Rugby - Hands Off Green!

[Havak]

Hurry back please Finbar - I'll need your help as the ABs close in on the record for consecutive test wins.

Not surprised you are having trouble - I've always found the Italian attitude to 'urgency' to basically be that there is no such thing.

[ravagon]

Bah humbug. 21-20 to the Boks. It did sound like a pretty good close game though.

Oh and ...

http://www.planet-rugby.com/Tournaments/Tri_Nations/story_53501.shtml

Bok buffoonary at its finest. I think their presenters now qualify for Australian citizenship.

[LDiCesare]

Wow. Those former springboks interviewers look great indeed!
I wish I had seen that match. Looks like it was interesting when reading the reports. The blacks had difficulties in the lineouts and got intercepted, if I read correctly? I wonder how much did the boks improve over last matches to reap this victory?

[Havak]

Well they are not quite down to Aussie standards yet – Channel 7 is in a class of its own in my experience – but it’s a good start down the road. I suspect most Aussies would read that link and think “so what is wrong with any of that?”.

I guess I jinxed the ABs by mentioning the record? The game proved that despite the talent a team might possess if you pressure their set pieces you can rattle them enough to just sneak the game. The Kiwi line out had its worse day in years?

In our Domestic scene Tigers shot down champions Sale 35-23. We remain formidable at home – if only that won trophies.

In other games Wilkinson made it through an entire game (!) despite missing a penalty kick that would have won the game for Newcastle (Saints with Carlos pipping them 25-23).

England may have found a centre – Toby Flood took the 12 shirt outside Wilko and looked handy. On the flip side young Jon Clarke of Saints broke his ankle and is out for 16 weeks. Last season Clarke really looked ready to break through into the England setup – bad timing for the lad.

*edit* Chabal only lasted until half time LDiCesare - he took some ferocious knocks certainly but the suspicion is he still cannot last a full 80 minutes.

[Caligastia]

Originally posted by ravagon
Bah humbug. 21-20 to the Boks. It did sound like a pretty good close game though.

We wuz robbed!
Did anyone else see the disallowed try?

[Solly]

Another last minute loss for Solly.

Huddersfield 24 - Salford 18.

Guaranteed play-offs now though at either Bradford or Leeds.

[Havak]

Yorkshire > Lancashire.

Union > League

League < kissball (football).

And kissball is dire enough.

[Havak]

Looks like the Ospreys will get a nice compensation package from the NZRFU after Gibbes welched on the contract he signed in April.

In better news (though not for SANZAR in the long run) the rumour is that Jonno is about ready to return to Tigers in a staff capacity.

Oh and Zinzan says England will need a miracle to retain the world cup - talk about stating the b******* obvious!!!

[Solly]

Originally posted by Havak
Yorkshire > Lancashire.

I think we've won once in our last 14 trips over here..

[LDiCesare]

For once Zinzan makes sense, you should congratulate him for a change.

[Havak]

No thanks - Finbar might say it is lazy journalism to trawl up a dinosaur and get him to regurgitate accepted (or collective) wisdom.

Let me have a go at a 'Zinzan':

NZ are a fantastic side right now but need to overcome their history of choking in the RWC.

France turn it on in front of home crowds so will be a major threat.

Australia will defy the odds and make it further than expected.

England will struggle

Wales will talk a good game but then draw with Italy.

Irelands backs are world class and they will beat an SH side.

All of these are accepted wisdoms (in that all except the last have happened in the recent past) but like all such wisdoms they can be blown apart by what actually happens at the RWC.


For my own part I have a sneaky feeling NZ will not win the RWC. All the indicators are that they should of course - but I fancy France to pip them myself. And England will do better than expected if only we can ditch Robinson before it starts (otherwise QFs are the best we will get).

[LDiCesare]

I wish France would win, but I don't think it's really likely. We mutsn't get any prop hurt as we lack replacement quality props (looking at the figures of French props in the French championshio, compared to say the ratio of hookers, tells a lot). We will struggle to get a correct scrum half / fly half combo. Traille would be great as a 10 but won't play that much in club so we'll stick to Michalak, who should have been an excellent scrum jalf rather than the good fly half he now is. The only areas where I'm confident are the back row, centers and wingers, of which we have plenty that are good enough to win the world cup, but it will be won by the tight five and the halves first, and our pack will get out of the qualifying pool quite tired (if we get out) considering we get to play Argentina and Ireland again, and both are very strong teams.

[Havak]

Both have strong packs certainly - but I'm not convinced it is as bad as you think. When you described your weaknesses I almost thought you were describing NZ - they don't have huge depth at prop, hooker or locks and their scrummies are competent rather than exceptional. But for all that they have been playing rather well I think.

Of course they do have an absolute world class fly half and that is something that France have struggled with.

On the flip side the Kiwis don't seem to have huge depth in the centres at the moment? France on the other hand seem to have a production line of centres right now...

It's much easier when you support England - you know they are going to put out a competent 1-8 and after that it is anyone's guess what the quality will be from 9-15.

[Solly]

Hope Wakefield don't go down tonight. Would be a massive end of season clash against Castleford next week.

[finbar]

Back. Perhaps briefly, who knows? Having been told we'd have to wait till October 11 for a phone connection because Telecom Italia were upgrading the network - today, they spent most of the day up a ladder working on the phone junction box on the wall outside. Lo and behold, we now have a phone line, and, perhaps more importantly, ADSL. Except! Our phone number isn't the new number we were allocated but the former owner's number, and Telecom Italia told us she was taking that number with her to her new address. So, our connection might be brief, so I'm making the most of it.

With no internet, missed the Boks-Wallabies match completely. Reads like the Wallabies tossed it away again.

Next World Cup? Has to be les grenouilles or the ABs. You'd reckon.

Oh, and I also missed the first reports of the death of that parody of Australianism, Steve Irwin, known, apparently, as the Croc Hunter. Shameless self-promoter and harasser of the wildlife he claimed to protect. I vote a medal for the stingray.