Rugby World Cup 2007 - Twiddling Our Thumbs!

[Havak]

I'm fortunate to follow a Cosmopolitan Club where we have just lost our second Aussie coach (our first being the brutally honest Bob Dwyer of course) and appointed a Puma to replace him.

The new man lacks any English style delusion - his aim for his first season is to win the treble that we just so narrowly missed.


I see the sense in playing Lote against the huge Islanders (he is one after all)

Shame though as the acid test of Digby Ioane would have been to run rings around big fast Fijians. He looked good in brief flashes against Wales - but then Wales were so poor in that second test they might have made Ben Cohen look good...

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Oh well. Argentinian-tinged, fractured English. He could delude himself and you'd never know it. Presumably the Leicester online shop will be offering English-Argie dictionaries.

D. Ioane is a speed machine. Wonderful feet. His handicaps have been dodgy defence and suspect rugby nouse. The far better, more impressive prospect is the Waratahs' Lachlan Turner, who just hurt himself in an Australia A game. Just as quick, only about 20, and great rugby nouse.

[Havak]

The thing is that probably isn't a joke - the shop never misses a chance to make money. I see a real possibility of many takes on "Pumas and Tigers" appearing in the leisurewear next season.

Sounds like Ioane is Tom Varndell whilst Turner is more like Strettle?

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Not a bad comparison. Except Ioane's defence is probably better than Varndell's and he lacks Varndell's appalling arrogance.

[Havak]

I caa readily concede both those points - Tom's defence did seem to have improved early season but he now seems to have gone backward. The showboating has always irritated me - I also somehow doubt that the new coach will like it.

I have the same distaste for pre-grounding antics as all forwards - just put the damn thing down and get the points I say. Or sit on it like Mr Luger did against the Wallabies.

It's a real shame about Varndell - the lad scores some of the most spectacular tries you will ever see - but he is not developing the way he should be.

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I have a full day of second-rate rugby on Sky tomorrow:

France -v- All Blacks
Wallabies -v- Fiji
Boks -v- Samoa

And, at some point, I think Italy have their second leg against Uruguay.

I suppose life could be worse.

[Havak]

Only if our Kiwi friends miscontrue what you meant by second-rate...

Keep you eye out for Alesana (Alex) Tuilagi on the left wing for Samoa. You have to stop him dead in the tackle or he can cause real problems.

[LDiCesare]

Haha! I have top level rugby to watch tomorrow:

Programme of the "Challenge Rugby & Co Samedi 09 juin 2007" (in French, my translation below)
O 08H00 : Accueil des joueurs avec un petit-déjeuner
I'll get up early so they better give us a good breakfast and Jéjé might bring some packs of beer too.

O 09H15 : Tirage au sort des poules
With a bit of luck, we'll meet the team of retired handicapped players in the pool.

O 10H00 / 12H00 : Challenge Rugby & Co - Matchs de poules
That's rugby sevens. I'll probably have to run. A bit.

O 12H30 : Ouverture de l’espace VIP et match d’exhibition d’anciens joueurs internationaux
Watching old glories who probably have more caps all of them together than the players finbar will be seeing on tomorrow.

Apéritif et pause Déjeuner
Drinking, eating and drinking. Maybe drinking too.

O 14H00 : Démonstration de rugby par les petits rugbymen des Hauts-de-Seine et ouverture des animations
Sleeping while boys are playing on what grass we left on the Yves du Manoir stadium field.

O 14H30 : Challenge Rugby & Co – Phases finales et matchs de classement
Sh*t! There are 'classement" pools. We'll probably have to sweat on the afternoon too.

O 16H45 : Match d’exhibition de rugby féminin - Nanterre VS une sélection du département des Hauts-de-Seine (niveau national 1)
Do I have to translate "féminin"? It roughly means women catching each other's hair while a rugby ball cries for their attention.

O 18H00 : Finale du Challenge Rugby & Co
Going back home half drunk unless we're unlucky enough to go to the final.

O 18H45-19H : Cérémonie de remise des récompenses
Back home. Checking mail and playing my dominions III turn before it's too late.

O 19h30 : Cocktail de clôture
Argh, I'll miss the cocktail!

But then I'll watch the final of the French chamiopnship at home.

[LDiCesare]

Now a small bit from Laporte, after Graham Henry criticized the French for 'lying on the ground', and the way they playied the scrums:
"I would like to tell Graham Henry and Steve Hansen that they talked less when they were coaching the Welsh. I feel they are a bit euphoric. Thus, New Zealand air fits them well. It's good, because Rokocoko, Carter, McCaw, Ali Williams sare making their carreer... When we won 36 to 3 against Wales in Cardiff, he made fewer declarations before and after the match."
I don't know what the French did on the field, though I do believe they were exhausted (they have one year of rugby in the legs, and were playing better players, and were losing, so that doesn't help one to rise fast after a hard tackle), but I certainly appreciate the way Laporte answered. The players make the team a good one, much more than the coaches.

