Thread: 6 Nations 2013

while we're poaching . . .

then there's Michael Bent, Taranaki/Hurricanes prop, scouted by Ireland when they found he'd meet the grandparent eligibility criteria, played for Ireland (debut v SA) two weeks after flying in, before he'd played a match for his new club Leinster in November, he's in the Ireland squad for 6N.

Leinster put out feelers to their contacts in the southern hemisphere about finding an Irish qualified prop. It was Karl Hogan, an agent responsible for many cross-equator deals that notified the Leinster management that Bent may be their man. Bent was eligible for Ireland right away through his maternal grandmother, who hailed from Rathmines.

former Ireland captain Keith Wood:
Keith Wood argued so passionately on Off the Ball last week:
“How in the name of Jesus are we getting to the point where a guy flies into the country and he will play for Ireland?
It can’t be, it can’t be, that easy to play for Ireland as to get onto a flight and fly into the country.
It can’t be.
I find it wrong.”
******
a note on Keith Wood - according to Wiki he was known as 'The Raging Potato' because of his bald head. He was also known as 'Uncle Fester'

You gotta love Keith Wood.

Frankly I'm disappointed to see Pretorius in the Wales squad, yes residency, yes captain of Wales' premier team, but both he and I would rather see him is dark green and yellow

Originally Posted by trabant

while we're poaching . . .

then there's Michael Bent, Taranaki/Hurricanes prop, scouted by Ireland when they found he'd meet the grandparent eligibility criteria, played for Ireland (debut v SA) two weeks after flying in, before he'd played a match for his new club Leinster in November, he's in the Ireland squad for 6N.

That is a bit on the nose but he is qualified so whaddaya gonna do. Reminds me of the Brendan Laney situation with Scotland - read a bit about that recently and he was quite embarrassed about it at the time. He said he got the call in the midst of unpacking for the new house he'd just moved into after arriving a day earlier.

I wonder how players like Bent fit into the squad too. Surely they (the other Ireland players) can't be too stoked about it, especially since his inclusion is obviously at the expense of a mate/club mate. Could be quite uncomfortable for all concerned.

Rugby: Maitland to make Scotland debut
6:18 AM Wednesday Jan 30, 2013


Sean Maitland. Photo / APN

New Zealand-born Sean Maitland is set to join the ranks of Scotland's 'kilted Kiwis' after being handed a Test debut for the Calcutta Cup Six Nations clash away to England at Twickenham.

The 24-year-old wing, who played for the Maori All Blacks and New Zealand's Under-20s, only arrived in Scotland in October after signing a three-year contract with Glasgow.

But he is now in line to follow the likes of New Zealand-born Sean Lineen and the Leslie brothers, John and Martin, in representing Scotland.

Maitland was one of six changes and a positional switch announced by interim coach Scott Johnson from the side that lost to Tonga in November when the Australian unveiled his first Scotland team on Tuesday.

That 21-15 defeat by the Pacific Islanders in Aberdeen led Andy Robinson, the former England flanker and coach, to resign as Scotland's head coach.

"Sean Maitland is very proud to be pulling on the Scotland jersey for the first time,'' Johnson told the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) website on Tuesday.

"His family will be rapt because they raised him in New Zealand always reminding him of his Scottish heritage, getting up in the early hours of the morning to watch both the Five and Six Nations games on the TV.

"He's shown he can play footy with the best of them and the impact he's made since arriving at Glasgow in the autumn has underlined what we'd seen of him playing for the Crusaders in Super Rugby.''

Saturday's match will be the 131st edition of rugby's oldest international fixture, first played in 1871, and Johnson said: "I've spoken about the importance of this competition, the history and tradition of it, and you couldn't get a more mouth-watering opening than the game between international rugby's oldest foes.

Scotland, who finished with the wooden spoon in last season's Six Nations, have not won at Twickenham for 30 years.

However, they will hope there is a favourable omen in selecting Greig Laidlaw at halfback as his uncle, Roy Laidlaw, a legendary Scottish No.9, was one of their two-try scorers when Scotland beat England 22-12 at Twickenham in 1983.

England, who in their last match defeated world champions New Zealand at Twickenham in December, are due to name their side on Thursday.

Scotland: Stuart Hogg; Sean Maitland, Sean Lamont, Matt Scott, Tim Visser; Ruaridh Jackson, Greig Laidlaw; Johnnie Beattie, Kelly Brown (capt), Alasdair Strokosch; Jim Hamilton, Richie Gray; Euan Murray, Dougie Hall, Ryan Grant. Res: Ross Ford, Moray Low, Geoff Cross, Alastair Kellock, David Denton, Henry Pyrgos, Duncan Weir, Max Evans.

- AFP

one week at a time; this weekend's matches

SAT - 2ND FEB 13
13:30 RBS Six Nations Wales vs Ireland
16:00 RBS Six Nations England vs Scotland
SUN - 3RD FEB 13
15:00 RBS Six Nations Italy vs France

England squad:

Forwards (13): Dan Cole, Dylan Hartley, James Haskell, Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes, Joe Marler, Ben Morgan, Geoff Parling, Chris Robshaw, Mako Vunipola, David Wilson, Tom Wood, Tom Youngs,

Backs (10): Chris Ashton, Brad Barritt, Mike Brown, Danny Care, Owen Farrell, Toby Flood, Alex Goode, David Strettle, Billy Twelvetrees, Ben Youngs.

