Got to admire team tinkering vs Aus!

Agreed, the Argentina test was perfect for it.

Bradley Davies has just had surgery on his shoulder so will be out for a while…

10 years ago today! What a night – I was in Oz but not at the stadium.

WRX2003 win by Cheers Drive, on Flickr

From the statements I have seen reported on line the idea of the English being squeezed out has not actually been said but is something that the wider media have inferred to make a story out of pretty much nothing.

As far as I can see nothing has changed beyond the ERC planning to meet the new demands of the European Unions to modify the Heineken Cup structure to be what all the unions are looking for. However the RFU said very early on that they no longer recognise the ERC as an organising body (or something similar) so the media are putting pressure on the RFU to retract their bold stance and eat their words.

So basically, ERC changes the Heineken cup to be what the English want and the English then have the decision to stick with bold anti-ERC stance or come grovelling back. It just seems to be bluff and double bluff for some minor changes which would have probably evolved to happen anyway while massaging some egos along the way.

I don’t think that the RFU have taken such a bold stance. It’s the PRL who will not deal with the ERC. The RFU have been more cautious in their language. The remnants of the ERC did not invite the PRL or RFU to the meeting, as the PRL have refused to attend any others.
In essence, the Irish, Welsh, French, Scottish and Italian unions have agreed on a new format. The French and Welsh clubs have not (at present) and have stated that they want to be part of a new competition.
The PRL will not be going grovelling to the ERC, they can’t as they are contracted to BT whereas ERC have made a deal with sky (which doesn’t/shouldn’t include the English clubs).
Each nation seems to have its own battle; the Irish clubs are part of the union, the welsh regions and french clubs are having a full blown ding dong with theirs. The RFU is notably quiet, however wants a new competition to be union run (of course). The scots and italians haven’t said a lot.

So in summary, the club owners wants more moneys.

The Tonga game doesn’t look like it’ll be on iplayer. Any other channels streaming it or will I have to dig through the adverts on vipbox.tv again?

Is the red button an iplayer thing? I’ve only got a computer to watch it on right now.

I see what you mean ,just tried bbc sport website and I got a cant be shown for legal reasons message,strange.

17 nil wales looking good. Try Beck.

Bored now

So that disallowed try by the Welsh 11 : – 1/2p CHUCKED the ball forward in front of an international standard referee running the line and he ignored it! They didn’t even check the pass! Ridiculous. One of the fundamental rules of rugby and they can’t ref it.
(I’m watching it on slight delay and I think I’ll give up now.)

If the second half was a dog, you would have put it down after 15 minutes.

The good points were Beck and North looking for work. 1/2p running support lines. Lanky Luke and Evans looked busy. Ryan Jones excellent as usual.

Hook runs sideways, Williams was far too slow at the breakdown, Lydiate looks really out of match fitness. The set piece looks as shonkey as hell.

Beck took the try well and threw a few nice passes but didnt want to know when it came to taking the ball up. Him and Hook used up all the space for the outside backs. The ref had no clue at the scrum and whilst Williams was rubbish I’m not sure the Tongans were coming from behind the back foot they were standing offside waiting for the ball to come out. Still at keast we didnt lose.

We were discussing before about the consistency of the legs above body business with tackling and cards/ bans… did the half dozen tackles like the one above even so much as get a mention? Nope, I don’t think they should either. “Tip” tackles seem to be treated like spear tackles which are two very different things with different levels of intent and danger to the tackled player. I can see why there is the desire to protect the tackled player in this way but some of the cards and bans have been daft as already pointed out loads of times…

insert witty reposte here!

Saints v Falcons on BTsport now
Suspect a battering for Falcons.

Sale took 5 points off Wuss last night but played poorly in the first before getting it together in the second.

Gutted for England in that semi final. So close to beating the holders of the world cup! Great game, proper entertainment.

arse

Your father is your brother
Your sister is is your mother
Your s***ing one another
You’re the convict family

M’on Scotland!