Rugby - 6 Nations, Heineken Cup, You Can't Beat A Northern Hemisphere Winter!

[Havak]

And a better head coach too....

Lote is eyeing up the junior code is he? A total waste of his talents - I accidentally caught a few minutes of the recent four nations rubbish and am still amazed anyone enjoys a game with no competition for the pill. A fast game - but a tedious and uninteresting one along with that. Why it became so dominant in Australia is beyond me.

*edit* According to his twitter page the first serious frost of the year yesterday was a new experience for him.

[finbar]

Because a lot of Australians can't count beyond six.

All the game has is speed. It has no complexity, no soul. Hence, once the speed novelty wears off, there's nothing left to sustain interest.

The story is that Mrs Lote - with two young kids - wants to stay closer to home. None of the S14 franchises can afford him because the ARU would have to come to the fiscal party with a top-up and there's no way they'd do that. Thus it's L*****. Apparently he has signed with Wests Tigers - formerly Balmain - but not officially, because the ARL (or NRL, or whatever they're called) have a rule outlawing the signing of players who also play for the other code. Once he has finished his Leicester stint, unless they come up with a massive offer, and Mrs Lote can be persuaded to stay, his signing with Wests Tigers will become official.

Shame.

[Havak]

If the frost surpised him once the ground gets really hard I suspect it might be quite hard to get Lote to stay, let alone convince his wife to do so. So we will just have to enjoy a backline that contains Aaron Mauger and Lote Tuquiri whilst we can. Flood is on record as enjoying playing with both in his first start back - but then who wouldn't?

Cockerill is happy with Mauger too: "His speed of thought, the way he deals with other players and the way he organises the team is fantastic."

I wonder what he might have achieved with us if his back hadn't been so problematic?

No Soul - an excellent summary of the code in question.

[Havak]

We visit the insects this weekend. Assuming they decide they can play the fixture (their injury list still hasn't cleared up so we are wondering if their pitch might prove unplayable in Mr Hanks view).

[finbar]

At least you probably get to watch the Baa-Baas match. Not here. I have to make do with Sarries -v- Sale!

[Havak]

At least Sale should actually get a game with them.

Yes the rather strange baa-baas game is on UK Sky I believe - no English clubs have released players as it's outside the IRB window so it is the TaffyOzBoks against the NZ C side by the looks of it?

[finbar]

Jeez, that Sarries are runaway competition leaders says much about the plight of English rugby. The conditions last night were terrible, but what a dour, negative and defensive outfit Sarries are. Our old friend D. Houggard, typically standing deeper than the Atlantic Ocean, leads the way with his only passable kicking. Kicking at every opportunity regardless. Ironically, one of his few passes for the match, a very good one, was spilled with the try line wide open. Despite the conditions, Sale actually played some excellent attacking rugby. Some of Charlie Hodgson's work - always on the gain line - was superb. Pity Sale's indiscipline cost them so dearly courtesy of Houggard's boot. Presumably Sarries' extremely limited game will be exposed later in the season. Hopefully.

[Andydog]

The BaaBaas deserved their win. It was always going to be a big ask against such a classy line up, but I'm pissed off at the Cartel - they gifted this game by picking a motley crew of newbies and leftovers. Maybe it was a touch of arrogance that these boys could do the job. Perhaps it was because they took so many players on tour, they felt that they had to give everyone a game. Either way the ABs have a proud tradition and history to preserve. Every game counts.

NZ 'A' made mistakes at critical moments and let it slip away from them. Some of our substitutions didn't make sense to me. Why was Guildford was subbed when he was our most dangerous attacking player, along with Cory Jane? Sivivatu was a menace - kept trying to go it alone, getting caught and turning the ball over. He only passed the ball once and we scored then. Think we might have seen the last of Donald in an AB jersey.

It was good to see some open running rugby, without too many kicks, but we really needed the IRB player of the year's leadership in the second half when we needed to tighten things up a bit. Habana, Matfield and Gitteau were the best of the BaaBaas I thought.

[finbar]

Think we might have seen the last of Donald in an AB jersey.

Not that I saw the game, but hopefully so. Does not have a clue. I liked what I saw of Delany against Italy.

[Andydog]

Delany seemed to struggle against the BaaBaas. He looked tiny out there and got monstered during a promising buildup 5m out from the BaaBaa's tryline. He got a few opportunities but didn't nail them. I'd be happy to give him another crack in future though. I'd love to see him with a full strength side around him.

[kittenOFchaos]

Anyone know anything more about this Quade Cooper burglary charge?

Thanks for the match report Sarries Vs Sale...good to here that Sale are finally starting to play some interesting rugby. Just a pity about the result.

I watched the Baa-baas Vs NZ and so much was made by the commentators that the Baa-Baas beat NZ. Not once did they mention the fact that the Baa-Baas we're playing in the Baa-Baa spirit, NZ tried to play more of the attacking and that NZ were fielding a very much second string team so it wasn't comparable to the 1973 match.

That all said it was an enjoyable game to watch and it was good to see Habana scoring 3 tries...he has been rather starved by SA in recent times of opportunities.

[finbar]

Delany seemed to struggle against the BaaBaas. He looked tiny out there and got monstered during a promising buildup 5m out from the BaaBaa's tryline. He got a few opportunities but didn't nail them. I'd be happy to give him another crack in future though. I'd love to see him with a full strength side around him.

So would I. And that was a quite handy BaaBaas team, so it was a pretty brutal test for him. A big step up from back-up to Donald for the Chiefs.

Anyone know anything more about this Quade Cooper burglary charge?

Nothing more yet than what's in the media. I suspect booze might have been involved. He's been wayward in his time.

Sale played all the rugby in dreadful conditions. Better discipline would have seen them win.

Still, Wasps beat Leicester. Must have been the Windows 7 in those Leicester computers.

[finbar]

Seems I was on the right track. Quade Cooper was at a bucks' party the night of the incident and claims not to remember much of the evening. I'll leave it to Havak, who might have had similar experiences, minus the break-in, to enlighten us further.

[Havak]

Heck I once spent a month in Australia and much of it was a blur.

Starting to worry about Tigers - far too much ten man rugby being played. The insects have a real jinx on us at the moment - they were far from impressive too.

Habana's second try was a joy to watch - talented kid. Beyond that the game was most noteable for the way both sides treated it as a competitive match.

[finbar]

Blurred is the only way to see Australia and keep it bearable.