Which Tyler Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 Biggest match for my club in over a decade, and our best chance in nearly 2; and I'll be stuck in front of a shitty illegal stream. I live in a rugby heartland, and they're all going to be showing the football instead - even the rugby club (though I'm not sure if they were genuine, teasing the guy in the Bath shirt, or spiting the guy in the Bath shirt). There were a pair of Villa shirts in sight though, so I lean towards the genuine; and at a 30 minute walk away, I'm not willing to risk it. My mother has absolutely no idea how to register online, and my brother can't get hold of his paperwork in order to do so (both BT customers).This will be remedied ahead of next season, but is just too late for today - wish I'd thought about it earlier; but had assumed that the rugby club would be a certainty. ETA: Well, apparently no clash anyway; so teasing it was; with ignorance from the pub.Back to the old plans (that'll go down well with the wife) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 Not the best of starts for Bath. Two tries down and they're really struggling to open up the Sarries defence. On top of that they could have done without losing Watson with the 6-2 split on the bench, Devoto can play fullback but it's his worst position for me. ETA: Bath have a lot of attacking talent but I don't see them overhauling a 22 point deficit against Saracens. They'll be kicking themselves a bit, Saracens have played really well but two of their tries have come from Bath pushing it a bit more than they needed to. ETA2: A comfortable win in the Pro 12 final for Glasgow as well but they're so much fun to watch when they click it was still a pretty entertaining match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lessthanluke Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Oh Cipriani Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereward Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 At this rate we're going to struggle to put out a team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talleyrand Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 With the Pro 12 win I think its clear what Scotland needs to do now: find some way to claim Nakawara as Scottish and get him on the national team. I mean surely we can slip a Scottish gran into the records or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HairBearHero Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Hmm, yeah. There really wasn't a huge amount in the Hartley incident but why bother doing it? Muppet.It's actually a fairly serious issue for England because although Hartley's contribution around the park has declined over the past couple of years he's the only realistic option with reliable basics. Youngs can be good but his lineout throwing can go to pieces under pressure, Webber can't even getting on the starting team for Bath at the moment. Cowan-Dickie's a great all round rugby player but it wasn't that long ago his lineout throwing was absolute shite, apparently it's gotten better recently but I wouldn't like to rely on a couple of months worth of good work at club level going into a pressure game in the world Cup. George comfortably has the best basics of all the alternatives to Hartley but he's got no international experience and they clearly don't rate him too highly if he can't even make the 50 man preliminary squad. It's not looking good. I rate Jamie George. Solid basics and, as the final showed, capable of flashes of excitement. Really disappointed that Webber has slumped so hard, thought he was excellent at the start of the season and in the summer/AIs. Probably the best scrummager England have got but his darts aren't as reliable as Hartley's. Not a particular fan of Youngs - he's fearsome in the loose but isn't actually a very good hooker. Poor scrummager and unreliable throwing. I'd put money on Mullet Hyphen-Dickie owning the shirt from 2016/17 onwards but don't think he's quite ready yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 I agree with you about George HBH, he should probably be the starting hooker with Hartley out but it's just whether the management rate him. He's probably done himself some good with a big performance on the big stage on Saturday. I actually though possibly the most impressive player on the pitch in the final was Mako Vunipola, he put in a big shift around the park, which he always does but that he lasted over 70 minutes doing it was very impressive, and he gave Wilson a bit of a roasting in the scrums. A Mako Vunipola who's sorted his scrummaging out and has the engine to keep going for going on 80 minutes could be some player. I can't believe Cipriani. Just hours after putting in a great performance against the Baa Baas he just throws it away. We're going to end up with Farrell and Goode as our back up flyhalves aren't we? :frown5: On the Welsh squad I see Moriarty has re-defected back to Wales. I think that's a real boost for Wales actually. Lydiate's good at what he does but a more rounded ball carrying option at 6 could add a lot to the Welsh side. Yes, Moriarty is a bit of a headcase but so long as he's not constantly losing it I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing in a 6. Speaking of English/Welsh under 20 players solid win for England today against Japan but it ended up not being as many as I thought it'd be after the first 20 minutes, good fight back from the Japan side. they might be a bit overmatched but they didn't roll over by any means. A big blow for Wales losing to France. It means they'll have to repeat their Six Nations defeat of England and smash Japan to have any hope of making the semis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereward Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Farrell certainly, but surely it's Slade next up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Farrell certainly, but surely it's Slade next up.Possibly, it depends what they want to do with the balance of the squad. The third flyhalf will probably have to cover another position, if they're happy with Slade as one of about 4 centres then it's probably him. I'd say it's