Dragon slayers V House Henson

[BaggyTrousers]

Leinster stuffed and Munster getting whacked.
A carlsberg weekend if ever there was one.

That's what I was saying earlier, the highlight being Mexico being dumped, I'd love to ask Healy does he think they took the trip seriously enough, my heart bleeds for that gobshite Nacewa

Anyway adding to the Carlsberg night I discovered a missed call on my way out and found 5 ould gowfing friends in the bar so stayed on a while.

By the way, the first half was decent against dross, the second half was what Richie Benaud would have described as lamentable.

Has anyone seen evidence that Tommy knocked the ball forward for Stockcube's 2nd joke try of the game? I'd be pretty sure it was but surely conclusive evidence is supposed to be seen, one way or the other, didn't seem to be there on the screens.

Now, all you folk (not FOLK) who almost shat themselves when the team was announced and before I brought some perspective to things, have you unbunched yer panties yet. TBP never in doubt since last Sunday when the Dragons ran the white fleg up the pole.

In dissing him for his stupid calls, may I congratulate FOLK for getting the selection about spot on for a change? Even if I abominate the presence of Heron who looked better against the Dragons 2s than he did against Armagh...............allegedly. Does anyone know the 19-year-old yokel from Armagh who comprehensively outplayed him?

[222toHounslow]

I know it's been said many a time that Charlie is a luxury player but by feck he's good.

[justinr73]

Leinster stuffed and Munster getting whacked.
A carlsberg weekend if ever there was one.

That's what I was saying earlier, the highlight being Mexico being dumped, I'd love to ask Healy does he think they took the trip seriously enough, my heart bleeds for that gobshite Nacewa

Anyway adding to the Carlsberg night I discovered a missed call on my way out and found 5 ould gowfing friends in the bar so stayed on a while.

By the way, the first half was decent against dross, the second half was what Richie Benaud would have described as lamentable.

Has anyone seen evidence that Tommy knocked the ball forward for Stockcube's 2nd joke try of the game? I'd be pretty sure it was but surely conclusive evidence is supposed to be seen, one way or the other, didn't seem to be there on the screens.

Now, all you folk (not FOLK) who almost shat themselves when the team was announced and before I brought some perspective to things, have you unbunched yer panties yet. TBP never in doubt since last Sunday when the Dragons ran the white fleg up the pole.

In dissing him for his stupid calls, may I congratulate FOLK for getting the selection about spot on for a change? Even if I abominate the presence of Heron who looked better against the Dragons 2s than he did against Armagh...............allegedly. Does anyone know the 19-year-old yokel from Armagh who comprehensively outplayed him?

TMO said the try was fine. Ref made him have another look, presumably because he was pretty sure one of Tommy's lovely fingernails got a piece of the ball but in no way did the footage shown confirm that.

Flew out of the blocks tonight. Job done. Top of the league.

[Cap'n Grumpy]

Has anyone seen evidence that Tommy knocked the ball forward for Stockcube's 2nd joke try of the game? I'd be pretty sure it was but surely conclusive evidence is supposed to be seen, one way or the other, didn't seem to be there on the screens.

I thought he had knocked on, but couldn't be sure until I saw Tommy's own reaction when the ref at first appeared to be awarding the try, and then when he did disallow it. Tommy was sniggering away and certainly didn't seem surprised or disappointed when it was chalked off.

Probably the right decision, but possibly arrived at more by good luck than good judgement on the part of the officials.

[BaggyTrousers]

Nelson had a good game at 10, but noticeabke that from the outset we were trying to run things from our own 22 which would have been high risk against a better team and also went for the corner early rather than taking points on offer and trying to build up a lead. Now that sense of adventure may be comendable and even sensible to some extent against a poor team like this, but nwe would not get away with that against better sides and it would even be risky away to teams like the Dragons or certainly Edinburgh or Cardiff. I wonder how much of it was down to a lack of trust in Nelson's kicking game?

Whilst the game was relatively easy when he came on, I actually thought Heron did reasonably well and showed some decent game management with his choices. I thought both of our 9's were inconsistent and got away with it because of the opposition.

Bart Bart Bart...................... Barty Bart Bart, FFFS against a better team we'd have had a goalkicker starting. This was never going to be more than one way traffic and in reality par of the course as my old friend Peter Aliss always said, 72 is a good score, level 4s. Dragons Light were worth putting 72 points on, so poor were they. We fell 20 points short of that and the second half performance was pisspoor, FFFS we even conceded a 100 metre try and a thing of beauty it was if you are a Dragons fan.

Kicking for the corner when you haven't a reliable kicker against 15 dustbins is the right option, no question.

