Pro12 FINAL - Glasgow Warriors v Munster Rugby, 30 May

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31 GLASGOW WARRIORS v MUNSTER RUGBY 13
Saturday 30 May 2015
KO: 18:30
Ravenhill, Belfast

Live on Sky Sports/TG4/BBC Sport Scotland

Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU, 127th competition game)
Assistant Referees: 1) Ian Davies, 2) Sean Brickell, 4) Gwyn Morris, 5) Wayne Davies (all WRU )
Citing Commissioner: Stefano Marrama (FIR)
TMO: Derek Bevan (WRU)

A. Head to Head - Aggregate

25 Played 25
9 Wins 15
15 Losses 9
1 Draws 1
46 Tries 63
36 Conversions 42
64 Penalties 54
1 Drop Goals 1
491 Points 564
25 Avg. Age 27

B. Head to Head - Recently

Sat 28 Feb 2015 - Munster Rugby 22 - 10 Glasgow Warriors

Sat 20 Dec 2014 - Glasgow Warriors 21 - 18 Munster Rugby

Fri 16 May 2014 (PO) -  Glasgow Warriors 16 - 15 Munster Rugby

Sat 12 Apr 2014 - Munster Rugby 5 - 22 Glasgow Warriors

Fri 25 Oct 2013 - Glasgow Warriors 6 - 13 Munster Rugby

C. Run-In

Glasgow Warriors

22/05/15 - Glasgow 16 - 14 Ulster

16/05/15 Glasgow 32 - 10 Ulster

08/05/15 Ospreys 21 - 10 Glasgow

Munster Rugby

23/05/15 Munster 21 - 18 Ospreys

16/05/15 Munster 50 - 27 Dragons

09/05/15 Ulster 23 - 23 Munster

D. Teams

Glasgow Warriors

Stuart Hogg, Tommy Seymour, Richie Vernon, Peter Horne, DTH van der Merwe, Finn Russell, Henry Pyrgos, Gordon Reid, Dougie Hall, Rossouw de Klerk, Leone Nakarawa, Jonny Gray, Rob Harley, Ryan Wilson, Josh Strauss (captain).

Replacements: Fraser Brown, Jerry Yanuyanutawa, Jon Welsh, Al Kellock, Chris Fusaro, Niko Matawalu, Duncan Weir, Sean Lamont.

Munster Rugby

Felix Jones; Keith Earls, Andrew Smith, Denis Hurley (captain), Simon Zebo; Ian Keatley, Duncan Williams; Dave Kilcoyne, Eusebio Guinazu, BJ Botha; Billy Holland, Paul O'Connell; Donnacha Ryan, Paddy Butler, CJ Stander.

Replacements: Duncan Casey, James Cronin, Stephen Archer, Sean Dougall, Jack O'Donoghue, Cathal Sheridan, JJ Hanrahan, Ronan O'Mahony.

George Carlin wrote:

Notch wrote:

George Carlin wrote:Yes, I agree that it should be a Glasgow final for the reasons that my colleague describes above. Any of Celtic Park, Hampden Park or Ibrox could do it - I think that the Ibrox pitch might be too short but apart from that, all of those places could host a great final.

Hmm, see thats the downside. The size of the grounds. If you fill them it will be an amazing final, if you don't... well, a Scottish final is necessary for the league to grow. Ulster was a commercially safe choice to host the first one and that risk-free approach paid off for the league. Will they gamble on a larger stadium? Whatever happens, I hope the next Final is in Scotland. Don't rule out Murrayfield for a Scottish final either. No costs involved in hiring the ground.

Give us a chance to fail, eh, Notch? I hear you but Weegies are sports fans and will watch anything.

I must have misheard you there for a moment. I must be wrong because I thought for one second you said that Edinburgh should have the final. That's *Edinburgh*. The pampered, tweed wearing, exfoliating, chinless, spoiled, organic grocery shopping effeminates from the East who are Not Very Good At Rugby. I mean, you couldn't have meant that. The final has to be held in a city where the fans will recognise great rugby when they see it. Holding it in Edinburgh is such a contradiction in terms that the space-time continium would wrap itself around its own neck and then eat its own feet.

