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You don't have the rest of the time the ruck exists to try and win the ball. Ashton held on,missed by ref. Frenchman clearly went for it again once ruck formed (ruck used to be two players from each team,now it can be 3:1)discovered ref's eyesight better than he hoped.
Glaws can almost guarantee a top 6 finish tonight if they win at bath, if a tough ask. Failed to win a few too many close away games this season.
Any half arsed pro 12 on tonight?
Scabbers v Embra on 301 Dan.
Ulster treviso on BBC2 NI as well, not a bad game actually
Wrecker, how arrogant..... 😉
Despite being the better team, glaws seem determined to lose this game.
Ulster appear to have a similar mindset. Ended in a draw. Ulster were terrible but I must mention young Paddy Jackson, he stepped up and kicked 7 from 9 tonight and got mom. After the grief he received after last weekend fair play to him to come back so well.
He's done better than burns then, he's missed that many!
Like others I thought penalty to France when watched, but had the ruck formed with other arriving England player? If so he didn't enter ruck from correct side?
Looked clear cut when I watched the game, not so clear having watched a few times therefore easy for call to go either way.
Not sure where Warburton comes into the discussion as didn't see him in the picture.
Just back in from the Warriors v Wasps match.
Nice to come home from Six ways with a win for a change 😀
Jr loved it but still found it very confusing. He's trying to work out which elements of rucking play he can carry in to Under 6 Tag Rugby .....
Lemi took a lovely cross field kick from Goode (IIRC) to go over under the posts for the second try. And the first by Pennell was a real clinger in the corner right in front of us - we were in the cheap seats at the flag.
nice to get the bonus points too.
He doesnt have to enter from any side as he was the tackler. As for the Warburton thing its just something i've been thinking watching the games that there has been few pens for holding on than last year. The jackle seems to be less important due to refs giving the tackled player more time. Will be inttrsting to see how the lions series is handled if they do go with Robshaw v Pocock.
Jr loved it but still found it very confusing
My (14yr) lad is still confused even though we go to every Sale home game. Given the fact that we cant decide from our armchairs the correct call for the above after seeing it dozens of times is it any wonder the referees get it wrong so often
Duckman got it right imo and he's a ref.
Funny quote in the papers today along the lines of Ashton saying he has heard people saying he is out of form but he really doesn't understand what these people are talking about. He goes on to justify his love of tackling by bringing up recent shoulder charges and his desire to hurt people. More than likely some selective use of quotes in these papers but funny nonetheless 😀
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/21637963
"I'm not afraid to tackle - I want to tackle. I want to hurt people."
🙂
He needs to make more effort with his positioning then.
Danm I think you could have finished your statement with he doesn't seem to understand
And to think Ive just been doing my "Rugby Ready" course this morning. There's definitely nothing in there about hurting people 😀
anagallis_arvensis - Member
Duckman got it right imo and he's a ref.POSTED 8 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST
Looks for framing service in yellow pages 😀
Been something discussed at refs meetings.The rule was introduced to speed up the breakdown and make teams play faster. Instead we are discussing minute points of the breakdown. SRU Currently favouring the tackled player if anybody is interested.
Another big loss for Sale today!
SRU Currently favouring the tackled player if anybody is interested.
That was my point, it seems to have changed the way the breakdown is policed and it favours a different type of 7.
Nice away win for Brizzle at Bedford. C'mon Bris!
I'll never forget the strangled burbling noise that Jiffy made just before Shane Williams scored the winner against Scotland in 2010.
Show your love for Jiffy
That is fantastic. Good to see he can laugh at himself for a good cause.
THE ARROGANCE 😳
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saw this and thought it was funny, its like the ascent of man in reverse, it starts with a man trying to catch a rugby ball and ends with a confused baboon
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A quick question regarding subs rules in games which have started with uncontested scrums - is there a rule which states that a team is not allowed to make any substitutions if they have chosen to opt for uncontested scrums?
As for the England v France clip - Penalty England tackler not releasing?
Looks like international career over for O'Gara-he's not made the squad for next weekend.
Quite right as well Tom he has been off the boil for too long. I'd like to see Madigan get a run he has been in excellent form for the D4 mob.
