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Post by Danno on Mar 16, 2024 23:01:03 GMT
Freeman was lucky to stay in the match after that one handed knock on Nah he was going for the ball, not killing the play. Pen was about right and there wasn't an overlap anyway |
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Post by elstoof on Mar 16, 2024 23:07:55 GMT
Yeah he went for the ball, never going to catch that in a million years though. 9 times out of 10 that’s worth a yellow, hence he was lucky to stay on the pitch
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alastair
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Post by alastair on Mar 17, 2024 15:29:42 GMT
It was good... ? What's your point? I wasn't having a crack at England, just the dreary uncritical nature of his commentary. I don't know what my point was. Just caught up in the excitement.. And talking of excitement, my son's team, Ruislip U16s, just won the Herts Middlesex Division 3 league. A bonus point win at Welwyn took them past Grasshoppers who failed to beat Verulamians. \o/ |
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Ulythium
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Post by Ulythium on Mar 19, 2024 21:09:54 GMT
Tuilagi's off to France, as speculated last week, so that's probably the end of his international career.
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Post by elstoof on Mar 19, 2024 21:15:17 GMT
Should’ve gone 10 years ago
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Ulythium
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Post by Ulythium on Mar 19, 2024 21:22:37 GMT
Can't argue with that! Plus Ollie Lawrence seems like his natural successor, so it's not as though he'll be hard to replace.
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Post by elstoof on Mar 19, 2024 21:30:34 GMT
Probably suffered more from trying to shoehorn him in whenever he was fit than he ever gave to squad at his best
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Ulythium
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Post by Ulythium on Mar 19, 2024 21:35:34 GMT
Agreed. (See also: Vunipola, Billy.)
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Post by elstoof on Mar 19, 2024 21:41:07 GMT
A phenomenal stat on the BBC that since his debut in 2011 he’s missed 97 tests through injury
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Post by Dougs on Mar 19, 2024 21:43:59 GMT
Wow
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Post by Danno on Mar 20, 2024 0:29:38 GMT
Can't argue with that! Plus Ollie Lawrence seems like his natural successor, so it's not as though he'll be hard to replace. Disagree. Lawrence is much more like Joseph imo and I don't think trying to use him like Manu/Jamie Roberts 2.0 is a good idea. I wouldn't keep playing him at 12 either if we can get Dingwall/Atkinson/Ojomoh/Kelly firing there instead (happy to phase out Slade when that happens, he's persistently underwhelmed at test level. Fairly sure being left footed accounts for 50% of his caps on its own) |
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Ulythium
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Post by Ulythium on Mar 20, 2024 0:37:56 GMT
Danno Fair enough! I like Lawrence as the Tindall-esque bruiser of a centre (although he's a far more skilled player than that makes him sound). As for who could play the Greenwood role in this pairing, I'm not sure; I do, however, agree that Slade has never consistently replicated his club form on the international stage.
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Post by Danno on Mar 20, 2024 0:47:48 GMT
Danno Fair enough! I like Lawrence as the Tindall-esque bruiser of a centre (although he's a far more skilled player than that makes him sound). As for who could play the Greenwood role in this pairing, I'm not sure; I do, however, agree that Slade has never consistently replicated his club form on the international stage. I'd have Lawrence at 13 since he only plays there for his club, pretty sure all or almost all of his games at 12 have been for England, which is a bit silly (and he's better with the extra space at 13 anyway, see first try v. Ireland). Any of the four I mentioned (plus a youngster at Sarries who I cant recall just now) might/I hope will make the step up or return to form in the next year at 12. Damn shame Marchant went to France because Lawrence has been a tad brittle recently and even when fit it's obviously good to keep that shoulder getting a look behind. |
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Post by Dougs on Mar 20, 2024 8:17:25 GMT
Any indication that they are looking at the daft overseas rule? (Farrell notwithstanding). Given the state of the domestic game, it's mad imo.
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Post by elstoof on Mar 20, 2024 8:48:24 GMT
Depends how the whole RFU paying foreign clubs for calling up their players works out
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Ulythium
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Post by Ulythium on Mar 20, 2024 9:05:48 GMT
I agree with Dougs - especially as the loss of Wasps, Worcester, and Irish has reduced the Premiership from 13 teams to 10, leaving all those with England aspirations struggling to find places at clubs whose resources are already stretched to breaking point - but...
... This daft rule is the only thing stopping Steve Borthwick and co. from keeping Owen Farrell as England captain until he retires (or the heat death of the universe - whichever happens first).
