*breathe*
*breathe*
Ben Cunt more like.
You alright Lewis? Enjoy that?
I wanted Brisbane to win. Whatever. If Anthony Milford doesn't get the Clive Churchill (NARRATIVE) then the seethe will set in.
That was one hell of a final. Ben Hunt won't sleep well tonight.
I was sure for the last half hour that NQ were going to break the line at some stage, but I'd abandoned that idea with about six minutes to go.
There's no way Brisbane don't win one soon, mind. Too many young fantastic players.
Which sport is the Grand Final down there?
They must have engraved that last week.
It should've been Milford. But Thurston was the reason the winning team won, so you can understand him getting it. But if ever there was a final where someone on the losing side could be considered for the award, this one is it.
Is the Grand Final rugby league or union in Australia?
League. Australia's peak union comp is the international Super Rugby.
"You just dropped the *insert name of NRL trophy here* mate."
If only.
It's like Sam Burgess last year. He wasn't even the best Burgess on the day (alright he got his massive head smashed in), but provided he never went completely missing he was always getting it. It was a minor miracle when 'DCE' won it in 2013 when the entire build-up [and season] had been about 'SBW', and the poor bastard got booed by the shithead Roosters fans for ruining the moment.
I thought Jake Granville (letting him go was a good idea) could have won it as well if you want to go down the winning team route.
When the Raiders play the Warriors in next year's final Shaun Johnson will benefit from the same mawkishness.
Speaking of undeserved MOTM awards, the expression here is a bit special:
Overcome with joy.
Which Englishman picked him and not Foley?
Absolutely seeeeeeeething.
As if those hill billy fuks have won a premiershiop.
I had to go out with 5 minutes of the final remaining, whilst it was still 16-12.
Were you giving Ben Hunt a lift home?
Was it at the Olympic Stadium or whatever they call that these days? Fuck driving all the way over there.
I've never really liked Thurston, but it's good to see him win one, particularly against the Bennett Broncos.
I reckon I'll avoid Australian media for a few weeks until the NEXT IMMORTAL stuff dies down. It took about a month for them to get over the Souths FAIRY TALE, so let's say six-eight weeks.
Maradona's at the Argentina v Tonga game and he's going absolutely mental at every Argentina score. It's quite touching really.
Has time taken by kickers ever become an issue? Jonny Sexton just spent a full minute lining one up straight in front of the posts.
I was wondering that. How much concentration did that really take?
Did the kickers of the past all have their own little routines to go through twenty times before each kick, regardless of distance and angle?Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
Saint Johnny was the pioneer.
Still many occasions of direct imitation on show every weekend.
Back in the day they used to just whack them over. A 'round the corner kick' was witchcraft indeed.
He was a bit pants at everything else but didn't Neil Jenkins basically step up to basically anything inside the opposition half and just kick it over without all this dicking about?
Out of interest Merse, as a 'neutral', what do you make of the England team player-wise? Not in terms of performances over the last few weeks, as in who would you be keeping, binning and bringing in after the World Cup?
Toe-punt off a handful of sand.
A big part of the problem with England is the embarrassment of riches that they get to choose from with so many strong professional teams. They've spent 4 years capping 60 odd players. Every time someone has a one or two poor outings, they're jettisoned, to such an extent that there is no consistency in the partnerships across the field.
The back three are ridiculous - Goode, Foden, Sharples, Abendanon, Pennel, Nowell, May, Brown, Watson, Strettle, Wade, Rokoduguni, Ashton, Yarde - there's another one or two I can't recall right now, too I'd imagine - and still, they decided to try Manu Fucking Tuilagi out there???
The pack are fairly set, but I'd still move Robshaw back to his old Harlequins position at 6 and end the ban on overseas based players to bring in Armitage, who is one of the finest 7's in the world. Having said that, he's not far off 30 now.
Second receiver needs sorting out with a playmaker - Burgess/Barritt are ridiculously poor there and should be sat at 13 organising defence and making back row carries when required not just lining up a wallop after every ruck - Twelvetrees was going great guns before hitting two bad games and being sacked off, and Henry Slade is the most in form answer, Danny Cipriani also offers so much flair but plays his club rugby at 10. At the very least, get him on the bench as 10/12/15 cover.
Nick Abendanon may offer more from 15 than Brown too, but again he's in France and is close to thirty.
There's no need for wholesale change, but I would make the above, it's the focus really - try and play some real rugby for fucks sake, and once you've found a good, winning XV, try to stick with it a bit.
