RWC Final ................. Informative Video

As this Saturday is the RWC final I thought I would post this informative video allowing explanation of the basic rules of the game. Hopefully that will give you better appreciation of the match itself ............... here to help !!

Champions 2011

Leeds Rhinos have made Super League history by becoming the first team to win the trophy five times with a 32-16 win over St Helens at Old Trafford.

I need say no more

For England Rugby Fans Everywhere !

With all my Love !

The nice number

The nicest number combination I have seen yet.

19 - 12

In the words of Rolf Harris ................... Can you gues what it is .....Yet ???

Superleague Grand Final

Tomorrow, Saturday 8th October sees the now famous Superleague Grand Final. The pinacle of the 13 a side code.

But there is a twist as a season dominated by Warrington and Wigan ends in familiar fashion.

Old rivals and multiple Grand Final winners St Helens and Leeds will meet at Old Trafford to decide who takes the year's top prize, having come through the play-offs from the unprecedented lows of third and fifth place in the table.

This will be the first Grand Final not involving either of the teams finishing first and second in the regular season, yet it reunites the two most successful clubs in the Super League era. What does that say about the competition? And why have the year's two outstanding clubs failed to reach the ultimate showcase?

The Grand Final as a one-off event is unrivalled in terms of theatre. Having an entire season decided over 80 minutes may not be seen as fair, but it creates an atmosphere I have never experienced elsewhere in sport.


An match bursting with expectation, adrenalin and fear prduce an unmissable spectacle.


Should we be surprised therefore that the two clubs to have proved their ability to perform on the biggest stage are again there at the death? Leeds and St Helens, with four Grand Final wins apiece, have experience, bottle and ability to perform under the most extreme pressure.

I am a proper grade A hardcore Leeds fan. Despite being a Scot I spent my formative years in Leeds watching the greats of many a year ago however my joy at seeing Leeds make this grand final is tempered with an acknowledgement that seeing both Warrington and Wigan fall away was most unexpected.

So what happened to them? Regardless of Wigan's assertions to the contrary, they were not the same side after their Challenge Cup success, a game that again Leeds to them to the wire on. With such a huge triumph comes a release, and Michael Maguire's side never fully rediscovered their early-season intensity.

Warrington spent much of the season walloping opponents. My view is that they may have been victims of their own success. Tony Smith's league leaders were so comfortable, so often, that when they were finally given a contest by Leeds last week they were out-hungered. Wolves centre Ryan Atkins - a Leeds boy - said afterwards that the Rhinos wanted it more than Warrington.

And then there is the 'M' word. Momentum is a massive reason that Leeds and St Helens have made it again. Saints were always fancied to explode into the play-offs given their end-of-season form. However as good as Saints have been Leeds have screamed post the challenge cup in near perfect form, and as we all know once the Rhinos hit their straps you could sense the men from Headingley could well taste success.

Good Luck to both teams ........... but in my heart "WE ARE LEEDS"

Wayhey Scotland..............Rugby the Greatest Game In the World

Scotland’s reward for causing the upset of the weekend and beating world champions South Africa 21-17 is a two-place climb to sixth in the latest IRB World Rankings, their highest ever position since the rankings were introduced in October 2003.

Andy Robinson’s side bounced back from a record loss to New Zealand seven days earlier to taste victory over the Springboks for the first time since 2002 and climb above Ireland and Argentina to better their previous best of seventh achieved with victory over the Pumas in June.

South Africa’s first loss of their European tour means they surrender second spot back to Australia. The Wallabies, who dropped to third after losing to England last weekend, beat 12th ranked Italy 32-14 in Florence but this result did not have any impact on their rating.




And to think I had slated Andy Robinson 6 ways 'till Sunday when he was appointed.

Am I about to eat a huge slice of humble pie ?????

Carnegie Challenge Cup Final 2010

The Greatest Competition in the world, being part of the Greatest Sport in the world, and this year with 1 of the greatest teams competing for glory.



C'mon you Leeeeeeddddsssssss !!!!!!

Thom Evans

It is sad to read that Thom Evans has been forced to retire as a rugby player.

Thom was ever present as a winger for both Glasgow and Scotland.

