The Dew Drop Inn

First topic message reminder :

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 only rule in this pub is one of mutual respect for everyone in it, oh and no defacing the Tommy Bowe photo on the bar. That's a banning offence

So pull up a chair....what'll it be?

I was sparked out at 02:30 on my parents' hall floor. Meant to stay up for the boxing too.

I dont know if Conor O Shea writes, but if he did...

There is no one near him on TV, or in script, for reading the game, imo. Poor aul George Hook near cried when he put him in his place on RTE.

I find Thornley ok, not great, but ok. Toland? Hmmm. Too much bias.
Tony Ward really should just have stuck to playing rugby and ended it there. Awful.

Of the Irish rugby-commentators, it's O Shea for me. Bob Casey is a good analyst, because he is on the outside looking in.

Edmund Van Esbeck was my favourite rugby journalist and none have come close since.

Risca Rev wrote:I was sparked out at 02:30 on my parents' hall floor. Meant to stay up for the boxing too.

Had you consumed any alcohol ?

nottins wrote:

Risca Rev wrote:I was sparked out at 02:30 on my parents' hall floor. Meant to stay up for the boxing too.

Had you consumed any alcohol ?

Not at all. The Rev just likes coming home to cold-floors. The man works in above 40 degrees temp on most of his duties.

I reckon that's the real reason.

Hey Notts,
Just a thought, why dont you actually try saying something on your own bat - something original. Rather than always commenting on others posts? Always wondered about that... But, then again, I'm weird like that.

Evening all, I hope everyone's had lovely weekends.

I've just spent a large part of my evening arguing with Sky over my projected bill, they've totally been trying to fleece me out of my money but I'm pretty sure I've got everything sorted now thank goodness!

Gibbo now you mention it I have never seen an article by nottins anywhere.

Dreamer - you've just given me flashbacks to the nightmare I had this time last year with my old ISP.

Apologies for the reminder Cari!
These sorts of companies though are right proper sneaky mind, not impressed with them.

Think we've managed to sort it now though, we aren't going to get the sky sports package, just unlimited broadband so I can just watch stuff online, works out at bout £15-£20 a month cheaper!

Cari wrote:Gibbo now you mention it I have never seen an article by nottins anywhere.

Perhaps you both need to open your eyes as I created a fair few articles on 606 and prior to that Scrum V. I'm not quite sure whether I have or haven't created an article anywhere has got to do with anything ?

Ah it was sorted in the end I just dug my heels in. They were trying to get nearly £400 out of me, but failed.

Think I will read my book in bed. Have to be up in the morning.

No need to be shirty nottins, I just made an observation. I'm just surprised that for someone like you who has a lot to say to others, hadn't done many articles.

good on you for holding out then Cari!

I need to head off to get some sleep fairly soonish too, my boss is back off leave tomorrow and I am determined to get into the office before us! Need to build up some brownie points I think.

And on the subject of articles, I know I for one don't write as many as I could, and when I do it's nearly always about the Scarlets! Think I need to broaden my horizons

Doesn't really matter though whether people do/don't write ones themselves I don't think.

McCaw's injured then.

Which rugby player do you reckon has got/would have the best looking sister?

Our equivalent of SKY over here, is UPC. They default on charging you for everything, until you stop them, question them, push them for a better deal. It's wrong, but its real. So many people are being ripped-off un-necessarily.

I got an off-the-wall bill, in the early days of living in this apt. I went apeshite in their Head-Office, when a girl said to me "Well mijneer, you signed up for for this, it is not OUR problem now, it is YOUR problem. You MUST pay it"

Well... when I was finished and after she stopped crying (it was not her fault, she was "trained" to do it). The area-manager called to my house, gave me a 60gb connection (100 Euros PM at that time) , free telephone bills to all fixed-connections via them in Europe. And free films for a year. They still send me quality-control people. 5 years later. I pay 50 Euros for everything - outside of mobile-phone calls. Hyper-fast Internet, phone and TV.

Take no sheet.

