STW 2014/15 Rugby Thread

Be interesting to see how Josh Beaumont goes today, he’s been putting in some great performances for Sale this season & deserves his run out with England.
Is it on TV?

Ok I will say it the Gav monstered him 😆 I think Tait is a great player that was ruined by englands weird selection policy back then. Young hyped thrown in got a beating discarded. Awful way to treat a young player.

Funnily enough the same happend to Gav when you think about it!

Well we have all the young hope on the field today. Cuthbert did well vs Ireland let’s hope Wade isn’t smashed to pieces. A bit of e open played now culled by the rain perhaps but the back line that everyone has been shouting about is getting their chance. Interesting to see how Cips goes.

On that note, II notice ForReal may be I trouble – maybe cited for yesterday’s high tackle on Watson.

Morgan: Phil Bennett…Brilliant! Oh, that’s brilliant! John Williams, Bryan Williams, Pullin, John Dawes great dummy. To David, Tom David, the half-way line! Brilliant by Quinnell! This is Gareth Edwards! A dramatic start! What a score! Oh, that fellow Edwards!

Oh, no wait a minute….. hang on the referee wants to have a look at this. It’s going to the TMO.

Referee: Hello Alan [TMO] can you hear me?

TMO Alan: Hello? Hello? I can’t hear you? Can you hear me?

Referee: I can hear you but can you hear me? Hello? [fiddles with battery pack and ear piece for a minute]. Hello? Can you look at something for me?

TMO Alan: I can hear some of your words but will guess the bits I can’t hear. What shall I look at because I wasn’t really watching the game?

Referee: I want you to look at the final pass to Edwards – was it forward? Try or no try? Also go back 2 minutes, was there a high tackle on Barbarians number 15?

TMO Alan: Understood. [TMO watches 15 repeats of the forward pass from 7 different angles]. Hello? Hello? I have a decision for you.

Referee: ….er, right go then tell me…

TMO Alan: The ball comes out of the hands in a backwards direction, then moves forwards but the hands are facing backwards at all times. The fingers are also pointing backwards if that matters? The player’s socks are green and the moon is in the waxing phase.

Referee: Er, OK…so what is your recommendation? I am looking at a screen about 80 metres away but am happy to guess based on these grainy pictures if it gets me more air time? Hello? What is your recommendation?

TMO Alan: Hello? You want a recommendation from me? There is a reason I am a TMO and not a referee so er, um my recommendation is to go with your decision and not to cause too much controversy….

Referee: OK. I can barely see the screen but it looks like a forward pass so no try.

[The Welsh controlled big screen now shows another high tackle on the Welshman JPR Williams. The mostly Welsh fans react angrily through the haze of dry ice from the pre-match entertainment. Some of them even put down their pints to remonstrate with the referee]

Referee: Er, I can see another incident on the big screen. Is this another high tackle on Barbarians 15? Can you look at this. Potential foul play.

TMO Alan: I have 24 angles of this so it may take some time. [7 minutes later the TMO has completed his reviews and the crowd has taken up knitting to fill the time]…….Hello. I have a recommendation.

Referee: What is your recommendation?

TMO Alan: The tackle starts around the waist, moves up to the shoulders and his elbow does brush his face. I recommend a red card. [TMO consults the latest IRB communication to work out if this is the latest directive he is applying or last month’s]

Referee: [The referee’s battery pack has now given up so he has to stand on the side line and phone the TMO using the water boy’s mobile phone which is on a pay as you go contract so he is understandably concerned his free minutes are being used up] OK, so a red card. My recommendation is also a red card because I have to stay in Cardiff tonight. If it is the wrong decision the disciplinary committee will overturn it so no worries.

So a red card? Who is the red card for?

TMO Alan: Yes, a red card. Who is it for?

Referee: That is what I asked you! Who is it for? Who am I giving the red card to?

TMO Alan: You want my recommendation? I cannot conclusively see from the pictures which number it is so I will say it is inconclusive and therefore my recommendation is also inconclusive. I can only see the offender’s shirt, face and most of his number but it is inconclusive. Conclusively inconclusive.

Referee: …er, OK. I will give a general team warning and tell them to stop.

…er, so, where were we? I will disallow the try and give a penalty to the Barbarians 20 metres out and give a 5 minute lecture to the All Blacks captain about dangerous play and some other stern words I can come up with in the next minute or two.

