trisk, was back at the Aviva yesterday for vaccination number 2. Walked past Old Belveder’s ground on the way back and saw a load of players practising. Listened carefully and heard the Irish accents. Turned out it was the American team training for Saturday’s game. ‘pro’d be soooooooooooo jealous.
Me too but those shitty pizzas are good hangover food.
And teetotalers like them too:
On Tuesday September 9 2001, his diary records, Tony Benn went shopping. Specifically, he went looking for his “favourite triple-cheese pizzas”, which had inexplicably disappeared from the shelves of his local supermarket. “I have,” he notes, “eaten two of them every day for years.”
Listened carefully and heard the Irish accents. Turned out it was the American team training for Saturday’s game
Missed that snark first time :-D
Yeah, we do seem to be supplying USA with a lot of players….latest capture Luke Carty is younger brother of Jack (of Connacht). Although on a closer look LH Paul Mullen looks to be the only other “Irish” player in US squad. McGinty is injured, Quill has retired, and Fawsitt isn’t in the current squad.
Anyway, watched the first hall of SheSellsSeaShellsSharks against the Lionz. Thankfully, not with McNamara or Greenwood on comms, but the SA version, who are a lot better (to me, anyway). And none of this stupid apologising when the players swear. Second half next.
BB, I watched it at the time, Vunipola got gubbed in the scrum, so much so that he made Fagerson look bad and it might come back to haunt Zander.
Furlong and Sutherland were a massive step up.
The front row was the only area the Sharks were able to compete.
Curry was meh, Navidi was very good. The Lions’ backs ran in lots of tries, it was a game of semi-opposed, training ground stuff.
Kok/Koch (sp?) looked good for the Sharks, but if that, the Lions and the Bulls team that played Benetton is the best they can muster in South Africa with all the internationals playing in Europe, then they will bring not a lot more to the Pro X than the Kings and Cheetahs did.
Aye they will gub Edinburgh when playing in SA, but they are not going to be beating Leinster or Munster or challenging for the Heineken Cup
Ticht, the sides playing the BILs don’t have their Boks:
Sharks – 🦈 9 Boks;
Stormers 🌧 8 Boks;
Bulls 🐃 4 Boks
Lions 🦁 2 Boks, with another couple on dual Japan/SA contracts.
Lions wouldn’t have been much better but the Sharks would have been a helluva lot better. I also wonder if we’ll see the same level of exodus to the NH if playing in the Prowoo starts to even up the salaries (although no idea what the commercial implications of the comp are for the SA sides).
Fiji win the anthems hands down. Kiwis look bored with theirs (it is a bit vanilla) whilst the Fijians gave it a real go! Hakas upcoming; can the Kiwis 🥝 raise their game? Fiji first and robust! ABs with pipsqueak Smith doing his terrified oyster impression leads the way, whilst Dane Coles manages to get through it without a sneaky punch or off the ball hit.
First penalty Fiji for Kiwis off their feet! They’ve got through the the first minute without conceding! But almost concede in the 3rd! Fiji need to get hands on the ball.
Fair dos, Deebee, they did say they were arranging the fixtures so there isn’t going to be a clash with internationals so as to get the big names playing in the league, though I have my doubts to be honest. AWJ played two league games this year, Hamish Watson started four for us.
You won’t see many Irish internationals playing in South Africa, or not if they follow previous form.
You can understand it, the unions want to look after their players and protect them from injury and burn out, but it does have an impact on the league.
I’d argue Botia is lucky to still be on the field. He did one of his shoulder-high tackles on McKenzie and on the replay it looked like he caught him in the head. But the ref & TMO didn’t give it a second look.
BB, the main commentator on the SA coverage is Gavin Cowley. He’s very sympathetic to the players and appreciative of good play from whichever side. Very good union player – he was a 10 for Eastern Province and the ’74 Lions and ’76 All Black tourists rated him – and provincial cricketer in his day.
With the Sharks, it’s worth remembering the ’09 Lionz beat them 39-3 and stuffed Deebee’s Lions 74-10. Mind you, this Lionz team is very very strong.