That was what you expect from two weak selections, crap from our comedy first try to our dismal second-half performance. In terms of the coaches they'd probably have been satisfied if not pleased with the first half, if Jono was shaking his head at the end after that 2nd half I'm not surprised, it was woeful, a second joke try of the season from Stockcube then nearly a third, a lovely try from Timoney and wee Shanners doing a p was all we mustered.

Still, no "I'll tell me Ma", Mexico got busted and I met 5 old friends plus a good few current ones, sure where would you get it?

[BaggyTrousers]

Has anyone seen evidence that Tommy knocked the ball forward for Stockcube's 2nd joke try of the game? I'd be pretty sure it was but surely conclusive evidence is supposed to be seen, one way or the other, didn't seem to be there on the screens.

I thought he had knocked on, but couldn't be sure until I saw Tommy's own reaction when the ref at first appeared to be awarding the try, and then when he did disallow it. Tommy was sniggering away and certainly didn't seem surprised or disappointed when it was chalked off.

Probably the right decision, but possibly arrived at more by good luck than good judgement on the part of the officials.

I've little doubt it was the correct decision, my point simply that I saw nothing in the replays to confirm he knocked it forward, so in the same way as a try is often not given because they can't SEE a grounding, can you make a case to say we didn't SEE a knock on?

A minor technicality that tonight didn't matter a damn, but just say you got that call in a ball tightener that mattered. I certainly wouldn't be that magnanimous.

[Bart S]

Nelson had a good game at 10, but noticeabke that from the outset we were trying to run things from our own 22 which would have been high risk against a better team and also went for the corner early rather than taking points on offer and trying to build up a lead. Now that sense of adventure may be comendable and even sensible to some extent against a poor team like this, but nwe would not get away with that against better sides and it would even be risky away to teams like the Dragons or certainly Edinburgh or Cardiff. I wonder how much of it was down to a lack of trust in Nelson's kicking game?

Whilst the game was relatively easy when he came on, I actually thought Heron did reasonably well and showed some decent game management with his choices. I thought both of our 9's were inconsistent and got away with it because of the opposition.

Bart Bart Bart...................... Barty Bart Bart, FFFS against a better team we'd have had a goalkicker starting. This was never going to be more than one way traffic and in reality par of the course as my old friend Peter Aliss always said, 72 is a good score, level 4s. Dragons Light were worth putting 72 points on, so poor were they. We fell 20 points short of that and the second half performance was pisspoor, FFFS we even conceded a 100 metre try and a thing of beauty it was if you are a Dragons fan.

Kicking for the corner when you haven't a reliable kicker against 15 dustbins is the right option, no question.

That was what you expect from two weak selections, crap from our comedy first try to our dismal second-half performance. In terms of the coaches they'd probably have been satisfied if not pleased with the first half, if Jono was shaking his head at the end after that 2nd half I'm not surprised, it was woeful, a second joke try of the season from Stockcube then nearly a third, a lovely try from Timoney and wee Shanners doing a p was all we mustered.

Still, no "I'll tell me Ma", Mexico got busted and I met 5 old friends plus a good few current ones, sure where would you get it?

Baggy - i agree with you. I just sh1te me pants any time i see us starting without a goalkicker or a 10 whose kicking game is somewhat limited. Even against that Dragons team we may have been more conservative at the very outset if CL or PJ was playing.

I think with Nelson starting against anyone decent, we really need Luke Marshall playing in the centre, offering another kicking option from hand . Not dissing the Admiral who played well, but as we all know it was Dragons 2nds and Heron genuinely even looked decent against them.

[Bart S]

I am also hearing enough about how hard the players worked during pre-season and how different and better the coaching is to believe this is not just soundbites to the media. Of course that doesn't mean we are now brill, won't lose to a crap team or will actually win anything this season but things do seem to have changed for the better.

Still not convinced our pack without Marcel and a couple of others can be consistently competitive against the good teams and in some cases we remain one injury or absence away from Season Over syndrome, but.......things are getting better. Winning helps of course.

[BaggyTrousers]

Leinster stuffed and Munster getting whacked.
A carlsberg weekend if ever there was one.

That's what I was saying earlier, the highlight being Mexico being dumped, I'd love to ask Healy does he think they took the trip seriously enough, my heart bleeds for that gobshite Nacewa

Anyway adding to the Carlsberg night I discovered a missed call on my way out and found 5 ould gowfing friends in the bar so stayed on a while.

By the way, the first half was decent against dross, the second half was what Richie Benaud would have described as lamentable.

Has anyone seen evidence that Tommy knocked the ball forward for Stockcube's 2nd joke try of the game? I'd be pretty sure it was but surely conclusive evidence is supposed to be seen, one way or the other, didn't seem to be there on the screens.

Now, all you folk (not FOLK) who almost shat themselves when the team was announced and before I brought some perspective to things, have you unbunched yer panties yet. TBP never in doubt since last Sunday when the Dragons ran the white fleg up the pole.

