Rugby - Who? Me, Sir? Offside?

[Tamerlin]

Originally posted by Havak
Tournaire uses his boot to encourage the guy to move and *bang* penalty for ‘stamping’...

Franck Tournaire is a good player but he is also important to the score of the opposite team. I told it to you before...

I was amazed The Exiles pushed Stade Toulousain so close – their domestic form has been very poor. Sadly Tamerlin may be right and the French challenge will come from elsewhere.

This confirms what I think of the English teams, the overall quality of the game is better in England than in France because of a championship promoting a better level of play. The only thing which can save us, french team, is that the english game is more classical than ours (that which is not a critic as many french teams should remember what this game is all about and learn from our english friends) and is sometimes lacking some imagination. On the other hand the english teams are far better than us where the fundamentals are concerned.

[Tamerlin]

Originally posted by LDiCesare
Hey! You forgot the most interesting HCup info!
First:
Biarriz bet Cardiff (26-15, but actually to a pulp).
The BO was vastly superior to the Welsh in the front row, but didn't manage to score for a long while.

As last year's H-Cup, the BO dominated with their front rows but proved unable to score with their 3/4th. I hope this is only temporary.

Second:
Very bad news...

Very sad news for the french rugby, without TV rights there is much less money which means lower quality teams.

[MOBIUS]

So what's a red card then on this thread?

Obviously I deserve one through my ignorance, but one has to start somewhere...

[Havak]

Biarriz bet Cardiff (26-15, but actually to a pulp).

My apologies. I at least should have mentioned this as it’s very significant. Cardiff had never lost a European cup game at home until Saturday Of course they lost the 96 final to Tamerlin’s boys in the National stadium which was perhaps a 100 metres away from their own ground – but technically that wasn’t a ‘home’ loss any more than Stade Francais losing last years final. Congratulations to BO.

Very bad news about the TV. Strangely the cup is drawing excellent audiences here on the BBC whilst the Premiership on Sky is struggling - IMO because they don’t show Tigers often enough.

Franck Tournaire is a good player but he is also important to the score of the opposite team. I told it to you before...

You did indeed – and I’m seeing plenty of first hand evidence now too.

The English sides can be pragmatic, dour and even boring at times I agree. Things are improving however. We can lack ‘flair’ and ‘imagination’ as well, both things you can see from most French sides. As a general rule though, as I have said before, build a team from English forwards and French backs and they’ll take all comers.

[finbar]

Originally posted by Havak
At the risk of upsetting Finbar even more it seems the Wallabies are incapable of simply playing the game and have to build up with all sorts of nonsense, stirring and mind-screws. Sure all teams do it but not on quite the same scale perhaps?

I rather think the Boks coach has taken over the mantle these days.

So you don’t believe Aussie coaches use the “fall to the floor” ploy then?

Everyone does it.

I suspect our friend the L***** player is just leveraging his next contract – unless he can play Stand off in which case we will have him!

So that report's a beat up? It suggests Leicester is keen.

And for once Healey is quite right –

Will he get into bother for it? It was less offensive than Mehrtens' outburst but still publicly critical of a ref.

Tournaire uses his boot to encourage the guy to move and *bang* penalty for ‘stamping’ and a totally undeserved draw for the Welsh.

Uses his boot to encourage the guy to move? What exactly did he do?

[finbar]

Originally posted by MOBIUS
So what's a red card then on this thread?

Where do we begin? Actually, the rules are flexible - meaning we vary them at our whim. Originally the rules were roughly as follows:

1. Any post exhibiting intelligence warrants a yellow card.
2. Any post exhibiting wit warrants a yellow card
3. Any post exhibiting intelligence and wit warrants being tied to a chair and forced to watch a L***** match.
4. Persistent offenders are tied to a pool deck and forced to watch synchronised swimming.

Along the way, it was also decided that any mention of the L***** word also warranted a red card. Oh, and anyone who lived in any region that was predominantly L***** oriented had to move somewhere else before they could post.

Get the drift?

[Havak]

I rather think the Boks coach has taken over the mantle these days.

He was quite interesting during the tri-nations wasn’t he?

Everyone does it.

In certain tactical situations of course they do. But the incidence is noticeably higher with your guys, at least from my perspective of seeing players go down and stay down As I say it is a fairly easy way to spot Aussie coached teams in European competitions.

It suggests Leicester is keen.

It means very little until you get a direct quote to that effect from Wheeler or Richards to be honest. We get linked with loads of players. Wilkinson during the summer for example and that didn’t exactly prove reliable (though I wish it had!).

Will he get into bother for it? It was less offensive than Mehrtens' outburst but still publicly critical of a ref.

Interesting isn’t it? When you look at the wording all it says is “I don’t like criticising refs” and “I didn’t enjoy the last penalty decision”. Could be hard to get him on that as it isn’t truly ‘personal’?

Time will tell.

He deserves letting off to be honest as his try was an opportunistic cracker under the posts – a double “show and go” job.

Uses his boot to encourage the guy to move? What exactly did he do?

He brought his boot down vertically twice on the offending players thigh from what I could see. The second ‘rake’ made it ‘excessive’. Most refs would have let it go as “you get what you deserve” – their player should not have been there and knew exactly what he was doing – and crucially it worked. Personally I felt he was just trying to ruck the offending player out of the way. I’m not biased.

[Caligastia]

Originally posted by Bearcat

Not really, considering most of the rugby over here is shown on Fox Sports World, and I don't have digital cable. I did see a couple of the Super 12 games last year though, including the Sharks vs. Crusaders, which the Sharks should have won IMO.

There was a super 12 last year? I seem to have blocked it from my memory for some reason...

If you get a chance, try and see the upcoming games against England in November.

[Caligastia]

Originally posted by Havak
Interesting isn’t it? When you look at the wording all it says is “I don’t like criticising refs” and “I didn’t enjoy the last penalty decision”. Could be hard to get him on that as it isn’t truly ‘personal’?

I thought he had already been fined. From those quotes you provided I dont think he really deserves to be.

[finbar]

Originally posted by Havak
He was quite interesting during the tri-nations wasn’t he?

Colourful, to say the least.

In certain tactical situations of course they do. But the incidence is noticeably higher with your guys, at least from my perspective of seeing players go down and stay down As I say it is a fairly easy way to spot Aussie coached teams in European competitions.

If you're using the same brand of logic that says if a team constantly flubs a 3-man overlap situation then it must be coached by an Englishman, you're probably right.

Interesting isn’t it? When you look at the wording all it says is “I don’t like criticising refs” and “I didn’t enjoy the last penalty decision”. Could be hard to get him on that as it isn’t truly ‘personal’?

Your interpretation is benign in the extreme.

He brought his boot down vertically twice on the offending players thigh from what I could see. The second ‘rake’ made it ‘excessive’. Most refs would have let it go as “you get what you deserve” – their player should not have been there and knew exactly what he was doing – and crucially it worked. Personally I felt he was just trying to ruck the offending player out of the way. I’m not biased.

You can't attack (and I use the word in the technical sense) another player with the boot. It was obviously a penalty.

[finbar]

Hey Cal - the post count is getting up. We're going to have to start casting around for another thread title.

How about - ?

Rugby - Havak Potter & The Emperor's New Clothes

[Caligastia]

Wow, I didnt realize we were up there already.

How about this for a thread title.

Rugby - Havak Potter & Finbar's new clothes



You guys should get at least one thread title in recognition of your contributions here.

[finbar]

How about -

Rugby - Havak & finbar: the Axis of Evil

[Caligastia]

Whatever you guys want.

[Tamerlin]

Rugby - Havak & Finbar : Commonwealth Wars