Rugby World Cup 2003 - Finals!

[Caligastia]

I couldn't come up with a decent title this time guys...sorry. If suggestions were made in the last thread I wouldn't have been able to look at them anyway.

Carry on...



Old Thread

[Tamerlin]

Monty's desert and sicily campaigns were pitiful and the few successes can be attributed to the quality of the british troops rather than the quality of their generals (the better ones were dismissed for political reasons), curiously enough, operation Market Garden was not a bad idea... but it was a real blunder because of its implementation... and who was in charge?

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Finbar
The knob who flew home to be at the birth of his child? What is it with rugby players these days all turning into namby pambys? Half the Wallaby team flew home and back from the last NH tour to see curtain clingers born! Why can't they just take a video of some kid's birth and distribute it? See one placenta, you've seen them all! I mean, can't Corry count? Or didn't he think he'd make the World Cup squad? If he thought he was a chance, he should've applied a cold spoon to the bloody thing! Still, at least they induced his kid. So it will go through life knowing it's exactly as old as it is thanks to a rugby tournament. Serves the brat right.

Quite right. My father was out playing rugby (for a county side I think) when I was being born. I made the mistake of being present at my childrens births. After it all, I'd suggest that playing rugby is easier than being there.

[finbar]

Quite right. We have played very poorly under pressure – and won every game.

As did the All Blacks. And they won too. But the interesting thing about the two England misfires is the totally different means by which they started out - the Boks overpowered you, and the Samoans ran around and past you. Just to save time, the Welsh did a bit of both to the ABs.

But the worst General in history? Surely any one of Napoleans boys sent scurrying by Wellington? Or even his brother – the man he tried to make King of Spain?

I suspect Tamerlin would vote for Dimitri Yachvili as the worst General. Of the onfield variety anyway.

Neil Backs web site has photo’s proving he and Jonno had a time before ‘Worn Leather lived in face’ became the main feature – for your sake I’ll not link to them here.

I'll go and have a look for myself. I assume Mr Back's URL is www.unboundatthebackofthemaul.com?

Nigel Williams pinged Uruguay for advancing too quickly at the restart once against England – and Uruguay certainly infringed afterwards (we had no more restarts after that call but were no doubt guilty before it) so could that be the game?

That was it. And it not only happened consistently in that game, it happens consistently in every game! Sometimes, at the kick off, the ref will say something to the runners, but after that it's on for young and old.

On Wallaby selection matters, poor old Eddie is going to end up severely paranoid. Having installed Tuquiri and Mortlock, he is now, predictably, getting it heavily in the neck for benching Roff instead of Sailor. Just as he's being criticised for keeping the same pack, despite having slagged their efforts against Ireland. In his defence, though, we don't have anyone better than the incumbents, so why bother changing them?

Even Brian O'Driscoll, who seems to have a word for every occasion, has hopped into Eddie, wondering why it has taken him so long to play Mortlock. He expressed amazement that he was playing on Burke instead of Mortlock in the centres on the weekend, calling Burke a great full back playing out of position in the centres.

Oh, and there's a fairly silly article in this morning's press by Paul Hayward, reprinted from the Telegraph (over there), attempting to analyse why the England team is despised. Unfortunately, on the whole, he places too much store in a couple of Australian sub-editors who, probably because they're either drunk or stupid or even both, delight in creating provocative headlines. Along the way, he also cites Toutai Kefu and his red-coat line, when Kefu was blatantly obviously taking the p*ss. He then, in the interests of his own impartiality, quotes an Englishman writing on the SMH's rugby forum, slagging Australians to the hilt as utterly lacking in class. That post to the SMH rugby forum has been doing the rounds. Unfortunately, Hayward missed the tag to the Englishman's bucket of bile - that he was taking the p*ss.

Anyway, the most interesting paragraph of the article was an attempt to explain the Australian antipathy towards England rugby. And he lays the blame squarely with you, Havak:

The Pom-haters see middle-aged, middle-class Englishmen drinking pints and singing "Sweet Low, Sweet Chariot" ...

Edit. Oh, and up to the end of our last thread - Rugby Widows Weep - we have, between us, accumulated 6,483 posts since we started our dedicated rugby threads. I hope we're all incredibly ashamed of ourselves.

[finbar]

Originally posted by SpencerH


Quite right. My father was out playing rugby (for a county side I think) when I was being born. I made the mistake of being present at my childrens births. After it all, I'd suggest that playing rugby is easier than being there.

I can certainly imagine that lying at the bottom of a ruck being pulverised by half a dozen pairs of size 18 boots could, in this case, be an appealing alternative.