However in the Six Nations game against Wales on 13 February 2010 Evans suffered a severe neck injury after colliding with Welsh player Lee Byrne. He was stretchered off the pitch and taken to hospital to receive treatment. He underwent a neck operation that evening. After four months of rehabilitation, Evans was forced to retire, after accepting medical advice.

Very sad news indeed.



Now The Lovely Trixie I feel will be in deep mourning over this news and may herself be forced into a period of rugby abstinance whilst she recovers.

Is Rugby Really a Sport with Honour???

My love of both rugby codes in NEVER in dispute..............however my belief that it is still the game with honour now is.

Every now and then something comes along to ensure that what happens on the pitch is totally overshadowed by what happens off the pitch.

This week the biggest story in rugby league has been the £40,000 fine handed down to Castleford Tigers because of the homophobic chanting directed towards Gareth Thomas by a certain number of fans a few months back.

Half of the fine has been suspended, but that will be small comfort to the Tigers as they also have to pay £20,000 suspended from a previous offence.

The prevailing mood among Castleford fans seems to be that the fine is too large; after all, £40,000 is a fairly hefty sum for a rugby league team. Some have questioned whether the punishment is fair given how difficult it is for the club to control chanting or shouting. It’s even been suggested that the Rugby Football League are using the incident to damage Castleford, with the intent of dropping them from Super League. However that is another arguement.

However, I will dispute the argument advanced by a few people, that this is all the fault of Thomas for not taking the abuse, or “banter” if you prefer, on the chin; he should have expected this kind of treatment and he’s obviously not tough enough to play the game. Some have even tried to defend the abuse meted out to Thomas as within the boundaries of free speech, and talk as though the punishment is an attack on our fundamental rights. Thomas has been criticised from some quarters for bringing the game into disrepute.

Suggesting that Thomas has brought the game into disrepute is as daft as suggesting that Frank Lampard is the one who brought soccer into disrepute, because it was he who pointed that the ball had gone over the line rather than covering up the fact that he’d been robbed of a legitimate goal. Whether or not Thomas should have expected this kind of abuse, that doesn’t mean he has to put up with it. He has the right to play the game without people trying to insult him, just as much as the fans do not have the right to hurl such insults. Freedom of speech? Not when the sole intent of saying something is to hurt someone else.

Perhaps the most disingenuous argument is to question Thomas’ toughness, which ranks as one of the silliest things anyone could say about him. His physical strength is there for all to see, just like anyone who has spent so long playing rugby, of either code, at any level. Yet his mental strength is also evident, having been incredibly successful despite being a gay man in that most heteronormative of environments, team sports. Maybe he isn’t the best rugby league player going, but that attests to a lack of all the appropriate skills – understandable given he’s only been playing the game a matter of months – rather than a lack of toughness.

Besides that, the punishment handed to Castleford isn’t just for Thomas’ benefit. Last year I wrote that referees ought to be shown respect, not because they don’t make mistakes, but because once abusing the referee becomes acceptable at the top level such an attitude filters down the levels. That’s dangerous because, while in a fully professional environment the referee isn’t likely to be in any danger, officials are in a much more precarious position refereeing amateur games. Similarly, the principle set by the RFL isn’t just for Thomas, it’s for others in the game who may be more vulnerable. There are literally thousands of rugby league players, and it’s hardly likely that Thomas is the only one who isn’t straight.

Some have argued that so much abuse goes on in rugby league that by deciding to clamp down so heavily the RFL have set a dangerous precedent. Yet I’m reminded of Jim Hacker, the fictional Minister for Administrative Affairs who was told the same thing and responded, “You mean that if we do the right thing this time, we might have to do the right thing again next time”. Others have wondered why if this incident is so bad then how come it’s acceptable to abuse someone for where they’re from, or if they’re ginger, or if they’re fat; why was it ok to laugh at Barrie McDermott for having one eye, or to call Sean Long a “gypsy”. Perhaps the answer is that these things aren’t acceptable, or at least that they shouldn’t be.

It’s probable that anyone who’s watched rugby league for any length of time has shouted or chanted something they regret, or ought to regret, but that’s no reason to just accept that such things happen. This kind of abuse – whether it’s racist, xenophobic, sexist, homophobic, or with reference to a disability – shouldn’t have any place in our game.


