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Post by threehundred on Sept 10, 2023 10:13:56 GMT
Well that was a turnup for the books, outstanding from England after an absolutely ridiculous red card, real backs against the wall stuff against a team that many had predicted would win against 15 England players - Argentina had no answer against 14 who were galvanised by the sending off. A great and long overdue team performance, now to keep that momentum going against Japan next weekend! Yep - magnificent stuff. That’s well and truly piqued my interest and given me the hope I desperately didn’t need… George Ford over Farrell every time - just brilliant. I’ll be devastated when Courtney Lawes calls time on his career - simply my favourite player ever. He hits harder, faster and more often than anyone I’ve ever seen. He was inspiring last night. |
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earlscourtsaint
International
The days of the Choccy Box may well be over
Posts: 1,029
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Post by earlscourtsaint on Sept 10, 2023 12:45:38 GMT
Manu Tuilagi also had one of the best games for England, he has always offered such huge potential but not reached it (sound familiar?) but he was awesome last night, as were all 14 to be fair - the trick now will be to replicate that underdog spirit with 15 players on the pitch!
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earlscourtsaint
International
The days of the Choccy Box may well be over
Posts: 1,029
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Post by earlscourtsaint on Sept 10, 2023 13:07:27 GMT
For those that are not so familiar with Rugby just a quick rundown of all the positions.
For future reference -
1 Loose head Prop: Moderately tall fat lad, often aggressive when something obstructs way to bar, pie shop and occasionally a ruck. Does weights- no one knows why
2 Hooker: short fat lad with endless capacity for cheap booze and fascinated by women miles out of his league. Believes he has rugby nous and is an athlete
3 Tight head Prop: fat lad who believes he’s technically a good player with good hands. Everyone else thinks he just gets in the way. Does weights, no one notices.
4 Lock: big hard lad who thinks he’s the enforcer. Police describe him as hooligan. Wears shorts and flip flops all year round, lives with his mum.
5 Lock: Giraffe, looks funny when he runs. Long arms useful in bar, takes up too much space. Often very fit and yet last to arrive at breakdown
6 Blindside flanker: proper hard man, can disappear for 80 minutes but emerge holding someone’s scrotum. Never buys a round.
7 Openside flanker: glory boy often with psychotic tendencies. Will spend a lot of time in A&E but when present can carry a team. Often unpopular or young. Or both
8 Number 8: big bastard; talks a good game and describes himself as a footballer. Often vain, sometimes scruffy, generally can’t hold their drink and have weird hobbies or jobs. Handy in a scuffle but best avoided socially.
9 scrum half. Gobby midget who can get himself into trouble marginally faster than he can run away from it. Nothing is his fault. Good drinker.
10 fly half: there are two sorts, running or kicking. Generally they don’t know which one they are until it’s too late. Unusually nice hair and over confident in every situation until it’s too late.
11 left wing: lanky speed merchant. Can’t catch. Live in a world of their own and always forget one item of kit, often boots.
12 inside centre: often the best player on the pitch as well as the fittest. Limited social skills and terrified of women until the beer kicks in.
13 outside centre: does everything the 12 doesn’t. Socially active and often juggling multiple women. Has nice car, good job and demanding fitness regime as well as extensive debts and improbably large porn collection
14 right wing: the only reason he doesn’t score 10 tries in every game is because no one can pass. Often a big lad who really looks the part and yet never quite has the impact you hope for. Doesn’t drink
15 full back: 90% of them should be shot at dawn for cowardice. Last line of defence my arse. Secretly want to play at 10 and buys the skipper lots of pints. Too many hair products but useful source of spare socks and toiletries at away games.