That's really missing the point about who won yesterday.

That'll be the pampered, tweed wearing, exfoliating, chinless, spoiled, organic grocery shopping effeminates from the East who are Not Very Good At Rugby that beat Glasgow over 2 legs yeah?

Nematode wrote:Caption Competition

*ring ring*
...
No Mr Boudjellal, I'm flattered, but I'll be staying in Glasgow

As for next year's final, if it was in Glasgow and they made it to the final I think we'd easily get 30k+ at Hampden say, which would be a good atmosphere.

Problem is if it was a welsh and Irish team we might only get 18k or so, which would be a bit embarrassing.

Likewise I'm sure the Aviva would sell out if it was a Leinster v Munster/ulster final but if it was Glasgow v the O's then it wouldn't go so well.

The league really needs a bigger venue for the final, but it is a big risk that they choose the wrong one!

RDW_Scotland wrote:As for next year's final, if it was in Glasgow and they made it to the final I think we'd easily get 30k+ at Hampden say, which would be a good atmosphere.

Problem is if it was a welsh and Irish team we might only get 18k or do, which would be a bit embarrassing.

Likewise I'm sure the Aviva would sell out if it was a Leinster v Munster/ulster final but if it was Glasgow v the O's then it wouldn't go so well.

The league really needs a bigger venue for the final, but it is a big risk that they choose the wrong one!

Yeah thats exactly the issue. I don't think we would have got a full house in Belfast without Ulster in a 30k plus stadium, but 18k is just the right size given that most travelling fans were waiting until a week out before they bought their tickets. So it would be a bit of a gamble.

RDW_Scotland wrote:

George Carlin wrote:

Notch wrote:

George Carlin wrote:Yes, I agree that it should be a Glasgow final for the reasons that my colleague describes above. Any of Celtic Park, Hampden Park or Ibrox could do it - I think that the Ibrox pitch might be too short but apart from that, all of those places could host a great final.

Hmm, see thats the downside. The size of the grounds. If you fill them it will be an amazing final, if you don't... well, a Scottish final is necessary for the league to grow. Ulster was a commercially safe choice to host the first one and that risk-free approach paid off for the league. Will they gamble on a larger stadium? Whatever happens, I hope the next Final is in Scotland. Don't rule out Murrayfield for a Scottish final either. No costs involved in hiring the ground.

Give us a chance to fail, eh, Notch? I hear you but Weegies are sports fans and will watch anything.

I must have misheard you there for a moment. I must be wrong because I thought for one second you said that Edinburgh should have the final. That's *Edinburgh*. The pampered, tweed wearing, exfoliating, chinless, spoiled, organic grocery shopping effeminates from the East who are Not Very Good At Rugby. I mean, you couldn't have meant that. The final has to be held in a city where the fans will recognise great rugby when they see it. Holding it in Edinburgh is such a contradiction in terms that the space-time continium would wrap itself around its own neck and then eat its own feet.

That's really missing the point about who won yesterday.

That'll be the pampered, tweed wearing, exfoliating, chinless, spoiled, organic grocery shopping effeminates from the East who are Not Very Good At Rugby that beat Glasgow over 2 legs yeah?

We let you win. We knew that we would need to free up a space in the trophy cabinet.

When you have a league with 4 Nations in it picking a venue for the will always be difficult unless you left it until at least see who was in the Semi finals, though logistically that maybe be to late to organise.

Even then it may still not sell out if for argument sake Glasgow and Os had made the final this year as opposed to at least 1 of the Irish teams.

Congratulation to Glasgow - you have been mightily impressive when I have seen you play this year. Hard luck Munster - you'll be back I'm sure!!