The other problem is harder to fix - England have more test-standard players than anyone else in the NH, probably even the world. But there's a lack of real world class players there that can change a game. I was looking forward to seeing if Joseph, Ford and Brown could be at the RWC
'He (Andrew Johns) was severely intoxicated. I am a 42 year old woman that he asked to kiss him. When I refused to kiss him and replied I was happily married and had three sons, his question to me was "did you have a cesarean birth?"'
What a great chat up line. Worth breaking the embargo for.
Lewis Just reminded me that I'd forgotten another RL convert - Chris Ashton from that list of back 3 players under Lancaster. Never understood him losing his place, being as he was about as prolific a try scorer as any in the world at Test level.
Edit - I suppose that he couldn't really defend, but neither can most England wings. High ball was a real issue as well I guess.
Do you mean Chris Ashton?
The pasta squad making a quite unexpected go of this.
Yeah, I'm not sure why I said Tomkins there at all... Weird since I watch league about once a year.
Edit - I also had him in the list after all
Train of thought fuck ups - I was thinking of James Tomkins, the centre when it came to mind. James Tomkins, by the way is utter, utter gash.
Joel Tomkins. How did he get capped for England? Was he promised a fast-track or something? He's crap (well, overrated) at league as well. More so since he came back thinking he's a hardman. Sam Tomkins would have made a brilliant winger at one point, but he's lost a bit of pace to injuries and would probably just get flattened now.
Where was he? a few players that should of been in that squad. Manu Tuilagi for starters
Unfortunately England have a lot of unselectable wankers and foreign based players. You could probably cobble a team out of them which would beat the World Cup XV.
Hit a bad run and he's woeful in defence, but fare more dangerous in the opposition 22 than anyone else.
Tuilagi fell victim to JJ being better than him at a time when he was (yet again) in trouble with his discipline.
Hartley, Tuilagi, The two Armitage boys and Abandanon probably deserved the nod ahead of Youngs, Burgess, Barritt, Robshaw and whoever was officially covering second 15, maybe even Brown.
Tuilagi always struck me as a fundamentally dense player, so I never really bought into the hype that surrounded him (although I'm sure he's a good bench option). Is his passing and awareness of other players still non-existent?
Yep, but he's better than Barritt and Burgess.
True. I'd like to see him in league. He'd make a decent second row if he could get the tackling right (memories of Andy Powell stealing a living at Wigan).
Andy Powell. Fucking hell. The most average player ever to win a grand slam and be a Lion (in the shit games).
You could see the idea behind his conversion, even if it was unusually risky for sensible Wigan, since he was big and always ran with his head up, but he wasn't fit enough and couldn't tackle (as in genuinely couldn't do it, rather than just being bad at it). Gareth Thomas was good, if unlucky with injuries; but then he's a legend and would probably succeed at most sports if he bothered.
I thought so, didnt they bring in Burgess just because of the hype and think he could adapt from League to Union quickly.
Haskell should of got more of a run.
Scotland were trying to get Danny Brough to convert at one stage, the Scotland Rugby League is a bit lol since no-one in Scotland bothers with it, but they seemed pretty good at the World Cup (which I watched) and the European Championship (did I fuck). I think the idea was to make him a 10.
Is he well rated? Seemed decent from what I'd seen? But generally, players converted to 10's and 12's from League lack the ability to be playmakers in Union, partly due to the depth or running and lack of structured attacks, along with the greater breadth of situations unfolding in front of them.
Henry Paul was shite at 10, but did a good job at Prem level at 12.
Danny Brough has been the best half in Super League for years now (better than Henry Paul), and he's from the same part of Scotland as me: Yorkshire. Was Iestyn Harris good in union?
Unfortunately for Wales we lose absolutely nothing with Sean McMahon at 7.
We have 5 world class 7's at the moment.
This Scotland game.
Shambles
We've had a real issue with the South Pacific sides for a few years. Their physicality with the ball in hand and communal in the tackle area plays to our weaknesses in a big way.
This is where John Barclay and Alex Dunbar are needed the former being inexplicably left out of the squad in favour of the good but not as good Hardie and the latter deemed to far away from the required fitness levels in recovering from his 6N injury. Matt Scott is getting turned at 12 too often and Hardie not doing enough to clear out the breakdown and I'd have stuck Barclay in at 8 as he's played a lot of rugby there this past year for Llanelli whilst retaining Hardie at 7 to imitate the Australia plan and give two genuine trufflers that can retain and win ball at the breakdown.
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