TMO Alan: That is also my recommendation.

[15 minutes after Gareth Edwards put the ball over the line the referee gives a penalty to the Barbarians on the 22, forgets about the initial high tackle and disallows The Greatest Try of all Time.

The crowd file out and head home never to talk about the day they saw The Greatest Try of all Time]

The greatest try of all time….. has been disallowed!

Just noticed Moriarty is in the welsh training squad. Always said refs were picking on him unfairly.

England 45 – 5 Barbarians at half time!

Cipriani looking comfortable an assured, centres and Yarde looking fantastic. I feel sorry for tait he’s in the wrong company and is being made to look ordinary. Launchbury back near his best. Props looking good. The futures bright & a cricket score.

MoM, 100% and a try for Cips. He should be in the team. 73/12 wow.

Sadly Farrel has received only a citing commission warning for his high tackle on Saturday http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/32952164

73-12 full time. Cipriani scores 33 points & makes man of the match.
Some great performances all round, especially from Slade at 12. Cowan-Dickie not able to hook the ball though which is a worry.

Two tries for Cips, 33 points out of 73.

Micky mouse match today.Yesterday was much more important. Farrell can count himself lucky the citing commissioner graded his high tackle such that he avoided a suspension.

..and Gloucester blow it at the death!

Oh glaws, oh glaws, oh glaws.
Based on his performance today, I reckon that the england coaching squad might be cursing their decision to let Moriarty go to wales. He was head and shoulders above everyone in that game.
Anyone know where I can watch the barbars game online?

They usually get put up on YouTube, have a search. Quality can be a bit so-so

Some highlights here

Wales will have all 10 of their English-based squad members available for full World Cup preparations following the Aviva Premiership clubs striking a deal with World Rugby.

There were concerns that the English contingent would miss the training camps in Switzerland and Quatar, plus the opening warm-up game against Ireland on August 8.

That’s because, under World Rugby’s laws, clubs are not obliged to release players until 35 days before the World Cup starts.

And Premiership Rugby (PRL) have in the past refused to release players to Wales outside of the official international window.

But now PRL – the umbrella organisation for the Aviva clubs – have reached a one-off agreement with World Rugby, which will see players from all countries released from today.

? Why are they being nice? This is making me nervous.

There can be only one answer; ££££££££££££

Matt Morgan in squad… still think he should be a winger. No way is he ahead of Biggar, Priestland, Patchel or Hook as a 10.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/england-rugby-star-danny-cipriani-5805544

Jeez, this guy really knows how to self destruct. Great performance which should have put him in the World Cup squad now likely to never play for England again if the drink drive charge being reported in Mirror and Sun is correct.

And that’s after an interview on Sunday where he talks about not going on the Sale end of season bus nutting contest to stay home and work with Margo Wells. 🙄

It’s all over the news. Just when you thought he really had calmed down, played a blinder for England which probably had him in the no 2 spot, and that’s that thrown away. He won’t play for England again that’s for sure.

Agent spin has him cooperating with police and attending police station. Yeah that’s a good idea when arrested.

You can she why he was driving, I mean its hard to get a black cab, Addison Lee or an uber right – hardly any of those in Chelsea ?

Toulon would be wise to have nothing to do with him

Defeat from the jaws of victory and an end to any England aspirations. A real shame given that he has been flawless for Sale since he joined and pretty much a model professional on the pitch and the couple of times I have ran into him off the pitch.

Once breathlysed and the results noted surely he would not have been released immediately if found to be over the limit??

I mean its hard to get a black cab

His Mum drives one!

It’s quite normal to get bail in these circumstances.

Its not about whether he goes to prison / availability.

He’s shown Lancaster he’s a liability off the pitch, and can’t be trusted to maintain a professional image. He’s out.

It’s quite normal to get bail in these circumstances.

Of course but if he was charged that would probably be reported wouldnt it?

He’s shown Lancaster he’s a liability off the pitch, and can’t be trusted to maintain a professional image.

Hard to say and we will find out soon enough. If he was drunk then there is no place in hell hot enough in my opinion. Other than this and the Bus incident (Even his critics viewed that as “high spirits” etc) then he has cleaned up his act significantly since joining Sale.

Often yes, if he’s over on the station machine he’d be charged straight away. Whether that also gets reported, I’m not sure how that works.