Also for the sake of fairness it would eventually have to be in Italy which would be disastrous. But as the league's profile rises then it could be successful, maybe giving hugely subsidised tickets to all season ticket holders from all the teams could work.

They're likely to be the biggest rugby fan and if you offered 40-50% off they'd surely bite your hand off and it would give them the chance to make some money if they wanted to sell later on as a reward. So for arguments sake it was at hampden that has 50,000 seats, if they put 30,000 up for general sale and advertise it mercilessly at every game with subsidies of 40% for season ticket holders, and then release 10,000 for all the play-off teams and then a further 10,000 when the finalists are announced. Therefore you'd get a mix of nationalities most of whom are passionate rugby fans and then more partisan fans of the finalists. As well as that they ought to make it more of an event, have local bands there and maybe some form of charity match beforehand with a kind of best of the rest all stars game.

All good ideas. I really don't think we're ready for an Italian final on a commercial basis though. The extra traveling and lack of interest in their teams makes it a very difficult one to make work.

Yeah but the Italians get whiny. The all stars game could be run on the basis of a reward for important players for the league who are retiring or moving on, so had POC and Kellock not reached the final they could have got a send off by selecting the best players not in the final for a charity game beforehand. The standard would be high and the skill level also, or maybe even a pro12 XV vs Barbarians. Basically make it a festival of rugby culminating in a serious final.

Nematode wrote:Caption Competition

Hi Mum, I'll be home for tea around 8 - just finishing up here.

George Carlin wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:Glasgow I salute you. You are awesome.

He's drunk. Someone write that down because he'll deny he ever said it tomorrow.

"Drunk" really doesn't do how I was justice, but suffice to say I still think Glasgow were awesome yesterday. Naka and Strauss were unbelievable.

Nematode wrote:Caption Competition

Oi hang on Naka, you've got yer twisted arm caught up inside me head guard

profitius wrote:

Sin é wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:He didn't get plenty of game time though - anywhere.

Played 26, started 11.

Ian Madigan
Played 22, Started 19.

Paddy Jackson
Played 17, Started 16.

Considering he is leaving (and decided in January) he hasn't done so bad. That was around the time Tyler arrived.

Started 3 games at 10 which is his favourite position. Shocking management from Foley. Foley looks out of his depth as a head coach.

So you want some young fellow dictating where they play. Foley would have played JJ if he was fit enough and good enough before he deciced he was moving on. Once JJ made his decision in January it wasn't up to Munster rugby to develop him for Northampton Rugby. Much more intelligent to develop players who are going to be with you for the next 2 or 3 years.

Nematode wrote:Caption Competition

"Uh hi, City Wok? Yeah, umm... Can I order to collect? Ok... Right, I'll have a 19, a 23, a 24, a 26, two number 40s... If I order a 52, what does that come with? ... Ok, so can I have an extra tub of hoi sin instead of the cucumber? Yeah, great. I'd also like a bag of vege spring rolls and a bottle of Fanta. Oh yeah, free prawn crackers would be great - wee Finn says they make his tongue feel funny. Can my friend order too? Oi Rob!! Come and tell Mr Kim what you want!"

Gutted for O'Connell - it would have been nice to see the great man sign off with another trophy for Munster. Hopefully he can sign off for Ireland on a high - regardless he'll be regarded as arguably the greatest player Ireland have produced - certainly in the pro era only BOD is comparable.

He put in a decent shift(fantastic tackle on Finn Russell!) and couldn't be faulted for a fairly poor Munster performance. Munster can take positives in their run over the past few weeks and were deserved finalists but I think they have a fair bit of rebuilding to do to win silverware - that said Murray and POM were big losses.

Well done to Glasgow, the best team all year (maybe the last 2 years) and by far the best team on the day - Munster looked like they may have landed a sucker punch early in the second half when they closed the gap to 8 but the gulf in attacking firepower showed in the end.

Great way to finish a great season in the pro12.

Sin é wrote: Once JJ made his decision in January it wasn't up to Munster rugby to develop him for Northampton Rugby. Much more intelligent to develop players who are going to be with you for the next 2 or 3 years.

