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Pigface - Member
Wow just catching up on Ospreys as have been in the SE for Christmas. Sounds like a tasty game Rhys Webb been cited, always nice to give the Scabbies a thumping.
Nice to see the stadium almost full - it wasn't as full as 19,600 would suggest. The singing was good and fair play to the Turks, they sang until the end regardless of how poor their team were.
And their team was very poor! The Scarlets didn't get a single scoring opportunity. The 3 points they kicked was from a penalty manufactured by the abysmal Nigel Owens - Fotuali'i was scavenging the ball legally, should have been an Os penalty.
From a Welsh POV this game was worrying. The Scarlets team contain a chunk of the Welsh side, with lauded players like Samson Lee being demolished by non-stars like Bevington. Out of 4 teams in Wales we have 3 who are appallingly bad at the moment.
Out of 4 teams in Wales we have 3 who are appallingly bad at the moment.
Pfft, we are 2 from 2,still; now in pub for the derby this afternoon,looking at the first pint of the day just now in a very unenthusiastic way....Shudders and then mtfu's...At least a Scottish team will win today.
Yeah I read all the hype about Samson Lee, he's been pretty poor in the two games that I've seen the full 80 minutes of.
Muddydwarf, I'm pretty pessimistic about Sale's chances, but I don't think that relegation is a certainty-London Irish look awful too, and the Welsh Exiles will be down there too. Edit, only one point below Irish now and they play Quinns at the cabbage patch don't they?
The thing with Sale is they have not been playing that bad they have just been outscored on almost every occasion (its called losing!) however they have on occasion played good rugby.
I think last night we were a bit lucky Goode had an off night but it was a good team performance, a nervous last 10 minutes given the run of poor results but a deserved win.
I dont think Sale will go down but I suspect it will be close.
duckman - Member
At least a Scottish team will win today.
Could be a 0-0 draw? 😆
So uncapped Samson Lee the what 19 year old tight head is lauded but Bevington is an unknown? Do behave. I would also question how good Bevingtons scrummaging would be without Adam and Hibbard ( who is an exceptional scrumaging hooker) alongside him. Lee is a promising youngster nothing more.
Mitchell has run off back to SA again so once more Sale's coaching staff are in disarray. Its a bloody joke to be honest, on paper at least they have a fairly decent squad but a complete shambles of a coaching set up has left them running around in circles, letting in ridiculous soft tries and arguing with each other over things like kicks to corner v goal attempts. Not go down? We're certainly not good enough to stay up..
Glaws somehow manage to stay in the game, then as at sarries a few weeks ago, in injury blow 2 glorious chances to win the match camped on the tiger's line. Should be there or there abouts for top 4 come spring.
Ulster suffered their first defeat in the league away to Munster. It was the 2nds that were sent down so it was to be expected.
a_ a, you could have an argument in an empty room!
🙄
Thought this was quite good
http://www.rugbyworld.com/news/blogs/wales-in-focus-2/
Hats off to London WelshMANY OF Wales’ regional rugby fans would admit to being one eyed. Thankfully, there’s now an excuse; they’re keeping the other eye on London Welsh. Whilst Welsh regional rugby is bemoaning the lack of budgets in one of Europe’s least competitive leagues, London Welsh are making a fist of it in one of the most unforgiving domestic leagues in the world. Lyn Jones and his squad currently find themselves in tenth place, three places clear of the drop – they’re eight points above London Irish and nine clear of Sale. I’m not suggesting for a minute that London Welsh are going to stay in the Aviva Premiership. However, you rarely hear them bemoaning their lot; publicly at least. London Welsh find themselves in a far less glamorous environment than the Welsh regions. The Blues currently have Cuthbert, Roberts, Halfpenny and Warburton. The Ospreys have Ryan Jones, Dan Biggar, Adam Jones and Tipuric. The Scarlets have George North, Jon Davies, Scott Williams and Liam Williams. London Welsh have no-one, unless you count Gavin Henson and Sonny Parker. There are few marquee names at London Welsh and there is little reason to believe that any will arrive; plus they have to cope with the very real threat of relegation and they’re essentially playing all of their home games ‘away’ at their adopted home in Oxford. London Welsh are a fine example of coaching over poaching. The Welsh regions should look and learn.
I am off to Kingsholm tomorrow
Think I'm off to kingsholm too - hopefully Irish on the end of a much overdue 5 pointer
in one of Europe’s least competitive leagues
So uncompetitive that it produces repeat Euro Cup winners, finalists and semifinalists, and Grand Slam winning national sides come from it.
London Welsh are a fine example of coaching over poaching.
Seriously? I've joked before about Lyn Jones being in line for the Welsh coaching job, but this can't be an early media push surely? Whatever, he's not good enough..
Yes but Jon he is funny.
Ulster v Scablets starting soon on freeview 301.
The Scarlets don't appear to want to play rugby. Very negative from them. C'mon Ulster!!!
The Scarlets don't appear to want to play rugby.
I thought they were a synchronised fighting dance team these days!