There are a few scenarios where he could be bailed and then charged later on.

Never did the princesses husbands England career any harm.

He may have passed the breatherlyzer test.

I read he crashed into a silver Prius at 5am, bizarre twist is that it was most probably an Uber taxi (opps I mean mini-cab), which is ironic as he should be been in a taxi.

Interesting trivia @surfer and further irony

I take no joy in this situation but I’ve always said he was a “waster” with poor discipline, he can’t help himself. He cannot be relied upon and sadly that means at the highest levels he cannot be selected. A club like Sale gave him a chance, that’s where he should stay – his talent would suggest more but he cannot manage his behaviour.

The news reports don’t really give us enough info.

If he’d blown over the limit at the station then he’d almost certainly have been charged but reports say he wasn’t charged but was “released on bail”. However, you’re normally released on bail if you’ve BEEN charged.

Still, SL was never gonna play him in the RWC – too “flash”.

@names – it’s not that he’s too flash, he’s too unreliable.

It’s possible he failed the roadside test and was arrested and taken to the station for “processing” or that he refused a roadside test and was thus arrested and taken to the station. As far as I am aware you can refuse breath and blood tests but then you are charged with a different offense and at court you are very likely to be found guilty and treated more harshly than if you’d just failed the test

Might have had to go to blood, various scenarios when this can happen, results of which take a few weeks, hence police bail.

Might be due to circumstances, ie. RTC rather than simply stopped by police, and as they need to prove he was driving there may be further enquiries (CCTV, witness statements perhaps), and then it might need t go to CPS for a decision.

As said above, too little info to say really.

jambalaya – it’s not that he’s too flash, he’s too unreliable.

Yeah, I know why you don’t like him. True, he’s failed the d***head test on more than one occasion BUT I still think he’s England’s best fly half – or should have been.

I remember watching Mark Ella play and thinking that there seemed to be several of him and he was all over the pitch (OK – when his brothers were also playing for Australia it really seemed that way!). I read a piece years later, by Ian McGeechan IIRC saying that Ella’s workload off the ball was what had made him such a phenomenal player. He could give a pass then pop up outside the players he’s passed to.

If you look at recent tries scored by Sale and even highlights from the Rebels a few years back the first bloke to congratulate the try scorer is often Cipriani. Not just because he likes a dance and a bit of a cuddle(!) but often because he’s bust a gut to support the play.

All great players do this. Kieran Read, Josh Kronfeld, David Campese, Keith Wood etc etc. George Ford does it well too.

He’s been great for Sale but if we’d seen him playing for a dominant side it would have been interesting.

‘Nuff said. I don’t think he’ll get another shot for England either way.

@name I think we agree that Cirpriani is very talented, Farrell should never have had a look in as Cips should have made the 10 jersey his own. He possibly made the England side too early but had he put his head down and worked hard on his game he would have been our first choice 10. He was slow kicking with an extra small step which the South African’s exploited and a little too flash sometimes but had he worked on that and the rest of his game he would have been a very fine player. All that just makes me even more frustrated with him (likewise Henson), there are many players who would die for the talent. I think he believed in his own talent too much, he’s too used to that bailing him out time and time again.

I don’t think Toulon should take him but if he did go he’d get 5 years there on good money and the England selection isn’t going to worry him now.

Apparently he is back training with the England squad and the terms of his bail require him to return to the station early August. Surely anyone failing a test would be charged before then??
Is this becoming a non story with only Jambalaya convinced of his guilt?

I dont really see how being done for drink driving should affect his England chances tbh. If he holds his hands up and says he made a mistake then let him play I reckon. Tuilagi will be back after xmas and he assaulted female police officers. Mike Tindal got away with it. Cipriani at least didnt get pissed and drive a golf buggy up the m4 or steal a taxi!
Glad Jambo didnt judge our Gav…he got drunk on a train once AND did some dancing on telly!!!

I dont really see how being done for drink driving should affect his England chances tbh.

Every company I’ve worked for a drink driving conviction is considered gross misconduct and dismissal.

If Chippy has been arrested on suspicion of drink driving and is cleared that’s fine, if he’s guilty then it’s curtains IMO. Drink driving is quite rightly socially unacceptable.

As an aside @aa I was clearing out an old hard drive last night and I found a directory belonging to one of my daughters with some pics of Gav in it 🙂