Entertaining. Indefatigable. Bloody-minded, hard as nails (well, obviously there is an obstructed view).
When Mark Williams (pictured) won the World Snooker Championship in 2018, he stripped off for the ensuing press conference, as he had promised to do.
This year, he has promised to run naked down the M4 if he wins.
Given that he’s 51, perhaps he should borrow Andy Powell’s golf buggy instead.
But this is why Welsh rugby can and will rise above their current crisis, and hopefully with all four regions somehow surviving the mess. Welsh sides are currently Irish teams’ banana peels in the URC.
While full houses at Welsh stadia have been a rarity in recent years, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau sung with full heart at the Millenium Stadium still manages to bring a bit of unexplained grit to the eyes of this non-Welsh person (well, full disclosure: I had a half-Welsh granny).
And, to add the icing to the cake, the Welsh don’t vote for Tories. Hopefully they won’t vote for the even more repulsive Reform in May either.
We’ve only got one really physical 8, in Jasper Wiese, so he’d be a great addition.
And Sacha goes over again! He’s deadly with the line in sight. 26-31 and that’s the BP as well for the Stormers.
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Bugger.
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Kok taken out in the air.
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Phew! Stormers make a pass that’s miles forward.
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KOOOOOOOK hat-trick!
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But Doak just missed the conversion, so it’s 31-all.
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Great try by Ulster! Excellent protection of the ball and the patience to keep probing for gaps. Stormers defence is just not dominant at all. Don’t think they’ll be troubling the engraver in a few weeks time!
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YEEESSSS! Eric O’Sullivan goes over for Ulster.
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Deebee, here’s your missing possessive apostrophe: ‘.
:-p
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Ulster looking the more likely here. In some ways, a draw would suit the Stormers. 3 points keeps them in the top two (i think) with a round to go.
I should probably shut up. Ulster in under the posts with four minutes to go and the Stormers down a man too! 38-31 Ulster.
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DOAKY HEROISM! Stormers go over the line but Nathan holds it up.
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In the 79th minute.
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Oh, it’s going to the TMO.
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No, this is bollocks. The last angle showed no head contact, so there is no penalty try. WRONG!
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‘Doaky’ with the match saving tackle! Don’t see a high tackle myself. Oh. Head contact. Is that a penalty try? Yip! 38-all! 10 seconds left! Surely not? All over!
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What fucking head contact? It didn’t happen!
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Yeah, the other two angles looked pretty damning. To be fair. Ulster can still feel hard done by. Better side on the night, better cohesion, more incisive attacks, better defence.
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Well, we can still guarantee our place in the Big Cup by beating Montpellier. Hmm.
We’ve got Glasgow next week.
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Furious. Fucking refs. Fucking TMOs.
I’ll get over it. ;-)
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Probably.
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I tried to watch the Ulster highlights on YouTube, but they just skipped the yellow card (never mind the red), so it was very confusing.
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Refit, the URC highlights are put together by a young cub on Bob-a-Job week.
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Ooh, this could be a long afternoon for Italy. Already 0-26 down against England, after less than 15mins.
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Ellie Kildunne sticks out a hand and concedes a penalty try and gets a yellow card.
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She what??? She’s actually fallible? Human even? Must be one of the few mistakes she’s ever made on a rugby pitch! Staggeringly good player.
Bulls duly rolled Zebre over, 54-19. Score flatters both sides, to be honest, but also some entertaining back play.
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Italy have scored 3 tries, in addition to the penalty one, and given a pretty decent showing for themselves. 26-61 with 15mins to play.
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Italy score a 5th with the clock in the red. Final score 33-61. Enthralling match.
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Guess who came on as a sub in the Tiggers/Saints game and picked a fight within a minute?
Mind you, it was only the latest disagreement during the game.
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I’m slightly baffled how the TMO missed fingers to the eyes, when a prop was binned for both teams.
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The only player I saw getting fingers in the eyes was Reffell, and that was accidental from his own player.
That was actually quite an entertaining game. Still not sure Pollock’s rugby talent (and he is talented) negate his dick-ness around the field.
Thought Big Cam Henderson did well when he came on. Not sure how he didn’t get into our 6N squad.
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Bloody Bristol. Score a great try, with a decoy jumper in the lineout and then immediately after just forget what defence is and Segum strolls through to score.
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I’m currently trying to remember if Bristol actually employ a defence coach.
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14-7 to Leinster in Dublin with a couple of minutes to half time.
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Still 14-7 after 15 minutes or so in the 2nd half.
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Ah well. Leinster turned the screw in the last 20 minutes. 31-7 in the end probably doesn’t tell the whole story, but the Lions ultimately just could stand toe to toe for the full 80.
