The Rugby Thread

[pharvey]

Cracking game and cracking result!! WOW!! Looking at the stats, you would have expected Ireland to have won that match by 20 points. For me, 2 telling factors - a) the Welsh defence... absolutely immense throughout b) decision making by Ireland. 9 points went begging where they kicked for the corner rather than the posts and failed to score. In a 7 point game, not great! As JG mentioned, on a couple of occasions they kept it tight rather than spinning it wide where there were clear try scoring opportunities.

With regards to the ref, I was certainly worried pre-match, but whilst I don't think he had an excellent game, he didn't have a bad one. There were a few decisions which quite frankly baffled me, but certainly didn't favour one or the other sides.

As you say DM, great see see a game without countless re-set scrums for once.....

[PeteC]

The average age of death for an NFL player is 57. Huge amount of hidden brain damage causing dementia at an early age, suicides and a whole host of other problems. A 24 year old star retired yesterday saying "it's not worth it...." thus giving up millions for the sake of his long term health.

How about rugby? Do they have early death stats and other premature health problems once they stop playing? They seem to be careful with play and hitting is well refereed, but there is no head protection to speak of and that surprises me. Pete

[pharvey]

^ Can't see I've ever seen any stats regarding the "early death" of rugby players. The issue of concussion has certainly been receiving a high degree of attention of late, and new rules and protocols dealing with the way concussion is assessed and managed have been introduced. I have heard that cases of concussion are up in the sport, but whether that is due the physicality of the sport these days or simply that diagnosis has been more accurate - who knows.

The only form of headgear/protection is a "scrum cap" which is used by several players - this protects against cuts and abrasions etc., but will not protect against concussion.

[arcadianagain]

Could it be that rugby tackling is mainly with arms and shoulders whereas in American Football they seem to lead with the head

[richard]

Without statistics it's difficult to know.

I played rugby at school from the age of 10 until I left and then played in my late 20's in veteran teams in London. Some of you may think my brains are scrambled but I assure you it has nowt to do with rugby.

However, I remember at school one weekend we decided to give 'American football' a try and despite donning all the protective gear I ended up in hospital with a broken leg. Maybe when you feel that you are adequately 'armoured' for combat you take greater risks

[pharvey]

Injuries with rugby - well, I've had the usual with dislocated knee and shoulder several times, but one I'm going to suffer with badly is broken fingers. I've broken each and every one (a skill in Welsh rugby to make you release the ball!!) - the quack tells me I have the onset of athuritis due to this ...... So happy days ahead.

On the whole, I think rugby is "cleaner" these days than it used to be, but far more physical purely with the size and fitness of the guys playing.

[PeteC]

I still can't figure it out definitively. I watch a match each morning at breakfast on channel 669 here, but of late it's all been Australian rugby league. Even with that version there are some tremendous hits when a player is fielding a kick, and constant tackles, but not as fierce as NFL tackles. Leading with your head in the NFL has been banned for several years now with big fines so you don't see it much any longer. It may just be size, speed and a lot of hits while the player is in the air or........there's more long term damage going on in rugby than is being publicized. I need to study more. Pete

[pharvey]

And so it comes to an end for another year .....

But then again, it's another round of great rugby!!

Whilst it's sad to see the tournament decided on points scored for/against, it certainly makes for an interesting day of rugby. The Bog Trotters despite having a slightly poorer points difference to Satan's Squad (who for some bizarre twist of fate lead the table....), have to be favorites IMHO. God's Own have an outside chance, but in all fairness we need to annihilate the Azzurri in Rome (not an easy task), and hope the Sweaties and Les Bleus do their bit to help!!

For my perfect weekend..... Spag Bol Lovers to be savaged, Beelzebub bested and the Sweaties to hold strong...... all in all, a Championship to Wales!!

[JimmyGreaves]

My perfect weekend is for you to have a bad weekend, just like my last weekend, still not got over it! :-)

[pharvey]

^ Well, I hope I'm wrong, but I still think the Paddies will take the title....... would be nice to see the Lillywhites stumble at "Twickers" though!! (sorry.... just can't be helped!).

Supposedly fairly decent weather at all venues, so here's to a good days rugby!!