Would have liked to have seen Madigan start last time, as he's a bit more experienced and pretty cool under pressure, don't think he'd have let anyone down.
Reckon they went with thinking the 10+12 combo would help them both settle easier. And to be fair, it really worked for Marshall so at least half the plan worked.
But, now Jackson's played, I'd rather he got at least another start to get his confidence back. He's a good player and Marshall plays well off him.
That whole Ireland selection was a bit crap though.
Earls confirmed he's not an international standard winger. Trimble's proved over time he can do that job. Even McFadden's a better out-of-pos centre option on this year's form. Decent back-up kicker too.
OCallaghan and OGara showed their age. Good players in their time, but that's not now.
And Tom Court took 2 scrums to confirm he's not good enough either. Picked up where he left off with England. No Healy was the biggest loss, in the scrum and carrying ball too. Left too much work for SOB.
The other problem with Court is he seems to drag Best's game down to his level. Weirdly, Best has his worst Ireland games when his club mate's next to him.
But more than anything, Heaslip needs dropping (like his kick-offs) but Kidney's snookered himself.
😆at 28-14 down just after an hour it did seem like curtains when Gavin Henson – in very good nick in Lions year, it has to be said – barged his way over for a fine try that could have reduced the leeway to seven points.
Glumpton,that's correct. a
AA,we are getting a new dog this Summer,hope he is as loyal as you are to Gav.
AA,we are getting a new dog this Summer,hope he is as loyal as you are to Gav.
I hope he doesn't hump your leg as much 😀
@loum I have to agree with all of that and that's a good observation regarding Court/Best, but it puzzling cause they have been destroying most scrums in the Pro 12. Although that maybe says more about John Afoa than anything else.
Jackson played well for Ulster on Fri so he deserves another crack but I wouldn't be displeased if they started Madigan. As for Heaslip, the soon Deccie goes the sooner Jamie goes!! I'd like to see a back row of Fez, SOB and POM/Henry
Surely we will still beat France in Dublin?
Hey duckman, healthcote looked very good for bath on Friday. Is he in the XV setup?
No Farrell against Italy. Tom Croft is back in the squad though-excellent player whom was just starting to come of age at international level prior to his injury.
By Nick Cain and reproduced by kind permission of The Rugby Paper. Article appeared on Sunday 3rd MarchTHERE are times, as we all know, when the law is an ass. Usually this coincides with legal technicalities getting in the way of, or subverting, natural justice. There is a grave danger that London Welsh could fall foul of this type of legal technicality in the case of the registration of Tyson Keats, the scrum-half they signed at the start of this season.
London Welsh will be appearing before an RFU competitions hearing on Tuesday charged with fielding an ineligible player – the Kiwi-born Keats – in nine Aviva Premiership matches this season.
The club brought the issue to the attention of the RFU after they had conducted the second of two internal investigations into Keats’ registration in February, rather than the RFU detecting any registration flaw.
The nub of the matter is that London Welsh wrongly classified Keats as English, when he was in fact in the UK on an ‘ancestral visa’ on the basis of having a British grandparent. However, the ancestral visa still entitled Keats to seek employment here, including as a professional rugby player.
It has emerged also that because Keats has never played for New Zealand, and is therefore available to play for England under the grandparent ruling, that he is also eligible for the England Qualified Player payments made by the RFU to Premiership clubs. This financial compensation was introduced as a means of limiting the number of foreign players, or players ineligible for England, plying their trade through the Kolpak dispensation in the Premiership. London Welsh have therefore claimed EQP payments for Keats legitimately.
The reality is that Keats was eligible to play for London Welsh in every one of the matches he has featured in this season, and that London Welsh have not sought to circumvent any eligibility rules, cheat in any way, or garner any unfair advantage over their Premiership opponents because of Keats being registered, wrongly, as English.
The detail of how Keats came to be registered in the wrong category – even though he shares the same eligibility to play in the Premiership, and for England, as any English-born player – is the subject of a separate disciplinary hearing involving Mike Scott, London Welsh’s former rugby manager.