touch and go though so I could easily see Alex Goode ending up as back up fullback/3rd flyhalf. Hopefully not. :dunno:Scotland under 20s have just taken the lead against New Zealand. ETA: Ok, so after Scotland went 10-3 up New Zealand won the rest of the game 65-0. Apparently this wasn't the strongest team Scotland could have put out but, still, New Zealand look strong this year. Akira Ioane's a bit of a monster at Super Rugby level let alone under 20s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ithanos Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Shocked to hear of the deaths of Jerry Collins and his wife from a car accident. Hope their baby daughter pulls through. RIP JC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Sad news. Good player and, from the way he turned out for an amateur club 2xv after the 2007 World Cup, it seemed like he was a good guy.Hopefully his daughter is ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Anti-Targ Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 Damn what a loss. Jerry Collins RIP. Glad to hear the child survived, but so sad to be orphaned as well. Sounds like something really weird happened with the car crossing the median strip to hit an oncoming bus. The Hurricanes lads gave it up for Jerry by winning well against the Highlanders, but they will be hurting inside really badly tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HairBearHero Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Possibly, it depends what they want to do with the balance of the squad. The third flyhalf will probably have to cover another position, if they're happy with Slade as one of about 4 centres then it's probably him. I'd say it's touch and go though so I could easily see Alex Goode ending up as back up fullback/3rd flyhalf. Hopefully not. :dunno: Slade covers 10, 12 and 13 well and has actually played a fair bit of rugby there this season. Surely that'll put him ahead of Goode as a FH option? Delighted about Moriarty coming back to his roots (*hem*). Think he's a much more versatile player than Lydiate, who's superb at what he does but offers very little in terms of turnovers, link play (that one, glorious moment in the 6N aside) or ball carrying. The fact that he's a proper nasty bastard is a positive in my eyes, the Welsh back row especially all seem too nice at the moment. Could use a bit of an edge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Which Tyler Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 Sad news. Good player and, from the way he turned out for an amateur club 2xv after the 2007 World Cup, it seemed like he was a good guy.Hopefully his daughter is ok.That was Barnstaple 2nd XV - he then wore our socks for he BaaBaas match a few weeks later. If anyone's interested, there's a charity donation page set up to help support the daughter here: https://givealittle.co.nz/project/ayla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 So the Highlanders win their first Super Rugby title. Great effort from them to win an away semi and then an away final. I do feel a bit sorry for the Hurricanes though. They were easily the best side in the tournament this year, their All Blacks actually put in really good seasons at club level and they still couldn't finish it off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Anti-Targ Posted July 5, 2015 Author Share Posted July 5, 2015 If Beauden had been 100% it would have been a 1 point victory for the 'Canes. But then again if Sapoaga had been 100% as well it would have been a 2 point victory for them. But I still maintain that the Highlander's 1st try was a no try so a bad and match determining call from the TMO. Of course as with all bad refereeing decisions they only matter because the losing side did not play well enough to obtain a clear victory. The 'Canes did not play at their best, whereas the Highlanders played a strong game. The 'Canes also missed a couple of try-scoring opportunities again for the 2nd week running, so their fate was definitely in their own hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 Good effort from Samoa against the All Blacks this morning. They struggled to get much territory so they were always on the back foot but they stayed competitive for the whole game. Tim Nanai-Williams did have a pretty poor game though, which I imagine he'll be fairly gutted about.Hopefully Samoa can kick on from this. I think the World Cup needs at least one of the Pacific Island teams to be decent and Samoa were quite good last time out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HairBearHero Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 I reckon Samoa will make the quarters at Scotland's expense. Great to see Census Johnston telling Toulouse to fuck off with their "no international availability" contract as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereward Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 I reckon Samoa will make the quarters at Scotland's expense. I'm certain of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 First game of the reduced pre World Cup Rugby Championship this morning. It was a solid win for New Zealand against Argentina, Argentina fought hard, as they usually do, but they were never going to win against the All Blacks with the amount of time they spent on the back foot. The game did feature some sexy rugby from both sides though. Who doesn't love a good front peel from a maul for a try? Interesting the All Blacks played Naholo on the right wing. I wonder if they're thinking of moving away from the two fullbacks style they've been playing in the back three since the last World Cup? For England Lancaster has apparently confirmed they still consider Burgess a centre and if they go with him that's where he'll play. That's mental, he's been miles better in the backrow than he was playing in the centres. It'd still be a bit outside the box but I could see why they might pick him as a six given how fast he was improving there, there's just no way he should be anywhere near the World Cup squad in midfield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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