STW 2014/15 Rugby Thread

Some good tweets in response to Francis stating Gatland had the intelligence of a tub of Flora

Flora 23 Clover 16

And Tony Copsey suggested he needed another slap!!

I cannot believe that this is an international game and that neither of these are the worst team in the 6N!!!

There are 30 something blokes in Rome that have forgotten what game they’re playing. It’s worse than watching schoolboys 3rds.

England were a shower of shit yesterday. Terrible. The backs were both greedy and lazy; none of them seemed to look for support or offer it. Nowell was garbage. He tries hard but he’s just not an international wingers – he’s too slow and as for his handling. How many knock ons? Thought Ben Youngs was awful too. How he got man of the match is beyond me. It should gave gone to Lawes.

I enjoyed the Wales Ireland game though. Wales certainly put their bodies on the line and I was impressed with Irekanf getting through about 900 phases in one go with no knock ons, penalties etc. Their accuracy in those situations is impressive. Sexton had a mare. Warburton had a big game.

Today’s game is er, awful. Next weeks game between England and France looks like it’s going to be awful!

Everyone in ireland knows Neil Francis is a troll, no one takes his rubbish very seriously

mindmap3 – Member
England were a shower of shit yesterday. Terrible. The backs were both greedy and lazy; none of them seemed to look for support or offer it. Nowell was garbage.

You can only play what’s in front of you 😉

I was impressed with Ireland getting through about 900 phases in one go with no knock ons, penalties etc

No points, either.

More poor trolling from THM,points lost for not having a ref to sweatys or jocks in it.Can you explain how Scotland being garbage stops England being able to pass or catch?

Find any reference to “jocks” and I might indulge you ref, otherwise, take it as read. Odd that a ref has to keep making things up to make a point?

Have you never played against a weaker side? How often have sides played poorly against Italy for example. No “points” for realising why……anyway, I share your pain ducks. Losing to a team that is apparently “shit”, cannot pass or catch and squanders multiple chances to score, must be hard to stomach.

Anyway SOH required BTW.

F

Find any reference to “jocks” and I might indulge you ref, otherwise, take it as read. Odd that a ref has to keep making things up to make a point find any reference to “jocks” and I might indulge you ref, otherwise, take it as read. Odd that a ref has to keep making things up to make a point?

Why do you have to always bring in personnal digs all the time?

AA, look where it started mate, look where it started (clue the post above the one you reference).

Unnecessary really, but I don’t believe in uncontested slurs line outs. And it’s not a dig, it’s an invitation to show where I used the word Jock.

SOH required, it’s only a game!

look where it started mate

are you 5 years old thm?

All the pundits I heard on the radio yesterday were assuming that england would win in Paris with out question. Not sure about that.

I am nervous about playing in Italy if anyone can cock it up history has shown is us 😆

I haven’t seen the bookies odds, but I still have Ireland as favourites.

Wales too many points behind, and loss of props a big issue. They will win easily, but not by 30.
England – France MUST turn up at some point. However – it is at Twickenham.
Ireland – only 2 points behind England on PD, with an easier game.

AA, look where it started mate, look where it started (clue the post above the one you reference).

with you talking about “sweaties” didn’t it?

Well there has to be one shock/twist next weekend.

So Murrayfield, Twickers or Rome?

Home advantage hasn’t worked out quite as expected this time.

{x-post, still no J? And no, they do that themselves. anyway sympathies still with you, must have been gut wrenching to watch and old Gav was saying how well you were playing on the radio. Good luck against Ireland – THEY are a good team, unlike us)

teamhurtmore – Member

That audio is the most depressing thing about being an England supporter. SLSC is even worse that the sweaty flower song.

There you are,a not made up quote from you. Call your workmates Paddy or Sweaty do you?

Rugby;

How good was Cowan on Sat? Played like the love child of John Jeffreys and Finlay Calder.However in a typically Scottish Dad’s army scenario;this mornings update seem to suggest he is broken and a doubt for next week. Anybody on here got a Scottish Granny and a high pain threshold/fluid interpretation of the exact meaning of the word “offside”?

@Duckman

Whilst there is a break in play a trivial question that you may be able to help with 🙂

Surfer junior plays junior colts and its typical for a coach etc to run touch from each team. Are these touch judges “allowed” to “call” fouls, offsides etc when on occasion they are clearly best placed to see them? Or does the referee ignore them as bias! (which they often are!)
What is the rule?

Well there has to be one shock/twist next weekend.

England to score as many tries as there are chances? A shocking display – I watched the U20’s on Friday and they put the seniors to shame.

If England win on points difference that’d be a shock to me. FWIW, the SH teams must be laughing their socks off.

Not laughing but smiling perhaps. But no shocks – NZ and SA are the two best teams on the world. No shocks there. Then Ireland, England, Aus and Wales – who can all beat/lose to each other, then the mercurial French (who knows) and Argentina.

Pretty much on form/rankings at the moment…..

Pigface,the rule is that they are just touch judges. In Lower adult leagues it is traditional for a tj from each team to do a side. They call when the ball is in or out and in theory nothing else. Youth rugby is a rite of passage,it is no surprise to anybody who watches it that u18 games get the same grade ref as national league games up here. My record for cards was 7 yellows and 4 reds in a U18 Fife derby…oh; and witness to an assault case…And my car vandalised. TBH I am surprised the coaches were running touch,it might make them too short of breath to scream at the ref at full volume.

Cheers Duckman

Yesterdays game was abandoned and it looks like the team coach has stood down after he allegedly incited retaliation after what appeared to be a nasty stamping incident. Fortunately Surfer junior wasnt involved.

Far from unusual,the game I am alluding to above,a boy had to have his spleen removed,people like that are ruining rugby. When you have teams that play like that it just takes a look at the coach to see where it comes from.

