Posted August 25, 2007 I think that the bigger teams think themselves an awful lot higher than the others and quite obviously there has been a levelling of the playing field, so to speak. All will be known in s few weeks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 25, 2007 We are got pooned by South Africa We beat them in the footie, and they got us back in the rugby Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 25, 2007 Frank Hadden spouting crap post match about how it was encouraging. Errr... no it wasn't. Scotland, once again are 100% incapable of doing anything with the ball in hand. Poor lineout, poor scrum, poor kicking. They didn't look like scoring a try all match, exactly the same state they were in in the Six Nations. Yes it was even in the second half, mostly because South Africa took their fault off the pedal. And they were at Murrayfield against a Springbok side that doesn't tour well. Horrible Scottish performance, horrible Irish performance, how likely is a horrible Welsh one tomorrow? And actually Scotland remind me of England behind the scrum and not being able to do anything with the ball, except that our boys showed in the 6N they could score fantastic tries, whereas Scotland haven't been able to for years. They've always relied on Patterson's boot to keep them in the game, but sadly SA's composure made sure they didn't leak any kickable penalties. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 31, 2007 RUGBY CHIEFS HAVE SOCCER IN THEIR SIGHTS The Guinness Premiership has set its sights on supplanting the Football League's Championship as English sport's second most popular competition. Attendance figures for domestic rugby union continue to soar with last season producing a 10th successive year of expansion as crowds averaged over 11,000 for the first time. The Championship currently attracts average gates of 18,000 but Premier Rugby - the umbrella organisation for the 12 Guinness Premiership clubs - believe that figure is within reach. PRL have projected a 60% growth in English club rugby over the coming decade and chief executive Mark McCafferty believes the Championship could be overtaken within the next five years. "Rugby union is second only to football in terms of popularity. We've edged ahead of cricket as the nation's second sport," said McCafferty at Thursday's Premiership launch. "It's unlikely we'll ever catch Premier League football but it's a reasonable target to want to overhaul the second tier of domestic football. "There's plenty of stadium expansion going on at the moment and more will be undertaken over the next few years, so there's little doubt catching the Championship is a realistic goal. "Of course the Championship may also grow in that time so it's a moving target, but in the next five to 10 years we want to have caught up. "That would make us the second most popular league in any sport in the country, trailing only the Premier League. It's a great target to set." The remarkable growth in popularity of rugby's Premiership is partly a result of its ability to tap into audiences who have traditionally avoided football. While football crowds are dominated by adult males, rugby has sought to attract families to a sport McCafferty claims prides itself on its inclusively. "The Guinness Premiership has come a long way and the growth is sustainable," he said. "I believe there are plenty of people out there who want to watch club rugby. We must broaden its appeal. "One of rugby's advantages is the fantastic atmosphere we have at games. It's continually remarked upon that rugby is a very comfortable sport to watch in terms of atmosphere. "Families are able to come with their friends and there is never a problem bringing children. That's the target audience that is open to us but not so available to football." ********************** Nice to hear that rugby union is the second most popular sport in the UK now instead of cricket. I can only see viewing figures/fan numbers going up Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 6, 2007 You know what really pisses me off? How England can suffer such serious injuries to key personel yet other nations are pretty much injury free. England can lose players of fantastic quality like Jonny Wilkinson, Harry Ellis, David Strettle, Dan Ward Smith, Julian White... all out of the World Cup ('probably' in Wilko's case). Other nations are pretty much perfectly fine. Imagine if Ireland lost O'Driscoll, D'Arcy, O'Connell and O'Gara. Or if South Africa lost Burger, Matfield, Habana and DeVilliers. New Zealand lost Carter, McCaw, Hayman, Rocokoco. Fucks me off, it really does. I of course, know that injuries happen in rugby it's part of our game, but the amount of injuries that ONLY seem to be hitting England is getting ridiculous. So O'Driscoll's injury gets hyped up in the media yet he can still miraculously make the first game. Or Horgan gets to miss clashes with Georgia and Namibia. Ooooo big loss. Meanwhile England lose Wilkinson, Strettle and Ellis. Their three best backs, and the tournament hasn't even fucking started. Rant over. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 6, 2007 England are unfortunate when it comes to injuries. Losing Wilkinson is horrigic tbh . I mean after losing Strettle and Ellis, you need a stron number 10, and Wilkinson is the best in the world on his good days. In Ireland news, O'Driscoll has recovered from his fractured sinus and is set to captain Ireland against Namibia on Sunday! Although Shane Horgan is still out. Edit: Sorry if my spelling is bad. I am drunk. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 6, 2007 Horgan is likely to miss 1 or 2 unimportant games at most. Imagine losing him for the whole competition (a la Strettle!). Then imagine losing O'Gara (a la Wilkinson)! And finally Stringer! (although I don't rate him that highly tbh) Anyway Jonny says he's targetting next week for a return, which is strange seeing as a couple of reports are saying it will most likely be 6 weeks out. Wilko's could be being blindly optimistic, but then again he is in a far better position to know how long he'll be out for. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 7, 2007 Wilkinson getting injured is awesome. No offence motion. But I won a fiver off my mate for it. Two weeks ago: My mate (who is orignally English, btw): England are better than Scotland. We have the best player in the world" Me:"I bet Wilkinson gets injured before the WC anyways" Mate: "Your an idiot" Me: "Fiver on it?" Mate: "Done." :yay: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 8, 2007 What a flurry of opening games! France losing to the Argies throws our Group wide open! We could be in trouble! 12-17 NZ demolished Italy. I was surprised at how many scores they ran through. 76-14 Auzzies walloped the Japs. To be expected. 91-3 England gave themselves a fright. USA did well. 28-10 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 8, 2007 Someone willing to do me a favour? My grandad has just been transferred to a care home and I presume he has a TV and watched the game(s?) today and I really should ring him so im going to tomorrow. Anyone want to sum up what I can talk about seeing as hes a rugby fan. Hes from Scotland and obviously supports them so any emphasis on that would be good, but any general talk about the game(s) today would help. Much thanks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 9, 2007 Portugal just scored their first world cup try ever. Wilkinson getting injured is awesome. No offence motion. But I won a fiver off my mate for it. Two weeks ago: My mate (who is orignally English, btw): England are better than Scotland. We have the best player in the world" Me:"I bet Wilkinson gets injured before the WC anyways" Mate: "Your an idiot" Me: "Fiver on it?" Mate: "Done." :yay: Whatever mate, if you take delight in one of the most decent and most dedicated rugby players in the world getting injured that's your problem. Scotland can at the moment only dream of having a player of Wilko's class. What a flurry of opening games! France losing to the Argies throws our Group wide open! We could be in trouble! 12-17 NZ demolished Italy. I was surprised at how many scores they ran through. 76-14 Auzzies walloped the Japs. To be expected. 91-3 England gave themselves a fright. USA did well. 28-10 And for Ashley, very short summaries as I'm sort of doing lots of things at the moment... France playing Heymens at full back was a pathetic move that should never have happened. Argetina were very good and France let the nerves and expectation get to them. This could spell the end of Ireland's WC campaign to be honest. Although it really is wide open. NZ/Aus games were as expected. Japan were saving a lot of their star players for their game against Fiji that's in a few days time. Shocking world cup schedule that needs to be addressed for the minnows. England were very poor. I was at the game, it really did feel like we had lost. No physicality, no 'up for it'-ness, shocking lineout and yeah... and our forwards just lacked any sort of grunt. I could have done better than Vickery ffs. Wake up call for next week? Definite kick up the arse! I think we'll raise our game for next week as it seemed like all we had to do yesterday was turn up but a very tough training session coming methinks. South Africa looked scary today but Samoa disappointed in the last 40 minutes. Very dodgy dirty tackles, unsurprisingly from the men in blue. Wales were just woefully crap for 50 minutes and actually let Canada get ahead of them on the scoreboard. I LOL'ed. Shame they ended well and as usual their idiot of a coach will think all is well. And Scotland are just very very poor. Currently 28-10 against the worst side in the WC after 35 minutes, they should be ashamed of themselves. They have some big strong forwards but their back play is just a mess, a lot like England really. God and I've just watched this second Portugal's scrum beating Scotlands. Oh the shame. But bottom line, rugby, fantastic sport. Not to be missed and exciting as f*ck. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 9, 2007 I don't understand rugby, can someone explain to me if Portugal had an heavy defeat or was it justified? It looks like a lot of numbers even for an amateur team. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 9, 2007 Portugal were really impressive on their opening weekend. Yes 56-10 may seem like a bit of a battering but it really isn't that bad at all. They were very enthusiastic, put the Scottish setpieces (lineouts and scrums) under pressure, some lovely running, great defence and a top attitude. Considering how 'new' Portugal are at rugby, they did well. Same with all the other underdog teams this weekend. I think you can watch the hightlights on http://www.itv.com/rugby. And you should take time to understand rugby, even if it doesn't have football's simplicity. It's a fantastic sport that is growing around the world every day. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 9, 2007 I defiantly need to learn more about it, I always found interesting, but never got to learn it at school (they only started teaching it when I graduated). Good too see that Portugal gave a good impression, I hope that with some international exposure they get a place in some rugby club. The iTV link is only allows British people. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 9, 2007 No, I'm not happy about Wilkinson getting injured. As I said hes a great player. I'm just happy that I won a fiver. Which is more than Scotland will win anyway! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 9, 2007 Fair enough, And Shino, if you go to: http://www.itv.com/rugby you can just click on the Scotland v Portugal Highlights link. Although they may only focus on the Scotland tries sadly. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 9, 2007 It won't let me. I'll try youtube. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 14, 2007 Big game on now! Hope you're enjoying it motion SA to win by 15 points though... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 14, 2007 One thing I like about rugby players They actually sing the national anthem. Like sing it, not mumble it like you see football players do. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 15, 2007 Poor old England. They got whacked by SA. They're the first team this World Cup not to score any points in a game. (They won't be the last however) Sorry to Jason Robinson limp off like he did. It's probably the end of his career now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 15, 2007 Just saw the Wales-Australia game and they got beat by the Aussies 32-20, but got to give it to Wales for fighting back. Not commenting on the England-South Africa match, except England need to pull their fingers out their backsides otherwise they won't win against Samoa and Tonga, who are also great sides. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 15, 2007 NZ 108-13 Portugal I can see New Zealand winning this tournament easily. Yes, Portugal are a crap side, but I can't see anyone beating the Allblacks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 15, 2007 I'm not even going to comment on England's embarrassment, that was disgraceful. Jason Robinson was the only decent player on the pitch, watching him limp off was heartbreaking. A true legend in the game, and most likely the end of his career. The standing ovation from both sets of supporters (you wouldnt have that in football!) was fantastic and fully deserved. I suppose that's what you get when you're missing your best scrum half (Ellis), fly half (Wilkinson), winger (Strettle) and number 8 (Ward Smith). Not making excuses but it certainly doesn't help. Pride and passion in the stadium in the first 5 minutes was awesome though, a joy to watch and be part of. I can't comment on Ireland's embarrassment, because I didn't manage to catch the game. It seems our boys are just as bad as each other Conzer. Both out in group stages?? Lucky for your boys your two biggest games are at the end, rather than early on. Well done Georgia though. NZ I'm surprised didn't put more points on Portugal but then it was hardly their best team I suppose. Sigh. Pull it together England, please?? Just for a couple of games. Bring back Wilko, play Barkley at 12, Tait on the wing, Moody in the back row, Gommersall at scrum half, fly Abendanon in, leave Lewsey where he is, put Hipkiss in instead of Noon (yet ANOTHER injury)... Blydi hell. At least Wales lost. That's something I guess. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 18, 2007 Oooh, Wilko and Barkley playing together on Saturday at 10 and 12, with Tait at 13... droooollllll (and not in an 'I fancy them' way) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
