The Dew Drop Inn Virtual Millennium Stadium Rugby Pub

First topic message reminder :

Welcome to the Virtual Rugby Pub - a place where you can come in for a sly beverage and discuss whatever's on your mind, or just eavesdrop on the regulars if you fancy a break from all the rugby chat. The pub has teleported itself inside Millenium Stadium this week to see if the men in red can manage a Slam. There's also TVs showing the other 6N matches, the U20s and Womens' matches, Super XV, the "Classic" match and LV= Cup action.

The only rule in this pub is one of mutual respect for everyone in it, oh and no defacing the pictures of Mervyn Davies and Jock Hobbs above the bar!




Old Pub: https://www.606v2.com/t25452-the-dew-drop-inn-virtual-rugby-pub

Blydi Hobo and his Twitter. Been in there all night scaring the horses.

Morning All Please.

Hope everyone is well.

Whose birthday is it today? We've had a run recently.

Hoping for some upsets in the HC. It would be boring if the four home sides won.

Morning folks,


Good read from the whiff of cordite boys today.





Ireland's Six Nations: Tha Playas




We've had our rant about the team's general performance and management's selection policy, but how about the players themselves, at an individual level.  Unsurprisingly, as with the series itself, it was a pretty mixed bag.  A handful distinguished themselves, a few more weren't at their best, and the sorry affair in Twickenham looked like the end of the road for a handful of great servants to Irish rugby.

Outstanding achievement in the field of excellence: Rob Kearney, Stephen Ferris


Two players reborn after lengthy injury.  We have a slight man-crush on Ferris, and it predates him taking his top off vs. France.  Rob Keaney looked full of vim and vigour, and arguably topped his 2009 Lions form.  Both look captaincy material in the long term, and are certainties for the Lions squad, and probables for the test team. Both are peerless as ultra-physical blindsides / safe-as-houses fullback in the Northern Hemisphere.

Critics answered: Keith Earls, Johnny Sexton


There were plenty of doubts around Keith Earls' ability to play centre, and we had our own, in spite of ultimately endorsing the selection.  He showed himself to be mostly up to task, and was Ireland's most potent line-breaker.  Who knows, paired with an inside centre with a semblance of attacking threat, he might have done either better. His homework is to expand his peripheral vision and watch some videos of Smuddy, BOD and Jacque Fourie - he can do better at bringing his outside backs into play. Jonny Sexton finally took ownership of the shirt.  He wasn't spectacular, but defended his channel manfully and his form with placed ball was finally up to task - he missed one easy kick in Paris, but otherwise kicked well. He needs to improve his tactical kicking - it's not his strongest suit, but Ireland demand better.

Solid performers: Tommy Bowe, Rory Best, Mike Ross, Paul O'Connell, Conor Murray, Eoin Reddan


Tommy Bowe got among the tries, but Ireland need to get him much more involved than he is - to be fair, Bowe knows it as well. He certainly missed BOD and an in-form 12 to pop those little passes to him - he doesn't yet seem to trust Earls.  Rory Best captained the side manfully, and got himself two tries; he's now one of the side's most important figures. The lineout wasn't up to its usual standards, and Besty needs to takle some of the blame here. Conor Murray and Eoin Reddan had their moments in mixed campaigns - Murray needs to stop over-complicating the game, he looks like he has the early symptoms of O'Leary disease, though unlike his predecessor he has good passing technique. Reddan is a solid performer, but as soon as Paul Marshall is at international level, he's likely yo be ditched by Deccie (again). Paul O'Connell and Mike Ross' injuries had a huge impact on the side, and not in a good way - they are, and will be, key men.

We need to see more: Jamie Heaslip, Cian Healy, Sean O'Brien, Andrew Trimble


None of the above disgraced themselves, but all four will have designs on making the Lions tour next year, and for one reason or another, weren't at their best.  Cian Healy was outstanding against Scotland, but fairly quiet by his standards for much of the tournament - we'd like to see him operate at a higher level and start assuming a lieutenant role. Jamie Heaslip got through a fair amount of donkey work and won his share of turnovers but a player of his ability needs to show a bit more.  A number 8 who isn't getting over the gainline is not a luxury Ireland can afford.  Sean O'Brien suffered from being played out of position and cut a slightly frustrated figure, despite a good tackle count.  Meanwhile Andy Trimble took his two tries brilliantly, but never quite showed the Ulster form that had propelled him into the team.  As with Tommy Bowe, he needs to come off his wing and look for a few more touches of the ball - but stay outside if an overlap looks on! Its a 3/4 line in flux, Trimble still deserves time to show what he can do.

