Rugby - The Game They Play In Heaven II

[kittenOFchaos]

Hmm, our number 10 is having abit of a Hodgson.

[kittenOFchaos]

The prop/9 was charged down again...

Some really good on the line defense from England from the resulting pressure.

[kittenOFchaos]

Right, 62 minutes in and the scores are level. NZ are back at 14 players.

Our no. 10 is starting to kick better...but the kicking in the womans game, even at its pinacle is really poor.

What is good is the passing and it is good to watch.

The ref hates NZ, wonder where she is from.

[kittenOFchaos]

Final Score

England 10 - NZ 13

Deserved victory for NZ, England were rarely in the NZ half never mind the 22. A very enjoyable game to watch and alot of heart from England. But, territorially and as you would expect from NZ, turnovers really helped them win this game.

[finbar]

Well, that confirms it. No one in England, not even the girls, can play rugby.

[Havak]

Actually Finbar if you watched the game you will have seen Tigers took too long to get into the game. They should have won in the end but those sloppy 14 points concealed eraly doors killed them. Three tires for our backs - three tries for their props. Somebody failed to read the sterotype manual?

And can we have a red card please for all of you who watched the butchies live?

[finbar]

I saw the highlights. And of the fatties, too. Well, I suppose that covers both genders. I also read a silly article by Will Greenwood about how the policing of the breakdown is leading to all the attacking rugby in the TN not to mention marginalising scrums and lineouts. For starters, the rugby is being played at speed mainly because they're not kicking as much as before. They're chancing their arms ball in hand. Even the Boks are trying it. And looking better for it instead of kicking at all costs. The breakdowns were a shambles on the weekend under Wayne Barnes - new interpretations, old interpretations, the lot. Nigel Owens was more consistent last week.

The set pieces remain the set pieces. There may be fewer lineouts because the ball isn't kicked as much but they're just as important. Witness how the Wallaby lineout collapsed after Nathan Sharp left the field last week and it probably cost them the match. Scrums remain no less important. The higher scores can be attributed to some garbage defence. The Boks were poor in the first half on the weekend, admittedly against some glorious back play. The Wallabies' defence was poor in the second half. They need to find the balance between full-on attack and solid defence. They were once one of the tightest defences going around. Not anymore.

[Havak]

Not sure why you think no one in England can play rugby though - our Samoan winger and Kiwi utility back scored some lovely tries yesterday.

As did Saints islander props.

Problems, what problems?

[LDiCesare]

I'm a winger turned scrum half turned hooker. And, as Havak's bunch, I often take long to get into the game, but usually get there by third half time no matter what.

[finbar]

Funnily enough Havak gets there in time for the food and booze too.

[Havak]

In plenty of time as it happens.

Casual observation of the currently active user numbers doesn't look too good for this site does it?

I'm curious about Civ V - Civ 3 was a train wreck for me, tedious and unenjoyable. Civ 4 was fun but after a few months lost it's hold on me entirely. Will Civ V be another short term deal I wonder?

[finbar]

I think this site peaked a number of years ago. Now it's diehards. Civ 3 was a mess, and I've never tried 4 because it wouldn't run on my old OS. With this new iMac it will now run but I've never bothered to get it. Seems to me that Civ 2 remains the best of all time. It won't run on this new OS without tweaks. I'll have to look into it.

[kittenOFchaos]

I played countless hours of Civ, Civ2 and quite abit of Civ III. I also beta-tested play the world.

I absolutely adored CivIV and played alot of multiplayer in the ladder.

Civ3 is easily the worst of the series, beta-testing the expansions was a painful experience. The WW2 one particularly...I certainly left them in no doubt where the problem rested and they did do some small modifications (transports being escorted was thanks to my constant nagging I'd like to think.) My fondest memories of Civ3 was reading about a game that a chap won on Sid difficulty having built no a single military unit

Civ4 is the best overall, particularly as multiplayer is good. Its main fault is that it is quite repetitious and plays out in a very similar fashion each time. Hasn't stopped me playing and playing and playing.

Civ2 has the best scenarios/modifications...Red Front by Captain Nemo. Intense action from the Eastern Front where you play as Russia holding off the Nazis...the AI is pretty much pre-programmed and has very tough units, but over time and during Winter, things get better for Mother Russia and you can turn the tide. This was just one of many great scenarios.

If I converted my time on this planet playing civ and counterstrike into studying or working out in the gym...oh hell. Time for some Civ V

Tbh, I could say the same about the amount of rugby I watch.

[LDiCesare]

Civ so far proved maths are wrong: 4 > 2 > 1 > 3. I like 4 a lot, in particular the ability to play great full conversion mods with game altering mechanisms (FfH2 mostly but also Mars now and whatever the name of the huge China mod), and the possibility to write one's own map scripts. I think 3d is the worst thing that happened to Civ IV, though, as with 2D, there could be more good mods. Civ 2 mods were great, but Civ IV allows for even better mods, except it takes forever to draw/model a unit for 4, whereas for 2 it took a few minutes. Civ 4 lacked good scenarios, however, and I don't really know why. I made one myself, can't think it's really much more complex than for Civ 2.
Civ 3 was mostly crappy.
I don't know about Civ 5, but will probably not buy it immediately, must wait for some real reviews and possibly a demo first. I might end up buying a BtS disk to be able to get back playing 4 and FfH2 instead.

[Havak]

You gentleman are the Professional civvers to my amateur self.

I totally agree with where you are coming from KoC - counting hours spent gaming, watching rugger etc is a frightening as working out the lifetime spend on alcohol.

And as for Mr LdiC - a winger turned scrummy turned hooker who mods and makes scenarios for Civ? A man of complex aspects.

And now Finbar and you chaps have got me thinking of getting out the Civ 2 CD again....maybe give Civ 4 a crack too (never tried reinstalling after migrating the gaming rig to Win 7 back in April)

Is being on topic in the OT a red card offence? If so in mitigation Gavin Henson is appearing on Strictly come dancing this year. Didn't he used to be a rugby player?