Scott, who is believed to have left the club before Christmas following an illness, has been charged under RFU Rule 5.12 for ‘conduct prejudicial to the interests of the Union or the Game’. However, that case will be heard at a later date.
To any reasonable individual this renders the hearing on Tuesday little more than a formality at which London Welsh should be reprimanded, and possibly fined a nominal sum, for their player being registered in the wrong category.
And, because they did not benefit from that error in any way, that should be the end of it. In particular they should have no points deducted, leaving the club free to concentrate fully on the battle to stay clear of relegation.
Any other outcome will leave the RFU open to accusations of a severe miscarriage of justice, especially if it involves London Welsh being docked enough points to condemn them to relegation.
It is also legitimate to question the presence on the three-man panel for the hearing of Mark McCafferty, the chief executive of Premiership Rugby, who opposed London Welsh’s promotion last season.
London Welsh were eventually promoted after the success of a ground-breaking appeal which challenged the restrictive minimum ground standards imposed by the Premiership and approved by the RFU. Not only that, but despite having virtually no time to prepare or to sign new players pending the outcome of the court case, they confounded their Premiership rivals by winning four of their 11 games before Christmas.
The panel should consider whether the ridiculously short preparation time London Welsh had to prepare for the Premiership contributed to the registration glitch.
However, with a smaller squad than most Premiership clubs, and significantly less funding London Welsh are embroiled in a knife-edge fight to avoid the drop with Sale, who are three points below them in last place, and London Irish, who are two points above them in tenth place.
The bitterness surrounding the Premiership’s failure to stop London Welsh in the courts last summer surfaced in surprising fashion when they were heavily beaten at Exeter last weekend, having earned a one-point win over the Devon club in September.
Tony Rowe, the Chiefs chairman, appeared to relish the Welsh predicament, especially as Exeter had been docked two points by the RFU two years ago for fielding too many overseas players.
“They wanted to play the big boys’ game, so they’ve got to play by the big boys’ rules,” Rowe said. “From our point of view, it was ‘welcome to the Premiership’. We got caned for it, so I’ve got no sympathy for them...when you’re in a professional business you can’t really have a slap on the wrist and people saying, ‘don’t be a naughty boy’, or, ‘don’t do it again’. Otherwise, everybody tomorrow would say, ‘sorry, it was just an administrative cock up, we didn’t mean to do it’.”
Rowe is entitled to his opinion, but most people will be able to detect that there is a difference between the Keats case, where there is no eligibility issue, and the Exeter situation, where there was. The inclusion of three overseas players – Nemani Nadolo, Hoani Tui and Ignacio Mieres – in the Exeter match day squad against Leeds in April 2011, as opposed to the permitted number of two, also incurred a £5,000 fine.
In my view London Welsh have done the Premiership a huge favour by forcing changes to the minimum standards criteria that were being used to ring fence the top league. Foremost among those changes is that the RFU/Premiership have now conceded that up to five clubs do not have to have primacy of tenure at their grounds provided they pass the audit. Another improvement is that the auditing process for Championship clubs has been brought forward a month to February 1, when any club wishing to be audited for promotion has to nominate their ground.
That favour has not been reciprocated. London Welsh are playing against a dealer with a stacked deck of cards because of iniquities in Premiership central funding which allocate the promoted club little more than a third of the budgets paid to most of their rivals.
To make matters worse, it is rumoured that they also get less than Championship clubs like Bristol, who were relegated three years ago, and Leeds, who have been out of the top tier for two years.
If a similarly stacked deck at the RFU hearing deals them a relegation hand because of a flaw in the registration of Tyson Keats, then London Welsh will be within their rights to try and blow a few more holes in the Premiership ring-fence by continuing to fight in the courts.
Club rugby fans have paid this season to see a competition in which there is promotion and relegation, not one which is suddenly rendered nul and void by a technicality.
Nice one a_a you nailed the 3000. Gavlaa would be proud 😆
Tom Coft, the show ponies show pony.
