The Dew Drop Inn Virtual Beach Leileifiafiafale, Samoa

First topic message reminder :

Talofa*, afio mai** to the Leileifiafiafale*** - 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 ventured to Samoa because Biltongbek fancied cocktails on the beach.

The only rule in this pub is one of mutual respect for everyone in it, oh and no defacing the pictures of the recently retired Lloyd Burns and Peter Short; Richardt Strauss and Stephen Jones or the posters for "Stamp Out Racism" featuring Pat Lam and "Justice 4 John Afoa".





Old pub: https://www.606v2.com/t27303-the-dew-drop-inn-virtual-rugby-pub-georgia

* Hello
** Welcome
***Good Feast House (hopefully)

We are in the Aviva Mrs P. that's as much as I'm telling.

Leicester are giving Saints an absolute tanking at Franklins Gardens.
32-9 with still 25 minutes to go.

Go Tigers!

That's a shame Rava.

I'll be at Lansdowne!

Very "Victor" response there Rava!

Rava, will the new upgrade be big enough to avoid having to play these vital matches in Dublin in the future? What is the minimum required capacity for a HC Semi... around 20,000?

MrsP could hand-embroid the red, white & black 'SUFTUM' seat covers in the cosy new corporate boxes.

Actually semi-finals can't be played in the teams own stadiums. Only quarter-finals. It's a 'home country' advantage. You can't play it in a stadium you've already played more than three games in that season or something.

Oh, so that's why the other match is not in Clermont? I see. Interesting.

It's still a slight advantage for Ulster playing a few hours down the road though, is it not?

As Notch says Breaker.
The new capacity will be around 18300. That will allow for league playoff finals.

Have I said that we are also going to be doing the Windsor Park upgrade? Unfortunately I won't be involved in that.

Don't joke Linebreaker!

A couple of years ago the kids primary school asked for ideas for the annual concert. They were putting on an adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk and wanted to have the kids represent animals.

I had an idea of turning baseball caps into something that resembled different animals and sent it into school.

They like the idea!

Ended up making over 100 of the things in about 20 different animal designs!!!

That'll teach me to keep my ideas to myself!

It'll also allow for potential home quarter-finals. Mind you, we haven't had one of those since 1999! So let's not count any chickens.

It is, breaker, big time. We get a much bigger allocation (sold out super-quickly I hear?) and it looks like most other tickets are going to Ulster fans so should be a big turnout.

Final score at Franklins Gardens. 35-21 to Leicester.
Massive game next week at Sandy Park. Should be a shoot out between Saints and Chiefs for a playoff spot.

Whatever you do don't suggest a completely crocheted 3D solar system with all the newly discovered moons, MrsP.

So Rava... is Windsor Park as big as Ravenhill?

We should design a floating one on the Belfast Lough one day.... wouldn't that be grand?

Notch if we had qualified for a home QF this year Ulster were bringing in temporary stands to get the capacity up to 14500..

Really? That's good. It's a shame, we came so close over in Clermont, but I guess our quarter-final worked out okay in the end!

Breaker in the olden days that me and Mrs P would remember, Windsor Park would have accommodated over 40000. Following previous redevelopment and sit down only rules that reduced dramatically. There was also H&S problems with an old wooden stand.
Plans are for two new stands and upgrades to two others. They are only looking for around 18000 as well as far as I understand. They have around £23m allocated. Far too much in a relative comparison to Ravenhill.
Ravenhill has been allocated 13.4m. We are estimating at around £15m at the minute.

WillyGilly wrote:Very moving stuff t dog (I went with it and I'm glad I did)

Anyone picked their horses for tomorrow yet?

I thought it was very moving to see an athlete so down to earth like that, especially since he is soon to become a multi-millonaire. I also found it a bit odd that one of the biggest names in America has braces!



Also, whoooooooooooooo! League final baby! 14-12 against a team I despise, without two fellas in the Mundter under-age setup!

Your £15m figure will be closer to the mark I'd guess.

Just had a look at Casement Park... that's GAA I know but capacity around 32,500 is fairly decent. You rugby fans would easily fill that; twice over for a big match, no?

Breaker, most GAA stadiums aren't all seater which could very well be a requirement. Also the GAA don't tend to rent out stadiums. They might if you give them a lot of cash, if Ireland were to hold a RWC or any World Cup the GAA stadiums would be key.

Breaker we are awaiting the results of the Bid for the redevelopment of Casement. They are to spend mega bucks on it.
Same consultant team so we are quietly confident.

They are making a right Horlicks of the start of The National.
Finally away

Cari!! Junior fell at the second fence

It might be difficult to get Casement Park, rugby in Croke Park was a massive leap forward but the Northern Counties are the most conservative in that regard.

Symbolically it would be really wonderful to have Ulster Rugby play there. But on a practical level, it would be much better to play in Dublin because the IRFU own the stadium and it has a larger capacity. If the GAA agreed to rent out Casement Park they would have to give them a cut of the gate probably?

A lot more than the cut of the gate Notch. The GAA are like a prostitute, you give them enough money they willl do whatever you want.

I wouldn't know anything about that like Thom

You know I don't have any money...

Rava,

I know that feeling well, mate. In fact, I'm awaiting some news back from developers about a 12 storey residential tower in St Leonards. I put my fee in on Tuesday (tender/construction documentation) and I'm expecting to hear back from them next week. Quietly hopeful too.

