It seems to be really quiet in here ...

[Joan]

must be something to do with Roger going on holiday.  I'm a bit miffed this evening - The Vicar of Dibley isn't on.  Instead we're watching the rugby - Australians v The Barbarians. As I said when we got free tickets for the rugby league, I suppose there are worse things than watching 30 fit young men (26 in RL) running up and down a pitch and grappling with each other.  I do know more about rugby than football as well, although the rules have changed a lot.  My dad was a rugby player when he was young and on Saturday afternoons, when internationals (those not in Edinburgh) were on TV, all you'd hear coming from the sitting room was "Shut up McLaren!".  Bill McLaren was a Scottish rugby commentator on the BBC and Dad was of the opinion that he tried too hard not to be biased in favour of Scotland when they played.  He actually knew him, because Dad's friend was Secretary of the Scottish Rugby Union Association (or whatever it was called), so I think there was a bit of a personal thing there.  My sister told me last time I was home that she got to meet the South African and New Zealand teams when they were playing in Edinburgh - I missed out, because by the time I was living there, Dad had stopped going up for Internationals.

The Barbarians aren't doing too well - it's Australia 20, Barbarians 7 at the moment.  I don't think there are any Scots in the Barbarians, a couple of Australians though, including the captain, Phil Waugh and David Lyons, who plays for some Welsh club now. Oops, I just looked up and it's now 41-7.  What is it with the scrums now?  It seems to take about ten minutes to get it right.  I suppose it's something to do with injury avoidance.  Not much biffo either.  I remember selling programmes at Murrayfield at a Scotland v All Blacks match, so we got to stand on the sidelines to watch the match.  It was a rough one - the highlight being just before a line out (it's 55-7 now) when a Scottish player, Alastair McHarg rose about 5 feet up in the air, due to a clean upper cut by one of the All Blacks - quite spectacular, it was, from our line of sight.

This is riveting stuff, isn't it?

I had a great walk this morning - my friend came with me and it was a beautiful, clear, but cool morning, then we came back and had coffee and a chat (extending the chat we had on the walk, of course).  My friend is Roger's cousin-in-law.  Small world, isn't it?  We didn't discover this fact until we'd known each other for a few years.

Surely one of you can come up with a one-liner in response to all this.  Or is that too much of an ask?  Leave Trevor's shorts alone, Malc.  We'll keep that to Facebook, which he informed me yesterday is for losers - typical old school IT snob - has no idea what's going on in the real world.

[Vulture]

I'm with you on the rugby being better than football, Joan.
The ex was a prop forward when I met him and, after we were married, ALL winter weekends consisted of - Saturday morning: trying to get him out of bed while it was still daylight, looking for kit, phoning someone with a car to cadge a lift - Saturday afternoon: squeezing into a car with a load of other girlfriends and HUGE blokes (all with a bottle of something as 'hair of the dog' [before the drink and drive laws came in] after the Friday night binge, getting to some God-foresaken place to find that there was no-one from the opposing side to prepare the after match meal and us girls had been promoted to catering staff! The hours spent standing up to our ankles in freezing mud cheering the lads on, then the hours spent bored out of our tiny brains while they showered (lovely hot water -  we, of course, were still freezing), ate (still giving a blow by blow account of every second of the game) and then off to the pub where they all got rat**sed.
Sometimes, as an extra treat, one or more of us would accompany our brave men to the local hospital where they would get their ear sewn back on, or a dislocated shoulder un-dislocated.
Sunday was spent creeping around so as not to disturb the heavily hung-over pride of the scrum!
Those were the days.

Going back to the subject: I think it's really quiet because Mince (aka Peter) is crying in a corner because nobody loves him! 

[Joan]

LOL! Vulch, that is real dedication to the cause - I thank my lucky stars that I managed to avoid getting involved with a rugby player - we all just took advantage of the social side - standing on cans of Tennants lager on the terraces, walking back to Rose street for the pub crawl, that kind of thing. Dad always said it was a good thing he stopped playing when the war came along, he had enough injuries already.

Poor Mince, what's he done to deserve this?

[Vulture]

Poor Mince, what's he done to deserve this?

