Rugby - Six Nations, S14, Lions, Can't Wait

[finbar]

Are you sure you are watching the right clear out?

Yep. Half a dozen times. Even in slow motion. You see exactly the same clear-out any number of times in a match.

[Havak]

You wouldn't. Very few result in the cleared player going off the field.

Jones himself however has no problem with the clear out - that is the clincher for me.

The armbands were still silly - it was like putting a flag up saying "IRB please fine SARU".

[finbar]

Jones himself however has no problem with the clear out - that is the clincher for me.

Jones, Gatland, me. What a trifecta.

On a more depressing note, Nick Kennedy has been punted to the Saxons. On a brighter note, Cipriani is still there.

[Havak]

There are more Tigers than last year in both squads. Is form finally being reflected in selection?

Mr Moody - remember him - appears in the Saxons.

Mr Hipkiss following surgery returns to the Elite squad bypassing a rehab period in the Saxons. But then centre is a problem position for Jonno.

It really is time Blaze made the jump between the squads though. Ditto Skivington, Paice and Cole (that White is in the Elite squad ahead of him....?).

I also assume Skinner must have brassed Jonno off when both were at Tigers. I'd have him above Rees or Armitage right now.

And Haskell dropped completely. Rumours of attiitude problems when warned about his move to France....

What is a trifecta?

[LDiCesare]

Trifecta is Tiercé... So who was the first and who the last of the three?

[finbar]

In punting parlance, a trifecta is betting on the first three past the winning post. You can bet on three in a set order, or, in Australia anyway, also bet on three to fill the placings in any order, called a box trifecta. Or even nominate one to win and two more to fill the placings in either order, called a stand-out trifecta.

Other than that, trifecta has also come to mean a select group of three, the manner in which I used it.

Obviously, in my quoted case, I would have been first past the post. Gatland and Jones, being Kiwi and Welsh, probably would have run into each other prior to the finishing line causing accidental obstruction.

[LDiCesare]

The kind of "accidental" obstructions which so often happen near rucks and mauls I suppose?

[finbar]

As practised by England players.

[Havak]

If they practice it I would expect them to be better at it.

So we three are a trifecta then?

[finbar]

Or even a troika. Somehow troika has a more insidious ring to it. It's a Russian word, after all.

[Havak]

Troika it is then.

Quite off topic but is there not something quite delicious about an Australian cricket captain criticising another side for not respecting the 'spirit' of the game? As the architects of the modern game - including endless appeals and the delightful process of sledging - it seems we do not like it when the boot is on the other foot?

[finbar]

True, true. At the same time, I'm enjoying the England skipper's triumphalism over having been completely and utterly outplayed but having scrounged a draw by the thickness of the enamel on his teeth. Particularly nice to have seen Mr Hauritz, having had the proverbial piled on him from a great height, completely outbowl the so-called experts. They never learn. Being competitive against the Windies and Kiwis is one thing, playing seriously tough Test cricket is another. What a glorious game cricket remains for its ironies.

[classical_hero]

Well you could put all that tlak into my thread.

Tri nations is about to start and I can't wait. Time for talkk is nearly over and time for action has started.

[Havak]

Time for my flutter on the ABs to prop up the table then.

You are right that could have gone in the Ashes thread.

What you are missing Finbar - actually I suspect you aren't - is it revives the Dunkirk spirit. Something the English love. A diasaster that can be presented as some kind of moral victory. Only in England.

[finbar]

England's Dunkirk = Australia's Gallipoli. The only fundamental difference being that England - well, Churchill, amongst others - were singlehandedly responsible for masterminding the disaster that was Gallipoli.

G. Henry was gone with the untalented Stephen Donald at #10. Frankly, I'd think the Wallabies might have more feared McAlister, who, despite not being an international #10, is simply more talented than Donald and capable of some excellent rugby.