Babbling 'brook

Tom from Montferrand wrote:
No, I think he means our new boy Georges-Louis de Buffon. Good defence, great kicker, but a bit old I believe.

I do love those old school jerseys. They had proper collars back then!

Is that Mike Ross you are referring to? (the same lad who was capped by Kidney before he arrived in Leinster and ended up keeping the bench warm for a selection of Saffers and Cook islanders?) You're really saying that giving Ross a cap against Canada shows that Kidders rated him? That match was ba...

If you've been in the job for more than four years [and he was appointed in May 2008 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/irish/7387762.stm ] you can't talk about having to rebuild a team from scratch. That should go without saying. 4 years internationally roughly equates to less than 2 ye...

I was really worried about Madigan at full back before today but he was immense. 1-15 we were immense actually. Ferg was so, so strong on the wing, Darce good in the outside channel. In fact, I can'ty say a bad word about anybody from 1-15.

We all crawled on our hands and knees all the way from the 70s. I'm sure he called it discothèque rather than a boîte or a club to denote the fact that it was full of glamorous women in fabulous dresses and men in mistakes with moustaches. That's the way I remember it. Although I was drunk enough t...

One word of warning to those making the trip to Clermont for the first time, taxis at night are rarer than hen's teeth, so try to get the pub to book one for you well ahead of time if your hotel is out of town. I had a great time walking miles down a motorway on my own at five in the morning lookin...

Perhaps so, though the Aussie try came from a forward pass. That wasn't a forward pass. have another look - it is the momentum of the ball, it went backwards from his hands when he threw the pass Yeah I hate these 'forward pass' debates. To my eyes it finished well ahead of the 22 metre line having...

Stand up for the Ulstermen!!

Posts? Really? Did you not hear my unreasonable demand for a cricket score? Was last play, worth a pop. Fiji are a rabble but as they're forced to tour with the arse hanging out of their trousers by the IRB while French and English clubs keep their best players, you can't be harsh on them really. O...

Posts? Really? Did you not hear my unreasonable demand for a cricket score?

Fiji are a rabble. Ireland should be looking for a cricket score here.

Feckin hell, just saw the England score. How did they manage to lose to that Aussie ominshambles? The Aussies absolutely owned them at the breakdown. Hooper had a great game but the ruck clearing all round was very good as well. England couldn't get or keep the ball for most of the match. Marler wa...

Feckin hell, just saw the England score. How did they manage to lose to that Aussie ominshambles? Because Australia fixed up their scrum and, as usual, were much smarter than England. Australia actually look for space and use it, as odd as that seems to England (and any team coached by Declan Kidne...

TerenureJim wrote:Yeah instead he was given the starting 10 spot for the next two games, that worked well.

But I'm sure I remember reading in the papers that week that ROG was the hero. Surely it's right to give the hero the starting spot back?

The only think ROG brings to the table is the confidence to tell Kidney to shove his game plan when ROG's (only) brand of rugby is called for as he did in Italy a couple of years ago. Obviously if Sexton or anyone else know they would not be dropped no matter then they may be able to do the same bu...

TerenureJim wrote:Aussies hard done by there for that "try" by the team in some sor of purple?

Yeah, I did think there were enough reasons to not award that try.

With Ireland, bringing the players over is approved at union level, so it isn't the same as a lot of the English players, but I don't like the IRFU being institutionalised poachers. The "project" player thing does feel more questionable to me. I think the only 2 in the current England squ...

I don't really want to go over old ground but Jennings (in decent form imo) is 31 and has never done anything of note in an Ireland jersey. I know you can say that he hasn't had the right opportunity but he hasn't taken what opportnities he had. There is a big drop off in standard from our top 3 (S...

Embra just capitulated at the end. I think Penney is sensible enough to bring them back down to earth and let them know they weren't actually very good today.

I think it's hard to overstate just how awful this Embra team is. Denton is good and that's about it.