Rugby World Cup 2011 - New Zealand

[pharvey]

Ireland's Alain Rolland will referee the World Cup semi-finals. Rolland, in charge for the 2007 World Cup final, will preside over Wales v France.

Rolland, whose father is French, speaks fluent French. Good Choice or What?

Well Well Well!

Seriously...... it's a bloody laugh - then again it really would be taking the piss if he had Irish connections after the last game....

[richard]

Well the lads met up at the pub. Englishman Irishman and a Scot. The Welsh guy was still in NZ but he loved the shaggy sheep not the rugby

[dtaai-maai]

Wow, that's seriously not hilarious.
No, maybe I'm being unfair.

Nope - still not laughing, definite waste of a post.
Again.

[Jaime]

Agreed - possibly the most lame version of 'the sheep joke' I have ever read.

The joke actually goes like this:

An Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman walk into a pub...

...to watch Wales play in the World cup Semi-final!

[richard]

Me thinks the final

[pharvey]

Has anyone actually picked up on the fact that these are the same 4 semi-finalists from the inaugural RWC in 1987 played in New Zealand and Australia......

France lost to NZ in the final, Wales beat Australia to 3rd place ........ with some luck, the positions will change a little.....

[pharvey]

In some respects, the English team have been somewhat harshly treated by the press IMO, BUT they do bring it on themselves...... We have certainly had our own issues in Wales in the (not-too-distant) past, but it is fairly obvious that we have learned from those errors...... or at least knew we are on an international stage at the Rugby World Cup, so best do our ''dirty deeds' behind closed doors....

"Land Rover, who back both England rugby and the World Cup, had a contracted company day with the England side in which high performance Land Rover Discoveries and Range Rover Sports were laid on for 11 players’ off-road use on Muriwai Beach near Auckland in the week before the group game against Scotland.
The sponsors’ annoyance about what happened that day has led to Land Rover voicing their frustrations to the IRB, while RFU sources expect an official letter of complaint will be sent to Twickenham.

The upset included England players being ‘arrogant and rude’ to Land Rover personnel, treating their vehicles with no care and breaking the speed limit on the beach.

The company had planned to use film from the day for advertising and promotional purposes, but part of the footage is said to be unusable because of the England team’s couldn’t-care-less attitude."

Sorry, but if this kind of attitude is costing the RFU money (which it is), then the guilty parties should be @rse-kicked!! If I lost my company money by being an arrogant tw@t, I'd highly likely not be there for the next pay-cheque.

PLEASE for the love of all that is good..... DO NOT bring the ''Prima Donna'' attitude that infests Wendyball into Rugby!!

[dtaai-maai]

As an England rugby supporter I care deeply about how they perform on the pitch.
I'm not remotely interested in all this other stuff, whatever the nationality of the player(s) involved.
Where did the Land Rover story come from? Land Rover.
Who benefits from it? Land Rover.
Who cares about it? People with not much to worry about.

Now, back to rugby.

[pharvey]

As an England rugby supporter I care deeply about how they perform on the pitch.
I'm not remotely interested in all this other stuff, whatever the nationality of the player(s) involved.
Where did the Land Rover story come from? Land Rover.
Who benefits from it? Land Rover.
Who cares about it? People with not much to worry about.

Now, back to rugby.

Well, I agree to a certain extent DM, but quite frankly bad press is never good for the sport or quite frankly morale. Wales have had there fair share of bad press in the past, and it has a huge negative impact. This RWC however, we've been lucky enough to have both a team that competes on the field and has managed to get a great deal of positive press off it. The latter effects the former IMHO.

As such, there's (as I understand it from far afield), a huge feel good factor in Wales at the moment - indeed 45,000 tickets have been snapped up to watch the Semi-Finals on the big screens at the Millennium Stadium...... many more, and they'll be a bigger crowd at the MS than in NZ!!

As you say however - back to RUGBY!!

[MrPlum]

One of the most impressive aspects of this World Cup is the after match interviews with the Captains. They have all been articulate, respectful and generous in their praise of the opposition. Unlike soccer, none have complained about the ref costing them the match or made excuses.

I haven't watched all the games so may be wrong but it definitely adds to my viewing pleasure!

[pharvey]

One of the most impressive aspects of this World Cup is the after match interviews with the Captains. They have all been articulate, respectful and generous in their praise of the opposition. Unlike soccer, none have complained about the ref costing them the match or made excuses.

I haven't watched all the games so may be wrong but it definitely adds to my viewing pleasure!

I agree Mr P, although there has certainly been bitching about the referring afterwards in some instances, the players, Captain and Management certainly seem to keep their distance.

[dtaai-maai]

And unlike soccer, they are invariably just about ready to die, especially if they lost.

There's no comparison really. It would be interesting to do a survey of IQs of soccer and rugby players, but a foregone conclusion.

Mind you, it's usually the soccer managers that blame the ref, rather than the team captains, isn't it?

The role of a captain is vastly different in the two sports, and always has been. It was always taken much more seriously in rugby, when the captain was a real conduit between the ref and the players, unlike in soccer where he is just another in-your-face whinger.
There was even a 'scrum leader' in my day, but that seems to have gone by the board now.

[Big Boy]

I was listening to the radio this morning, and they announced that there is a national helpline that distraught English Rugby Fans should call - 0800 101010






Or in other words, 0800 won nothing, won nothing, won nothing

[dtaai-maai]

Am I just lacking a sense of humour or were there some misguided eejits out there expecting England to win the World Cup again? (Please note the word 'again'...)
In a couple of weeks the same feeble joke will apply to every national team in the world bar one.

[pharvey]

^^Oh dear, we are a grumpy bugger at the moment aren't we......?