TOOFAHSAND!!!!!!!!!

(Is emotional)

2001!!! 😯

That’s why I’ve been very puzzled about the English supporters on here and their strange attitudes (wrt Anybody But England). I’ve suspected that a lot of the people complaining about ABE have never been to a game in their life, never mind endured places like Sardis Road or Stradey. Or worse, had to put up with Ulster fans. Urrgh.

Well you appear to have forgotten that the biggest complainer on here about this is me (as in by my own evidence above I have been to at least one game). I expect you have never been an English man in Wales or Scotland after winning against Wales or Scotland. It can be a ‘lovely’ experience.

aracer – Member

3) The underdog (which does make Ireland v Wales tricky)

With Irish ancestry, and a Welsh neighbour, that one’s not tricky at all!

So Ireland then? 😐

Or do you base your support on who lives around you?

My neighbour is Nigerian, but, nice guy as he is, I couldn’t see myself supporting a Nigerian team in any sport.

I expect you have never been an English man in Wales … after winning against Wales

I have bin.

It was ok.

I couldn’t see myself supporting a Nigerian team in any sport.

I always have a happy smile when I see that London Nigerians RFC have won a game. 🙂

I have bin.

It was ok.

I have been and it has sometimes been ok.. But I lived in Wales for four years and had plenty of opportunity to come across Rugby fans who do not meet my high expectation.

toys19 – Member
I expect you have never been an English man in Wales or Scotland after winning against Wales or Scotland. It can be a ‘lovely’ experience.

I lived in England during the late 80s and 90s. You know, the period when Wales, Ireland and Scotland were all rubbish, and England wanted to move away from playing us and form a two tier championship.

If I wore a Welsh jersey it was usually greeted with patronising comments and sheep jokes that I’d only heard a few thousand times before.

Anyway, are you suggesting that you had bad time in Cardiff or Edinburgh? Fighting? Or just the odd glare?

Not meaning to offend all the Scots (or TJ) on here but I’ve seen a marked deterioration in the attitude of (some) Scottish fans over recent years.

I’ve been going to Murrayfield for over 35yrs – since I was a schoolboy – and always supported Scotland, unless they were playing England. There was always good natured banter and handshakes after the match. However, since the late 90s or early 2000s it hasn’t been as friendly. The Scottish crowd is a lot more discontented and less friendly. They also display a diminished understanding of the game, much like an African football crowd, cheering madly just because the ball has moved near to the opposition goal-line even though there’s no prospect of an advantage. I’ve also been sworn at by Scottish fans just for cheering England on. Booing the kicker, although prevalent everywhere, seems worst at Murrayfield.

I think it ties in with professionalism and the mess the SRU has made of the domestic game, leading to a hopelessly inept national side and disgruntled fans.

It used to be fun going to Murrayfield. Now it’s not.

As I said, it’s only a minority and there’s still plenty of good banter in the pubs and online but that’s my experience over the years.

toys19 – Member
But I lived in Wales for four years and had plenty of opportunity to come across Rugby fans who do not meet my high expectation.

Would you find similar types of fans in Gloucester, Bath, Leicester? Places with less of a middle class support base?

(I found Leicester to be quite a friendly ground as a fan, actually.)

The atmosphere at Glaws is lovely. It’s like one big happy family.

Mainly because…….

😈

So, tomorrow. Two very interesting games, IMO.

Canada v Japan – Weather dependent, I think. Rain = Canada grind it out. Dry = Japanese flair edges it.
Italy v USA – Should be a fairly comfy Italian win. Shouldn’t it?

Booing the kicker, although prevalent everywhere, seems worst at Murrayfield.

I would have to disagree and say that it’s worst at the millennymum. I was there for the Wales Ireland game this year and lamented the attitude of the fans at the time. We were surrounded by a bunch of pissed up blokes who were quite abusive towards us, and became quite threatening when I asked them to tone down the swearing (liberal usage of phrases involving the two words “…Irish c***s…”) in front of my mate’s two young boys. As for the bunch of pre-loaded women of a certain age behind us, I’m not sure if they were sober enough to realise which team was which tbh.

I’m putting it down to just being in the wrong place at the wrong time…but it wasn’t pleasant.

It could very well be Gatland’s fault of course. 🙂

Hmm I have had a bad time in Swansea and Cardiff and some small towns in Wales. Lots of fighting (well I say fighting, more beating) and threats , nothing like sheep jokes.

When I went to Wales in 92 I was unaware of the ABE attitude, I supported Wales in every game except against England (home) or Ireland (parents). Now I like a bit of banter and as an English minority in Swansea this is all I ever though it was, much piss taking from the Welsh and generally good times. But this went sour when the first “incident” occurred after about a month of living there, followed by plenty of others.

I dunno anything about other towns rugby fans other than Exeter and the small Devon market town where I grew up and played Rugby, there was never any nastiness.

Would you find similar types of fans in Gloucester, Bath, Leicester? Places with less of a middle class support base?

how keenly observed, only oiks can be xenophobic or boorish

🙄

Or do you base your support on who lives around you?