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Post by yateleysaint on Sept 12, 2023 16:46:19 GMT
For those that are not so familiar with Rugby just a quick rundown of all the positions. For future reference - 1 Loose head Prop: Moderately tall fat lad, often aggressive when something obstructs way to bar, pie shop and occasionally a ruck. Does weights- no one knows why 2 Hooker: short fat lad with endless capacity for cheap booze and fascinated by women miles out of his league. Believes he has rugby nous and is an athlete 3 Tight head Prop: fat lad who believes he’s technically a good player with good hands. Everyone else thinks he just gets in the way. Does weights, no one notices. 4 Lock: big hard lad who thinks he’s the enforcer. Police describe him as hooligan. Wears shorts and flip flops all year round, lives with his mum. 5 Lock: Giraffe, looks funny when he runs. Long arms useful in bar, takes up too much space. Often very fit and yet last to arrive at breakdown 6 Blindside flanker: proper hard man, can disappear for 80 minutes but emerge holding someone’s scrotum. Never buys a round. 7 Openside flanker: glory boy often with psychotic tendencies. Will spend a lot of time in A&E but when present can carry a team. Often unpopular or young. Or both 8 Number 8: big bastard; talks a good game and describes himself as a footballer. Often vain, sometimes scruffy, generally can’t hold their drink and have weird hobbies or jobs. Handy in a scuffle but best avoided socially. 9 scrum half. Gobby midget who can get himself into trouble marginally faster than he can run away from it. Nothing is his fault. Good drinker. 10 fly half: there are two sorts, running or kicking. Generally they don’t know which one they are until it’s too late. Unusually nice hair and over confident in every situation until it’s too late. 11 left wing: lanky speed merchant. Can’t catch. Live in a world of their own and always forget one item of kit, often boots. 12 inside centre: often the best player on the pitch as well as the fittest. Limited social skills and terrified of women until the beer kicks in. 13 outside centre: does everything the 12 doesn’t. Socially active and often juggling multiple women. Has nice car, good job and demanding fitness regime as well as extensive debts and improbably large porn collection 14 right wing: the only reason he doesn’t score 10 tries in every game is because no one can pass. Often a big lad who really looks the part and yet never quite has the impact you hope for. Doesn’t drink 15 full back: 90% of them should be shot at dawn for cowardice. Last line of defence my arse. Secretly want to play at 10 and buys the skipper lots of pints. Too many hair products but useful source of spare socks and toiletries at away games. Rugby is weird. |
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Post by melrose on Sept 12, 2023 21:29:10 GMT
It would be more useful if you just described the deformities. Eg what position is is that causes one to have ears like slabs of spam that have been kicked about unnoticed on the floor of a busy Korean restaurant for two weeks before being retrieved and stitched on as some sort of Ill-advised stag do joke?
And as in many other contexts- why not use some protection? Or is that not hard enough?
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earlscourtsaint
International
The days of the Choccy Box may well be over
Posts: 1,029
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Post by earlscourtsaint on Sept 25, 2023 11:50:30 GMT
What a weekend that was!! And certainly better than the football!! Ireland v South Africa might have been low scoring but it was bloody entertaining, c50k Irish crowd in the Stade de France was brilliant, I doubt there was a drop of Guinness left in Paris, and then for Wales to absolutely trounce Australia last night, and send them home, was fantastic. Oh, and England & Scotland won.
Likely quarter finals are now;
France v South Africa
Ireland v New Zealand
Wales v Argentina
England v Fiji
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earlscourtsaint
International
The days of the Choccy Box may well be over
Posts: 1,029
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Post by earlscourtsaint on Oct 16, 2023 11:36:50 GMT
What a simply outstanding weekend of rugby that was!!!!
So, Wales & Ireland didn't go to plan, Argentina and New Zealand thoroughly deserved their wins, England were superb for 60 minutes, and then choked for a bit before literally limping over the line (pretty posh boy Marcus Smith got absolutely smashed, several times, and still came back for more, fair play!!) and then we had South Africa v France, that first 40 mins was without doubt the best 40 mins I have ever had the pleasure to watch, just mesmerising, the pace was relentless, did the better team win, I'm not sure, but South Africa took everything France threw at them, and threw it back, the 2nd half was a bit slower, but then it had to be - I was knackered by the end!!
PS - Mrs ECS is South African - she went to bed very happy indeed - I fear for England next Saturday!!
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Post by yateleysaint on Oct 16, 2023 12:18:44 GMT
That little (or was it just that everyone else was big?) blonde bloke with the long hair who came on for South Africa was an absolute nutter.
You know when you take one look at someone for the first time and think “This bloke is completely off his head!”? Well, that’s this guy. He plays like a tornado in a wig and was just throwing himself headlong into thin air and constantly trying to ankle tap people. He’s got Jamie Vardy energy and probably eats nothing but biltong. What a headcase.