The Cheetahs were competitive in the Pro14 in their first year and then get half their side taken by SuperRugby teams as that rightly was regarded as a higher level and a better route to Springbok selection or by other Pro14 sides. That meant the 2nd year they weren’t as strong. 3rd season they were ok again, probably in line for the play-offs when Covid hit.
We should also remember that the fixtures were tough for the SA teams with 9 games in Europe – 3 blocks of 3 – and long periods in which they didn’t play any games. The new version of the league will see the 4 sides play 6 games in Europe and 12 in South Africa.
trisk, I thought there were more Irish lads playing for the USA and had read an article about Carty the younger earlier in the day but your post has set me right. I expect the mob on RTE’ll bring it up a fair bit today no matter what.
Also, it didn’t happen anyway, though I did walk past Old Belevdere’s ground the week before after having a Covid test somewhere deep in the RDS.
Of course there is always context, the Cheetahs won their home games in South Africa where the European teams weren’t used to the altitude, and they beat the Dragons and Zebre away, which got them to the QFs, where they lost 43-8 to Scarlets.
They did well. I really liked a couple of their players, although the names escape me of course, the free running hooker was always good value.
The hooker would be Joseph Dweba or Torsten van Jaarsveld. Probably Dweba. He’s 3rd choice for the Boks now.
They also had Makazole Mapimpi on the wing running in the tries. He got signed up by the Sharks after that and a year later was scoring a try in the World Cup final.
No disgrace losing to the Scarlets that year. They were defending champs Heineken Cup semi-finalists and bashed Glasgow in the Pro14 semi-final.
Ticht in Super Rugby all the Boks toured and played most of the matches home and away, with short rest periods in line with agreements with SARU. Most will play the bulk of Prowoo matches. Hopefully the Lions will be able to entice some of the guys back from Japan as well. Not sure though.
Deebz, have you been watching those Jean de Villers and Schalk Burger interview shows? Both Jaques Fourie and Fourie du Preez spoke really well of their time playing in Japan, as did Schalk. Big money, a short season, lots of running. There’s a lot to like in it for a player.
TomP, it’s a fabulous rugby life in Japan, that’s for sure. When the Lions were in their pomp (losing 3 finals in a row), they managed to keep a lot of the marquee players by allowing to play in Japan in the off season, although 22 months of rugby eventually takes its toll, whatever the level of play. More recently the money has just been too big to ignore, which is why I’m hoping that playing in Europe will inject lots of hard currency into our unions and allow them to compete better with the J League and Euro comps. Really hope so.
Ticht, I think when things get back to normal we’ll have a better idea of where everyone is. The Lions are definitely the weak link of the four at the moment (reversion to the mean etc etc) but i think the other three sides will be pretty competitive. Depending on how the seasons are planned as well, the Euro sides may play some matches in Durban in humid 30⁰+ weather. Or Loftus with altitude and 34⁰+ weather, although driving rain and icy conditions in December in Europe aren’t exactly what I guys relish either!
Ovally Balls 
trisk, was back at the Aviva yesterday for vaccination number 2. Walked past Old Belveder’s ground on the way back and saw a load of players practising. Listened carefully and heard the Irish accents. Turned out it was the American team training for Saturday’s game. ‘pro’d be soooooooooooo jealous.
LikeLike
Tomp – Pro only really cared if they were ripped. We’re they ripped?
LikeLike
If I told you about their box jumps, you’d do yourself an injury.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Pizza, but with a twist:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E5xEdzQXIAAKMDz?format=jpg
LikeLike
The twist being it’s just shit cheese and tomato spread on a cheap flour dough?
Yes I’m a pizza snob.
LikeLike
Me too but those shitty pizzas are good hangover food.
And teetotalers like them too:
LikeLike
Hangover food?
If a full fry up is unavailable, or too much to bear, then a bag of Wotsits and a bottle of Lucozade does the trick
LikeLike
Mark Cavendish equalled Eddy Merckx record of TdF stage wins today.
That’s a huge achievement.
LikeLike
Not Irn Bru?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Irn Bru wasn’t as available here as it is now back when hangovers were a normal part of the weekend, BB
and if I’m being honest, I’m not a huge fan of Irn Bru anyway.