The best is yet to come: Donnacha Ryan, Peter O'Mahony, Sean Cronin, Fergus McFadden


Four players we need to see a bit more of, and all of them knocking pretty hard.  Donncha Ryan belatedly got his chance to start and grabbed it - the pity was he wasn't given it sooner.  Peter O'Mahony had a solid debut, but was a victim of Deccie's rigid pecking order, and went back to the bench.  McFadden and Cronin need to be used off the bench earlier by Kidney, at the very least, and it would be nice if McFadden could get some time at 12 - Ryan should now be a mainstay and the other three should be marked for a minimum of a test start in New Zealand, form permitting of course.

End of the line: Donncha O'Callaghan, Tom Court, Gordon D'arcy, Tomas O'Leary, and possibly, maybe, Ronan O'Gara


O'Callaghan and D'arcy we've been over already.  O'Leary's pass is just not up to standard - he needs a fresh start somewhere out of the limelight - his confidence is shot to pieces and he was cruelly exposed against England.  Tom Court was unfortunate to be asked to perform a task for which he is simply not equipped - it is surely time to explore some new options, such as they are.


Now, the last one - ROG.  Controversial for sure, so let us tread carefully here.  ROG is now very much the second choice 10, and we're slightly baffled by Deccie's tactic of shunting Sexton to 12 to bring him on.  Truth be told, he didn't make much of a splash in any of his cameos this Six Nations, though he's obviously still very much a class player.  We wouldn't retire a player as great as ROG without careful consideration, but it might be worth just starting to think about the season after next when he will no longer be around to call upon.  It won't be too long until we're back in the uncomfortable position of having only one test fly-half, unless we can pre-empt it a bit, and expose someone like Ian Madigan to test rugby.  It could be worth putting ROG in the 'Break Glass In Case of Emergency' box, and maybe giving him the summer off - is it really necessary to fly a 35 year old across the world to sit on the bench in three tests?  For now let's just say we're putting the idea out there, but not with any real conviction behind it yet.  It's dependant on a big end-of-season finish from Madigan for starters.

Glas a du wrote:Whose birthday is it today? We've had a run recently.

Hoping for some upsets in the HC. It would be boring if the four home sides won.

Morning all, it's mine on Monday Glas.

Bore da pawb / good morning all.

The Heineken Cup quarter finals can't be this weekend, surely?

Na lucky its two weekend away 7/8 of April

Plenty of time for me to pretend to be excited, then.

Morning all.

Anyone up for a meet up at the Great Welsh Beer and Cider Festival this year. It's Thu 7th to Sat 9th June, so might be an opportunity to meet up, have some good grog and discuss the summer tours.

Sounds like a plan, Hound! Whereabouts is it being held?

The CIA/Motorpoint Arena.

I was thinking of the Friday evening and then the first summer tests are on on the Saturday.

Hic!

Is that the four-day Jubilee weekend?

Hound_of_Harrow wrote:Morning all.

Anyone up for a meet up at the Great Welsh Beer and Cider Festival this year. It's Thu 7th to Sat 9th June, so might be an opportunity to meet up, have some good grog and discuss the summer tours.

Bollix - I think we may be away that week (anything to avoid the fawning and cap-doffing ). However we might do Wedndesday 30/5 to Wednesday 06/06 If you do come along , I'll make sure the kennel is cleaned out and fresh bedding put down

luckless_pedestrian wrote:Is that the four-day Jubilee weekend?

Fawning and Cap Doffing weekend is Sat 02/06 to Tue 05/06

Hmm... I know my mum's coming down one weekend in June and I thought it was the Jubliee weekend, but obviously it can't be. I'll have to check, but if she's not down the weekend of the beer festival, count me in!

Cheers Penfro. Will be good to meet up with you guys. But just 'cos you won a Slam, I won't be fawning and doffing to you

Hound_of_Harrow wrote:Cheers Penfro. Will be good to meet up with you guys. But just 'cos you won a Slam, I won't be fawning and doffing to you

You could just <c0ck> a hind leg instead

We don't need anybody to fawn, we are aware of fortune and are magnanamous.

The censorship made it funnier, Rava!

Just seen it. Did it come up with 'man sausage' Rava?



I've just checked our team calendar and we already have 3 off on that Friday. Gonna be touch and go!!

