Because in Australia they go into MELTDOWN whenever somebody throws a punch (if that had been an NRL game a million State of the Game articles would currently be underway), so shithouse players throw little slaps around thinking that nothing will happen.
I'm surprised at that. I thought they'd be bang up for it.
If you just sent everyone off for deliberate head contact like they do in football you could eliminate it, but their 'no punching' rule is loose enough to allow daft slaps, sly headbutts, and all that sort of shit. Their problem down there is that they have convinced themselves that every such incident or piece of off-field idiocy drives ten families (all about the families) to the AFL or 'soccer', so they make a big deal of NO PUNCHING but end up looking stupid when it solves nothing.
Every sport bar football only seems to be five minutes away from a State of the Game exchange these days. Union is having a shocking one about the Six Nations being rubbish at the moment. It is rubbish, but what do you want to do about it? Just enjoy the game.
I went to the match today, and the Australians pissing on us this weekend got a few people into moaning about how poorly rugby league is run compared to football and whatever other examples they could think of. Rugby league is definitely run by [well-meaning] idiots, but they weren't having it that football is too, and that it succeeds in spite of its administrators. If tens of millions of people liked rugby league, and threw their money at everything rugby league-related, a fucking monkey could make a success of that as well.
I know very little about rugby league but from afar it strikes me as fairly well run compared to many other sports, given that it has no potential for expansion whatsoever and a pretty limited market even within its own boundaries. There is a point at which you just have to accept that Australians generally do beat us at sport because they have massive concentrated population centres with old sporting institutions that make sense, their weather is much better, and they all have a chip on their shoulder that drives them on.
Whenever this sort of panning happens we start stressing about what they do differently, but it's simply more popular in Australia. It doesn't dominate everywhere, but New South Wales and Queensland (half of the population) are solid league territories, so it has effective first call on their human and financial resources. Here it's clearly a very, very distant second to football. In football terms we're Portugal and they're Spain. We can produce quality individuals, and sometimes enough of them at once to form a competitive national team, but we don't have their depth at any level.
I'd like to go on record to say Jordan Lilley is the worst player to ever wear a Leeds shirt.
I'm a twit
Dan Biggar looks like he needs the toilet every time he takes a kick.
That first half was genuinely disgraceful. They really need to sort the scrum rules out (and liquidise Wayne Barnes) because as a wavering on-off viewer I'm on the off side if the sport is going to be played like that.
It was turgid and not in a northern hemisphere stick it up your jumper way (ie great) but in a scrappy error strewn way. A proper French team wouldn't have poked away at the try line with a whole line of backs wasting away outside them. The Welsh will win as they have a couple of players who can score all on their own.
Yeah, it's basically 100% France's fault that it's so shit - not sure about this new policy of picking as few Frenchmen as possible - although the Welsh don't appear to have any bottle either.
Nice assist from Plisson there.
The commentary on this game is the best thing about it. Jonathan Davies and Brian Moore just going off on rants, regardless of whether or not the other is already talking, and Eddie Butler in his optimal fixture for faithful surname pronunciation.
How did France bottle that drive?
Even with a potential 17% less Jonathan Davies I still have the sound off.
This is without a doubt the worst French side I've ever seen. France always used to carry that potential to be brilliant out of nowhere, this lot look like they've been suffocated.
You never used to get people wanting to lie in front of the ball like that, not more than once anyway.
That 15 minute spell of 'dominance' was embarrassing. The first team I've seen who don't even look threatening with ten people on the opposition try line.
They've looked better with Trihn Duc on but still don't look like scoring.
Well, Brian Moore has just won the Six Nations by saying 'It's not hard when you're up against a gameplan developed by Inspector Clouseau'.
He must have had a lovely time.
He's ace. I almost lost my toes to the cold at Rovers tonight, but I got in for nothing on a borrowed pass so whatever. So shit.Originally Posted by Baz
Ace? He probably couldn't even put me on the floor.
oh and lol in yo face etc
I'm a twit
Did the idiot dressed as Batman prowling the sidelines make it onto Sky? What a sport.
I go out for half an hour and Italy make quick work of chucking this away.
The indiscipline by us is so poor and it's been that way for years and years now, under several regimes.
We tend to concede about twice as many penalties as I would like.
Didn't realise Twickenham played music when a team scores.
When did they ban tackling?
Phew.
Stuart Lancaster England would have crumpled after that Irish try, so Eddie Jones is a genius.
We'll probably let them back into it now.
England
Nothing wrong with that, bit of good old fashioned rucking.
Shafted.
Two more absolutely terrible teams. It's a little bit chronic.
If England weren't the mentally weakest team going they'd have scored 40+.
I thought England were ok, although a better team would have buried them with those two binnings.
Oh we're lovely 40 metres out, but we completely bossed the first half and only came away with 6 pikey points because we kept bottling it inside the 22, as always.
We literally can't cope when we have injuries to first choice players. The depth just isn't there. We can close the gap in quality through hard work and putting the tackles (when we're not missing the fuckers), but it shows massively in the last quarter of the match.
I thought we seemed pretty comfortable. Owen Farrell bombed about ten 'kickable' points, and the defence held.
Aye, a couple of breaks aside I didn't think we were going to get over the line beyond kicking it into the corner and mauling it over. We're quite uninspiring to watch at the minute.
I'm not sure how anyone could type that headline unironically without bursting into flames.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/35680242
THE BUNKER.
Fucking nine o'clock starts. I'll get into it once the clocks change. 'Mon the Warriors letting everybody - literally everybody - down again.
Cracking start lads.
Geoff Toovey would have won that game 40-0. FACT.
Speaking of shit, I only saw some extended highlights from the lolamatta vs Brisbane game, but all of the reports said Greg Eden melted. Bless.
If Kurtley Beale signs for Wasps I hope they bring his family and hire a huge team of minders to keep him away from alcohol because he is an absolute cunt when he goes off the rails.
I havent heard this news, that could be interesting. He is a bit of a knob on the source though.
OUR Brad Thorn has offered to train and possibly play with the first team once his duties with the under 20's has finished for the year.
41 years old and going strong. It'd be a shame if he was shit and ruined his legacy, although I suppose he knows that's the risk and he simply doesn't care about that stuff and is only interested in playing for his love of the game.
Sandow's dropgoal as the hooter went was something special.
Adam Swift Man Of Steel this season.
I'm a twit
I'll go Luke Gale. Yer man Jordan Lilley Young Player of the Year.
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