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Rah rah rah we scored a try.

Im watching it via the ITV site.

Ive always been a massive Ruggers fan innit

I wish I liked rugby, but it means nothing to me. I'm watching Porridge. Hehe, that Fletcher is such a cheeky criminal.

I'm trying to watch it. I dont understand this picking up of the ball malarky :?

Hand ball ennit?

I dont get it either.

But you know..rah rah rah!

engerland la la englerland la la  :beers:

That more like it  :D

It's all rather amusing. Wilkinson's face then before he took that kick....  :fag:

I dont know whats going on but it looks fun to play... yet boring as fuck to watch!

It's terrible. The more drunk i get the more i dont understand the point of it.

I think something a bit good just happened
I wanna know how they keep getting penalties....?

Funnily enough England are the ones looking to play the running rugby.

I've been watching Rising Damp - I saw the episode when Rigsby was marrying Miss Jones - it's brilliant

Are England in the Dark Blue?

They're white... unless you're taking the piss... but to be honest that bit i had to actually concentrate on to find out  :oops:

You'd think they would use an Orange Ball if they are playing in white

Why aren't there any nets in the goal bit?

who got shot in Eastenders last night?

What's eastenders?

Jane

Is she dead?

Is she ok?  :(

I dont know - actually i feel a visit to digital spy coming on... anything else?

Andy just got knocked out by the linesman.... Pussy

Gonna be an interesting ast 10 minutes

Will Johnny have anoher drop goal attempt like against Australia in the final 4 years ago

I thought Rugby players were suppose to be tough? wimp.

oooooooooooohhhhhh. Penalty!

COME ON!

11-9!!

ok, its all good Jane will be fine but there will be complications.

To be fair that was cool as fuck though i wasnt sure what was happening. 14-9!

it seems that when i post about eastenders they/ we score!

Fair play to England, another gritty performance

They may just win the final !!!   :oops:

Come on you fuckers!!!!!!!!!!!!

haha like I said ive always loved the Ruggers :mrgreen:

:D made the nation proud

Fucking quality!

 :england:

I cannot believe that we are 80 minutes away from the biggest miracle in sporting history. Come on boys! We can win next week  :beers:

:beers:  :beers:  :beers:  :beers:  :beers:  :beers:  :beers:

Deja vu. We did them in '03 and now we've done the French in '07, and in their back yard also.

If any French want to get rid of a Cup Final ticket, I'm sure there are thousands of Englishman would quite happily take it off their hands.

after a 4 year dissapearing act, the bangwagon is back and its full up again  :o

Supporting a national team. Problem?

Out of interest do these guys get paid anywhere near what premiership players get?

Frankly, no. Although the top players do earn much more than Joe Bloggs, whoever he is!

Not the best quality game but great entertainment!!! Can't wait for the final!

Nope. And nowhere near as many people give a fuck about rugby as they do football.

Unless we're on the verge of winning something :D

As Sussex intimated, I don't even like rugby, but when England are on the verge of winning something (Whatever it is) I'll support them.

You'll always get miserable people Paul.  Just ignore.

PRIDE PASSION BELIEF is what this Rugby team showed tonight.

Did anyone see the "Viv La France" guy?  :soapy tit wank:  :mrgreen:

That's some good fishing there.

Haha yep!

And at the end of the programme, they commiserated the French guy in the studio. His reply? A typical, French, bitter "Pffft"

 :D

I can't believe we won  :o

Good ol' Wilko  :D

and we didnt even have andy farrell playing.

Wilko had a pretty poor game but for some reason I knew he'd have an important part to play in us winning.

Its true though init!!!

Only in your mind

it is true though, at least olive admits it  :mrgreen:

i thought the neighbours were shagging, they were just watching the rugby

Swwwwwwwwwwiiiiiiiiiiiiiing Looooooooooooooooooooooow....!!!!

