The Rugby Union Thread

VimFuego

p90fool said:

VimFuego said:

still luving those sour grapes. You always get the best one from wales. 

We honestly don't care that much, despite our drop off in form we'll still be Grand Slam holders at the end of this null and void season.

ah, past glories. We can all play at that game...

Gassage

Forgot to post my match report; it's objective and without bias:

This was a game where retrospectively the result seemed to matter not.

A wonderful display by England for 70 minutes, marred by 10 minutes of lunacy at the end, saw the hosts dispose of their Welsh visitors 33-30.

Let’s be honest about this; the scoreline flattered Wales in the same way wallpaper covers structural cracks. They were not at the races, and they were smashed on the gainline, destroyed in the scrummage and humiliated tactically.

The gulf between the two sides from 8 months ago in Cardiff was canyon deep and only a piece of genius just after half time, followed by some fortunate cards, engineered by the imaginative, very sharp-eyed and proud South African TMO, Marius Jonker and delivered under his instruction by on-field referee Ben O’Keefe, brought the scoreboard into respectful territory for the hapless Welsh team.

England’s victory was based upon three key ingredients.

England’s pack decimated their opposite numbers in the set piece, with Joe Marler giving Dillon Lewis an absolute schooling in the art of test rugby propping; the plump Welshman was completely unable to counter the muscular Marler’s control of height and power of forward direction and, in old term rugby parlance, was lucky to finish second in a two horse race.

Secondly, that physicality was also evident in the breakdown and gainline exchanges, where the craggy Cumbrian Mark Wilson continued where he left off in 2019, with a peerless display of pressure defence and scrapping, aided and abetted by the rest of the England forwards.

Thirdly, efficiency; every time England got the ball, so points followed. A possession stat of England’s 36% to Wales’ 64% tells us two things- firstly how efficient England’s attack is, and secondly, how confident they are in they are in the John Mitchell coached D, which allowed them to let Wales to have the ball and look to turn them over and strike. Wales managed to create just the one proper opportunity in 70 minutes and it was only when cards were brandished and English players were sent off, that they managed to stagger through the heroic defence of Eddie Jones’ 13 men.

Welsh woes are completely compounded by the predictability of their midfield. When you’ve got the fridge-like hands of Dan Biggar and Hadleigh Parks in the receiver positions, you could have Cullen and Lomu outside them and they’d not see the ball all day.

The imaginative poach of talented English youngster Nick Tompkins has allowed Wales some go forward this season and he was exceptional again, but it says a lot about the state of the Welsh youth system when their three quarters fielded two Englishmen and a Kiwi journeyman. Their team relies upon regular raiding of others’ stocks and it must be a concern that nine out of the 23 players on the team sheet on Saturday were recruited artificially rather than developed naturally.

Despite many infringements and reckless tackles by the men in red, one of which saw Hadleigh Parkes almost decapitate English centre Manu Tuilagi, it seems unthinkable that a moment of intended humour from England’s stoical loosehead, Joe Marler, has dominated the headlines.

For sure, the game doesn’t need to see what the prop did, but the lack of reaction and outcome from the gesture showed that at worst, the incident was silly, at best it was innocuous. Alun Wyn Jones said as much himself, trying desperately to avoid the questioning of tabloid generalists at the press conference, until he finally gave the standard answer and said “World Rugby will deal with it”. Hardly the crime of the century given the state of Tuilagi’s forehead and Johnny May’s bulging and bruised temple, but undoubtedly, the faux media furore will sell a few more redtops in Haverfordwest and Llanfair Caereinion.

In the grand scheme of things, England will be quietly happy and very pleased with their day at the office. Jones saw many things go well- the display of Henry Slade at fullback, the ongoing excellence of the midfield and the absolute reliability of Wilson. More frustratingly, England now won’t play until the summer and the team would have relished a run out in Rome. England’s end of season score card will have a pretty big tick for most in the game. They’ve lost world class players through injury, learned a lesson in Paris, but have emerged as the most consistent side in the competition.

For Wales, there was little to be proud of, not least the bad taste that the post-match shenanigans has left. They were poor in contact and conduct and the scoreline flattered them greatly. One hopes a greater degree of self-honesty will be seen in their analysis than was shown in the press this week.

There is one small take out for all to remember though; the hotly promoted Welsh wine might be best avoided this season- the fruit is said to be of a particularly acidic nature.

fields5069

I'd like to see a biased piece from you sometime.

p90fool

VimFuego said:

p90fool said:

VimFuego said:

still luving those sour grapes. You always get the best one from wales. 