Nope that'd be Haskell.....or Beattie for Scotland.....Croft is an excellent player. I'd rate him above Tom Wood at 6.
wrecker - Member
Hey duckman, healthcote looked very good for bath on Friday. Is he in the XV setup?POSTED 28 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST
God I hope not,he was the difference in a certain recent Autumn international that marked a low point for us in the last few years(difficult I know as a Scot) I would rather play Laidlaw out of position. Healthcoate is a long way from an int 10.
Tom; Beattie a show pony? Err no,his tackle count/regular man of the match performances in France backed up by his international form makes him more important than the Sale Bombshell for us. Remember this is his first season back from a full shoulder reconstruction that threatened to finish him, indeed shamefully the SRU bought out his contract because they thought just that. Back row is about the only area we have abundant riches.
I don't really catch any French matches outside the Heine. Never been that impressed with him for Scotland.
Flood is a better ten than the coaches kid anyway.
Tom,he is bloody good,plays like his dad but quicker.
Duckie is his dad the dude on radio Scotland?
I rate croft above wood, he's good. But his neck is being held together with metal. Is he really up to play at international level / might he pull out of a neck jolting tackle.....
Looks like Flood is in, I reckon we'll see 36 & Manu too - could be a try fest with those two. I'm also hoping Brown and Ashton get replaced with Strettle & Wade.
Melon, yes and an ex Lion. Am I the only one who wonders why Croft is coming back to play ANY rugby after that? Some things are far more important,eg health;long and short term. He seems pretty clever, you would think he could/would do something else
Aye Strettle is on fire at the minute and I've been calling for Wade for a while. Neither are as good as Tom Varndell mind 8)
Tom Varndell, the English Tim MacVisser 😛
Varndell tackles like mr tickle.
Lydiate came back ok from a broken neck.
Stuart Hogg, Sean Maitland, Sean Lamont, Matt Scott, Tim Visser, Duncan Weir, Greig Laidlaw; Ryan Grant, Ross Ford, Euan Murray, Richie Gray, Jim Hamilton, Robert Harley, Kelly Brown, Johnnie Beattie Replacements: Dougie Hall, Moray Low, Geoff Cross, Alastair Kellock, Ryan Wilson, Henry Pyrgos, Ruaridh Jackson, Max Evans
v
Wales: Leigh Halfpenny (Blues); Alex Cuthbert (Blues), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Jamie Roberts (Blues), George North (Scarlets), Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Mike Phillips (Bayonne); Paul James (Bath), Richard Hibbard (Ospreys), Adam Jones (Ospreys), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Ian Evans (Ospreys), Ryan Jones (capt, Ospreys), Sam Warburton (Blues) Toby Faletau (Dragons).
Replacements: Ken Owens (Scarlets), Scott Andrews (Blues), Ryan Bevington (Ospreys), Andrew Coombs (Dragons), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Lloyd Williams (Blues), James Hook, Scott Williams (Scarlets).
On paper Wales should win. Shame the game isnt played on paper.
more Gav needed, try yes or no
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A_A.
1st: Wendyball dive. No try. 2 yellow cards.
2nd: Try. Crap tackling.
From the first video it does look like a poor attempt at a dive but I seem to remember from other views the obstruction/ shirt hold looked more substantial... maybe I am mistaken though
DanW.
The first is definitely obstruction / shirt pulling. But the Wendyball dive still stands. Both go to the bin and no try.
I was a bit sneaky the second was the first in time, no try crossing pen to saffacens after it was referred to video ref. First one was five mins later so the blocking for the Henson non-try was obviously in his mind, he was held and went down (quite theatrically). Ref didnt see fit to refer it upstairs though the useless tit, whole game was appallingly handled in favour of the home team favourites. Pitch looks good though, the talk is that the millenium stadium might be getting one.
The ploughed field in Cardiff is a disgrace. The stadium is fantastic. But the turf....... 😳
Article about the Vunipolas playing for England this weekend..
Love this pic of Billy when he was NINE playing for U11s team. Gawd I hope my kid doesn't come across anything like this!
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Look at the size of him compared to boys 2 years older!
London Welsh awarded a 5 point deduction for fielding an ineligible player.
Harsh, very harsh IMO. As a Sale fan i would much rather see us stay up due to our own efforts. It seems the police were involved in the investigation as well, anyone shed any light on the case?