Unless you live over here, you won't really appreciate beating the French. Apart from the Aussies, they are the most arrogant bunch of fuckers going! First the Scots beat them TWICE at football and then we beat them in the semi final of THEIR tournament!! Allez les bleus!! Shove it up your arse you froggie cunts!!

That's why we're champions, that's why we're champions!!

Oh and Luxembourg won AWAY at Belarus for the first time ever !! :beers:

Great night tonight, really enjoyed it.

I don't even really like rugby but will shamelessly jump on the bandwagon as i'm supporting my country.
 :beers:

This Bandwagon is sooooooooo comfortable...i think i may stay on it for one more game.  :D

It really gets on my nerves, fair enough if you follow rugby but most of the twats don't even know you can't pass the ball forwards I bet. After the day after the last world cup at college everyboy was wearing england shirts, most of them knew less about rugby than me, and I am a bloody German!

Just supporting our country Dachauer, if it was your country would you not support them?

As for me i dont like rugger, but want England to do well.

I'll be one of those twats then, but I do know the rules. I follow football first and foremost and don't have the time to keep up with Rugby/Cricket/Whatever on a regular basis, but when England are doing well I find the time to watch.

Get off your high horse.

The Germans are very good at team games, Football both sexes, same with Hockey so its a bit surprising they don't have a rugby team.
Maybe its because they couldn't dive dive dive and get away with it in? :wink:

jesus fucking christ you're dull.

you managed to post in three different threads and make yourself sound like a whiny little cunt, bitching about england and singing the praises of the mighty deutschland. do you actually have anything worthwhile to say whatsoever?

The funny thing is most people I know who have never liked Rugby still couldn't give an arse about it. It's only the media that jumps on the bandwagon, which happens because it's sensationalist and sells newspapers/gets viewers.

Cool. Time to get interested in rugby again.

Anyone care to explain the rules???

 :wink:

They kick an egg shaped ball around the pitch, don't run with it and somehow you score some points somewhere.

I think that's how it works.

Don't pass forward and give the ball to the bloke that kicks it between the middle of the H thing. Simple.  :D

The offside rule in the maul is very interesting, you have to enter via the rear in the box otherwise you are offside.

I've just gone right off Rugby  :|

I just spat my honey nut cheerios all over my laptop....

So basically then, rugby like a real life Brokeback Mountain, minus cowboys....

I won't be watching.

In the lineouts you have shirtlifters as well!!!

so thats why 30million watched the match last night?

The way England play it (and seem to have the strange ability to force their opponents to play it) is this:

Someone punts the ball as far forward as they can and hopefully finds touch. If they do they take the line out and hand the ball quickly to a big fat lad. Then a whole load of other big fat lads grab the first big fat lad and they all put their heads down and try to shove their way to the line.

Sometimes the kick fails to find touch and someone on the opposing side catchs the ball. If that happens the big fat lads try to all dive on top of him before he has the chance to kick it back. Sometimes the opponent drops the ball and then the fat lads all get to do a bit more shoving and stuff.

Some times they manage to shove their way over the line and score a try, sometimes they get close enough for Wilkinson to kick for goal.

And that's it.

The game used to involve players called backs running with the ball and passing and stuff but that's something only the "naive" south sea islands players bother with now because it's all a bit too exciting and entertaining to be considered proper professional rugby. The backs are still on the pitch but only the fly half and the scrum half really have anything to do now. The rest of them seem to spend their time standing around clapping and shouting and watching the fat lads shove their heads up each others arses.

Hope that helps.  :D

That's why it's called "test" rugby, it's meant to be a challenge.

You don't play 7's rugby in test matches, much the same as you don't play "hit & giggle" 20/20 in test matches in cricket.

Never been a massive fan of rugby...i'll watch it if its on.

if england win...fair play but no skin off my nose.

The voice of someone who only noticed the game existed when England started winning the 5 nations and consequently thinks that's the way the game should be and has always been played.

Oh, my apologies, i didn't realise being young made me automatically wrong

of course it does, now become older immediately!

