[Closed] Winters coming;all inclusive rugby thread.

Can't see any news anywhere about 1/2p...... 😕 Fingers crossed for the little fella.

Tom B -
Matthew Tait back to former glory at 12, Foden back at 15

He's getting back to his best and had a great game yesterday against Bath, though I reckon he plays best with a 15 on his back, if his fitness stays with him Lancaster will fit him in somewhere. Bad news for Leicester though 🙁

Has Matt Tait had much glory at 12? He played quite well at 13 when england got to world cup funal but I dont remember him being glorious.

Regarding 1/2p

Dan Forbes ?@DanForbes
@brianmoore666 having MRIs on neck but has regained some feeling in arms and hands

sounds bad to me

having MRIs on neck but has regained some feeling in arms and hands

😐

Fingers remain crossed.....

Didnt know that 1/2p was that bad feel a bit sick now.

Just catching up with the England game, not overly surprised really but we were well and truly shut down. Had to happen. Not sure heard any excuses coming forth from NZ other than they were beaten ?

Healing vibes for Mr Halfpenny.

Not sure heard any excuses coming forth from NZ other than they were beaten ?

The level of intensity from England was unexpected.

They didn't just win, they dominated NZ in the scrum, at the breakdown, in the backs and basically did what NZ do to other teams. Against Wales, the All Blacks had only 1 or 2 people committed to the breakdown, against England they were having to put in 4 or 5 and were still getting turned over.

Yes, NZ scored a few times but you will never keep a clean sheet against a team like the All Blacks. No matter how badly it's going for them, they will always have a purple patch and punish loose play.

It was England's response to the 2 All Black scores just after the break that really impressed.

Hmm I'd thought that Tait was 12 at the 2007 WC. It's good to see him back anyway. I hadn't realised 1/2p was that bad either-here's hoping that he makes a full recovery. The lack of news is slightly worrying though 🙁

Davidjones, isn't the beauty of rugby at the moment, it's very unpredictability? In the 6N there are 4 possible winners and it all depends (as last year) on who gets the early momentum. Several of the Autumn internationals could have gone either way - with the exception of all the AB ones funnily enough!!!! Hence its great to watch IMO

Rolling 24hr news coverage, constant updates on websites and yet the only news on Halfpenny is exactly the same as when he was lying on the pitch yesterday. This despite news being spread around on Twitter and other media, it seems. 🙄 Although having searched I can't find anymore than the WRU tweet.

DanW - Member

Watching Wales ...... plus you always have the feeling the game was 10-15 minutes too long for them.

I'd say the game was almost exactly 1 minute too long. They didn't struggle in the last 15 minutes. They lost to a try which was as unexpected as the English performance. 🙂

Great performance from England. It must be nice to support a team, any team, that threatens to win games properly. 😥 One that looks dominant in every area - against the Best Team In The World never mind against 3rd tier nations. At the moment I'd put money on England beating anyone and Wales losing to Portugal 2nds.

(My match prediction was spot on. Up until the 1st English try!)

Idlejon I thought wales looked out on their feet with ten to go. With all those injuries before and with charteris off early they had to use Ryan Jones early and had nothing to come off the bench in the way of props or locks. Suprised Scott Williams didnt come of the bench to help the mid field defence, both Roberts and Davies looked shot. I wonder how many of the bench were carrying injuries. They were also terrified of Pocock turning then over or forcing a pen so kicked the ball back to aussies which was their undoing.

Just watched the highlights of the England/NZ game and i'm still shaking!
A small thing, but i reckon it started to go wrong for NZ before the kick off - the crowd completely drowned out the All Blacks during the Haka and they looked rattled even then.

1/2p out of hospital. Seems all OK!

Good to hear. Although Wales have been awful this Autumn, they have been so unlucky with injuries.....that pack yesterday was a shambles really-with everyone back to full fitness for the 6N's (will Lydiate even have a chance?) I can see them challenging for the title again.

Lions predictions based on the Autumn then chaps?

Cole and Tuilangi in.

England were brilliant yesterday. All of them. Best I can remember seeing them play, and against an absolutely top side. Well played.
My predictions were well off, but what a great day's rugby.
Healing vibes to 1/2 p too, that fella's got massive heart.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/20570491
good news

Lions based on those currently fit and with apologies to ireland who i havent seen much

1/2p
Bowe
Davies
Tuilagi
er.... No idea
Sexton
Phillips
not sure about 8 Heaslip i suppose
Warburton
Wood
Launcbury
Grey
Cole
er?
Healey

Lydiate wont make six nations, had a very nasty leg break, if he goes well he might be back for the end of the season. Awful luck that guys had. Broke his neck a few years ago.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RKwQD3IWVbY

Christ!

