STW 2014/15 Rugby Thread

On a par with Hoare but Clark is simply unforgivable

Valid. Clark’s was a criminal assault. Nothing that could be put down to the “red mist” of aggression. An act of vile assault.

I take it back. That’s as bad as Hore. Now, where does it stand alongside a two man, deliberately targeted spear tackle? Dirty, cheating, nasty Kiwis.

The bloke that got KO’d elbowed Flower in the face a couple of seconds prior to getting decked. First punch was fair cop imo, the one on the deck was not nice. He threw a few more in the resultant brawl too. Not even close to what Clark did imo, I’m of the opinion that he should have received a minimum 2 year ban (preferably lifetime)

In other news London Welsh only lost by 20 points today, easily there best result of the season, against rugby unions answer to the Harlem Globe Trotters aka Newcastle Falcons 🙂

First punch was fair cop imo, the one on the deck was not nice.

Yep, that seems right. First punch was “red mist” act of retaliation. Second punch was unforgivable.

Am off on my travels tomorrow, so won’t get to see the Ospreys game. 🙁

St Gavin of Henson starts his second game in a row tomorrow. I sense an injury coming on.

@pihgface nice clip.

Yes let’s discuss the other code. Hopefully most of it won’t be like that clip. He deserves a long ban and that’s pretty close to an assault charge too

Another pro12 game spoilt by piss poor ref. I’m no Blues fan but the ref got so much wrong and always in favour of The Ospreys.

So some euro drubbings followed by Wales losing to nz, sa, aus and some PI team….who are we playing this season?

Anyone catch the Wasps v Baarth game?

Matt Mullan gave David Wilson a proper pasting in the scrums, and took great delight in telling him about it too 🙂

Wilson got sin binned for a trip on 45 mins and never came back on. It turned out to be a great game. Haskell is having a great season so far, as is Ford, Eastmond, the Bath 11 and the Wasps 12!

Is the Bath 11 Rokoduguni? He’s class be surprised if he isnt in the next England squad. Did the Orange One get injured?

yep, he’s bloody good. Fijian I think, and a serving in (not sure when he last turned up for work though!) the army as well.
If he’s not in, there’s no bloody hope for England backs, he’s a class above in attack and defence compared to the English wingers in the last 6 nations. Him or May / that Exeter player with the silly hair. There’s no comparison!

An Ulster player is alleged to have choked Glasgows Mark Bennett unconcious on Saturday. Feels like there has been an increase in unsavoury goings on in rugby of late.

On a positive note Edinbugh beat Dragons in a battle between two pretty poor teams. Match made worse again by the officials who did their best to make a bad game worse. Have to agree with A_A that the Pro12 refs are woeful this year.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/club/11157555/Glasgow-Warriors-call-for-action-after-Mark-Bennett-is-knocked-out-by-choke-tackle-in-Pro12-defeat-by-Ulster.html

Adam Jones – Guardian Interview

A dangerous, pointless and negative tactic that doesnt even sit in the rules properly.

Jones has been pretty poor this season so far. Samson to start and Rhodri Jones to bench for me.

IJS this is a difficult one O’Connor had both arms under Bennetts pits when the maul forms. The Ulster players try to keep him up and the Glasgow 7 tries to get Bennett to ground, after that it’s very difficult to see what happens.

However at the end of the ruck O’Connor throws him off him. This suggests to me thar O’Connor had no idea the guy was in trouble. I doubt there is a player outside New Zealand who would be that callous. Bad as that action looks, it suggests to me he had no idea the guy was sparked and if I’m not stretching credibility suggests his initial tackle was not malicious.

If Sky have other angles that show a Ulster player choked Bennett deliberately then throw the book at them. No place for that in the game

@aa, yes very dangerous.

So will Stefan be coming to the Premiership? Bath? And if so will he be in the England Squad for the WC?

Personally I reckon yes – at Bath and almost certain that he will be in the WC squad – there is no way that he would come back to England without some commitment from Lancaster that he would be the squad. Makes the choice of captain a fun selection issue!!

I don’t see how he would get choked unconcious from arms under his pits, someone or something must have had pressure round his throat to have that result deliberately or otherwise. Surely the same “duty of care” must apply in these situations as now applies to challenging a highball in the air.

It has been said before but the same has to apply to the twisiting of players off of rucks by their heads/neck, the governing body should not be waiting for a serious injury before reacting to these sort of things.