Players released: Mouritz Botha, Lee Dickson, Ben Foden, Jonathan Joseph, Matt Kvesic, Ugo Monye, Henry Thomas, Billy Vunipola, Thomas Waldrom

^ good one, but I don't know the commentary teams well enough to ID them
who is the squeaky-voiced one for Wales?

no mention of the half-time interviews we saw some of them in Super rugby, ridiculous grabbing a player as he heads off after 40min . . . and expecting anything but the blindingly-bloody obvious. Same every match.

Squeaky voice is Jiffy. Welsh baratone bloke is Eddie Butler. Estuary English excitable guy is Mooreo, Inverdale (Lets talk about England) is usually the main presenter as opposed to commentary / analysis. Guscott sounds half posh / hals country bumpkin.

It's from the WRU though hence plucking out all the cliches. Add to this the following to be accurate;

Jiffy or Butler saying a welsh player is "the next JPR...barry John...etc".
Butler claims that the team playing would have been beaten by Wales
Jiffy / Moore forgetting they are commentating and start acting as if they are down the pub.
Butler claims any good English Rugby is luck and not skill, and Wales is better.
The Scottish Bloke not on there claims that anything the Jocks do is "The Best"; "that is the best pass you will ever see"... "That is the best try you will ever see"

Originally Posted by pseudolus

Jiffy / Moore forgetting they are commentating and start acting as if they are down the pub

Jiffy... Worst. Commentator. Ever.

Coincidentally enough however, I have been down the pub with Moore. Top bloke.

He's a lawyer....you are not, he would never talk to you.......

And he threw my drink on me...or was it you...getting hazy now....

Actually he spilled your drink on me but I always blamed you.... Because he wouldn't talk to me.

That's right, I was at the bar because your boss, the one who introduced you as "Ant Robertson, my lawyer" (he was another liar obviously) changed his mind about a drink and I had to go back a second time.

Pseudolosers comments above are fucking bollocks by the way, I haven't heard either of those comentators refer to someone as the new so and so EVER!!!.... and yes, I can believe he thinks he's heard it...... doesn't make it true though. Agree totally about Andy Nicol though.

I like Butler and Moore commentating together, they riff of each other quite well. Doesn't seem to be the preferred team any more though.

Originally Posted by Bobcock

That's right, I was at the bar because your boss, the one who introduced you as "Ant Robertson, my lawyer" (he was another liar obviously) changed his mind about a drink and I had to go back a second time.

Pseudolosers comments above are fucking bollocks by the way, I haven't heard either of those comentators refer to someone as the new so and so EVER!!!.... and yes, I can believe he thinks he's heard it...... doesn't make it true though. Agree totally about Andy Nicol though.

Noshcock - you need to take the leeks out of your ears then. Just as welsh and jock viewers spot the same old crap coming out of a presenters mouth, so do English ones hear it from Welsh commentators etc. I know you have all the games from last year on your computer so watch them again and listen

Don't need to, I'd be the first to holler if they used that term and they just don't.

Jiffy is guilty of many many sins (speaking being one of them) but not that one.

You are right about Andy Nicol but that's as far as it goes.

I don't find Mooro biased at all, I think that's another myth.

He's passionate and he wants England to win, but I've never felt that comes across in his commentary, he's usually harder on them....(Ref: The "Don't kick it" rant)

Jiffy is biased as hell, it's us, we etc......

Best commentator now is Andrew Cotter, far out performs the bumbling Butler. Although Butler/Moore is a great team, Butler/ANOther doesn't work at all.

McLaren was a legend, nothing else to say.

As for SH commentators, been some very good ones. Never really come accross a bad Kiwi commentator I could name nor a bad Saffer. I even liked Gordon Bray.

The aussie colour commentators are generally biased cocks to a man Horan being the best (as he was as a player), Kearns/Kafer tied for being the worst by a country mile.

Nasty booter is funny, he's so biased it's untrue, but he's the same in person. If it isn't from his town it isn't worth mentioning. Nice guy though, we hosted him in Bangkok a couple of years ago, even flew economy to cut costs and bring his wife if I remember correctly.

Originally Posted by Bobcock

I don't find Mooro biased at all, I think that's another myth.

I agree. Not uncommon to hear that refrain: "That's just stupid!" in reference to the England team.

Billy Twelvetrees is the best name ever.

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

"That's just stupid!" in reference to the England team.

Stupid? That may not be allowed any more . . . someone may take offence, one from the FFS department:

Former England rugby star and Sky Sports commentator Stuart Barnes has been slammed for accusing England of playing like “retards”.

Barnes, 51, was taking part in a “round table” preview of the Six Nations tournament alongside ex-players Jeremy Guscott, Lawrence Dallaglio and Sean Fitzpatrick, when he made the insensitive remark.

He said of England in the Sunday Times piece: “I hate to say it but I utterly agree with Jerry (Guscott): since 2003, we’ve been retards at the breakdown.”

The chief executive of the London Centre For Children With Cerebral Palsy yesterday criticised Barnes’ “offensive” language.

Marc Crank said: “It’s very unfortunate. Barnes is young enough to know that retard is an offensive term.

Heap Big Billy..... You just imagine him to look like this....



rather than this.........

Mooro's "gay slap" remark was a classic....

when called into the BBC's head of Sport, BM told him that the dictionary definition was 'having or showing a happy mood' and that was the context in which it had been used before reminding him that he was a lawyer and would advise heavy losses if the BBC were to react in a negative way towards him.

The response was a laugh and "Oh just fuck off Brian"

Same way the Sex Pistols won their case against the name of their only album.

Jiffys commentary.

numbers
isolated
turnover!
space out wide


just watch
just watch this
just watch this now right