where's the reward of playing Saints v Exeter in Manchester. Surely sides then just want to finish top 4? No point busting for top 2

@WorcsFaithful @talkMacca How could it possibly be viable - if we hypothetically went back to the old days of a multi round knock out you'd be so far down the leagues people would get killed in scrums taking on Prem first teams.

@dvernalls @talkMacca It’s viable if they want it to be, and neutral semis are being proposed for the play offs anyway.

@WorcsFaithful @talkMacca I grew up on the JPS/Pilkington Cup but realistically now its not viable - clubs want a predictable number of home fixtures to sell tickets for - knock outs leave fallow weekends. Neutral semi's would demand too much travel cash from already pressed supporters.

@talkMacca Time to bin them off and bring back a proper cup with neutral semi finals and a final.

@joshbond97 @talkMacca All bar Wembley are smaller than Twickenham - losing 8k seats to play at Old Trafford and paying stadium hire isn't overall sensible.

@talkMacca The only thing that would make sense is moving the final to other neutral grounds besides Twickenham…plenty of great stadiums around the country that could help grow the game. However, the RFU would never

@18stephenm Maybe because Newcastle weren't spending that and weren't competitive. It doesn't just impact that team - to get the best TV/sponsor deals every team needs to be competitive and bringing in supporters that will add to the numbers those buyers decide on. Losing every week isn't OK

Why force teams to spend 5.4m if their competitive spending less by producing acadamy product, just put additional strain on club finances! Prems now faster with more attacking play partially due to more acadamy players coming through Seem a step back to days of SH journeymen!

@liambyrnemp @CommonsBTC It's screwed because the only remaining large scale users are public sector bodies which are so distrusted and technologically incapacitated that few trust them with cheaper/quicker alternatives like email or app messaging. Everyone else is going digital rapidly.

A 500-year-old national institution is in meltdown. Barely three quarters of First Class letters are arriving on time, costing families and small businesses across the country. Tomorrow, Royal Mail's new owner appears before @CommonsBTC for the first time. We need answers. Watch live, Tuesday 24th March, 2.30pm: parliamentlive.tv/event/index/53…

@Zilch0284 Nah - just means we get to see more of Finn Russell where he really belongs - at the Rec!

Life without any international rugby is so shit.

@ZackPolanski If there's going to be a significant hike in energy costs it will be from the October cap change - prices might go up in July but most people are using very little at that point in the year so even a high price rise will mean little to bills.

This is no time for half-measures. Protect families from the energy price hike. Paid for by: A tighter oil & gas windfall tax. Taxing income from wealth the same as from work. And double down on renewables and energy efficiency to protect us from future shocks.

@cyc1one1000 @TJiMTS True but sometimes quantity isn't everything. We've got NHS backlogs and consultants starting salary on £100k - we might not worry if lawyers etc cut their hours but if consultants do it's not ideal and the knock on to patients in the queue could hit many!

@dvernalls @TJiMTS It's the top 3% of income in the country, it's not an issue hitting that many

Got a £10k pay rise between £100k and £125,140? You kept £3,800. Income tax at 40% takes £4,000. Then because every £2 over £100k removes £1 of personal allowance, you've lost £5k of your tax-free band, and that £5k is now taxed at 40% too. That's another £2,000. Plus 2% NIC on the lot. £6,200 gone. £3,800 yours. The government calls the band £100k-£125,140 "higher rate." The effective rate is 62%.

@BathBytes Only cloud on the horizon is captain grumpy at 10 for them!

A beautiful day in Bath with some fine spring sunshine which will hopefully carry on into the evening

It's return of the @premrugby! After a lengthy hiatus, it's back, and we have a little aperitif for the Champions Cup fixture between @BathRugby and @Saracens, with some Friday night lights at the Rec Hopefully, some cobwebs will have been blown off and the 🔵⚫️⚪️are raring to go

@neilfissler Wouldn't have been made any easier by having Newcastle properly in the money for this transfer round as well. That said they'll be on the right side of the player wage inflation - any club that couldn't afford the cap is going to find their money goes even less far.

A piece with Alex Sanderson about the realities of trying to recruit players.