Rugby - The Game They Play In Heaven II

[Havak]

Agreed.

Of course this was an internal RFU disciplinary - had he done it in an England shirt the IRB would have convened the panel and the RFU would have had to hold press conferences claiming "he simply wasn't like that and anyone who knows him knows that".

And your suspicion about Day and the Saxons Finbar - I think you are possibly on to something.

[finbar]

It all stacks up. The testimonials for Cueto included one from J****. How much would Day's sh*t stink with the England camp if he didn't do his best to clear Cueto?

[kittenOFchaos]

Leceister should have no complaints about disallowed tries and forward passes as far as I'm concerned from this footage.

Manu needs to be playing for England this RWC. He is totally ready.

[finbar]

Talk about rubbing salt into the Havak wound. Still, the TMO got it right.

Manu is very strong going forward, puts in some giant hits, but he's still learning how to read the game in defence and position himself. He'll likely be in the Cup squad, though. It's his mate, Anthony Allen, who should be given a chance in the big time in front of him. I don't know whether he's up to Test standard but there's one way to find out. Allen's game has improved out of sight at Leicester. Fingers crossed the same happens with Matty Tait.

[Havak]

Allen has a couple of caps to his name when he was but a kid at Kingsholm. He is certainly a better player now than then. I would play them both - I like club combinations and could they really be any worse than a tertiary kiwi reject and Banahan?

I saw enough of Leinster the first time I watched the game, thanks kOc.

[finbar]

No, they couldn't be any worse than the incumbents including Bananaman. I think both will go in the WC squad. Allen is now thinking a lot more than he used to. You can see it in his whole approach to the game.

[baying]

Gougers should be jailed

[kittenOFchaos]

Gougers should be jailed

Depends on the severity of the offense, but I'd be okay with that given the gouging that happened at Maidenhead RFU.

Cueto, apparently isn't a gouger...la la la!

[kittenOFchaos]

Leicester 41 - Gloucester 41

Why didn't I watch this game?

[finbar]

You should have. You'd've seen some of the finest ever tissue-paper defence from both sides. Worthy of a Barbarians game. Bizarre match. And people slag off the S15 for frail defences.

[kittenOFchaos]

I'd expect a tissue-paper defence from Gloucester - they never cope with Alesana Tuilagi, but what caused Leceister to ship so many points?

[finbar]

Well, the last Glos try was an intercept courtesy of a Staunton pass that even I could have anticipated. He seemed to think it was a Barbarians game. Their penultimate try - I think it was the penultimate - came about as a result of an acre of space down the left wing. Not a Leicester player within miles. You could have grown a decent crop of corn in the vacant space. Apart from that, Glos played some very fine attacking rugby. For that matter, so did Leicester. Attack was infectious, and defence was somehow less of a priority. Cockers will be spewing.

[kittenOFchaos]

A pretty good you tube video of 'The Reds' Vs 'The Bulls' - some top class play. Quade Cooper is something else isn't he.

[finbar]

I watched the game. Reds were very good, particularly through the forwards. That gave Cooper the space to do his thing. Give him space and he's lethal, and the Reds have the backs to feed off him. Will Genia is fit again, thank goodness. His service is top shelf. No shuffling sideways. Good to see Digby Ioane fit again, and even better to see James Horwill back again. The Wallabies need his mongrel in the second row. The Bulls were better than they have been this season but still a shadow of what they were. The worrying thing from the Bok perspective is Matfield's ordinary form. He's been - relative to what he was - poor all season.

[Havak]

People slag off the S15 for frail defences because they are more pervasive (certainly in the bottom half) in that tournament which is based on a different philosophy to a league that has relegation. Does it matter if the side at the foot of S15 concedes a hundred points? As long as antipodeans are being entertained that is all that matters there perhaps?

This was a bad bad day at the office for the Tigers defence coach. Nutmegged for the first three scores conceded but I was more peturbed by the last two scores shipped. They stopped playing after the knock on before Glaws fourth try - every amateur knows you play to the whistle and every Pro should know that with Dave Pearson that it critical (as he should be sponsored by Specavers at times). Conceding the final interception when unecessarily forcing the game was plain stupid (ball should have been stuffed up the jumper and then hoofed off the field at that point) - but of course once more Mr Pearson missed the glaws player walking the ball into touch mere seconds earlier.

Glaws are certainly very dangerous when you open the door for them or if you switch off your brains - but I doubt we can play that poorly against them again. Certainly their pack lacks the gristle that Glaws used to be known for. Not happy to see the defence so badly exposed at this point of the season though. Alesana once again fell off tackles like he was the second coming of Wasale Serevi - good job he can score tries.

I was also suprised by how Wasps hammered Leeds - thought it would be much closer than that. And would like to know why Sale have now moved to Bolton? And who commisioned that strip Sale played in?