In our old adult ‘grass-roots’ league, Gloucester 2, a local team called Tredworth had a fearsome (and deserved) reputation for bringing violence to the pitch. They also had a violent set of travelling fans that would get involved if anyone stood up to their abuse. Most normally bouyant clubs would struggle to raise a 1st XV on the league weekends when it was a Tredworth game.

In fact my last ever game was against Tredworth I came off after 60 minutes exhausted and smashed up. Crap way to end playing a game I absolutely love.

They folded last year thankfully, and the local leagues collectively breathed a sigh of relief, even though it was actually a shame as the club was 110 years old and wasn’t always that way

EDIT: You didn’t wanna run the touch-line at a Tredworth home game I can tell you.

Flip! I’m just getting into reffing, it all seems so pleasant at mini & junior level! You guys are putting me off 🙁

Its a cliche but it is very much a minority. Almost every game I watch it is easy to identify 1 or 2 players in the first couple of minutes who are up for a fight. The vast majority are great lads.
Surfer junior is loving it and the camaraderie is great. He beat me for the first time ever on last nights press up challenge but I did maintain my arm wrestle title. I think I will lose that any week 🙁

We would always expect incidents in any game, especially as raking out tacklers on the wrong side of the ball was allowed then. Grass-roots rugby at adult age is far-removed from the stereotypical public schoolboy image. However, almost all games were played with tremendous sportsmanship and team spirit, and you never make a friend quite like the ones you have played rugby with 😉

and you never make a friend quite like the ones you have played rugby with

Even the oppo! Used to play Wrekin College in the old days and the other hooker and I never got on from U13-1XV. Always included a good scrap at some stage. But they had a tradition in the 1XV that you had a pint of beer in some barn after the match. Even after a feisty set of exchanges during the match, we had a laugh about it over the beers and stayed friends for many years afterwards. One of the beauties of the game. 20 stone plus Fife farmers at Uni were a different matter altogether though 😉

Ah, so you were a hooker then thm?

That should be obvious! 😉 Only #9s are more annoying!

[Well at 6’2″ more a third flanker with massive props]

A friend played for a school in Cardiff and got to an area final. The team they were playing in the final was their local rivals and there was no love lost between the schools. They played a week before the final in a game that was really nasty, a bunch of 30 boy scraps and about 5 sending offs.

The ref of the final got both teams and coaches together before the start and came out with this quote “Be under no illusion I will have no hesitation into turning this game into 5 a side if I have a repaet from last week” it worked and according to my mate it was a brilliant match.

That should be obvious!

Ah, it’s just that you never mention it… 😛

Theres a team that sound like that Tredworth in our league. Really rough group of lads from Salford and also have a nasty group of fans as well. One of our wingers was running down the touchline once and just got clothes lined by a supporter! Horrible to play against, but the annoying thing was they were actually pretty decent at rugby when they weren’t trying to gouge your eyes out. They regularly used to yo-yo between our league and the league above. Apparently they used to come a bit unstuck against the real hard nuts from Workington/Barrow/Whitehaven way.

I’m all for the what happens on the pitch stays on the pitch but when some Manc gobs**te spends 80 minutes stamping, biting and gouging his way through a game its hard to laugh about it over a pint! God I hate them!!

Apparently they used to come a bit unstuck against the real hard nuts from Workington/Barrow/Whitehaven way.

I (fondly?!) remember playing against Millom at under 15s, we were a gang of callow youths and our whole team (with the exception of our hooker, sumo) added together probably weighed less than their front row. They also only had one eyebrow to share between them. Anyhow, they kicked ten shades of shit out of us and made essentially no attempt to score points and I was quite glad when I broke a finger ten minutes from then end and got taken off. We whupped them by about 30 points but you’d never have believed it looking at the thousand yard stares at the whistle.

My England Player Ratings from Saturday:

MIKE BROWN: Gobby d***head and too slow to be a top fullback.

ANTHONY WATSON: Promising but should be at fullback. Appears to have learnt how not to look up and pass the ball whilst being with England.

JONATHAN JOSEPH: Great, or he would be if surrounded by some less maladroit players.

LUTHER BURRELL: Did a fine impersonation of Brad Barritt – FFS!

JACK NOWELL: Not international class, poor hands and a stupid haircut.

GEORGE FORD: Very Good.

BEN YOUNGS: Still can’t box kick. MoM? For what?

JOE MARLER: Poorer at the scrum than I expected.

DYLAN HARTLEY: Still a d***head.

DAN COLE: Appears to have had a frontal lobotomy which has removed any knowledge of the laws of the game.

COURTNEY LAWES: Great.

DAVE ATTWOOD: OK

JAMES HASKELL: Back to being a total bellend. Who puts spin on a pop pass?

CHRIS ROBSHAW: Worthy as ever but maybe he should be at 6?

BILLY VUNIPOLA: Not quite the Hammer of the Scots but put in a good shift.

Brian Moore said the following on Twitter about MoM:

Just to point out I picked Lawes as MoM but Youngs came up and had to deal with it.

By came up, I think he meant on screen.

I thought that as he was announcing it. When Ben Youngs came up on the screen Brian Moore paused for ages and had to change his tack mid-sentence. To be fair that’s not like him he would normally just say whatever he was thinking

There aren’t many positive comments there (which is fair 😀 ) but can I add a little more negativity?

GEORGE FORD: Very Good.

George Ford: Improvement over Farrel in open play but place kicking sub par for an international and still liable to run backwards/ sideways from time to time

Wales now 5th in IRB standings, overtaking Australia.

BBC Rugby

How the f did that happen?

I would imagine beating SA and Ireland helps.