Rugby - Hands Off White!

[Havak]

Every time she comes into the room, I hide Firefox and tell her I am.

Good luck Finbar – it’s a tough strategy in the long term I suspect.

Very young, nil experience

Even with England far from their peak Twickers is a hell of a place to make your debut. That’s why I looked past his nerves and watched his application. He could come good. Ditch Sharpe and give Chisholm a run with him – build for the future?

He's been cast as a spare parts player

Shades of VD in Mitchell then?

I don’t think I saw enough of Johansson to know if he is the better option so I will take your call on that. I personally think Tuquiri is not a centre either – seems far better suited to the wing. That said both lads were better on the day than our pair.

BTW, if Sheridan is so good, where has he been all this time?

Yes Baxter was done for boring in. To be honest having Jutge removed the Wallabies only hope of getting away with shenanigans at the scrum. French refs tend to police the scrum well as it is such a huge part of the French club game.

Sheridan? Three years ago he was a lock at Bristol and was talked of as the next Jonno (I did choke when I first heard that, yes). Bristol were relegated, he moved to Sale and Jim Mallinder converted him to a prop. It took him two season to learn the trade of the coal face and then England started to include him on the fringe. Now it would seem his time has come. I’m pleased he will be countering Hayman.

Much as it might raise a smile for the Kiwi boys I still don’t really rate Woodcock.

but I think -v- the Paddys - without maligning the Paddys in any way - is a different proposition to -v- England at Twickers.

It certainly is at the moment Finbar – they made a huge error in holding on to an aging set of forwards too long without blooding any new boys (in the way say that England brought through Moody, Worseley and Stevens et al whilst the old guard were still there). Ireland look a shadow of the team they were two years ago.

Interestingly, aside from their (probably justified) s******ing at the Australian scrum, the commentary was pretty honest. None of them were carried away with the win.

It is the BBC – on the whole they are pretty good. Now the Sky TV team would drive you nuts. They get carried away all the time – positive, negative, in turns with England and the opposition, they change tack more often than a dog chasing it’s tail. And I swear Stuart Barnes (colour commentary) is drunk during most games – it is the only explanation for the mistakes he makes. He confused Sanderson and Moody all game on Saturday because the former is a Seven and the latter a Six but turnip played them out of position. In other words he read from a crib sheet and went by their club squad number to call their names getting it wrong all the time therefore. This might seem a reasonable mistake until you realise that Sanderson is brown haired and Moody blond.

There were, if I recall, about ten minutes to go. If it had happened earlier, I could be tempted to agree.

But the Aussies were under their own posts, under huge pressure and in real fear of being pushed over the line – in which case game over. Far better to engineer uncontested scrums and let the England backs mess it up (as they did).

So I remain hugely suspicious about Mr Dunnings injury.

Assuming it was genuine however then he does need to rethink his career if a single scrum against big Andy nearly crippled him.

I don't think they have much chance unless pommy forwards absolutely pound the kiwi forwards. It'll be all up to the 8 fatties wearing white on how the game goes. No pressure fellas!

That is hardly a new situation for the England forwards Andydog?

Personally I think the English pack will at the least gain parity – possibly more -but that won’t be enough sadly. Our backs just don’t look like they can hang with NZ.

[Andydog]

Parity you reckon?

Front Row - I'll call it even as the English one (regardless of what they did to the Wobblies) is still developing.
Second row - I give it to our guys. Borthwick & Grewcock are basically pretty ordinary and one of them is a more of a liability.
Tight 5 as a whole - our guys edge it.
I think the scrums will be pretty even early on. The Pommy scrum is great but a bit overrated based on a performance against a pack with the lack of cohesion and size in the Aussies. The Kiwis will shift it around a bit and I don't think the poms can push like that for an entire match against decent opposition.
As for the lineout, well any team with that pie cart hiffing in is going to be taking risks when it comes to this phase.
Backrow - ours easily.