Glas a du wrote:We don't need anybody to fawn, we are aware of fortune and are magnanamous.

+1 and as for c0cking the leg, well, sure we pi$$ed over everyone this year - GRAND SLAM CHAMPIONS !!!! no Pete, we need to be magnanimous

Did anyone watch the Grand Slam review on BBC Two yesterday? What a mess of a show. Whoever produced it has no clue about rugby. Instead of showing brief highlights of each match, they kept cutting from one angle to another, alternating real-time and slow-motion footage, so that you lost all sense of the moves / tries and were left disorientated. If it had been a fish, it would have been a carp.

No gloating!!!

I'm not gloating



Hughie, don't agree with much of that blog sorry.

Meat helps satisfy women, apparently.

Tongue?

Pork ?

Trotters?

Red meat

Hiding the Salami ??

Black Pudding?

I just complained to the BBC about that Grand Slam 2012 programme.

luckless_pedestrian wrote:I just complained to the BBC about that Grand Slam 2012 programme.

What, didn't have enough about Wales?

Hound_of_Harrow wrote:No gloating!!!

Let them have a wee gloat. It'll pass.

No HC. No Pro12. No LV Cup. No B&I Cup

Ha, no Asbo, because it was such a disappointing programme:

I tuned in to watch the show hoping to see brief highlights of each match in Wales's Six Nations campaign; as it turned out, I got a disorientating jumble of shots from different camera angles, real-time footage juxtaposed with slow-motion, so that all sense of the flow of moves / tries was lost. It was such a disappointment. It would have been much easier for the BBC to have shown simple highlights of the matches, which I'm pretty sure most viewers wanted to see, rather than being tricksy for the sake of it (trying to be edgy? What was the intention exactly?). I'm complaining not only because I was disappointed by the programme, but also because I'm sure there will be a decent viewing figure for it and I wouldn't want you to conclude from that that you've given viewers what they want.

Rava wrote:

Hound_of_Harrow wrote:No gloating!!!

Let them have a wee gloat. It'll pass.

No HC. No Pro12. No LV Cup. No B&I Cup

Hound_of_Harrow wrote:Anyone up for a meet up at the Great Welsh Beer and Cider Festival this year. It's Thu 7th to Sat 9th June, so might be an opportunity to meet up, have some good grog and discuss the summer tours.

Just checked, Hound: my mum's down from the 2nd to the 5th. Beer festival it shall be!

I agree lucky - a simple reminder of how the slam was won. Tries, key moments and interviews with players, management and fans etc. would be what most people would have wanted to see I would have thought.

Probably because they were too drunk to remember it








Kebab.

Get your taste buds attuned to Cwrw Haf lucky. Lots of it

I remember having a pint or two of that after last season's Heineken Cup Final.

luckless_pedestrian wrote:I remember having a pint or two of that after last season's Heineken Cup Final.

You're lucky, Lucky. I don't remember anything after last seasons Heineken Cup Final

Cwrw Haf is proper lush, I love it.

And afternoon all, just back in the office after a meeting, managed to get myself a new phone too in my lunch break.

£10.50 a month and I get 300 mins, unlimited texts, e-mails and wifi and 500MB or something like that. Not too shabby, reckon I'm happy with that.

Rava wrote:

luckless_pedestrian wrote:I remember having a pint or two of that after last season's Heineken Cup Final.

You're lucky, Lucky. I don't remember anything after last seasons Heineken Cup Final

What phone is it, Dreamer? I love getting a new piece of kit like that and getting to grips with it

Does,that,mean,that,your,text,messages,will,now,make,some,sort,of,sense,dreamer??

That's a good deal Dreamer, which network is it?

Yes,Hughie,it,does,no,more,use,of,the,comma,instead,of,a,space.

Lucly - some sort of HTC one. I dunno, I never pay much attention to that sort of stuff (guess I probably should), it looks nice though!

Swanny - tis with Orange

Oh that's worth knowing Dreamer, I'm with Orange too

May have to investigate that, my current phone annoys the out of me.

Cool, I've got an HTC.

Mymumusedtosendtextswithnospacesatall.

luckythatwouldbeveryirritatingtoread!

Swanny - the offer only runs until the end of this month I think. Tis the Panther package. After 31st March, think it goes back up to £15.50.

The only pain was as I'd never been on a contract phone before I had to pay a deposit (apparently that was the reason). Still, I'll get it all back next year, and the cost was all covered by some extra money I got this month due to the new pay scheme being rolled across at work, so tis all win win win