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Author Topic: International Rugby  (Read 381789 times)

Offline DaveD

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Re: International Rugby
« Reply #660 on: November 23, 2015, 11:06:50 AM »
Inappropriate to even speculate this, but has there ever been rumours of Lomu and steroid use?  It seems an awkward coincidence that the biggest freak of player had kidney failure.  A friend who played at a club in NZ (it might have been league though) said that steroid use was rife and that would have been the same era. 

Given they often prescribe steroids to children with nephrotic syndrome, whether there's any truth in it or not, I would consider it unlikely that there's a causal link.

Offline Dante Lavelli

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Re: International Rugby
« Reply #661 on: December 03, 2015, 09:50:24 PM »
Any danger the rugby threads can be merged? 

There's not much traffic and I reckon the handful of posters - due to their public school education etc etc - are intelligent enough to fathom whether we're talking about international or domestic rugby.  Personally I'd prefer one thread to always be near the top of the Sports Area section rather than two lurking in mid-table.

Offline Jon Crofts

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Re: International Rugby
« Reply #662 on: December 03, 2015, 10:45:26 PM »
Tarquin is that you?  You still owe me 50p from prep school.

Offline Dante Lavelli

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Re: International Rugby
« Reply #663 on: December 03, 2015, 11:02:13 PM »
Tarquin is that you?  You still owe me 50p from prep school.

Ha!

See my bait worked, a rugby post appears and one of a handful of posters responds (with abuse on this occasion).  If there were more posts on the same thread then it would generate more traffic.  Or something like that.

Offline paul_e

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Re: International Rugby
« Reply #664 on: December 03, 2015, 11:29:16 PM »
I've been trying not to post too often, the rugby threads feel a bit a private chat for me and Paul Winch at times.

oh, and for the record, I'm state comp all the way, living in Northampton for 2 1/2 years (they won the Heineken cup whilst I was there) both got me into the sport and picked a team for me, I also have a soft spot for Glaws because 2 of my best friends whilst I was there were huge fans and drove over for every home match so I watched them as often as I watched saints.  I understandably also have an irrational dislike for everything Leicester, a dislike which was shockingly increased when Cockerill took over because I can't think of a bigger tosser in the entire sport (and many other sports besides, the city had the dubious honour of having the 2 most odious sports managers in the country last season).

Offline DaveD

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Re: International Rugby
« Reply #665 on: December 04, 2015, 03:54:19 PM »
Another state comp interloper here.

Was at a do where Gareth Chilcott and Stuart Barnes were the speakers last night. Managed to have a chat with Barnesy afterwards - he's a top bloke. He's a lot more forthright in person than he's allowed to be on air. Fairly scathing about the Lancaster reign. And he's really small, especially for a rugby player - I'm not quite six foot and I towered over him. He wouldn't get a look-in nowadays, he said as much...

And I told Chilcott to pull his bloody finger out and publish that Iraq report.

Offline paul_e

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Re: International Rugby
« Reply #666 on: December 04, 2015, 09:00:36 PM »
Another state comp interloper here.

Was at a do where Gareth Chilcott and Stuart Barnes were the speakers last night. Managed to have a chat with Barnesy afterwards - he's a top bloke. He's a lot more forthright in person than he's allowed to be on air. Fairly scathing about the Lancaster reign. And he's really small, especially for a rugby player - I'm not quite six foot and I towered over him. He wouldn't get a look-in nowadays, he said as much...

And I told Chilcott to pull his bloody finger out and publish that Iraq report.

I've long been of the opinion that the commentators are scared to be too honest about England, the only one who's ever really said it as I see it is Guscott (who I've met a few times, smart guy and knows the game well but is a right smug arse with it).  Even after a truly dire world cup there were some defending him, it's really odd.

Offline Dante Lavelli

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Re: International Rugby
« Reply #667 on: December 06, 2015, 09:54:03 PM »
Another state comp interloper here.

Was at a do where Gareth Chilcott and Stuart Barnes were the speakers last night. Managed to have a chat with Barnesy afterwards - he's a top bloke. He's a lot more forthright in person than he's allowed to be on air. Fairly scathing about the Lancaster reign. And he's really small, especially for a rugby player - I'm not quite six foot and I towered over him. He wouldn't get a look-in nowadays, he said as much...

And I told Chilcott to pull his bloody finger out and publish that Iraq report.

I've long been of the opinion that the commentators are scared to be too honest about England, the only one who's ever really said it as I see it is Guscott (who I've met a few times, smart guy and knows the game well but is a right smug arse with it).  Even after a truly dire world cup there were some defending him, it's really odd.

Brian Moore?  Maybe he limits his criticism to the team rather than the infrastructure but generally speaks his mind in my opinion.