Though it is a good mixer for shite whisky, that or Coke.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Missed that snark first time :-D
Yeah, we do seem to be supplying USA with a lot of players….latest capture Luke Carty is younger brother of Jack (of Connacht). Although on a closer look LH Paul Mullen looks to be the only other “Irish” player in US squad. McGinty is injured, Quill has retired, and Fawsitt isn’t in the current squad.
LikeLike
Red lemonade serves that purpose here….
LikeLike
I don’t drink a lot of it, but it is very welcome when being a bit hungover.
LikeLike
Anyway, watched the first hall of SheSellsSeaShellsSharks against the Lionz. Thankfully, not with McNamara or Greenwood on comms, but the SA version, who are a lot better (to me, anyway). And none of this stupid apologising when the players swear. Second half next.
LikeLike
Second half here if anyone’s interested…
LikeLike
BB, I watched it at the time, Vunipola got gubbed in the scrum, so much so that he made Fagerson look bad and it might come back to haunt Zander.
Furlong and Sutherland were a massive step up.
The front row was the only area the Sharks were able to compete.
Curry was meh, Navidi was very good. The Lions’ backs ran in lots of tries, it was a game of semi-opposed, training ground stuff.
Kok/Koch (sp?) looked good for the Sharks, but if that, the Lions and the Bulls team that played Benetton is the best they can muster in South Africa with all the internationals playing in Europe, then they will bring not a lot more to the Pro X than the Kings and Cheetahs did.
Aye they will gub Edinburgh when playing in SA, but they are not going to be beating Leinster or Munster or challenging for the Heineken Cup
LikeLike
Ticht, the sides playing the BILs don’t have their Boks:
Sharks – 🦈 9 Boks;
Stormers 🌧 8 Boks;
Bulls 🐃 4 Boks
Lions 🦁 2 Boks, with another couple on dual Japan/SA contracts.
Lions wouldn’t have been much better but the Sharks would have been a helluva lot better. I also wonder if we’ll see the same level of exodus to the NH if playing in the Prowoo starts to even up the salaries (although no idea what the commercial implications of the comp are for the SA sides).
LikeLike
Shit. Missed the 1st half of Fiji-NZ. Anybody got a score?
LikeLike
Or not. Got my times wrong. Relax everyone. Fiji singing up a storm in their changeroom.
LikeLike
Hopefully they’re better than the Tongans last week.
LikeLike
1st major upset of the 2021 season coming up?
LikeLike
Apart from Australia beating France obviously.
LikeLike
Fiji win the anthems hands down. Kiwis look bored with theirs (it is a bit vanilla) whilst the Fijians gave it a real go! Hakas upcoming; can the Kiwis 🥝 raise their game? Fiji first and robust! ABs with pipsqueak Smith doing his terrified oyster impression leads the way, whilst Dane Coles manages to get through it without a sneaky punch or off the ball hit.
LikeLiked by 2 people
First penalty Fiji for Kiwis off their feet! They’ve got through the the first minute without conceding! But almost concede in the 3rd! Fiji need to get hands on the ball.
LikeLike
FIJI IN FRONT!!! BLOW YER FINAL WHISTLE REF!
LikeLike
Have you seen the Botia rugby ball?
LikeLike
Bah! Lineout penalty, maul it up, send it wide and Jordie Barrett over for the try. Brother Beaudie adds the extras. 7-3 after 9 minutes.
LikeLike
Fair dos, Deebee, they did say they were arranging the fixtures so there isn’t going to be a clash with internationals so as to get the big names playing in the league, though I have my doubts to be honest. AWJ played two league games this year, Hamish Watson started four for us.
You won’t see many Irish internationals playing in South Africa, or not if they follow previous form.
You can understand it, the unions want to look after their players and protect them from injury and burn out, but it does have an impact on the league.
LikeLike
21-11 at the break. Didn’t see any of it from 7-6 to the Kiwis, but I think we all know there was some horrific hometown reffing there.
LikeLike
I’d argue Botia is lucky to still be on the field. He did one of his shoulder-high tackles on McKenzie and on the replay it looked like he caught him in the head. But the ref & TMO didn’t give it a second look.
LikeLike
LikeLike
Volavola isn’t having a great game
LikeLike
Embra legend Kunavula in for the try!
LikeLike
Penalty try for Fiji and yellow for Havili.
