Autumn Internationals 2009

That was a Taip-o Typan.

taipan wrote:

Bradman wrote:

taipan wrote:Well clearly the ideas were crap.

And when has union ever really been a running game?

The 1984 GS.

Though to be fair when I first started playing the game you could take a place kick from a mark, and my coach at the time said the perfect Rugby play was a rolling maul that took a half hour to move thirty metres and ended up with a score and life threteaning injuries to everyone involved.

Not really Braddles, you still had to win the ball to run it.

If you go back far enough a try scored nothing and only the conversation counted.

The myth of rugby ever being a running game, is just that, a myth.

Something akin to fair play in cricket.

That was more or less my point. It's a territorial game. I like the running game but the purist in me likes the fact that the word 'try' comes from the fact it only gave you a chance at kicking a goal and if ever a team managed to move a ball legally for that long it would've been a thing of beauty, even orgasmic. I kicked one of the last goals under the old rules and that was only because the opposition really farked up.

But then again, you could mark anywhere onthe field in those days.

Again my point. And the reason it was rare. Who the fark is going to risk the oppo marking it within sight of the goal posts.

So cheating, high-tackling, handling in ruck is the ideals of a better team? Wow, glad we lost then...

.................. and Wales where free of all those sins?

League craps all over union as a spectator sport.

Eyes of the beholder mate.

League fans find the number of mysterious penalties to be a blight. Mostly these come at the tackle when possession is up for grabs. Many of them are a mystery and many of them are wrong, but I'm far happier watching a continuous contest.

DJ_Smerk wrote:The running game? England destroyed that long ago. Ask Jonny Wilkinson. Martin Johnson defended England saying that they have become a more fluent outfit who aren't just playing it for the 3 points....

Not that I can say much, we scored all 12 points via kicking...

Typical welsh myth. 2002-3 we played some great running rugby.

So Melbourne gets the S15 gig.

Anyone happy about this?

I'm not. But I wasn't happy with Perth getting it either.

Australia's loss is SA's gain.

Melbourne GPS schools have a pretty strong tradition of Rugby. It may work.

Wales v Samoa at 19.30 and France v SAF at 19.45


I suspect we'll win this, but it'll probably raise more questions than answers.

JKLever wrote:

DJ_Smerk wrote:The running game? England destroyed that long ago. Ask Jonny Wilkinson. Martin Johnson defended England saying that they have become a more fluent outfit who aren't just playing it for the 3 points....

Not that I can say much, we scored all 12 points via kicking...

Typical welsh myth. 2002-3 we played some great running rugby.

Yep. And during this time Wales played pure running rugby because their tight five were truly crap and they got duffed up at every scrum. Fair enough to try to claim a weakness as a virtue.

Of course, the England attack coach in that period was.......Brian Ashton. A man who has been treated abominably by the RFU. Now we just have to put up with Johnson repeatedly saying how they're learning, when it's bleeding obvious to everyone that they aren't.

Oh good, Shoeshine likes rugby. The Six Nations will be interesting.

Mmm, well - not the way England are playing it won't be. They're truly dire.

Although, my wife is the one to watch: During a tight match at the Millennium Stadium she managed to pick her time perfectly for a moment when the stadium was quiet, and shouted out "Come on England, this lot are shite".