The Dew Drop Inn Virtual Rugby Walkabout, Covent Garden

First topic message reminder :

Hello and 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 made its way to the original Walkabout pub in London's Covent Garden, as it is set to close its doors at the end of the month.

The only rule in this pub is one of mutual respect for everyone in it, oh and no tampering with the pictures of Mark Ella or recent birthday boys Gibson and Glas a du above the bar.




Last Pub: https://www.606v2.com/t40864-the-dew-drop-inn-virtual-rugby-pub-come-by-chance

WillyGilly wrote:

Glas a du wrote:Prospective girlfriend still playing hard to get Willy? Shag one of her mates, I would.

Oh, oh, I see...

She literally just texted there as I read this glas. Your timing is impeccable! We're going to a wedding together in a months time. Only issue there is her mum's going as well. Which will either hinder or help my ability to pull I'm not sure.

Young man down!

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

Evening Gobby!

Heard from the wee fella earlier.

They were set to play their final game in Italy against the regional representative side. My lad turned 15 a couple of weeks ago and his team mates are the same school year although mostly a few weeks older. One turned 15 yesterday though.

Somehow the team that showed up to play them were all aged 16 or 17. One had his son along to watch apparently!

Still, the kids did well to keep the scoreline respectable.

Ah gibbo, we're cannon fodder for Leinster on Friday. Have you seen the run of form Wasps are on. Hopeless.

Leinster by 20+ imo.

The Stoop is a bog of a pitch atm, so Munster may find a territorial game may work. What am I saying!!! that's how they normally win games. Quins have lost their last three league games.


Sarries are just a feckin machine at the moment. They have the best squad in the Prem, and will be a hard nut to crack for Ulster. Sarries do not panic, as we found out on Sat. For me they are the only team who can take on the big two French teams in terms of squad strength.

Ulster could well surprise Sarries at the break down though; their best chance of actually panicking, what is a normally unflappable bunch.

Tiggers will need a lot of dog to beat Toulon, and I can't see them doing it. Toulon have a mighty pack on paper, but they are getting on a bit. Best tactic for Tigers is to try and play wide, retain possession and shift the point of attack, and force Toulon to make loads of tackles.

Clermont will not lose to Montpellier. Quins or Munster have to play them in the semi.

Sarriesor Ulster v Clermont final.

If Toulon make it....

MrsP,

He should have used a different tour operator

Absolutely Stag!

Might be worth keeping an eye on if you ever send lads to Venice though.

How many of the matches will you get to at the weekend?

Morning folks. I really enjoyed the double-header but by crikey I was hungover on Sunday. I must be out of practice.

I'm glad it's a four-day week because I still don't feel too clever.

MrsP its something that I have heard about before. I was talking about 2 months ago to a Munster club who had toured there and they had a similar experience.

This weekend I'll get to Ulster and Munster! Wearing White and Red.

I hope you have been learning all the lyrics to Ulster extensive and complex repertoire of supporters songs!

SUFTULAMM!

red_stag wrote:MrsP its something that I have heard about before. I was talking about 2 months ago to a Munster club who had toured there and they had a similar experience.

This weekend I'll get to Ulster and Munster! Wearing White and Red.

<thumbsup>

Stag,

Have been avoiding answering Notches recent query on the Ask the Ref thread?

No I hadnt seen it.

In short, I thought Clancy was badly wrong!

What would have happened if the TMO had said "Try!"?

I presume he would have awarded it judging by his comments. Either way it would have been terrible. Do you think there will be much of a sanction?

MrsP wrote:What would have happened if the TMO had said "Try!"?

I presume he would have awarded it judging by his comments. Either way it would have been terrible. Do you think there will be much of a sanction?

I dont think there will be. I dont think there is a definite ruling for this. However it just looked really weak from George. Should have just said it was held up and stuck with his decision.

I do think though if a try had been genuinely scored it would have been wrong for Ulster to win. I'd rather see the right result arrived at by the wrong means than the wrong result allowed to stand simply because ref blew his whistle.

I once awarded a try because a team grounded the ball on the 5m line (it was a solid line instead of a broken one). I realised my mistake and just said "my mistake lads try line is over there. We'll restart with a scrum". I had a captain trying to claim I couldn't change my mind.

However the difference there is that Clancy didn't realise a mistake. He allowed himself to get pressured into something after the final whistle.

I agree that it would have been wrong to not award a try if it had been scored. Just a mess really.

Should have told Cullen to go home and watch it on his own telly!

I've seen kids do that "5m" try thing and also seen them run over the dead ball line and ground the ball. We even had to shout at one of our lads last season when he picked up the ball practically on the try line but thought he was further out. He saw the posts of the pitch behind the one he was playing on and thought they were on our pitch!!!