If you can strangle the AB's possession flow and keep us pinned in our half and be patient. Force the AB's to play a set piece game.. lineout to lineout.. scrum.. slow the game down by mauling. Basically try and make the game as stop/start as possible as the AB's will want to play their continuity game.

It would take a mighty effort from the Pommy forwards and their backs would need to tackle, tackle and then tackle some more.

Matches are generally decided by combinations and I've got to say that the AB combinations well & truly sh!t all over the Poms ones at present.

[Andydog]

Originally posted by ravagon
Mmmm. Paparazzi in camo gear who claim to be from Reuters, then do a runner upon further questioning, then are disavowed by Reuters?

Tis only paranoia if they really aren't out to get you.

I can't see the point in all this secret squirrel stuff, they film the training session and take notes etc, and then they fill the heads of their players with so much information that the players forget half the stuff they've been told, they don't concentrate on their own calls, and get confused with brains full of if's and but's. Waste of time imho.

End of the day, what do they actually get out of secretly filming a training session? Lineout calls, moves, and who they think will be playing.

As for the finding out the calls for the lineout - they can be changed on the day. As for knowing the call for the moves - well, our own players struggle to hear the calls through the backline, plus they hide their mouths when calling them so the oppo aren't going to know every move called, let alone remember them all.

If that muppet Robinson wants to watch the AB's train, all he has to do is watch the Wales and Ireland games. They looked like a training run to me.

[Havak]

England didn’t film them training and you know it – but have your fun by all means. Frankly I think it more likely mad Graham set it up than Turnip thought of it (it required creativity to think of)

The British media are responsible – you know that.

Your assessment of your packs relative qualities made me laugh so hard I think I pulled a muscle by the way.

Woodcock and Mealamu beat Thompson and Sheridan for POWER??? Wtf? I want a pint of what you have been drinking please! The only question mark is Hayman v Sherdian - and I hope big Andy's raw power blows Haymans skill and experience away.

Second row - Jack is class, Williams is not (and will be lucky to stay on the field just like Danny). Borthwick is a line out specialist so Jack may not have it all his own way. I’m on record as saying I don’t rate the Bath combo but our bench option is way better than your greenhorn (Deacon played four years alongside Jonno and I rate him very highly indeed).

Your dismisal of our back row is also pretty annoying. McCaw is world beating - but big Jerry and the hot rod (lets just call them the Samoans shall we?) are perhaps the weakest link in the AB side - and they sure as hell do not totally eclipse players like Corry and Moody on all round skill. I'm not saying they are bad players but they sure as hell aren't 'better' ones than Martin or Lewis.

We may not dominate up front – but we shouldn’t be somewhat blown away there like the weak Welsh and Irish packs were.

Nine to Fifteen is a different story entirely (although I do think Cueto and Cohens strike rates deserve a passing respect – as does Lewseys tackling ability).

Still it would be nice for someone to stop this AB side in it’s tracks. I can dream it might be us until Saturday at least.

Scotland, as you have pointed out, do not have a prayer. Mind you think how funny it would be is the Scots did beat the ABs. For everyone but kiwis.

[finbar]

Originally posted by ravagon
Mmmm. Paparazzi in camo gear who claim to be from Reuters, then do a runner upon further questioning, then are disavowed by Reuters?

Rooters, in a Leicester accent, probably sounds like Reuters.

[finbar]

Originally posted by Havak

Shades of VD in Mitchell then?

No, Mitchell's talent is bigger than his mouth.

Personally I think the English pack will at the least gain parity – possibly more -but that won’t be enough sadly. Our backs just don’t look like they can hang with NZ.

Personally, and without having seen a scrap of any of the autumn matches, I'd've thought England would match the ABs in pack strength, perhaps even outmuscle them, but sheer muscle ain't the be all and end all. If the ABs are playing as well as I've seen them in the past, their sheer strength and tempo all over the ground is the killer. They swarm. They stampede. Beautiful to watch.

