Rugby - Hands Off White!

[child of Thor]

Originally posted by finbar


edit...... From memory, anyone who displayed the slightest hint of logic was condemned to watch a videotape called "Creative English Back Play" for all of eternity. Imagine watching a millisecond videotape loop for all of eternity.

please stop - thats not a thought i'd ever spent much time on before, and i can see why. The horror

In rugby(and most sport) i find it hard to get polarised by nation. If i see a good game/match then i'm happy to give credit where its due(in recent cases NZ for rugby+ AUS for cricket). Still the banter i used to have with the Aussies out in png was fun

They had an interesting programe on tv last night.
Its nice to see the downunders claiming their inheritance, apparently there is a growing trend to discover their criminal past, and a project to make a brick for each re-discovered criminal family member, with a record of their crime and sentance on it

[child of Thor]

Originally posted by Havak
edit.....

And now I've done you a favour as I will be the one needing a hard hat.

and to repay that noble deed i should in true welsh fashion try to steal your cattle(or beef to be more specific to the saying)

Robinson was(is) the coach of Bath isn't he? And i gather not the most deserving of coaches for the england involvement?
Now that Jonno has retired - do you see him heading in a coach direction, i dont know if he's ever talked about it, but i could see him doing well in that role. He certainly would gather the respect of all the team.

[Havak]

Andy Robinson was the coach of Bath in the late nineties – immediately before Callard IIRC and certainly he wasn’t a very successful coach at that level. He did record the 98 European cup win but that was an awful game against Brive (only Saints-Munster and this years diabolical kicking game have been worse).

He was a conservative choice for the RFU and has already proved not to be a good one IMO.

Jonno has shown no real interest in coaching as yet - and to borrow a thought (already expressed by Finbar a while ago I think) one would have to ask where is the upside for him in moving that way? He has little to gain and a lot to lose by becoming a coach as right now his reputation in the sport is fully intact. It depends if he see it as a personal challenge I suppose? The man I mentioned earlier, Dean Richards, is far more likely to make a play in the medium term I think.

And he was obviously p*ssed in the night club.

It also rather sounds like the ARU does not consider the matter concluded.

Those two interpretations actually go for detail that isn't usually part of the definition

I suspect that is mainly because they are frequently used in verbal sparring between rugger fans rather than out of true academic interest.

You might care to pass this on to Edinburgh.

You think they won’t know? The big (and apparently spiritually Scottish) Fijian currently playing for the ABs was on Matt Williams list before he himself got the boot for not liking Scotch enough.

But the title sounds good.

Beautiful finish. Right up to that point the whole paragraph must have been making Ravagon and Andydog feel really great about supporting what is the best team in the world at all times other than the brief period of World cups.

Imagine watching a millisecond videotape loop for all of eternity.

Only the case if you made it “Great Wallaby scrummaging”.

And, frankly, what they're all doing in England when they could be in Europe (and I don't mean politically) is beyond me.

If you like beer you avoid the continent like the plague. Some good premium lagers (but that is not really beer) but other than that you have to drink wine. And why drink wine when beer exists?

If i see a good game/match then i'm happy to give credit where its due

Yeah me too.

(is there a whistles innocently smilie? Oh well this one will have to do instead)

I think you meant discover their ancestors criminal past surely? I found that they got a bit touchy down there if you suggested all of them were Criminals.

[finbar]

Originally posted by child of Thor
They had an interesting programe on tv last night.
Its nice to see the downunders claiming their inheritance, apparently there is a growing trend to discover their criminal past, and a project to make a brick for each re-discovered criminal family member, with a record of their crime and sentance on it

It became trendy about 20 years ago to have transportees in your family tree. The only reason I ended up in the godforsaken sh*thole of a backwater of a naive and inward-looking and self-important and self-absorbed and conservative place was that my great grandfather, a Dutch ship's engineer, jumped ship in Adelaide in the 1860s. Stupid b*astard. If he hadn't, I wouldn't have had to go through all the rigmarole - special visas, etc - it took to move to and live here.

[finbar]

Originally posted by child of Thor


and to repay that noble deed i should in true welsh fashion try to steal your cattle(or beef to be more specific to the saying)

Anything except singing will do, thanks, although a brass brand wouldn't go astray.

