Rugby

its a rare thing to be able to be smug as a welshman. im milking it for all its worth.

although shane is touch and go for sat, which is bad news. he'll definately play either way though

I wil be gutted if shane isnt playing - boy is on fire at the moment

English boys did well in the 7's though - final was a great match

Tait needs some action, I agree.

I'm heading to Balham for the match on Saturday if anyones about? Failing that it might be the Alexandra at Clapham Common.

I wil be gutted if shane isnt playing - boy is on fire at the moment

English boys did well in the 7's though - final was a great match

+1 that was epic.

Bloody hell though - what is all that plate / shield / bowl final stuff? Had me thoroughly confused.

Just means everyone gets a go at something and everyone plays more than 2-3 games per tournament..

Amazing.. Tindall back in, Worsley in for Steffon Armitage who (along with Foden and Geraghty) drops out of the match-day squad completely

When will England learn?

Nice to see I've got the last two posts here (I have become death, destroyer of threads)

Anyway, I am a happy bunny after last night's game.. High standard of rugby most of the way through and the deserving team won! Not to mention that this leaves Ireland on for a grand slam.. If we win today, it's ours to lose

today's gonna be a close one I feel.
Man I wish my exam was this week, instead of two weeks ago.
That'd've worked out amazingly (it was in Dublin).

Croke Park is quite something, especially as I'm a hurler/ football* player.

• if you know what I mean.
  
  

Man I miss contact sports. Fucking shoulder.

Last night was the best game of rugby I have seen for a long time. Epic. Lets see England put in a performance today. It will throw the tolement wide open if we win.

never actually played hurling myself but looks [st]dangerous[/st] like fun..

Have had knock arounds with my brother but nothing that would actually compare..

Might pop down to the Irish fair thing that happens on peckham rye this summer and give gaelic football a go.. Seems like Aussies rules (which I have played) but with a more predictable bounce

damn those french.
Wales will be kicking themselves that they let that one slip. Two chances to get that try in the last five mins, even after they'd come out flat in the 2nd half and france had got them on the backfoot for what seemed like forever.
French played marvelously well, great great match, exciting from start to finish.
lets hope ireland england has half as much enterprise, but having seen england under martin johnson, looks like another match of keep it tight and kick the penalties.
If Ireland let this chance to put space between themselves and the rest of the six nations slip, and make giant strides to win the grand slam I'm not sure they'll ever forgive themselves...
if ireland do win, wales vs ireland will be a cracker

oh and wibble, your not killing the thread, your keeping it alive...

never actually played hurling myself but looks [st]dangerous[/st] like fun..

Have had knock arounds with my brother but nothing that would actually compare..

Might pop down to the Irish fair thing that happens on peckham rye this summer and give gaelic football a go.. Seems like Aussies rules (which I have played) but with a more predictable bounce

Its a lot less violent than Aussie rules, but with more subtleties.
Proper good fun.
Aussie rulers are nutters.

Hurling is just hours of madness, fastest ball sport in the world apparently.
So much fun, but when we had a team from the TCD we were destroyed, so don't know if i'd continue it if I get into Trinity.

I'll never forget the first injury I caused on someone else though- miss timed challenge, and split the back of the guys head open.
Violent, and legal, and accidental.
Its terrifying the first time a hurley breaks on your arm.

Edit:
Shit game so far.
I'm so bored I've got the laptop out.

god that england ireland game was turgid, not sure what was more dispiriting ireland not having the ambition to give england a true kicking, ronan o'gara having a complete mare, and ireland not having anyone else to bring on at fly half, or both teams inability to do more than punt the ball to each other for most of the match.
such a let down after the france wales game.
and with france being on such a high I worry for england when they play them, if france can get any sort of half back play they should cut through england.

on an england note, why do they still continue to play harry ellis at scrum half, he never seems to deliver quick ball, always slowing it down, looking over the top, pausing, pausing, and then producing a box kick, despite the petulant danny care getting sin binned he seemed to get the ball moving out of the ruck much quicker, though not sure he'll be in the squad, let along the starting 15 for england come the next match...

oh and where did france find Mathieu Bastareaud, he's a big old piece of centre, 17 1/2 stone, quick, good hands, and able to run over forwards... england watch out...

