Official Rugby Thread

[ripper868]

Indeed, and our ability to bomb tries near lost it for us as well, how Ioane didn't score or why Elsom didn't give the pass to an unmarked Hynes I don't know. That Said Ashley-Cooper showed some awesome strength for his try, prob see him secure the 15 for the rest of the tour and leave O'Connor benched.

Banahan the biggest Myth ever "He's as big as Jonah Lomu"... he looked every bit a second rower on the wing, don't think he broke one tackle.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Indeed, and our ability to bomb tries near lost it for us as well, how Ioane didn't score or why Elsom didn't give the pass to an unmarked Hynes I don't know. That Said Ashley-Cooper showed some awesome strength for his try, prob see him secure the 15 for the rest of the tour and leave O'Connor benched.

Banahan the biggest Myth ever "He's as big as Jonah Lomu"... he looked every bit a second rower on the wing, don't think he broke one tackle.

Yeah, don't rate him at all. Doesn't have quick feet and seems to need time to get up to full speed. I don't get why we're obsessed with having a big lump there, either. It's not like Cueto & Monye are midgets. Both of them are 6'+.

Monye not a full-back, either. Doesn't have the kicking game or the vision for it. I'd like to see Foden of Northants given a go there in Armitage's absence and Monye moved back to the wing in Banahan's place.

 

[Johnners]

How'd Cooper go? I was quite shocked when he was picked, always assumed being able to tackle was a pre-requisite for playing rugby, let alone filling a centre spot for the Wallabies....

 

[ripper868]

He did alright I thought, a few poor passes, a few good ones, his kicking game definetely allowed Giteau to relax more and just play Rugby. Didn't shirk in the tackle but never had to really make any 1-on-1's. I'd Imagine Deans won't change the backline at all for the next match, looked quite threatening at times. Cooper actually played alot of the time at 10 and Giteau at 12 in attack form the set pieces as well.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Four starting changes for England

From the BBC.

England: Monye; Cueto, Hipkiss, Geraghty, Banahan; Wilkinson, Hodgson; Payne, Hartley, Bell, Deacon, Borthwick (capt), Croft, Moody, Haskell.

Replacements: Thompson, Doran-Jones, Lawes, Worsley, Care, Goode, Erinle.

---

None of them exactly fill me with joy tho. Bell looked out of his depth when he came on v Oz and conceded a penalty in his first scrum, Hodgson is steady at best (although not a Care fan either), thought Wally did ok in his first game back & Haskell a walking infringement.

Our union team also taking a leaf out of our cricket team's book and swiping an Irishman; the Dublin-born ex Ireland U19 & U21 prop Paul Doran-Jones is on the replacement bench.

 

[ripper868]

From the BBC.

England: Monye; Cueto, Hipkiss, Geraghty, Banahan; Wilkinson, Hodgson; Payne, Hartley, Bell, Deacon, Borthwick (capt), Croft, Moody, Haskell.

Replacements: Thompson, Doran-Jones, Lawes, Worsley, Care, Goode, Erinle.

---

None of them exactly fill me with joy tho. Bell looked out of his depth when he came on v Oz and conceded a penalty in his first scrum, Hodgson is steady at best (although not a Care fan either), thought Wally did ok in his first game back & Haskell a walking infringement.

Our union team also taking a leaf out of our cricket team's book and swiping an Irishman; the Dublin-born ex Ireland U19 & U21 prop Paul Doran-Jones is on the replacement bench.

Bell shouldn't have been penalised if you were to believe the english commentary feed we had, it was all Robinson's fault (Despite Bell laying flat on the deck while Robinson maintained his feet ) Dire commentary the whole game actually.

If you look at the Aus team we aren't much better, Our centres are kiwi born, our halfback is PNG born, Palu - Tongan Born. Sure there's a few others I'm forgetting.

Looking forward to this match vs Ireland, hopefully I won't be too drunk when it kicks off on saturday night (last weekend in Townsville), will be match of the tour IMO.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Bell shouldn't have been penalised if you were to believe the english commentary feed we had, it was all Robinson's fault (Despite Bell laying flat on the deck while Robinson maintained his feet ) Dire commentary the whole game actually.

