Like and Loathe

First topic message reminder :

This is a topic that's proved popular on other 606v2 sport forums, and is all just a bit of fun.
Basically, name a player that you like and a player that you 'loathe' and give the reasoning. Simples. Can be any player you like, from any team, from any country, but let's try to keep it civil.

I'll start:

Like: David Pocock. I admire his dedication and tenacity on the field, while off it, he seems like an absolute model sportsman.

Loathe: I absolutely, can't stand Bakkies Botha. I think there are guys who play with emotion, passion and relentlessness, but he takes it too far. His consistent foul play is something that in my eyes may makes good viewing, but does tarnish the game of rugby. I feel he is no more than an overgrown bully, who shrinks away when finally someone of equal or greater stature intervenes (Sheridan on the Lions tour, '09).

So, those are my picks, what are yours?

Like: Jonny Wilkinson, James Haskell (I think he gets faaar too much stick on here sometimes) Lois Picamoles, Yannick Nyanga, Pocock and Berrick Barnes to name a couple

Loathe: Harinordoquy, Jamie Heaslip, ROG, Tom Waldrom!!

Meflanker wrote:Like: Jonny Wilkinson, James Haskell (I think he gets faaar too much stick on here sometimes) Lois Picamoles, Yannick Nyanga, Pocock and Berrick Barnes to name a couple

Loathe: Harinordoquy, Jamie Heaslip, ROG, Tom Waldrom!!

Like: People who loathe Haskell

Loathe: People who don't loathe Haskell

No need for that Gatts, It's my opinion please respect it.

I also now loathe people who take themselves FAAAAR too seriously.
Respect your opinion? Why don't you respect mine? i detest Haskell and everything he stands for...he is a buffoon, isn't funny and courts publicity when all he shoudl be doing is talking on the pitch.
IMO there isn't enough derision directed at him and his sort who are the core of what is wrong with English rugby and rugby in general; whose juvenile pathetic immature pissing about lay at the heart if why England failed at RWC, why jonny was dragged into a Muppet show and ultimately directly contributed to MJ's demise. Some work those boys did in NZ?!
And b4 you dispel this as anti english by the taff I also detest the behaviour of the likes of powell and philipps. Rugby used to be an amateur gentleman's game; our japes were classy. Give it to the pros and they discredit it and i LOATHE that.

Im with you Gatts, cant stand Haskell, mainly because he's so overrated, cnat really speak for his personality having not met the man, but let's just say, from what i do know, im in no rush to rectify that.

loves- Current players, Bod, David Wallace, Ferris, Adam Jones, Jamie Roberts, Foden, Dowson (as underrated as Haskell is overrated)

Loathes- see above

Wow thats quite a strong reaction, I never said I don't respect your opinion I just think it's a bit much to say you loathed people that like Haskell.
You also comment on the fact he contributed to the demise of England at the world cup, he was one of the few England players to actually play well during the world cup on the pitch (I would say that is doing his talking on the pitch) and from a few interviews it seems he is also one of the hardest working on the training field.
You dislike the fact that he courts publicity off the field, which is fair enough but I personally enjoyed the Haskell cam (as an example) during the world cup. I will concur that he makes a few mistakes and he does make some stupid decisions but that is not enough for me to stop liking him as a player.

Likes: Richie Mccaw, Ben Foden and Jerome Kaino

Loathes: can't really think of any more tbh

Welcome to 606v2; you advised me to respect yours and i pointed out that you should respect mine. No harm done don't be oversensitive. My loathing of the pro Haskell camp is not literal it just reflects my loathing of him, his immature ego and his lack of humour and that in turn reflects a loathing of his type of overgrown schoolboy who is blessed with talent and status and treats it so disdainfully.

Damn right its strong reaction, its the pro era and Haskell, Tindall, Care, Henson, Powell et al are amongst the new breed have done so much damage to rugby's rep. For example, I am fed up with watching people talking back to the ref; it used to be a gentleman's game and was a class apart, if you got chippy with the ref he'd likely kick you in the balls at scrum time. It gets more like football every day.

Haskell is a prize p%%m. I can't do anything to tell you to change your opinion and you are of course welcome to it but trust me he is not a role model for a young player while he behaves like that off the pitch. Haskell cam was a disgrace; i cannot believe that while greats such as MJ and Jonny tried to firefight the debacle of England RWC 2011 chumps such as Haskell and Tindall and others who know who they are, went around behaving like selfish self promoting idiots; i mean come on it was only a World Cup, the pinnacle of achievement, and the boys were on their stag from the squad announcement evening. England shoudl be banned from going to NZ because they seem to behave like schoolboys every time.