Hey you don't have to be old to be aware that Rugby was being played before the mid '90's and didn't always look like a somebody had absent mindedly thrown an odd shaped ball into a sumo wrestlers gang bang.

They still show the odd old game on the Sky every now and again, and the DVD's are available everywhere. Fuck me you can't have failed to notice that even the presenters off the games on TV and radio (who are paid to pretend that this shit is the most exciting STUFF EVER!) preface almost every review with the phrase "well it wasn't  a classic".  They know that a bunch of 22-28 stone blokes shoving each other up and down a pitch for 80 minutes punctuated only by the kicking of penalties or for touch into the corners isn't a hugely entertaining spectacle.

Test matches DIDN'T always get played like that, and I defy anyone to argue that it's some kind of fucking improvement. England winning the World Cup four years ago was a fucking disaster for the game. It's as if Egil Olsten's Norway won the football world cup, and all the leading sides in the world suddenly thought "Oh shit, a fucking tedious long ball game based on a tight defence and well drilled set pieces is the way to win at this game" and started trying to emulate it.

Fuck me England have even managed to get France playing like a bunch of cunts.

I have a hunch Lumps doesn't like English rugby.

I think they will win it now

Rugby fans sing shit, slow songs. Especially chanting at the telly. Not upper class that, what what.

Now where would you get an idea like that from :D

To be fair, I didn't have any more of an issue with the England side than I did with any other of the home international rivals until Clive "the professor" Woodward turned them into a turgid rucking and mauling machine.

I don't care if we play ugly rugby. The fact is we are in the final and the Argies are in the semis for it as well. It wins games.

Rugby's excellent, it was shit during the 6 nations but now it's excellent  8)

Pretty much as good as bandwagons and getting one over the convicts and napolean.

meh, you play to your strengths in any sport.

If england football won the world cup playing long ball hoofball i doubt many people would mind.

SA in the final then unless the argies can do something miraculous.

England v South Africa it is then. It won't be 36-0 this time (well maybe in our favour  :soapy tit wank: )

41-0 to them?

Maybe so, but us bandwagon jumpers couldn't give a monkeys :beers:

he's right. winning is everything. Especially for a nation of "gallant losers" like us

Go back to readng your daily mail . You play to your strengths and at this moment  in time England do not have enough talent in the backs to start throwing the ball around.The forwards decide who wins the game, the backs decide by how many points.

Bryan Habana is the man to keep and eye on.

Lightening quick and an expert on capitalising on mistakes.

Should be a good final, personally I hope South Africa win, as I prefer the style of rugby they play, and no I'm not being anti english, I just feel the Springboks deserve the Webb Ellis Trophy this time around.  They've played some good stuff during this tournament without getting up themselves like certain other countries **cough** all blacks.

Id say South Africa deserved it as well however Englands passion/self belief and unity as a team in these latter stages IMO deems them worthy of winning it.

That Habana was fucking ace last night. His 2nd try on like 76 mins and he ran the length of the pitch close to the speed of light.

Can't see us beating them to be honest. But then again, the bandwagon's last stop is this saturday, so might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

Fair play to england for giving themselves a chance of winning the thing, I'd agree with that.  But for england's achievements in this rugby world cup, read west germany's achievements in Mexico 86.  

Workmanlike, ordinary and in the end out of their depth.  Thank God for Diego and co seeing off the hun in the final, we could have had the worst world champions ever in 86.

Did Lumps actually watch Jason Robinson run straight through 4 or 5 tackles the other night? Or was it not worth it because he didn't take on another three players and score a try before doing a triple somersault and pole vaulting through the posts? I suppose it was a pretty pathetic attempt.

I'm not trying to say England play the most entertaining rugby in the world, but Italy weren't all that in the last footy World Cup. It's not about who plays with falir, otherwise you would have judges in sport rather than scoring points/goals

What an odd thing to say. If Lumps had said that rugby players claim benefits that they aren't entitled to and eat babies, then I'd be able to see where you're coming from. If Lumps had said that he'd seen a medical report saying that a recent study proved that rugby players give you cancer, then fair enough.I've read Lumps' post and I'm sure I've not seen any mention of how rugby effects house prices. Anyway I'm fairly certain that your average Daily Mail reader will have the collars of their rugby shirts pointing upwards with pride this morning.