We honestly don't care that much, despite our drop off in form we'll still be Grand Slam holders at the end of this null and void season.

ah, past glories. We can all play at that game...

They're current glories until someone wins it off us... 

VimFuego

p90fool said:

VimFuego said:

p90fool said:

VimFuego said:

still luving those sour grapes. You always get the best one from wales. 

We honestly don't care that much, despite our drop off in form we'll still be Grand Slam holders at the end of this null and void season.

ah, past glories. We can all play at that game...

They're current glories until someone wins it off us... 

yeah, I like to change reality so it fits my worldview as well. 

cj73

VimFuego said:

p90fool said:

VimFuego said:

p90fool said:

VimFuego said:

still luving those sour grapes. You always get the best one from wales. 

We honestly don't care that much, despite our drop off in form we'll still be Grand Slam holders at the end of this null and void season.

ah, past glories. We can all play at that game...

They're current glories until someone wins it off us... 

yeah, I like to change reality so it fits my worldview as well. 

Just like Scotland are the reigning 5 Nations champions

p90fool

VimFuego said:

p90fool said:

VimFuego said:

p90fool said:

VimFuego said:

still luving those sour grapes. You always get the best one from wales. 

We honestly don't care that much, despite our drop off in form we'll still be Grand Slam holders at the end of this null and void season.

ah, past glories. We can all play at that game...

They're current glories until someone wins it off us... 

yeah, I like to change reality so it fits my worldview as well. 

Fuck me, lighten up will you? 

koneguitarist

Gassage said:

Forgot to post my match report; it's objective and without bias:

This was a game where retrospectively the result seemed to matter not.

A wonderful display by England for 70 minutes, marred by 10 minutes of lunacy at the end, saw the hosts dispose of their Welsh visitors 33-30.

Let’s be honest about this; the scoreline flattered Wales in the same way wallpaper covers structural cracks. They were not at the races, and they were smashed on the gainline, destroyed in the scrummage and humiliated tactically.

The gulf between the two sides from 8 months ago in Cardiff was canyon deep and only a piece of genius just after half time, followed by some fortunate cards, engineered by the imaginative, very sharp-eyed and proud South African TMO, Marius Jonker and delivered under his instruction by on-field referee Ben O’Keefe, brought the scoreboard into respectful territory for the hapless Welsh team.

England’s victory was based upon three key ingredients.

England’s pack decimated their opposite numbers in the set piece, with Joe Marler giving Dillon Lewis an absolute schooling in the art of test rugby propping; the plump Welshman was completely unable to counter the muscular Marler’s control of height and power of forward direction and, in old term rugby parlance, was lucky to finish second in a two horse race.

Secondly, that physicality was also evident in the breakdown and gainline exchanges, where the craggy Cumbrian Mark Wilson continued where he left off in 2019, with a peerless display of pressure defence and scrapping, aided and abetted by the rest of the England forwards.

Thirdly, efficiency; every time England got the ball, so points followed. A possession stat of England’s 36% to Wales’ 64% tells us two things- firstly how efficient England’s attack is, and secondly, how confident they are in they are in the John Mitchell coached D, which allowed them to let Wales to have the ball and look to turn them over and strike. Wales managed to create just the one proper opportunity in 70 minutes and it was only when cards were brandished and English players were sent off, that they managed to stagger through the heroic defence of Eddie Jones’ 13 men.

Welsh woes are completely compounded by the predictability of their midfield. When you’ve got the fridge-like hands of Dan Biggar and Hadleigh Parks in the receiver positions, you could have Cullen and Lomu outside them and they’d not see the ball all day.

The imaginative poach of talented English youngster Nick Tompkins has allowed Wales some go forward this season and he was exceptional again, but it says a lot about the state of the Welsh youth system when their three quarters fielded two Englishmen and a Kiwi journeyman. Their team relies upon regular raiding of others’ stocks and it must be a concern that nine out of the 23 players on the team sheet on Saturday were recruited artificially rather than developed naturally.

Despite many infringements and reckless tackles by the men in red, one of which saw Hadleigh Parkes almost decapitate English centre Manu Tuilagi, it seems unthinkable that a moment of intended humour from England’s stoical loosehead, Joe Marler, has dominated the headlines.

