Lancaster Loses Plot

First topic message reminder :

Stuart Lancaster. Care-taker coach. Largely seen as a stable if unspectacular stop gap whilst England courted an international coach of class who wouldn't shudder at the prospect. Possibly Jake White, Eddie Jones or Wayne Smith?

But with a surprise victory over an off-colour All Blacks he found himself in the position of a little known band hitting the #1 spot with a surprise novelty song.  Like the DJ Psy of the rugby world, the Gangnam Style England galloped to an unlikely success over NZ and now Stuart Lancaster finds himself in the unfortunate spot of having to concoct that difficult second album.

He came close to a 6N triumph, but ultimately his backing singers revealed their innate lack of harmonic dexterity and were well out of key as they were thumped by a passionate Wales and brought back to Earth with a resounding thud that still echoes today from the wide stellar orbit that their accidental trajectory had propelled them to.

Lancaster needs to look to the very values that made him the right man in the right place all those months ago. His grounded, back to basics approach and rigorous attention to disciplining the out of control England set up. Frankly this astral nonsense that he has allowed himself to be carried away with: flying half way around the world for a rugby lesson from teams with vastly more proficient resources to call upon, visiting NZ to "absorb the culture of success" and interrogating Brian Lochore for insight into the AB mindset is an absurd exercise in unchecked self delusion of Woodwardian proportion.

Someone at RFU HQ needs to pull the guy aside and put a flea in his ear: He didn't base his "revolution" in English rugby on whimsy and wishing on a falling star, he did it by grounding a flailing outfit who's collective personality had become so over-blown that it had obscured its own judgement.

""I want to do more work with the players on the culture and identity of England, to talk about it with them and see it grow".

Leave it out Stu. Just get the scrum ready for the new engagement rules, the defense aligned and prepare the back line with some set piece moves.

GloriousEmpire wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:

GloriousEmpire wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:Yeah I heard about the river wandle in my home town is being cleaned up. Volunteers go down and help a few times a month

The wandle of Wimbledon?

I have never heard it called that- but yes it does go through wimbledon.

I used to live in Wimbledon. Down the hill, near the wandle. It's a nice place. However much they've cleaned it up I still think those guys who go fishing in it down by the big sainsburys complex near Merton abbey would be crazy to actually eat the fish.

Not many fisherman or population in general would consider eating any freshwater fish other than trout or Salmon in the UK.

Our East and Central European friends however consider Carp a tasty traditional Christmas treat.

GloriousEmpire wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:

GloriousEmpire wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:Yeah I heard about the river wandle in my home town is being cleaned up. Volunteers go down and help a few times a month

The wandle of Wimbledon?

I have never heard it called that- but yes it does go through wimbledon.

I used to live in Wimbledon. Down the hill, near the wandle. It's a nice place. However much they've cleaned it up I still think those guys who go fishing in it down by the big sainsburys complex near Merton abbey would be crazy to actually eat the fish.


There's a decent pub for rugby watching in the little park between Wimbledon South and colliers wood. They have a bunch of barbecues in the garden that's usually filled with South Africans and Aussies and the odd kiwi.

You wouldn't be the "odd" Kiwi would you?  

Do UK Trout and Salmon wear Scuba gear?

SecretFly wrote:Do UK Trout and Salmon wear Scuba gear?

Come again fly  

GloriousEmpire wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:

GloriousEmpire wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:Yeah I heard about the river wandle in my home town is being cleaned up. Volunteers go down and help a few times a month

The wandle of Wimbledon?

I have never heard it called that- but yes it does go through wimbledon.

I used to live in Wimbledon. Down the hill, near the wandle. It's a nice place. However much they've cleaned it up I still think those guys who go fishing in it down by the big sainsburys complex near Merton abbey would be crazy to actually eat the fish.


There's a decent pub for rugby watching in the little park between Wimbledon South and colliers wood. They have a bunch of barbecues in the garden that's usually filled with South Africans and Aussies and the odd kiwi.

I was born there and lived there as a child..

I then moved to the lesser part of Surrey which also has the river wandle where rugby is about as common as antelope.. But yes Wimbledon is a lovely part of London.

mystiroakey wrote:

GloriousEmpire wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:

GloriousEmpire wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:Yeah I heard about the river wandle in my home town is being cleaned up. Volunteers go down and help a few times a month

The wandle of Wimbledon?

I have never heard it called that- but yes it does go through wimbledon.

I used to live in Wimbledon. Down the hill, near the wandle. It's a nice place. However much they've cleaned it up I still think those guys who go fishing in it down by the big sainsburys complex near Merton abbey would be crazy to actually eat the fish.


There's a decent pub for rugby watching in the little park between Wimbledon South and colliers wood. They have a bunch of barbecues in the garden that's usually filled with South Africans and Aussies and the odd kiwi.

I was born there and lived there as a child..

I then moved to the lesser part of Surrey which also has the river wandle where rugby is about as common as antelope.. But yes Wimbledon is a lovely part of London.

Do my eyes deceive me or has GE perhaps warmed to his adopted English home?

tigerleghorn wrote:

SecretFly wrote:Do UK Trout and Salmon wear Scuba gear?

Come again fly  

Oh it's just that someone above was talking about unclean rivers and wondering why fishermen would actually eat the fish they caught. Someone else suggested the fishermen only ate trout and salmon. So I wondered how they keep their bodies free of contamination when the other fish are susceptible....

In other words, I was just messing about