The Rugby Thread

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PeteC
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Re: The Rugby Thread

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I agree about the U20. I think most of the time the U20 results are similar or the same as their big brother squads, but that's not based upon any stat comparison yet. I'll have to do that when time. Pete :cheers:
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Re: The Rugby Thread

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PeteC wrote: Sat May 12, 2018 3:18 pmLater today your time is also the Champions Cup final with Dan Carter's Racing 92 against Leinster. I'm picking Racing obviously. :D A lot of Rugby going on! :thumb: Pete :cheers:
At home for once and looking forward to this one! Beer in the fridge and believe it or not it's BBQ weather in Wales today :shock: So, coals lit, a few friends around, beers in hand and a good day ahead!

Have to say, I'm going for Leinster myself - they just look too good.

Enjoy your rugby Pete!

:cheers: :cheers:
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Re: The Rugby Thread

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Pharvey, I think you probably clicked on "reinvite players from last season" when you set up the pool. With the World Cup pool this time I also did that, but also clicked on:
Screen Shot 2018-05-12 at 15.28.56.png
Screen Shot 2018-05-12 at 15.28.56.png (16.29 KiB) Viewed 513 times
I'm seeing I'm getting even more people to sign up using that method as they get an email directly and not just if they happen to see the post on the forum. There's also some of your Rugby friends in that database who aren't forum members, but one has now signed up for the WC, maybe more will later. Pete :cheers:
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Re: The Rugby Thread

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WalesOnline https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rug ... e-14644159

Good article by Nigel Owens. Pete :cheers:

To the list of things that are soft — jelly babies, pillows and marshmallows, to name but three — we can apparently throw in the sport of rugby.

We know this because a couple of former internationals, backed by a vocal crew on social media, implied as much with comments after James Haskell had been penalised for a high tackle during his final home game for Wasps.

The 33-year-old Haskell himself lamented: “I don't know what's happened to rugby.”

He and others are entitled to that view.

But it doesn’t exactly chime with what I see when I take the field every weekend.

The game is definitely cleaner at the top level than it was in the 1970s or 1980s. But does that make it softer? No, it does not.

Some see the rugby of 30 or 40 years ago as the good old days, but were those days really that good if the anecdotes about the dark deeds that supposedly took place are true?

You hear some horror stories, about players getting booted at the bottom of rucks, about stamping and head-butting. Call me old-fashioned but that’s not the kind of game I would want to be part of.

Just because that stuff has been rooted out does not mean the game has gone soft.Some of the hits today are thunderous, put in by blokes who are built like tanks. Yet I regularly see people climbing off the floor and resuming playing after being smashed square-on. You wonder how they can possibly manage it. But they get up and carry on despite the probability that every one of the 206 bones in their bodies are rattling.

I have seen some people continue after being on the wrong end of piledriving tackles and I think to myself: “Heck! How is that possible?”

It is pretty much the same every week.

The impact of collisions can be tremendous and the courage shown in every game never ceases to amaze.

The key is that we differentiate between the hard player and the dirty player. I don’t accept they are the same thing.

The dirty player might deck someone with a cowardly punch from behind, an act which in no way proves his physical hardness. In years gone by, that same individual might have trampled on an opponent, in the knowledge that there were no cameras and he could get away with it.

But the advent of professionalism changed everything because with it came sponsors’ money and greater television exposure.

Rugby couldn’t go on as it was.

TV would have shone a light on the brainless minority and people would have been reluctant to let their youngsters play the game. Similarly, companies would have thought twice about letting their names be associated with that kind of sport and broadcasters would have soon been flooded with complaints.

So the game had to clean itself up and my view is that today the product is infinitely better.

The pace has picked up dramatically and so has the intensity and the ball is in play for more time. These days, tackles can be double the force.

Who is the hardest man I have come across on a rugby pitch?

Well, as I have suggested, I don’t consider there to be anything tough about the sly-punch merchants who once dotted rugby.

Instead, let’s think of someone like Richie McCaw, capped 148 times by New Zealand despite playing in the most attritional of positions where every game he would be required to throw himself into harm’s way, perhaps by locking himself over possession and soaking up the attention of immensely powerful forwards who would do everything they could to wipe him off the ball.