We were all yelling,

"PUT THE BALL DOWN!!!!!!!"

Thankfully he did it. Looked totally confused mind!

red_stag wrote:No I hadnt seen it.

In short, I thought Clancy was badly wrong!

Stag whats the ruling if a penalty is awarded in stoppage time? I thought the team couldn't opt for a restart i.e. scrum or lineout only a quick tap or posts?

rodders wrote:

red_stag wrote:No I hadnt seen it.

In short, I thought Clancy was badly wrong!

Stag whats the ruling if a penalty is awarded in stoppage time? I thought the team couldn't opt for a restart i.e. scrum or lineout only a quick tap or posts?

They can take a scrum. Not a lineout.

I would have thought there wouldn't be time to kick for a lineout as time would be up when the ball went dead but that a scrum would be fine as the scrum can be played out till the next "non-penalty" stoppage.

rodders wrote:

red_stag wrote:No I hadnt seen it.

In short, I thought Clancy was badly wrong!

Stag whats the ruling if a penalty is awarded in stoppage time? I thought the team couldn't opt for a restart i.e. scrum or lineout only a quick tap or posts?

Depends if Chris White is reffing!!

Stag, MrsP. Mark Anscombe was asked about it- he had this to say;

“So we’re still not sure if we’ve won the game! We might get a call tonight to say that they’ve gone through the video!"

Notch wrote:Stag, MrsP. Mark Anscombe was asked about it- he had this to say;

“So we’re still not sure if we’ve won the game! We might get a call tonight to say that they’ve gone through the video!"

Coaches say all kinds of nonsense. Did you hear what Schmidt said?

He bemoaned Leinster getting on the wrong side of the referee saying "all we want is consistency".

I thought if anything Ulster were the team worse affected.

I don't think it is nonsense. If a referee can go back and reverse a decision after a game is finished, 10 seconds and 10 hours is just a matter of degree over the same thing.

Had there been a try scored, it would have been the right moral result. But Ulster would DEFINITELY have appealed it. They definitely would have argued that the scoreline at the time the final whistle was blown be considered the final result. It's very different to a bad call during a game. Bad calls happen, refs are human and thats why decisions made in the heat of action stand. This is the result being potentially changed post-game. This is more like a citing comissioner situation, using the video to go back and check for things the referee missed.

If a ref can go back and reverse a mistake after the final whistle... well let's just be grateful for Kyle McCall gettig underneath the ball because the outcome would have been bad for Ulster, bad for Leinster, bad for the Pro12 and very bad for the trajectory of Clancys career. Very good for Lawyers though. And given we've got an Oxford law grad as Director of Rugby and a rightly or wrongly a chip on our shoulder about biased officials whenever we cross the border it would have run and run and run...

It's a bit of pandoras box, needless to say. We use technology but we've realised we need to set strict limits on how it should be used to avoid situations like this. If we're using video replays to change results after the game is finished!? Once you look at it this way you can see why football have held out over it for so long.

Notch, thats an exaggeration. He checked the footage from the final play of the game. He didn't pour back over reams of footage from earlier in the game.

I understand that you want Ulster to win but I think if Leinster had grounded the ball I would have preferred them to be awarded the win.

It would be a very hollow victory for Ulster to get the lawyers out and get their 4 points in a court of law.

You are right in that the game had ended and it was wrong but to claim that they would look over loads of old footage is just stupid. They checked the immediate grounding of the last play.

I dont see how this is different to a bad call during a game. It was nothing like a citing commissioner. I agree it will be bad for Clancys career.

Notch you are over complicating the situation.

You are painting this view where the referee was delving into the early depths of the match looking to change the score.

He decided it was held up, ended the game, realised he might have made a mistake and Leinster asked for a look upstairs and he did it to double check.

Its a bad mistake to make but it is far from the pandoras box that you describe.

I think there's the sanctity of the final whistle. Full time, the players shake hands, thats the score. Then- what? Triple checking?

If that was allowed, whats to stop us checking half an hour later? Or the next day? You say it yourself- he's ended the game. And then he's gone to the TMO. What does he do if the TMO awards it? Glad we didn't have to find out.

If he checks it before the final whistle it's not even a matter of debate, he's fully entitled to do that. But the sequence is very, very important. It's just the fact he ends the game and then Leinster ask him to go to the TMO. At that point, any decision is moot for me because he's blown the final whistle.

Notch - I've also said that he was wrong to do it.

I just think that you and Anscombe have exaggerated the situation.

Surely it's also pretty bad that he bowed to Leinster pressure to go to the TMO?

N.B. I haven't seen the incident.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Surely it's also pretty bad that he bowed to Leinster pressure to go to the TMO.