I don't write many myself Dreamer cause I'm rubbish at them

Glas - I've seen Gavin Henson's sister and she's pretty. Tommy Bowe's sister is athletic looking if you like your women fit.

ah don't be daft, you aren't rubbish at them Cari!

Gibbo - aye exactly! Apparently they'd signed me up on some "offers" that I had no idea about that were only in place for a month (surprise, surprise) so that my 2nd bill would be almost £30 more expensive then my first one!

I was not happy, had to speak to like 4 different people before I could get it sorted but at least now it's done

Gafael* is essential for me. I do like a nicely turned leg, but shoulders wider than mine don't do it for me.

(*I would translate this but it isn't easy. Literally it means purchase, as in something to allow grip, something you can get your teeth into.)

Danny Care probably has a stunning sister who cuts his hair.

you know that thing, where you've never heard a word before, but as soon as you do you seem to see/hear it all the time?

That's just happened to me with the word gafael. Never heard it before today and now I've seen/heard it 3 times in one day!

It's so weird when that happens.

It's not the sort of word they teach you in school. It's a changing room chat word. A young farmer's sketch word. A nod and a wink word.

aye so it would seem.

Thinking back to the match yesterday. A lot of people seemed to be impressed with Warburton, but I don't know if I'm being really picky, but I don't actually think he had that good a game. I felt that he made far too many mistakes going forward with poor passes, knock ons etc although I do concede that he was pretty good at the breakdown.

Glas,
Do you mean child-bearin-hips?

I reckon Danny had a bigger sister, who pished him off and bullied him as a child, imo. Its obvious on the field. He is over-compensating. Great player though.

Yes. And love handles. I don't want to be feeling ribs.

And on that high point of debate I leave you. Nos da.

No spare ribs! Give me meat!

Falatu, Warburton, and Stoddart had very good games. I really like Brew.Love his honesty. Most Welsh fans dont. He deserves more game time in my opinion. Maybe after the RWC. He has raw-edges that need to be honed over time. Maybe Im so wrong, but he is just so busy and involved whenever I have seen him play. Never hides.

Maybe that is his "problem"

I have a PAYG Freeserve email account that is now owned by Orange and have not been able to access it since Wednesday, they say it's a problem at their end but have no estimate as to when it will be fixed.

Breeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew.

He was probably our best player at the breakdown yesterday and finished his only opportunity. I thought the yellow was harsh.

I feel some players are natural internationals (Faletau) and some need a run of games and time at the level (Brew).

I like Brew, think he's got loads of talent, I just get a bit worried about his temperament sometimes but I guess that will get better with experience.

I agree on Stoddart and Faletau, they were my two stand out players for Wales.

Nottins - that must be highly annoying! Orange are going through a lot of trouble at the minute though, I've had loads of issues with my phone since they linked up with T-Mobile.

Hi Rhino how's da man?

Faletau, I keep spelling it incorrectly. He is soo talented. Nowt wrong with the Welsh backrow.

Im fecked regs. Long day.

Nite all.

Brew is consistently a handful for any side he faces in the ML, causes opposition problems and creates things for himself. He also makes a few bad mistakes every now and again.

Gatland sees the latter as a dealbreaker, obviously. There's actually a very good player in there.

Evening all, one for the wall: https://www.606v2.com/t6418-super-xv-round-17-preview#154657

Gibson wrote:Did de Dubs win again Cari? Just checked, they put Laois away easily. Thomond will be pleased. He so badly wants to be a Dub...

This, is a great game of tennis, between 2 Masters of the game. Compelling stuff.

Oooh,you snakey bitch! As one of Cork's old chants goes "I'd rather be a (insert racial slur) than a Dub!"

Brew is one of my favourite Welsh players. Best thing about the Dragons

11 Brew
14 Halfpenny
15 North

I really see that as a fantastic set of back 3 options post Rugby World Cup.

Gibbo, Conor O'Shea is also on the outside looking in - that view is often the most interesting. Caseys analysis is also good. Sometimes though you need a voice who understands the bread and butter of it, the politics and nepotism that go on behind the scenes. Thornley is a good man for it.

