[Closed] STW 2014/15 Rugby Thread

We had an American Football linebacker play a few games for us. He started in the 2nd row but was frustrated as he wasn't getting many tackles in. So we gave him a run-out at 8 in the seconds. Jesus christ that boy could tackle, he was huge and could move too, he was single-handedly mullering the entire opposition. For about 15 minutes. After that the constant getting back on your feet to make another tackle finished him off.

Tough guy though, he was on a firefighter exchange program with one of our guys. He might not have had the fitness but with a little work he would have been outstanding.

Backs....I played a wee bit of union at Georgia when I was doing my postgrad. They were these huge gym monkeys that had a)No concept of running at space. b) No idea how to deal with a dirty mid 30's Scotsman than knew every trick in the book. Seriously; I worked out that I could lie offside for 80 mins and nobody would stand on me,try THAT at home! I was once lying on the wrong side waving an arm and shouting at the clueless American kid to "let me up/out" all the while trapping the ball and the ref penalised [b]him[/b] for God knows what. Honestly, it would have been rude not to cheat.

This is where strength in depth is going to start to hurt...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/31923425

duckman a normal day at the office there for Richie McCaw

a normal day at the office there for Richie McCaw

😆 😆

Very good.

I've long been an advocate of the 4 points for a win plus bonus points system for the 6N.

However, going into the final round of matches Wales, Ireland and England would all have 13 points. (Wales and Ireland having gained losing bonus points and England getting a point for 4 tries against Italy).

You could argue that England might have sought a penalty at the end against Ireland to get a losing bonus pont but it wouldn't have made too much difference really - would it?

Still don't like the points difference thing though.

If its not a grand slam its just a consolation prize.

Meh. It's just a minor annual tournament anyway. Nice to win but ultimately a comp between the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 10th and 14th ranked sides (and that's when we're ranked well).
The important one only comes around every 4 years.

You keep telling yourself that wrecker, we might believe you one day!

You just cling to those old grand slams a_a! Glad they mean something to you still!

You cling to that World Cup Wrecker if it means that much to you 😆

You just cling to those old grand slams a_a! Glad they mean something to you still!

Piss taking aside, I do and they do mean a lot. I'd like to see Wales do better but winning those Grand Slams is great. I doubt I'd be "happier" if we won the world cup.

I'd sell my spleen ti beat the all blacks mind.

At least some of you can stick an 's' on to 'grand slam' (in your lifetimes). It was only a few years ago I could change 'victory' to 'victories' in 'away victories in Paris' in mine. 🙂 And piss-taking aside, the players from three teams will be going for a championship on Saturday. If it means something to them, then I'm sure I can find something in it for me.

Pity to hear Lee might miss the RWC though. 😐

England have quoted as "learned from their mistakes" and "taking it to the French" and "self belief" and Lancaster as "believing in team England and this current crop of world class players"

Thats good luck to Ireland/Wales/France as the potential 6N winners then.

And piss-taking aside, the players from three teams will be going for a championship on Saturday.

So are you excluding the English or the French there DD? 😉

Interesting to read about the thuggery of some sides in local club rugby; not the idyllic pastime that it's cracked up to be 😉

How are referees treated at club level? Is that still yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir?

I haven't played rugby for 30 years, since school. I was OK, but then at that age when everyone around me grew into man monsters, I stayed a schoolboy. By the time I got big enough again, I'd lost too much technique and nouse to get back into it. And football was my game anyway, so much so that I eventually after enforced retirement through injury reffed that for a time.

So the stories above reminded me of how a local league dealt with the issue of the local club with *that* reputation. They informed the committee of the club that they would not stand any longer for the constant niggle that refs got at their games and it was the responsibility of the club to sort it out, or they'd be barred from the league. The committee changed their club rules to include that if anyone got a yellow or red card for 'avoidable' indiscretions (dissent, kicking the ball away, fighting, etc.) then everyone in the team would then pay the same fine as the offender to the club.

Given that it wasn't uncommon for 4 or 5 bookings to be achieved per game for dissent, that could mean being fined 40 or 50 quid if the team didn't control itself. Pretty damn quickly as soon as someone opened their mouth to start arguing, 10 other blokes would be on him telling him to shut up and get on with it. Worked a dream. Worth proposing to some of your leagues / clubs, if you have the same problem?

namastebuzz - Member
I've long been an advocate of the 4 points for a win plus bonus points system for the 6N.

However, going into the final round of matches Wales, Ireland and England would all have 13 points. (Wales and Ireland having gained losing bonus points and England getting a point for 4 tries against Italy).