Totally agree. The touch judge was right beside the maul and didn’t spot anything so it’s very difficult to tell what happened.

I would imagine the IRB will look at the choke tackle closely after this.

Townsend always has a bit of a moan about the opposition though. There was an article in a Glasgow rag I picked up in a hotel last week quoting Gregor moaning about his key players being targeted. ( I think it was Seymour and Matawalu against Treviso ) I believe he’s got it wrong this time but nothing beats a bit of righteous indignation when you’ve been tanked especially having made 10 changes. 😉

@sadmad – where did you read/hear about Armitage ? He’s had a couple of very good seasons in Toulon, won some nice trophies but a chance of a RWC squad place would be very tempting.

sadmadalan – Member
So will Stefan be coming to the Premiership? Bath? And if so will he be in the England Squad for the WC?

Personally I reckon yes – at Bath and almost certain that he will be in the WC squad – there is no way that he would come back to England without some commitment from Lancaster that he would be the squad. Makes the choice of captain a fun selection issue!!

Well if he does come back and I’d be very happy to see him at Leicester although I suspect this won’t happen due to the cash needed), it’s very good for England. Suspect Robshaw may make a swift move to 6!

It is on the Beeb today and was mentioned on Rugby Tonight on BT sport as well

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/29607431

Why was this a penalty?

Great stuff

Dont know but at a guess it may be deemed that he led with the shoulder/forearm a bit. Other than that it wasnt high and he wrapped his arms so it could maybe be simply the physicality of it that scared Wayne Barnes 😕

Lydiate, Roberts and Philips on their way back to Wales?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/29610121

@ijs – this is quite a quote (from your link) 😯

Racing coach Laurent Labit told L’Equipe: “We have raised the subject with them. They have never really been that effective since their arrival.”

@DezB – he may have thought it a bit high/leading with shoulder. As you watch it more often it looks hard but legit, the blue forward is crouching / ducking into it a bit which always make it look worse.

Be great if those three did come back to wales. Roberts to Blues, Lydiate to Dregs and Phillips… well he may struggle to get in Ospreys or Scablets and his ego is too big for the Dregs.

Fatty Armitage deal now looking unlikely. Shame, not for barf but for England.

Is Fatty Armitage that good? Do you want such a mercenary who tried to qualify for France and then wanted to come back to England.

@aa allegedly he asked the question, could have been to try and put some pressure on the RFU. I do wonder whether European Player of the Year at club level really translates into RWC ? I would think the Boks/Blacks and Aussies (EDIT Wales too) would fancy running at/around a pack with Steffon in it. He’s a fine player but its been a long time since he’s featured at that level, different game really.

Is Fatty Armitage that good?

I don’t think we’re going to find out. Yes, he looks good in a pack of superstars but most would. He was nothing special at LI or for England.

Do you want such a mercenary who tried to qualify for France and then wanted to come back to England.

Nope. He goes against everything SL is trying to do with England. He just wants to play international rugby like his team mates. Doesn’t care who for.

My recollection is that he was never much cop for England and whilst I havent seen much of Toulon I would imagine my nan would look good behind that front 5. You certainly cannot imagine someone looking like that putting in a shift like Robshaw does. I could be wrong though.

I wholly agree. Even thinking of dropping CR for fatboy without seeing how he gets on in a normal team is pointless. England aren’t the Toulon of world rugby.

He could play for Wales, we love a fat lad. Talking of which Rory Pitman playing for Scarlets this season where did he come from? Good carrier but hands like tits.

A_A – do you call the larger children who play rugby “fatty” too?
Your offensive shit keeps me off this thread.

Oh man up Princess.

Getting back to BlindMelon I agree I doubt the choke tackle going so wrong was intentional. Its still a dangerous shit negative tactic that has no basis in the rules of the game that I can see.

Generally it’s not dangerous though, purely the defending teams way of forcing a turnover. Why do you think it’s outwith the rules?

Because the defending team often drop the maul and then when it does collapse I dont see why all the people lay on the floor dont roll away. Also the fact that the guy being held up has usually been held round the neck even though the initial tackle was lower and legal.

Why would the defending team drop the maul if the attacking team have been held up? That’s not the case in terms of a choke tackle. I think that being held up by the neck doesn’t happen that often as the refs are always looking for it. Also any attacking team who have done their homework will be aware of the opposition using this tactic and plan to ruck the ball more and therefore should make the game quicker.

It also gave me one of the most memorable moments in rugby….