Topic: Murrayfield on the 12/3/05

[Fatboy Ginge]

Just got my tickets for the Scotland vs Wales match on the 12^th of March.

I'm going up with some friends and I have my Welsh shirt ordered (I refuse to support the sweaties).

I was going to wear my England shirt but decided that as I'm on the sick at the moment to possibly be seen on TV and stand out like a sore thumb was possibly not a good idea. Also the fact that England might have lost all three matches by then means that the piss taking might be unbearable.

[Viscount Discount]

We wuz robbed today!  

I'd like to know what part of Ireland that South African git who reffed today's Six Nations game thinks he comes from.  :angry5:

One perfectly good try disallowed, another potential try not given when there was no way the ref could've seen it without watching the playback and at least two legal passes ruled as forward when England were in scoring positions.

I think we could beat Ireland, but not Ireland + the referee.

Anyway - at least it's only Rugby, not something that matters (sorry FBG  )

My general points about Rugby Union are twofold:

a) Nowadays even the big blokes are pretty fast - all of which means good running breaks seldom happen. You just get loads of big blokes running 5 yards and then collapsing under the impact of lots of other big blokes. It's almost as dull as American Football (but not quite - nothing could be that nuts  ). A 13-man Rugby League set-up leaves more of the field empty and lends itself to more of a running game.

b) The scoring system is INSANE. 5 points for a try and 3 for a penalty :icon_scratch:. Kickers totally dominate the game now, as refs give penalties away like sweeties - usually for minor infringements that wouldn't affect the course of the game. Two points maximum for a penalty would be much fairer.

[Shytot]

I was quite pleased with the result today

Of course, England have never had any decisions going their way

You're right about the points system, but the reason for so many penalties is because the game is so open to interpretation from the ref. The players don't help themselves, because usually the reason for the ball not popping out is because someone has his hands on it

Rugby League is much easier to referee, but as with all professional sport, the need to win means that there will always be cheating and always the need for a referee to make a call.

Mind you, it's a shame England didn't win ..... it would have lifted them up to 4th in the table ... pmsl

You'll be back next year

BTW - American Football isn't such a bad game - the coverage on Sky is excellent and as you alluded to ViscDisc, so many other games are tending towards the same system of set plays - anyway each to his own.

BRING ON THE FRENCH !!!  

[Viscount Discount]

Traitor!

I hope you're hounded out of the Greater Manchester area!!  

[Shytot]

Traitor!

I hope you're hounded out of the Greater Manchester area!!  

lol

I think there are more people of Irish extraction in the GM area than there are English !!!

[Viscount Discount]

And that's just Man U shareholders! lol


Anyway, I shall arrange for Johnny Wilkinson to drop kick you over the Granada Studio complex when he is fit again.  

[Fatboy Ginge]

I can't believe that Jonathan Kaplan is still an international referee. He is nutsE. I have never seen him have a good game.

Despite that though I don't think England deserved to win today. Ireland were the better team over the 80 minutes.

We are currently down around 250 caps of experience with retirements and injuries but having said that there are some players in the England team with 30 - 40 caps and they're not taking the responsibility on of LEADING the team.

Best player today for England... Corry by a long way.

[Viscount Discount]

I don't know that Ireland were better, Ginge.    All you need is that perfectly reasonable Cueto try to be given and converted and we'd have won.

In the second half, we had more than 60% of possession.  

Anyway, some of our tactical decisions were woeful and (mostly) we couldn't kick into touch properly throughout.  Lack of experience, as you say, showing.

Totally agree Re: Corry. A powerhouse.

[cammyb]

As a "Sweatie" I have to say that I thought the ref rodgered England. Pretty piss poor refereeing. Then again, we wuz robbed against the cheese-eating surrender monkies by a bloody incompetent ref, so the standard is fairly abyssmal.

[Harri]

I have to say I agree with all the above comments.  Maybe it's the standard of refereeing we have to look at not the standard of play!!

[Shytot]

Come on guys - you got beat - live with it!
You've played 3 lost 3 but you're still above Italy

[Harri]

We deserved to lose the 2nd game but come on Shy, you have to concede that the ref robbed us in the last game!

[Shytot]

We deserved to lose the 2nd game but come on Shy, you have to concede that the ref robbed us in the last game!

No can do Harri

He called what he saw - England's first try should not have stood - there is no genuine evidence either way on Cueto's attempt - the other attempt was at best a 5m scrum to England but the ref reckoned that the last movement was back over the line and therefore gave a scrum to Ireland.

There were lots of other questionable decisions or non-decisions where do you stop though .. ?

As I said - just live with it - England do not have sole rights on questioning the rights and wrongs of refs' decisions but invariably they make the most noise about it .... still it takes the flak of the coach and his pi** poor performances - oh yes and the kickers .. hmm that's what rugby is about isn't it ... kicking ?

Whatever the story - there are well paid journalists and pundits who can go on for weeks about it, as far as I'm concerned, it's case closed.

[Harri]

Why did he not use the video playback?  I thought that was what it was there for?

[Viscount Discount]

I think the answer is because he's a wanker, Harri.

There was arguably a forward pass in the build up to O'Driscoll's try as well, so maybe let's let that cancel our Corry's one.

The fact is other referees as well as most neutrals (and even Ireland's Keith Wood) recognize that it was an unacceptably poor refereeing performance - and Ireland benefited.

Thems the breaks and yes, sometimes England may have benefited from other poor refs.

But I don't think that should detract from Kaplan's incompetent performance. He shouldn't serve as an international referee.  As FBG notes, this isn't the first match he's ballsed up.