Rugby World Cup: And the Winner is...

[CerberusIV]

And Irish rugby has now reached the state that the sportswriters player of the year here is... Contepomi.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/irish/7113682.stm

Actually he's had a pretty good year so it should not be a surprise.

[Havak]

A good player.

I thought you might like the domestic news Finbar.

I missed the Taffs against the boks - Sky were showing Leeds v Tigers so naturally I watched the higher standard game from Yorkshire.

[Joe Kick Ass]

But Henson was playing!

[finbar]

I forgot to ask! How did he play?

[Havak]

Best player on the pitch. He told me so himself.

[kittenOFchaos]

Originally posted by Havak
Best player on the pitch. He told me so himself.

Hensen was okay...a few deft moves and runs, but alot of the backline were having shockers.

Shanklin was beaten in defense several times leading to at least two tries, this was I'm sure due to being stuck on the wing but coming inside and being found wanting generally against Smit. Normally Shanklin is one of the few Welsh players I'd want in a British Lions team.

Peel had another very ordinary game and Hook was ropey and as for the Welsh forwards they still seem like they used all their aggression up in the Six Nations game against England.

South Africa looked very comfortable and every bit the World Champions they are.

[Havak]

Wales first game of the next 6N is at Twickenham I believe.

To be honest with you I am expecting a big England win in that one - it will be far too early for Gatland to have turned them around.

Help me out Finbar - is it right that the Australian Liberal party would map roughly onto the line somewhere between the British Conservative Party and UKIP (with the odd foray into far right BNP territory?)

[kittenOFchaos]

Sale Vs Leicester tonight and it isn't on TV because the BBC are crap.

[finbar]

Originally posted by Havak
Help me out Finbar - is it right that the Australian Liberal party would map roughly onto the line somewhere between the British Conservative Party and UKIP (with the odd foray into far right BNP territory?)

I don't know the UKIP. It depends which incarnation of the Australian Liberal party you want to examine. It was born as pretty much a moderate Tory party. Under Howard, who was a Thatcher disciple, the Libs went very much to the right. Just think Thatcher, and sometimes double her. Particularly in the area of workplace reform, which amounted to denuding workers of most of their rights. That, ultimately, was a big contributor to his defeat.

There were certainly BNP elements in their treatment of and attitude to minorities. Refugees - boat people - in particular. The truly ugly aspect of all that was the motive - cynical political gain. Howard deliberately pushed the race button, knowing there is a bona fide seam of racism running through the country.

The question now is - where do the Libs go? Howard took them too far to the Right for the electorate. Labor - the ALP is now classic New Labour - has occupied the middle ground. The Libs have to fight to reclaim the middle ground. Much as D. Cameron is now doing. The signs are, though, that the Libs haven't learned their lesson. There was an election to replace Howard as leader yesterday. The old guard of the Right thwarted the election of a genuine, strong moderate.

[kittenOFchaos]

Get your politics out of the rugby thread.

Sale got trashed by Leicester

[deity]

Originally posted by finbar

Hey finbar!

You are alive

How's it going? Still in Italy I see... ?

Any chance of visiting the Civ 4 forums or have you stayed with Civ 2? (I think the Civ2 forums have now been archived)

I miss you! My first civ buddy

[finbar]

Ciao Deity! Yeah, we're still here. Bought a place, in fact. Kept the place in Sydney and still renting it out. Even with the recent demise of Wee Johnny, I have no desire to return. He drove me out, but he was only a symptom of the problems I have with the place. Italy, for all its faults, couldn't be more different in ways that I really appreciate. I just think I was born in the wrong hemisphere.

Haven't tried Civ 4. Someone told me it was in a different class to Civ 3, which I hated. Horse and I tried to play Civ 2 online from Korea but he was still having patch problems. I'm waiting for him to return to Oz and hopefully we will continue our Civ 2 games. Might even investigate Civ 4. I think it's available for Mac now.

Get your politics out of the rugby thread.

If you look back over the (at least) six years of our rugby threads in this forum, they've never been solely about rugby. We've touched on history, education, politics, other sports, everything under the sun. What we don't do is debate politics. Or religion.

We also try to keep Leicester Tigers out of the conversation as much as possible for obvious reasons.

Cripes. Even Edinburgh is now beating Ulster!

[LDiCesare]

Haven't tried Civ 4. Someone told me it was in a different class to Civ 3, which I hated.

In my opinion, Civ IV is good where Civ III was crap.

We also try to keep Leicester Tigers out of the conversation as much as possible for obvious reasons.

You had to name the team? Now Havak will feel justified in talking about Leicestershire forever, when there are important matches to be played.
For instance, I'll try to play rugby again next week, with a protection on my knee to try to prevent it from swelling. Note that the knee swole only because I ran. But then, playing hooker, I can probably avoid running for the whole match without anyone noticing.

[finbar]

Heavens, Havak had an extended amateur club career as a front rower without ever breaking out of a standing still position with his elbow bent holding a pint in his mitt. If he can manage it, so can you.

Yes, sorry about mentioning that club by name.

Again, thanks to the house painters and the eight sheets of plastic over the plasma, I missed most of the Boks -v- Baa-Baas. Looked like one match too many at the end of a long season for the Boks. A not half-bad Baa-BBa team, either. I'm not sure how many stronger Baa-Baa teams have ever been picked.

Odd that Plank hasn't turned out for Ulster in the last few weeks and there he was locking for the Baa-Baas.

[LDiCesare]

I read that Lapasset said the Pumas could integrate the Tri Nations within 4 years. I don't really understand what the IRB has to do with the Tri Nations, but there's probably something. Meanwhile, the Pumas should play an "additional test match" against Australia, NZ and South Africa.
I don't know if it's additional per year or over the four years. Anyway, it's good news for Argentina, but they'll have to wait. It won't help the northern hemisphere sides, though.