I dont intensely like or loath any rugby player. To do so, indicates a certain lacking inside.

But. Id have this guy's babies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibDNBjoel4s

Gibson wrote:I dont intensely like or loath any rugby player. To do so, indicates a certain lacking inside.

But. Id have this guy's babies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibDNBjoel4s

Keep toking in that Amsterdam atmos Gibbo

I will Gatts. Afghani is expensive these days man. Dunno why.

Just trying to educate the masses...

Loathe is a harsh word but I suppose I do have a few

Harinordoquy is a bigot in his view so inspite of being an excellent play fits the bill.
Jamie Smith - another bigot
Neil Best - the biggest A***hole is rugby. a total tool
Matt Mauschin (sp) who sold his soul by whoring himself around the world to get an International cap. Tried Ireland - failed, tried Scotland - failed, tried Canada - succeeded. Totally pathetic
Mike Read - Ulsters ex CEO who held us back for a decade by his totally incompetance

Like many but based on those I have actually met the following are all I admire - Mark McCall, Paddy Wallace, Tommy Bowe, Ruan Pienaer, Johan Muller and Andrew Trimble - top blokes everyone.

I also admire - Rory Best, Paul Marshall and Nigel Brady for all saying they would give up the game rather than play for anyone other than Ulster.

...by his totally incompetance

I'm as prone to typo's as the next man, but you've got to love this one!

Guys, for the last time, I understand that 'Loathe' is a harsh word! It was purely to alliterate the topic name! End of.

Cheers for the input Geoff998, I had no idea about Matt Mauschin...? Pathetic.

Agree regarding Rory Best- seems a top bloke and so glad he's found some form recently

Likes:
From NZ
Richie McCaw & Michael Jones - gentlemen off the field, ultimate exponents of openside flanker play on it
Anton Oliver & Leon MacDonald - ex-schoolmates of mine and both genuinely nice blokes

Rest of the world:
Berrick Barnes & Jonny Wilkinson - both maximise every last drop of talent they have, and get up from knocks
George Smith, Juan Smith and Thierry Dusatoir

Dislikes
Robin Brooke - thug on and off field
Burger, Parisse, Rougerie and any other eye-gouger. Regardless of how talented they are the rest of the time.
Stephen Jones (the journo) - ignorant wumming hack

dislike rhymes with like though.

Kiwireddevil wrote:Stephen Jones (the journo) - ignorant wumming hack

How could I forget!

Glas a du wrote:dislike rhymes with like though.

Yeh but who would read an article titled 'Like and Dislike'? Sounds terribly boring. It's the sort of wall display you would find at a nursery school.

Mea culpa I forget the worst loathe of the lot - Trevor Brennan.

A disgrace to rugby

Another bigot - Neil Francis

This list is getting longer

top bloke v naughty naughty boy?
top bloke v Muppet?
top bloke v twit?
good bloke v git?

blydi swear filter, what's wrong with one who tosses?

like: Adam Jones , Os du Randt, Hugo Porta
loathe: Jeremy Guscott, Adri Geldenhuys, speedy players who are too little to tackle effectively

bluestonevedder wrote:

Glas a du wrote:dislike rhymes with like though.

Yeh but who would read an article titled 'Like and Dislike'? Sounds terribly boring. It's the sort of wall display you would find at a nursery school.

Or the Welsh training base.

Like: "lateral back manoeuvres, spear tackles,talking ourselves up before a game, rewriting history, character assassination of Collin Meads, mullets"
Dislike : "Midfield penetration, lineout accuracy, keeping 15 men on the field for a semi-final,facing reality"

All meant in good spirits. We love you really. Congratulations on your splendid world cup effort and good luck in the upcoming 6N...

miteyironpaw...what have you done.....?

that's a whole bag of worms!

I did laugh though

No offence intended! It was just left dangling there and I couldn't help it. Actually I'm very fond of Wales and support them as a second team.

geoff998rugby wrote:
Another bigot - Neil Francis

+ 1

Like

Haskell, Hartley and Armitage top blokes and top players.


Loathe

Shane Williams for not being English
George North for not picking England
All Munster players
All Leicester Players
Most Osprey players
I'd like to say Glaws players, but I’d say I pity them more than loath.