You could argue that England might have sought a penalty at the end against Ireland to get a losing bonus pont but it wouldn't have made too much difference really - would it?

Still don't like the points difference thing though.

I don't like the idea of bonus points in the 6N at all, simply because of the excitement of the forthcoming Saturday. 4 sides going for the championship, all 3 games are vital and nobody can predict who will win until the last game is well underway. A bonus point system could have spoilt that completely in so many ways. (A team playing to manufacture a penalty simply to get a losing BP, or deny the other side a BP or whatever. And teams play slightly differently when BPs are at stake, whether for good or bad. Would the 6N be better if England (or whoever) were already winners based on denying other sides a losing BP?)

The good thing about points difference is that the team that scores most normally wins, although that's normally the case in BP competitions as well.

Anyway, I'm talking rubbish and probably not making sense! If it's not broken, don't fix it. The 6N is certainly not broken. As far as being a minor annual competition, well, I love watching the SH tournament but they'd give anything to have a competition as vital and as tense into the final week as the 6N.

And my suggestion to replace BPs... Back in the dawn of rugby the amount of minors (in the in-goal area) would be counted against a team in a draw. The same thinking could be applied today. 😆

The sanction at my lads club is to dock the first team points for any problems created by the lower teams.
Not sure this is effective as it led to the threat of a 10 point deduction recently for a broken ceiling tile as one of the team kicked a rugby ball in the changing room. The threat was enough for the club to disband their junior colts team.
His team joined another local club and on Saturday the game was abandoned due to an agressive team coach abusing the ref. Again a threat to dock points from the senior team!
The lads are incredibly well behaved and seldom get involved in any trouble but this sanction is constantly hanging over them. I dont this it is the same for other sides in their league who occasionally turn up with a couple of thugs in tow!

How are referees treated at club level? Is that still yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir?

Hell no, at lower level,few of them seem to have a clue about the actual rules of the game, yes further up.But the mind games come into it; Skippers of decent teams are very good at "helping" you in a we-will-all-have-a-better-game-if-you-do-this-way. It strangely is always the opo team stopping the game being a free flowing expression of champagne rugby as well 😛
Until last year the coach could attend the briefing in prem games up here,that never went well.

IdleJon said....... a bunch of stuff that mostly made sense

Yeah all valid points although, as I said, the three top teams would still have been level on points going into the final round even if the BP system was in place.

I still feel that you should get more for being edged out in a tight game (Scotland in 3 matches) than getting blown away and also think that being encouraged to score 4 tries is no bad thing. How many tries have Ireland mustered thus far?

I agree the 6N is still the best tournament but they used to share the title if teams had equal points rather than use the difference of points scored. Which I liked.

There should also be a 1/4 point for each time a team kicks to the corner when awarded a penalty in their own half. Penalty tries should only be 4.5 points as the conversion is always a given. An extra 3 points for "trying hard" to be awarded after Steve Walsh has watched the full game, in slow motion. 2 Points should be deducted at the end of the game from the side with the whiniest captain - to be decided by an online poll on STW. If a team has won a game by kicking penalties only, the other team should be immediately awarded a walkover. The team with the ****iest "away" strip (to be decided by thm) has -20 applied to their points scored total at the end of the competition.

Scottish turquoise and English purple condemn them to the wooden spoon for ever then. Navy and white, navy and white....repeat marketing muppets until you get it....navy and white

Oh for a return to classics with small (think Wimbledon) area for sponsorship on the arm.

The French need to get back to white shorts and red socks as well.

deadlydarcy - Member
There should also be a 1/4 point for each time a team kicks to the corner when awarded a penalty

I've wondered, for many years, why a team will kick to the corner after being awarded a penalty 5m from the opposition line, thereby taking their chances at the lineout instead of taking a tap penalty. Can anyone give me a sensible answer to this?

Lieout ties in more defenders and is easier to set up a maul from.

[img] [/img]
hand off to beat Jiffy juniors one above.

I still feel that you should get more for being edged out in a tight game (Scotland in 3 matches) than getting blown away

Well you could run some alternative championships.

1) Total number of points scored in 5 games wins

2) For each game and each team calculate the ratio of that team's points to their opponent's, and add that to a running total. So in the case of Wales v Ireland, Wales would get 23/16 or 1.44, and Ireland 0.69

3) Highest points difference wins.

EDIT 2 and 3 are the same, aren't they? I had a good complicated one for 3 but I forgot it whilst working out the example for 2.

Lieout ties in more defenders and is easier to set up a maul from.

