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

Is Lewis good at getting his back line moving?

Would ROG do any better a job of running Welsh Rugby?

He might be able to quote you the odds of getting into the Premiership.

Tis a two way thing though Notch. He (ROG) may have kicked the points that PJ missed. But would he have made the passes that created several opportunities.

ROG did ostensibly lose the game with that ill judged/executed 'kick pass'.

All things considered, it was an odd thing to say.

Mrs P it a case of "anybody but Lewis"

Well he doesn't mince his words does he, aul ROG? He's always been a git though hasn't he?

MrsP - it's the bestest thing since I seen Tommy at the airport! really pleased for him. He looks so well and healthy. I really hope he's all right to play very soon. Maybe just get his bum on the bench for a warm this weekend...?

I've read on Walesonline that George Gogledd has signed to Saints for two years then? Ah well...at least he'll never play for England

CF - sorry you've had a bad day too. Have a

As always, no bull O'Gara. I know he's Marmite. I hate Marmite but I love old moan and groan but ruthlessly honest O'Gara.

No fancy double speak with no meaning - no stock "Yeah, No" answers. Real opinions and he doesn't really care whether we like them or not. He's fighting for his career (and has the right regardless of how we all think) And as far as I'm concerned he was only saying Kidney has to get through his career too in his own way... that's rugby. And he didn't deny that it wasn't all sweetness with his long term boss. That's a real interview not a photo opportunity

Hound of Harrow wrote:Tis a two way thing though Notch. He (ROG) may have kicked the points that PJ missed. But would he have made the passes that created several opportunities.

ROG did ostensibly lose the game with that ill judged/executed 'kick pass'.

All things considered, it was an odd thing to say.

The strangest thing he said was he thought the younger fellas should get a chance, but only after he had 'rode into the sunset'. He's the hero of Irish Rugby in his own mind. Despite the fact his form has made him a bit of a burden to be carried through games by his teams this season.

It's mildly annoying (and only mildly annoying tbh) because of the fact he doesn't ever seem to be able to see when he's playing badly and acknowledge it. He's never been able to see his weaknesses. His massive arrogance and self-confidence was probably always his greatest asset. But it's turned against him in the dying stages of his career.

All in all, there was a fair bit of ROG sticking the knife in post Kidney and I found the interview quite distasteful.

Gawd Cari, I feel sorry for the fans in Wales. Back to back 6N titles and the young 'uns (plus adults) will want to see their heroes.

There is a current player drain similar to the 80' & 90's, when so many went to League.

At least they are still qualified to play for Wales.

Hound of Harrow wrote:Gawd Cari, I feel sorry for the fans in Wales. Back to back 6N titles and the young 'uns (plus adults) will want to see their heroes.

There is a current player drain similar to the 80' & 90's, when so many went to League.

At least they are still qualified to play for Wales.

Sadly, the majority of rugby fans in Wales won't miss George North, bar they won't get to see him on Scrum V anymore. I'm sure secretly he's looking forward to playing in front of a packed Franklins.

He has played as many times for Wales as he has for the Scarlets.

Fair enough guys. I look at some of the Rabo line ups and think "Where's the good guys".

I'm sure the fans do too.

Anyhow, a monster weekend of rugby for me. Wasps v Leinster on Friday nighr. I'm doung a B&B in Wycombe in case it goes to e/t. Plus there will be loads of fans trying to get onto the three trains back to London afterwards.

Saturday will be over to Ealing to see if they can clinch the N1 title. Then Sarries v Ulster in the pub.

Sunday - back to the 'Sheaf for the other televised games.

I'k going to sort out a big pot of casserole to get me through.

In game theory I'm sure getting your opponents to develop and pay the wages of your better players is the right move.

Missed out the Glaws game there Hound!!

Little bit of talk going around about Lydiate to the Blues.....think all hell would break loose if that happened!!

Ah prop, I would love to watch the Glaws game, but that would mean travelling to Ealing or Marylebone tomorrow, and back home afterwards.

I'm already scheduled for enough travelling to watch our great game.

Missing the game of the round then fella!!

Just prior to heading home, I've gone for a beer brewed here by a Kiwi brewer for the Wetherspoon Spring beer fest.

Pacific Pearl by a brewer from Hamilton, NZ. Good George brewery, if you've heard of it kiwi.

A 'going to bed beer' for sure - 5.5 ABV.

Feicen lush though.

So, Hound, which of the duo of current Directors of Rugby, who lifted the trophy together in 1999, will you be cheering for on Saturday?

I am an avowed neutral in games not involving Wasps or Ealing, MrsP. Though I will be hoping an English club win the HC to open up a 7th qualfying slot for the AP.

If we miss out, so be it; we know that qualifying for the HC has to be earned, and you can't rely on others to do it for you.