Looking at the fixtures welsh have an easier final two matches, but think sale will have done enough by then.
I can't find out why the police would be involved in the affair though.
Sale and Tigers have been docked one point for an ineligible player in one game, so ten points (5 suspended) for ten games does make a kind of sense but its still harsh.
Mike Scott is still facing a separate charge from the RFU as well.
AA - Where do you see Wales being stonger than Scotland?
My sense is Scotland will have it up front with Wales being better in the backs. Scotland have more fire power in the backs than for many seasons though.
I think Scotland at home overall will edge it. Think it will be a cracker TBH. Both still eyeing the championship as I think you guys will do England next weekend
AA - Where do you see Wales being stonger than Scotland?
The players. Scotland might have the edge in the lineout cant really see where Scotland are stronger. But Wales are playing poorly and Scotland will be full of confidence so it will be close.
Look at the shirt Vunipola is wearing! Apparently both bro's talk with strong welsh accents. Cant help think wales missed a trick here.
Shame about London Welsh, damn shame takes all the fun out of it.
Explaining their decision, the Panel of Inquiry said Keats applied for an ancestry visa when he arrived in the UK in July 2012 as his maternal grandfather was born in England.
But his application was apparently rejected and then [b]team manager Mike Scott falsified a player registration form by stating Keats was English and had been born in Christchurch.[/b]
The matter was referred to the RFU by London Welsh once they discovered the background to the issue.
"London Welsh are hugely disappointed and shocked by the ruling made by the RFU Hearings Committee, which we believe is extremely harsh under the circumstances," said London Welsh CEO Tony Copsey.
"It is our belief the ruling is fundamentally flawed and I can confirm that the club will definitely be appealing the decision."
[b]Scott is the subject of a separate RFU disciplinary hearing relating to Keats' registration. He has accepted a caution from the police after admitting fraud by false representation.[/b]
md, looks like the police involvement was for the fraud by Scott.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/21674783
Full judgement.
Crikey. Makes for some very uncomfortable reading, and the penalty seem less harsh. Quite lenient IMO.
Seems about fair TBH. Scott is the main culprit, but he worked for them. Killed what was a bloody interesting battle*.....Wanders off to do search on birth certificates on every member of a certain 2003 team....
*Or has it? Welsh were not going to win a game,all teams have their crap spell,maybe they have had theirs and Sale are really,really,awful.Welsh need to win,what two games?
Dwarf, look on the bright side, if you stay up you get to keep the show pony AND the ladyboy lover... 😆
Sale have recently started to actually look like a rugby team, but i still don't think they'll survive TBH.
I suspect Cipriani will be off at the end of the season and i don't think he will be missed by too many fans - or players from what i've heard. He has talent but has been pee'ing people off so the rumours go.
Something is seriously rotten in the State of Sale, and the club needs a massive shakeup and some people need to lose their jobs.
As for the weekend, i think the Scotland/Wales game will be the most interesting one to watch.
Looking at the LW forums, the consensus seems to be that they got off lightly. Shocking behaviour by the previous manager. It shows how much pressure there is to have EQPs, especially for the clubs without big finances.
Having read the link from the RFU I'm inclined to agree, proper criminal behaviour from Scott that has truly bolloxed the club up.
The drop may be what Sale need. Scraping through may send the wrong message. There is undoubted talent on the field (although some very poor performances against Leicester) but there is something wrong off the field.
Thing about Sale is that last year they were on tellybox against Tigers and were outgunned up front, but...played running rugby,fast with an obvious gameplan. This year the games I have seen, they look like they just met in the changing room before the game. NO continuity of phases,no focus,no team play. In theory adding bulk to the pack should have allowed them to step up.
Did anybody watch the Wales/Scotland U20s game last night and make any smese of the Welsh yellow cards?
It seemed that the no7 was carded for being a yard off-side and stopping when told to by the ref only to be binned.
Anyone care to comment on this 😆
Wales comfortable win this arvo
Anyone care to comment on this
My father would be turning in his grave. In his day it was considered ungentlemenly to "kick around the corner", he was very proud of his toe punt against the Springboks.
Scrum 8)