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The only points M'sieur Laporte was going to score on this tour were with words.

I hope you didn't watch this morning's debacle. According to your published timetable, you should have been drinking beer.

These shouldn't have been called Test Matches. They were Harlem Globetrotters exhibition games. The French pack was murdered again, they were clueless in attack again, their only try coming from an ABs' error after some failed trickery.

The ABs managed to contrive some astonishing offloads. For all that, the ABs' second half was scrappy. It was all too easy for them. They line up against Canada next week before they start their Tri-Nations campaign against the Boks. I wouldn't have thought two matches against a French outfit that was French in name only, and a match against a mob of Baby Seal Murderers, was ideal preparation for the Boks.

Added to which, it looks like Ali Williams could have a broken jaw courtesy of a S. Chabal shoulder in a tackle.

The players make the team a good one, much more than the coaches.

Often true. But in the case of the ABs, they have frequently had the players but not the right coach. G. Henry, thus far, has done a fine job. He will know that the French series, followed by the Baby Seal Murderers, is not sufficient preparation to face the Boks.

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Wallabies -v- Fiji was more of the same. Harlem Globetrotters. That the Wallaby scrum frequently smashed the Fijian scrum really says it all. And, like the ABs, the Wallabies fiddled around in the second half. That might be a disservice to the Fijian defence, which tightened up in the second half.

Good to see Lote Tuquiri back. He was very keen, involving himself all over the field, and, best of all, with all his old zip back again.

But next week will be a different kettle of Springbok.

[finbar]

Samoa finished up offering the strongest opposition of the weekend, albeit against a very much second-string Bok outfit who had a capable first half and a crap second half. Samoa thoroughly deserved their late try. Alex Tuilagi tried hard, made at least one break, but the opportunities just weren't there. Probably understandably. His younger brother, at #13, can play a bit, too, scoring their only try.

EDIT. Silly old Bernard Laporte.

The linked page has already disappeared. Here's the article:

FRENCH rugby coach Bernard Laporte threatened to blackball Australian Test referee Stu Dickinson during an extraordinary meeting on the eve of the international against the All Blacks last night, which France lost in a record 61-10 scoreline.

Laporte confronted Dickinson, who refereed New Zealand's 42-11 win against France last weekend and was a touch judge last night, in the foyer of a Wellington hotel.

During the 15-minute exchange, Laporte said he could negatively influence Dickinson's career, including World Cup match appointments in France later this year.

"If you are appointed to any French games at the World Cup the French team will not turn up," Laporte said.

Dickinson has refereed France five times and the French have lost all five games. Using his laptop, Laporte confronted Dickinson with selected highlights from last week's match and said: "You do this tomorrow and you will be finished."

Laporte's actions appear to contravene the IRB's code of conduct, which forbids anyone from abusing, threatening or intimidating referees and touch judges.

Journalist Trevor McKewen, who witnessed at least 15 minutes of the "meeting", said Dickinson appeared taken aback at the intensity of Laporte's attack, the whistle-blower repeatedly harangued by the coach as they sat at a table in the foyer of the hotel where the referee was staying.

"You are not being fair and reasonable," Dickinson said as Laporte repeatedly tried to show him footage of alleged All Blacks infractions in the first Test. However, Laporte would not let up.

"We have had enough of you. All the time you do this to us," the French coach said.

Laporte repeatedly took Dickinson to task over certain decisions he made in the Test, contending the All Blacks were awarded two tries they shouldn't have been and that illegalities were allowed at the breakdown.

At one point an exasperated but calm Dickinson tried to reason with Laporte, saying: "What are you suggesting? Are you saying you expect me to penalise every player I see on that side?"

Paddy O'Brien, the New Zealander in charge of the International Rugby Board's referees, said last night he would expect a report from Dickinson if the Australian felt threatened or intimidated by Laporte's behaviour.

"I'm surprised to hear this and disappointed if it's true but I need to hear from Stuart himself," O'Brien said. "If the meeting was out of hand, I will hear from Stuart Dickinson. If there was a breach or Stu felt intimidated, I expect to hear from him.

"We will not have coaches telling us who will referee games."

Dickinson has already been appointed to World Cup pool matches in France and O'Brien said appointments from the quarter-finals onwards would be "made on merit".

O'Brien said he would also expect a report from Laporte if he was unhappy with either of the referees for the Test matches in New Zealand.

Dickinson was not available for comment last night.

Bernard really is losing the plot these days. Eccentricity is becoming lunacy.

Oh, and I suspect his list of complaints didn't include Dickinson letting the French defence stray offside for most of the match.

[LDiCesare]

I hope you didn't watch this morning's debacle. According to your published timetable, you should have been drinking beer.