It wasn't up to them to Develop JJ?

Never mind about developing.  It would have been nice for them to USE him.  
Use him, abuse him - beat him to proverbial death - demand he performs - make him earn his wages, every last penny of it in his last season (for a while) with his Native Province.  Use him to win things.... and then tell him to bugger off back to California or wherever the hell else he signed for.

Since when has using a Better player for the benefit of the team been seen as a self-defeating development process for another team?  If you had that view of rugby always then you'd never coach any player - he might jump ship and turn his talents against you.  

Meanwhile that's what the traitorous rat Paulie is just about to do!  He shouldn't have been played so much in his last Munster year either.... you've kept him fresh and ready for Toulon now to kill all of us with next season!  Foley is an idiot.

rodders wrote:Munster looked like they may have landed a sucker punch early in the second half when they closed the gap to 8 but the gulf in attacking firepower showed in the end.

Great way to finish a great season in the pro12.

I been saying it for a while now but I really do worry about us sliding down a scale of preparedness for the pace of rugby now in Europe.... at International And Club level.

Looking at England's absolute rout of the Barbarians with a 2nd or 3rd string side and comparing it with Joe's attempts to find anything positive in our attempt a few days earlier.... there is a gulf in athleticism developing between certain nations and if we don't get our skates on, we'll be left behind - badly.  
Glasgow was just another example of an Irish side just seesawing with a blunt blade against a solid Glasgow defensive wall; and yet when they wanted scores, they  just turned on a few easy afterburners and well - burned Munster badly, and easily.  Even Zebo, allegedly one of the fastest Irish players - well, he just couldn't handle the tempo at times.

So I've said it and warned about it and I'm doing it again - if you don't have a faster, fluid game practiced and YES - slick offloading to make it even more potent - then it's a big ask to think it's going to just happen at some point later this year when you might really need it.  Irish sides in general, with perhaps the exception of Connacht, have gone way off the pace required to keep up with this increasing presence of the Bath/England 'chaos' brand of rugby.  

We could be in for another 'surprise' sting at yet another WC if we don't really work hard on increasing the pace, diversity and potency of our attack.  We're just so easy to read now.  If Joe has fireworks all held back for later then it'll be one of the great ruses 'cause right now we look lethargic and creatively flat right through the Provinces.

I agree fly - we don't have the same firepower in attack as many of the other top tier sides but that's not Joes job - his job is to get the most out of what we have and he's done that and then some in terms of results.

The brightest attacking sparks for me this year have been Gilroy, Healy, Jackson, Ian Henderson, Stuart McCloskey, Robbie Henshaw,Connor Murray. Ringrose looks good at u-20s. Bowe has looked good at times but isn't the attacking force he was.

Outside of this the skill levels and athleticism aren't that great right now.

Only just got the score, forgot all about it after the Ospreys were eliminated, congratz to Glasgow, thank god that something positive has happened for Scottish rugby.

Shame to hear that the Glasgow squad were split on Saturday night so didn't celebrate together - one of the planes broke down so half the squad were stuck in Belfast for the night!

I hope they found a hotel....!

RDW_Scotland wrote:Shame to hear that the Glasgow squad were split on Saturday night so didn't celebrate together - one of the planes broke down so half the squad were stuck in Belfast for the night!

I hope they found a hotel....!

Do you need a hotel when celebrating all night? Underused beds are............................................ em, scratch what I said. Carry on.

RDW_Scotland wrote:

TJ wrote:

123456789 wrote:Every time Nakarawa gets the ball I have a mini heart attack

Like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pea261Hb-E8

or this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yheW95Nr35A

The problem is though for each of those sublime examples there are 10 ridiculous offloads.

It is a shame because he's an incredibly good ball carrier when he just sticks his head down!

