Wales v England

[psychocandy]

Which raises an interesting question; what were the rest of the Welsh doing on Saturday?

In a coma/living as a monk on Caldey Island. LOL

[psychocandy]

See England are whinging about the referee like little girls now. You got stuffed. Suck it up, get on with it and man up.

Things like this are a perfect example of why the other nations always want england to lose. If England had won, we'd have had a 5 page spread in the papers and comments about how they must be looking good for the next world cup. They lose and its the referees fault.

Not many in wales will forget the coverage in the media a few days before the world cup semi-final. A two page discussion on what went wrong with england (who were home at this point), and a 2 column 'BTW - wales are in the semi-final'. And the english wonder why the rest of us like to see them beaten?

[Mich the Tester]

See England are whinging about the referee like little girls now. You got stuffed. Suck it up, get on with it and man up.

Things like this are a perfect example of why the other nations always want england to lose. If England had won, we'd have had a 5 page spread in the papers and comments about how they must be looking good for the next world cup. They lose and its the referees fault.

Not many in wales will forget the coverage in the media a few days before the world cup semi-final. A two page discussion on what went wrong with england (who were home at this point), and a 2 column 'BTW - wales are in the semi-final'. And the english wonder why the rest of us like to see them beaten?

Three points;

1. What you can read in the Daily Wail or the Telegraph is not necessarily what English rugby fans think.

2. It is NOT the ref's fault that England lost. Wales played much better than England and deserved to win.

3. My issue is not with the one ref in Cardiff; he was no more or less tulip than the rest of the international refs who don't understand scrummaging, and is simply applying stupid laws at the scrum, handed down to him by a bunch of nitwits who don't understand scrummaging either. Please don't try to deny that the scrum has turned into a complete farce at the highest levels, with collapses, wonky put-ins and random penalties and it needs sorting. My approach to sorting it out would be to get rid of the stupid TV sensation driven 'hit', build the scrum row by row then a short pause before put-in and only allow the shove when the ball hits the ground in the middle of the channel between the front rows. In other words, I'd like to see something I can recognize as a 'scrum' and I'd like a revival in the skill of hooking, which would actually lead to more entertaining rugby. A win against the head thanks to a skillful hooker who's spent years perfecting his craft gives space to the back rows and the backs to run with ball in hand against a broken defence; isn't that something we all want to see?

[Mich the Tester]

Mash gets it spot on, as usual.

Rugby ‘victory’ was planned to make Wales feel good about itself

[psychocandy]

Three points;

1. What you can read in the Daily Wail or the Telegraph is not necessarily what English rugby fans think.

2. It is NOT the ref's fault that England lost. Wales played much better than England and deserved to win.

3. My issue is not with the one ref in Cardiff; he was no more or less tulip than the rest of the international refs who don't understand scrummaging, and is simply applying stupid laws at the scrum, handed down to him by a bunch of nitwits who don't understand scrummaging either. Please don't try to deny that the scrum has turned into a complete farce at the highest levels, with collapses, wonky put-ins and random penalties and it needs sorting. My approach to sorting it out would be to get rid of the stupid TV sensation driven 'hit', build the scrum row by row then a short pause before put-in and only allow the shove when the ball hits the ground in the middle of the channel between the front rows. In other words, I'd like to see something I can recognize as a 'scrum' and I'd like a revival in the skill of hooking, which would actually lead to more entertaining rugby. A win against the head thanks to a skillful hooker who's spent years perfecting his craft gives space to the back rows and the backs to run with ball in hand against a broken defence; isn't that something we all want to see?

Apparently, its Graham Rowntree thats doing the whinging.

1. Agreed.
2. Yes :-)
3. Totally agree. To be honest, I thought he was a bit better than the ref we had against scortland who seemed to give penalties at random. The scrum is a nightmare and some refs have no clue at all. Penalties are given at random. They tinker with the laws every year but nothing changes.

Not a bad idea you've got mind. Saves all this hit and scrum collapsing I guess...

[Runs With Scissors]

Is it time to maybe get rid of scrummaging altogether? It's become so farcical watching the scrum half feeding the ball almost directly to the Number 8 anyway that the idea of it being a contest of strength and technique is laughable. Replace it with a free kick to the side that would have got the put-in? Go for a Rugby League style "this isn't really a scrum" scrum?

[Mich the Tester]

Is it time to maybe get rid of scrummaging altogether?

NO, because it's very easy to solve the main problems with the scrum and because I want to watch Rugby Union.

[Runs With Scissors]

and because I want to watch Rugby Union.

It's not all about you you know.

Just saying like....

[Mich the Tester]

It's not all about you you know.

Just saying like....

No, it's about the 4,500,000 people worldwide who have chosen to play Rugby Union. Probably half of them are forwards.

[moggy]

NO, because it's very easy to solve the main problems with the scrum and because I want to watch Rugby Union.

Seconded.

Rugby league is just not entertaining IMO, plus it stops the big guys like Mitch from being able to play with the glory boys