Rugby - Tours Tours Everywhere!

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Quins look like they're maturing into a decent team. Presumably Dean Richards will never get near the England job because he'd only tell Rob Andrew what a d*ck he really is.

I have no idea why Leciester waited 70 minutes to realise there are options other than kicking away every possession. Perpignan sussed them very early on, positioned men back accordingly, and the pressure on them was minimal. I've also never seen a Leicester scrum belted like that.

Harry Ellis is a certifiable lunatic. He should get months for that effort on Carter. Who, under all the circumstances, no French beyond "Frere Jacques", probably no more than a couple of training sessions with the guys, did very well.

[LDiCesare]

Indeed, Leicester's loosehead in hte second half had, let's say, a difficult game.

Regarding Munster vs. Clermont: Anyone else believes the ref's decision of yellow carding a player while red carding the other one in a general battle was ludicrous? Particularly considering the fight began with a Munster player punching the French scrummy on the ground? Punches should be punished equally, whether they are retaliation or not. By yellow carding the Irish instead of giving him a red, the ref only encourages retaliation, which means games can degenerate a lot. He also gave the game to the Munster in my opinion. And not yellow carding the Munster scrum half when he tackled Baby high (tackling the neck, the French player had to go out) was also poor refereeing.

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Leicester's front row had a torrid time throughout. The young loosie who came on copped it in a big way. Not for the first time, apparently. Still, at least he's English. A rare thing in front rows in the Premiership these days.

The Munster match wasn't shown here. I only saw highlights, including the punches. You're right. It was utterly inconsistent. I've read quite a lot of independent analysis of the game that suggests Munster benefited much more from the ref than they should have.

[kittenOFchaos]

Yay, back from Sale versus Wasps

Saw my team demolish Wasps comprehensively. Wasps had a torrid 10 minute spell in where their defense pretty much was awol and 3 tries were scored in quick succession.

Cueto is running very well atm, however his passing was atrocious. Hodgson seems not to have to sit in the number 10 channel and rotates into full-back alot of the time. What was particularly interesting was seeing the difference that having Peel on versus Wigglesworth made, Peel injected alot more pace into our attack and I'd agree with those chaps I overheard that were saying he isn't a proper no. 9 (Wigglesworth). I think he should be looking to become a no.10, especially given that Hodgson seems to be moving away from that role.

Wasps attack was pretty ineffectual, was a shame that they didn't use Cipriani, Sackey, Rees, Haskell or Vickery...maybe they wanted to lose? They did seem to like putting Worsley and Betsen into the center then do an up and under. Was totally ineffectual. Abit worrying given that Wasps contain so many English players.

Well, onto the New Year and Sale in 2nd place - yay!

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Good win. Caught some of the replay this morning. Wasps stank. Shaun Edwards claims his Welsh job hasn't impacted on Wasps but you have to wonder. I saw Cueto a week or so ago. He's running very well. Just hope the Charlie Hodgson fans don't re-start the call for an England jersey. Let him do what he does best - play club rugby, often outstandingly well.

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The Irish bubble had to burst. They pricked it themselves with a sloppy effort full of unforced errors.

Leicester probably should have won, but then they shouldn't have been in a position to win. Quins should have been comfortably in front at the interval. Dean Richards has done an extraordinary job with this team. They're full of character and intent. If the RFU had any sense, Richards would have J****'s job. Someone at Leicester, at some point, needs to explain the basics of discipline to the team. The silly, needless, costly penalties just keep on coming season after season. Tom Croft remains a genius, and I think Toby Flood was on drugs. What a bizarre performance from him.

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Bath should never have lost yesterday. They started fiddling, lost impetus and gave it to Leicester. Leicester, for their part, made Bath's job easier for most of the match with their strange tactics. As against Perpignan, kicking the coating off the ball with little or no strategy involved. When Bath finally gave them the opportunity, they played some good fluent rugby. This schizophrenic game they're playing is very much a pattern this season. Dupuy and Hougaard aren't good enough, Newby looked very average, too.

Wasps looked mighty impressive for a lot of their match. Their massive defence strangled Quins' skills. Danny Cipriani is starting to annoy me.

[Andydog]

I haven't managed to see much rugby at all over the festive season, but this caught my eye this morning:

Cricketinfo on KP

KP has only got himself to blame here. He stupidly intimated there was discord between him and Moores in his newspaper column on Sunday which broke all the rules about keeping things in-house. He then reportedly issued an ultimatum to the ECB along the lines of 'him or me'. The ECB didn't take kindly to this and a subsequent investigation by the ECB CEO revealed that KP did not have the full support of the dressing room over this after all. After a series of ECB meetings on Monday they effectively decided to sack both coach and captain. Pietersen's 'resignation' it seems was concocted in order for him to save face. Possibly because he is key to England regaining the Ashes, and despite the sort of person he appears to be, they still desperately want him to play.

Will be interesting to see how things pan out in a couple of weeks when England tour the Windies.

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They finally update the look of this place, from the 1970s to the 1980s, and the site is just about permanently inaccessible for some reason.

KP is a rare, rare creature. He manages to make Australian cricketers look like modest, humble, self-effacing human beings. The goose got what he deserved.

I notice Irish got rolled last night. Must go and read about it. Today I have a double-header to look forward to. Nothing better than an arvo tucked up on the couch in front of the rugby when it's 0C outside with a 50mph wind.

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So much for my day on the couch in front of the double-header. I had to make do with Leicester being exposed once more. Eerily reminiscent of the HC match against Treviso when Treviso managed more than once to slice straight through Leicester with sheer speed. Only Saints are much better than Treviso, and if the #10 had kicked even reasonably straight, it would have been no contest. Leicester simply weren't quick enough with foot, hand or thought, and were AWOL at the breakdown. It's sad that Mr Meyer has had to return home for the reasons he has, but, truth be told, he hasn't produced any better results than Mr Loffreda did.

[Andydog]

I saw the 2nd half of the Saints Tigers game. I missed the 1st half as I was playing that friggin Wii with the kids. That boxing game is hilarious.

Agree with you totally about Tigers - poor tactical kicking, no support at the breakdown, no imagination, sloppy defence, lack of flair (especially in the mid-field). They can’t seem to get out of 3rd gear, something is going to have to change with that lot or they’ll end up having a very poor season indeed.

I thought the Saints backline looked sharp, but for me, this game only highlighted the gulf in class between the NH and SH sides. Looking forward to the Super14 already.

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I haven't seen Saints' backline function like that before. Haven't seen a lot of Foden before, either, but he's got extraordinary acceleration. And ego, too, it looks like. Teams like Bath and Irish can really threaten from the back but there aren't many others. Poor old Tigers seem to be trapped in no man's land - forwards (scrum sometimes aside) aren't the power they were, kicking from hand dreadful, and no one engineering the backs. Toby Flood doesn't seem to have a tactical clue. I almost cry when I see Aaron Mauger having to try to run through people.

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Any England squad with Jamie Noon in it is not to be taken seriously.

[Andydog]

I was also surprised to see Flood, Tindall, Moody and Cipriani.
Cipriani's day will come, but only after he learns the basics at club level.

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Not surprised to see Tindall and Moody. J**** is proving to be as conservative as all get out. What odds that fabulously creative pairing of Noon and Tindall?

Omit Flood and Cipriani and where do you turn for a #10? Flood is playing like a busted a*sehole for Tigers at the moment and, as you say, Cipriani isn't yet up to it. But who else is there? Foden? Who itches to play there but seems to spend his life at fullback. Geraghty? Maybe it's time to give him a serious try. Surely not Andy Goode, who is going to train with the squad in Portugal. Dark dark dark days.