[finbar]

Originally posted by Havak
If you like beer you avoid the continent like the plague. Some good premium lagers (but that is not really beer) but other than that you have to drink wine. And why drink wine when beer exists?

Priorities ...

I think you meant discover their ancestors criminal past surely? I found that they got a bit touchy down there if you suggested all of them were Criminals.

The dills would love it. The higher in society, the more amusing they would find it. Part of the infamous egalitarianism, which only truly exists in theory.

[Havak]

Quite happy with my imbibing priorities as it happens.

Pseudo egalitarianism is perhaps one step better than the awfully overt class obsession in the UK though?

I've never understood the term 'upper class' to be honest - unless it is a quite deliberate and sarcastic use of the antonym to the class such people truly possess as human beings?

[child of Thor]

I find it all really interesting, the movements of peoples. The english for example are mostly german+french as a culture, with the obvious intermarriage with the native Celts(but they were only native from around 6000BCE, as it was all under ice for a while), and overtones from the Romans.

But the banter and friction between Aussies(a collective term i use)+Kiwis is as good as the English/Scots/Welsh/Irish thing.
And what has this got to do with rugby? well it all comes to the fore in sport and thats cool, and why i love playing+watching sport as much as i did(playing) and do(watching). Its great we all 'hate' each other

[finbar]

Originally posted by child of Thor
Its great we all 'hate' each other

Some more than others. Speaking of whom, where is our AWOL grenouille?

[Caligastia]

Originally posted by finbar
Oh, and regardless of sheep, New Zealand is an admirable country, particularly politically.

Do you have any opinion on the upcoming elections? Personally, I'd like to see a National/NZ First coalition come to power and get rid of the ethnic grievance industry known as the Waitangi Tribunal. NZ's treaty of Waitangi has been twisted in favor of Maori for too long...it's high time we all became equal under the law again - as stated in the original treaty:

http://www.treatyofwaitangi.net.nz/TheLittlewoodTreaty1.html

[LDiCesare]

Havak, go to Belgium and tell them they don't have good biers/bières. Charles Quint is very good for instance (though I do prefer Guinness). And if you don't like wine, you always have pastis.

[finbar]

*Havak packs his bags for Belgium*

[Havak]

But I do like wine LDiCesare - I simply prefer Real Ale.

Pastis is the licorice flavoured drink isn't it? I have to confess I am not a big fan. Give me 1664 any day.

I've been to Belgium several times - and on one notorious tour rolled out of the bar at 6am when the bus was due to leave for the ferry at 7am (we had slowly drunk our way through the speciality beer menu).

Some of it was most drinkable - Duivels and Chimay Bleue were the pick for me IIRC. It is good stuff is Belgian beer, and the belgians are perhaps the spiritually closest to brits in the beer stakes as every is at the brewing game - but it still doesn't compare to British Real Ale.

I recommend seeking out a few brands if you ever visit - Everards Old Original and Tiger and damn fine beers (but hard to find outside the East Midlands). Morlands Old Speckled hen, Marstons Pedigree, Greene King Abbot, Adnams Broadside, Taylors landlord and Fullers London Pride are all worth a sup. And with a nod to CoT Brains SA (stands for 'Skull Attack', and boy does it!) is perhaps the finest thing ever to leave Wales.

And they are all fairly mass market beers before we even get into the smaller breweries...

[child of Thor]

Originally posted by Havak
edit........ And with a nod to CoT Brains SA (stands for 'Skull Attack', and boy does it!) is perhaps the finest thing ever to leave Wales.

And they are all fairly mass market beers before we even get into the smaller breweries...

I've always wondered why that brand of welsh beer didnt adopt the Slogan from the other brand they market heavily at rugby matches in wales? The slogan is 'Never forget your Welsh' - welsh being the brand of ale.
I think Brains would be very appropriate, especially for the forwards

And i like your list of Beers/Ales Havak - i tried Speckled Hen in the lake district, i think its an aquired taste but one worth getting used to. Mead is my favourite tipple but its hard to find decent ones(or any at all).

[LDiCesare]

Pastis is actually anise based (kinf od absinthe without wormwood). I don't like it much either, but it's very popular in southern France.
Chimay bleue is quite good. I don't know the beers in your list . That may have to do with my strong preference for stout, but mostly I doubt many of these can be found in France.