A load of Home Nations championships.
In fact weâve been the reigning champions for over 30 years at this stage and I donât see that changing in the near future.
What a legacy.
And the âknowledgeableâ rugby folk are always complaining about NZ poaching players, when itâs invariably the other way around. A dim bunch.
What, the âknowledgeableâ rugby folk have a team?
Where does this âKRFâ team play?
Poor @Sidney must be seething at your itâs / its errors in that post. No wonder heâs driven to distraction.
Iâm actually chuckling at poor you making an utter idiot of yourself.
Are you going to continue in this vein or will you give me the authority to spare you and let me lock the thread?
I think it would be the wise thing to do on your part.
Not able to do it yourself?
Is the new forum search function (FSF) confusing you?
Itâs the source of your stat mate.
Is it? Iâve never heard/read/seen it before.
Okay
Those the fact the vast majority of the rugby players live at home contribute to the easy ride they get from the press?
Also the fact 90 percent of the media is ex players and they would have played with lads on the team. Surely this contributes as well.
You see this with the Liverpool clique on sky sports.
Nice hush-hush job by the media given the widespread circulation of this incident, compare and contrast with the good natured tomfoolery Phil Babb and Mark Kennedy indulged in all those years ago.
There is truth in that with Thornley. He writes opinion and is on the beat so needs to keep his sources sweet. Contrast his treatment of Eddie OâSullivan for years vs Declan Kidney. One leaked the team to him weekly and the other told him to fuck off in 2005.
That said, Neil Francis and George Hook are two of the most prominent mainstream rugby pundits and regularly slag players. Hook is far worse than Dunphy who directs the majority of his ire at the management and FAI when he wants to have a go.
@ChocolateMice and @Tim_Riggins - I believe the true number of players at the RWC who werenât born in or associated with the country they represented is around 100 which is still very high.
Someone who plays club rugby here for a few years having moved from another country shouldnât be allowed to represent our country in the same way as I donât think the likes of Houghton and Aldridge should have been allowed represent us. Both systems are completely flawed. Trying to argue that one is more flawed than the other is all a bit stupid really but sure its entertaining reading all the same.
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Donât forget the Eire soccer team overcoming Iceland and Czechoslovakia to win the 1986 Iceland Triangular Tournament.
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With all due respect thatâs complete horseshit mate.
Ray Houghtonâs father was Irish. He has every right to consider himself Irish. It would be farcical if FIFA didnât allow him to play for Ireland. Alan Kellyâs father moved to England to play professional football. Are we then to believe that Alan Jr shouldnât play for Ireland because he was born abroad?
You donât need to be madly patriotically Irish to consider yourself Ireland or to represent Ireland. That gobshite waving the Union Jack in front of the Queen of England down in Cork is every bit as Irish as I am. And itâs not for anyone else to decide whether they should have that right or not.
But, the big objection for me is when someone only qualifies to represent a country because of their professional career. Thatâs very different and is pure opportunism. Professional sportspeople are, by their nature, mercenary. Their place of employment should not determine their right to represent a particular country. That applies to the likes of Diego Costa and the very odd exception in soccer. But it is widespread in rugby.
Comparing Nathan White to Ray Houghton is, frankly, stupid. Please withdraw immediately.
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You tit.
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Agree rating.