[Havak]

Not from the receiving end.

But you are quite right of course. I just thought Andydogs comparative weighing up of the packs hugely flawed so I said so.

Then again even if Williams does get sent off I know Ravagon will have his eyes shut at the time.

My big fear in that case would be fourteen men probably trouncing us!

[finbar]

Care to bet any particular part of your anatomy on a win?

Rugby fan can't explain self-mutilation

A rugby fan who cut out his testicles with wire cutters to mark a Wales victory is at a loss to explain why he did it.

Geoffrey Huish, 31, performed the impromptu self-surgery in February when his beloved Wales beat world champions England.

After performing the deed, Mr Huish put his severed anatomy in a bag and took them to his local social club to show fellow fans.

He collapsed with blood loss and was rushed to hospital but surgeons could not reattach his missing parts.

He was put in a psychiatric ward but has no history of mental illness and was at a loss to explain why he did it.

"I'd told my pal Gethin Probert before the game that Wales didn't stand a chance," Mr Huish told The Sun.

"It wasn't a bet but I said I'd cut my b*lls off if we won.

"I listened to the game on the radio at home by myself.

"After the match I got up for a pee and saw the cutters in the bathroom.

"Gethin had left them after repairing the chain on my toilet.

"I remembered what I'd said and thought he had left them for me.

"I thought 'Oh no, I haven't got to do anything like that have I' and then I thought 'You can do it'.

"So I started hacking away at my tackle.

"It took about 10 minutes and there was quite a bit of pain but I just kept going.

"The cutters were blunt so I had to keep snipping."

After picking his testicles from the toilet bowl, he went to the social club.

"I went in and shouted out 'I've done it!'," Mr Huish said.

"I took my b*lls out and passed them in the bag to a friend.

"Some people then laid me on the floor."

Mr Huish continues to see a psychiatrist.

"I think about what happened every day and still haven't come up with a good reason why," he said.

"I'd had a lot going on and felt a bit down.

"I can't have kids now but still want a family - maybe I'll adopt."

[Havak]

"So I started hacking away at my tackle".

I have never heard anything so awful described so casually!

[Andydog]

Yuck! That's awful.

Anyway I see Havak is getting all personal at me again. I call it as I see it, I'm not trying to annoy anyone. I just think the English forwards are over rated.

I seem to remember a similar situation earlier on in the year, just swap Lions for England. The Lions massive, experienced, technically superior pack, were going to monster our forwards, starve our backs of the ball and whip us good and proper.

Never happened did it chaps!

The AB pack showed then that not only could they scrummage, but our backrow dominated and our backs proceeded to annihilate them. I can see the same thing happening on Saturday.

And more recently, England didn't push anyone around in the 6N, their lineouts are poor, their loose trio is at best average.

The English premier league sides even with the help of "specialist" foreigners, haven't really produced a dominant pack in the HC v the Celtic nations, I cannot see anything in their team to frighten the ABs back into their shells.

I wouldn't dismiss their back row if they had the cunning of Dayglo, Hill, and Back. But not these muppets. Sanderson needs a few more years. Moody has had some time and proved to be nought, and Corry looks to lack a little fitness at the mo but I'll admit he's devastating when he's on.

[child of Thor]

I dont know what it is about welsh rugby fans! They had this story on the bbc site at some point. Also a few Six Nations back we had some bloke who sold his roof to make a bet on Wales beating England(of course wales lost) - his wife wasn't very happy about it!!

I would like to see England beat NZ - its that underdog thing. I guess out of all the uk's countries, england has the best chance. Still NZ will not want it to happen that way, and i suspect they will be more clinical and less relaxed than they have appeared so far. It should be a good competitive game at least

Oh and those guys in camo will be our beloved paparazi(probably News of the World?) - as this is their 'new' favourite way of getting pics that they dont have to pay for.

[Caligastia]

New thread guys...

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=143562