General Rugby Discussion

Podge_irl

sydneybound wrote: »

‘There’s only one rugby and that’s rugby league’*

*in certain parts of Australia

Wang King

Podge_irl wrote: »

*in certain parts of Australia

About 80% of Aus to be fair

thomond2006

Conrad Smith to Pau is official, 2 year contract!

sydthebeat

thomond2006 wrote: »

Conrad Smith to Pau is official, 2 year contract!

is irish rugby now in a position that it cannot compete with pro D2 teams??

(although Pau will most probably be top 14 next year)

thomond2006

sydthebeat wrote: »

is irish rugby now in a position that it cannot compete with pro D2 teams??

(although Pau will most probably be top 14 next year)

Pau are owned/sponsored by Total. Potentially limitless finance!

sydthebeat

thomond2006 wrote: »

Pau are owned/sponsored by Total. Potentially limitless finance!

frustrating, especially as C Smith would be an absolute godsend for munster these days

Fireball07

It'll be a great honour for Conrad Smith to play with liginds like Coughlan & Dougall.

sydneybound

thomond2006 wrote: »

Pau are owned/sponsored by Total. Potentially limitless finance!

That's literally a limitless budget for sure. Think they've a fancy new stadium on the way too no doubt they fit in well with all the other crazy Top14 budgets next year.

LuckyGent88

Toulon vs sharks on sky sports 3 for anyone who wants a bit of rugby to watch.

Pretty strong sides out too

vienne86

LuckyGent88 wrote: »

Toulon vs sharks on sky sports 3 for anyone who wants a bit of rugby to watch.

Pretty strong sides out too

Toulon seem to be on top in the first few minutes. Makings of a good match here.

sydneybound

Wayne Barnes pissing me off at scrum time, come on let them get on with it.

sydthebeat

So is this a charity / grudge game?

vienne86

sydthebeat wrote: »

So is this a charity / grudge game?

Super XV warm up match for the Sharks I think......who have just taken the lead 5-6.

sydthebeat

Two very decent team selections

sydneybound

Three great kicks from Pat Lambie. Crazy to think he just turned 24 with 40 caps behind him.

sydthebeat

Bismarck is a turn over machine!

vienne86

5-9 in favour of Sharks at half time. Poor from Toulon fans booing kicks at goal......Sharks want to win for heaven's sake, so why should they turn down penalty opportunities?

bilston

sydthebeat wrote: »

So is this a charity / grudge game?

It's the Battle of the Hemispheres!!

vienne86

Sharks obviously out to win this, but in the second half Toulon have decided they want to win it too.....another unconverted try (Smith). 10-9. Toulon scrum is immense.

vienne86

So Toulon have been beaten (10-12) by the Sharks in Stad Felix Mayol....first loss for them there for how long?????

sydthebeat

vienne86 wrote: »

So Toulon have been beaten (10-12) by the Sharks in Stad Felix Mayol....first loss for them there for how long?????

Barnes gave them every chance

matthew8

Stade earlier this season won there, so did Grenoble last year.

vienne86

sydthebeat wrote: »

Barnes gave them every chance

He sure did - he was rubbish in the last few minutes. Sharks deserved the win.

Teferi

Sharks beat Toulon 12 - 10 if anybody cares.

thomond2006

Teferi wrote: »

Sharks beat Toulon 12 - 10 if anybody cares.

A glorified pre-season match for the Sharks really. I think there's a place for these matches, just not a day before the start of the Six Nations! A South African team during a mini-tour here would be pretty cool, maybe play one of the provinces and then the Wolfhounds?

sydneybound

I see USA topped their group at the Wellington Sevens yesterday. That's the second time they've done that in something like 10 years.

Bodes well for the upcoming Las Vagas 7's in which their expecting a crowd of over 70,000 over the couple of days.

dregin

So the 6 Nations is Hook's last stint. I'll be sorry to see him go. He does seem like a nice bloke, even if his punditry is a little bit "out there" at times.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/six-nations-2015-last-call-for-mr-hook-1.2089502

total former

dregin wrote: »

So the 6 Nations is Hook's last stint. I'll be sorry to see him go. He does seem like a nice bloke, even if his punditry is a little bit "out there" at times.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/six-nations-2015-last-call-for-mr-hook-1.2089502

I think Clerkin has nailed it there. His time is up.

Hook simply hasn't kept himself relevant, isn't very well informed and the novelty of his bizarre turns of phrase has long worn off. His actual analysis is atrocious and when you've guys like O'Shea, Horgan and now ROG coming in with far more insight and far more understanding of the modern game, then you'd have to ask what the point of Hook is.

Swiwi.

I love the Horgan ROG Show and hope that is kept going. Won't miss Hook's default mode of rampant negativism, without the detailed analysis to back up his views. Wish him well though, bygones be bygones.