31-23 to NZ
LikeLike
hmm…………50 – 23 now………………
LikeLike
ABs were the better side, no doubt, but the Big Team reffing they get spoils the game.
Big Vern is doing a decent job with Fiji, I hope Radrada is back next week, maybe Bill Mata too.
LikeLike
BB, the main commentator on the SA coverage is Gavin Cowley. He’s very sympathetic to the players and appreciative of good play from whichever side. Very good union player – he was a 10 for Eastern Province and the ’74 Lions and ’76 All Black tourists rated him – and provincial cricketer in his day.
LikeLike
With the Sharks, it’s worth remembering the ’09 Lionz beat them 39-3 and stuffed Deebee’s Lions 74-10. Mind you, this Lionz team is very very strong.
The Cheetahs were competitive in the Pro14 in their first year and then get half their side taken by SuperRugby teams as that rightly was regarded as a higher level and a better route to Springbok selection or by other Pro14 sides. That meant the 2nd year they weren’t as strong. 3rd season they were ok again, probably in line for the play-offs when Covid hit.
We should also remember that the fixtures were tough for the SA teams with 9 games in Europe – 3 blocks of 3 – and long periods in which they didn’t play any games. The new version of the league will see the 4 sides play 6 games in Europe and 12 in South Africa.
LikeLike
trisk, I thought there were more Irish lads playing for the USA and had read an article about Carty the younger earlier in the day but your post has set me right. I expect the mob on RTE’ll bring it up a fair bit today no matter what.
Also, it didn’t happen anyway, though I did walk past Old Belevdere’s ground the week before after having a Covid test somewhere deep in the RDS.
LikeLike
Of course there is always context, the Cheetahs won their home games in South Africa where the European teams weren’t used to the altitude, and they beat the Dragons and Zebre away, which got them to the QFs, where they lost 43-8 to Scarlets.
They did well. I really liked a couple of their players, although the names escape me of course, the free running hooker was always good value.
LikeLike
The hooker would be Joseph Dweba or Torsten van Jaarsveld. Probably Dweba. He’s 3rd choice for the Boks now.
They also had Makazole Mapimpi on the wing running in the tries. He got signed up by the Sharks after that and a year later was scoring a try in the World Cup final.
No disgrace losing to the Scarlets that year. They were defending champs Heineken Cup semi-finalists and bashed Glasgow in the Pro14 semi-final.
LikeLike
A disgusting display of cultural appropriation. Or great fun if you’re not a misery guts.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Garbisi goes to Montpellier. Will he see much game time in the same squad as Pollard?
LikeLike
Ticht in Super Rugby all the Boks toured and played most of the matches home and away, with short rest periods in line with agreements with SARU. Most will play the bulk of Prowoo matches. Hopefully the Lions will be able to entice some of the guys back from Japan as well. Not sure though.
LikeLike
“bashed”
LikeLike
Deebz, have you been watching those Jean de Villers and Schalk Burger interview shows? Both Jaques Fourie and Fourie du Preez spoke really well of their time playing in Japan, as did Schalk. Big money, a short season, lots of running. There’s a lot to like in it for a player.
LikeLike
Having the Boks will make the sides a completely different proposition, Deebee,
I’d expect Edinburgh to get pumped with or without them, to be honest.
LikeLike
TomP, it’s a fabulous rugby life in Japan, that’s for sure. When the Lions were in their pomp (losing 3 finals in a row), they managed to keep a lot of the marquee players by allowing to play in Japan in the off season, although 22 months of rugby eventually takes its toll, whatever the level of play. More recently the money has just been too big to ignore, which is why I’m hoping that playing in Europe will inject lots of hard currency into our unions and allow them to compete better with the J League and Euro comps. Really hope so.
LikeLike
Ticht, I think when things get back to normal we’ll have a better idea of where everyone is. The Lions are definitely the weak link of the four at the moment (reversion to the mean etc etc) but i think the other three sides will be pretty competitive. Depending on how the seasons are planned as well, the Euro sides may play some matches in Durban in humid 30⁰+ weather. Or Loftus with altitude and 34⁰+ weather, although driving rain and icy conditions in December in Europe aren’t exactly what I guys relish either!
LikeLike
* our guys relish.
LikeLike