Sam Larner

It works for me and there's extremism on every platform. The only platform without extremism is one without users. Platforms should clamp down on extremism where it springs up. But, Bluesky has extremism too. Seeking total moral purity will drive you mad.

On the Substack today is a deep dive into the growing trend of scrum-halfs carrying and passing off the back of the scrum. Something which doubled in prevalence from 2023-24 to 2024-25.

My aim is to do an analysis article like this for each Friday!

samlarner.substack.com/p/friday-tac...

Today on the Substack I'm looking at the Ospreys and how they are fairing up after this off-season where two club legends have departed.

What do you reckon Ospreys' fans?

samlarner.substack.com/p/analysing-os…

My latest Substack (samlarner.substack.com) is all about the Quins' recruitment this off-season. Was it hit or miss?

open.substack.com/pub/samlarne...

Something a bit different and special today on samlarner.substack.com. I asked a great young coach
Joe Walsh of the Cornish Pirates to talk me through four different lineout topics I wanted to understand in more detail.

He did just that!

open.substack.com/pub/samlarne...

Feels like the Lions are pushing at an open door but at the moment they're tripping over the welcome mat

Great shout!

I've only driven through it on a weird ski trip detour but never stopped. Lyon as a city is wonderful! Couldn't recommend it enough, the botanical gardens are lovely!

That's Bordeaux

Always exciting this time of year to plan rugby trips ahead for the season. Busy year but my targets are:

Bordeaux
Munster
Worcester
Grenoble

What's on your list??

If you're not already a subscriber, take a look at my latest Substack post which analyses the eye catching Racing 92 recruitment strategy and whether it fixes the gaps they have.

open.substack.com/pub/samlarne...

Thanks Tom! I don't think I was overlooking how bad Japan were. I don't think the post really mentioned them at all, rather it was talking about the Welsh weaknesses.

As @gwladrugby.bsky.social says though, every team in every game has luck go against them with some chances. But, where Wales are currently failing is the quality of chances created is too poor and too infrequent.

Great link-up between Huwipulotu which is what you'd expect given their time playing together. Suggestions elsewhere though that Lions just aren't quite clicking together.

Waratahs playing well so far.

Recruiting the Future Can we tell the future and who will succeed?

Can we predict what will happen in the future? In this Substack article I look back to 2020-21 and use two predictive methods to see which works best and who will be the future stars....

open.substack.com/pub/samlarne...

Incredible chase!

Haha believe me Jono, there were some that were even worse!

You'll have to turn this up but this is one of the best things I've seen on a rugby pitch at Gibraltar 7s and I had the pleasure to commentate on it. The first time I've ever done commentary and I loved it!!

Thank you Richard! It's great down here.

Belting day at the Gibraltar 7s doing commentary. Have a listen on YouTube at Gibraltar 7s.

We start tomorrow at 9am UK time!

Today's article on my Substack (samlarner.substack.com) is about the Premiership stars who are on the rise. Who will get more game time next season and breakthrough?

open.substack.com/pub/samlarne...

This isn't a classic final. But the Bulls are starting to gain a foothold but it's such a hard won one. Still 15pts down.

Leinster are making it so hard to get points. Just endlessly challenging.

Which laws? Gravity?

Leinster more or less home now you feel.

Bulls haven't got into this game at all and are losing in every element. They need something to act as a catalyst.

Bulls are being bullied here physically. Leinster a cut above and 14pts ahead in damp conditions.

The average kicker would've put the kick to touch which led to the Tiger's first try just on the 22m mark.

The chances of scoring a try from there would be 17.6%

Instead Pollard stuck it about on the 8m mark.

The chances of scoring a try from there are 37.9%

Oval Insights with the data

I think that's right. It feels odd that the World Cup is the start of the season though

Is the Lion's Tour the end of this season or the start of next season?

Want to know how to win the Prem? Here are two keys for Bath and for Leicester about what they need to do for victory.

If you subscribe to Samlarner.substack.com you can get videos like this and other articles ahead of anyone else!

If you're not already subscribed to my Substack (samlarner.substack.com) you'll have missed this write-up looking at Montauban's season and how much luck they had and whether they need to change anything for next year.