My lions:

1/2p
Bowe
Tuilagi
Roberts?!
North
Sexton
Care/Spike too close to call
Heaslip
7, god knows! Warburton probably but he's in awful form.
Ferris if fit?
Grey
Lawes (very fragile though)
Jones/Cole
Hartley
Corbisiero? Sheridan?!

Muddydwarf, that is exactly what I thought!
Two of my favourite moments yesterday was "Swing Low" drowning out the Haka and Tuilagi celebrating with a "loser" sign on the forehead after his try! 😀

anagallis_arvensis - Member

Idlejon I thought wales looked out on their feet with ten to go.

I didn't notice that, but then I spent the last 15 staring at the time in the corner, willing it to go down quicker.

The atmosphere at Twickenham was noticeable even through the TV. The singing sounded fantastic - better than anything I've noticed in Cardiff in the last few years.

WRU administrators should sit up and notice more than just England playing well. Maybe getting 70,000 hopelessly drunk Welsh people with no interest in rugby, just an interest in getting smashed, isn't the way to generate a positive atmosphere for your team? Hmmm....

Warburton was excellent against NZ and very good yesterday too, he's quality and will come back better.

I would imagine Adam Jones, AW Jones maybe Lydiate, North and Roberts will be thereabouts for the Lions come June. Ferris, SOB, Donacha Ryan and maybe BOD too. Lawes has to improve to get into the england team.

Not an AW Jones fan myself, Warburton neither but he was better yesterday I didn't catch the AB match. Why no game for Scots/Ireland today?

To be fair the atmos at twickers has been very patchy in the last couple of years, although y'day sounded a lot better!

Well AW Jones is a 3 test Lion with two grand slams and 60 odd wales caps in his locker and he's only 27 so just coming to his prime. If you dont rate him your frankly barking mad.

🙂

I don't rate Henson either 8)

It's a no to ferris for me. Either lydiate or wood.
SOB or Morgan at 8. There's a long way to go yet though. Bring on the 6N!

But you do rate Coutney Lawes who has achieved nothing apart from a few cheapshots.

Oi Richie!!

[IMG] [/IMG]

Tom B - Member

Not an AW Jones fan myself, Warburton neither but he was better yesterday I didn't catch the AB match. Why no game for Scots/Ireland today?

No game for Ireland or Scotland because it falls outside the Autumn international window, I'd guess.

Wales only played a 4th game to generate money as has been talked about a lot. However, playing - and especially losing - the game makes them drop out of the top 8 and messes up their draw for the World Cup, injures players who played a needless game, and causes all sorts of disruption to the regions who have now got 6 days to prepare for [i]their[/i] most important competition, the Heineken Cup. A win for the WRU, a lose for everyone else.

Lawes would be way down the pecking order at the moment. He's not a particularly dirty player though. He seems to have hot that rep for one incident. As for achievement, I'm not sure what you mean. Not that it matters. If you're good enough it doesn't matter how many medals you have.
If I remember correctly, you don't rate a lot of the England 2003 team and every single one had a higher "achievement" than any welsh player has.

Lawes is rightly seen as having great potential-as I said though, he is very injury prone....even at U20 level he was missing tournaments through injury. Hey ho, i'm not a leading expert on rugby, its my favourite sport to watch and its good to have a bit of banter on here about it without needing to get too serious. Christ we're doing Lions predictions 7 months in advance with two thirds of a domestic season left and the 6N's too! It's all bollox at this stage 🙂

A good point in your last sentence Tom, it's still fun to speculate though.

Scarlets vs Ulster starting at 4 for those interested. Ulster have most of their squad available but a similar scarlets side beat Munster in Limerick last week so it could be a decent match.

Living the dream...Wife and kids off to MIL tonight, vegs roasting,home made chill/squash/sweet tattie mash and chilli bangers in oven, bottles of Orkney Blonde in mitt/fridge....Just settling down to engerland game...Methinks a lot of pupils may be watching dvds in class tmw... 😈

Glaws really should have come away with a win, there. So close at the top now.

If I remember correctly, you don't rate a lot of the England 2003 team and every single one had a higher "achievement" than any welsh player has.

Dan Luger and Ballshaw apart they were all pretty good to outstanding but by 2005 and onwards some were seriously over the hill. I think you need to work on your memory.
I also agree Lawes has potential but its still just that, he's gone backwards this year, due to injury I would imagine. But that doesnt stop Tom picking him ina Lions side, when he cant get in the england team and if memory serves has often been on the flank for Northampton. AW Jones is a far better player when fit so is Grey and Launchbury and D Ryan of those who played in the autumn games.