If I were to be successful I might be able to slip over for 10-14 days whilst we are organising the initial programme. They are based in HK so I can work on the s.96 modifications on the laptop.... from a quiet area of a bar near you.

Notch wrote:It might be difficult to get Casement Park, rugby in Croke Park was a massive leap forward but the Northern Counties are the most conservative in that regard.

Symbolically it would be really wonderful to have Ulster Rugby play there. But on a practical level, it would be much better to play in Dublin because the IRFU own the stadium and it has a larger capacity. If the GAA agreed to rent out Casement Park they would have to give them a cut of the gate probably?

We are a small country. We need to fully utilise every asset we have. I believe, that if the GAA are getting a whack load of shekels to redevelop Casement, it should be contractual prereq, that it is open to ALL sports. Stands to reason.

Ireland cant afford any division or bias. Specially in Sport. It binds us together more than any other medium.

Neptune Collonges wins by the shortest of short heads.
Lovely grey horse.

Notch wrote:I wouldn't know anything about that like Thom

You know I don't have any money...

Notch, I'm basing my thoughts on that on some of the wisdom of GOB Bluth

Spoiler:

Breaker - Good luck with that. It would be brilliant if you could get over for a few days.
My Sister is coming over for a visit next month. She is coming via Zurich as she has some friends living there. Flying back out of Dublin. She was saying that flights were very reasonable. You could look into that. Getting to London is fairly cheap after that.

Gibson wrote:

Notch wrote:It might be difficult to get Casement Park, rugby in Croke Park was a massive leap forward but the Northern Counties are the most conservative in that regard.

Symbolically it would be really wonderful to have Ulster Rugby play there. But on a practical level, it would be much better to play in Dublin because the IRFU own the stadium and it has a larger capacity. If the GAA agreed to rent out Casement Park they would have to give them a cut of the gate probably?

We are a small country. We need to fully utilise every asset we have. I believe, that if the GAA are getting a whack load of shekels to redevelop Casement, it should be contractual prereq, that it is open to ALL sports. Stands to reason.

Ireland cant afford any division or bias. Specially in Sport. It binds us together more than any other medium.

Yeah, but it's a whole political mess. For ages they were trying to shoe-horn everyone into one multi-purpose stadium at the site of the Maze, but it just dragged on and on... finally they just decided to give everyone funding to redevelop their own grounds and stadia. Rugby seems to have lost out in the funding stakes to GAA and Soccer for new stadiums but I'm just glad we're staying at Ravenhill. I've seen other rugby teams move to soulless, over-sized modern stadia out of town and it hasn't worked out at all.

The proposed Maze Stadium may have been symbolic- one national stadium for all, regardless of what sport they followed- but it was an absolute basket case of an idea. I'm not sorry to see the back of it. But I would like to see the maximum amount of co-operation between the major sports in Northern Ireland.

Notch as far as I am aware the IRFU (Ulster Branch) got what they asked for. Not a case of losing out.

Fair enough. Let's hope we get everything we asked for on budget and on time

Newcastle are beating Glaws at Kingsholm. Worcs are beating Chiefs atm. Sarries have beaten Irish.

Rava,

I remember having a discussion with you and the other aul fella about the size requirements for a HEC quarter and I thought we came to the conclusion that there wouldn't be room at Ravenhill even with the extra stands, no?

And I thought Ex had won?

That's what I thought Mrs P. I thought we had lost the ability due to the new stand but apparently they could just about done it.

In much more important news...

Clontarf beaten by St Mary's at Castle Avenue today (12-18), in a tense League decider. My home team. My home Nightclub for scoring burds as a young buck. The place where I met the missus... Thought we were set to win the League at last.
http://www.irishrugby.ie/rugby/26284.php

Devastated.com

I hope Young Munster do us a favour next week. Doubt it though.

Love this:

CLASSIC CLONTARF XV-- F Dunlea; J Fortune, F O'Driscoll, J Downey, A Reddan; M Fitzimons, O Byrne; C Healy, B Jackman, J Harris; A Wood, B Gissing; S O'Brien, B O'Mahony, D Moore.

CLASSIC ST MARY'S XV -- R O'Donnell; T Grace, V Cunningham, J Sexton, D Hickie; T Ward, J Moloney; D Dowling, C Fitzgerald, S Lynch; S Jameson, M O'Kelly; T Brennan, S Jennings, V Costello.

Off to watch the build up!

C'Mon Uuuuullllllllllssstttttterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!



SUFTUM (Although I think Ulstermen is one word so it should really be SUFTU!)

Good Gibbo, my local senior side are in promotion contention while their U-17 team are in the league final!

When you hear this, you think how lucky Fabrice Muamba is.


"Tragic news from Italy today where Livorno midfielder Piermario Morosini has died at just 25 years old after having a heart attack during the game against Pescara"

Excellent T. You playing for that club yeah?

Mon Ulster.

I do but not on the senior team. Mon Connacht (underdogs like)

Poor enough defending but very well taken try from Nikora.

Good start for Connacht. Two players off injured though.
Humphreys kicking like McFadden.

Am I missing something? McFadden is an incredibly reliable goalkicker, Humphs have been poor.

Yeah but he had a shocker with the boot last night.

Ah right, didn't see the game I was out playing a match.