We should remember the words of Barbara from the Royle Family, who once declared, magnificently “Well, I don't care what anybody is – I don't care whether they're gay, straight or Australian”.



H/T to the Last Tackle

A Nice Post.................before the usual Ranting Starts

As many devout readers are aware the art of egg chasing is my absolute passion.

I also coach a team of boys.
These boys are Scottish P7 which puts them in the 10-11 age group.

Now yesterday we played Stewarts Melville.

Stewarts Melville is a very posh, well to do, Scottish Private school.
See here

You know the kind of school Subrosa went to (Yes Mary Erskine I know).

They are good at rugby........what would you expect with Sean Lineen (head coach of the Warriors) as a former pupil and still coaching at the school.

Well cut a long story down to size.
yesterday ma wee bairns gave them a doin'!!!!!

Oh what a day!!!!

Firstly we disposed of Biggar RFC then straight on against the 12K a year fee's crew.

I am very pleased to say..........Stewarts Melville lost.




From the photo I dont care how big you are..............my boys hit you right, you go down, you will loose.

A fine day and the boys deserve there day in the sun (except no sun, lots of ice and frost and fog but you get my drift).

A coaching team enjoyed a small beverage by way of celebration.

Well done boys...........But your still all going training Weds night.

Oh Yes !!

Update as to the Greyhounds

I am in bloody agony.

This morning in our 5* Premier Travel Inn..............notice the word Premier it resembled that car crash scene in the movie "Gone in 60 Secs".

Hideous.

Suffice to say though loading said bus up and returning home.

Oh and in case anyone cared..................WE WON!!!

I will give a wee report a little later on.
When I can actually see the keyboard!!

Come On you Greyhounds

Well TLOTF sits awaiting the arrival of the charabanc.

It will pick me up and all my kit and take my good self and the members of the most fantastic Greyhounds RFC team to the lovely city of Newcastle for the weekend.

Here we will engage in sporting combat with others in the senior league of the greatest game in the world.

Yes we are the greyhounds..........and that is a ref to our pace and agility nothing to do with our hair colour or age.

As the tournament is all weekend everyone can rest assured that alcohol consumption will be refrained from but as we are all paid up members of the temperance society that was never in question anyway.

I have been selected at flanker and now normally I play at centre, so you can also all rest assured that I will get a real good kicking all weekend.

But my superb fitness and athletic prowess will see me through.....cough cough.
Failing that I have a boat load of ibuprofen and paracetamol to make the pain go away.

So we have our new strips with our Saltires bright and loud, and to quote Richard 3rd .......once more into the breech dear friends once more. (I might be wrong with that quote by the way).

But as we step onto the field of battle I am reminded of the Highlander and that immortal line "There can be only 1".

Come on the Greyhounds!!!!!!!!!

Updates as to how many points we rammed up them next week!!!!

More Good News!

Do you remember this post from last month about another tosspot in the game of rugby.

A certain Gareth Hock.

Well I am very pleased to announce that Gareth Hock's two-year ban for failing a drugs test has been confirmed by the RFL. See Here.

Good news. What with this and the fact that Big Brother is being dropped by Channel 4...................means it risks turning into a good day.
All I need is Browns resignation to be announced and I could possibly crack a smile.

Quite an apt picture I thought!

The Rugby Bloodgate Scandal Part 3

Yes the story that made my blood boil as my readers will testify to.

Previous posts here and here.

What started off here as a simple cheating player became,

A story of a sustained cheat in Dean Richards, one of the most respected figures in the world in this sport

A story that nearly destroyed the team doctor Wendy Chapman by a referal to the GMC.

Cost the physio his England team job.

Nearly destroyed one of the oldest teams in the sport, in the world.

Destroyed the reputation of the game in the eyes of many.

It transpired that now not only was there a fake blood capsule, a fake or man made injury to the cheek , complicit doctors, physios and a Director of a club who admitted to this 4 times previous but the player concered was offered a lucrative compensation package by his club as he was preparing to appeal against a ban for faking injury.

Tom Williams, a wing at Harlequins in London, was banned from playing for 12 months by the rugby authorities after he was found guilty of faking a cut to his mouth to influence the outcome of a match at his coach’s request.