For sure, the game doesn’t need to see what the prop did, but the lack of reaction and outcome from the gesture showed that at worst, the incident was silly, at best it was innocuous. Alun Wyn Jones said as much himself, trying desperately to avoid the questioning of tabloid generalists at the press conference, until he finally gave the standard answer and said “World Rugby will deal with it”. Hardly the crime of the century given the state of Tuilagi’s forehead and Johnny May’s bulging and bruised temple, but undoubtedly, the faux media furore will sell a few more redtops in Haverfordwest and Llanfair Caereinion.

In the grand scheme of things, England will be quietly happy and very pleased with their day at the office. Jones saw many things go well- the display of Henry Slade at fullback, the ongoing excellence of the midfield and the absolute reliability of Wilson. More frustratingly, England now won’t play until the summer and the team would have relished a run out in Rome. England’s end of season score card will have a pretty big tick for most in the game. They’ve lost world class players through injury, learned a lesson in Paris, but have emerged as the most consistent side in the competition.

For Wales, there was little to be proud of, not least the bad taste that the post-match shenanigans has left. They were poor in contact and conduct and the scoreline flattered them greatly. One hopes a greater degree of self-honesty will be seen in their analysis than was shown in the press this week.

There is one small take out for all to remember though; the hotly promoted Welsh wine might be best avoided this season- the fruit is said to be of a particularly acidic nature.

Such a one sided game, in the effect England went out of their way to infringe, intimidate and take players out off the ball. Some of the English players notably Farrell was incredibly lucky to stay on the field, a stronger ref would have carded him for the shove on Biggar, and the forearm in face Of another player,  his conduct as a captain was shocking. 

When SA played like that they were condemned, but Eddie Jones says it’s rugby. Bloke is a clown and was rightly called in by RFU for his remarks. 

Wales came 2nd best in physicality, foul play wins but sadly England had enough skill to win legally, and keep their players on the pitch and beat Wales with a higher score. 
if you’re proud of that, great. 

VimFuego

p90fool said:

VimFuego said:

p90fool said:

VimFuego said:

p90fool said:

VimFuego said:

still luving those sour grapes. You always get the best one from wales. 

We honestly don't care that much, despite our drop off in form we'll still be Grand Slam holders at the end of this null and void season.

ah, past glories. We can all play at that game...

They're current glories until someone wins it off us... 

yeah, I like to change reality so it fits my worldview as well. 

Fuck me, lighten up will you? 

lol I am, just winding you up, it's part of the pleasure, beat you on the pitch, beat you at the banter.

VimFuego

koneguitarist said:

Gassage said:

Forgot to post my match report; it's objective and without bias:

This was a game where retrospectively the result seemed to matter not.

A wonderful display by England for 70 minutes, marred by 10 minutes of lunacy at the end, saw the hosts dispose of their Welsh visitors 33-30.

Let’s be honest about this; the scoreline flattered Wales in the same way wallpaper covers structural cracks. They were not at the races, and they were smashed on the gainline, destroyed in the scrummage and humiliated tactically.

The gulf between the two sides from 8 months ago in Cardiff was canyon deep and only a piece of genius just after half time, followed by some fortunate cards, engineered by the imaginative, very sharp-eyed and proud South African TMO, Marius Jonker and delivered under his instruction by on-field referee Ben O’Keefe, brought the scoreboard into respectful territory for the hapless Welsh team.

England’s victory was based upon three key ingredients.

England’s pack decimated their opposite numbers in the set piece, with Joe Marler giving Dillon Lewis an absolute schooling in the art of test rugby propping; the plump Welshman was completely unable to counter the muscular Marler’s control of height and power of forward direction and, in old term rugby parlance, was lucky to finish second in a two horse race.

Secondly, that physicality was also evident in the breakdown and gainline exchanges, where the craggy Cumbrian Mark Wilson continued where he left off in 2019, with a peerless display of pressure defence and scrapping, aided and abetted by the rest of the England forwards.

Thirdly, efficiency; every time England got the ball, so points followed. A possession stat of England’s 36% to Wales’ 64% tells us two things- firstly how efficient England’s attack is, and secondly, how confident they are in they are in the John Mitchell coached D, which allowed them to let Wales to have the ball and look to turn them over and strike. Wales managed to create just the one proper opportunity in 70 minutes and it was only when cards were brandished and English players were sent off, that they managed to stagger through the heroic defence of Eddie Jones’ 13 men.