I would love to see O'Shea as Irelands next coach. Another few years in England and he'll be sorted for it. Such a wise and shrewd operator for one so young.

I would love O'Shea as our next coach. He seems to have a great knowlege of the game. I think his knowledge of the English game could help bring Aviva prem players into the Irish setup.

I'll be honest Thomond. I don't really want Aviva Prem players in the Irish set up. But he has been outside Ireland for so long he is a kind of coach we haven't had before. Yes we have had foreign coaches but O'Shea is different. He has played for Leinster, it is his job for RTE to talk about Irish rugby. He knows whats going on here. But he has other experiences which can help us IMO.

Stag,whiel they wouldn't be my first choice for a country that has a relatively small playing pool I think we do need to take a look at them.

Thomond wrote:Stag,whiel they wouldn't be my first choice for a country that has a relatively small playing pool I think we do need to take a look at them.

No we need to hold firm, develop Connacht as a viable place to draw our players from and make it more attractive to play in Galway than to play in the likes of Devon, Bath or Watford.

Connacht won't develop into a viable option unless they get even more funding from the IRFU. They need a few marquee signings,a stable playing squad and maybe another season of HC before it becomes an attractive place to play.

Getting Heineken Cup rugby was the first step. Its an unfortunate reality that for now they will need to continue doing their best without further support from IRFU. According to Geoff on old 606 who knows everything about Ulster it is only this year that Ulster really got IRFU support. A good Heineken Cup run (winning at least 2 home games) would be a massive step.

It will come in time. IRFU are not biting off more than they can chew. Up until recently it was only Munster and Leinster. Ulster have joined the top table now. Connacht will in time.

Stag,I think the fact that they are unable to build a team as thewy can only hand out one year contracts is holding them back. How can they be expected to build a team when it is constantly being chopped and changed?

I know Thomond. Its a horrible situation for them. But I think we are coming close to a situation where when the next batch of youngsters move to Connacht, there will be nowhere for them to move to - Munster, Leinster and Ulster all have fairly youngish teams nowadays.

Their patience will be rewarded so long as the good times continue for the other provinces.

Nottins, more than enough beer aye. Think I'm done for this month. A few weeks dry will see me right.

Gibson, you aren't far wrong. I think when I'm drunk I like lying down on carpet. I've been woken up by my parents loads of times on different floors. Thankfully they were in London watching the Lion King, so missed this latest "my son's a bum" episode.

Aled Brew still hasn't been given a fair crack of the whip. He got next to no ball yesterday again, the poor lad. George North was given a lot more. He does have rough edges, but we are talking about alleged international standard coaches here who should be able to bring the best out of him.

Stag, I'll think you will find I'm the best thing about the Dragons

Here's hoping anyway. Seeing POD going there is a good start but losing Cronin and Keatley is a huge loss. Good chat,Stag

For info (for the early birds)
https://www.606v2.com/t6421-heineken-cup-2011-2012-clubs-and-tiers-for-draw-june-7th

Morning All - this'll be my first five day week for a while. I'll be exhausted by Friday.

I understand the Irish contingent have a bank holiday today, so I hope you're all enjoying it.

Good morning pub. I completely forgot its a bank holiday today in Ireland (I have UK rather than Irish bank holidays off) and that meant there were no buses running at 7am

Luckily a colleague obliged me and drove a few miles out of his way to collect me so I wasn't late for work. Actually I'm early I don't start til 9 today.

Morning all, hope everyone's well.

It was a real struggle getting up this morning, I've got to say. Good news is that we're back up to being fully staffed today, so hopefully this week shouldn't be so stressful

I was watching the BBC Sports news this morning and they had a story on there about a rugby league game yesterday where both teams turned up in all white kit. One of them had to borrow some local kit to look different and they lost the game.

Bore da pawb / good morning all. I rode the snooze train for about a quarter of an hour this morning, but once my first cup of tea kicked in I've been in fine fettle

Wet in Brentford today. There's a small lake appearing at the pull in area to the building. Didn't want to get up this morning, nothing to do with the 2 bottles of wine I drank last night.