Please be careful as regards posting up pictures of people you think are abusing players.
To go where no man has gone before.
[quote=“kerry1891, post: 759965, member: 1379”]Reading the Irish Indo and Sindo in recent days the Irish rugby media have creamed themselves over a win or two by Munster and Leinster in club competitons.
Tony Ward reckons that it is without debate that “one of the O’s” i.e. drico or paulie will be captain. For feck sake one is a great player but ageing and struggling to finish games and got himself suspended lately. The other is a good player who has played a match or two the last 12 months and is facing a citing. Wales have a selection of players who have been involved in captain their national side to grand slams, championships and a world cup semi final.
Others are saying Peter O’Mahony, Conor Murray, Simon Zebo should be on the plane after the Stoop and Ian Madigan is now being described as a possible “bolter”. FFS if James Downey makes one break against Clermont they will probably be saying " he has put his hand up" for selection. The Welsh and the English must get a great laugh out of this.[/quote]
Tony Ward, Michael Corcoran, Ryle Nugent, Donal Lenihan, Frankie Sheehan, “Quinny”, “Woody”, “Popey” and Bernard Jackman would have 20 Irish players on the flight to Oz. 15 Test starters and 5 subs. A few of the multiple Grand Slam winning Welsh lads don’t have the H Cup medals to justify selection.
You must set aside a large amount of time to read all these rogby experts.
[SIZE=3][FONT=TabletGothicRegular][FONT=Arial]Poor Colin Deans. Absolutely tragic that he didn’t get the chance to be Loins captain in South Africa in 1986. [/FONT][/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=6][FONT=TabletGothicRegular]Deans still hurting, 23 years after Loins tour cancelled[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial][SIZE=13px]Published on [SIZE=13px]24/04/2009 22:07[/SIZE][/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]COLIN Deans understands more than any player what it means to miss out on a South Africa tour with the British Loins, so the former Scotland hooker had sympathy this week with his compatriots who watched on agonisingly as just two Scottish names were read out in Ian McGeechan’s 2009 squad.[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]However, straight away we need to put Deans’ pain into some perspective. Not only was he selected to tour South Africa, the Hawick dynamo was named as the tour captain, the Paul O’Connell of 1986. But he still did not tour. Politics intervened, the ‘86 tour to the Republic was cancelled as a protest against apartheid and so Deans led the Loins out at the Arms Stadium in Cardiff against a World XV instead.[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]Now settled in Kettering running a plastics firm, and coaching locally, the 53-year-old shrugs off the memory to begin with, but as we begin to talk more about what the Loins means in modern-day, professional rugby it is clear the hurt has never entirely gone away.[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]“It was one of those things,” he begins. “Your time comes and you make the most of it and for me touring South Africa was not to be. I played against many great South Africans and played on the same side as many great Springboks, in world XVs, but I never toured the place. And, yes, it is a shame.”[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]That was towards the end of a ten-year Test career in which Deans had stamped his name across the game as one of the world’s best hookers.[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]He made his Hawick debut at the age of 18, bizarrely against a Ballymena side that contained a certain Bill McBride. That was 1973. The following year McBride – more popularly known as Willie John – would go on to lead the Loins to their one and only unbeaten tour to South Africa, and a decade later he reappeared on Deans’ horizon in a way that more fully explains the pain the Scots felt in missing out in 1986.[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]In 1983, Deans was selected by Jim Telfer, the British Loins coach, to tour New Zealand. He was one of eight Scots in the party of 36, one more than Ireland, who had won the Triple Crown. Significantly, the Irish skipper Ciaran Fitzgerald was installed as the Loins captain, with McBride the team manager, and that backfired.[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]Fitzgerald’s form on the tour was poor, but he formed the selection triumvirate with Telfer and McBride and, famously, refused to drop himself despite the team losing each Test and his throwing-in becoming a laughing stock in the British and New Zealand media.[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]“I never spoke to Jim (Telfer] or Willie John about it,” Deans recalled, "but I remained good friends with them.[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]"In 1983 Ciaran was a captain of a good Irish team, with experience round about him, and he was in the right position at the right time for Ireland, but come the Loins the guy disappeared and went into his shell. He was a loner on that tour and you can’t have that kind of guy leading the squad.[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]"I remember we’d lost the first two Tests, not by much, but Ciaran threw seven lineouts not straight in that second Test. We lost 9-0, but had we won those balls I think we’d have won the Test. So, we needed to change things if we were going to keep it alive with two Tests to go.[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]"We had a midweek game against Canterbury before the third Test and I got man-of-the-match, and I remember sitting there at the team announcement waiting for my name to come out, and when Fitzgerald’s name was mentioned everyone turned and looked at me. Some of his own countrymen came to me to say ‘we’re sorry, you should have been in’. Jim was poker-faced as always and I never asked him.[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]"But I knew that selection wasn’t right and it meant a hell of a lot to me when Jim (Telfer] revealed in his book that he had backed me, but was outvoted by Willie John and Ciaran in the selection each time. It was typical Jim that he felt he couldn’t tell me, or anyone that until 20-odd years later, but I’m grateful he did.