Mea Cupla not only did my original list leave out my biggest loathe it also left out my biggest like/admire - Simon Danielli.

Not a fan of his rugby but as a person a true gent and as nice a bloke as you could hope to meet. Always has time for a chat and I have particular reason to thank him after meeting up with him in Swansea. He did me a big favour when he could just have walked away - cheers Simon.

Another big admire is David Humphreys - always conducts himself with dignity and a credit to the Province

HERSH wrote:Like

Haskell, Hartley and Armitage top blokes and top players.

Muppet alert.

Fingers crossed they make Hartley the England captain

I have particular reason to thank him after meeting up with him in Swansea. He did me a big favour when he could just have walked away - cheers Simon.

talk about homo-erotic...

Already posted one of these, but here's some more.

Like
Euan Murray. Seems a genuinely decent guy, alright for a laugh, and whether or not you agree with him his decision to not play on Sundays is a brave and admirable one.
Adam Jones. Simply for being a fair and pretty clean player and also a decent chap in interviews.
Sam Warburton. Seems well spoken, polite, honest and a fine sportsman.
Andy Powell. Just a funny guy.
Greenwood and Scotty Q. Fan of their show and watching it you can see they're both top blokes, also Greenwood's video of him on match day for his amateur club is enough to make anybody want to play a match.
Simon Shaw. A quality player despite his age, and the interview he gave after the Lions defeat was so honest it was brilliant.
Cian Healy. Absolute tank and a great attacking and ball carrying prop.

Loathe
Shontayne Hape. WHAT DOES HE DO!?
Chris Ashton. Over rated is an understatement.
Jon Thomas. Useless. Clogged up the welsh back row for too many seasons.
Quade Cooper. Awesome attacking player but just a massive man sausage.
Dylan Hartley. Pathetic and petulant, his forearm on McCaw and the biting incident just show how pathetic he is.
Schalk Burger. Cheating, underhanded coward. Disgrace to rugby.
Delon Armitage. Arrogant and cowardly. Throws cheap shots and has poor discipline.

Interesting that most peoples post are based on the rugby they play.

I understand that as most do not come into contact with rugby players but to be clear all my observations are based on them as people either through personnal contact or because of what they have said/done off the pitch - their rugby doesn't come into it.

I find it difficult to say I loathe someone based upon their rugby - people like Phillips and Hartley come across as obnoxious individuals on the pitch but off the pitch, for all I know, they may be decent fellas.

Not sure I was always the most likely indivdual on the pitch
but I'd like to think I was ok off it

HERSH wrote:Like

Haskell, Hartley and Armitage top blokes and top players.


Loathe

Shane Williams for not being English
George North for not picking England
All Munster players
All Leicester Players
Most Osprey players
I'd like to say Glaws players, but I’d say I pity them more than loath.

And to think people accuse you of being a WUM


I always had a dislike of Bath, suck it up Hersh. Probably because they used to be good and beat Leicester a lot. It may also explain why I also had an irrational dislike of Waps and in particular Nero LOLlio, again this is largely replaced with pity now.
I disliked Saracens under Venter but have come to increasingly respect them not only as a team but also the way the club is being run. I genuinly beleive the owners have a relaistic vision and are trying to build a solid self sustaining foundation for the future rather than just chucking money at a problem till it gets bigger (Bath).

Like: Alan Jacobsen. Met him once at the university gym when Edinburgh were in town to play Ospreys, and he was a really really cool guy. Nice to see that someone of such a 'rotund' physique can still play top flight rugby. Also, he looks like Chunk, hence his nickname.

Loathe: Jannie Du Plessis for his submission hold on David Pocock. For a trained Doctor to try and inflict so much injury on a defenceless player was atrocious. His apology wouldn't cut it with me. Surprised Pocock wasn't more injured.

Harinordoquy is a bigot in his view so inspite of being an excellent play fits the bill.

Geoff, care to expand on this one?

bluestonevedder wrote:Like: Alan Jacobsen. Met him once at the university gym when Edinburgh were in town to play Ospreys, and he was a really really cool guy. Nice to see that someone of such a 'rotund' physique can still play top flight rugby. Also, he looks like Chunk, hence his nickname.

Loathe: Jannie Du Plessis for his submission hold on David Pocock. For a trained Doctor to try and inflict so much injury on a defenceless player was atrocious. His apology wouldn't cut it with me. Surprised Pocock wasn't more injured.