How do you guys feel about this now? Two offloads lead to two tries. I agree when he waves the ball about in one hand its unnerving but his offloads worked well in this game

TJ wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:

TJ wrote:

123456789 wrote:Every time Nakarawa gets the ball I have a mini heart attack

Like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pea261Hb-E8

or this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yheW95Nr35A

The problem is though for each of those sublime examples there are 10 ridiculous offloads.

It is a shame because he's an incredibly good ball carrier when he just sticks his head down!

How do you guys feel about this now?  Two offloads lead to two tries.  I agree when he waves the ball about in one hand its unnerving but his offloads worked well in this game

I'm absolutely delighted he made me eat my words!

My opinion hasn't changed though - there have been many games where his offloads have been very costly and needless.

Just like matawalu though the plus side is he wins you games when it works, and he certainly did that.

Very strange of Nigel to miss this knock on. A few metres away, and looking straight at it. Perhaps he had a fly in both his eyes.

Looks like someone doesn't know the laws.

Still isn't it great that the Pro12 have three elite referees at the RWC, the same as the T14 and one more than the AP.

The Great Aukster wrote:

Still isn't it great that the Pro12 have three elite referees at the RWC, the same as the T14 and one more than the AP.

Not if they referee like that, no.

Plus there are obviously 4 countries in the pro 12 so more boxes to tick.

You know what chunky - why don't you stop with all this ref hating and pro 12 hating - its stupid, it makes you look very stupid and its really really dull reading your tripe. go on - go away please. You bring nothing but negativity.

Sweep it all under the carpet? Citings are allowed to be discussed but awful refereeing performances aren't?

Not surprised.

Chunky Norwich wrote:Very strange of Nigel to miss this knock on. A few metres away, and looking straight at it. Perhaps he had a fly in both his eyes.

Ha! I saw that on Gwlad

That Nigel Owens, eh. Biased to the core. He was always going to make sure Munster won, wasn't he! This sort of referring proves without a shadow of doubt that the PRO12 is a joke league ran by the Irish!

Well that's what you would have said had Munster won. I guess you will settle for the scraps of baseless accusations without a Munster win to pin them on.

Nigel is a paid affiliate of the Official Munster ex-patriot Fan Club, which has its Welsh base in Cardiff.  So it's a Natural he'd be paid by the Munster branch to look the other way on forward passes.

I don't see what the problem here is folks?

As TJ suggests though - the colour has gone from this.  Maybe it's the end-of-season flatline from people now thinking about other things, but the repetitive nature of it all has suddenly become tired and draining.

Munchkin wrote:

Ha! I saw that on Gwlad

That Nigel Owens, eh. Biased to the core. He was always going to make sure Munster won, wasn't he! This sort of referring proves without a shadow of doubt that the PRO12 is a joke league ran by the Irish!

Well that's what you would have said had Munster won. I guess you will settle for the scraps of baseless accusations without a Munster win to pin them on.

I think that it proves that Glasgow played the perfect gameplan to enable them to play to their strengths and keep it away from the areas that the 16 men of Munster would have. Well played them.

Chunky Norwich wrote:

Munchkin wrote:

Ha! I saw that on Gwlad

That Nigel Owens, eh. Biased to the core. He was always going to make sure Munster won, wasn't he! This sort of referring proves without a shadow of doubt that the PRO12 is a joke league ran by the Irish!

Well that's what you would have said had Munster won. I guess you will settle for the scraps of baseless accusations without a Munster win to pin them on.

I think that it proves that Glasgow played the perfect gameplan to enable them to play to their strengths and keep it away from the areas that the 16 men of Munster would have. Well played them.

It proves nothing other than an accidental knock on was missed. Why persist with all this nonsense, Chunky? Is it that you're projecting blame for Scarlets problems on the Irish, the PRO12, the Provinces? That's not a dig at Scarlets. I wish them nothing but good, and hope the latest reports are much ado about nothing.

Get a sense of perspective, Chunky.

