The Rugby Union Thread

bertie

anyone see the Bath / Bears game  ?    I think Lawrence is pretty much owning the outside centre position for England...........just need to get shot of Captain Cant Tackle now

bertie

@fretmeister ;

one would assume Karl Dixon is not on your xmas card list.............................

for all the talent out back,  Leicester don't have play a boring fucking game don't they -  again

BluesLover

I've been following Leicester Tigers for over half a century. Not sure I can be bothered any more though, their style sends me to sleep...

scrumhalf

As a now-rootless Wasps fan I really don't care about the Prem as long as $arac£ns lose.

Sadly I can't watch club rugby at the moment. 

fretmeister

bertie said:

@fretmeister ;

one would assume Karl Dixon is not on your xmas card list.............................

for all the talent out back,  Leicester don't have play a boring fucking game don't they -  again

I only saw the result, not the game. Couldn’t get a good radio signal either.

bertie

fretmeister said:

bertie said:

@fretmeister ;

one would assume Karl Dixon is not on your xmas card list.............................

for all the talent out back,  Leicester don't have play a boring fucking game don't they -  again

I only saw the result, not the game. Couldn’t get a good radio signal either.

glaringly bad (wrong) decision that disallowed a Saints try - arrogance not to go to TMO

fretmeister

Dickson has never liked Saints anyway, not since his brother was there.

rsvmark

Farrell out for 6N. Irrespective of him and his style I wish him and his family well and hope there isn’t any social media bs behind this

VimFuego

just saw that on the beeb, and following a link there I see Tom Foley has been receiving death threats (presumably from NZ fans). Whilst I don't particularly rate foley as a ref, to threaten to kill someone and/or his family because of a sport, a game of rugby? I'm struggling to get my head round that. How far down the evolutionary scale do you need to be to threaten someone because a game? If these people actually have mothers, I'm sure they'd be none to proud to see how the foul outpourings have turned out.

bertie

VimFuego said:

just saw that on the beeb, and following a link there I see Tom Foley has been receiving death threats (presumably from NZ fans). Whilst I don't particularly rate foley as a ref, to threaten to kill someone and/or his family because of a sport, a game of rugby? I'm struggling to get my head round that.  

I unwittingly commented on one of the many  posts on FB from an NZ media account - and subsequently was inundated with updates from many NZ based media accounts on my newsfeed.

Astounding,  disgraceful, uneducated, blinkered, "passionate"  and overwhelmingly single minded  how they absolutely perceived the loss, due to the red card,  was down to Barnes and Barnes alone.   Comments from men and women.  

It comes as no shock that one month later,  that the focus of their disgusting angst  has percolated down to Foley 

BluesLover

So with Farrell out of the 6N, who will be captain?

sev112

Jamie George

TJT1979

rsvmark said:

Farrell out for 6N. Irrespective of him and his style I wish him and his family well and hope there isn’t any social media bs behind this

Totally agree, and to be honest I have no doubt there is social media crap going on in the background. That and the constant criticism he's faced over the years. 

Blaendulais

If he's struggling mentally theres no question i feel sorry for him.   Hes never been the best fly half or centre in his country however and it does seem like time for a change in the way things are done for England

Dr_Necessiter

rsvmark said:

Farrell out for 6N. Irrespective of him and his style I wish him and his family well and hope there isn’t any social media bs behind this

There is apparently, I read an article to that effect by Owen Slot* in the Times this morning - that and being booed by England fans during the world cup. I'd link it but it'll be behind a pay wall.

*My bad, it was Alex Lowe.

Pjon

fretmeister said:

Dickson has never liked Saints anyway, not since his brother was there.

I've always thought comments like this are interesting. In theory, as a rugby ref it shouldn't be difficult to be impartial, especially at a professional level, but it's never been the case.  Nigel Owens, to take a local example, was a good ref, but how impartial can you be when you know every player, ex-player, committee members and families in your local club and live surrounded by people who support that club? Who all have an opinion and are experts on the sport, even if they haven't seen a game for decades. And you don't become a ref with no background in the game. You'll probably have grown up following a team, maybe hating another team. 

I find that most refs are relatively impartial until they ref the team I'm supporting and then they become hopelessly biased the wrong way, and Nigel Owens hated the Ospreys.  

Blaendulais

Pjon said:

fretmeister said:

Dickson has never liked Saints anyway, not since his brother was there.

I've always thought comments like this are interesting. In theory, as a rugby ref it shouldn't be difficult to be impartial, especially at a professional level, but it's never been the case.  Nigel Owens, to take a local example, was a good ref, but how impartial can you be when you know every player, ex-player, committee members and families in your local club and live surrounded by people who support that club? Who all have an opinion and are experts on the sport, even if they haven't seen a game for decades. And you don't become a ref with no background in the game. You'll probably have grown up following a team, maybe hating another team. 

I find that most refs are relatively impartial until they ref the team I'm supporting and then they become hopelessly biased the wrong way, and Nigel Owens hated the Ospreys.  

Dude everyone hates the Ospreys. They are my region and I cant stand them.  

fretmeister

Blimey

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-67616648

Pjon

Blaendulais said:

Pjon said:

fretmeister said:

Dickson has never liked Saints anyway, not since his brother was there.

I've always thought comments like this are interesting. In theory, as a rugby ref it shouldn't be difficult to be impartial, especially at a professional level, but it's never been the case.  Nigel Owens, to take a local example, was a good ref, but how impartial can you be when you know every player, ex-player, committee members and families in your local club and live surrounded by people who support that club? Who all have an opinion and are experts on the sport, even if they haven't seen a game for decades. And you don't become a ref with no background in the game. You'll probably have grown up following a team, maybe hating another team. 

I find that most refs are relatively impartial until they ref the team I'm supporting and then they become hopelessly biased the wrong way, and Nigel Owens hated the Ospreys.  

Dude everyone hates the Ospreys. They are my region and I cant stand them.  

Same here. I go down St Helens to watch rugby, rarely ever the Liberty, even when I lived 300m from the Liberty!  But, you know, Scarlets v Ospreys when Nige was reffing, as he almost inevitably would be, and it was difficult not to question the bias. ( Cheering the Scarlets on isn't an option. I can just about do it if they are playing Saracens, lets say. )

rsvmark

Tom Foley announced he is stepping away from reffing. Have a guess why?

Actually don’t!