Can you explain the Du Plessis incident? Think I missed it.

@Flankertye, it was a Super 14 game, not international so went quite unheard of really. Basically Pocock was doing his thing and stealing the ball, and Du Plessis came in and purposefully yanked Pocock in the opposite way his lower body was moving by his neck...if that makes sense.
Here's the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmXOx84qdCc

unbelievable for any player to do that to another, let alone someone who's a trained doctor!

Like: Thierry Dusautoir. Great player, phenomenal engine, gives everything all of the time.

Loathe: Used to be Phil Christophers. Predominantly for his hair do. More recently Olly Barkley. For trying it on with my (then girlfriend) while battered. Wasn't a lot I could do about it!

Thanks for that blues, very nasty.

dgtaylor wrote:More recently Olly Barkley. For trying it on with my (then girlfriend) while battered. Wasn't a lot I could do about it!

Is she his "now" girlfriend?

Anyway chin up pal. Plenty more fish and all that

It would have been disappointing had that happened, given he could barely speak.

Then again, it seems that's when some professional rugby players stand the best chance.

Mickado wrote:

Harinordoquy is a bigot in his view so inspite of being an excellent play fits the bill.

Geoff, care to expand on this one?

He is someone who has a intense hatred of things non Basque, or at least non French to be point of rabid xenophobia.

Like: Dougie Howlett - For being a legend and for coming to Munster
Victor Matfield & Bakkies Botha - had to take these as a pair. Might be some eyebrows raised with Botha as he has done more than a few thuggish things but I have often sat in awe at the level of aggression he could bring to a game. I had the privilage of meeting Matfield in Dublin back in '09, genuinely nice guy.
Irish rugby payers - (I like them all equally )
Adam Jones - legend!
Dislike: Gavin Henson - I think he's using rugby solely as a springboard to boost his profile until his next TV job comes up

geoff998rugby wrote:

Mickado wrote:

Harinordoquy is a bigot in his view so inspite of being an excellent play fits the bill.

Geoff, care to expand on this one?

He is someone who has a intense hatred of things non Basque, or at least non French to be point of rabid xenophobia.

Get him on the 6 nations pundit team with Brian Moore!

AlynDavies wrote:
Dislike Brian O'Driscoll
....he is a terrible loser also, rarely do you ever hear him giving credit t the opposition when they beat his team, Brian is always moaning about a ref, or trying to find a reason for the loss, he simply won't admit his team were beaten by a better one.
Did you know Ireland have not lost a legitimate game of rugby fairly since 1999? It's true, funnily enough it's also the year Brian started playing for Ireland!

Moaning quotes like these?

"We got outplayed in the second half. They got two good tries in the second half, maybe some weak defence from us, but I am desperately disappointed to be going home. But Wales were tremendous and are worthy semifinalists."

"It was clearly an illegitimate try and we feel hard done by."

"I think it's very disappointing that we fought for so long, but we gave away some silly points in the last quarter. All credit to the All Blacks. They showed their resolve and skill and passion in the last 20 (minutes) to pull through for the victory."

""I'm really looking forward to Saturday. You always look forward to playing against the best sides and more often than not England are one of those."

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

geoff998rugby wrote:

Mickado wrote:

Harinordoquy is a bigot in his view so inspite of being an excellent play fits the bill.

Geoff, care to expand on this one?

He is someone who has a intense hatred of things non Basque, or at least non French to be point of rabid xenophobia.

Get him on the 6 nations pundit team with Brian Moore!

Probably meant in fun but Brian Moore is a decent fellow who supports his team that is a big big difference from the hateful bile that comes out of Harinordoquys mouth. If he said in public what he, alledgedly, says in private he would be charged.

Really like Moore. No BS. Just straight out and he says what he thinks. Like it or lump it, always gives an honest opinion.

Guscott makes my skin crawl. Far too smarmy.

Geoff,

Jamie Smith????

Really????

Have to admit his hair was almost reason enough.

Like: Toby Faletau. Such an exciting player to watch.

Loathe: I don't really loathe him, but I can't warm to Chris Ashton at all.

MrsP wrote:Geoff,

Jamie Smith????

Really????

Have to admit his hair was almost reason enough.

Jamie Smith,alledgedly, tweeted some totally inappropriate comments with respect to Northern Ireland and its religious differences.

He left a few months later - it is my understand this was not a coincidence.

That's very disappointing to hear Geoff.

Well rid then!