glasagusban is a freak on this forum, this is a republican socialist pro serbian forum, FOAD with your west brit rugby shit
yeah, he was bitching away that we werent showing respect over Gusty Spence’s nephew dying, what a wanker
Do you remember the time Paul O’Connell tried to kick the ball, missed it by about 3 feet and managed to boot some fella in the head instead
[quote=“Fran, post: 862506, member: 110”]Do you remember the time Paul O’Connell tried to kick the ball, missed it by about 3 feet and managed to boot some fella in the head instead
:D[/quote]
Wasn’t it his fellow former British captain he knocked out?
Wasn’t it his fellow former British captain he knocked out?[/quote]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj5CZQG8DUc
here at 1:35
[quote=“Fran, post: 862513, member: 110”]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj5CZQG8DUc
here at 1:35[/quote]
[quote=“Fran, post: 862514, member: 110”]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7SyDhZlV8Y
here at 10 seconds in[/quote]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuvz15OjCVc
I’m all for open debate, but things must be kept in context sadly.
We are discussing the merits of rugby football here @myboyblue. I’m not sure why you keep posting images and videos of NFL players. It’s a different sport
As an NFL fan I can appreciate how even the great sport such as FOOTBALL can appear hiliarious on occasion. Its called context fran. You’ve gone down a poor tangent here, I am merely righting you.
[quote=“The Wild Colonial Bhoy, post: 862297, member: 80”]tripe
there are fuck all clubs in England yet the crowds are at best low championship crowds
its a bespoke public school sport ,thats where its following is from
Football is better live,Rogbee is shit either way but really shit live as no one knows what is going on[/quote]
80000 to games last year? Low for which championship now? Football is utterly shit live.
Apologies for joining this thread late, but as someone who has made the largest swing on the rugby issue in recent years, I feel my opinion will be invaluable.
I played rugby when I was growing up. I’m not entirely sure why. Both my brothers played at various stages - one was banned from the sport for life when he refused to leave the pitch after being sent off and tried to attack a referee in the dressing room. The other one was a top quality prop who lacked the size to play at the top level but had terrific technique.
In my days playing rugby I think I only ever once came across someone who had more ability than me. He went on to be an All Black. In fairness to New Zealanders, because it’s the main sport over there it does attract their best sportspeople. The opposite is quite clearly the case in Ireland. I remember when I was 16 or 17 and there was a star out half a few years ahead of me who was the pride of the club. He left to play junior GAA when he was about 21 - that was about his level when he was mixing it with acutal sportspeople.
I did enjoy the physicality of the sport when I played it but in terms of skill level, it was hopeless. You had guys joining rugby clubs who had no co-ordination or any sort of athletic ability other than size. We had a winger who apparently had brilliant hands. He did in his shite. He clapped hands to catch the ball. In fairness he was good at timing that but he was quite clearly an awkward fucker who hadn’t a clue how to catch a ball. If he played basketball (along with everyone else surveyed by the ESRI in recent years) he’d have been a figure of fun and derision.
There were guys I played with who got professional contracts and they had nothing going for them. We got a few quid for playing which was ridiculous considering the standard, but those who went on to play it and make a living from it were even more of an indictment for the sport.
I gave it up when I was 20 or 21 - got injured, recovered and was never bothered about going back. There was an awful lot of fake importance attached to it. Training 4 or 5 times a week, playing in provincial academies and crap like that. And I couldn’t get over the lack of ability of some people who were playing at a supposedly elite level. It wasn’t just one or two lads either, there were dozens of these guys. Lads who couldn’t kick a ball, couldn’t catch, couldn’t pass, had no idea how to do anything other than run diagonally.
I remember my first game of rugby. I was 16 and I played outside centre. The other team had the ball and they did some of sort of dummy switch thing when they got the ball. I asked the guy beside me if I was supposed to go after my opposite man or if I was to switch onto the inside centre when he came outside. He didn’t know. I asked the “backs coach.” He didn’t know either. They thought it odd that I’d ask. I played under coaches who were getting paid full-time salaries to do this. A coupe of them were decent at some aspects of the job, and most of them were sound enought. But they didn’t seem to bother explaining anything to anyone. In time I realised that the Irish coaches didn’t know the answers to lots of questions, the NZ lads seemed to know but couldn’t be bothered explaining anything to hopeless cases anyway. And this was at provincial academy level.
I watched the sport for a good few years after I gave up playing. The European Cup co-incided with the growth of Sky and the 6 Nations was always a convenient watch on a Saturday afternoon. But at some stage the fraud of the competitions just becomes too much. The European Cup is a horrible mixture of franchise provinces and clubs who aren’t on a level playing field and who must be sick of the sight of eachother at this time. And a good percentage of the teams don’t take it seriously and you can only gloss over that for so long. The 6 Nations is a harmless distraction, an opportunity for Ireland to pretend at being competitive on the international stage. It’s a second tier competition and Ireland are invariably miserable in it.
If I had a choice now between a rugby league game and a union one I’d watch the league match every time. The sport is a better test of athleticism, is far less subjective to the whims of a referee and doesn’t attract the same iflux of charlatans cheering on teams and not understanding a thing about it.
As I posted on the relevant match thread the other day, nothing exposes the sham of the sport more than commentators not knowing basic rules. Both RTÉ and BBC commentators spoke at length about the need for “downward pressure” on the Australian try early in the second half. That’s not a requirement in rugby union and it’s a fairly important exclusion from the rule considering it governs a scoring play. It’s a bit like NFL commentators saying the TD shouldn’t be awarded because the receiver didn’t get 3 feet down. It’s bizarre.
A pet favourite of mine is when some lad jumps up and taps the ball back into play when his feet are off the ground and he is astonished when the flag goes up and there’s a replay and the commentators share his surprise and confirm his feet were off the ground when he batted the ball back into play. It’s not relevant at all and never has been. What hope does the girlfriend of a tag ruby playing muldoon have of understanding a ruck if the commentators and ex-pros don’t know the basic rules?
In my days playing rugby I think I only ever once came across someone who had more ability than me. He went on to be an All Black.
ROCKO is Ross O’Carroll Kelly 
Thanks Rocko. you can lock the thread now.
It was Aaron Mauger.
Aside from that, the bitterness at being rejected by not being good enough stinks off that post.
The fact that lads don’t know the All Black you played with shows how little attention people pay around here.
Which one though? I mentioned 2 brothers, some talentless professionals, an All Black, a couple of random unathletic pricks and a lad who couldn’t catch the ball. One of those was Mauger, but I’m not saying which one.
Aside from that, the bitterness at being rejected by not being good enough stinks off that post.
The fact that lads don’t know the All Black you played with shows how little attention people pay around here.[/quote]
That’s a disgusting attack on my character. I was to rugby what Kev is to fitness: peerless.
[quote=“Rocko, post: 862898, member: 1”]
That’s a disgusting attack on my character. I was to rugby what Kev is to fitness: peerless.[/quote]
I’ll agree with the last 4 letters of the final word but that’s it.
On a more serious note, could you explain the downward pressure and the touching ball back into play while feet in the air rules?