Great news about 1/2p

That is so classy from the engl.....sorry Samoan 😉

I didn't know Barritt was a saffa until they interviewed him today.

Yeah but I'm not really taking my position as stw lions team pickerer that seriously a_a....I've done several over the last few pages, mainly picking players that I like and playing them out of position (much like Stuart Lancaster) 🙂 It's all a bit of fun innit-jeebus you had Cipriani at 10 a few weeks ago. Now that is 'barking mad' to quote your good self 😀

It's all a bit of fun innit-jeebus you had Cipriani at 10 a few weeks ago. Now that is 'barking mad' to quote your good self

I think you may have fallen into the sarchasm with that one.

Noooooo glitchybumping required won't you think of flashy!

Edit: Possibly so a_a. Are we both doing the embra defence here BTW?!

A big emotion for me was the tiwickers crowd drowning out the Haka, even over the TV mikes with a rendition of Swing Low. A beautiful moment of clean sports patriotism that must have lifted the team a bit. It warms me that this country still has that in it, despite the negative connotations of the other national ball orientated team.

The last time I saw the Hakka drowned out was 2002 at twinkenham and I remember the newspapers the next day saying how disgraceful it was.
Seemed alright to me then and pretty damn good yesterday.

I'm a huge Tuilagi fan (as I was / am of is 4 brothers) but I wish he'd make that try scoring celebration meaning clear - it's not very sporting!

Got to say I dont like the Tuilagi celebration I'd not like a welsh player to be as arrogant, but then maybe thats part of the reason why we havent beaten NZ since 1789 or whatever.

Got to say I don't like the Tuilagi celebration I'd not like a Welsh player to be as arrogant,

Agreed.

Also, I cannot wait for the day that Ashton drops the ball or injures himself with his stupid dive.

Celebrations are all a bit 'footballer' for my liking. Farrell looked just like a footballerist when celebrating Ashtons try yesterday.

[url= http://theeastterrace.com/pyke.shtml ]ALL HAIL THE PYKE! [/url]

transapp - Member
The last time I saw the Hakka drowned out was 2002 at twinkenham and I remember the newspapers the next day saying how disgraceful it was.
Seemed alright to me then and pretty damn good yesterday.

Also, I cannot wait for the day that Ashton drops the ball or injures himself with his stupid dive.

Best England performance I have seen at Twickenham in 25 years of going - bettered only by RWC QF win against Australia in Marseilles and that was because it was the WC so really counted for something and the 2003 WC win which I wasn't at

We were joking after the game that those were the first two passes we'd every seen Twiggy throw

NZCol - Member
Just catching up with the England game, not overly surprised really but we were well and truly shut down. Had to happen. Not sure heard any excuses coming forth from NZ other than they were beaten ?
[b]
@NZCol - honestly we all went along hoping England wouldn't be embarrassed and to show our respect to the World Champions. NZ never really got going, England played pretty smartly to establish a cushion. Was looking a bit shaley to say the least when NZ stormed back but a quick bit of brilliance with our first try and the momentum was back with us and we closed it out

 

the Haka was booed for it's entire length (due in my opinion to the Umaga spear tackle on O'Driscoll during the lions tour),

And well done to the Cabbage Patch crowd for that.

The [i]Maori[/i]* Haka is a challenge. It should be responded to. How you do that is up to you. We need to stop this pussy footing around it, it's a challenge. Challenges deserve a response, as many of the Maori elders have said. If that response is crossing the half way line and going nose to nose, deal with it. If that response is kicking a ball around in the dead ball area, deal with it.

Went to watch Oxford Welsh beat Irish with my old man, a dreadful game but I sort of enjoyed it.

Watched the first half of Wales v Oz in the Kassam (which incidentally has a shite projector TV thing, hence leaving) then headed into town, but missed the rest of the match.

Which again I was short of pleased about as I didn't see the end so I can pretend it didn't happen.

Jesus, just watched Leicester vs bath. 3 red cards and 2 yellows! Not a high scoring game, but well worth watching.
Watched the England match, now just Wales vs oz, is it worth watching from enjoyable rugby pov?

I agree CFH, however any time someone does, I understand that bollockings, fines and complaints follow. Utter rubbish. Why shouldn't you challenge back?

Wales aus game was a bit of a shite whistle fest to be honest.
As someone who is prone to disliking England players i have to sat ashtons dives dont bother me. They are an expression of joy. Shane used to do better ones. Ashton is however very over rated and a bit of a **** who likes to pull hair.

