Official Rugby Thread

[TT Boy]

"Bath's Michael Lipman, Alex Crockett and Andrew Higgins had been required to appear at an internal disciplinary hearing today to address the failure on three occasions to take a drugs test following allegations surrounding player conduct on Sunday May 10. Immediately before the hearings were due to take place the players resigned from the Club with immediate effect"

Seems to be a culture at that club.

 

[ripper868]

The Reds backline is pretty good and he was the weak link for them.

Yeah this is true, Barnes and Ioane either side of you...and with Hynes at FB...Lucas and Genia were good enough with their service as well...hmmm...Cooper=Dud, bring back Eales.

 

[TT Boy]

Should be a good game. Looking forward to seeing how the (ex) Mungo gets on against Stirling

Stirling was Sonny's shadow all night and after the first two minutes he didn't get a sniff again.

Poor showing from the Baa-Baas. Looked like they have been on the piss and pies for the past couple of weeks.

 

[ripper868]

Yeah indeed, think that deans showed there is no substitute for pace out wide though, turner , tuquiri who?

Whitaker was the barabarians best for mine, just seemed to be everywhere. SBW has a looooong way to go before he could be considered international standard.

 

[Somerset]

Given Sonny-Bill's limited rugby union experience I thought he performed reasonably well on the weekend - at least he was motivated to rise to the occasion, unlike most of his Barbarian team mates. Having Stirling Mortlock, without a doubt one of the best centres going around on the international game, marking your every move hardly helps your cause so as I say, was surprised at how well SBW played.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

European Cup draw completed

Group 1          Group 2          Group 3
Northampton (E)  Gloucester (E)   Leicester (E)
Munster (IR)     Dragons (W)      Ospreys (W)
Perpignan (F)    Biarritz (F)     Clermont (F)
Treviso (IT)     Glasgow (S)      Viadana (IT)

Group 4          Group 5          Group 6
Bath (E)         Sale (E)         London Irish (E)
Ulster (IR)      Cardiff (W)      Leinster (I)
Stade (F)        Toulouse (F)     Brive (F)
Edinburgh (S)    Harlequins (E)   Scarlets (W)

Easy group for the title holders. Group 5, on the other hand, is a monster (was always going to be with Quins as fourth seeds), and the Italian sides are also looking likely to get big fat zeroes. OK group from the Scottish perspective; Gloucester seem to be in meltdown, and Biarritz were the weakest top seeds about before Bath lost their best players to coke. Dragons and Ulster the weakest fellow Celtic sides too. If Stade choke again Edinburgh have a decent chance of a quarter.

 

[Uppercut]

Could have been a lot worse for us (i'm an Ulster fan). Good draws for the other Irish teams too I'd say.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Saints & Tigers both get an Italian team, but rather tempered by having one of the Top 14 finalists each. Jimmys get Munster as well, so think it'll be an early exit for them.

 

[chalky]

France 17-3 ahead aginst the Blacks & dominating the breakdown not what you expect from Northern Hemisphere team against a tri nations team

 

[TT Boy]

Wonder if France want to win this. Hold onto the ball!

 

[TT Boy]

And France win.

Not a good comeback by McAlister...

 

[Francis]

Awful, awful performance by the All Blacks.

I'm so happy!

 

[BoyBrumby]

And France win.

Not a good comeback by McAlister...

Started as he ended; losing to the French.

Didn't see the game, I just assumed the ABs would have enough.

Think Oz will tear Italy a new one tho, but it will be interesting to see how Craig Gower goes against the country of his birth.

 

[Francis]

*Waits for New Zealand to start blaming the ref*

Hey this is pretty huge guys. It's France's first win in New Zealand since 1994. They defended really well, although their first try should never have been scored (terrible defence).

But yeah it's just a beautiful day for me right now.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Knife through butter time for Oz. Turner looked embarrassed it was that easy.

Wallabies got a shunt on in the first scrum as well; it's going to be a long night for the Azzurri.

 

[age_master]

@ NZ

 

[Smudge]

Not surprised at all to lose that match - in fact, I meant to back the French but it was too awkward to get my bet on (for work-related reasons). We were outgunned at the breakdown and in defence and our creativity was at an all-time low, largely due to the pressure put on to the French. Well done to Les Blues.

 

[ripper868]

Indeed, a great victroy for Les Bleus. The Wallabies were'nt terribly convincing last night, Could have (and should have) got on italy with a 32 point start.

Will have to lift for the boks and Kiwi's though, the french test will be interesting as well given how well they played last night.

 

[Somerset]

Not surprised at all to lose that match - in fact, I meant to back the French but it was too awkward to get my bet on (for work-related reasons). We were outgunned at the breakdown and in defence and our creativity was at an all-time low, largely due to the pressure put on to the French. Well done to Les Blues.

Tend to agree with that summary. Will be interesting to see how the side responses in the second test, given I can't imagine too many major changes will be made. Doesn't help when your premier players in positions 5-11 plus both centres are missing but still take nothing away from how France played on Saturday.

 

[Francis]

France have now beaten New Zealand 11 times and South Africa 10 times.

Impressive for a Northern Hemisphere side.

Why aren't people criticising Graham Henry btw? That NZ side lacked physicality against the larger French players. Bryce Rope would've done something about that.