Rugby World Cup: And the Winner is...

[Havak]

You did and I still find it most amusing.

I managed to sow those seeds of confusion - my original post was refering to the second half of Clermont v Wasps and you took me to be meaning Toulouse v my mob instead. Not that it is important.

Sunday will be a tougher game - and as you say we would welcome heavy rain.

[kittenOFchaos]

Glasgow dominating at Firhill, pity nobody turns up to support. Biarritz are such a dodgy team. Northampton last year, now Glasgow...

[finbar]

New Wallaby coach. Good stuff. Still, unless he can find a decent 1-2-3 - or even a half-decent one - it's kind of irrelevant.

But just watch and wait for the jingoistic sour grapes to start flying.

Mmmm. There could even be a new thread title somewhere in all this:

Rugby - Australian fush 'n' chups!

Or, maybe, something only Caligastia - and I - would appreciate:

Rugby - Australia good as gold!

Now that is obscure. Unless you've spent more than ten minutes in Kiwiland.

[LDiCesare]

Care to enlighten us?

[Havak]

It would be obscure if you yourself had not previously informed us of this favourite kiwi expression.

So Robbie Deans got the job in thew worst kept secret since the FA started talking to Capello. Looks a good choice. Perhaps he can find a coal face (maybe a few kiw lads who once drank a pint of Victoria Bitter?)

Heh Finbar - the Constitreaty got signed yesterday. Our PM missed the ceremony and signed it in private later - he was apparently terrified to be seen signing it by our media!

[finbar]

LdiC, "good as gold" is an all-encompassing Kiwi expression. More prevalent, I think, in the south island, but I also heard it in the north.

Say thank you for something and they say "good as gold" back to you.

Say anything to them and "good as gold" will appear somewhere in their reply.

Methinks G. Brown is in a spot of bother all round.

[Havak]

How can I put it Finbar - he was so focused on his all comsuming ambition to drink of the chalice that he gave no thought to the fact that it might have soured by the time he was tasting it.

He has also surrounded himself with less than impressive acolytes - the new Chancellor and Home Secratary do not impress me at all.

Brown may well allow Cameron to win a landslide at the next election - an astonishing achievment given New Tories are simply direct clones of New Labour (who in turn are a watered down clone of Old Tories).

But then this is the Iron Chancellor - the man who claimed as recently as this year he had eliminated "Boom and Bust" economics in the UK. Yep thats right - he claimed he had broken the cycle that leads to periodic recessions. Draw your own conclusions about his ego from that.

You might have guessed I am no huge fan of his.

[finbar]

Indeed. I know little about him. One of his big problems is certainly the "It's Time" factor. That was one of the reasons behind recent events in Australia.

Oh, and for LdiC's benefit, "fush 'n' chups" is the Australian version of a Kiwi accent. The Kiwi "i" sounds very much like a "u". Instead of "six", they say "sux". Particularly in the south island. "Fush 'n' chups" is the classic Australian p*ss-take of the Australian accent. Australians, of course, would say "fish and chips". But in a horrible nasal accent.

[Joe Kick Ass]

Originally posted by Havak
So Mr Henson has pushed the self destruct button again - he is due to appear before Magistrates on a charge of disorderly conduct after a train trip home following Ospreys away win over Quins.

Chooses to appear before magistrates, of course.

And is it just me, or is the young English fly-half who decided to B&B in a police cell getting somewhat less coverage?

[Havak]

Live by the sword - die by the sword. Promote yourself endlessly and you will draw media attention....

Oh and he has been charged under the public order act I understand - so where does choice come in?

Who is the young English fly half you refer to btw - can't find any trace of it.

I suspect history will remember Blair more kindly than it does Brown Finbar - and goodness only knows how it will remember Howard.

[kittenOFchaos]

[SIZE=1] I suspect history will remember Blair more kindly than it does Brown Finbar - and goodness only knows how it will remember Howard.

Why wait for history?

I'm remembering Blair well already!

ATM everything our Government does seems to be crap. Worse of all has to be Northern Bankrupt...what on earth they doing throwing good money in there. Should have let the bank collapse and send a warning to other banks about good practice.

[finbar]

I suspect they were afraid of the ramifications if they'd let Northern Rock sink. Not just political ramifications - for them - but for the whole economy. Given the fraught nature of things now, world-wide, with the sub-prime mortgage fallout, a collapsed bank would have been disastrous. A case, I suspect, of damned if they did and damned if they didn't. A bit like Leicester trying to play running rugby.

[finbar]

London Irish's luck ran out yesterday. First time I've seen them play, first chance I've had to watch ex-Waratah Peter Hewat in action in his new role. Nothing's changed. Dodgy decision-making and handling under pressure, certainly a problem for a full back, a one-dimensional thinker with ball in hand, good goal kicker. That's why he was never picked for the Wallabies despite his apparently outstanding points-scoring record for the Waratahs. Statistics are never the be-all and end-all.

Perpignan were always going to overpower them. It was only a matter of how long.

Pity I didn't get to see Stade Français lose in their ridiculous pink strip. Serves them right for their appalling fashion sense.

[LDiCesare]

Perpignan were always going to overpower them. It was only a matter of how long.

They almost didn't manage it, though, despite a way stronger pack, good fly half and overall better backs. Watching this match (English club of Irish exiles vs. French Catalans), I finally realised how low Scottish rugby has fallen. Yes. That Cusiter is one of their best scrum halves is apalling. That the USAP had him starting ahead of Nicolas Durand is also apalling. The guy was slow, never able to convert the advantage provided by his forward into good attacks. The French commentator (Jerome Cazalbou, former Toulouse scrum half and about the only TV commentator who says interesting things during a rugby match) kept being amazed at the poor game of that player. He didn't say anything rude or what, but you could feel he boiled.

Unfortunately, I missed the last twenty minutes of Toulouse-Leicester, so couldn't see Clerc's try. Toulouse definitely plays better when it's not raining. Still a pity their full back is so unreliable, alternating the best and the worst.

[finbar]

It only surprised me that Perpignan took so long to overpower Irish. Maybe Cusiter was one of the problems.

Clerc's try was a great effort. It was a great game unless you're a Leicester supporter. Their first twenty minutes of the second half was powerful stuff. Toulouse were wobbling. Clerc's try turned them around. Ultimately, Toulouse just had too much class, particularly in the backline.