European cup w/c 15th April thread

[Torquemada 1420]

More bullsh*t. How is that not an HIA?

[Torquemada 1420]

I await the day a Fre side actually plays sensibly against 14 men. Territory was the correct option. Ntamack runs sideways and the result is a pass into touch and a pen from the lineout. His game "management" is non existent.

[fishfoodie]

I made it 6 Toulouse players offside at that kick off

[Kawazaki]

I want to see a kick clock introduced asap. Kickers really take the piss

[Torquemada 1420]

I made it 6 Toulouse players offside at that kick off

I've watched 4 games today and every kick off is the same. The officials simply ignore this now just like scrum feeds.

[Tichtheid]

WTF Toulouse ?

[sockwithaticket]

WTF Toulouse ?

I'm not entirely sure how they've managed to get out of that.

[Torquemada 1420]

Tauzin is dogsh*t. And people reckon he's an intl ahead of Thomas. Because he plays for Toulouse

Throws his side into a hole and then stands and watches.

He really is the spiritual heir to Huget.

[sockwithaticket]

Did Nanai-Williams ever get the ball without turning it over?

[Torquemada 1420]

Did Nanai-Williams ever get the ball without turning it over?

No.Because Toulouse think he should be used as a crash ball!

[Torquemada 1420]

Did Nanai-Williams ever get the ball without turning it over?

By the same token, does Ntamack EVER not run sideways?

[Torquemada 1420]

He did that last week when Cros (I think) was down and so they were playing with 13.

Do you reckon he's trying to do too much due to so often needing to be the creative spark for the team?

Absolutely. Go back to the game v a 3rd string Cardiff where he effectively had to win the game single handed. It's been like that much of this season with Toulouse. Dupont plays well, they have a chance. Dupont plays below par, they lose. Dupont doesn't play, they are rubbish.

Errrr..... see above ^^^^

[sockwithaticket]

Do you reckon he's trying to do too much due to so often needing to be the creative spark for the team?

Absolutely. Go back to the game v a 3rd string Cardiff where he effectively had to win the game single handed. It's been like that much of this season with Toulouse. Dupont plays well, they have a chance. Dupont plays below par, they lose. Dupont doesn't play, they are rubbish.

Errrr..... see above ^^^^

I was just thinking, of course it's Dupont to score.

[Tichtheid]

Ulster wasting their own time with the handbags

[Torquemada 1420]

F**k off Ulster and you can take that cheating c**t Carley with you.

[Tichtheid]

Edinburgh 41 - 19 up with a minute to go against Bath.

Bath were leading 15 - 19 at HT

[Oxbow]

Anybody been watching Gloucester v Saints. Couldn't watch the game because I've been out but I see that Biggar got a red card, wondered if it was for another one of his high tackles.

[Kawazaki]

F**k off Ulster and you can take that cheating c**t Carley with you.

You won, enjoy it.

And it would have been much much worse with a Scottish ref.

[Torquemada 1420]

Edinburgh 41 - 19 up with a minute to go against Bath.

Bath were leading 15 - 19 at HT

Stains have shafted my FR picks in the Mickey Mouse comp.

[Tichtheid]

F**k off Ulster and you can take that cheating c**t Carley with you.

Easy, Tiger, a bit of magnanimity wouldn't go amiss

[Torquemada 1420]

F**k off Ulster and you can take that cheating c**t Carley with you.

You won, enjoy it.

And it would have been much much worse with a Scottish ref.

Probably. You just know if the shirts were reversed, Toulouse were playing with 12 men.

[Torquemada 1420]

F**k off Ulster and you can take that cheating c**t Carley with you.

Easy, Tiger, a bit of magnanimity wouldn't go amiss

That wore off years ago with Eng speaking refs robbing Fre sides repeatedly.

[Tichtheid]

F**k off Ulster and you can take that cheating c**t Carley with you.

Easy, Tiger, a bit of magnanimity wouldn't go amiss

That wore off years ago with Eng speaking refs robbing Fre sides repeatedly.

It pisses me off big time that 6N refs are too lazy to learn French and Italian rugby terms - not all of them, but the majority.

It's not like it's difficult

[Big D]

He bottled that, they both should have gone

Yeah absolutely shat it.

Cheap shot by the hooker.

[bogbunny]

Ahh arse.

We blew that big time.

Congrats to Toulouse, a proper club........best of luck.

[Tichtheid]

That replay shows it really should have been two red cards for Ulster in that incident

[yermum]

Herring needs a citing and banning for his hit arguably worse than O'Toole

[Torquemada 1420]

It pisses me off big time that 6N refs are too lazy to learn French and Italian rugby terms - not all of them, but the majority.

It's not like it's difficult

It's rugby's Achilles. When we moved to refs managing games, at the tempo they are played at now, non Eng speaking sides are at a HUGE disadvantage. It's totally underplayed. I remember watching a "greats" dinner of Fre players about a decade ago and the one thing they all agreed on is that Eng speaking refs had been robbing them for generations. Of course, that's not true. There are c**ts like Carley, Joubert and Brace but generally it comes down to the language disadvantage.

I don't know what the answer is. Maybe a set of limited commands that are in the law book (no refs making up terms on the fly like "truck and trailer"). The trouble is even if you have bilingual, which language order does a ref bark instructions at each play?