Ha ha so true. They are slowing the ball down all the time. Yellow not far away
Try time!! Good start to the second half for Ulster
Zebre leading at the Ospreys!!!
and the O's win by a point 😳 phew
Nasty looking shoulder injury on North, stretchered off
That's the bonus point for Ulster!!! Outstanding second half performance.
SUFTUM
OOh just tuned in and Worcester are leading the Tiggers 14-5 at half time. Fatty Goode is in the bin at the minute though.
Terrible Spear tackle by Flood on Goode 😯 Should've been a Red. The imminent 6N's may save Flood from too much of a ban.
Tom B you say that without even a hint of ironing and no doubt you are right.
I'm not saying that it is right, but recent history with Hartley suggests that it will be the case.
Even Brian Moore thinks Flood will get a long ban.
Bloody Leicester fluke it again 🙁
Balls, could have done with Worcester doing Glaws a favour tonight.
Well tiggers take it. 2 penalty tries from scrums. First one was fair enough, second one, there was so much cheating from both sides-scrum was moving when Youngs put it in, Youngs didn't get it in cleanly but Best had his hand on it too....also a dodgy bind to start with. Hard to know what was right really.
Longer history with Johnson would also concurr! Henson on the other hand would get 240 000 weeks plus 1 day so he cant play against Ireland in the 2085 six nations.
😆
Interesting coaching appointment for Scotland,dunno what to make of Ryan,talks a good game on telly box....but...
On the bright side,nobody will chin a Scottish back while our forwards look on anymore,at least that will introduce some entertainment to our games.
Ryan is very good in print also. Having him with Johnson might actually work but its hardly a dream coaching set up. Having said that its better than anything involving Howley!!!
Pigface - Member
Yes but Jon he is funny.
Sorry I didn't realise it was a skit!
Pigface - Member
and the O's win by a point phew
They were doing their best to lose this game weren't they?
Funniest thing I've seen for a while though. An Ospreys player went down injured and the O's medics ran onto the pitch just as Zebre got the ball and started attacking. One of the physios realised he was about to intefere with play, tried stopping and did a perfect sliding tackle of the Zebre player with the ball. It would have been a red card had he been a player. The ref just waved it on...
BlindMelon - Member
The Scarlets don't appear to want to play rugby. Very negative from them. C'mon Ulster!!!
Are we going to talk about the Scarlets card and penalty try near the end of the game? Do the Ulster fans think that it was deserved?
(For the people who didn't see it, Ulster were 5m or so from the Scarlets line, passed the ball out to the wing but it was caught by a retreating Scarlets player who was binned and a penalty try was given - their bonus point try. If the Scarlets player had not caught it, the ball would have gone straight into touch - the last Ulsterman missed the ball completely. There was no interference, no obstruction, just a mistake by Ulster. Against 14 men they then scored another try, but conceded one as well. )
Tom B, a_a
I was at the Warriors/Tigers game last night
Full capacity at Sixways and a pretty good game of rugby. But the Worcester scrum just wasnt up to it. Very good in the lineouts though. Not a nice way to lose a game - 2x penalty tries against a scored try 🙁 especially in the last minute.
Unfortunately I was down the other end from the goode/flood thing. There was a bit of a sound from the crowd who could see the replays though.
Stoner - Member
2x penalty tries against a scored try especially in the last minute.
What about scored try by Scott Hamilton
Why does Andy Goode always get sent off against Tigers, is it because he try's to hard as wants to return to Welford Road
What about scored try by Scott Hamilton
mentally suppressed it 😉
Stoner - Member
What about scored try by Scott Hamilton
mentally suppressed it
LOL !!
Tigers v Harlequins for the final I reckon
I only caught the second half, but thought the Warriors scrum looked pretty weak-it's such a contentious part of the game at the moment though-so much law breaking goes on all the time etc.
So anyway the six nations is a month away and England have 3 home games so I'm tipping them to win. Wales have ireland at home first up lose that, then its off to france... Er shit, followed by italy away on the back of 2 losses... Shit. Then scotland away it'll be a must win for scotland. Lastly england back in cardiff. Expect england to be looking for a slam and wales looking to avoid a whitewash, should be a cracker. Of course if wales beat ireland first up what then? Given the form of the welsh players not currently injured thats a hige if!!!
Idle jon, I think the ulsterman passed to "a" man in his peripheral vision running alongside him, fully expecting it to be Ian Henderson. He was drawing his man and gave a no-look pass to whatever shape he saw out of the corner of his eye. Had the scarlets player not been there retiring, I'd have thought the pass would have gone to the next "shape" ie Henderson and it was a bolt on try. But I'm an Ulsterman, so may be slightly biased, but I agree, Henderson would never have taken that pass, as the pass was directed at the scarlets player.
andyl, I'd agree with that and that would make it a penalty at best. It's an interesting one...
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clear yellow card, not so convinced about the pen try, although on balance I'd like to see more pen tries rather than less so cant really complain.
Was he even offside when he took the pass?
must have been retreating from the ruck prior to the one at the start of the clip, way offside. I wonder if he called for the pass too!!!
a_a ^ yep, he'd need to have got back behind the offside line of the ruck to be back on side and able to interfere in the game again.