Kind of. Though I wouldn’t be supporting Wales even if they weren’t playing Ireland 😉

Or worse, had to put up with Ulster fans. Urrgh.

Have you had a bad time at an Ulster game? Genuine question as most travelling fans seem to really enjoy our hospitality at Ravers

Its not the fans who you need to watch out for its the Irish players called Trevor 😉

I think you will find it was Trevor attacking the ulster fan, better than Cantona!

anyway the rugbt, just watched the match. What a legend Gethin Jenkins is good result. Felt sorry for Byrne who was making some excellent runs only to not get passed the ball. The thing that worries me though is that Lloyd Burns is second choice hooker, it takes something to stand out as being shite in a team that wins by 70 odd points, but everything he did turned to rubbish.

The thing that worries me though is that Lloyd Burns is second choice hooker, it takes something to stand out as being shite in a team that wins by 70 odd points, but everything he did turned to rubbish.

Without wishing to seem rude, I ‘m asking a question not making a statement. Do you think games like this tell you much about the team? It’s like the hype about england beating Romania, if they hadn’t have put 10 tries on them then they might as well pack and go home. So do you think the Namibia game was even a test of Wales ability? Everyone stomped them and they must be knackered by now (as were the Romainians). I’m not trying to do down England or Wales but I’m struggling to find any significant evidence of a world beating side (like vs NZ, SA, Aus) from either game..

EDIT -I might be answering my own question here:
Scotland vs Romainia 34 -24
Arg vs Romainia 43-8
Eng vs Romainia 67-3

This is an interesting guage of who beat who as in we beat arg, and arg beat Scotland the vs romainia scores reflect the relative rank of the teams. It does not bode well for Scotland vs England.
If you do the same for Namibia in the Wales pool then the scores tell exactly the same story…

Do you think games like this tell you much about the team?

I personally do, look at the Welsh group and look at the winning scores against Namibia, Fiji and Samoa only put 49 points against them, Wales and South Africa put over 80. It sends out a message doesn’t it and that’s what Gatland wanted hence the half time bollocking after the second quarter’s slow down.
It is a good strategy? Only time will tell, Wales now have keep it up on Sunday.

DS yeah when I looked a the relative scores it does show something.

It told me Lloyd Burns is a special kind of shite and here was me thinking Benett was a liability.

😀 AA do you have a scriptwriter?

Thing is, Romania effectively put out a 2nd XV on Saturday in order to preserve their 1st team for the clash with Georgia. Romania knew they weren’t really in with a shout against England but if they beat Georgia they are assured of an entry into the next World Cup – can’t fault their logic can you?

The one thing that is telling from this weekends Group B games is that the English defence is better than Scotlands it seems.

Apart from Georgia scored a try against England and did not against Scotland?

TandemJeremy – Member
Apart from Georgia scored a try against England and did not against Scotland?

Are they plastic straws?

Yep, from Brizzle. 😉

LOLZ at CFH and DD

Scotland 15 Georgia 6
England 41 Georgia 10

You cant get a 31 point advantage without taking a little risk teej.
And romania score 2 tries against you and none agaisnt us..

Scotland now my number three.

Scotland are often a number two for me. 😉

So – help me out here. Why are scotland so shite?

It used to be that Scotland rugby teams were more than the sum of their parts. 1990 and 1999 being two examples.

Now with better players and full time they seem to be less that the sum of the parts.

Look at the stats for the Argentina / Scotland game – Scotland had so much territory and possession and made so many yards they should have won easily. Didn’t really look like scoring a try. WHY?

I think the diagram earlier highlighting how few senior players Scotland are working with is key. We lack talent, we then probably don’t nurture the talent that shows flair or ability by training in set ways and playing to win even at a young age.

Ideally we need to expand the base beyond the private schools and clubs and place more emphasis on skill development, ie passing, runnning, ball release from tackles etc.Lets face it Edinburgh and Glasgow don’t do that well. Change their ethos to 1 of attacking rugby, accept we will lose more games for several years until we develop the players skills and that can pass on to the Senior team.

Easy to say, but difficult to do.

Morning all!

Early start on the way to the airport. Good close game Canada v Japan at the moment!

Am hoping they’re showing the rugby in the lounges at T5!

Scotland just seem to lack any really stand out players at the moment who can elevate the team to the next level by doing something special. Wales as a unit are not a lot better but they do have a few players who on their day are approaching world class, same can be said for Ireland.

AA what are your parameters for world class? Gethin is world class IMHO

That Alan Hansen soccer commentator has just sat down next to me. Looks like he had a hard night!

What a result, though – 23 all! Anyone watch it?

C’mon A-A, Wales are in a different (much better) place than Scotland! Wales can play with vision and purpose, ok it may not always come off but you can see the intent. Scotland (and sometimes England) don’t seem to know where they want the ball to be through the phases so it often just meanders into mediocrity and a turnover or knock-on.

morning all
just caught last half jap v can very tight game 🙂
only 3 ever draws in world cup and 2 by these teams
think italy will walk this one