That was definitely the worst part. The laws say a referee can alter a decision upon the advice of his touch judge. However it was extremely weak to cave in to Cullens wishes like that.

red_stag wrote:Notch - I've also said that he was wrong to do it.

I just think that you and Anscombe have exaggerated the situation.

Yep, we have. Like I say it's a matter or degree. But its the same principle whether its 10 seconds, 10 minutes, 10 hours or 10 days.

Lucky, if you want to watch- doesn't show the full conversation though. I think it's Cullen asks for the TMO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u7FFrkPdxI&list=UU-S6cXyil4qbIPfb2hrcH4w&index=4

red_stag wrote:Notch you are over complicating the situation.

You are painting this view where the referee was delving into the early depths of the match looking to change the score.

Thats exactly what he was doing. 8 minutes of stoppage time, half a dozen phantom penalties, a 85th minute yellow card and going to the video ref after he blew the final whistle.... bar dotting the ball down himself I don't see how much deeper Clancy could have delved.

Glad to hear you enjoyed Judgement Day Lucky!!

Who did you support in the other game?

I like going to neutral games and supporting a team. This weekend I get to get my white shirt out and support Ulster!

I think I'll paint my hands red too. (Red hand of Ulster!)

That sounds great. Do it!

It was strange, Prop - I'm no fan of the Blues normally, but as they were underdogs I was half-rooting for them. It was a good day out, but I paid for it the next day!

Notch wrote:That sounds great. Do it!

I think I'll just wear gloves now that I think of it. Oooh actually I think I have a big red foam hand at home. That will be perfect actually.

Ulster are missing a trick there. Munster and Leinster have the flags done to death. Its so clichéd. Ulster should give red foam hands out. Let the Red Hand be your symbol.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:It was strange, Prop - I'm no fan of the Blues normally, but as they were underdogs I was half-rooting for them. It was a good day out, but I paid for it the next day!

red_stag wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:It was strange, Prop - I'm no fan of the Blues normally, but as they were underdogs I was half-rooting for them. It was a good day out, but I paid for it the next day!

Ha, Stag, it was the double exclamation marks!

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

red_stag wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:It was strange, Prop - I'm no fan of the Blues normally, but as they were underdogs I was half-rooting for them. It was a good day out, but I paid for it the next day!

Ha, Stag, it was the double exclamation marks!

Very good. Question for you. Whats going on with all these internal transfers with the Cardiff Blues now that you mention them.

Why are they getting funding to sign all these big name Welsh players like North?

There's so much speculation at the moment Stag, and very little substance. The rumour is that the Blues are / may be being 'helped' by the WRU to sign players from other regions, ostensibly in the name of keeping them in Wales.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:There's so much speculation at the moment Stag, and very little substance. The rumour is that the Blues are / may be being 'helped' by the WRU to sign players from other regions, ostensibly in the name of keeping them in Wales.

But why not just give the money to those regions?

Precisely.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Precisely.

Oh right thought I missed something there

My hunch is that Roger Lewis is determined to keep 'his' international players in Wales at all costs, and if that means arranging for them to play at a different region, he'll do it. It's only a hunch, but that's how I see it. It means there's no level playing field and the regions can't possibly trust the man, but I don't think that bothers him.

Again, just a hunch.

red_stag wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:There's so much speculation at the moment Stag, and very little substance. The rumour is that the Blues are / may be being 'helped' by the WRU to sign players from other regions, ostensibly in the name of keeping them in Wales.

But why not just give the money to those regions?

Same reason the IRFU give more money to Munster probably?

Does that actually happen, Rodders?

red_stag wrote:

Notch wrote:That sounds great. Do it!

I think I'll just wear gloves now that I think of it. Oooh actually I think I have a big red foam hand at home. That will be perfect actually.

Ulster are missing a trick there. Munster and Leinster have the flags done to death. Its so clichéd. Ulster should give red foam hands out. Let the Red Hand be your symbol.

They had those Red Hands for quite a few seasons. Not sure why it stopped. We have one or two about the place somewhere.

Rodders, are you OK? It's just that I'm missing your "the end is nigh" posts

Glas funny you should say that I'm just investigating a theory I have on reversal of the magnetic poles just now........ this one is pretty worrying but I'll let you guys know when I have more evidence ......

Kidney has gone!

x 100

Don't they reverse every few millenia or so anyway? I seem to remember that being how they proved plate tectonics, by the polarity of the rocks on the floor of the Atlantic

Anybody else see that there is more ice in Antartica as a result of the Arctic ice receeding? Apparently the net effect of the melt water has been to cool the seas to the South of the equator, an example of negative feedback. (I knew my GCSE geography would come in useful one day! )

WillyGilly wrote:Kidney has gone!

x 100

Another example of negative feedback!