Another match missed, this is getting silly. Someone has now lost my season ticket. But I still love her 😆
Fair enough - I'm in work and can't see the vid.
Once the ball carrier got in front of the breakdown was it not open play?
11.8 Putting onside a player retiring during a ruck, maul, scrum or lineout
When a ruck, maul, scrum or lineout forms, a player who is offside and is retiring as required by Law remains offside even when the opposing team wins possession and the ruck, maul, scrum or lineout has ended. The player is put onside by retiring behind the applicable offside line. No other action of the offside player and no action of that player's team mates can put the offside player onside.
It doesnt look to me like the ball carrier has got past the offside line of the original maul.
Scamper, I can call round and help with the patio if needs be 🙂
Hartley just tackled an Exeter player, ended up on the wrong side and didn't release-Exeter forwards come in and start stamping on him. Ref stops play gives Exeter the penalty and sends Hartley to the bin for ten minutes.....like the good old days 😀
Still gutted that you missed it Scamper? 😯 That does Sale no favours.
Shows what I know. Will be interesting to read the match report.
****ity **** Reading Samoa won... Not good news for Welsh.
That was a yellow all day and twice on a Sunday,fair call for pen try as well,clear scoring chance.
Righty, a_a has done a 6N prediction so I'll have a pop. France, England, Ireland in that order. Hard to see any of Wales, Scotland or Italy winning a game 🙂
England France Wales*
* long ball 😉
France have ireland and england away which is tough. Englands game in dublin will be crucial. Its going to be betweeen ireland, england and france with england and ireland having the easier fixtures.
Good news from the ****tersphere
George North?@George_North
Thanks for all the messages. I'm ok, bit of a neck injury. Should be fine all precautionary!
Are we going to talk about the Scarlets card and penalty try near the end of the game? Do the Ulster fans think that it was deserved?
IdleJon I think it was a card and a pen. He was offside and it was a clear scoring opportunity. The Scarlets should have had someone in the bin a lot earlier, they were constantly infringing at the ruck.
In terms of the 6N Ireland have the big teams at home and are away to the third tier nations so I think we will do very well. We are starting to get a good mix of youth coming through to blend with the experience and BOD is back which always gives the squad a lift. If we start with a win in Cardiff, a game we should win easily, then I think we can win the tournament overall.
Gloucester were awful today, a really flat performance.
Glasgow go second in the league. If this continues I may have to take back some of the things I said about Gregor Townsend at the start of the season 🙂
Lets see if Johnson can cast his eye westward when it comes to Scotland selections.
Glasgow second in Rabo just goes to show how poor that league is imo. Ulster are one of the form teams in Europe and the one game they lost was because they fielded the reserves. Munster seem to be focusing on the Heineken again this year rather than the league-everyone else is average at best.
Wasps in bother, they failed to pay players in December.Not good,and perhaps the indicator of how some teams have overstretched themselves in the pro era?
. If we start with a win in Cardiff, a game we should win easily
yeah because ireland have such a good recent set of results against wales!!!!
3 apiece in the past six years. Given Wales' dismal autumn and Ireland's recent performancesI think Ireland can travel to Cardiff with confidence.
Glasgow second in Rabo just goes to show how poor that league is imo. Ulster are one of the form teams in Europe and the one game they lost was because they fielded the reserves. Munster seem to be focusing on the Heineken again this year rather than the league-everyone else is average at best.
I think there are very few teams in the league who can compete with Ulsters strength in depth at the moment. Ulster gained an advantage over the AI's as even with 9 or 10 players in intl duty they could still win games and create a bit of space at the top of the league.
As for Munster I don't think they are not focusing on the league as well but they just aren't the force they were 3/4 seasons ago. An ageing squad and coaches reluctant to blood younger players earlier has left them in a bit of a mess at the mo
Wales have beaten ireland last three times they have played them havent they? Maybe four last six nations in dublin, world cup 1/4 final, in cardiff with the wrong ball cant remember before that but having a feling it would have been a slam?? I will concede that wales are currently not playing well and have a lot of players injured but it can hardly be a game you should expect to win.
Epic T-shirt tribute to Monsieur Rolland here;
[url= http://welshdalailama.spreadshirt.co.uk/rolland-t-shirt-mens-A22393651/customize/color/4 ]Clickification[/url]
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Raises a glass of Arran Blonde to the Captain and buys a t shirt.... 😀
Yawn!!
Another great result for Welsh, they just might do it you know!!!
They got a bonus point didn't they?
yep, losing bonus against quins is a result!!! I thought they would struggle to win a game this season.
Excellent though I heard the score, Sale drew a blank again.
Lyn the lip is doing a good job.
Shame Glaws ****ed it up for us!!
Not that bad really this tackle is it? On the other hand its at least a Warburton (3 weeks) but maybe not quite a Lloyd Willams (5 weeks). With this in mind I expect 3 weeks with a week off for dressing nicely, saying sorry and not eating any biscuits.