The Dew Drop Inn Virtual Rugby Pub

First topic message reminder :

So there is no rugby on now that I can watch

Cari - no not figured that out yet, I'm just glad it's working! I ended up getting a 26" LG one. That's pretty much all I could tell you about it though!

Sounds like a tidy job. You'll have free digital channels until the Sky's on anyway...then it's all round to yours to watch the Heineken games!

.kiwi, can you verify please. Glen Jackson, ex Sarries fly half, apparently takes charge of his first S15 game on Friday. He was doing a referees course here in the UK while he was with Sarries, retired at the end of last year then returned to NZ to complete the course

If true that's remarkable, and rapid, progress. It's something I would like to see more of - ex pros taking up reffing Glen.

ha aye exactly! Apparently it has inbuilt HDTV too so that's good

I'm actually currently watching Wales v Scotland in the football. I don't know why I put myself through it just because Wales are playing. Tis soooo boring!

not got the footbal on. I'm going to watch the A & E doco in a bit. I was just on the favourite rugby images thread. I'm proud to say I wasn't predictable....until I saw what greybeard posted and well, I had to reply with an almost naked Wally

Hound I'm almost sure thats true. The NZRU were fast tracking him and I know he was involved touch judging in S14 last year.

There are 3 people who have both played and refereed Heineken Cup - Rolland, Changeling and Lacey

red_stag wrote:Hound I'm almost sure thats true. The NZRU were fast tracking him and I know he was involved touch judging in S14 last year.

There are 3 people who have both played and refereed Heineken Cup - Rolland, Changeling and Lacey

Have to say those three passed me by as players. I won't be happy until a front five player makes it as a top ref.

Hi everyone.

Can't be bothered reading back so if there is anything interesting I should know about please feel free to advise. Thanks.

Great weekend though! and only about 51.5 weeks to wait to do it all again

Eeeeerrrrrm don't think you missed anything too urgent Rava. Mr Poisson is back and Gibbo popped in for five minutes earlier.

ha Cari, I just had to go and look at that pic, tis one of my fave one's too

For a tight 5 player to make it they would need to suffer early retirement I would say. Most of them stay in the game until they are in their mid 30s.

George Clancy - 31
Craig Joubert - 31
Wayne Barnes - 32
Roman Poite - 36

I did notice Poisson Rouge had joined. What about Mrs Poisson Rouge?

Wales are on their way to another win over Scotland then. Captain Earnie.

Dreamer, there's a lovely pic of you on FB with some young Ulster lad

Dreamer - everyone likes that pic. Even the blokes

Rava - MrsP says she's trying to reduce her time spent online, so she's avoiding signing up here for a while because we're too tempting although she has been lurking. Also, The Chef has set up an invite on Facebook pub for his annual summer pishup if you fancy it.

Aye, I'm going to cut down on my time on here as well but I will take a quick browse now and again. If there is anything needs telling then I will use FB. Cari, you can FB me to keep be abreast of things.

I don't think I will be able to make Chef's bash. I am away in Rome for a week in July and I have another tax payment at the end of July

aye Rava I've seen that one, tis one of my fave's

Stag - I know 'Glenda' wanted to do S15 reffing and was then intending to come back to Europe to referee. I'm surprised he's got to S15 level so quickly.

Glas - in today's game I doubt a front 5 forward could keep up with play. I can't see the IRB sanctioning one ref for set piece play, and one for open play; with possibly both assisting where necassary. That would be many a fan's ideal situation I dare say.

Is there any wonder we have difficulties with refs. They are all failed backs.

I'm also going to say. I don't think a tight head would be able to ref the scrum all that much better. It seems to be something of a Holy Grain miracle cure to get ex international props as set piece specialists.

I really don't think they would solve the problems.

Isn't Chris Horsman trying to get into refereeing?

Just want to say that on long line-outs, the team that receive that ball are always off-side as no way could a player be there to take it without being in an offside position.

The Holy Grain is not a myth I'm entirely familiar with. Does it have anything to do with fighting bulls and slutty queens?

Evening all

M is busy "designing" a new car for us - rock and roll blue with a red hood (convertible); seats seem to be red - not so sure about that...

Evening all
http://www.rugbyweek.com/news/article.asp?id=30467.

Jackson's done 13 Super games as an assistant ref this season, and reffed some Heartland and INL Cup last season

Cheers kiwi

So Glenda's got The Canes v W. Force and Vinny Munro as AR1. I'll be interested in how he gets on.

Good to see him doing so well. Haven't actually seen him referee so should be interesting.

Vinny Munro, his assistant I believe should have been a referee at the World Cup. Stag was saying something about him coming into refereeing too old or something.

rev showed me this: check it out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YcryCSKyQw&feature=player_embedded

I posted it outside too Prop.