I suggest we all ignore him - he is a nasty negative presence on these boards and best ignored. I have blocked him cos his petulant whining is so annoying

Congratulations Warriors!! Its been a long journey, I remember the days of Firhill, Dan Parks and Hefin O'Hare. To see how far we have come is amazing.

Our X-factor players really turned up. I dont know how many times I've seen the tries from the weekend now...On repeat!

SecretFly wrote:

rodders wrote:Munster looked like they may have landed a sucker punch early in the second half when they closed the gap to 8 but the gulf in attacking firepower showed in the end.

Great way to finish a great season in the pro12.

I been saying it for a while now but I really do worry about us sliding down a scale of preparedness for the pace of rugby now in Europe.... at International And Club level.

Looking at England's absolute rout of the Barbarians with a 2nd or 3rd string side and comparing it with Joe's attempts to find anything positive in our attempt a few days earlier.... there is a gulf in athleticism developing between certain nations and if we don't get our skates on, we'll be left behind - badly.  
Glasgow was just another example of an Irish side just seesawing with a blunt blade against a solid Glasgow defensive wall; and yet when they wanted scores, they  just turned on a few easy afterburners and well - burned Munster badly, and easily.  Even Zebo, allegedly one of the fastest Irish players - well, he just couldn't handle the tempo at times.

So I've said it and warned about it and I'm doing it again - if you don't have a faster, fluid game practiced and YES - slick offloading to make it even more potent - then it's a big ask to think it's going to just happen at some point later this year when you might really need it.  Irish sides in general, with perhaps the exception of Connacht, have gone way off the pace required to keep up with this increasing presence of the Bath/England 'chaos' brand of rugby.  

We could be in for another 'surprise' sting at yet another WC if we don't really work hard on increasing the pace, diversity and potency of our attack.  We're just so easy to read now.  If Joe has fireworks all held back for later then it'll be one of the great ruses 'cause right now we look lethargic and creatively flat right through the Provinces.

Good post fly. Theres something missing in Irish rugby. I think the coaching has been bad and the teams look to bludgeon sides to death rather than strike with a clean cut. Connacht and to a lesser degree Ulster excepted.

Leinster can fix their problem quickly because they have the personnel... thats if they get a good coach.

Photographers for the Daily Mail snuck into the referees changing area after the match and took this picture of Nigel Owens' arm:


And he woulda gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for you pesky kids.

Anyone see Against the Head last night on RTE? I thought it was very disrespectful of the host to refer to Glasgow as a tuppence ha'penny club in comparison to Munster, also mentioning they have never had a consistent home for years.

I realise it was just the host, but none of the panel of Lenihan, Jackman, O'Sullivan or Quinlan corrected him either to show proper respect to the team who had won the game playing so well.

MichaelT wrote:Anyone see Against the Head last night on RTE? I thought it was very disrespectful of the host to refer to Glasgow as a tuppence ha'penny club in comparison to Munster, also mentioning they have never had a consistent home for years.

I realise it was just the host, but none of the panel of Lenihan, Jackman, O'Sullivan or Quinlan corrected him either to show proper respect to the team who had won the game playing so well.

Sour grapes. Rather sad, but not worth worrying about.

Captain_Sensible wrote:

MichaelT wrote:Anyone see Against the Head last night on RTE? I thought it was very disrespectful of the host to refer to Glasgow as a tuppence ha'penny club in comparison to Munster, also mentioning they have never had a consistent home for years.

I realise it was just the host, but none of the panel of Lenihan, Jackman, O'Sullivan or Quinlan corrected him either to show proper respect to the team who had won the game playing so well.

Sour grapes. Rather sad, but not worth worrying about.

Agreed. It's a constant source of amusement to me that Glasgow that in recent years came 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st and have now won the league and many other team's fans seems to know next to nothing about the club or any of its players. It's been that way for years. Many clubs with histories of success still think that they just need to turn up to beat Glasgow because historically that's what they always did.