Ellis is better than Dany Cair who takes a few steps before the pass alowing the oposition to close down the England back likemand taking all pace out of the England attack.

we'll discuss this before the cup final gotti, but does taking as few steps before the pass, slow it down as much as getting to the ruck, and waiting, waiting, looking over the top, looking over the top then kicking it anyway...

it may be ellis was told to play that way to try and control the game, but just felt like he was so much slower and deliberate than he needed to be, care seemed to inject some pace into the attack when he came on, though that may have been because the game had broken down at that point in time and england were scrambling to try and score points..

As you say, it was a tight and turgid game yesterday evening but I wasn't particularly surprised with that.. England have a point to prove and Ireland never sit well with expectation. England were in there trying to spoil every breakdown and Ireland were desperately trying not to lose!

I too worry for England but I can't help but see that game as an improvement (although not necessarily in discipline). As for Harry Ellis, he may not get the ball out as quickly as others but he presents a threat around the flanks of the breakdown that a lot of other scrum-halves don't (Care actually does too and that's why I'd pick him 1st choice).. I just hope Martin Johnson saw the way Mat Tait played when he came on, he's got to be challenging for a starting place now

A few years ago I saw Bastareaud playing in the U20s world cup (and he's 20 now, a full year younger than me!) and he absolutely destroyed everyone that came before him.. He really was a different class back then, unfortunately for him the rest of the French team weren't quite living up to his standards.. He was actually playing in the competition at the same time as people like Danny Care, James Hook, Cipriani and a few other recognisable names in the premiership..

I think waiting before the pass is better, the ball seems slower (and is slow ball wich is not good) but while the ball is in the ruck the oposition have to stay on side and cant close on the england back line. As soon as Care get the ball out and runs sideways the oposition can start closing down stopping the attack and pushing us back.

Tait needs to start, I agree.

England are so ill-disciplined it's ridiculous. They're playing top level rugby and some still insist on handling on the floor, getting involved in handbags on the fringe and generally doing stuff you do at schoolboy level. There are guys on the bench gagging for a shot and instead you've got the likes of Vickery f-king about and then questioning and complaining when the ref blows up.

Another point, body positions at the point of contact, pretty much vertical "rugby league" style. I know everyone is trying to bring in the south pacific crossfield kicks and quick hands/offload in the tackle style; and going in like that does lend itself to the theory, but the fact of the matter is if you haven't perfected it and you come up against a big tackler, you're going to get ruined. Thank god Brian Lima isn't Irish, half of England would be dead. You either make a run or get your head down, pass the gain line and recycle, job done.

It's seriously school boy stuff. The first quarter alone of Wales/France was more exciting than the entire England/Ireland.

Wow, Rugby in Sunnmøre I can't get the idea straight in the head. i worked in Aalesund / Langevag 30+ years ago and trying to get anyone to play sport in the winter and outside was a waste. ran out with my 16 year old teams to train for football in snow and the buggers had on 4 layers of clothing under their footie gear. Being northern male ( UK0 I was in ref's jersey, shorts and socks with boots running on ally studs. They lasted 3 minutes and ran inside for a sauna! 1-O to the UK. Good luck playing rugby but I can't imagine Sunnmøresposten running a separate sports column on it.

I know it's another week away but just remember alternative rugby commentary and thought I share a kiwi's views on France

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3O9AafnjHI&feature=related

wibble that is classic, "someone loses a testicle"
superb..

Anybody on here played 10s rugby?
Apparantly its quite common in countries which play little rugby (ie. Norway, were I am).
I've played both 7s and 15s, but havent even seen a 10s match let alone played in one. I'm off to a tournament at the end of the month, which will probably be a 10s affair (lack of players).
Any tips?

I have played 10s before.. You will have 5 forwards and 5 backs (so full front row and second row with a scrum-half, fly-half and three more outside backs)

It's more like a 15-a-side than 7s in my experience but it will still be relatively quick and exciting.. As with 7s though it's possession that will win it for you so try to keep the ball, don't run off on your own.. Enjoy!

It's more like a 15-a-side than 7s in my experience but it will still be relatively quick and exciting.. As with 7s though it's possession that will win it for you so try to keep the ball, don't run off on your own.. Enjoy!

Sounds good. Cheers