Rugby - New Year, New Coaches, New Laws

[MOBIUS]

This is weird. The character formatting thing is only happening in this thread. Even in other threads in this sports forum it is fine.

Very strange.

[Joe Kick Ass]

Originally posted by Havak
I have a vague memory of the previous incarnation of Cardiff making the final in 1996?

That wasn't the year Cardiff made the final of the ERC; that was the year Ponty won the Welsh Cup.

Originally posted by MOBIUS
This character thing is really beginning to piss me off

You should be more pissed off at Dai Flanagan.

[finbar]

Originally posted by MOBIUS
Not all of us can enjoy an extended holiday of sunning oneself in Tuscany – how many years is it now…?

Two and a half&^. Having bought here, I have no intention of leaving&(.

But then Leicester are in another league. Literally.

Currently the East Midlands Pub Comp.

[Havak]

Now now, let's not disrespect the reigning English Champions and Anglo-Welsh cup holders.

Let's disprects Wasps instead? They are currently in everything but in all honesty who exactly cares?

[finbar]

Yes, but they didn't lose to a team coached by the Turnip, did they?

[Havak]

There is simply no rebuttal I can offer to that.

[finbar]

He - Turnip - had to make himself useful. One day.

[finbar]

Originally posted by Caligastia
I am getting slack, aren't I?

Well ... in a word ...

In other news, Munster hooker J. Flannery has been cited for stamping against Clermont. Good thing too. It was more than blatant. He will probably claim it was an accident. Tosh.

[Havak]

Well Hookers are a naughty breed after all - Mr Ibanez has been cited for the same offence against Scarlets.

Head coach Marcelo Loffreda is preparing his team for the Pool 6 fixture after defeat at Edinburgh last weekend and said: “We need a good game and a big performance. We want a high-intensity performance.
“We made a lot of errors against Edinburgh but we have to look forward and try to reach the levels we had against Harlequins. We have to find that form again.

“Leinster are a very good team, this is a big competition and we have to be very serious, very hard and very aggressive or we are going to pay the price.”

Translation - the club is worried about the gate and associated revenue streams for this match so will you gullible idiots please still turn up to watch a team of youngsters get thrashed in a dead rubber. That is why naming the squad for the game is being delayed.

[finbar]

Originally posted by Havak
Well Hookers are a naughty breed after all -

Take LdiC as an example.

[LDiCesare]

Yes, I am a bad boy. I just arranged with the waiter to have mussels and hot wine poured over my neighbour's legs for instance. That even looked like an accident.

[Havak]

Sounds like a waste of good wine to me.

[finbar]

Heathen.

[finbar]

Yesterday was a case of from the ridiculous to the sublime. First, I endured London Irish -v- Treviso where poor skills were the order of the day. Irish are an average team flattered by what has to be one of the weaker pools in the HC comp. Treviso at least have one decent import - Brendan Williams, an Australian 7s specialist, a hugely talented player in his youth who lost his way at the Waratahs via personal problems. Probably too late now for him to seek higher honours but he's found a home where he seems to be happy and he's scoring a lot of tries. He several times made the Irish defence look stupid and set up Treviso's try.

The sublime end to the day was Munster's controlled destruction of Wasps. What an exhibition of intelligent, disciplined rugby in wet conditions. True, Wasps were missing some players, but I doubt they'd have made much difference in the weather conditions. D. O'Callaghan was extraordinary, singlehandedly murdering the Wasps lineout aided and abetted by R. Ibanez's hit and miss throwing. Poor Wasps discipline - hullo, Nose - didn't help their cause. Munster at home at their best.

[Havak]

The only side that have ever beaten Munster in European competition at Thomond park is of course Tigers.

Wasps ended up third in their pool - I'm still smiling.

For a dead rubber the Lei-Lei game was very enjoyable. It was a slightly weakened Tigers side but they still performed a controlled distruction of the Dubliners.

There was plenty of niggle - always is between our two sides. It was made tastier by the fact Cullen and Jennings were at tigers last year so plenty of old friends were saying "hello" to each other on the pitch.

I'm wondering if Julian White will be cited - he threw an awesome right hook at O'Kelly but only got yellow carded for it.