Welsh woes are completely compounded by the predictability of their midfield. When you’ve got the fridge-like hands of Dan Biggar and Hadleigh Parks in the receiver positions, you could have Cullen and Lomu outside them and they’d not see the ball all day.

The imaginative poach of talented English youngster Nick Tompkins has allowed Wales some go forward this season and he was exceptional again, but it says a lot about the state of the Welsh youth system when their three quarters fielded two Englishmen and a Kiwi journeyman. Their team relies upon regular raiding of others’ stocks and it must be a concern that nine out of the 23 players on the team sheet on Saturday were recruited artificially rather than developed naturally.

Despite many infringements and reckless tackles by the men in red, one of which saw Hadleigh Parkes almost decapitate English centre Manu Tuilagi, it seems unthinkable that a moment of intended humour from England’s stoical loosehead, Joe Marler, has dominated the headlines.

For sure, the game doesn’t need to see what the prop did, but the lack of reaction and outcome from the gesture showed that at worst, the incident was silly, at best it was innocuous. Alun Wyn Jones said as much himself, trying desperately to avoid the questioning of tabloid generalists at the press conference, until he finally gave the standard answer and said “World Rugby will deal with it”. Hardly the crime of the century given the state of Tuilagi’s forehead and Johnny May’s bulging and bruised temple, but undoubtedly, the faux media furore will sell a few more redtops in Haverfordwest and Llanfair Caereinion.

In the grand scheme of things, England will be quietly happy and very pleased with their day at the office. Jones saw many things go well- the display of Henry Slade at fullback, the ongoing excellence of the midfield and the absolute reliability of Wilson. More frustratingly, England now won’t play until the summer and the team would have relished a run out in Rome. England’s end of season score card will have a pretty big tick for most in the game. They’ve lost world class players through injury, learned a lesson in Paris, but have emerged as the most consistent side in the competition.

For Wales, there was little to be proud of, not least the bad taste that the post-match shenanigans has left. They were poor in contact and conduct and the scoreline flattered them greatly. One hopes a greater degree of self-honesty will be seen in their analysis than was shown in the press this week.

There is one small take out for all to remember though; the hotly promoted Welsh wine might be best avoided this season- the fruit is said to be of a particularly acidic nature.

Such a one sided game, in the effect England went out of their way to infringe, intimidate and take players out off the ball. Some of the English players notably Farrell was incredibly lucky to stay on the field, a stronger ref would have carded him for the shove on Biggar, and the forearm in face Of another player,  his conduct as a captain was shocking. 

When SA played like that they were condemned, but Eddie Jones says it’s rugby. Bloke is a clown and was rightly called in by RFU for his remarks. 

Wales came 2nd best in physicality, foul play wins but sadly England had enough skill to win legally, and keep their players on the pitch and beat Wales with a higher score. 
if you’re proud of that, great. 

waaah, waaaah, waaaah, we got beat up by bigger boys. mommy, make them stop.

Rocker

fields5069 said:

Heartfeltdawn said:

Gassage said:

Dopesick said:

What's upset you today, Alan?

LOL- the Joe Marler outrage.

So lemme get this right. If an Australia sandpapers a leather ball, it's terrible. If an Englishman grabs someone else's balls, it's comedy.

And in this rugby lark, when an Englishman goes to kick a ball between the posts, the crowd are asked to respect him and his ball but it's comedy for an Englishman to show no respect for an opponent's balls. 

I do not understand. 

Marler likes to think of himself as an enigma, poor man. Alfie in the studio expressed disappointment that he wasn't still playing. 

Marler let himself, his team and his country down.  If his actions do/did not cause embarrassment or some discomfort to English people, there is no hope.  What is so special about Rugby that grabbing an opponent by the balls is acceptable?  No other sport would permit or attempt to condone such actions.

Schnozz

I like the fact that England beat the inferior nations into the floor, seeing as they're a bunch of uppity bitches; however, I actually would have preferred to see France play without throwing punches at Scotland. I genuinely think that a French win would have been good for the tournament, but England winning overall will be just as good,

Gassage

Rocker said:

fields5069 said:

Heartfeltdawn said:

Gassage said:

Dopesick said:

What's upset you today, Alan?

LOL- the Joe Marler outrage.

So lemme get this right. If an Australia sandpapers a leather ball, it's terrible. If an Englishman grabs someone else's balls, it's comedy.

