The Rugby Thread

[Bit on the shaggies]

In his defence, there wouldn't have been a problem if Tuilagi wasn't a total dickhead.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Quite. A fine player but he just can't sort his off the field discipline and makes himself just about an impossible pick.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Guaranteed there'll be a column somewhere bemoaning his and Hartley's exclusion if we get knocked out.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Hartley is a better thrower to the line out, but he is a fucking penalty machine and a red card always waiting to happen.

Matawulu out of the Wales v Fiji game with injury. As Nadolo is suspended, Fiji are significantly weakened by those losses.

 

[Johnny75]

Guaranteed there'll be a column somewhere bemoaning his and Hartley's exclusion if we get knocked out.

There'll be one for Cipriani too.

 

[Dinowolf]

There'll be one for Cipriani too.

More likely Stefan Armitage

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

That would be a stick worthy of bashing Lancaster and the RFU with though. Probably the best player in his position available. Uninjured. No disciplinary worries. And not picked because of a myopic ruling brought in to try and look like the All Blacks.

 

[Tredman]

Or a long term policy to prevent the English league turning in to a ghost league, as has happened to some leagues...

 

[darlowolf64]

Tonga determined to not be shocked by Namibia...They lead 12 - 0 in the 14th minute

 

[darlowolf64]

Maybe not...This is a really open, attacking game from both sides. It's now 12-7 after 19 minutes

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Enjoyable. However the ref is a complete fucking bottler. Should have been a penalty try to Namibia and a Tongan in the bin for deliberate knock-on to slap the try making pass out of the air. Absolutely blatant. Going back to the original penalty when he was playing advantage was cowardice of the highest order.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Superb pick up for the Tongan third. Which comes from a kick to touch from a penalty given when the ref played advantage for about a decade.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

And now the ref calls back an advantage to Namibia after about eight seconds just as they are about to head into open play to give them a scrum in their own 22. Consistency. Having an absolute mare.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Ref misses blatant Tonga knock-on. Fortunately only a crossing incident even this buffoon couldn't miss prevents them scoring.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Tongan fourth try which would have been a spectacular effort chalked off as the diving wing just touched the line with his off hand in grounding the ball. Very unfortunate. And that is it for a pretty entertaining forty minutes of chuck it about rugby.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

In pretty much all sports, there are two types of zero stakes games, the ones that go absolutely nowhere and are terrible to watch (most of them, in fairness) and those where both sides just decide to go all out attack. This is the latter, it's excellent to watch though bears no resemblance whatsoever to competition rugby!

 

[darlowolf64]

That 40 minutes has flown by though

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

It has been fantastic breathless stuff. Really enjoyed it so far.

 

[Dinowolf]

There's some big Tongans on that pitch

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Namibia really deserved at least one bonus point there. Rather a shame they couldn't quite manage it. Cracking entertainment that.