Something resembling first-choice teams have been named. Let’s hope they all survive the weekend.
International rugby on the telly this weekend
Friday 6th September
| Scotland v Georgia | 19:30 | Premier Sports 1 |
| England v Italy | 19:45 | Sky Sports Action / Sky Sports Main Event |
Saturday 7th September
| New Zealand v Tonga | 3:35 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Australia v Samoa | 10:30 | Sky Sports Arena |
| Ireland v Wales | 14:00 | Channel 4 / RTÉ Two |
Ovally Balls 
Ticht – Johnny Wilkinson said something similar in the graun the other day. It does make you wonder. Maybe racist Joe is right about the work life balance.
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Craigs, aye, and there was the recent statements from Kearnan Myall about depression and pressure at the elite end of the game.
We are asking a lot of these young men, I could never imagine what it’s like to play professional rugby like that, but I’ve never been comfortable with dismissals of players as being “shit” or whatever
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@Ticht
“I’ve never been comfortable with dismissals of players as being “shit” or whatever”
Brings to mind a description of “lanterne rouge” (last man in the TdF – in case anyone doesn’t recognize the term)
– “someone who you couldn’t stay on the wheel of for 30 seconds”
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@Trisk
Yeah, the last man in the TDF is still one of the top couple of hundred cyclists in the world.
Too many recreational cyclists look at the distance of the races and the average speed and think that they are not that far off.
Not only is there a massive difference between say, averaging 35 and 40, as there is between running the 100m in 10 seconds and 15 seconds etc but racing involves having to stay on the wheel of the guy in front when the fastest riders in the world are on the front really putting the hammer down. Not many guys who are not super trained freaks of nature can hold it with the pros.
Imagine 2 rides each of a flat 160km.
Rider A is in a professional race, he has to ride 55 kph in crosswinds and stay in the pack in the run up to a bunch sprint when the speed can be over 60.
As there are periods of ‘ceasefire’ in the race, the average speed is ‘only’ 41 kph at the end of the afternoon.
A very fit recreational rider, Rider B goes out with his mates and holds 40 kph for 4 hours sitting in a bunch that holds the same speed more or less constantly. His average is 40 kph after 4 hours.
Both cyclists have covered similar distance in a similar time, but there is no way that Rider B could do anything like what Rider A did.
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“He talks of the times when he envied the local estate agent”
Jesus, Sam,
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That’s a great article, and there was a similar telly thing on with Warburton not so long ago. Sam’s got to be one of the nicest guys in rugby; glad that he’s enjoying his retirement (so far).
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@TomP
Right now I genuinely envy the tree surgeons working outside.
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Regarding the copyright issue, here’s a link to the article: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sam-warburton-i-did-not-enjoy-80-of-my-career-but-id-do-it-all-again-ttfch3s5q
You can read one complimentary article without subscribing.
And here’s the beginning of it, which is allowed:
I’ll go back and put the link into Ticht’s comment.
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ticht and trisk,
Also the bit about Gus Caesar in Fever Pitch.
I’ve been guilty of it about certain players, of course. JJ Engelbrecht once of the Bulls I thought was a terrible player because he didn’t seem capable of understanding how my idea of an outside centre would attack. He’d’ve been a miles better runner, passer, tackler, kicker than I ever was (probably). And old Jamie Noon always gets a tremendous dishing on AoD/OB but 40 caps, a hat-trick in a test match, however many years as a pro player. It’s more than most could dream of.
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A noble profession, ‘pro.
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Trump sacks Bolton. That makes the world a bit safer. Maybe. I don’t know. Anything.
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Trump good.
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Let’s not get carried away here, Craigs.
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Craigs is just moving more and more towards the centre.
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……………regressing…….
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Bolton’s replacement?…………..probably Charlie Kupperman………..
be careful who you ask for……………………
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tomp detailed his favourite bit of racism earlier. Mine appeared just last Sunday on the Upminster anti-crime Facebook page:
Reported to the police on suspicion of being mixed race. It got the response it deserved, although someone did defend the lady who originally posted it on the grounds that she has mixed race nieces and nephews and so therefore could not possibly be racist.
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OT – jeebus christ! And my dog, one of the boys had Afro hair with short sides. Obviously a murderer.