[pharvey]

Scotland, Scotland, Scotland……. How bleeding embarrassingly cr@p could you be???!! Big hand, thanks loads for handing the tournament to the Paddies!! Absolutely appalling display… Sorry, but the boys in green didn’t play superbly well – the result was more geared towards the dire display of the Sweaties….
I shall however give my congrats (through clenched teeth) from those from the Emerald Isle…
Incredible 2nd half performance from Wales – scoring some 47 points to 7….. somewhat different to the 1st half, leading 14 – 13!! George nets a hatrick of tries after not scoring for 5 or 6 games. We had the championship in our hands damn you!!
As for Beelzibub’s Boys vs Les Blues – what a game 90 points for God’s sake!! And made with great reffing from Nigel Owens yet again!! Tries galore, and lovely to see 1 or two against Satan’s Squad whilst the Eton clan where singing away to their adopted “slave song”. Vunipola (very English) brothers were immense, as was Ben Youngs at scrumhalf. Haskel lucky to escape with just a yellow card IMO, but that said he’s far from a dirty player and I’m sure no malice intended.
As for the tournament as a whole, no-one has played (consistently) well. For this weekend, which pretty much sums things up, England had a good game today, God’s Own had a great 2nd half against Italy, Scotland dire… Ireland deserved (whilst unexciting) victors.
Who deserves the title…. Wales beat Ireland, Ireland beat England, England beat Wales…….. What a tournament it is!!

[PeteC]

11 more points yesterday and Wales would have done it. ( http://www.rbs6nations.com/en/matchcent ... _table.php ) Regardless, this was an exciting tournament! I take the liberty Pharvey of posting up the pool table:

1 - oz 22.50
2 - pharvey 21.50
3 ▲1 IVOR 20.00
4 ▲2 Pete 19.00
5 - iron jack 18.50
6 ▼3 hutchy10 18.50
7 ▲1 pooley (Yellow Cap)18.00
8 ▼1 MasterClass 17.00
9 - redzonerocker (The Spoon) 16.50
10 ▲1 BigBoy 15.00
11 ▼1 morgannwg 15.00
12 ▲1 Richard 14.50
13 ▲2 lindosfan 13.00
14 - JimmyGreaves 12.00
15 ▼3 Dai_L 11.50

[dtaai-maai]

Hell's teeth, what a day for rugby union!
I was chuckling quietly to myself at half time in Italy, but prematurely as it turned out...
Well as Wales played, Italy were abysmal in the way they fell apart (with a bit of help from the ref), but then that last minute try opened everything up again.
I only saw the start of the Irish game, then woke up to find they were in pole position!
And to crown it all, there was another amazing game at HQ. So many ifs and buts, but it was terrifically entertaining. I don't know if pharvey was being ironic when he said "And made with great reffing from Nigel Owens yet again!!", but how he didn't give England a last-minute penalty a metre out for a collapsed maul is quite beyond me!
As the for the "Vunipola (very English)" dig, that's just too hilarious for words - half the Welsh squad (including one Mr Falutau!) weren't born in Wales and their skipper is the most English Welshman you could ever hope to meet!

England actually lost the championship last weekend, when they should have scored another 20 points against Scotland, but that would have ruined a fantastic day today.
Anyway, what's done is done, and there's no point dwelling on it. Difficult to believe that the record book will show Wales finishing 3rd after that 2nd half rout in Italy. Who'd have thought...?

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[richard]

Well I've just surfaced. Somewhat bleary eyed but worth it.

A fantastic night/early morning session of rugby. Not only entertaining but what a magnificent crescendo and climax.

Thanks must go to the Welsh for that second half routing of collapsing Italy. Without that it would not have been so nail biting. I watched to the bitter end but unfortunately ended up with a Skype conversation from my daughter midway through the England game. You'd have thought she would have known better bearing in mind her former partner was a Welsh/Irish rugby player.

[richard]

One thing that I found interesting were the referred decisions and the detailed video analysis of the event concerned highlighting in slow motion a detailed view of what actually occurred. I think it's a shame this technology isn't applied to football particularly with all the winging that goes on about referees making wrong decisions (diving, sending the wrong players off, etc)