I'm soooooo wedi blino

Love it prop

Shows how much talent will be on show next season!!

Evening all. Just trekking back but as said, I didn't miss anything too important.

Watching I love you man tis a rib tickler

I really rate him Munsty and i think age is working against him. He used to be a policeman and has a great demeanor.

What I like about him is that he's very low key and you don't seem to notice him.

Do you agree with my rant about long throws at line outs?

Thanks for directions stag. Have forwarded them onto the driver so he will figure out the nest route. Cheers pal.

Planet Rugby have started inviting players, coaches etc. to write simple explanations of core tactical concepts. Jamie Roberts on the Blitz defence;

http://www.planetrugby.co.uk/story/0,25883,16016_6951856,00.html

Really looking forward to Cobus Visagies article on the scrum. Good idea for a series.

Munsty agree on both points.

Here's another skills video of sorts
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/video/breakdown-show/5014815

If As comes in, Alex Blair has signed for Sale Sharks allegedly.

With apologies to our Sharks contingent, I'm not sure they are the right club to develop young Blair's skills. The Opta stats had Sale kicking more from hand over the last few seasons than anyone I believe.

But with Hodgson going to Sarries next season (a good 'fit' for them given their territory based game), we may see some more adventurous stuff from Sale if new DOR, Steve Diamond, gives Blair some game time.

Lord knows, we had some boring teams in the Prem. last season.

Hound: I'm hoping Glaws aren't involved in that comment

prop_lyd wrote:Hound: I'm hoping Glaws aren't involved in that comment

When I were a lad...
(da, di, daa, didi...)

...when Nigel Starner Smith used to do Rugby Special in the mid '80's the games between two English clubs often would have penalty tennis and maybe 1 or 2 tries. As these were shown in the round up section, and therefore all the points scored were shown, it simply highlighted this. Since leagues and professionalism the game in England has been transformed, but there is always that old conservative mindset lurking you feel. That's why teams like Sarries are so attractive (in the good old days it was Quins and Barth who chucked it about a bit).

Morning all

The best Guinness Brewery outside of Ireland is no more
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/rebuilding-christchurch/5059101/Canterbury-Brewery-to-go

On a rugby note, Brad Thorn on training:
http://crusaders.onsport.co.nz/video/we-talk-to-brad-thorn-about-how-the-crusader-trains/

Hound,

I think it might just be perfect timing with Diamond coming in. Also, I think Sale can now finally move on without this deep reliance they have on Hodgson, which I feel has been holding back their game.

I think that although this coming year won't be very successful, it will be the most promising since they last won the comp. They just need some stability at this stage.

Morning All

Blustery day here in Cardiff. I'm glad it held off until after last weekend though. I didn't get too soaked coming in just a bit dishevelled.

Hughie the Paper Boy is late today

Here's a lovely story about Sean O'Brien:

http://www.carlowpeople.ie/news/sean-obriens-thoughts-with-his-mam-after-leinster-win-2655502.html

Someone posted this on the GAA board at the old place

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A84949546

There's always one!

To be fair to him Cari its an astonishingly creative use of the emoticons.

Question twist endings in movies - do you like them or not. I had this chat with two of the guys last night. One of them (like me) is a major fan. The other was not saying they are stupid and irritating. Do you like them.

I've watched some movies with great twists recently (I won't say which so no spoiler alert) but I think they're great.

On a similar note how do people feel about ambigious endings?

Staggy - it did make me giggle...I was tempted to draw one on Micks's adopted Saints shirt at the weekend. Was also suprised no one drew one on Prop's flag.

On the film question. I'm not a huge movie buff but I think a twist in the plot is essential in some stories. It can make certain films more exciting. Ambiguous endings can be annoying. I think the worst I've seen is Rules of Attraction, but to be fair to the producers they ended it exactly how the book ends which surprised me because I thought they'd create an ending for the film.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/
http://www.irishtimes.com/sports/rugby/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport?mobile-redirect=false
http://sport.scotsman.com/rugby
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/rugby/
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/rugbynation/
http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/rugby

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/headlines.cfm?c_id=80
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union

Twist endings - it depends how necessary they are. Sometimes a twist can just leave you feeling disappointed and irritated, as there's no point to them; they don't add to the film at all. And at other times they can be brilliant, something that really surprises you and yet just adds to the film. It's a fine line though

Ambiguous endings - mostly they just annoy me. I like films to have a fairly definite ending (not completely definite as I do like to have a bit of wonder about what could happen next), but if it's too ambiguous I just end up feeling quite irritated!

And good morning/bore da everyone

Ah you don't need to be a movie buff to appreciate them or be annoyed by them. We watched several films recently that had either plot twists or ambigious endings - Inception, The Prestige, The Bone Collector, The Village.

Oh yea I forgot about Micks Saints shirt. He was saying he regrets it a bit now,.