Rugby

Off Topic
21

Thought you guys might get a chuckle out of this news story.

Mon Jun 12, 8:15 AM ET

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russians playing a game of amateur rugby were arrested by police who mistook the match for a mass brawl, local media reported Monday.

“We got a call to our control room saying there was a fight involving a lot of people on some waste ground just outside town,” RIA news agency quoted a police official in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don as saying.

The players and supporters – nearly 100 people in total – were taken to the local police station. They were released without charge when officers realized they had been playing rugby, the news agency reported.

22

They didn’t win the 3N nearly as easily as you make out. They scraped past South Africa at home and get well beaten away. They nearly got beat last weekend by Ireland too. The All Blacks are dab hands at peaking way too early.

23

[quote]Anthony Roberts wrote:
alstan90 wrote:
Well at the moment I have to say that neither of us are among the “Best teams in the world”

I think the best team in the world is the one with the world cup sitting in the trophy case. Every four years, all of the teams have to peak, and they’re all gunning for that. “Rankings” don’t matter…the Webb Ellis in the trophy case is all that matters.

I would rather get beat in every race I ever ran, and win a gold medal every fourth year in the Olympics, than the opposite.
[/quote]

Yeh I kind of agree with that. But then again, their isn’t much hope of us defending the WC next year… Or at least, hopes all their is…

24

[quote]daveirl wrote:
Anybody who follows international rugby at all knows that the All Blacks are by far the best team. They won the Tri-Nations, whooped the British Lions in all three contests (even the NZ Maori beat the Lions), and easily conqurered Europe.

They didn’t win the 3N nearly as easily as you make out. They scraped past South Africa at home and get well beaten away. They nearly got beat last weekend by Ireland too. The All Blacks are dab hands at peaking way too early.[/quote]

Too right. As it stands, they are favourites but i wouldnt bet against france (Providing they get their Fly half sorted out) Or SA. 18 Months is a Looooooooong time in international sport. WHo knows who may be knocking by then, but i definately feel NZ have peaked, yet again far too soon.

25

REPEAT MY FIRST POST AGAIN!

Just hope this is a preview of the Ashes!

26

I also repeat. We were quite shocking again. We have no continuity.

If we have everyone fit (Vaughan, Jones, Harmison) we will retain the Ashes. I doubt they all will be though.

27

[quote]VorteX wrote:
I also repeat. We were quite shocking again. We have no continuity.

If we have everyone fit (Vaughan, Jones, Harmison) we will retain the Ashes. I doubt they all will be though.[/quote]

Just got home from the game - my first live game of rugby. Awesome to watch. Reckon I might even play locally next season - can’t play AFL coz I can’t take an overhead mark to save myself

28

We were again bloody terrible. A clean sweep for the southern Hemisphere over the North and Embarassing for England.

I only hope the form picks up when the rest of the first team slot back in during the Autumn internationsals. Still a big question over wilkinson - Will he ever regain fitness? What are we going to do at center? Lots of questions, few answers.

However i found some vids of when we were good.

(long clip)

29

[quote]supermick wrote:

. Still a big question over wilkinson - Will he ever regain fitness?
[/quote]

Wilko played the last 4 or 5 games of the season for the Falcons; he started to look pretty damn impressive by the end. He is still fit, just getting a good pre-season under his belt. Lets hope he stays fit next season.

The fact that England Saxons were poor in the Churchill Cup is also bad news. I thought our depth of players were better than that.

I still stand by my earlier comments that Robinson is one of the main problems though.

30

[quote]justrob wrote:
VorteX wrote:
I also repeat. We were quite shocking again. We have no continuity.

If we have everyone fit (Vaughan, Jones, Harmison) we will retain the Ashes. I doubt they all will be though.

Just got home from the game - my first live game of rugby. Awesome to watch. Reckon I might even play locally next season - can’t play AFL coz I can’t take an overhead mark to save myself[/quote]

Welcome to the dark side.

I am glad you enjoyed the game, and I am even more glad that you dont want to play AFL.