It's as per my example.  When another country gets through to a final using workmanlike tactics you hate it, if it's your own country that benefits from it you love it.  Simple as that really.

For the neutrals seeing a country like Holland do well in the 70's and 88 is great because they do so well playing the game in a way that's easy on the eye.

[/quote]

What an odd thing to say. If Lumps had said that rugby players claim benefits that they aren't entitled to and eat babies, then I'd be able to see where you're coming from. If Lumps had said that he'd seen a medical report saying that a recent study proved that rugby players give you cancer, then fair enough.I've read Lumps' post and I'm sure I've not seen any mention of how rugby effects house prices. Anyway I'm fairly certain that your average Daily Mail reader will have the collars of their rugby shirts pointing upwards with pride this morning.[/quote]

Nah, im more interested in kicking out the immigrants who take our houses and take our benefits  :D

It's fucking scum landlords that take all the houses.

Ahhh but i happen to know that lumps is indeed an avid daily mail reader so my point is valid.

And all the good cheese in waitrose

This saddens me.

I happen to like watching a forward dominated game with the odd clean break or wide move.  I think it makes the game tense and keeps it very seperate to watching football.  It's also a way of playing that I have great respect for in so far as the sods put their bodies on the line over and over again.

Fat cheating bastard Maradona :wink:

Talented, drugged up, sick, fat cheating bastard!! 8)

I like the word Scum, its what my nickname is

It's only tense if you support one of the sides involved. You try watching it when you're a neutral. It's a good nap spoilt by the odd bit of over-excitment from the commentary team.

As I think Jan said if it was any other side but England playing this way you wouldn't have a good word to say about it. Actually most of you probably wouldn't have any words to say about it because  you would have forgotten about the competition as soon as you were knocked out.

And Spacey can rest easy, I take the Telegraph. I don't think I could bring myself to ever buy a copy of the Daily Mail. They've never quite managed to produce a headline to top the offensiveness of "Hurrah for the Blackshirts!", but they are clearly working hard at it.

Do you ever think for one minute that some of us might not be as critical of the style of play as you are?

Just cause you find it boring, doesn't mean everyone else does.  

You could look at it from our point of view that you're only saying the things youre saying because England ARE in the competition and if two other teams played in this way you wouldn't try and put such a dampner on things.

So if we happen to win the WC, retaining the title of world champions which nobody has ever done in the world of rugby, we're still shit? To me that says we're the best team in the world.

I don't really care if we win it without all this fancy-doo-dah back play. Like RobT, I quite like the foward play with them constantly putting their bodies on the line. And if we do win it, then it's obvious this fancy-doo-dah back play doesn't win you world championships, so Lumps can fuck off.

Agreed.

Style is over rated. Give me victory at all costs any time. Cheating to victory is better than losing

I watxched my first game many moons ago of Bath vs West Hartlepool, think is was not long after the change to becomming pro.

I've enjoyed watching Argentina, and their style is probably more staid than Englands in all honesty.  The Boks are currently an immense team because they can do what England do so well, but can also inject a little of what the Aussies and New Z can do at times.

Since when was sport about the neutrals anyway.  Our football was generally dour last season but I was more than happy with going up and I didn't give a shit if the rest of League 2 didn't find it entertaining.  When you have to pander to the neautrals you are on slippery ground, you end up with a team like New Zealand, full of great talent but a complete lack of understanding of what to do under pressure.  They spent about 5 mins going nowhere in the QF at the end when points were on offer.  So convinced were they that they should score a try that they completely fluffed winning a game they should have by a mile.

The final will be tough, SA should win but you just never know.

Greece won euro 2004, but only a few people would argue that they were or are the best team in Europe.