[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]“I still love the Loins – it’s the pinnacle of your career; the ultimate honour to be picked and pull that jersey on.”[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]The memories of the honour of being selected as Loins captain return when mention of South Africa is propelled back into the British media. McGeechan will set out with a 37-man squad on 24 May bidding to emulate the feat of his 1997 Loins, who beat the Springboks 2-1 in the Test series. Many believe that tour restored the value of the Loins at a time when rugby had gone professional as some openly stated and wrote that the Loins was an outdated anachronism on its last legs when McGeechan, with Telfer alongside, left then, as now, for the den of the World Cup champions.[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]“We were all kitted out in 1986 with blazers, the lot, and ended up playing a World XV at Cardiff and then England at Twickenham the week after,” recalled Deans.[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]"But what annoyed me most at the time was that my opposite number, the captain of the World XV, was Andy Dalton, and over coffee and a chat before the game he said he was sorry we couldn’t go to South Africa, but also quite glad because he was going to South Africa with the New Zealand ‘Cavaliers’ – they couldn’t call themselves the All Blacks because of apartheid – to fill in for the Loins.[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]“It was just one of those things, but we could have gone and there would have been a bit of a kerfuffle but it would have been forgotten about pretty quickly. Instead, guys like Dalton played us and then left on flights from London to Johannesburg to take our places.”[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]Deans has strong opinions on the wrongs of apartheid, but believes that sport and sportsmen were used as pawns with no real benefit to South Africa. He was put on an anti-apartheid blacklist, ran a gauntlet of abuse from thousands of demonstrators when he played for the South against a South African Barbarians side at Netherdale, and had sympathy with great South African players as Gysie Pienaar, Erroll Tobias and Danie Gerber, who were banned from the international stage by apartheid.[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]Deans admitted that the passions have been roused again this week. "To be honest, it does get you when the tour comes round.[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]"I was gutted for the young Scotland hooker Ross Ford when I saw the squad this week because although he maybe didn’t play great in the Six Nations he showed what he could do against South Africa in November. Lee Mears is good for Bath, but he’s playing for England who are dominant up front and he can languish around in the backs. He’ll be gobbled up in South Africa.[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]"Ross’s problem was that he was playing in a struggling Scotland team, but he has the physicality and the potential to do the job for the Loins now and in the future, so I hope there’s maybe a call-up chance later for him.[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]"But the coaches know what they want and you have to let them drive it the way they believe the need to. McGeechan is the world’s best at seeing combinations and putting together a plan to beat a side.[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
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[LEFT][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]“He can plan the downfall of any world team; he has got that knack. The XV that takes the pitch for the 1st Test may not be the best XV you would pick, but it will be a XV to beat South Africa, and that’s the ultimate aim. It’s going to take a huge effort to actually do that, on and off the pitch, but I was delighted when the guys managed to do it in 1997 and it would be fantastic for British rugby if they could do it again.”[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]
Fuck I’ll be banned.
That is keen eyed editing Sid-wonderful commitment to the cause.
Looks like the refreshments to calm our collective nerves while watching the matches are taken care of, courtesy of the official British Loins Wine Club, in association wth First Cape, Britain’s third best-selling wines. Make sure to view the exclusive content from Loins legend Sir Ian McGeechan when you click on the link.
Sid, could you suggest a suitable bibliography ahead of the expedition?
I was aware you intended on reading the fantastic book 'Empire" and was wondering if you recommended it?
i, myself have been studying the life of Cecil Rhodes and his attitutes towards the indigenous peoples of the dark continent of Africa, i am aware it is a different continent but the spirit of the empire remains the same
[quote=“mickee321, post: 764401, member: 367”]Sid, could you suggest a suitable bibliography ahead of the expedition?
[SIZE=4]I was aware you intended on reading the fantastic book 'Empire" and was wondering if you recommended it?[/SIZE]
[SIZE=4]i, myself have been studying the life of Cecil Rhodes and his attitutes towards the indigenous peoples of the dark continent of Africa, i am aware it is a different continent but the spirit of the empire remains the same[/SIZE][/quote]
[SIZE=4]Wonderful stuff mickee, Niall Ferguson is the finest right-winger to represent the Empire since the then A.J.F O’Reilly in 1955. I particularly like the way he quotes extensively, but doesn’t distract the reader by including annoying references or a bibliography.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=4]I’ll direct you to the work of historian Sir Stephen H. Roberts, whose text books were a staple of the Australian school curriculum until political correctness went mad back in the 1970s. [/SIZE]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=4]One of his most memorable lines was: [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=4]“It’s quite useless to treat the Aborigines fairly, because they are completely amoral, and incapable of sincere and prolonged gratitude.”[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=4]A noble sentiment indeed on this Anzac Day. [/SIZE][/FONT]
A final chance today for players to stake their claims and make themselves indispensable ahead of Tuesday’s gala announcement.