[ravagon]

Originally posted by Tamerlin
Do you remember what said the head of the government in exile after the Operation Market Garden was deemed a success by the culprit: "Netherlands can not afford itself another victory of Montgomery?"

Interesting. That's probably the first time I've heard the words "Market Garden" and "success" mentioned in the same sentence. Well, without the word "not" in the mix somewhere anyway.
I suppose thats what you get when you tailor an operation against "old men on bicycles".

Originally posted by finbar
On Wallaby selection matters, poor old Eddie is going to end up severely paranoid. Having installed Tuquiri and Mortlock, he is now, predictably, getting it heavily in the neck for benching Roff instead of Sailor. Just as he's being criticised for keeping the same pack, despite having slagged their efforts against Ireland. In his defence, though, we don't have anyone better than the incumbents, so why bother changing them?

Over here they were playing up some sort of underhanded angle in the 'premature' release of the starting lineup.
Apparently Eddie was of the opinion that somebody was trying to undermine his position and itterated that he "had his suspects".
Apparently the media thought inspector Clouseau would make a more qualified investigator and didn't really think that the stated motive would narrow down the field very much.

I have no idea whether there's any truth to any of it but it was rather entertaining all the same.

[Tamerlin]

Originally posted by finbar
I suspect Tamerlin would vote for Dimitri Yachvili as the worst General. Of the onfield variety anyway.

He is no more than a Corporal... though of the worst kind I agree.

I'll go and have a look for myself. I assume Mr Back's URL is www.unboundatthebackofthemaul.com?

Oh and by the way, even your journalists should know the song starts with "Swing low..."

Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home!
I looked over Jordan and what did I see,
Comin' for to carry me home!
A band of angels comin' after me,
Comin' for to carry me home!

Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home!

If you get there before I do,
Comin' for to carry me home,
Jess tell my friends that I'm comin' too,
Comin' for to carry me home.

Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home!

I'm sometimes up and sometimes down,
Comin' for to carry me home,
But still my soul feels heavenly bound
Comin' for to carry me home!

[finbar]

Originally posted by ravagon
Over here they were playing up some sort of underhanded angle in the 'premature' release of the starting lineup.
Apparently Eddie was of the opinion that somebody was trying to undermine his position and itterated that he "had his suspects".
Apparently the media thought inspector Clouseau would make a more qualified investigator and didn't really think that the stated motive would narrow down the field very much.

I have no idea whether there's any truth to any of it but it was rather entertaining all the same.

I think the reference was to the Sydney Daily Telegraph being leaked the team. I don't know, I don't read the rag, but there was nothing more than speculation in the SMH.

Eddie's under real pressure. As he was always going to be, regardless. It's part and parcel of coaching the host team. But he's done nothing to help himself with his methods and attitudes. For example, persisting with Matt Burke in the centres - heaping huge praise on him only last week when justifiying his inclusion in front of Mortlock - only to drop him from the 22 this week. The bottom line being, simply, that the pressure is getting to Eddie.

EDIT. The leak was to The Australian, another Murdoch rag I don't read. As for any suggestion that it was an attempt to undermine Eddie - it was only the latest in a long line of leaks, extending back to the naming of the 30-man Cup squad in the paper before it was released by team management. The full teams for every match in the tournament thus far were also leaked. I'm not altogether sure how that all constitutes an attempt to undermine Eddie.

[finbar]

Originally posted by Tamerlin

He is no more than a Corporal... though of the worst kind I agree.

You've promoted him from Cannon Fodder to Corporal? How generous of you!

Oh and by the way, even your journalists should know the song starts with "Swing low..."

Yes, sorry. That was my typo. I'm in a bit of a tizz waiting for my Petit Ophrys to get here so I can fight you on level terms!

[Tamerlin]

Yes: "Les filles, c'est que des emmerdes!"

[finbar]

Mmmmm. The verb emmerder translates as to bug or to bother. There's a reflexive version which translates as to be bored stiff.

Where's my Petit Ophrys!

[Tamerlin]

Not far from the real sense, but not quite!



I could also speak about the "gonzesses"...

[finbar]

Okay, without reference to my Petit Ophrys which I haven't received yet! - how about this for a rough idiomatic translation:

"Girls, what a pain in the arse!"

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by finbar


I can certainly imagine that lying at the bottom of a ruck being pulverised by half a dozen pairs of size 18 boots could, in this case, be an appealing alternative.

Last time it happened to me they were only size twelves since I was still in school.

[Tamerlin]

Originally posted by finbar
Okay, without reference to my Petit Ophrys which I haven't received yet! - how about this for a rough idiomatic translation:

"Girls, what a pain in the arse!"

You have caught the spirit, but I would not translate it like that... all hail le petit ophrys!