Rugby - The Game They Play In Heaven II

[Havak]

Quite. Though that is only part of the cancer eating through s***** here.

And you could make the same argument for English rugby - though we do have a handful of world class players and I tend to think the national woes are more complicated than they are with s*****.

And it is interesting how that stands in exact reverse to the Wallabies and ABs - where average/above average club players gel into something greater than that with just the binding agent of a few truly superb players around them.

I'm very muhc of the view now that England would benefit from an antipodean coach for a few years. Mind you that isn't on the cards until the RWC humiliation.

[finbar]

I was going to draw the comparison with English rugby except I couldn't think of any world-class foreigners serving the same purpose in English rugby. You just have some (sometimes) better than average foreigners keeping England-eligible players out of teams. Same old story - club premierships are the priority. There is an entirely different mindset in the SH. There isn't the inherent stifling conservatism. More chances are taken, potential is rewarded, and that can breed confidence. It doesn't always deliver, but probably more often than not. An antipodean coach, of the ilk we're talking about, would go out of his brain coaching England. It wouldn't work while anything like the current mindsets are in place.

[Havak]

But that is wider than rugby - the English are still generally risk averse and conservative with a small c. And the RFU is struggling still to reach the 20th century, never mind the 21st.

But we make some cracking Ales and Pies (pork, for the eating of)

Change needs to start somewhere with England Rugby - appointing a foreign scapeg.... coach might be the much needed start.

[finbar]

Interesting. Culturally, there would be few more conservative - big or small c - populations than Australia's. I actually think it's the Australian national inferiority complex, the mass insecurity, that brings about things like risk-taking, especially in sport. The driven need to prove to the world that they're the best. I've read that the English suffer a similar sort of inferiority complex. The complexes manifest differently.

[Havak]

Differently in sport for sure Finbar - but there are other ways in which it is all too similar. A general loathing of all things foreign for example points to deep insecurities.

It's hard to put a finger on it but outside of football the English simply don't define themselves through sport the way many other nations do. Even in rugby our culture differs, though it is evolving into a more tribal s***** like attitiude (more is the shame). It's about the whole experience and not just the winning. From my travels I am not sure a french, Aussie or italian fan would understand for example why Welfrod Road clapped Munster and Stade Francais when they beat us at home in the H cup. My experience in Australia was the polar opposite - anyone who beat Aussies teams was assumed to have cheated, normally with the complicity of the ref. Aussies never conceded that the oppo could play well.

How we define ourselves is much more simple - beer lovers. And a natural superiority to all things foreign that simply does not need to be demonstrated.

[LDiCesare]

I watched Biarritz Ulster. Good match. Nothing really interesting in the first half apart from a few times when the Irish managed to cut through the French defense, only to be caught back. But the second half was great. Yachvili had a very good game, and N'gwenya is also a pleasure to watch. It's funny to see that he got twice less balls than Balshaw but managed to score twice...

[Havak]

Well he is probably a rugby player unlike Ian.

The return of Flood really brought the best out of Ben Youngs yesterday as Tigers took Scarlets apart. He looks every bit a world class scrummy right now.

Waldrom has proved to be a fine signing, just like Hamilton before him. Canterbury is now our feeder club I think? Thomas matches Crane in the fact he will carry all day long - but he converts more of those carries into gainline successes. He also reads the game very well and offloads in the tackle more often. Just a shame he looks like Shrek.

[finbar]

Ah well, one more non-England-eligible player to gum up the works. The times I saw him for Crusaders he didn't look overly mobile.

Been without internet since Friday! Turned out to be the modem. I fast-forwarded through Bath -v- Aironi. Best way to watch the match. Munster were scary against Toulon who were very average. It's interesting how billions of Euros doesn't necessarily make for a fabulous rugby team. For starters, they've wasted an awful lot of money on some less-than-stellar players.

Perpignan were - well, very French against Treviso. A mix of sublime and poor. Treviso have certainly improved. They're playing with confidence and chancing their arms, something unusual in Italian rugby. But they had no answer when Perpignan switched on.

[Havak]

Internet cold turkey - how did you cope?

Waldrom must have worked hard on his conditioning Finbar as he gets around the paddock very well.

*edit* But our DoR seems to agree with you based on the following.

"He is very important to us going forward because he carries the ball well and, for a guy who is slightly rotund, he is working exceptionally hard.

"His defence was also really good last weekend and I was pleased with that because it has been poor at times so far."

[finbar]

Glad to see someone agrees with me. So what does the FK's (Fat Kiwi's) performance mean in terms of Jordan Crane's future? Or isn't the FK playing #8? I wouldn't have thought him mobile enough for the flank.

The hardest part of life without the internet was not being able to drift off to sleep at night with Radio 4 playing in my ear. Best radio in the world, Radio 4.

[Havak]

The UK licence payer sees it as a public service to Johnny Foreigner.

FK is playing at 8 - and his current form makes it challenging for Crane when he comes back from injury. He reminds me of Deano as it happens - not hugely fast but always where the ball is. That is a very useful skill to have.

So we have lost Richard Blaze at Tigers and to the game - because the stress fracture in his foot will never stand up to the demands of the game. Sorry to see him go - a real waste of talent. It is always a shame when young lads like him and Ellis have to walk away.

[finbar]

I'll make the most of Radio 4 before it disappears down the plughole along with the rest of the country courtesy of that adolescent weasel of a Chancellor of the Exchequer; his boss, the one with a head like a buttock (a great line courtesy of the News Quiz); and the boss' assistant, the Lib Dem who sold his soul and will burn in hell for it.

[Havak]

Jolly well put Sir.

A deeply unimpressive bunch of scoundrels not much longer for the corridors of power.

And one has enjoyed the LibDems spectacular fall in the polls (in the poll of polls currently at 11% after polling 27% on election day). Do a deal with the devil and you can indeed lose your soul it seems?

[Havak]

Saints destruction of the insects was quite enjoyable, as in a different way was the game of water polo at Welford Road.

But I'm getting ready to have a quiet period over the next month - I will not be keen to face the barrage of most probably accurate criticisim as England mess up all the autumn games. I dislike the sounds coming from the camp who seem to have taken one win over the baby wallabies as a sign England are now world class...these tests will serve as a reality check (once again).

[finbar]

Speriamo!