Lighten up, Tuilagi was having a bit of fun. Would I do it? No , but I think it was all good fun and he was having a laugh, and if it upset the AB's a bit more , even better.
As for responding to the Haka in some form or other , I say it is almost a necessity. The AB's are showing you how they are going to rip your balls off and shove it down your throat ...
But yesterday I thought they looked like a bunch of mime artists clumsily trying to escape from an imaginary box, very funny and not intimidating at all.

I understand why Celts dislike the English and some of our players in particular (being an Englishmen who's lived in Jockland most of his life) but moaning about try scoring celebrations is a bit two-faced.

Nobody ever complained about any of Shane Williams' celebrations or any others by Irish/Welsh players. Scottish players tend not to celebrate as they seem to score one try roughly every 4-5 years and when they do it's probably too much of a shock to do anything else.

A_A - I don't think Ashton's that overrated. His try on Saturday was a great example of his work off the ball and his eye for a chance. Sure, he pulled Alesana Tuilagi's hair but on the plus side he took all those punches from Manu on the chin without going down like a footballer or complaining really.

Cockerill is a wee copycat, it was big Willie Anderson that was the original!

The three Kiwi's that normally work in our office have all decided to work from home today.

Can't think why.

(Well done to England Ladies also)

Whats the betting on Wales, England and NZ all in the same world cup group then? Wales turn to be screwed with short turn rounds between games next time. Samoa will be pleased.

The three Kiwi's that normally work in our office have all decided to work from home today.

Can't think why.

Got the s*&ts as well? 😉

Does A-A has an english cousin who writes a column in the Times under the pen name Mark Souster?
His choice for the Lions 1-15 is the England team from Sat...looks strangely familiar 😀

Whats the betting on Wales, England and NZ all in the same world cup group then?

Hmmmmn - almost certain to happen if sod's law is invoked. 🙁

Stephen Jones Lions picks in the Sunday Times were interesting - he stressed Sat result did not change much for him, although injurues to the likes of Sinbad did. No Manu, no Ashton.

Steven Jones is mad as a box of frogs anyway! Bowe is miles better than Ashton at 14 though. I'd rather have cuthbert or Lamont too. Ashton is a liability in defence and offers little in attack other than an ability to run support lines.

The Irish Times takes a slightly different approach.....

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/1201/1224327341974.html

Not too much to argue about with that other than seems odd that Sheridan may miss out due to playing for Toulon but Wilkinson wouldnt.

No one has mentioned Sean Maitland for the Lions.

I predict that if he gets a few good run outs for Glasgow and makes the 6N he'll be in the mix.

Not too much to argue about with that

Lions Tourists - these are the Autumn internationals not tournament rugby. That's why they pick squad after the 6 Nations.

As a proud Englishmen I can say there are more than a few Welsh and Irish names I'd have in the squad and probably in the starting line up too.

I'll wager that Tuilagi goes (barring injury)

The Irish Times piece was written before the w/e but yes Tuilagi has to be in the squad.

I scoffed when I saw ROGs name mentioned as a squad player, but then maybe as a mainstay of the midweek team, you never know

I'll wager that Tuilagi goes (barring injury)

You must have a very accommodating bookie, accepting wagers with get-out clauses. 😉
Would you still "win" if he went on tour whilst rivals like J Davies and BOD were injured, or is it a one way offer?
FWIW, I see him going myself covering centre and possibly wing. Would make a great impact sub too to send at knackered ozzies.

Interesting that Nathan Sharpe won't be there. As much as I don't like him, he's a bit of an Aussie talisman.

Would make a great impact sub too to send at knackered ozzies.

You must have a very accommodating bookie, accepting wagers with get-out clauses.

I'll wager that Tuilagi goes (barring injury)

I agree with you. I meant that in the context of it being an irish paper. Beeb has four lots of lions picks from its pundits. Funny how they are picking so many injured players.

Personally, I reckon Manu (and probably JDavies) could benefit massively from playing outside BOD. He draws players and times passes better than anyone, and they could be more effective with a bit of space. Both better "finishers" than continuity players.
How about starting Roberts and Manu/Davies and letting them batter away for an hour - then stick BOD on at inside C when the game gets a bit looser to find the gaps or one-on-one's.
He's not gonna manage 3 lots of 80 minutes so it's about managing his time to make it effective. I reckon he's more dangerous in the last 20 mins when others tire,

psa, World cup drawer, live from 3:

http://live.espn.co.uk/Event/2015_Rugby_World_Cup_draw

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/dec/03/rugby-world-cup-2015-draw-live

Bettter link. Live coverage rather than text