Rugby Union 2012/13

[Dave Summers]

I see the Welsh want to play the game against us at the Millenium. Forget that, they're the lower seeds so we should play at home.

And he has said it with a straight face as well?.  What an absolute and utter tool.  I don't recall Wales playing any of their games away from home in either 91, when they were joint hosts or 99 when they hosted it themselves.   In 91 when we got to the Final we played both the Quarter and Semi's away from home against and at the home grounds of, France and Scotland.   I am so wound up about this !!!!

Anyway, had a little further look at the draw and IF we can win our pool, it has turned into a great draw.

Could end up something like :

South Africa v Australia
New Zealand v Ireland
England v Samoa
France v Argentina

South Africa v New Zealand
England v France

Maybe the tough group will work out well for us?. 

[PaulWinch again]

I think a tough group is a good thing as it gets you up to speed competetively straight away. If we can't beat Australia and Wales we're not going to win it anyway. However we should be playing all our games at home, as is our advantage for hosting the World cup.

[PaulWinch again]

Ian Ritchie's response made me laugh. 'We have a nice stadium of our own.'

[Dave Summers]

Ian Ritchie's response made me laugh. 'We have a nice stadium of our own.'

Quite right as well.  I don't get this "The finest Rugby Stadium in the World" bollox from the Welsh anyway.  Rugby is an outside game, so it's a moot point as to whether you should play under a roof?.  The pitch there is also an absolute disgrace, as it starts cutting up after the warm up and the one end of the ground is in fact the old North Stand, or part of it, from the 1970's.   

The only thing that the Millennium has going for it is the fact that it is in the City Centre?.  The ground is about 8k less in capacity than Twickenham and despite all of the hype about the passion of the Welsh fans, has only been filled once this Autumn compared to the 4 times that Twickenham has!!!!

Having said all of that, the outside of the Stadium at Twickenham, especially at the oldest part of it, the North Stand, is looking a little tired these days.  However inside and in the concourses, absolutely top notch.

Rant over !!!

[paul_e]

Ian Ritchie's response made me laugh. 'We have a nice stadium of our own.'

Quite right as well.  I don't get this "The finest Rugby Stadium in the World" bollox from the Welsh anyway.  Rugby is an outside game, so it's a moot point as to whether you should play under a roof?.  The pitch there is also an absolute disgrace, as it starts cutting up after the warm up and the one end of the ground is in fact the old North Stand, or part of it, from the 1970's.   

The only thing that the Millennium has going for it is the fact that it is in the City Centre?.  The ground is about 8k less in capacity than Twickenham and despite all of the hype about the passion of the Welsh fans, has only been filled once this Autumn compared to the 4 times that Twickenham has!!!!

Having said all of that, the outside of the Stadium at Twickenham, especially at the oldest part of it, the North Stand, is looking a little tired these days.  However inside and in the concourses, absolutely top notch.

Rant over !!!

I'd guess that some work will be done to tidy twickenham up in the run up to the tournament.

[cheltenhamlion]

Whoa, Freddie Freddie...

[PaulWinch again]

Patel is not a Test number 6. We are making a bit of a mess of this, we'll have nice lead but we should have had an unassailable lead.

[lovejoy]

A pint of what PaulWinch is having please!

[PaulWinch again]

whoops!

[andyaston]

Ian Ritchie's response made me laugh. 'We have a nice stadium of our own.'

Quite right as well.  I don't get this "The finest Rugby Stadium in the World" bollox from the Welsh anyway.  Rugby is an outside game, so it's a moot point as to whether you should play under a roof?.  The pitch there is also an absolute disgrace, as it starts cutting up after the warm up and the one end of the ground is in fact the old North Stand, or part of it, from the 1970's.   

The only thing that the Millennium has going for it is the fact that it is in the City Centre?.  The ground is about 8k less in capacity than Twickenham and despite all of the hype about the passion of the Welsh fans, has only been filled once this Autumn compared to the 4 times that Twickenham has!!!!

Having said all of that, the outside of the Stadium at Twickenham, especially at the oldest part of it, the North Stand, is looking a little tired these days.  However inside and in the concourses, absolutely top notch.

Rant over !!!

Any luck on the ballot for 6 nations tickets Dave?

[UK Redsox]

The last time I went to HQ was when the North Stand had just been built. The rest of the ground was those old green stands that were as steep as feck.

In other news, three wins on the trot for the mighty Lyd sees us pulling away from the relegation zone.

Looks like I'll be at the Gloucester v Exeter game next Sat in one of the boxes

[paul_e]

Massive win for Saints away at Ulster yesterday, makes that a potentially very interesting group

[lovejoy]

Felt funny supporting Saracens.
Bad stamp by Catres 20 on the Glasgow prop. Needs a big ban.

[Dave Summers]

Ian Ritchie's response made me laugh. 'We have a nice stadium of our own.'

Quite right as well.  I don't get this "The finest Rugby Stadium in the World" bollox from the Welsh anyway.  Rugby is an outside game, so it's a moot point as to whether you should play under a roof?.  The pitch there is also an absolute disgrace, as it starts cutting up after the warm up and the one end of the ground is in fact the old North Stand, or part of it, from the 1970's.   

The only thing that the Millennium has going for it is the fact that it is in the City Centre?.  The ground is about 8k less in capacity than Twickenham and despite all of the hype about the passion of the Welsh fans, has only been filled once this Autumn compared to the 4 times that Twickenham has!!!!

Having said all of that, the outside of the Stadium at Twickenham, especially at the oldest part of it, the North Stand, is looking a little tired these days.  However inside and in the concourses, absolutely top notch.

Rant over !!!

Any luck on the ballot for 6 nations tickets Dave?

No, not any luck at all for me.  Been in the England Supporters Club for 10 years now and never got tickets first up through the ballot.  Hopefully there will be some returns or single tickets available for the Scotland and or France game and I will be okay.  Having been for three expensive days out last month though and having also got tickets for Italy, I won't be too upset if I don't secure any.

[paul_e]

Watching todays match (wasps vs sale):

I've been praising Billy Vunipola for a while, he looks close to ready to be around the national squad now, superb today.
Christian Wade is quality but he's still very suspect under the high ball, I can't beleive the coaches haven't been working harder on it with him.
Sale are about the worst side I've ever seen in the premiership, no fight, no one breaking the line and look totally disorganised at times but they have a good squad, it's really strange just how poor they are, Redpath has done a really poor job with them after leaving glaws.