Willy says...

@ the Editor, on blame the Ref's post.

Connacht are in by the virture of Leinster winning the Heineken cup and as such Ireland's 4 team (in this case connacht) benefit from the extra place in the Heineken cup reserved for the champions. Therefore did not gain automatic qualification as you suggest. Had a team from another nation won the HC then connacht would be in the Amlin.

Now I do agree that the H.C. places should go to the top Rabo teams rather than 3 irish, 3 welsh, 2 scottish and 2 Italian, but then again its the European cup and should by its very name try to encompass as much nations as possible. You don't hear the Spanish, English, Italian & German soccer clubs looking for more Champions league places over teams that would be considered far weaker than the 5 place team in those leagues.

Do the english clubs not remember the last time they walk out of the HC cup and then came back with their tail between their legs.

Posted 15:32 14th June 2012

froggy73 says...

@liam2me: you reckon English and French should copycat the Celtic league. Fine. Then Can the French and English have respectively 14 and 12 spots in the HCup then ? Then I promise would would never talk again about relegation.

Posted 13:54 14th June 2012

Trinats2 says...

melkdave:

Rules have changed since the 70s !! You are allowed to present the ball when you have been tackle, hence why Pocock would have his hands on the ball while on the ground !!!

Posted 12:39 14th June 2012

new_j4a says...

@melkdave back to rugby! Yes, consider yourself pressed (several times). Please provide the minute and the Law you feel was violated for all of Pocock's "6+" offenses. As you may or may not remember (in your rather endearing decrepit twilight), there are circumstances in which being on the floor with your hands on the ball are, by convention if not explicitly in Law, deemed acceptable i.e. a tackled player who reaches backward, places and then holds the ball in that position is not usually penalized. So review the game and give us the minutes and law contraventions. While you are doing that, here's an interesting question: of the 2 sides, which has players lying about or standing around on the wrong side of the ruck most? I am not claiming that these were material or that they should have been penalized. Unlike jonthewannaberef, I think that decision is best made by the ref on the spot, and not in some Welsh valley deluged by rain and ignorance.

Posted 12:14 14th June 2012

Trinats2 says...

markpat:

maybe Aus feel off the pace because most of them played 2/3 games in 7 days ? Nothing wrong with their pace in first half at 20-3. Or maybe because they were without 3 of the best backs in the world, or their captain to lead them ?

Not an excuse, just pointing out why they could have been off the pace. It was a poor 2nd half by Australian standards, but will take the win after the loss to Scotland.

Posted 11:12 14th June 2012

Trinats2 says...

new_j4a:

Pigs ?? Sheep ??? Have I missed something ?? or has it been swept under the carpet !!!

melkdave:

"what about QCs burglary last year" what burglary ??

There was an incident when Cooper was asked by a younder reds member to get back a laptop that was not paid for by two students he had sold to, police were called and the laptop was returned to the owner (those two students were charged and NOT Cooper, the young Reds member dropped charges as the two students were from overseas and may have been deported)

But it would make great news in a "reputable" LOL tabloid paper when the best No.10 in the world is involved !!!

Maybe the ARU should have read the tabloid and not the facts and Cooper would have been banned !

Posted 10:12 14th June 2012

safehands says...

Have to agree with APV1 and NHSaints with regard to the Bok scrum. Neither team was dominant until the replacements came on. The prop for England, Dory Jones I think is his name, looks smaller than my 5 year old daughter....there was only one way that was going to turn out for England's forward pack once he came on.

Posted 07:38 14th June 2012

jonesy2 says...

pommy lads getting upset because their scrum is sh*te? dont worry maybe england will start scoring lots of dazzling tries (haha)

Posted 05:53 14th June 2012

JayStarr says...

HAHAHAHAHAHA...!!! Did PdV really say that!? That's his best quote EVER... The Madiba of rugby! LOL! Can somebody please just do regular interviews with him or something... Can Supersport hire him as one of their "experts"... We MUST keep this man infront of a mic somehow...!!

When is someone going to bring out a book of PdVisms? There were some worth their weight in gold... Here are some of my favourites:

"There is little difference between winning and losing except you feel better after winning.''

"If I am the weakest link then we are bloody strong. I am a God-given talent.''

"I don't care if people don't understand me. It's not my duty to say directly to your face that you're ugly, I say you aren't pretty and if you can't read between the lines then it's not my problem. There's no pill for stupid" haha ha!

On the Boks' group at the RWC:

"In our group we are expecting tough games from Tonga and Fiji." - Tonga were not in the Boks' group!

Following Schalk Burger¿s banning during the Lions series:

"If we want to eye-gouge any Lions we will go down to the bushveld like we do and eye- gouge them there." LOL! WTF!?

Hahaha... There are actually tears running down my face right now - I forgot how insane this guy was! I miss him.

Here's a link to some more quotes: http://www.ougrote.com/snorisms/

Posted 03:24 14th June 2012

new_j4a says...

@melkdave (deep respect please everybody...Dave has played at an international level and coached similar...he claims) melkdave, Sir, you seem to have forgotten to answer Trinats2 on the other thread. Since I am sure that this is an oversight due to the pressures one endures what with writing one's memoirs and fielding questions and requests for advice from other former internationals and coaches, I will reprint it here:

Trinats2 says...

melkdave:

Can you point out (in your opinion) just ONE of the "6 illegal plays by Pocock" Or were they the 6 he was penalised for ??

The world awaits, Sir, for you to cast "artificial pearls before real swine."

Posted 22:17 13th June 2012