Rugby - Hands Off White!

[finbar]

My grandfather used to drink stout. I wonder if he played hooker in his youth?

[child of Thor]

I used to play hooker at school, i think mainly due to me always brawling. Still as time went on i became a 'utility back' - i played most positions but settled on scrum-half/half back in my most senior level, where size was becoming an issue.

What positions did you guys play at? I guess Havak was a forward(and why i made the Brains jibe - got to keep the forwards/backs divide, not to mention anglo-welsh relations ticking over ).

[Havak]

I think Brains would be very appropriate, especially for the forwards

Brains are the current shirt sponsors n’est pas? And because I believe France have that law that prevents advertising alcohol at sporting events the team wore a shirt with “Brawn” on it last time out in paris.

Strangely mead has never grabbed me the way it should have – a bit too rich for me. Speckled hen is an acquired taste – but well worth the acquiring.

That may have to do with my strong preference for stout, but mostly I doubt many of these can be found in France.

Not really suited to the French market – and the Frog and Rosbiff chain (which has a bar in Toulouse and several more in the south?) tends to sell it’s own brews. You can find them around the channel ports if you look hard enough. But why mess about – come to where they are brewed and I’ll give you the master class! Rural Suffolk where some of the best originate is like stepping into another world. And you could sample them with infamous British pub food.

My liking of stouts is mainly restricted to the big names – Guinness, Beamish and Murphy’s – but you can find English Porters and stouts well worth the time. If you didn’t know Stout (porter) was originally an English drink – very successfully exported to Ireland.

Prop btw. Not to any decent standard mind – and never claimed to be any good. Just enjoyed the game. I guess I should also really have learnt some of the laws whilst still a player – but where would the fun have been in that.

Then again for most of my playing days you couldn’t lift in the line outs and you could scrum the length of the pitch not just 5M. You could also ruck out idiots laying over the ball and could turn players in the tackle a lot easier as the release was not policed the way it is now. Which reminds me – please note how all the major law changes in the last fifteen years have pandered to SH weaknesses not NH ones.

*lights blue touch paper and retires*

[finbar]

*watches damp (from crocodile tears) blue torch paper fizzle*

[child of Thor]

Originally posted by Havak
edit....

Brains are the current shirt sponsors n’est pas? And because I believe France have that law that prevents advertising alcohol at sporting events the team wore a shirt with “Brawn” on it last time out in paris.

Strangely mead has never grabbed me the way it should have – a bit too rich for me. Speckled hen is an acquired taste – but well worth the acquiring.

Yes they are and it IS funny every time i see it(a particular picture of a jubilnt gap-toothed gareth thomas springs to mind).
Mead can be found in many different types, but being honey based is pretty sweet. Still i can drink the right mead as i drink cider.

[LDiCesare]

I used to play hooker at school, i think mainly due to me always brawling. Still as time went on i became a 'utility back' - i played most positions but settled on scrum-half/half back in my most senior level, where size was becoming an issue.

Well, I did just about the reverse.
I started as a winger, of all things. I never ran fast of course, and spent most of my time as right winger n mauls on the left wing for some reason. I then played scrum half, winger agian, and scrum half, then hooker. I managed to play in every position except prop or lock.
I do not pretend to be good either. I keep asking my coach to play 9 but he keeps saying stuff like "yes, I remember you played scrummy". Maybe I should translate "you used to play" as it's probably nearer to what he means. And he really seems to like me as a hooker even though my throwing in lineouts is often worthy of a certain English hooker in his bad days.

[child of Thor]

Originally posted by LDiCesare
edit...... And he really seems to like me as a hooker even though my throwing in lineouts is often worthy of a certain English hooker in his bad days.

I don't know who you could mean

[finbar]

You could take your pick of a half a dozen, really.

Another dire Wallaby effort against the Boks. Squandered a 13-6 half time lead to lose 22-16, but the half time lead was undeserved anyway. And this time it counted. This was the first Tri-Nations match. The infuriating thing is that everything they're doing badly now - field kicking, handling, lineouts - is everything they were doing well earlier.

Just think. While I was lazing through a 5-hour lunch under a pergola on a Tuscan olive farm, 35C but cooled by a gentle breeze, the Wallabies were letting me down on the other side of the world. B*stards!

[child of Thor]

Originally posted by finbar
edit......

Just think. While I was lazing through a 5-hour lunch under a pergola on a Tuscan olive farm, 35C but cooled by a gentle breeze, the Wallabies were letting me down on the other side of the world. B*stards!

some peole have no consideration do they! Still i'll again mention my surprise at the SA performance, they do seem to have come from no-where. NZ shouldn't get too comfortable?

[LDiCesare]

Being who they are, NZ will get too comfortable.

[Andydog]

something whifs of bad fish..

[Havak]

*watches damp (from crocodile tears) blue torch paper fizzle*

I took the silence as full vindication of my point.

And he really seems to like me as a hooker even though my throwing in lineouts is often worthy of a certain English hooker in his bad days.

You exaggerate surely? It cannot be that bad???

Squandered a 13-6 half time lead to lose 22-16, but the half time lead was undeserved anyway.

I have a confession to make. I started watching at the start of the second half. I feel therefore that I am partially to blame.

Very shaky performance up front Finbar – and sad to say but plank has left a hole as Sharpe and the Bok lad didn’t really produce.

Neither of those sides look like they can trouble the ABs right now. Saturday will be interesting.

I also got the impression that straightness of the throw in the line out is this years big IRB instruction to referees?

they do seem to have come from no-where. NZ shouldn't get too comfortable?

Well set aside the fact a struggling England side handsomely beat the Boks last autumn the fact still remains that South Africa are the reigning Tri-nations champs and absolutely no one should take them lightly in South Africa – they are building an awesome home record.

NZ should beat them – but I’ll not bet my house on it.

something whifs of bad fish..

If you are being fair you have to concede that LDiCesare has a good point. The last decade is full of examples of rampant NZ optimism being brought crashing down to earth.

You simply need to hope that this time it is not another ‘false dawn’. Only the Welsh have had more of them (sorry CoT – could not resist!).

I can’t see either side from last Saturday troubling the ABs in the slightest – but I have been wrong before.

[finbar]

Originally posted by Andydog
something whifs of bad fish..

Sure does. Classic piece of hit and run guerilla tactics.

[finbar]

Originally posted by Havak
I have a confession to make. I started watching at the start of the second half. I feel therefore that I am partially to blame.

I knew there had to be a reason other than the Wallabies' own limitless capacity for finding ways to lose!

I didn't see the match, obviously. Some of the reports refer to the Boks umbrella defence - that which swarms up offside - being a factor.

Jake White has proved himself to be a bit of a goose recently, but he produced a ripper on the weekend. He suggested that the Wallabies are being undermined by the L***** element within the team and their L*****-mentality behaviour.

Very shaky performance up front Finbar – and sad to say but plank has left a hole as Sharpe and the Bok lad didn’t really produce.

He was always going to be missed. The mongrel in him disguises a shrewd brain. He basically took over from D. Giffen calling the lineouts. The Waratahs will miss in exactly the same way. The ARU c*cked it up letting him go.

It also didn't help on the weekend that V. Matfield was on song. When he's on song, he's terrific.

I also got the impression that straightness of the throw in the line out is this years big IRB instruction to referees?

For this week. Next week it will be tunnels.

– but I have been wrong before.

That's going on your tombstone.

[Havak]

Not for a very long time I hope!