I don't know - maybe it's because Peeps and Tarks have ganged up on him, especially as they think he and Peter are one and the same!!  :'( :'(

[peter]

Dont take my name in vane there is a lot to say about getting out of bed to watch people running around the pitch .
the dog enjoys it as well.
I don't understand this problem of me being Mince you should know by now I am the brainy one who knows all.
I just don't brag about it like what he does.

[The Peepmaster]

No, it's Malc who thinks Pete is Mince. I still think they're two different people.

Mince has gone very quiet. He's probably a bit embarrassed about cocking-up the forum's avatar department.

He may be a pilchard, but he isn't despised by everybody who frequents this forum, so he shouldn't worry.

[Mince]

Aren't you the one who is "In charge"?

[Malc]

Joan, that was a great post.

Rugby is a stupid game, I don't say that always was, but it is now. The days of Gareth Evans, Barry John and even Andy Irvine have gone. Those are the days I watched rugby union.In thise days there was a space for you in Rugby, no matter what size you were.

Now, the men are mostly super-sized, wearing skin-tight kits despite their bulk, the games are clinically pre-planned and kickers dominate to the extent that they, often in the absence of any tries, decide the outcomes.

Couldn't even find a report on the BBC site about the Baa Baas game, but I looked at the other first class tests:
Lions v Cheetahs  - Lions winning, scored 2 tries and 4 penalties.

England v Argentina - England winning, scored 3 tries, 4 penalties, and all Argentina's points came from penalties.

The modern phenomenon of play being brought back after five or six phases (sometimes after a try has been scored) because the ref allowed advantage after an infringement is one of the curses of the game.

Don't get me started on rugby....

[Joan]

Now, the men are mostly super-sized, wearing skin-tight kits despite their bulk, the games are clinically pre-planned and kickers dominate to the extent that they, often in the absence of any tries, decide the outcomes.

So true, Malc, they all seem to be huge - certainly the Wallabies were.  The gear makes them look pretty gross, as Kate would say.  I don't remember much about the players physique in my spectator days - except that I liked to watch the French team play.  They always seemed to have nice legs - not as bulky!

Most of the points in the Baa Baas game (you should have looked on the ABC site, they had a running commentary) came from tries - made the game a lot more watchable, I agree.  I've given up asking Trevor about the new rules - don't think he knows half the time either.  I didn't even know they'd changed the points awarded.  As for the line outs, if I want to watch ballet, I'll buy tickets for the Opera House performances.  Can't they jump themselves?

[Joan]

Oh, and I just thought I'd mention, it was not I who was standing on the cans of Tennants lager, but a diminutive friend using them as an aid to see the action.  Turned out not to be the wisest trick.  When Scotland scored a try (they used to win in those days) she ended up three rows down when the crowd surged and roared.  Now that's atmosphere!

[Malc]

I think the game against the USA was all tries too, but it seems that the first class games which aren't routs are often decided by a number of these ridiculous penalties.

A penalty in football is given for a foul within the 18 yard box, and even then the foul has to prevent a possible goal scoring attempt.

In rugby, penalties can be given for looking at the opposition in a funny manner, having grubby fingernails or wearing your shorts too high. Often I see rugby players looking around as if to say "what...? huh? penalty for wha...?" then meekly going back to their mark, even though that penalty kick will probably lose them the game.
Rugby would be a huge world sport if they tidied up the rule book which is cumbersome, labyrinthine and stupid.

[robbie62]

i would like to point out that the game of rugby was invented by a cheating little snipe who without the talent to kick a ball picked it up and ran (handball ref) so how can it  be better than football when football was the source of the game?
 

[Vulture]

i would like to point out that the game of rugby was invented by a cheating little snipe who without the talent to kick a ball picked it up and ran (handball ref) so how can it  be better than football when football was the source of the game?
 

Beacause it IS! 

[peter]

i would like to point out that the game of rugby was invented by a cheating little snipe who without the talent to kick a ball picked it up and ran (handball ref) so how can it  be better than football when football was the source of the game?
 

Beacause it IS! 

Great argument Vulture

[robbie62]

i would like to point out that the game of rugby was invented by a cheating little snipe who without the talent to kick a ball picked it up and ran (handball ref) so how can it  be better than football when football was the source of the game?
 

Beacause it IS! 

so american football is better than rugby which it copied because it is..i see