Actually, there was no beer, only Ricard, which I don't like, and whiskey. So...
I caught glimpses of the matches between my own. Fiji were being murdered and I don't think it was worth watching.
Laporte wasn't very bright when he talked to Dickinson: He is probably not unfair to the French but just a bad referee.
The only good match yesterday (I'll spare you my own matches which were only 7s after all) was the reason why the French brought such an understrength team to New Zealand:
The Stade Francais bet Clermont. Clermont is a good French team, whoi, in its history, made it to 8 finals and lost them all. They were leading 12-0 after 50 minutes and ended losing 18-23. It was a very nice match, at least the last half hour. The Stade won thanks to a good coaching and great mental resources from the players, but they'll be losing players like Pichot, Hernandez if Leicester gets him, their locks James and Auradou...
The funny thing is that both teams started with something like 9 French and 4 Argentinian players.
Also, I don't really unerstand why they played Hernandez as a fly half rather than full back, given he's so great at counterattacking, but both Galthié and the Argentinian coach seem to prefer him as a 10.

[Havak]

The Wallabies-Fiji match was farcical. I gave up on it in the first half just after the second time the Aussies went for the pushover try. I mean really – the Aussies going for pushovers showed us it just wasn’t real rugby.

Graham Henry is doing a fine job – but he is showing worrying signs of Sir Clivitis these days. Opening his mouth and criticising other nations far too often. He should keep quiet and let his exceptionally fine team do all the talking on the pitch.

Laporte has always been on the windward side of eccentric so his latest outburst does not surprise me. Although part of me was amused to see him effectively say to Henry “You only sing when you’re winning”.

I think the stress of a tour he wanted nothing to do with has pushed Laporte over the edge. All the six nations sides tours have been a total waste of time – they really haven’t told us much from an English point of view (except that Wilkinsons body can actually still take big knocks, Easter is a promising lad and Tait probably has a future). Oh and that Robinson shouldn’t make the RWC squad.

The IRB and their chief “Three monkies” referee official Paddy O’Brien cannot let the criticism of a match official stand. It leads to chaos if teams are allowed to drag officials into the mire post match – no sporting body can allow it. That’s why Steve ‘fisticuffs’ Walsh is still a referee despite his alledged habit of thumping NH coaches as he walks past them.

And it is why Stuart Dickinson will emerge from this unscathed whilst Laporte will suffer heavy sanctions. And that is how it has to be for the sake of the sport.

As you know though I am no fan of Dickinson – there is no denying NH sides fair very poorly under the man. After Walsh he must be the worst A list official on the books. He will always be tainted by his ludicrous red carding of Simon Shaw in 2004. Robinson was the player who should have been carded in that incident (probably only yellow) – it was staggering incompetence. Of course I recall some of our Kiwi friends wrongly defending that carding – when of course the IRB rightly completely over turned it just days later. But in essence a ref who lets a man lay all over the ball on the wrong side and then cards the player trying to ruck the cheating goit out the way is simply incompetent.

I see that the kiwis are having to dig deep into their reserves looking for locks – no less than four senior locks out injured including Williams and Robinson. Does that mean a chance for the currently reformed Flavell?

A side bar that won’t mean much to your chaps but does to me – the England Saxons coaching team has been poached by Northampton. Meaning Dorian West – Tigers stalwart and the hooker on the bench in the RWC final win – is now assistant coach at Saints. That is one of the ‘forbidden’ moves in rugby. Tigers shouldn’t go to Saints and vice versa (though it does sometimes happen).

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Originally posted by Havak
The Wallabies-Fiji match was farcical. I gave up on it in the first half just after the second time the Aussies went for the pushover try. I mean really – the Aussies going for pushovers showed us it just wasn’t real rugby.

Quite so.

Of course I recall some of our Kiwi friends wrongly defending that carding – when of course the IRB rightly completely over turned it just days later. But in essence a ref who lets a man lay all over the ball on the wrong side and then cards the player trying to ruck the cheating goit out the way is simply incompetent.

My recollection is that he rucked the head. Or am I confusing the incident with any of D. Grewcock's many?

I see that the kiwis are having to dig deep into their reserves looking for locks – no less than four senior locks out injured including Williams and Robinson. Does that mean a chance for the currently reformed Flavell?

Certainly in the Tri-Nations. Played very well when he came on for Ali Williams on Saturday. I hope he can keep his head because he has ability - strong, mobile and creative - even if he's below the top class.

A side bar that won’t mean much to your chaps but does to me – the England Saxons coaching team has been poached by Northampton. Meaning Dorian West – Tigers stalwart and the hooker on the bench in the RWC final win – is now assistant coach at Saints. That is one of the ‘forbidden’ moves in rugby. Tigers shouldn’t go to Saints and vice versa (though it does sometimes happen).

I wept for you when I read about it. Honestly.

Where does the younger Tuilagi play his rugby?