Rugby - Hands Off Black!

[LDiCesare]

I thought the France-Bok game was fantastic for neutrals. France seem to have an endless production line of quality loose forwards these days? And Thomas had a great game at full back. I think France still need a real quality Fly half though (I can safely say that now tamerlin has disappeared)?

Yes we have many good flankers out there, which is nice. Lambolley, who played second row as Thion went out, can also play flanker. Castaignede is back to the level of excellence he showed when playing at Toulouse. I love seeing him play the blue shirt again. And I agree that we need a real fly half. Delaigue is quite good but never proved top-notch at international level and getting old. Michalak is a scrum half played out of place. He's got real qualities but his kicking game is not alwyas good, and he relies too much on his own qualities instead of playing his partners more. Unfortunately, we can't seem to have other options out there, though Laporte has hinted repeatedly at Castaignede as a possible fly half.

On another note, I played against the referees team yesterday. They are certainly the worst team of cheaters and talkers you can think of. Discussing after the match, it went this way (translated from a 1AM post-match talk so the words are loosely like what was uttered):
"Oh, YOU played hooker?"
"Yes".
"You went a lot into the mauls early on, didn't you. And suddenly after a moment, you werent' there as often. I saw why it happened".
Mmmm. Sure, I had a moment in the game when I suddenly felt very tired and it took me a good ten minutes to get back to my usual level. I wish I could remember what exactly they did to me, but I'm sure it wasn't exactly legal.

[finbar]

So who refs a match when the refs are playing?

I noticed Leicester were behind in the first half on Saturday. I tried to tune into the Radio Leicester broadcast promised on the BBC website. They were covering a Leicester s***** match! They covered the rugby in the second half. Meaning I had to listen to Leicester win!

[Havak]

Now that has made my Tuesday morning for me.

Poor Carlos - he undeniably has talent but he is too unconventional - just doesn't do the basics well enough often enough.

[finbar]

That has always been his achillies. His game lacks reliable foundations. Finesse and unpredictability can be wonderful things - entertaining, match-winning, all of those things - but as an adjunct to substance. That's why, sadly, he was found out at Test level.

Was the match as dull as it sounded?

[Havak]

Pretty much - we just ground down their pack in the second half basically.

The opening Lloyd try was a cracker from first phase ball - but it was the highlight in that regard as their were two pushovers and a charge down in the second half.

That said IIRC Carlos did take ages on the clearance kick that got charged down for the Jennings try. That was quite enjoyable.

Off the top of my head Saints fielded a Bok and a Kiwi prop, a French lock and Kiwi half backs and fullback. It makes me wonder why their owner (Keith Barwell) is so vocal in the club versus country debate - England call ups hardly affect him after all.

And the French lad played because Selbourne Boome was injured. If you take out the Irish, Welsh and Scots who also played for them it gets hard to spot the Englishman!

[finbar]

What about the fat winger and even fatter hooker?

And did I see that Plank's mob beat Munster?

[Havak]

Fat winger played and saw very little ball. He also got yellow carded in the second half for constantly questioning Chris White's decisions.

Fat hooker played and went off injured on about 45 mins. From that point on we really put their pack on the back foot and just slowly powered them out the game.

You are right about Planks boys. I didn't know the result until you mentioned it. Munster were 18 games unbeaten at home to that point. Apparently Munster turned down an easy three pointer at the end to try and force the win. Someone will be kicking themselves over that!

[Havak]

Incidentally we have drawn Wasps in the semi-final of the Anglo-Welsh cup. I wanted Llanelli!

these semis are played on a 'fallow' weekend during the Six nations. The RFU has said this morning that they do not wish to release England players for these games. Tigers, Wasp and Bath all made these semis. These three clubs provided 13 of the 22 players for the last England game.

Lets just say club v country just kicked off with a bang again.

The RFU along with the WRU made a huge deal of the revised Powergen format (anglo-welsh cup) and sold a TV deal to the BBC as well as a nice sponsorship deal from powergen - now they won't allow England players to take part in the final phase (welsh players are unlikely to feature for Llanelli either).

Gun, Foot, Bang, Blood.

RFU, Brewery, organise, booze up, could not!

[Havak]

This one for Finbar:


Former England coach Sir Clive Woodward claims that Australia have made a mistake in sacking coach Eddie Jones.

Woodward, who coached England to World Cup success in Australia two years ago, told the Sydney Morning Herald: "I think it was a mistake to let him go.

"He is an experienced coach who has had a lot of success at international level and, to be honest, there are not many of them around."

Jones was sacked after Australia won just one of their last nine Tests.

But Woodward argued that Jones was looking at the bigger picture.

"When I was coaching England, I always loved it when teams were changing coaches," added Woodward, who is now performance director at Southampton football club.

"I think one of the main reasons New Zealand are going to be so formidable is that they have a formidable coach who in his time has had some real bad runs.

"I think Eddie had targeted the next World Cup. We are well down the road to that competition."

The Australian Rugby Union have said they will take their time over appointing a new coach, with several people linked to the job.

Australian newspaper the Daily Telegraph reported that Woodward was keen on the job.

ARU chief executive Gary Flowers told the newspaper: "If Clive wants to apply, he is more than welcome to do so."

Woodward was head coach of the British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand this year that ended in a 3-0 defeat in the Test series.



But here is the good news Finbar - the Aussie Telegraph is barking up the wrong tree entirely. Clive is still dreaming dreams of Soccer world cup glory (at Southampton of all places).

[finbar]

The Aussie Telegraph is a Murdoch rag. Say no more.

I read Clive's utterances yesterday. He says a lot more in the article posted on the SMH's Rugby Heaven website, including talking about his relationship with Eddie. None of it really surprised me.

[Havak]

Less about supporting Eddie - and more about sticking it to the ARU I suspect.

[child of Thor]

one for Havak:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/european/4501504.stm

the orange-one is set to play a comeback match against Leicester - not quite what you can call a gentle run in after injury!

[Havak]

Quite.

Pat Howard has picked Matt Cornwell (oft times England U21 skipper) and Ollie Smith in the centre. Personally I think both lads are better players than Media tart Gav - but i guess we shall see on Sunday.

Yep that is right - Havak misses his quiet Sunday this weekend. Thanks a bundle Sky!

[LDiCesare]

So who refs a match when the refs are playing?

The last ref to arrive at the match. At least that's what they said last year. On a previous match, the one who reffed was the only one who had enough authority to actually ref them (DArtigeas, he has reffed in 1st division and maybe at international level in his prime).
After a week of checking with fellow players, it appears the refs were refering to the time when they mistook me for a rug and hapily trod upon me. I wasn't even offside. They also managed to eyegouge one of our flankers among other things. You'll certainly hope refs can see bad moves on a field considering how they can deal some themselves. Well, next match in january now. Time to get even fatter so the pack will be heavier by then.

[Havak]

A man after my own heart! Eat to win.

Henson played the best game of rugby I have ever seen from him yesterday. He was competent (not outstanding). Of course his team, even with a stack full of Bok and kiwi backs, wasn't good enough to down mighty Tigers. 30-12 to the Tigers. Bonus point secured.

Harry Ellis had an outstanding game - it is only a matter of time before he does for England what he keeps doing for us.

Wasps lost to Llanelli and have almost no chance of getting out their group now. Quelle Domage!

Ulster beat Sarries at home too Finbar meaning planks boys have everything to play for in the return leg next weekend.