Rugby Anyone?

[shuvit-tim]

doive what nationality are you!? so far i've managed to rule out that you arent welsh, but you visit ireland a lot, live in scotland, and wanted england to win the 6 nations.

[Neilyman]

He`s a Mongrel !!! Heinz 57 varieties.

I know `what he is`, but I`ll let the man himself explain!

[Doive]

England to win the six nations??!! I think not sir. I would like England to pick up the prestigious wooden spoon, oft coveted by Scotland and Italy over the last few years. I am Scottish by where I live but am Northern Irish by birth. Consider myself Northern Irish even though I've been told it's not a recognised nationality, yet 'English' is. Hmmm. I'm not hugely patriotic, I don't bang on for hours about how we won this or whatever (mainly because we have won diddly squat) but it does annoy me when people talk about Irish politics when they clearly have no idea about anything. So that's a subject to avoid!

As for the suspension, hands up I was wrong! As Neily says I got confused by the spring cup on the crossmember, thinking about it now (I did rebuild the bloomin' thing a year ago!). The upper hub location is a balljoint on the end of... a wishbone! This is connected to the damper that goes up into the turret, and the lower wishbone houses the lower part of the spring. Memory refreshed! Cheers guys. I'm always willing to back down when I'm proved wrong!

[Shoveitpusher]

if they can't win the next 2 games i'll eat my hat!

i fear Ireland are going to get somewhat scorched by the marauding Welsh Dragon and if there's anything left of the Scots to face England i will be surprised. still i'm hoping for a really good closing match from the 2 top teams this year.

of course English is a nationality, despite not actually being recognised on any forms one has to fill out. England was the dominant power in our bit of Europe since Eddie 1 fancied holidays abroad.

[Doive]

I agree. For their own sake England had better pull something out of the bag. But one englishman remarked "We are still world champions". Indeed. Beaten by France, Wales and Ireland, surely this makes all three teams better than the 'World Champions'. I'm looking forward to the next world cup in that case! I think Wales are looking very strong for the crown, and I wouldn't be too upset if they get it as they certainly have played well this season.

On every official form I have to fill out, the nationality is always ticked 'other' and written underneath as Northern Irish. Pedantic? Not really. I'm not British as I'll be considered English by others, and I'm not Irish as I'll be considered a gun wielding maniac. Or drunk. Probably both.

[Shellysowner]

Aren't you allowed to be any nationality you 'consider' yourself in our new PC world. Or is that ethnic origin?

[shuvit-tim]

ralph,

in our new PC world

you live in PCworld? cool

as for th eenglish we have to beat the italians...surely.....they couldnt possobly lose......could they?

we've been crap since god walked out over the government money row. that and jonny wilkinsons foot fell off. or whatever it is that's kept him out of the team for the last umpteen months.

as for politics, dont discuss with friends or adversaries and you'll probably not come unstuck

[Shoveitpusher]

without Bergamasco senior on the pitch a lot of the punch has gone out of the Italiens, they are still a threat. loosing Robinson from the back line and bringing in Balshaw should make a big differance, all we need is Simpson_Daniel and the strength should be back (yes i'm a maverick and don't think Jason Robinson is that good)

but lets look at the facts regarding the losses from Austrailia on. the international game now is won by getting and kicking penalties when teams are pretty equal. Australia and Wales (i won't mention the pitch effect but it was a disgrace for either team to play on such a surface) were lost purly on the kickers inability to hit the target. the French was a lot more worrying due to the penalties given away but still came down to the same reason. the Ireland game really did suffer from a referee who was smarting from the criticism he'd had from his last game with Munster. he was so totally wrong it was untrue on both sides, he made the world cup referee look competant. personally i think the game should be replayed.

so England with a heavy number of first choice players on the injured list can keep the rest to within 3 points, all the time giving their new palyers valuable match experience, this includedes the coach who seems to have struggled when he is calling the shots. we have another new captain - the last England team usually have 6 or so lieutenants who had experiance of captaining the side. some of the new caps have not worked out (Tait - who is now with the sevens squad, but will be back in a couple of years then watch out) some have, the new props have fitted in well - i'd like to see Titteral play to both take the pressure off Thompson (he's not letting the squad down as he's the only real top class hooker) and keep him honest (ie there is someone who can replace you if you don't buck your ideas up)

on the down side they haven't played the referee well at all and the penalty count even with decent refs is way too high, Lewis Moody and the French spring to mind. the captain failed to recognise his kicker was having a bad game and use his forewords to get better kicking position ie tap penaties and kicking to touch rather than take place kick.

to be balanced - the Welsh are stunning, beating a well playing French squad in one half was brilliant, beating the English with a high pressure kick was again impressive. the should win the Grand slam and deservedly so, they seem to hav found a crop of new cpas to replace the old so they should stay up there for a while. the Irish are playing as well as ever but i fear they have missed the boat and are on the wain it would have been their year if the Welsh hadn't hit the form they have. the squad is getting older and there seem to be few new caps to replace the old hands. they are still great to watch and O'Driscol, should be Lions captain with Stringer at scrum half. not sure about O'Gara his kicking from hand in the second half against England was pretty poor missing touch most of the time. The French are playing silly buggers and i haven't a clue what they are doing, the Scots - better, but still cannon fodder.

so now my other passion is out, i object to the current squad being called crap. if there was no discerable reason for the losses then i would agree but there are clear reasons and they can be worked on. if i were the other nations fielding full strength squads then i would be worrying.

[Shellysowner]

Bleugh PC world, another shop that I dislike!

[shuvit-tim]

my apologies for the slur pete, but in my opinion we are distinctly below par.