I watch my team fairly analytically. That is, looking at who is playing well/badly and how tactics are shaping a game; what needs to be improved etc. I will quickly refute claims that a ref cost us a game, when it was clear to me that our own mistakes were the reason we lost.

I can't abide people who turn up to watch a game (live or on TV) and want to yack on about stuff, and pay little attention to the game itself.

Sorry, that probably read like a bit of a rant, but that's me.

Hound, you're a real rugby gent you know that?

I'll be in the Marylebone area on Monday if your around at all.

Morning Stag, morning all. Cold one again this morning, but the sun's shining.

prop_lyd wrote:Little bit of talk going around about Lydiate to the Blues.....think all hell would break loose if that happened!!

I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up at the Blues - nor would I be surprised if the WRU provided money to fund the move that they were 'unable' to provide us to keep him.

Hi Lucky,

Thats bonkers. Surely it is less expensive to just pay Dragons money to keep him instead of paying Blues the same money to buy him plus covering the admin costs etc. It would also hurt the Dragons badly and lead to greater dissatisfaction with the regionalism concept.

I have to say I wonder about the way clubs do their finances. Munster have made a few big feckups in this area recently.

- We sent Peter Stringer to Bath. The reason was to save money as Bath are covering his wages. This meant that we are playing Duncan Williams, the worst Munster player I have ever seen. The team loses in the league and less people go to see them play. With Stringer we probably would have fared better on the field. Fans are results driven.

- We built Thomond Park in the "celtic tiger" era and have to pay back the loan in the recession. That isn't a feckup because we couldn't realistically predict the economy but we are now pumping money into our second stadium Musgrave Park which is highly irresponsible. We cannot justify two modern stadia.

- We had the recent Munster v Connacht game in Musgrave Park. Musgrave Park in Cork is about 3 hours from Galway. It is also just 10,000 seats. By contrast Thomond Park is a 26,000 stadium that is just 90 minutes from Galway. We missed a trick at getting a big gate receipt.

- We had Munster v Zebre in Thomond Park. Nobody turned up to watch it. That was a match crying out to be in our second stadium.

- We very nearly made a massive mistake in signing Luke Fitzgerald. He would have been a big money signing in a position where we already have Simon Zebo, Keith Earls and our new signing Andrew Conway. Thankfully he opted to stay at Leinster.

How likely was that Luke Fitzgerald signing? I thought that was just a bit of clever leaking by his agent.

Ah come on stag Duncan Williams is the best 9 you guys have.

Biggest mistake Munster have made is bringing in kiwi coach rather than a South African.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:How likely was that Luke Fitzgerald signing? I thought that was just a bit of clever leaking by his agent.

It was mainly a bit of playacting by the agent but there's no smoke without fire. Munster were definitely interested enough to have come to the table and made an offer. It would have been a dreadful move for Luke personally, for Munster's finances, for the IRFU having Earls, Fitzgerald and Zebo in the same team and for Leinster who would have lost both Nacewa and Fitzgerald in the space of a month.

There would have been no winners in that move.

It did seem strange at the time.

How happy are you with the way Munster have been playing this season? I haven't watched all that many of their games, but it's really frustrated me that they've tended to go wide time and again with no one threatening to cut back on the angle. It just seems that the opposition are comfortable enough just to drift and cover the threat.

If Lydiate is off to the Blouse, so be it. For what we get out of him, it isn't worth paying anymore money from Hazell or whoever's pocket. I'm happy with a backrow of Evans, Cudd/Waters and Ieuan Jones (in the absence of Faletau).

I think I would rather him go there rather than the one eyed lot or the Vultures. Chances are we will be Cardiff Dragons in a few years anyway.

Lucky, I haven't been at all impressed by Munster for most of the season. However I actually think that Rob Penney can take us forward. But he needs the blazers to also be competent (see the feckups I refer to above).

The half back pairing baffles me. O'Gara stands deep and Williams (and to a lesser extent Murray) gives slow and bad ball. That combination leads to easy to defend side to side play and runs risk of interceptions as it forces the entire backline to stand deep getting slow wide passes.

At centre we simply lack options. I'd like to see JJ Hanrahan get a go at 12 as a creative player alongside an strong no nonsense guy like Ivan Dineen. How he has not got more experience I don't know. In his first Munster start 2 years ago Dineen scored the match winning try in the last minute away to Ulster. That should have been a launch pad to push on but he fell down when Earls, Downey and Laulala were the new faces at centre.

The combination of O'Gara, Downey and Laulala is remiscent of Parks - Roberts - Laulala from Cardiff Blues. It didn't deliver then and it isnt now.

Next season I'd like to see us be brave enough to try out some new things. I think that something like the below has the potential to work very well.

