In this series of critical review of rugby websites there will be no winners or losers. My links are to be found at Links

Planet Rugby

• |News 9| Analysis 2| Coaching 5| Gossip 2 | Topical 9|
• |Timely 7| Regional 9| Video 1| Audio 0| Images 4|

What to expect: A lot! Planet Rugby’s home page looks like the first page of AutoTrader! Literally 10s of headlines, two or three (small) topical photos, a video box (more about that later,) and various Fixtures, Results, Tables, TV schedules, links and boxes. And a few ads, of course.
Comprehensive? Absolutely. Strong editorial discrimination? Hardly. While the major “newspaper” sites confine themselves to between 5 and 10 top stories, i.e. headlines and first paragraphs with a “read more” link, plus links to various topical sections, look hard enough at Planet Rugby’s home page and you’ll find links to ALL the latest rugby stories from around the world. As a result this is hardly a site for the casual browser and certainly not a site for one-eyed supporters. All the better for that you may say!
The aim of the content also seems to be coverage rather than controversy. No correspondents are named so there’s no-one to get annoyed with. “Gimme the facts, Ma’am, only the facts.” There is however an “Off the Field” section with excellent but all too few coaching tips from the resident “Guru” and the odd article about refereeing etc. as well as betting and fantasy rugby (whatever that is?) links.
The video box works - at least on my browser and video set-up - which is more than I can say for other sites - but the content is terminally bland. Ed Turner hasn’t yet figured out that the Republic of Ireland doesn’t have a rugby team or how to pronounce Waikato but he can read the scores. Otherwise we currently get Nelson Mandela, the return of the Pumas and Jake White with the cup. Oh! and that vastly informative series of Visa “Debates”.
Strong points: Coverage and attention to detail.
Weak points: Few, considering what it is.