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6 Nations 2011

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Kenny4 mate, I see Warburton will skipper your lot against the Baabaas (no doubt an evocative name for Welshmen everywhere). Is he ready?

BTW Worcester are reportedly looking at Popham. Could he do the needful in what's likely to be quite a tough season (though I reckon we have a decent chance of staying up)?
 
[quote author=Judge Jules link=topic=43754.msg1342139#msg1342139 date=1307024938]
Kenny4 mate, I see Warburton will skipper your lot against the Baabaas (no doubt an evocative name for Welshmen everywhere). Is he ready?

BTW Worcester are reportedly looking at Popham. Could he do the needful in what's likely to be quite a tough season (though I reckon we have a decent chance of staying up)?
[/quote]

Not yet mate imo, my guess is that AW Jones will be next in line anyway. On a side note i was made up to see Faletau given his first cap, he could be an outside bet to get a spot in the WC team.

I've not seen much of Popham over the last few seasons, is he still at Brive?

It seems you've got everything you need in order to be a serious player in the Prem, i guess you just need that little bit of luck whilst you establish yourselfs.
 
I believe Popham is still at Brive, though I couldn't swear to it. Talks are apparently "continuing" though.
 
As i a player i always used hate Brian Moore, but since he's been covering the rugby on the tv and a few interviews i've seen/heard him give recently (one being a 2 hour long show given on talksport which was superb), i've really started to admire the man for many reasons.

His book has won quite a few awards, i think i'm going to get it.
 
A number of sportsmen who were @rseholes on the field have turned into excellent pundits when their playing days were over. Boycott and McEnroe are two others who come to mind.
 
[quote author=Kenny4PM link=topic=43754.msg1348714#msg1348714 date=1308039268]
As i a player i always used hate Brian Moore, but since he's been covering the rugby on the tv and a few interviews i've seen/heard him give recently (one being a 2 hour long show given on talksport which was superb), i've really started to admire the man for many reasons.

His book has won quite a few awards, i think i'm going to get it.
[/quote]

I've just read Beware of the Dog. It's pretty good.
 
[quote author=Rosco link=topic=43754.msg1348744#msg1348744 date=1308041835]
Rafa if you have difficulty finding the book I'll send you mine.
[/quote]

Cheers for the offer mate, but i figure i'll be able to find one soon enough.
 
[quote author=Judge Jules link=topic=43754.msg1348758#msg1348758 date=1308042693]
Otherwise known as Wales' training videos.
[/quote]

Yesterday you joined in with Rosco to have a dig at my managerial ability, and now you're doing the same today in the rugby thread!

Henson had arranged to do this show months ago, so if anything i respect him more for standing by his previous commitments.
 
Not a pop at you, mate - not unless you're involved in training the Welsh rugby team. 😉

As for Henson, if he is indeed honouring a commitment he deserves credit for that.
 
You should know by now mate, that when you have a pop at our mighty national rugby side, we Welshmen tend to take it personally 😉

Even the Welsh press are having a go at him now. I think he's going to have to produce the goods in our wc warm up games in order to secure his place.
 
Rosco: Seems to be right now, thats at least the 5th time this has happened over the last 12 months.

JJ: Phillips hasn't shown his B&I L's form for ages now, but he's still our best scrum half. Tavis Knoyle is next in line although maybe he needs another full season of regional rugby behind him first.
 
Peel is still in and around the squad now and again mate, although tbh he's half the player he was a few years back (i think his move to England spoiled his game 😉 ).

Cooper went from having a couple of great seasons, to struggling to get into the Cardiff side ahead of Spice. I'm not actually sure where Cooper is playing his rugby right now.
 
So, 13 of England's 45 man WC training squad are not really English? That's bad. Almost as bad as the cricket team.

Why is potentially a third of the squad foreign all of a sudden? It wasn't like that 4 years ago. Was it?
 
Why's it bad? Rules are rules. I personally couldn't care less.

Anyway, haven't NZ being doing this for years with Pacific islanders?
 
Quite a few nations have taken advantage of this but as you say, the Kiwis have been hand picking the best Islanders for years and years. If you look at the best All Blacks of all time, i'd bet at least 30%-40% of them were not born in NZ.
 
Resedential qualification unquestionably devalues International competition; in any sport. You get the likes of Pietersen and his brother moving to England to specifically target a place in the England cricket team because, at the time, it was easier to get into than the SA team. Kevin made it, his bro didn't.
Those Tuilagi's only play in England because they they'll walk into the England set up, it's better than playing for Samoa & they won't get in the NZ team.
Where does that leave the International game? What happened to Country loyalties?
I appreciate they've been doing it for years down here, I'm not excusing that. My main issue was why does a team that made the Final 4 years ago without this policy need it now?
Imagine England winning the WC with a last minute try "Corbisiero onto Tuilagi onto Botha onto Hape...".

Not right IMO.
 
I can see where you're coming from LH, but as I said earlier the rules are the rules and I personally don't care.

On a side note you may or may not know that the Junior RWC is currently taking place in Italy.

Full details here: http://www.irb.com/jwc/index.html

The 3rd place playoff (France vs Australia) and final (England vs NZ) are back-to-back games on Sunday in Padova and I'm going.

It's only 20 euro for both games and should be a nice day out.
 
[quote author=Kenny4PM link=topic=43754.msg1353009#msg1353009 date=1308687060]
Quite a few nations have taken advantage of this but as you say, the Kiwis have been hand picking the best Islanders for years and years. If you look at the best All Blacks of all time, i'd bet at least 30%-40% of them were not born in NZ.
[/quote]
I honestly didn't know this. I suppose it explains why they always have such good teams. It also makes the Haka seem that wee bit hollow now.
 
The current 30 man squad on wiki has 3 Samons and 2 Fijians. They did name a 'best since 1990' team once and the only non-NZ born players were Mehrtens (surprisingly) and some prop from Samoa.
 
Done a little checking and yeah not as many as i thought. I had included the likes of J Afoa, Tialita, Mealamu and Maa Nonu as current AB's who were all islanders, but they were all born in NZ yet all had P islander parents.

I was thinking along the lines of Michael Jones (i think he actually played for Samoa), Jerry Collins, Mils Muliania, Rodney So'oialo, Va'aiga Tuigamala, Joe Rokocoko and Mehrtens (from SA which i didn't know) would make it into most All black all time match day squads.

Current All Blacks (if fit) who are islanders i thought are as follows:

Mills Muliania
Joe Rokocoko
Sivivatu
Jerome Kaino
Isaia Toeava
R So'oialo
 
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