Offline peter w

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Re: International Rugby
« Reply #668 on: December 06, 2015, 10:05:17 PM »
Wasn't a thrombosis that killed Lomu?

Offline paul_e

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Re: International Rugby
« Reply #669 on: December 07, 2015, 10:06:15 AM »
Another state comp interloper here.

Was at a do where Gareth Chilcott and Stuart Barnes were the speakers last night. Managed to have a chat with Barnesy afterwards - he's a top bloke. He's a lot more forthright in person than he's allowed to be on air. Fairly scathing about the Lancaster reign. And he's really small, especially for a rugby player - I'm not quite six foot and I towered over him. He wouldn't get a look-in nowadays, he said as much...

And I told Chilcott to pull his bloody finger out and publish that Iraq report.

I've long been of the opinion that the commentators are scared to be too honest about England, the only one who's ever really said it as I see it is Guscott (who I've met a few times, smart guy and knows the game well but is a right smug arse with it).  Even after a truly dire world cup there were some defending him, it's really odd.

Brian Moore?  Maybe he limits his criticism to the team rather than the infrastructure but generally speaks his mind in my opinion.

Spot on - and easy to prove - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/international/england/11997777/Dont-blame-RFU-boss-Ian-Ritchie-for-Stuart-Lancasters-failings-as-England-coach.html

So a guy who stated that he was ultimately responsible for the performance of team shouldn't go because he has other responsibilities that he's doing well with?  The simple scrutiny is how much would it have been worth to English rugby both financially and through exposure, to get to a semi-final or better in our home world cup?

Wasn't a thrombosis that killed Lomu?

Yes, Thrombosis caused by his nephrotic syndrome which led to a heart attack, that's the reports I've read at least, all comes back to the kidney problems though, the condition was clearly serious when they gave him a transplant but once that was rejected it was always going to be a case of when and not if unfortunately.  the problem with nephrotic syndrome is that it's often a secondary condition and treating the primary problem resolves it so you get lots of irrelevant info on a web search, when it's the primary condition it's much more difficult to do anything about.

Offline Dante Lavelli

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Re: International Rugby
« Reply #670 on: December 09, 2015, 01:36:55 PM »
Interesting, he criticises people for wanting rid of Andrew/Richie without knowing the facts and then states:

"His role includes the far wider responsibility for the RFU’s financial well-being, grassroots rugby and many other things. Those facets of English rugby have been handled properly."

Any ideas what the 'handled properly' bit is based on?  Have the coaching/playing numbers improved dramatically? 

Offline cheltenhamlion

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Re: International Rugby
« Reply #671 on: December 09, 2015, 06:31:46 PM »
All things considered, domestic rugby is strong. Both at grass roots and bringing people through and at the top. It just needs harnassing.

Offline paul_e

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Re: International Rugby
« Reply #672 on: December 10, 2015, 11:08:34 AM »
All things considered, domestic rugby is strong. Both at grass roots and bringing people through and at the top. It just needs harnassing.

The top division is strong, outside that the game is really no better than it was in the first years after professionalisation.

Offline Dante Lavelli

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Re: International Rugby
« Reply #673 on: December 10, 2015, 01:35:19 PM »
All things considered, domestic rugby is strong. Both at grass roots and bringing people through and at the top. It just needs harnassing.

The top division is strong, outside that the game is really no better than it was in the first years after professionalisation.

I must admit whenever I see my local club training sessions that I am impressed by the professionalism.
When the youth are training I reckon there's about 5 lads to each coach.  Furthermore friends who help/coach the kids have all undertaken courses so that there is a coherent thread to what they're teaching. 

This is infinitely better than my experiences playing football as a nipper and much better that when I played rugby from 15-18.  I'm unsure whether the improvement has any thing to do with Andrew or Richie though.

Offline paul_e

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Re: International Rugby
« Reply #674 on: December 10, 2015, 07:25:19 PM »
All things considered, domestic rugby is strong. Both at grass roots and bringing people through and at the top. It just needs harnassing.

The top division is strong, outside that the game is really no better than it was in the first years after professionalisation.

I must admit whenever I see my local club training sessions that I am impressed by the professionalism.
When the youth are training I reckon there's about 5 lads to each coach.  Furthermore friends who help/coach the kids have all undertaken courses so that there is a coherent thread to what they're teaching. 

This is infinitely better than my experiences playing football as a nipper and much better that when I played rugby from 15-18.  I'm unsure whether the improvement has any thing to do with Andrew or Richie though.


Sorry I was rushing a little.  What I mean by that is that the money which has gone into club rugby at lower levels hasn't really raised the standards at first team level as you'd expect.

 


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