31

[quote]justrob wrote:

Just got home from the game - my first live game of rugby. Awesome to watch. Reckon I might even play locally next season - can’t play AFL coz I can’t take an overhead mark to save myself[/quote]

Nice one. International games are brilliant to go to, the atmosphere is fantastic. Wish there were some on when I go down under later this year, might catch some of the cricket though…

32

[quote]VorteX wrote:
supermick wrote:

. Still a big question over wilkinson - Will he ever regain fitness?

Wilko played the last 4 or 5 games of the season for the Falcons; he started to look pretty damn impressive by the end. He is still fit, just getting a good pre-season under his belt. Lets hope he stays fit next season.

The fact that England Saxons were poor in the Churchill Cup is also bad news. I thought our depth of players were better than that.

I still stand by my earlier comments that Robinson is one of the main problems though.[/quote]

Do you feel Ashton and Mike ford will add anything to Englands back play? Personally i dont think its a lack of ideas or coaching but rather lack of players who can pull of basics in high pressure situations and make competant decisions. Esp in the backs. Were fucking terrible…

33

At least you Poms got across the line this time though. Better than last game.

34

[quote]supermick wrote:
BFBullpup wrote:
Anthony Roberts wrote:
I think the best team in the world is the one with the world cup sitting in the trophy case. Every four years, all of the teams have to peak, and they’re all gunning for that. “Rankings” don’t matter…the Webb Ellis in the trophy case is all that matters.

I love rugby and all, but the World Cup for rugby is nothing like the World Cup for soccer. I’m sorry, somebody has to say it.

Anybody who follows international rugby at all knows that the All Blacks are by far the best team. They won the Tri-Nations, whooped the British Lions in all three contests (even the NZ Maori beat the Lions), and easily conqurered Europe.

The only thing Wilkinson ever did for England was drop-kick those championship points, and England only won because he was clutch instead of on crutches for once.

This strikes me as a statement of someone who has no idea about the game.
What is your point regarding the soccer and football World cups? Nothing like? Of course not - One is a truely Global sport and One will be a truely Global sport. Rugby Union, although one of the older team sports has only been professional since 1995, and has only been staging world cups since 1987. Give it time. I personally feel that Rugby as a game has missed out on a tremendous opportunity by granting NZ the last world cup (for 2011??) instead of japan. Now with their stadia and appetite for the new that would have been a better comparison imo.

Concerning Wilkinson, have you ever actually sen him play? Premiership teams at one point stopped running down his channel due to his tackling prowess. In addition he bought his own game on, now he has quicker feet, a devastating tackler, steps well, kicking has always been great but to say he kicked those championship points and thats it. Well, you need to watch the game and maybe learn about it a bit more. There is no finer stand off in world rugby when he is on form, especially in high pressure games.[/quote]

Yeah. I think I know something about the game. I played a season in the first division in New Zealand, and made two trips to the National ALL Star games in my home country.

I stand by my statement that the team who holds the Webb Ellis Cup is the best until someone takes it from them, four years later.

35

[quote]daveirl wrote:
Anybody who follows international rugby at all knows that the All Blacks are by far the best team. They won the Tri-Nations, whooped the British Lions in all three contests (even the NZ Maori beat the Lions), and easily conqurered Europe.

They didn’t win the 3N nearly as easily as you make out. They scraped past South Africa at home and get well beaten away. They nearly got beat last weekend by Ireland too. The All Blacks are dab hands at peaking way too early.[/quote]

Haha, did you see SA’s win against NZ in the Tris last year? Both of their tries came off turnovers. They couldn’t score a try off their own offensive phases. After I watched that game, I knew that NZ would win their home game. Yes, it was close, but a close win is still a win.

I think it’s obvious from my posts that I’m pretty biased. I find Northern hemisphere rugby boring and the southern more exciting. I should apologize for offending Wilkinson’s fans. I will when he stops breaking down every fourth game. Daniel Carter will be better than Wilkinson ever was.

If it makes my new overseas friends happy, I just watched Canada manhandle the U.S. 33-18. Go, Eagles. Feh.

36

[quote]Anthony Roberts wrote:
supermick wrote:
BFBullpup wrote:
Anthony Roberts wrote:
I think the best team in the world is the one with the world cup sitting in the trophy case. Every four years, all of the teams have to peak, and they’re all gunning for that. “Rankings” don’t matter…the Webb Ellis in the trophy case is all that matters.