[Tichtheid]

It pisses me off big time that 6N refs are too lazy to learn French and Italian rugby terms - not all of them, but the majority.

It's not like it's difficult

It's rugby's Achilles. When we moved to refs managing games, at the tempo they are played at now, non Eng speaking sides are at a HUGE disadvantage. It's totally underplayed. I remember watching a "greats" dinner of Fre players about a decade ago and the one thing they all agreed on is that Eng speaking refs had been robbing them for generations. Of course, that's not true. There are c**ts like Carley, Joubert and Brace but generally it comes down to the language disadvantage.

I don't know what the answer is. Maybe a set of limited commands that are in the law book (no refs making up terms on the fly like "truck and trailer"). The trouble is even if you have bilingual, which language order does a ref bark instructions at each play?

Barnes is not infallible by any means, but he does speak French to the French team when the ball is in play, at least

There aren't too many others, I can't think of one who speaks Italian to the Italian side

[Oxbow]

Anybody been watching Gloucester v Saints. Couldn't watch the game because I've been out but I see that Biggar got a red card, wondered if it was for another one of his high tackles.

To answer my own question, yes, it was. Only a matter of time before it happened, you'd have thought he might have learned something from the match against Bristol where he could have been sent off twice.

[westport]

Edinburgh 41 - 19 up with a minute to go against Bath.

Bath were leading 15 - 19 at HT

Weird first half with us gifting Bath easy tries and Kinghorn and Lang slicing Bath apart. More control in the second and thoroughly deserved winners

[sockwithaticket]

It pisses me off big time that 6N refs are too lazy to learn French and Italian rugby terms - not all of them, but the majority.

It's not like it's difficult

It's rugby's Achilles. When we moved to refs managing games, at the tempo they are played at now, non Eng speaking sides are at a HUGE disadvantage. It's totally underplayed. I remember watching a "greats" dinner of Fre players about a decade ago and the one thing they all agreed on is that Eng speaking refs had been robbing them for generations. Of course, that's not true. There are c**ts like Carley, Joubert and Brace but generally it comes down to the language disadvantage.

I don't know what the answer is. Maybe a set of limited commands that are in the law book (no refs making up terms on the fly like "truck and trailer"). The trouble is even if you have bilingual, which language order does a ref bark instructions at each play?

Barnes is not infallible by any means, but he does speak French to the French team when the ball is in play, at least

There aren't too many others, I can't think of one who speaks Italian to the Italian side

I think that while it's a nice gesture for some refs to pick up a bit of French when they're likely to ref French teams in Europe, we should probably be aiming more for Torq's suggestion of a few standardised English commands.

I have every sympathy for speakers of English as a second language trying to decipher some of quickly the delivered and relatively complex sentences riven with colloquiliasm that refs frequently throw out now, it must be a difficult to work out what's being said, but the international landscape has as some of it's most significant teams those with French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Afrikaans and Fijian as first languages. That's before we get to the extra languages tier 2 throw into the mix. It's not really possible to cater to all those with the small pool of refs available.

We've now got a Georgian ref on the scene and he could conceivably be taking a fixture like Argentina vs. Japan which is why simple, standardised instructions in one common language are necessary.

[Kawazaki]

If a Japanese airliner with a Japanese crew is landing at Tokyo airport, the air traffic controllers speak to the pilots in English. English is the language used in the airline industry.

Similarly, English is the standardised language used in international rugby. I agree that referees should not drift off script and use English words outside of a normal English range of phrases. They should also use French (Italian, Spanish etc) words in addition if they are confident using them and don't sound like the 'Allo 'Allo policeman.

[TheFrog]

Ah, I see Torque has decided that N'tamack had a bad game again.

[notfatcat]

I think Torq is the most difficult to please rugby fan I've ever come across.

[Torquemada 1420]

Anybody been watching Gloucester v Saints. Couldn't watch the game because I've been out but I see that Biggar got a red card, wondered if it was for another one of his high tackles.

To answer my own question, yes, it was. Only a matter of time before it happened, you'd have thought he might have learned something from the match against Bristol where he could have been sent off twice.

Bastard's stupidity cost me a GS in the FR

[Torquemada 1420]

Ah, I see Torque has decided that N'tamack had a bad game again.

You are a classic Fre media candidate. MOTM is always the player who scores the try. He ran the line straight TWICE in the whole game
- 1st one led to the try. It's the most infuriating aspect of his game. The one thing he is a real threat for, he does once a game. Max.
- 2nd was an intercept and hard to run one of those in any direction other than straight. Maybe that was great anticipation. Maybe it was a poor pass. Whatever, it was the game decider in the absence of Carley doing his job.
His game management against 14 was poor. Most of the time he carried the ball, he ran sideways and f**ked the attack. He was far from the worst player though. Tauzin had a shocker and Ramos's positional play in defence remains questionable.

[Uncle fester]

Munster quarter final is probably going to have to be in Dublin because of Ed fücking Sheeran.

[fishfoodie]

Munster quarter final is probably going to have to be in Dublin because of Ed fücking Sheeran.

Getting past Exeter obviously wasn't anticipated by the Muster Branch

Plus the cash from the ginger gits fans will help plug the massive hole in their finances

[ASMO]

Very meh game between Sarries and Cardiff, looks like Sarries can't be arsed and Cardiff are just not good enough.