The stand-off clash of the day pits Owen Farrell against Jonny Wilkinson - the apprentice versus the master - a mouthwatering prospect.
Brad Barritt, Alex Goode, Chris Ashton, Mako Vunipola, Andrew Sheridan, Gethin Jenkins, Delon Armitage, Stefffon Armitage, Kelly Brown, Richard Wigglesworth and Charlie Hodgson all know that good performances will either cement their place on the tour or propel them into position to be the traditional, fabled “bolter” for Sam Warburton’s 2013 British Loins squad.
I hope their steam ship sinks on the passage here.
Personally I’d prefer if the boys were travelling on the high seas. It would arouse so many great memories of the epic expeditions of the past to do it the old fashioned way, and six weeks together on a steamer would enable that enormusly important male bonding to occur in a much more natural, unforced way.
Some great tales to be told over the coming weeks I’m sure from veterans of years gone by about their memories of a lifetime from tours past. Once instilled, the spirit of adventure can never be broken in a Loin.
Things have changed a lot since you were arrested for interfering with your sister and shipped to Van Diemens land pal.
Squad announcement on Tuesday at 11am.
An empire holds its breath.
The most knowledgeable, insightful and well connected rugby scribe in these islands, Stephen Jones predicting in today’s Sunday Times that Warren Gatland will select the following 38 men to represent the British Lions in Australia.
Leigh Halfpenny (Wales)
Stuart Hogg (Scotland)
Rob Kearney (Ireland)
Tommy Bowe (Ireland)
Alex Cuthbert (Wales)
George North (Wales)
Sean Maitland (Scotland)
Brad Barritt (England)
Jonathan Davies (Wales)
Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland)
Jamie Roberts (Wales)
Manu Tuilagi (England)
Owen Farrell (England)
Jonathan Sexton (Ireland)
Greig Laidlaw (Scotland)
Mike Philips (Wales)
Ben Youngs (England)
Ryan Grant (Scotland)
Gethin Jenkins (Wales)
Cian Healy (Ireland)
Dan Cole (England)
Adam Jones (Wales)
Mike Ross (Ireland)
Rory Best (Ireland)
Richard Hibbard (Wales)
Tom Youngs (England)
Ian Evans (Wales)
Richie Gray (Scotland)
Alun Wyn Jones (Wales)
Paul O’Connell (Ireland)
Geoff Parling (England)
Tom Croft (England)
Dan Lydiate (Wales)
Sean O’Brien (Ireland)
Justin Tupuric (Wales)
Sam Warburton (Wales) captain
Toby Faletau (Wales)
Jamie Heaslip (Ireland)
[quote=“Manuel Zelaya, post: 765991, member: 377”]The most knowledgeable, insightful and well connected rugby scribe in these islands, Stephen Jones predicting in today’s Sunday Times that Warren Gatland will select the following 38 men to represent the British Lions in Australia.
Leigh Halfpenny (Wales)
Stuart Hogg (Scotland)
Rob Kearney (Ireland)
Tommy Bowe (Ireland)
Alex Cuthbert (Wales)
George North (Wales)
Sean Maitland (Scotland)
Brad Barritt (England)
Jonathan Davies (Wales)
Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland)
Jamie Roberts (Wales)
Manu Tuilagi (England)
Owen Farrell (England)
Jonathan Sexton (Ireland)
Greig Laidlaw (Scotland)
Mike Philips (Wales)
Ben Youngs (England)
Ryan Grant (Scotland)
Gethin Jenkins (Wales)
Cian Healy (Ireland)
Dan Cole (England)
Adam Jones (Wales)
Mike Ross (Ireland)
Rory Best (Ireland)
Richard Hibbard (Wales)
Tom Youngs (England)
Ian Evans (Wales)
Richie Gray (Scotland)
Alun Wyn Jones (Wales)
Paul O’Connell (Ireland)
Geoff Parling (England)
Tom Croft (England)
Dan Lydiate (Wales)
Sean O’Brien (Ireland)
Justin Tupuric (Wales)
Sam Warburton (Wales) captain
Toby Faletau (Wales)
Jamie Heaslip (Ireland)[/quote]
Who was the fella on here that mixed up his Stephen Jones’ once?
tipptops*
No Sunday games, surely Euan Murray would be ahead of Ross then?
I think it would be a major mistake to have a Welsh captain and a de facto Welsh coach.
I don’t care for rugby union and I particularly despise the Welsh variety of cunts that play it.