I love rugby and all, but the World Cup for rugby is nothing like the World Cup for soccer. I’m sorry, somebody has to say it.

Anybody who follows international rugby at all knows that the All Blacks are by far the best team. They won the Tri-Nations, whooped the British Lions in all three contests (even the NZ Maori beat the Lions), and easily conqurered Europe.

The only thing Wilkinson ever did for England was drop-kick those championship points, and England only won because he was clutch instead of on crutches for once.

This strikes me as a statement of someone who has no idea about the game.
What is your point regarding the soccer and football World cups? Nothing like? Of course not - One is a truely Global sport and One will be a truely Global sport. Rugby Union, although one of the older team sports has only been professional since 1995, and has only been staging world cups since 1987. Give it time. I personally feel that Rugby as a game has missed out on a tremendous opportunity by granting NZ the last world cup (for 2011??) instead of japan. Now with their stadia and appetite for the new that would have been a better comparison imo.

Concerning Wilkinson, have you ever actually sen him play? Premiership teams at one point stopped running down his channel due to his tackling prowess. In addition he bought his own game on, now he has quicker feet, a devastating tackler, steps well, kicking has always been great but to say he kicked those championship points and thats it. Well, you need to watch the game and maybe learn about it a bit more. There is no finer stand off in world rugby when he is on form, especially in high pressure games.

Yeah. I think I know something about the game. I played a season in the first division in New Zealand, and made two trips to the National ALL Star games in my home country.

I stand by my statement that the team who holds the Webb Ellis Cup is the best until someone takes it from them, four years later.

[/quote]

Great, but the comments were not directed at you but bullpups.
I actually agree 100% with your points.

37

Further review of England V Aus…

we had 63% of possession! It seems we have taken a step back to pre 2000 England where we would dominate posession but lack that cutting edge.
Who are our next generation of cutting edge backs?
Chev walker is on his way to Union from top Rugby league club leeds Rhinos but is this a short term answer to our probs? i.e pillage from rugby league again?
We need coaching to start moulding classy backs ASAP.

38

[quote]supermick wrote:

Do you feel Ashton and Mike ford will add anything to Englands back play? Personally i dont think its a lack of ideas or coaching but rather lack of players who can pull of basics in high pressure situations and make competant decisions. Esp in the backs. Were fucking terrible…[/quote]

I agree. I think they may help over time if we can get some consistent centre pairings who start understanding the way the new coaches want them to play.

As for consistent centres; hopefully Farrell may get fit at some point, though who knows how he will perform at union.

Tait should be a long term solution at 13, he is awesome to watch for the falcons.

Catt is on the way out, he has 2 more seasons max.

Noon is not cut out for the top level.

Maybe Abbott can get back in the fold or Erinle, but 12 is a huge problem for us.

I’m not as concerned about the back three though. On this tour they hardly got the ball in any space. Varndell was not ready though. We have some great other new wingers like Armitage and Biggs coming through as well.

39

[quote]VorteX wrote:

The fact that England Saxons were poor in the Churchill Cup is also bad news. I thought our depth of players were better than that.

I still stand by my earlier comments that Robinson is one of the main problems though.[/quote]

Bare in mid that the England team in Aus would have made up the majority of the saxons squad if everybody had been fit.

I Agree with the critiscm of Robinson…my personal belief is that the RFU expected him to resign when he was replaced as the forwards coach and the rest of his staff were removed, though alas it appears he wasn’t man ehough to fall on his sword.

40

[quote]Anthony Roberts wrote:
supermick wrote:
BFBullpup wrote:
Anthony Roberts wrote:

Yeah. I think I know something about the game. I played a season in the first division in New Zealand, and made two trips to the National ALL Star games in my home country.

I stand by my statement that the team who holds the Webb Ellis Cup is the best until someone takes it from them, four years later.

[/quote]

I understand where you are coming from with this statement, but the English side who played us the last two weeks is most definitely not the best team in the world at the moment. Based on Super 14 teams form earlier this it’s hard to go past the All Blacks. Australia are rebuilding their forward tight five, at least our backline is still brimming with talent. I’m not sure how South Africa are going, we’ll find out soon in the Tri-nations tests.