CatFromHue

dregin wrote: »

So the 6 Nations is Hook's last stint. I'll be sorry to see him go. He does seem like a nice bloke, even if his punditry is a little bit "out there" at times.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/six-nations-2015-last-call-for-mr-hook-1.2089502

Sometimes right, sometimes wrong, always certain.

Quite a good line that.

Love him or hate him he was always an excellent orator and so very different than any other rugby commentator.

matthew8

I'm glad to see the back of Hook. He turned every time they went to the studio into a cringefest with his ill-informed opinions.

The_Captain

I'll be very glad to see Hook gone. He has no place in the modern game.

A man just spouting off uninformed opinions to the general populace like it's gospel.
I get that the RTE panel was aimed at people with very little knowledge of the game, but it's well past its sell-by-date.

Pretty much every other channel has intelligent pundits with experience/knowledge of the game creating discussion and analysing performances.

RTE just don't seem to respect the game, they have a man shouting stupid comments over the actual experts and Mark McDermott giving cutting scrum analysis like "They pushed against each other and fell over and now they're resetting the scrum"

It's like they're going for a panel/set-up similar to their football coverage, but they've forgotten that their shouty opinionated men on the football panel actually have a huge base of knowledge and experience behind their opinions.

(except in the last few years when it just became Giles/Dunphy moaning about every player, but that's beside the point)



That being said, my favourite panel has always been the Matty/Franno combination, so make of that what you will

thomond2006

I miss The Breakdown with Franno and Williams.

ionadnapokot

for old times sake....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8o9KyFxppY

Flipper22

Hook drives me nuts (McGurk too to a lesser extent). I'll generally watch the build up on BBC. His lack of insight or understanding of the modern game is matched only by his relentless pessimism.

sydthebeat

Now it's time for Tom "butt in" mcgurk to go too....

total former

sydthebeat wrote: »

Now it's time for Tom "butt in" mcgurk to go too....

I thought that too, but then they'd only replace him with Daire O'Brien whom I just can't stand.

thomond2006

Another year at least for the Clermont butcher.

its_phil

total former wrote: »

I thought that too, but then they'd only replace him with Daire O'Brien whom I just can't stand.

Still annoyed that Joanne Cantwell hasn't comeback to replace that guy. He's the most patronising and ill informed host around.

Cantwell was brilliant and always lead the conversation well.

thomond2006

its_phil wrote: »

Still annoyed that Joanne Cantwell hasn't comeback to replace that guy. He's the most patronising and ill informed host around.

Cantwell was brilliant and always lead the conversation well.

Not to mention the 'ol chestnut of not paying his gambling debts...

(This was reported by a newspaper, can't dig out the link now)

The_Captain

thomond2006 wrote: »

Not to mention the 'ol chestnut of not paying his gambling debts...

(This was reported by a newspaper, can't dig out the link now)

And got a poor girl fired for accepting the bet

jacothelad

sydthebeat wrote: »

Now it's time for Tom "butt in" mcgurk to go too....

total former wrote: »

I thought that too, but then they'd only replace him with Daire O'Brien whom I just can't stand.

Au revoir McGurk.

http://http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/tom-mcgurk-to-retire-from-rugby-panel-its-been-a-fantastic-journey-over-18-years-30969526.html

dregin

Could never stand him... fixed link: http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/tom-mcgurk-to-retire-from-rugby-panel-its-been-a-fantastic-journey-over-18-years-30969526.html

The_Captain

Has Gervais ever done any TV work? I'm surprised he hasn't got himself into the RTE set up yet

Gloucester's Darren Dawidiuk is the latest into the collection!

"It was a massive step up, but more of a mind set than anything. I took my chance and never looked back. You have got to be prepared to take the big hits. There are just no easy games"

Super 15 are going with a similar approach this year too!

Waratahs' Jono Lance had this to say

“With the Reds that next year, it’s always spoken about, but it was a shock. There are no easy games in Super Rugby but you’re versing teams that take the physicality to a new level,”

Philo Beddoe

total former wrote: »

I thought that too, but then they'd only replace him with Daire O'Brien whom I just can't stand.

From the first moment I saw that guy on screen I didn't like him, now I cannot abide him. Rumours about his less than ethical behaviour off-screen don't help.

CatFromHue

The_Captain wrote: »

Has Gervais ever done any TV work? I'm surprised he hasn't got himself into the RTE set up yet

Gervais who?

Swiwi.

Cantwell, ROG, Horgan and then someone from the North would be good I reckon - was Stephen Ferris any cop in front of the microphone??

molloyjh

Swiwi. wrote: »

Cantwell, ROG, Horgan and then someone from the North would be good I reckon - was Stephen Ferris any cop in front of the microphone??

Almost impossible to tell when he was getting interrupted every 2 seconds by that sorry excuse for a host. Yeah Cantwell, ROG, Shaggy and maybe Fez would be good. Even Birch brings a bit more detailed analysis to Against The Head and can be good for some of the technical stuff.

ssaye2

Women playing? Any update