What would be a meaning contribution…Attending League of Ireland matches, playing junior league soccer, coaching lads, refereeing, following English teams (which most of the irish lads play for)?
I really can’t engage with you on this Puke, I have neither the time nor the inclination. Another time maybe, if you really want to.
Do I count?
I’m not an individual block booker or Premium ticket holder so I can’t answer your question mbb. I was part of a group block booking, and we were accomodated in Croker and offered more tickets. I can’t say what happened to Premium tickets but like you say, I would imagine all of this would be ironed out well in advance. From the handful of times I’ve been in Premium Level at Croker, I would hazard a guess that it has more seats than the new Landsdowne Road will have.
I will make a note of it…
It would be a a great PR move by the GAA. Croke Park isn’t a good venue for rugby or association football, the pitch is too far back from the pitch, but Croke Park is 1 of the best stadiums in the world, if they close the gates then they are the bigots from the GAH, if they don’t then it’s up to the IRFU or FAI to decide whether to play the games in CP or LR
I don’t really care about this issue. It’s a rubbish stadium for football anyway. I think the stadium actually helped to show how overrated some of our rugby players are. For example, Ronan O’Gara’s kicking from hand was apparently crap because of the distance from the sideline to the stand, thus affecting his ability to pick a suitable target in the stand to aim at when hoofing the ball out of play.
The IRB brought out a handy line for RoG for kicking
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_______________________ In touch
Not the GAH fault that he can’t figure it out 
Bullshite, never bothered O Gara much in the multitude of other stadiums he’s played in around the world. Idiotic.
O’Gara’s often been found wanting on the biggest stage though, as the 2007 RWC showed.
Often found wanting? Pure effluent. History tells he’s fronted up far more often than he’s been “found wanting”.
Utter scutter coming out of you now.
I agree on O’Gara, defintely comes up short when the pressure is on.
[quote=“myboyblue”]Often found wanting? Pure effluent. History tells he’s fronted up far more often than he’s been “found wanting”.
Utter scutter coming out of you now.[/quote]
I only watch big time rugby football and I genuinely think it’s 50/50 what kind of O’Gara turns up in these critical matches. I’ve said before that’s why I don’t think he’s going to be close to getting #10 for the Lions as his performance level fluctuates from very good to very poor.
Pure dung hammer. O Gara has proven on countless occasions for Munster and Ireland that he can deliver under pressure, to say otherwise just shows a lack of knowledge.
Then you dont have the tools for this argument.
I would like one of you lads who’s big into rugby to objectively analyse O’Gara’s career in terms of World Cup knock-out games, grand slam deciders and European cup latter stages games. Of course, there’s important games he’s been excellent in but my impression is that he’s flopped in a lot of huge matches too.
I actually marginally agree with you Bandage.
He is a superb player, but hasn’t performed on a lot of big days.
Before 2006 Id have shipped him out of Munster, his level of consistency have improved a lot since then to be fair.
I would give a full analysis but Im wary about a honeytrap
It’s actually a genuine query. Rugby’s obviously got a lot of set pieces and ball goes through the #10’s hands after most lineouts and scrums. I’d compare the #10 to a quarterback in American Football. If his execution and decision making is off then the whole gameplan and team suffers.
From my big game watching, my contention is that he’s very inconsistent ranging from excellent to poor. But not being that much into rugby, it’s an opinion formed without really analysing it and there’s probably an element of games blending into each other etc. I would welcome some detailed feedback from those of you who are knowledgeable about rugby. Failing that, I’ll welcome Puke’s analysis of the situation.
As you say Bandage, the out half is like the quarter back, if his defensive line is playing well (the pack) and receivers are on song (the backs) then he has options to either playing a passing game or kicking game and vary it up so he looks like a god, if either of them aren’t playing right then he’s going to suffer.
If you look at the best out halves, the reason they were so good is cause of the pack in front of them and their centers outside them. I would regard Johnny Wilkinson, Dan Carter (real 1) and Andrew Merthens as the best outhalves
Did O’Gara tend to get riled to easily in matches for a while.
There were a couple of matches where he was targeted from the off ie some english bloke playing for a French team a couple of years ago, Chabal in manchester the first year they won the HC. Then again it is up to the pack to afford the 10 a decent level of protection, and quick ball.