That’s what I call a genuine hard-man.

Much the same goes for Martyn Williams: a century of caps for Wales and a player who rarely left the pitch without red streaming from his face, who took countless bumps but kept coming back for more.

And what about Shane Williams — one of the smallest men to play rugby who took the hits from the big men yet rose to his feet and got on with the game, bringing his own incredible crowd-pleasing skill to proceedings?

Shane had remarkable courage, as did McCaw and Williams.

Those three didn’t need to venture outside the rules to prove anything.

So let’s not hear any more wondering about the state of the modern game from people who should know better.

At a time when there’s increasing concern about concussion in rugby, World Rugby were right to implement a zero tolerance approach to high tackles. That is sound common sense.

There’s still room for spectacular challenges that players enjoy putting in and spectators relish witnessing, just as fans savour the sidestep that leaves the defender clutching thin air.

But we don’t want to see sly, dangerous or reckless behaviour in our game.

Rugby is a harder and more physically demanding sport than it has been before.

It isn’t as dirty as it once was, fair enough, but that’s something we should celebrate.

There is more than enough scope to be hard and physical within the rules.
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Re: The Rugby Thread

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..."On this side of world the Sunwolves finally won their first for the year against the Queensland Reds, 63-28 in Tokyo.".... A quote from a post of mine a week or so ago.

These same Queensland Reds who were killed by the lowest team in Super 15 Rugby just played the Top NZ team, The Hurricanes, and lost 38-34.

The old adage, "On any given day...." is so true at this level of sport. These players can pull up something from inside that they probably don't even understand. :thumb: to the Reds. Great game, and you played a better, more aggressive game than the Hurricanes. Pete :cheers:
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Re: The Rugby Thread

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Slow afternoon? Arguably what could be the best Super Rugby match of the season starts at 1435 Thai time this afternoon from New Zealand. Crusaders vs Hurricanes playing for the top spot in the standings. TRUE channel 669. Pete :cheers:
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Re: The Rugby Thread

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The irritating rugby bugbear referees will clamp down on this summer after big meeting in Australia

"Six Nations referees have vowed to continue their crackdown on one hot topic in rugby following a debrief of performances during the 2018 tournament.

Crooked feeds into the scrum was one area that came under closer scrutiny from Six Nations officials this season.".......

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rug ... n-14689056
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Re: The Rugby Thread

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Not the result I wanted. A difficult match in wet weather. Crusaders on their game, Hurricanes far off their game. Pete :cheers:

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Re: The Rugby Thread

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The Japanese team couldn't make it three in a row. They need another two seasons. Look for them as contenders in 2021 if their financing holds out. Pete :cheers:

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Re: The Rugby Thread

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Now, this was a game of rugby! :D Pete :cheers:


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Re: The Rugby Thread

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Just a heads up for those of you that have not yet made your picks on Superbru.

The "June Internationals" tournament kicks off with South Africa vs Wales from DC. Kick-off is 10pm BST UK tonight, so a tad early for you guys in LOS.

Both sides have picked inexperienced squads, with 10 or 12 first choice players out - should be interesting (although not apparently for the American public with ticket sales well down. Can't see another international match being played in DC.

Anyway, here's to a good game with some exciting new talent on show.

:cheers: :cheers:
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Re: The Rugby Thread

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I have no idea why Superbru is calling the Wales win a major upset, unless it's purely based upon what people picked. If anyone read just one or two articles leading up to the match it was abundantly clear that SAF is more or less in a state of disaster, much more so than any troubles Wales is having. Pete :cheers:
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Re: The Rugby Thread

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Re: The Rugby Thread

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You've forgotten your pool rugby picks Pharvey, as have RZR, Dai_L, and Jeff. I think you've gone beyond default scoring now and ended up with a 0 for some matches this past weekend. :( Pete :cheers:

EDIT: Oz is running away with the tournament at the moment! :D
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Re: The Rugby Thread

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:D And I forgot round 1
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