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Post by Danno on Mar 20, 2024 11:56:51 GMT
There's no rumours as far as I know and I hang out on rugby forums almost as nerdy as this one
It's a double edged sword really and I'm broadly against dropping the rule.
If French/Japanese clubs have carte blanche to wave the cheque book around then the quality of the Prem is hardly going to improve. We'd also have fewer (or at least less opportunities to select) club combinations (I was excited to see what Mitchell, F Smith, Dingwall, Freeman and Furbank could do but injury and Lawrence returning kiboshed that) and there'd be less familiarity amongst players in general since Quins aren't going to spend time analysing Saitama Wild Knights ahead of their match vs Tigers.
At this moment in time I think the only overseas players I'd select are Jack Willis and Joe Marchant, but we're not exactly desperate for opensides (2 in the squad vs France) or outside centres (3 vs France plus Freeman can cover there)
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Post by Danno on Mar 20, 2024 18:55:00 GMT
To add to the above, if say 50% of the England squad are playing in the Top 14 then that will inevitably depress ticket sales and TV marketability in the Prem as well. I really don't see enough of an upside in scrapping it and the bigger problem is getting domestic rugby to a wider audience (while avoiding the fucking gross and utterly reprehensible idea of letting the Saudis invest) when Wendyball takes up 90% of sports bandwidth here. Picking overseas players will do nothing to help things financially.
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Post by Danno on Mar 22, 2024 13:34:25 GMT
Saracens (ugh) V Harlequins (woo!) is on ITV (ugh) tomorrow at 3pm.
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zephro
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Post by zephro on Mar 23, 2024 18:44:00 GMT
Scotland just beat Wales again 18-20. Get in! First victory in Wales since the W6N was started!
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alastair
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Post by alastair on Mar 24, 2024 15:49:17 GMT
England making hard work of it at the moment.
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alastair
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Post by alastair on Mar 24, 2024 16:34:31 GMT
Well, not any more.
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Ulythium
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Post by Ulythium on Mar 25, 2024 22:12:14 GMT
I detest David Flatman's "I'm dead wacky, me" style of commentary, not to mention his endless fellating of anything and everything "Sarries" do.
Maybe he'll do me a favour and follow Farrell to France - it's not as though he'll be able to check The Golden Boy for polyps all the way from Bath.
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Ulythium
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Post by Ulythium on Mar 26, 2024 9:58:45 GMT
Okay, some of that vitriolic outburst stemmed from having watched the first half of the Quins vs. Saracens game last night. Not all, but some!
Sorry about that. Will remove the stick from my ass now.
I'm sure Flatman's a lovely guy really, but I do wish he'd stop yammering sometimes. Poor Topsy can hardly get a word in edgeways.
A terrible start to the game for Quins, and as much as I hate to say it, Farrell's smug grin has been deserved - Saracens are playing superbly.
In related news, Danny Care has retired from international rugby. What a fantastic England career he has had. |
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zephro
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Post by zephro on Mar 30, 2024 13:23:31 GMT
Are there any good pubs by the Twickenham Stoop? Or acceptable ones, given it's West London AND South of the River.
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Post by elstoof on Mar 30, 2024 13:31:42 GMT
Wherever you go, make sure to wear your stonewashed jeans and brown deck shoes with no socks
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zephro
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Post by zephro on Mar 30, 2024 19:30:25 GMT
Wherever you go, make sure to wear your stonewashed jeans and brown deck shoes with no socks West London... Gah! I shall be in a Glasgow top and Doc Martens as is customary. |
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Post by muddyfunster on Mar 30, 2024 22:25:36 GMT
Depends what you're after but I used to like The Swan and The Barmy Arms. Both down by the river looking over to Eel Pie Island.
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Post by Dougs on Mar 30, 2024 22:57:21 GMT
I usually ended up in Richmond instead. The Sun was a favourite.
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Ulythium
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Post by Ulythium on Apr 3, 2024 23:19:33 GMT
The Newcastle vs. Leicester game last Friday was absolutely ridiculous - just shy of 100 minutes on the clock when the game finally ended.
The last 20 minutes consisted of a series of penalties, repeated infringements, and three yellow cards (all for Tigers, so they were down to 12 men at one point).
Falcons needed a try to win, having lost something like 17 Premiership matches on the trot.
Somehow Leicester still held on for the victory.
Sheer madness.
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