England aren’t great to watch but they’re ruthless. The South Africans have got that bloke in a cap who could give Kamaldeen Sulemana a run for his money.
New Zealand shouldn’t have too many problems seeing off Argentina but England will have their work cut out against South Africa.
I’m ashamed that I’ve got quite into it now. I tried to watch the Wales v Croatia game but VPN connection was bad so I switched to the rugby. The French are funny because they completely refuse to kick and kept trying to pass through South Africa and giving the ball away. They’re the complete opposite of England.
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earlscourtsaint
International
The days of the Choccy Box may well be over
Posts: 1,029
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Post by earlscourtsaint on Oct 16, 2023 12:55:10 GMT
Faff de Klerk - I described him last night as 'Sonic the Scrapper'
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Post by yateleysaint on Oct 16, 2023 12:56:00 GMT
Faff de Klerk - I described him last night as 'Sonic the Scrapper' Even his name is crazy. He is like a Saffer Scrappy Doo. |
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Post by threehundred on Oct 16, 2023 13:00:06 GMT
Gutted I missed the England game and even more so France v SA.
Ireland v NZ was simply one of the best sporting events I have seen all year… the last 33 phases (7 or 8 minutes) were mind-blowing. What an advert for rugby.
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earlscourtsaint
International
The days of the Choccy Box may well be over
Posts: 1,029
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Post by earlscourtsaint on Oct 16, 2023 13:06:46 GMT
Gutted I missed the England game and even more so France v SA. Ireland v NZ was simply one of the best sporting events I have seen all year… the last 33 phases (7 or 8 minutes) were mind-blowing. What an advert for rugby. The Ire v NZ game was indeed amazing - the Fra v SA game was even better!! I'd highly recommend trying to watch it, the first 60 mins will blow your mind!! |
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Post by Mandochris on Oct 16, 2023 13:19:45 GMT
Gutted I missed the England game and even more so France v SA. Ireland v NZ was simply one of the best sporting events I have seen all year… the last 33 phases (7 or 8 minutes) were mind-blowing. What an advert for rugby. The Ire v NZ game was indeed amazing - the Fra v SA game was even better!! I'd highly recommend trying to watch it, the first 60 mins will blow your mind!! How about the first 25. I called my son at this point because it was insane. 5 tries already. |
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Post by Willshakes. on Oct 17, 2023 7:22:38 GMT
The financial crisis besetting English rugby is so acute there are fears England head coach Steve Borthwick is ‘unsackable’ because the RFU can’t afford a pay-off, no matter how badly his team perform.
Borthwick signed a five-year contract last year and is understood to earn just over £700,000 per year.
Sacking him and his staff this year — in the event of a woeful World Cup & EASY pool satge — could cost in the region of £3million. After paying Leicester something like £500,000 compensation to get Borthwick last year, on top of huge severance [pay of about £1.4m] for [former coach] Eddie Jones, there’s no appetite to sack Borthwick,’ said one high-ranking source.
‘It would be too expensive.’ Another source said: ‘The RFU is on the ropes financially. They are expecting to suffer huge losses over the next couple of years.’ The parlous state of the RFU’s finances are laid bare in their latest accounts, just published. The club game has been in crisis for a while, with Worcester and Wasps put into administration.
The governing body is far from in rude health either. The RFU’s financial statements detail how the Covid pandemic and the rising cost of living were among the factors that have cost them £150m in lost revenues. England attendances have failed to return to pre-Covid levels. The RFU have also fully drawn down two loans worth £50m and £14m.The financial stresses comes at a time when the RFU are offering bigger potential bonuses to their players at the World Cup than any other governing body. In the unlikely event England win in France, the players would collect an RFU bonus worth around £212,000 apiece.
The French would get around £172,000 each from their federation for winning, while the players from New Zealand and Australia expect bonuses of up to £100,000 from their federations if they triumph. I've enjoyed the RWC however Rugby in England is in a dire situation and needs a complete upheaval.
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Post by saintsfan73 on Oct 17, 2023 8:06:10 GMT
Faff de Klerk - I described him last night as 'Sonic the Scrapper' When they had the ball with about a minute left in the game, why on earth did he kick it to the French? Why not just grind out another short run and then just boot the ball out? |
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