I’ve just checked, and am not surprised to find that Upminster has a Tory MP.
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Oh, and the white girl is obviously a collaborator. At least she hasn’t gone so far as to put on gloves.
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“Are we going to end up with dirty post offices post no-deal?”
No, but we won’t have clean ones either.
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Which is the direction of travel in any case of course.
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@Thaum – we only know she hasn’t put on black gloves. Which may be important.
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“Corbyn goes mainstream just as extremism comes back into fashion”
Liked this headline for Crace’s column.
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Don’t worry everyone, Boris has an idea!
Oh…
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@Refit – your engineer is talking out of his hole. Everyone knows that Torr Head to Mull of Kintyre is the way to go and is only 12 miles.
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And will only cost between 12 and 15 billion pounds which should leave some change for improving the roads on the Northern Irish side and from Campbeltown to the Mull.
And if anyone thinks this is a ‘thoughtless soundbite’ I’ll have you know it’s actually very considerate to my mother-in-law.
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12 to 15bn pounds at conception, 15 to 18bn at start of project preparation, 18 to 21bn at initial construction, 21 to 24bn at mid-point review and 40bn on completion, four years late and structurally unsound. What sort of monster advocates this for his mother in law?
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Trump bad.
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Does anyone remember those poor guys who died on Camber Sands. The coastal officer at Rother District Council wrote this in the incident log:
“We are again faced with incidents of non-swimming persons of a certain culture that enter the water in great numbers with deadly results.”
Whilst culture isn’t quite the same as race that’s pretty low.
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“four years late and structurally unsound. What sort of monster advocates this for his mother in law?”
Sounds like it will suit her down to the ground.
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I’ve always wanted a bridge to the moon though. That would literally be the moon on a giant stick.
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Interesting on the Graun’s Scotland team guide that Dancing Toes and Hamish Watson are both listed as 183cm tall – but in
Brexit LanguageImperial, Fin is a solid 6″, whilst Watson is 6″1′.England midfield debate: Is Piers Francis better than the players listed below by none other than Bob Kitson:
Jones might have plumped instead for the midfield qualities of the jettisoned Ben Te’o, Alex Lozowski, Danny Cipriani, Brad Barritt or Ollie Devoto, among others
Isn’t Brad Barritt old enough to be his father?
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Not sure. Might you be confusing yourself with Brad Barritt? England centre debate was always likely to get to someone in the end.
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On the basis of Johnson’s vanity projects when he was mayor some people he knows are going to make a killing on the bridge. Not that it’ll get built.
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Craigs, that is very low. Really not sure what culture/ethnicity has to do with the ability to swim. You’ve either learned to swim or not.
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I’m old enough to be pretty much any of the players’ fathers. Would have been quite funny to have Barritt in the mix though.
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On the basis of Johnson’s vanity projects when he was mayor some people he knows are going to make a killing on the bridge.
Right, I’ll make the lunch reservations. There’s a lot to be discussed!
Not that it’ll get built.
Oh. 12:30 suit everyone? We’ll swing it on someone’s expense account.
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@Craigs – your father-in-law’s job took them to the moon and now your mother-in-law is stranded there with all her friends and family back on earth? I’ll let mine know that there’s someone who’s got it worse.
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Deebs – it’s casual dehumanisation of people who drowned on your watch so that the council can resist putting lifeguards at one of the district’s biggest attractions.
I was staggered.
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Post Office floors are pretty grubby here because of loads of people walk on them, including pesky foreigners.
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CMW – I’m sure that they will be pleased to hear that.
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Interesting read in a South African newspaper, called the Daily Maverick – I haven’t seen this in the Guardian, or have I just missed it?
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-09-11-how-the-uk-security-services-neutralised-the-countrys-leading-liberal-newspaper/
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@deebee
I seem to remember this was either in the Guardian or Private Eye around that time – I think Rusbridger was being criticised for going along with it.
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Thanks OT. Still a good read to understand the pressures brought to bear on the press.
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All a little lonely here today. Do I have to work to make time pass?
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Yes. Get back to work Deebee.
No lunch engagements today?
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https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/sam-warburton-book-extracts-truth-16878609
Oh Sam
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9 sleeps to the world cup
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@UF
Nice way of making your point.
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Good grief man, can’t he let it lie?
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