[Shoveitpusher]

I didn't actually mean to aim my objection at you Tim more at the general concensus that seems to be running round the rugby world that England are crap.

below par is fair comment, but as i said, if the best the rest can do is 'just' win then they have a problem. the next world cup is up here in winter with no closing roofs to keep the weather out.

having coached sport (volleyball) i tend to look at the results slightly differently than just winners and loosers (it also make me feel better). if you played as well as you can and still get beaten then it's very hard to know where to turn to improve or to keep the team motivated. as team captain it's all about the game keeping people on their toes (i can be a bit loud) as coach it's a different matter even giving a bollocking needs to have positives in it.

[Shoveitpusher]

just to emphasise we won!!!!! runninng in more tries than the other top teams (except the welsh who managed to win a game in 40 minutes very classy)

also England have conceded the least tries

any takers now for a Scots victory?

[Doive]

Bring on the Scots!! I'd love it if they beat the still arrogant english, despite 50% losses in a six nations.

[shuvit-tim]

we'll batter the scots,

i think th ewelsh will get the grand slam but i'd dearly love to see the paddys turn em over. God dont the welsh go on about something when they win it!!!

When England beat wales it's a pity and it's forgotten about in an hr, when wales beat england, they release a DVD

[iety2004]

I wouldn't like the paddys to turn us over, but we'll have to wait and see won't we,



Was reading some where, where they where rating this squad to the welsh squad that last one the grand slam.

I think they said only 2 out of this team players would of fitting in to the old team.

So last time we must of been good, (before my time)

[shuvit-tim]

rugby was a lot faster back then and more technical. It was more to do with nifty little wingers and centres and good ball handling. these days it is based on how big you are or how well you can kick. or so i believe anyway

[Doive]

The Welsh teams of old were legendary, as were the Scottish and Irish teams. England weren't really anything to write home about at the time.

As for the Welsh going on about things - I think the english have a certain talent for that as well! When they won the rugby world cup everyone was bleating on about '66 and that win, as if they have anything in common?!

[shuvit-tim]

the football world cup is so much more of a holy grail than th rugby world cup. There would be street parties and nobody would go into work for a week if we won the footy world cup, the country would go into euphoric meltdown!

[Doive]

And the bacon squadron would need permission to land at Heathrow!

[shuvit-tim]

rararrarararararah

[Shoveitpusher]

football, that's the game for overpaid fashon models isn't it who fall over if someone comes near them? your right bigger mass appeal but much less likelyhood of actually getting our hands on the thing (and sorry to our Celtic neibours but you've no hope at all).

i suppose my main hope is the Irish stand up and play, i was dissapointed in 2003 when they folded. i think the Welsh will run them over big time though. they have played the best rugby i've seen for a while and will hopefully go down as being just as great as the Gareth Edwards team (i think that's the right era)

as far as i'm concerned having 4 top world class teams playing each other every year is nothing but good, and roll on when the Scots and Italians get to the same level. i would love to see a world cup with Northern hemisphere teams keeping the Southern teams out.

think the wife and i are going to Rome next year for the away match (romantic or what)

[shuvit-tim]

pete - romantic as long as she likes th erugby and you're telling her that you're going! I have visions of you taking her to rome for a 'romantic weekend' and then telling her when you are there on th esaturday afternoon "oh by the way, I've got us tickets for the rugby"


as for the 6 nations...............

I'm sorry Doive, but where did the irish finish in the end? And where did the English finish?

[Doive]

I'm sorry Doive, but where did the irish finish in the end?

Hang about! If I remember correctly I said 'I hope the Welsh win and get the Grand Slam' - this has happened and I'm happy with the result. I look at this as a victory for the Celtic nations, I'm glad to celebrate with you. After all, Ireland played well in the second half but Wales were just too strong. So well done lads. And to think two years ago Wales were fighting for the bottom places.

Now don't you go getting all arrogant on me.

[shuvit-tim]

England to win the six nations??!! I think not sir. I would like England to pick up the prestigious wooden spoon

i was simply making a point! not trying to be arrogant mate, just making a joke!

I can't fault the Welsh, they played some truly excellent rugby throughout. Fair play to them.

Nor can I say that England played excellent rugby, they were far from the team that we saw in Australia. We did however batter the Italians and the scots (albeit for some terrible defensive rugby on both sides). If we'd not folded against the french we'd have been in with a shot. It's just a bit annoying when everyone banters about Englands' 'useless' tournament, when we actually finished 3rd and no-one batters an eyelid about the Irish and Scottish! (although i do admit the irish played better rugby throughout than us)

As for the Ireland - Wales game, when you kicked the first points I thought it might have swung the other way as you followed up with some excellent pressure (albeit briefly). Unfortunately the Irish were a victim of their own mistakes for the rest of the First half, Having said that, once you took off O'Gara you looked much better and staged a marvellous fight back to leave the score reasonably respectable from the irish point of view. It was good to see you didnt just fold.

[Doive]

Happy thousandth post Tim!

I should have added a smiley face after my last comment, it was intended ironically and a bit tongue in cheek! I don't think England had a useless tournament, and I agree the Scots and the Italians always finish near the bottom without anyone passing comment but then there is reason for this.

Quite a number of english rugby fans I have spoken to in the last couple of years seem to think England are invincible, and take great pleasure telling me how crap my country are especially compared to England and the other 'world class' teams. Some (not all, I must emphasise) english fans take the view of superiority, placing the team above everyone else in the six nations, as if we are not good enough to grace the same pitch as them. Well they were soundly beaten this year. I root for everyone, Ireland, Wales, Scotland - heck, even France sometimes. I just want someone apart from England to win.