Technically they were right. Robinson slipped his binding, so Bell had nowhere to go but down and should've been given the penalty, but I still blame Bell for being soft enough to get done by such an old trick. At his age he's been around long enough to know the deal.

 

[ripper868]

Yeah I know, but still, if you are going to go down you don't need to sell it like Ronaldo.

 

[Francis]

Here's some Brian O'Driscoll clips to get all the Aussies here into the mood this weekend.

Australia – YouTube - Australia v Ireland 2003 great irish comeback

France – YouTube - BOD Tries Vs France RWC 2003

Italy too – YouTube - BOD Try - Ireland Vs Italy 2004

But wait there’s more – YouTube - Brian O'Driscoll

He's one of my favourite players. He's a terrific ambassador for rugby off the field. He's tough and relentless. One of the all-time great centres. A credit to his nation. I don't think you can put a value on what he brings to rugby, he's a breath of fresh air, and easily the best centre this decade.

I only wish there were some youtube clips of what he and Jamie Roberts did with the Lions this year. What a centre combination they made! There also needs to be more clips of what he did during the 2006 Six Nations.

 

[ripper868]

YouTube - Ireland v Australia rugby world cup '91 ftw

 

[BoyBrumby]

Fair play to les bleus for last night. They have a good record versus the yarps, but very solid stuff nonetheless.

England in their very gay looking fetching new purple kit about to face the Argentine. We should win, but thought the same in 2006 too...

Need quicker ball today.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Mediocre would flatter us, but we got the win; 16-9.

Lewis Moody a deserving man of the match & Haskell carried well, but more negatives than positives, tbh. Backs were flat and unimaginative. Geraghty, whose attacking play I'm an admirer off, didn't do much and Monye's handling sub-dire. He's just not a full-back.

 

[Somerset]

Tight match between the All Blacks' second string side and Italy, only caught the replay this afternoon. Italy's scrum was fantastic, even when Castrogiovani was replaced for the final quarter - in fact IMO the All Blacks were really lucky not to conceed a penalty try in the last five minutes with constant scrum infringements on top of the penalties conceeded early in the game, and Tialata's yellow card.

 

[Somerset]

Fair play to les bleus for last night. They have a good record versus the yarps, but very solid stuff nonetheless.

Quite a fall for the Springboks with losses to an English domestic side and now the French after so comprehensively taking the Tri Nations - for those who had coverage of those matches, what were the main concerns for South Africa?

 

[BoyBrumby]

Quite a fall for the Springboks with losses to an English domestic side and now the French after so comprehensively taking the Tri Nations - for those who had coverage of those matches, what were the main concerns for South Africa?

Didn't see the French game, but against Leicester the Boks were absolutely shredded up front. Castrogiovanni was massive for the Tigers; a brute in the scrum and so mobile he plays almost like another back row forward around the paddock.

Sort of performance England used to give six or seven years ago when we were any good; win the forward war and kick the points that come from the inevitable infringements.

 

[Langeveldt]

Don't think anyone is blaming the result on this, but check this dude shredding up the anthem.. Thought there was going to be a riot before the game even started tbh..

Messed up version of the SA national anthem | Zoopy | Share and discover videos, photos and audio - online and on your phone!

 

[Burgey]

How did Palu get sin-binned for that tackle this morning?

 

[BoyBrumby]

Body check, IMHO. Didn't use his arms.

 

[ripper868]

How did Palu get sin-binned for that tackle this morning?

Body check, IMHO. Didn't use his arms.

Not a shoulder charge however, more a chest bump, defiinete attempt to use the arms IMO. The Irish lad must have lost his marble to run straight at him though. Should have been given 10 for his shoulder charge on Elsom to if we are going to be consistent

Really should have won that game but credit to Ireland, took their chances when they came. Kaplan in overuse of whistle shocker, at least it was dire both ways though. Aussie lineout...**** me.

 

[Somerset]

Don't think anyone is blaming the result on this, but check this dude shredding up the anthem.. Thought there was going to be a riot before the game even started tbh..

Messed up version of the SA national anthem | Zoopy | Share and discover videos, photos and audio - online and on your phone!

Gee that’s terrible, makes you wonder how they found that guy to sing the anthem in the first place. Loved the commentator's reaction - "this is a highly experienced South African team but not many of them would've ever experienced their anthem being sung quite like that!"