And in this rugby lark, when an Englishman goes to kick a ball between the posts, the crowd are asked to respect him and his ball but it's comedy for an Englishman to show no respect for an opponent's balls. 

I do not understand. 

Marler likes to think of himself as an enigma, poor man. Alfie in the studio expressed disappointment that he wasn't still playing. 

Marler let himself, his team and his country down.  If his actions do/did not cause embarrassment or some discomfort to English people, there is no hope.  What is so special about Rugby that grabbing an opponent by the balls is acceptable?  No other sport would permit or attempt to condone such actions.

It's remarkable how naive people are about the truth of top level rugby.

It happens.

Since people have started to try and sanitise the game, it's dying on its arse. Before the PC nannies got hold of it, clubs ran 7 and 8 sides on a Saturday, now same clubs running two.

When you've played v Glamorgan Wanderers on a tues in November or against Pontypool United, or Lydney away then you'll understand and until then, you really won't. When you've had your bollocks deep heated as a joke you'll get it.

Why would it cause discomfort to anyone when there's no intent other than that of wind up? Why would it embarass me or others when we didn't commit the act? That's just ridiculous.

Gassage

koneguitarist said:

Gassage said:

Forgot to post my match report; it's objective and without bias:

This was a game where retrospectively the result seemed to matter not.

A wonderful display by England for 70 minutes, marred by 10 minutes of lunacy at the end, saw the hosts dispose of their Welsh visitors 33-30.

Let’s be honest about this; the scoreline flattered Wales in the same way wallpaper covers structural cracks. They were not at the races, and they were smashed on the gainline, destroyed in the scrummage and humiliated tactically.

The gulf between the two sides from 8 months ago in Cardiff was canyon deep and only a piece of genius just after half time, followed by some fortunate cards, engineered by the imaginative, very sharp-eyed and proud South African TMO, Marius Jonker and delivered under his instruction by on-field referee Ben O’Keefe, brought the scoreboard into respectful territory for the hapless Welsh team.

England’s victory was based upon three key ingredients.

England’s pack decimated their opposite numbers in the set piece, with Joe Marler giving Dillon Lewis an absolute schooling in the art of test rugby propping; the plump Welshman was completely unable to counter the muscular Marler’s control of height and power of forward direction and, in old term rugby parlance, was lucky to finish second in a two horse race.

Secondly, that physicality was also evident in the breakdown and gainline exchanges, where the craggy Cumbrian Mark Wilson continued where he left off in 2019, with a peerless display of pressure defence and scrapping, aided and abetted by the rest of the England forwards.

Thirdly, efficiency; every time England got the ball, so points followed. A possession stat of England’s 36% to Wales’ 64% tells us two things- firstly how efficient England’s attack is, and secondly, how confident they are in they are in the John Mitchell coached D, which allowed them to let Wales to have the ball and look to turn them over and strike. Wales managed to create just the one proper opportunity in 70 minutes and it was only when cards were brandished and English players were sent off, that they managed to stagger through the heroic defence of Eddie Jones’ 13 men.

Welsh woes are completely compounded by the predictability of their midfield. When you’ve got the fridge-like hands of Dan Biggar and Hadleigh Parks in the receiver positions, you could have Cullen and Lomu outside them and they’d not see the ball all day.

The imaginative poach of talented English youngster Nick Tompkins has allowed Wales some go forward this season and he was exceptional again, but it says a lot about the state of the Welsh youth system when their three quarters fielded two Englishmen and a Kiwi journeyman. Their team relies upon regular raiding of others’ stocks and it must be a concern that nine out of the 23 players on the team sheet on Saturday were recruited artificially rather than developed naturally.

Despite many infringements and reckless tackles by the men in red, one of which saw Hadleigh Parkes almost decapitate English centre Manu Tuilagi, it seems unthinkable that a moment of intended humour from England’s stoical loosehead, Joe Marler, has dominated the headlines.

For sure, the game doesn’t need to see what the prop did, but the lack of reaction and outcome from the gesture showed that at worst, the incident was silly, at best it was innocuous. Alun Wyn Jones said as much himself, trying desperately to avoid the questioning of tabloid generalists at the press conference, until he finally gave the standard answer and said “World Rugby will deal with it”. Hardly the crime of the century given the state of Tuilagi’s forehead and Johnny May’s bulging and bruised temple, but undoubtedly, the faux media furore will sell a few more redtops in Haverfordwest and Llanfair Caereinion.

