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TonyNotJack
Liam Brady Joined: 16 Oct 2015 Status: Offline Points: 2491 |
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I see that.Georgia have won it 10 of the last 12 years.
Italy have been terrible for at least the last 4 years.They look a bit demoralised after all the hammerings. Georgia wouldn't have all that baggage and would be more of a challenge in terms of location and weather for the bigger teams. Relegation would bring something fresh to the championship.
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pre Madonna
Robbie Keane I am MALDING Joined: 30 Nov 2014 Location: Trumpton Status: Offline Points: 44659 |
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Yeah, I mean even if Georgia were a 100 points off Italy, there has to be a means of progression for them. They have only lost one game in their championship in 6/7 years, maybe longer. Yet, if they lose every game in a season they will be relegated. Anyway, the reason there isn't the possibility of promotion and relegation isn't to save a weekend in Rome, it is the fear of one of the other five might fall foul one year. It isn't long ago that Scotland were close to Italy's level and France are always capable of having a calamitous season. That is why it is ruled out. Italy are only being kept in to keep the numbers even, as well as the weekend in Rome.
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Baldrick
Robbie Keane Peyton-tly Pedantic Joined: 18 Sep 2008 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 32714 |
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Tell the truth the real reason is half the thick’s would end up in America thinking they could go to Augusta also to play golf
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AKA pedantic kunt
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irishmufc
Robbie Keane I love Vulvas Joined: 09 Aug 2011 Location: Dublin Status: Offline Points: 25057 |
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No harm so, seeing as he was born in Israel.
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Wings? They're only the band The Beatles could have been.
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pre Madonna
Robbie Keane I am MALDING Joined: 30 Nov 2014 Location: Trumpton Status: Offline Points: 44659 |
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TRV
Kevin Kilbane Joined: 18 Dec 2016 Location: Dublin Status: Offline Points: 243 |
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scrolling on the Rte site yesterday, 22 sections i counted on the rugby match yesterday, all on the main page. D4 Media indeed
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nvidic
Moderator Group Joined: 03 Aug 2010 Status: Offline Points: 18980 |
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And yet they let the rights lapse for it and showed the football yesterday
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BigStrongMan
Robbie Keane Just Modding Like Joined: 22 May 2009 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 107624 |
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Tv3 showed highlights of Sean o briens excellence yesterday on their show. The first example they showed he pushes the other ladit was a sublime push to be fair,both hands as well. Kin ell
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PM me for all forum moderation queries.
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DUBLIN DOC
Jack Charlton The F The F The FAI Joined: 30 Jun 2009 Location: Abbottstown Status: Offline Points: 9155 |
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So how many of you egg chasing lalas still think this team are going to do what they haven’t done before when they get to the World Cup? How many places in the rankings can they slip to before the big tournament comes around ?, that was a worse performance than the English sh*tshow, really don’t know how Scotland fcked it away
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Shedite
Jack Charlton Joined: 09 Dec 2011 Status: Offline Points: 9815 |
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TonyNotJack
Liam Brady Joined: 16 Oct 2015 Status: Offline Points: 2491 |
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English rugby arrogance always goes from zero to 10 in the blink of an eye.
ex England player and Bristol coach Andy Robinson was the first guest on sports week on 5 live this morning. First question : "So Andy are England now favourites to win the world cup?" Robinson : "Well I don't know about that but only New Zealand or England can win it"
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pre Madonna
Robbie Keane I am MALDING Joined: 30 Nov 2014 Location: Trumpton Status: Offline Points: 44659 |
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Still nowhere near Irish rugby arrogance! England are going to cruise to a Grand Slam. They are peaking at the right time
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doherty
Jack Charlton Teenage Kicks, so hard to beat Joined: 30 Mar 2015 Status: Offline Points: 7690 |
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Ffs france are embarrasing. So bad its not even funny. No plan no structure. Look like they just met up 30 minutes ago.
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pre Madonna
Robbie Keane I am MALDING Joined: 30 Nov 2014 Location: Trumpton Status: Offline Points: 44659 |
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The Italians, as bad as they are, actually have a chance against the French, which is exactly why there isn't a promotion play-off. France are capable of losing to anybody on the day, including Georgia.
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Neil Armstrong
Jack Charlton Cyavan Cyunt Joined: 17 Jun 2010 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 5002 |
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Tony Ward Indo
The global nature of the modern professional game has led to many
positives for rugby, but also many negatives and the glut of inter-country
transfers that we are witnessing nowadays is a blight on the sport.