The major limitation about the world cup (in both rugby and football) is that after the group stages, it is a straight knockout.

Whilst England have beaten both Australia and France, they have not played other teams like Argentina, New Zealand or Fiji- who all could conceivably lose or beat England on any given day.

To determine if England are the best team in the world, they should have played every team who managed to get into the quater finals at least once.  That way teams like New Zealand and Austraila who lose one game still have a chance of winning the overall trophy.

and the competition would end in January.

Thats the only problem,

But its like Liverpool in the champions league.  They have been in the final a couple of times in the last 3 or 4 seasons.  However i doubt many people on here would put Liverpool among their top 3-4 teams in Europe.

Liverpool are good in cup football, as its usually only over 2 legs.  However when it comes to a longer format (eg the premier league), they are always consistently 20 points or so behind the leaders

If the best team is supposed to win, maybe they should just give them the cup and save everyone the bother.

All im trying to say is that these world cup's should be designed so that the best/better teams actually wins the cup.  The major problem with knock out style cups is that 1 team can have a bad day, and suddenly they are out of the cup.

Teams like Spurs, Newcastle, Everton have more chance of winning the FA Cup then the premier league for this reason

I personally view that as a plus point.

Yeh i agree.  However i'm just trying to justify why i dont think Samdy Gray earlier post is not entirely true  

'So if we happen to win the WC, retaining the title of world champions which nobody has ever done in the world of rugby, we're still shit? To me that says we're the best team in the world.
'

I think most people would.  Sport isnt very interesting if the favorites win all the time, so the last thing we need to do is manufacture a tournament format (in any sport) to favour them.  Besides, if they are that good they should be able to beat the team in front of them. If they fail to do so they have no-one to blame but themselves (or in the case of our football team, the ref, cheating foreigners and god  :D )

 I don't even like rugby so bollocks to it, the fact that the TV's been jammed up with big blokes grappling with each others bottoms and then running away from each other is ridiculous. I'll be glad when I can settle down in front of a proper contest like X Factor.

So if England win the World Cup that means they're "the best team in the World". But they're not six nation champions so they're not "the best team in the Northen Hemisphere / Europe"! How does that work?

Similarly in football, Greece, by virtue of being European champs should be "the best team in Europe", but that would mean that Italy as current world Cup holders and therefore "the best team in the world" were paradoxically not "the best team in Europe"!

Can we just agree that winning the World Cup makes you "World Cup Winners" or even "World Cup Champions" rather than adding any other titles to it 'cause otherwise the contradictions get confusing?

And the whole "it doesn't matter how entertaining it is, who cares about the neutrals" arguement doesn't really hold water, unless the organisers are happy for the worldwide TV audience for their major international tournament to be largely restricted to the supporters of the two finalists.
The audience for the football WC final is overwhelming made up of neutrals, and that's what Rugby is trying to compete with. To do that it's got to be enjoyable to watch.

I'v not heard anyone that isn't an England supporter even try to argue that their style of play is entertaining. I'm not saying it isn't effective when the teams well organised, because the years under Woodward make that a demonstrable fact. I just find it dull and I don't think a tournament that became dominated by that style of game would encourage many to get more into the sport.

Be honest, if it was Wales or Ireland or Scotland that had ground their way to the final in a couple of low scoring forward battles how many of you would be enthusiastically planning which pub to watch it in at the weekend?

There were a lot more in the pubs to watch the rugby than the football on Saturday.
Rugby fans that I know, have watched all the games, even Portugal, the home international sides Scotland etc have been well supported by all in Britain as far as I can see, and we were all rooting for them against the Argies.
You are not a fan of English rugby so why don't you just leave it at that Lumps.

"the home international sides.... have been well supported by all in Britain"

What a load of old bollocks, I bloody loved it when Wales lost to Fiji!!  Most people I know enjoyed that result!