Speaking of which, 4.66 points only for a try scored from a rolling maul after a line-out. Reducing to 4.33 if the try is a penalty try.

thereby taking their chances at the lineout instead of taking a tap penalty

Fair point, if they take a tap penalty, score a try, which is not a penalty try, or scored from a rolling maul, then they should be awarded 5.25 points.

anagallis_arvensis - Member
Lieout ties in more defenders and is easier to set up a maul from.

That's the answer I was expecting, the conventional thinking, but it's not really true, is it?

Well if you set up a good driven lineout and you get it right you are relying less on the opposition making a mistake.

Parling in for Attwood. Both good players, although I think Parling may be a little more disciplined and stay behind the back foot at rucks a little more often.

Classic quote from Robshaw :

"This time we need to make sure that we play the game on Saturday at 5pm and making sure we get that right is a big thing for us"

😀 perhaps they should play it at 3pm when there are no French players on the pitch, might rack up a few more points.

Not surprised that Attwood has been dropped as he's been a little bit annoymous. Shame that Easter has been bought back in...there's a disallowed try / daft penalty waiting then!

I'm pretty sure that England will fluff it...I have so little confidence in the ability of this team to be clinical when needed. The AI's were bad and the 6N's has managed to be worse than that really with 40mins of good rugby played.

I still think Ireland will take the championship because Wales have a bit too much to do with regards to points difference.

I've found England really frustrating this 6 Nations. Until the autumn internationals and this year's 6Ns we had a really good set piece and pack but were lacking in adventure and expansiveness (is that even a word?!) elsewhere. All we had to do to become a really good, competitive side going into this World Cup was become a bit more clinical and comfortable going wide. But we seem to have swung too much that way. Our set piece used to guarantee us good ball but we never did much with it. Now, the set piece isn't as reliable but we're slowly looking like we have the backs to do something with it!

Just realised I'm waffling, but as much as its been great to see England trying to go wide, I just wish they hadn't done it at the expense of the tight play.

Edit - DEFENCE, thats been poo as well! We used to be pretty difficult to score against so we were always going to be there or thereabouts in games. Now we seem to leak really weak tries. The SH teams would have put 5 or 6 past us with how we played against Italy and Scotland!

Wales have a bit too much to do with regards to points difference.

I agree.. but remembering what happened last time we needed a big points difference keeps a glimmer of hope alive 🙂

Ireland must still be favourites, surely. The best side and should not get too sweaty about a win in Murrayfield. They are only 4 points behind England and have a much easier task.

France always have the ability to shock, but what are the odds on them winning. Scotland, Italy and France by 8 - that would be a story!

I still think Ireland will take the championship because Wales have a bit too much to do with regards to points difference.

I predict that the England game will be very close, England not doing much for their points difference or possibly even losing the game. After all, an astonishingly bad French performance in Italy still led to a 29 - 0 win. A result that many teams would see as acceptable. And how can a French team with Bastereau, Fickou, Dusatoir, et al, continue to play so badly, especially now they've got faint scent of the overall championship?

If the unlikely happens, and Scotland and Italy win, then England are going to take the biggest battering they've ever had and possibly go from playing for the championship to finishing fourth.

But I agree, Ireland should win, I think Wales will be second and England third.

I think we can all agree with this,

Get well soon, Sergio!

Big loss for Italy. Big boost for Wales.

That is indeed about the worst news Italy could have. At least they've got Castro back, Bergamasco can do a job (when he's at 7, anyone remember when they had him at 9??) and Vunisa is no mug either. Still got Wales by 20 though.

It's Irelands to lose. Wales aren't going to stick 30 pts on the Italians. England will win but it won't be a massive spread.
Results-wise the scots are the worst team in the tournament but you have this niggly feeling that they're not far from producing a decent performance and they do NOT want the tree material eating utensil.

perhaps they should play it at 3pm when there are no French players on the pitch, might rack up a few more points.

Even unopposed I wouldn't bet against the England backs butchering most of their chances.......

I've found England really frustrating this 6 Nations.

Yes - and with regard to the rest of that post, is that because England have played badly or because other teams have learned to nullify their approach 6 months too early for the RWC?

namastebuzz - Member
Even unopposed I wouldn't bet against the England backs butchering most of their chances.......

Indeed, so imagine losing to a team like that?!?

Indeed, so imagine losing to a team like that?!?

teamhurtmore - Member

Ireland must still be favourites, surely. The best side and should not get too [b]sweaty[/b] about a win in Murrayfield.

Tedious aren't you? Again,could you keep the racial slurs out of it? At least you have dropped the apostrophes you bracketed the term in during the indy thread.