His club asked him not to reveal the full circumstances of the offence during an appeal against the ban.

However he did reveal it!!!

To compensate Williams for the damage the affair had caused him, club officials offered him a two-year extension to his contract, a money-making testimonial and the guarantee of three years’ work after he retired. Harlequins said that the offer was not conditional on his silence.

But I think we can all agree these offers where conditional on him keeping his gob shut.

The revelations are contained in a 38-page dossier that sets out Williams’s evidence. It was released yesterday by European Rugby Cup, the governing body of the sport in Europe, which has been investigating the worst incidents of premeditated cheating in the sport. It details the extraordinary pressure that Williams was put under before, during and after the crucial European Cup quarter-final tie between his club and Leinster in April.

That report is here.

The Rugby Bloodgate Scandal Part 2

It gets worse.

See post here and here.

Well it transpires now that a hospital consultant may face a disciplinary investigation by medical regulators after suggestions that she cut the inside of a player’s mouth to conceal a fake injury.

Wendy Chapman, allegedly used a scalpel on Tom Williams, the Harlequins wing, and then stitched the wound to make it appear like a genuine injury.

Williams, has admitted using a blood capsule to fake an injury during a Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leinster so that he could be taken off and replaced by another player at a critical stage of the match. He had been caught on television cameras winking as he was led from the pitch in the final minutes of the match at Harlequins’ Stoop stadium in Twickenham, southwest London, in April.

Sources at a rugby disciplinary hearing on Monday claimed that Williams confessed that the cover-up occurred in the treatment room after the game when the Leinster team doctor, Professor Arthur Tanner, became suspicious and demanded to inspect his wound.

The GMC was reviewing reports of the case yesterday and could open its own formal review of the allegations against Dr Chapman. However, investigators from the General Medical Council (GMC) will be careful when considering any unsubstantiated allegations made by a self-confessed sporting cheat.

Dr Chapman, is employed as an accident and emergency consultant at the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust but has also worked as a match-day doctor for Harlequins. She was registered as a doctor in 1986 and is listed as having previously been employed by Pure Sports Medicine, whose clients have included Harlequins and Wasps rugby clubs and Fulham and Charlton Athletic football clubs.

This is getting out of hand now.
Williams was obviously upset that he took the wrap all on his own so blew the whistle on Dean Richards, the physio and the team doc.
But the reputation of this great game is now in shreds and the level at which this corruption (dramatic word I know, but if you are willing to deceive like that then it is corruption) has risen too is beyond anything in the history of this great game.

Good Luck getting it repaired.

The Rugby Bloodgate Scandal

Ok I do not hide my absolute love of Rugby.

Both codes in fact.

I refer to this story here that I posted last month.

Remember I said that the coaching and team management where found to be innocent.

Well guess what???????? Somone blew the whistle and the whole dirty sordid story came out.

Well yesterday in Glasgow, Dean Richards's rugby career lay in tatters. He was banned for three years from participation in the European game for orchestrating a systematic cheating regime that saw Harlequins fake blood injuries on at least five separate occasions.

Richards received the swingeing ban after a 14-hour European Rugby Cup hearing at which Tom Williams, the wing who had been suspended for 12 months for taking a fake blood capsule onto the field in the Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leinster last April, changed his evidence.

Williams revealed details of how Richards and physio Steph Brennan, now employed by the England team, colluded to fake a blood injury in the game and then orchestrated a cover-up.

Williams alleged that, he was cut in the mouth by a club official as part of an attempt to make real the fake injury. The identity of the individual he named will be made public when the ERC committee publishes its full judgment.

Brennan was banned for two years from participation in all European rugby after pleading guilty and admitting his role in the cover-up. He will now almost certainly be sacked by the RFU.

In exchange for exposing the extent of the deception at Harlequins, Williams had his original ban reduced to four months. Harlequins escaped a Heineken Cup ban but had their original fine of €250,000, half of which was suspended, increased to €300,000 (£258,000) with none suspended.

Williams’s ban applies to rugby worldwide and expires on Nov 19, while the bans handed down to Brennan and Richards apply to European-affiliated competitions only, but the ERC will urge unions worldwide to adopt the suspensions.

ERC appeal committee chairman Rod McKenzie said details of four other occasions on which Harlequins had attempted to fake injuries had been passed to the relevant authorities.