I can see some valid points in what Lumps says,but playing fast expansive rugby does not always lead to success as the Argies found out last night.English Rugby has and will continue to be based around a pack that can win games for them. I would be the first to admit that the game on saturday was technically poor but exciting to watch if you were an englishman (or woman). I agree with the comments about being world champions and not best in the world because the last three years have proven that we are not that good .

To be honest Rob i cheered when all the other home nations lost, i guess that it is just tribal instinct.

OK, supported by the English not the Jocks.

And?

Of course more people watched the semi final of the World Cup, than a piss easy qualifier against some no-mark team.

How many people watch England when they get to a football World Cup, or Euro Championship? I would suggest it is more than Rugby.

Your statement is flawed.................

You can't beat a bit of local rivalry!!

If it was a run-of-the-mill Rugby international involving England there would still be more in the pub watching it. :roll:

So you think that an ordinary Rugby International would attract more viewers than an ordainary Football International?

What do you base that on?

Watching the games down the pub, what else, or are just an argumentative fucker every time I post a point of you. :roll:

Look at the viewing figures.

Maybe you just drink in a middle-class pub.

I'm only argumentative when someone is spouting total shite.

Just so you know Dell.

Euro 2004. Quarter Final England V Portugal. Uk viewing figure- 20.7 million.

Rugby World Cup semi final 2007. England V Australia. Viewing figure- under 7 million.

Stick that in your fucking pipe and choke on it :D

calm down Steve. Time of the month?

Everyone knows that football is the most popular and best game in the world.

Semi final??

What was the viewing figure for the French match?

Fuck me thats a lot of people in pubs. I stated pubs Herthab, and you can only give an opinion of how many are in the pubs if you are there yourself or the landlord tells you what he took behind the bar, you should go into politics, it had nothing to do with viewing figures from ITV, BBC or Sky, go and argue with wall pal you might get the response you are looking for, I can also be an argumentative sod when people talk utter bollocks. :wink:

I've not seen anyone on here or elsewhere claim that England play entertaing rugby. That would just be bollocks.

Just accept that when people care, even a little, it makes it a lot more tense and exciting

given the half decent viewing figures. I'd guess that people seem to be quite happy watching the Rugby being served up.  I find it's actually easier to get people not into sport to watch Rugby than it is to get them to watch football.  they find the sense of battle more interesting.

On the whole it's the Uk audience that fuels the world of rugby in terms of TV revenues, hence the kick off times in 2003 made to be as friendly as they could be to Uk TV audiences.  So if England reach the final, regardless of style and finesse, they'll get a good return.  Also, that self interest regardless of style was evident in Argentina, where they moved the Boca v River Plate game so people could watch the Rugby.  The Argies play even less expansively than most NH teams, yet a Nation wanted to watch them and the "neutrals" would have tuned in as well.

The game here will evolve soon anyway, as the SH teams are now encouraging their forwards to make the trip North for a couple of years and build their skills.  That'll mean England's game needs to change to gain a new advantage.  My guess is we'll see a move towards the SA style, somewhere between NZ and England.  Strong Pack, strong defence but a very athletic back line able to counter.  For the future of English Rugby we need a team like Gloucester to win the Prem this year and do well in the Heineken Cup as they best match the style needed (if lacking a bit in players in certain roles).

With Patterson and Lawson playing for Gloucester this year I hope they do well in all competitions!!

You stated that if it was a run of the mill rugby game it would attract more viewers in a pub than if it was a run of the mill football game. I disagree.

You base your argument on the pub you go to, hardly scientific is it?

My local gets more punters for England footy games than it does for England rugby games, unless the rugby game actually means something and the football match is a non event.

Lets just agree I'm right and leave it at that :wink:

And yes, it is my time of the month  :D

Happily agree you are right if you just get off my case for the rest of the day.
At times you sound just the like the wife, in the end she is always right, because I give up the fight just for peace and quiet. :|

gays

ruggays

Get you...................

I was expecting a better bite than that from you two PMT fuckers :D

They've gone from angry to emotional. Don't worry, they'll swing back soon enough.

All rugby is shit