I also remember during the ERCC stages, it became received wisdom amongst commentators to refer to Glasgow as "a team with no stars" - an idiotic phrase repeated gleefully by a large number of panel pundits without ever questionning whether there was anything a little bit pejorative about using it.

MichaelT wrote: the host to refer to Glasgow as a tuppence ha'penny club in comparison to Munster,

One of those clubs owes their Union 9.7 million Euros.

ps - It's not the Scottish one.

George Carlin wrote:

Captain_Sensible wrote:

MichaelT wrote:Anyone see Against the Head last night on RTE? I thought it was very disrespectful of the host to refer to Glasgow as a tuppence ha'penny club in comparison to Munster, also mentioning they have never had a consistent home for years.

I realise it was just the host, but none of the panel of Lenihan, Jackman, O'Sullivan or Quinlan corrected him either to show proper respect to the team who had won the game playing so well.

Sour grapes. Rather sad, but not worth worrying about.

Agreed. It's a constant source of amusement to me that Glasgow that in recent years came 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st and have now won the league and many other team's fans seems to know next to nothing about the club or any of its players. It's been that way for years. Many clubs with histories of success still think that they just need to turn up to beat Glasgow because historically that's what they always did.

I also remember during the ERCC stages, it became received wisdom amongst commentators to refer to Glasgow as "a team with no stars" - an idiotic phrase repeated gleefully by a large number of panel pundits without ever questionning whether there was anything a little bit pejorative about using it.

That was the other thing he mentioned - no household names. Stuart Hogg? Jonny Gray? I think most rugby fans would know those names at least.

I will be worried if the host is involved in the world cup coverage on TV3. I think he has been involved in previous tournaments.

Who is the host?

RDW_Scotland wrote:Who is the host?

Matt Cooper. Not sure what his background is, but he is not suited to sports.

MichaelT wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Who is the host?

Matt Cooper. Not sure what his background is, but he is not suited to sports.

He's not a household name.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Who is the host?

Dara O'Brien.

He said they were a tuppence ha'penny club a few years back and asked the panel what changed. He could have asked in a more subtle way. They did give Glasgow plenty of praise.

MichaelT wrote:Anyone see Against the Head last night on RTE? I thought it was very disrespectful of the host to refer to Glasgow as a tuppence ha'penny club in comparison to Munster, also mentioning they have never had a consistent home for years.

I realise it was just the host, but none of the panel of Lenihan, Jackman, O'Sullivan or Quinlan corrected him either to show proper respect to the team who had won the game playing so well.

Didn't see it but I know the presenter, Daire O'Brien, is irreverent, quick witted and uses language to spike opinions from some pretty dour guests at times.  I'd assume he was looking for one of the dead guys across the way from him to liven up and challenge his presumptions.  But I must watch it to check all that 'Tone' out. I also assume, yet again, that the whole story here is not getting a mention.  I can't see how Glasgow could do that to Munster and not get full credit for it from the tongues of Lenihan, Jackman, O'Sullivan or Quinlan.

Against the Head is mild, dull fare indeed - in comparison to GAA, Football and indeed live Rugby coverage on RTE, which has tons more dismissive and asinine 'fun' - and direct talking of a kind that would never see the light of day in PC GB.  But then we're not alone either.  Australian sports coverage can be very dismissive and jocular about teams and players.  We're more Australian in tone and I love it.

profitius wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Who is the host?

Dara O'Brien.

He said they were a tuppence ha'penny club a few years back and asked the panel what changed. He could have asked in a more subtle way. They did give Glasgow plenty of praise.

AHA! Sounds more like it.

TJ wrote:I suggest we all ignore him - he is a nasty negative presence on these boards and best ignored.  I have blocked him cos his petulant whining is so annoying

Good idea. How do you block someone?

profitius wrote:

TJ wrote:I suggest we all ignore him - he is a nasty negative presence on these boards and best ignored.  I have blocked him cos his petulant whining is so annoying

Good idea. How do you block someone?

Click on his name then on the right hand side of the page click 'Add to my foes list'