A pre-match
conversation with former Scotland and Lions No 8 Johnny Beattie in Edinburgh
last weekend reinforced this view. Not that it is anything new to the Scots,
any more than it would be to us, but Beattie pointed out that some 14 of the
squad of 23 set for duty against Ireland by Gregor Townsend did not learn their
rugby in Scotland. Make of that what
you will, but the bottom line is that this false patriotism (not in every case,
I might add) is endemic in every nation in the northern hemisphere. To the best
of my knowledge, it is not yet working in reverse, although there are
splintered examples, with London-born full-back John Gallagher (of Irish
parentage) central to the New Zealand World Cup-winning team of 1987. I am sure there are
others, but they are very few and far between as the southern hemisphere has
been much more protective of the worth of home-produced players. Just last week, we
had football under the spotlight, given the mad-hatter situation of a
three-times-capped senior international footballer Declan Rice declaring for
England, the land of his birth, after representing Ireland at almost every
underage level. No doubt there are financially-driven, agent-backed reasons for
this switch now, but caps must be in FIFA competition before they really,
really count. Have you ever heard such nonsense? But before we point
any fingers, a peak inside our own house would be well worth the exercise. I
detest the current World Rugby system, which has been adopted to the letter by
the IRFU and by the Irish team management, whereby players can choose to
represent a country on the basis of residency. They call them
'project players', but these are guys who are here on contract anyway and
earning a damn good living irrespective of the added incentive of an Irish cap
(if they so wish) being dangled in front of them. Players like CJ Stander (and I don't care how well he sings the anthem),
Quinn Roux, Bundee Aki, Jared Payne and so on are all of the highest quality,
but they are not Irish. The IRFU, and by
extension Joe Schmidt and his fellow selectors, are simply applying the rules,
but the rules are wrong. Even a five-year incubation period has me ill at ease,
but better that than the current three-year country-of-convenience clause that
is attached to most overseas contracts. All those project
players to have worn green are top quality, and I accept I might be in the
minority on this one, but I wish no overseas players qualified for Ireland
other than through blood line or lineage. The principle of
'Paddy-come-latelies' from varying corners of the globe qualifying to wear
green, while those born, bred and nurtured through the rugby system, and then
overtaken by imports is wrong. Learn more This is not a cut
at individual players. Stander is an obvious example. I love his style and
commitment, but that still doesn't make him Irish and certainly doesn't make
the system right. When team-mates,
specifically at international level, are questioned as to the principle and
legitimacy of project player selection, naturally they defend their playing
peers against the nasty media, but they are wrong. To add to the
confused message being sent to young and developing indigenous Irish players,
and I include genuine exiles in that, is the fact that should they step outside
these shores in search of a crust, they are all but banned from international
selection. I am surprised that
such a ruling (albeit unwritten) hasn't yet been challenged in law by an overseas-based
player or his agent. I understand the
rationale behind Irish management's thinking, specifically when players they
rate move beyond their control, but effectively banning them from Test
selection smacks of Kangaroo Court syndrome. In times past, players
like Keith Wood, Johnny Sexton and Tommy Bowe have managed to combine playing
abroad with an uninterrupted Test career here, and yet now we have the likes of
Simon Zebo, Donnacha Ryan and Ian Madigan under the unofficial cloak of persona
non grata. Take it as read
that somewhere down the road that unwritten rule will be abolished and ability
allied to form, and not place of occupation, will determine selection. But for
now, it is what it is. In the opening two
rounds of this year's Six Nations, we have had specific issues at full-back and
second-row, yet despite Zebo and Ryan offering clear alternatives, that door
was firmly shut despite consistency of performance at a very high level in the
Top 14 and Europe dictating that under normal circumstances, both would be in
the mix. Now with Seán
O'Brien set to become the latest wild goose to fly, it will be interesting to
see just how rigidly his future Test days are numbered. Once Zebo announced
well in advance that he would be moving, he was removed from the frame. Rest
assured, and rightly so, that the Tullow Tank will see out this Six Nations
series and the World Cup to follow. It smacks of inconsistency. In terms of
success, these are exciting times for Irish rugby, but I do have great
difficulty with a system whereby players who did learn the game in this country
are given their hat and shown the door, while a project player system has been
put in place to attract players who wouldn't have known where this island was
when growing up, never mind that we have always played the game with intent and
ambition. It is difficult to
argue against the IRFU aspiration to discourage an exodus of talent at the cost
of the national team and that maybe a drip will become a flood. It is neither black
nor white and there should be shades of grey. But irrespective of recent
success, I am uncomfortable with a system that favours non-Irish players over
indigenous ones, particularly those who have come up through the ranks. The three-year
residency ruling ends at the end of next year and it can't be banished quickly
enough.
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Ulster Champions 2020 our 40th Title. Take that all ye Moanaghan ***ts!
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pre Madonna
Robbie Keane I am MALDING Joined: 30 Nov 2014 Location: Trumpton Status: Offline Points: 44659 |
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"Make of that what you will, but the bottom line is that this false patriotism (not in every case, I might add) is endemic in every nation in the northern hemisphere. To the best of my knowledge, it is not yet working in reverse, although there are splintered examples, with London-born full-back John Gallagher (of Irish parentage) central to the New Zealand World Cup-winning team of 1987."
Really? New Zealand regularly take who they want from the Polynesian Islands and, to a lesser extent, so have Australia. South African schools have been taking talented Zimbabweans and Namibians for years with the long term goal of getting them to play for the Springboks. The 'Beast' being the most famous example. |
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Devrozex
Jack Charlton Joined: 23 Oct 2010 Location: Dublin Status: Offline Points: 7675 |
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Yeah I thought that was a pretty bizarre comment to make alright. New Zealand have historically probably been the worst team in rugby for poaching non-domestic players.
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Trap junior
Robbie Keane YBIG Minister of Doom & Gloom Joined: 25 Jan 2010 Location: Irish Riviera Status: Offline Points: 39759 |
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Bundee loves The EIRE
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Pied Piper to: Baldrick, Brendan 88, 9Fingers, Borussia and more...
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