In the grand scheme of things, England will be quietly happy and very pleased with their day at the office. Jones saw many things go well- the display of Henry Slade at fullback, the ongoing excellence of the midfield and the absolute reliability of Wilson. More frustratingly, England now won’t play until the summer and the team would have relished a run out in Rome. England’s end of season score card will have a pretty big tick for most in the game. They’ve lost world class players through injury, learned a lesson in Paris, but have emerged as the most consistent side in the competition.

For Wales, there was little to be proud of, not least the bad taste that the post-match shenanigans has left. They were poor in contact and conduct and the scoreline flattered them greatly. One hopes a greater degree of self-honesty will be seen in their analysis than was shown in the press this week.

There is one small take out for all to remember though; the hotly promoted Welsh wine might be best avoided this season- the fruit is said to be of a particularly acidic nature.

Such a one sided game, in the effect England went out of their way to infringe, intimidate and take players out off the ball. Some of the English players notably Farrell was incredibly lucky to stay on the field, a stronger ref would have carded him for the shove on Biggar, and the forearm in face Of another player,  his conduct as a captain was shocking. 

When SA played like that they were condemned, but Eddie Jones says it’s rugby. Bloke is a clown and was rightly called in by RFU for his remarks. 

Wales came 2nd best in physicality, foul play wins but sadly England had enough skill to win legally, and keep their players on the pitch and beat Wales with a higher score. 
if you’re proud of that, great. 

1) Biggar walked into his line. Watch carefully.

2) Forearm by Sanjay on Curry?

3) Neck roll on Curry?

4) Clear out of Farrell?

5) Parkes high tackle on Manu?

Seriously, get some perspective.

UnclePsychosis

Gassage said:

Since people have started to try and sanitise the game, it's dying on its arse. Before the PC nannies got hold of it, clubs ran 7 and 8 sides on a Saturday, now same clubs running two.

When you've played v Glamorgan Wanderers on a tues in November or against Pontypool United, or Lydney away then you'll understand and until then, you really won't. When you've had your bollocks deep heated as a joke you'll get it.

If Rugby is "dying on its arse" because letting people physically and sexually assault each other is no longer acceptable then frankly the sooner it fucks off the better because it must be a pretty shit game if it needs that element to make it fun.  

VimFuego

never understood this idea that I should be ashamed or embarrassed by someone's actions just because we were born in  the same geographical area. Marler is responsible for his actions, I am not. I feel no embarrassment for his actions cos I didn't do them. Collective responsibility only applies when there is also collective control. To think otherwise is frankly dumb.

exocet

Bollock grabbing has always gone on in Rugby, the difference here is that it was caught clearly on camera for all to see. When it's against the laws of the game and clearly seen at the time, the authorities couldn't simply ignore it. 

Heartfeltdawn

Gassage said:

It's remarkable how naive people are about the truth of top level rugby.

It happens.

Since people have started to try and sanitise the game, it's dying on its arse. Before the PC nannies got hold of it, clubs ran 7 and 8 sides on a Saturday, now same clubs running two.

When you've played v Glamorgan Wanderers on a tues in November or against Pontypool United, or Lydney away then you'll understand and until then, you really won't. When you've had your bollocks deep heated as a joke you'll get it.

You talk of rugby clubs running 8 sides on a Saturday and say it's because of an attempt to sanitise the game. If so, why are cricket sides dying on their arse as well? Now I know you dispute this but the facts are there watching league sides back home and around here in London. Political correctness hasn't fucked league cricket. 

Tastes are changing. Rugby and cricket don't have the draw they had for us older types. At the same time the top levels of both sports are guilty of chasing the money to the detriment of the game. Rugby, cricket, golf: all effectively paywalled in this country bar the 6N and I beieve moving to Sky would be as shit for rugby union as it has been for cricket. 

I haven't played rugby to the same level as you but I've done enough at cricket levels and know all the deep heat gags going. I found it puerile then and it's peurile now. So I get a different angle on that joke to you having experienced it. 

Heartfeltdawn

Rugby, cricket, guitar bands: all siding in popularity. Can't all be PC nonsense spoiling them. 

digitalscream

Heartfeltdawn said:

You talk of rugby clubs running 8 sides on a Saturday and say it's because of an attempt to sanitise the game. If so, why are cricket sides dying on their arse as well? 

Because cricket is, by definition, a game of boredom tolerance. Its days were always numbered once the Internet hit the mainstream.