01 Dave Kilcoyne
02 Mike Sherry
03 BJ Botha
04 Donnacha Ryan
05 Paul O'Connell
06 Peter O'Mahony (c)
07 Tommy O'Donnell
08 CJ Stander
09 Conor Murray
10 Ian Keatley
11 Simon Zebo
12 JJ Hanrahan
13 Ivan Dineen
14 Andrew Conway
15 Keith Earls

16 Damien Varley
17 Wian du Preez
18 Stephen Archer
19 Donnacha O'Callaghan
20 Sean Dougall
21 Paddy Butler
22 Cathal Sheridan
23 Casey Laulala

Has CJ Stander played much this season? I remember it being quite a big deal when you signed him but I haven't heard his name mentioned much.

No although he has actually played well enough when he has.

When he arrived in October/November he was off the back of a long season of Super Rugby and there were concerns over him suffering from burnout. He was slowly introduced to the team and got 2 tries on his first Munster start against Glasgow.

He then broke his hand which ruled him out for a bit. When the time came to add new players to the Heineken Cup squad a few weeks back, we needed to add in Ivan Dineen (to cover injuries to Earls and Zebo) and Cathal Sheridan to cover scrumhalf as Duncan Williams is our only option. These were badly needed whereas we have good depth at backrow.

That meant that Stander wont feature against Quins and Munster have therefore not been picking him. He has only started three matches and come off the bench another three times. Even in that we have seen what he can do. I expect him to hit the ground running next year.

red_stag wrote:Hound, you're a real rugby gent you know that?

I'll be in the Marylebone area on Monday if your around at all.

What sort of time are you looking at? Plus it depends how I feel after a monster weekend of drinking rugby.

Hound of Harrow wrote:

red_stag wrote:Hound, you're a real rugby gent you know that?

I'll be in the Marylebone area on Monday if your around at all.

What sort of time are you looking at? Plus it depends how I feel after a monster weekend of drinking rugby.

Whatever time really. We'll be the same. Its my brothers first time in London so I imagine he'll want to see one or two sights before/after. Our flights not til about 9pm so whole day is free.

My uncle lives in Marylebone so said I'd call out to him and say hi.

Also PM for you.

Responded stag, cheers.

And it's snowing here. Will this winter not stop!

Its SNOWING? We have lovely weather all week in Limerick.

I'll have to revise what I'm bringing to London.

It's been trying to snow all day here. Cold wind, too. Pull your finger out, spring!

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Pull your finger out

I've never understood this phrase. Pull your finger out of where

Have a guess.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Have a guess.

From your gloves? #uberinnocent

That's right, Stag. Pull your finger out of your gloves.

Still not snowing here. Got to love a forty degree spring

"Hands off man sausage and on your socks" has always bemused me. I mean holding on to socks is hardly conducive to hard work, is it?

Thats obviously one unique to those involved in the manufacture of socks and other warm footwear.

Strong stuff from David Moffett here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/22028771

Don't the French have a saying about being able to do something "with 2 fingers in your nose" for when something is easy? A bit like our "one hand tied behind your back" saying.

Maybe that's where your finger has to be pulled from?

I dunno where that monkey came from on my last post?

Right, I'm off out into the snow.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Strong stuff from David Moffett here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/22028771

And entirely accurate.

"In light of the Regions' position, RRW would challenge the WRU and ask a series of fundamental questions to be answered for transparency and purpose:

• Why is the WRU Executive now not comfortable with having an independent chairman with voting rights to preside over the PRGB?

• Does the WRU consider it is acting with integrity as it seeks to play out its position in the public arena first without reference or discussions with the Four Regions and an opportunity to discuss privately?

• Have the statements that have been issued been fully supported and endorsed by the Board of the WRU?"

We're all ears, Roger.

Always good when a team shows Ngwenya the outside a fair bit (he'll take it).

Good to see we didn't roll over and die......why we didn't play like we did at the end I don't know!!

Because Biarritz weren't in the mood to let you until then.

Sorry if that sounds harsh. Glos repayed their fans with some great endeavour to finish and throughout in fact, but they had absolutely nothing in their armoury to trouble the Basque side. Just no real pack of forwards out there for Glos tonight. No real intensity or physicality in anything they did.

And they lacked a lot of accuracy in most things they did too, I wouldn't agree with the analysis of Sky that Biarritz looked good tonight. They really just had to absorb pressure and exploit some careless rugby.

I only got to see the last 20 mins.

Losing Dawiduk to a ban doesn't help our lineout as well as Big Jim and Ben being injured, add into that the fact that Cowan is out for the season. I personally think we could have run them closer if we'd had those 4 on the field.

Definitely. Jim Hamilton would have made a big difference out there.

But I just wanted to see them get their backrows running hard at outside shoulders and trying to offload, trying to play off that. Trying to get in behind them instead of playing pretty patterns in front of an untaxed Biarritz defence.

You have to make it happen. Not wait for them to leave a hole or get slack in their marking.