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Saracens win 26-41, but the BP for Bristol keeps us in 4th.
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Connacht v Munster is quite fiesty. Connacht at 19-0 up.
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Dupont’s got his playing boots on
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Watched the first few mins of Newcastle vs Quins, before switching to Exeter/Bath. Newcastle seemed to be doing okay, but apparently completely collapsed, final score 17-76.
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Furious. Fucking refs. Fucking TMOs.
Got as far as this and haven’t made any comment on Connacht/Munster
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I was at a stag in Waterford on Saturday – temporarily – my brother in law and I just turned up for the go-karting and greyhounds – but it was enough for me not to catch the Munster match (luckily, maybe) – plus Cork/Waterford hurling was on at almost the same time.
Played poorly in the 1st half but not helped by the refereeing – main complaint is inconsistency. Barron got a red for a croc roll – arguable, but 2 by Connacht completely ignored. Same ref took Munster/Leinster at Christmas – no consistency.
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Initially read that as “go-karting greyhounds”, which would make for a VERY interesting stag do!
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Only been to greyhound racing once, as I have zero interest in it (don’t get it here) or horse racing, despite working at a racing track for several years as a student. My mate eventually cajoled me into betting on a race, so I put 20 quid on a dog called Salad Dodger (I know, not very kind), to win and another 10 quid on a place. Sat sipping my beer whilst all hell broke loose and the punters cheered, jeered and swore at the field before, during and after the race. The commentator was less intelligible than an auctioneer on laughing gas, and I only realised I’d won a couple of hundred pounds when the bloke in front of me started swearing about effing Salad Dodger this and that. Collected from the bookie and he gave me just over 200 pounds! Bought Mrs Deebee a pair of Docs with my winnings (flowerly, hippie Docs).
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Two Cents on what rugby commentators and pundits SHOULD be like. Sadly, no mention of Andrew Cotter, but that may be because he doesn’t get the BBC coverage. Plenty of mentions for AC in the comments, though. For me, there seems to be a Welsh/Scottish line in excellent rugby commentating. Cliff Morgan (slightly before my time, maybe just caught the end of his career) – Bill McLaren – Eddie Butler – Andrew Cotter. Nigel Starmer-Smith used to get slagged because he was (or seemed to be) very pro-England, but he was still head and shoulders above the likes of Harrison and Mullins.
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@deebee
Yeah, I can leave or take dog racing – but it was an organised event, so why not – food was pretty good!
Used to go to the horses a bit – good friend is mad keen on horse racing, but as we live 200km apart now – my horse racing days have ended.
Actually, they were the only times I’d back horses – few bob made the races more interesting. Of course, chance of daytime drinking was a bigger attraction!
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Trisk, I think most of the people at the greyhounds spent more on booze than bets from the state of them. I just don’t like gambling in general, largely because I almost never win, whether lottery, casinos, horses or anything else. The global bombarding of people with all these new betting scams just makes me angry. You can’t listen to the radio, watch TV, drive down a highway, even look into the fucking sky (I kid you not, seen planes trailing gambling ads), or the internet without being assaulted with gambling ads. I wish I was better at it!
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Well, I used to own a former racehorse, and I currently own a former racing hound. (Perhaps ‘own’ is not the right word. More like ‘am beguiled by’.)
I have mixed feelings about horse racing. Horses die regularly, particularly steeplechasers (which mine wasn’t), and that’s horrible. But you can’t stop a Thoroughbred from wanting to get his or her nose in front of the others, even when you’re just trying to go for a nice leisurely walk. Thoroughbreds are such beautiful, agile, sensitive and lovely creatures.
Likewise with my hound: she is a Trailhound, bred to race over the fells following a trail of paraffin and aniseed. They do ten miles in half an hour, jumping over barbed-wire fences, walls, streams, etc. They go through fields of sheep and sometimes other livestock, never thinking of worrying them.
My hound was apparently much the fastest in her litter of 11 (!), but decided at some point that she didn’t enjoy racing, for reasons I’m not entirely clear on. (She bears a couple of minor scars.)
I’m in favour of making companions of animals who are bred to do something physical rather than based on some warped interpretation of beauty, such as those poor dogs who can’t breathe or whose brains are too big for their (tiny) skulls.
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There is also a very sick trend in breeding Arabian horses, which used to be beautiful (all Thoroughbreds are descended from at least one of three foundation Arabian sires). They’ve always had a bit of a dished nose, but breeders have taken it to disgusting extremes.
A normal Arabian has a nose more like this, although I think it’s still a it overly dished.
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I mean, the first horse looks like an equine pug.
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My boy, who had a fairly Arabian-looking head, as they looked back then:
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