In dissing him for his stupid calls, may I congratulate FOLK for getting the selection about spot on for a change? Even if I abominate the presence of Heron who looked better against the Dragons 2s than he did against Armagh...............allegedly. Does anyone know the 19-year-old yokel from Armagh who comprehensively outplayed him?

TMO said the try was fine. Ref made him have another look, presumably because he was pretty sure one of Tommy's lovely fingernails got a piece of the ball but in no way did the footage shown confirm that.

Flew out of the blocks tonight. Job done. Top of the league.

Yes me old Lionel, but are we having a laugh? I had plenty, the first being Marshy's brilliant pass for the first try, but not many rugby related. I thought it was pretty dismal from 30 minutes onwards, we were at least 20 pts short of what we should have scored out there and whilst you can say, well doesn't matter 5 points, performance matters and for most of that stroll we were far from good.

I attended games there since the late fifties, early 60s and whilst there may have been a worse team as opposition, I honestly can't remember who it would have been.

[Cap'n Grumpy]

Has anyone seen evidence that Tommy knocked the ball forward for Stockcube's 2nd joke try of the game? I'd be pretty sure it was but surely conclusive evidence is supposed to be seen, one way or the other, didn't seem to be there on the screens.

I thought he had knocked on, but couldn't be sure until I saw Tommy's own reaction when the ref at first appeared to be awarding the try, and then when he did disallow it. Tommy was sniggering away and certainly didn't seem surprised or disappointed when it was chalked off.

Probably the right decision, but possibly arrived at more by good luck than good judgement on the part of the officials.

I've little doubt it was the correct decision, my point simply that I saw nothing in the replays to confirm he knocked it forward, so in the same way as a try is often not given because they can't SEE a grounding, can you make a case to say we didn't SEE a knock on?

A minor technicality that tonight didn't matter a damn, but just say you got that call in a ball tightener that mattered. I certainly wouldn't be that magnanimous.

Not disagreeing with any of that - as I stated, "arrived at more by good luck than good judgement."

Really want to hold judgement on the ref until I have seen a replay of whole match, but general impression was that at times he seemed to be looking to help protect his compatriots from a heavier drubbing. Maybe I do him a disservice, and on a night like tonight it really didn't matter, so one-sided was the match, but on another night against other opposition it may well have made a difference. Perhaps on another night he might not have made the same decisions though.

As I said though, maybe I do him a disservice. If and when I re-watch the match, I may be back to apologise ... and no,it won't be a sign of weakness.

[Cap'n Grumpy]

I am also hearing enough about how hard the players worked during pre-season and how different and better the coaching is to believe this is not just soundbites to the media. Of course that doesn't mean we are now brill, won't lose to a crap team or will actually win anything this season but things do seem to have changed for the better.

Still not convinced our pack without Marcel and a couple of others can be consistently competitive against the good teams and in some cases we remain one injury or absence away from Season Over syndrome, but.......things are getting better. Winning helps of course.

Of course it does, and long may that continue, but let's not forget that we won our first five last season and that didn't help in the long run.

[Cap'n Grumpy]

I attended games there since the late fifties, early 60s and whilst there may have been a worse team as opposition, I honestly can't remember who it would have been.

Borders?

[big mervyn]

My impression too Grumps. He let Dragons away with an absolutely blatant crooked line out throw when they were trying for a TBP at the end there.

[justinr73]

Well yes but the way we blasted them out of the water with our reserve half-backs is encouraging, as is Treviso's form since we only managed 3 tries against them.

Anyway, good night sir. Gotta buy some wedding rings tomorrow and then get to Rosslyn Park in time for kick off.

[BaggyTrousers]

I am also hearing enough about how hard the players worked during pre-season and how different and better the coaching is to believe this is not just soundbites to the media. Of course that doesn't mean we are now brill, won't lose to a crap team or will actually win anything this season but things do seem to have changed for the better.

Still not convinced our pack without Marcel and a couple of others can be consistently competitive against the good teams and in some cases we remain one injury or absence away from Season Over syndrome, but.......things are getting better. Winning helps of course.

My turn to agree with you Bart, I was saying to friends before the game that I think I've detected enough hints to say I think that both forwards and packs are showing more than last season and the signs are that they may well be showing signs of better coaching. It was obvious last week with a far from full pack but I've seen enough to suggest Peel has some plaudits due also.

I suggested that tonight might show if systems are in place & will work irrespective of all the changes. It looked that way for 30 minutes but then all turned to muck.

So no, not brill by a long way, but I tell you this, we've been blessed with the fixtures and need to put another 5 points in next week. What worries me is that that is the second time a not very good side have scored 3 tries at Spanners this season, I genuinely think we've a problem with our defence coach.

I assume that tonight would be Bakebook Heaven, if only the band had been there.