SO THIS WAS THE 5th BLODDY TIME HE DID THIS.

Richards said he accepted responsibility for the blood-capsule incident but professed ignorance of the cut administered to the wing.


Williams was at the back end of a good career so at least he can finish with a bit of respectability.
But as for Richards.

A disgrace.
A glittering career at Leicester Tigers, a formidable forward in his playing days, and now reduced to a cheat. A man who shamed the name of the game and reduced 1 of the worlds most famous clubs to a humiliating season end.

The thing that further annoys me is that his ban is Europe only.
He could still get a job in another rugby giant of a country.
South Africa
Australia
Kikwi's
Toga
Samoa
Fiji
or an emerging nation with high aspirations like the USA for eg.

So I urge the other countries if you wanna be a success do it of your own free will and accord............do it by your own ability. If you dont make it never mind, you at least did not cheat to get there.
Bugger off Richards, 3 years aint long enough...........tosser!

The Heineken Cup

Regular reader will know my passion for egg chasing.

This is the rugby union pinacle of European competition.
A tremendous competition.

However when stories like this emerge into the fold I kinda think the shine gets taken off it.

Harlequins winger Tom Williams has been handed a 12-month suspension after being found guilty of his role in fabricating a blood injury in last season's Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leinster.

OK bit of background.
If a player is substituted thats it cant come back on. However if you have a blood injury and have no subs left you can bring a sub player back on. The blood injury itself came about as a result of HIV and getting a player sorted out as a cut may not be seen as a reason to have the player off the field all game.

But having to fabricate it.........come on.

I mean its not the old soviet block in the late 70's olympics we are talking here.
We are talking about 2009 in a semi final.

What I find staggering is the fact the coaches were found not guilty but the club and the player were...............er how does that work?????

Still you cheated you lousy git.......you still lost....... you got a nice 12 months out the game where your form will go, you are a year older, less likely to be picked and have the honour of being found a cheat.

Oh and thanks for trying to ruin the reputation of one of the finest sports in the world......dont let the changing room door hit you in the ass on the way out.

I Am Proud...........Part 2

Further to my post on the Lions second test match yesterday.......the following little gem appears.

The Springbok coach apologises!!!!

Still a tosser!

I Am Proud

The second test match took place Saturday 27th and sadly ended with a last kick of the game defeat for the Lions at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in South Africa.

The Lions lost the 1st test the week previous but on Saturday just gone the loss was somehow harder to take.

The south africans set the tone for the match on 38 seconds with a blatant eye gouging by flanker Schalk Burger on the Lions Luke Fitzgerald.
Despite being seen by the touch judge who reported it to the referee, the referee bottled the descision and only yellow crded the South African.

A hastily arranged disciplinary panel on the Sunday gave Burger an 8 match ban.
So 2 years for smoking dope...............and for intentionally attempting to blind someone you get 8 weeks......hum how odd!

In all my days involved with the game the eye gouging offence is an immediate red card. Another example of a referee who bottled it. And he was French so no bias .....sorry French and British ooops silly me.

The Lions were in full control of match 2, as opposed to match 1, where the forwards went missing for the first half before showing up for the second.

A respectable half time score of 8-16 to the Lions the second half promised to deliver.............it did and for the wrong reasons.
The loss to injury of the 2 prop forwards meant non contested scrums as its a specialist position. The scrum and the forwards where at this point in total control of the Springboks. Then the loss of Brian O'Driscoll meant the 3/4 line was lacking its normal punch. The springboks took advantage.

The Lions in my opinion have played the best rugby I have seen them play in all the years I have watched. Indeed others say for some 35 years.

However cynical play by the current world champions who lets be honest are famed for there foul, dirty cynical play or as other would say cheating, is again the order of the day.

The Lions have lost by a whole 8 points on this tour infront of fanatical fans and blatant bias refereeing coupled with diirty and foul play.

I for one am proud.

However there is 1 test to go and although the series is lost there are a few scores to be settled next Saturday. That requires a referee of some character to oversee that.

UPDATE In a typical act of South African mentality the head coach in responce to Burgers ban by the hastily arranged disciplinary panel comes out with this gem of wisdom.....tosser.