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Re: Congratulations To Joe Launchbury

Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 8:37 pm
by Mid A 15
rockfreak wrote:I'm still waiting for a reply from you so-called rugby experts out there as to why the flaming ball never goes into the set scrum straight! Any Brian Moores out there with an astringent view on the subject??!!!
My personal theory is that Rugby Union has absorbed much from Rugby League since the advent of professionalism. Defensive strategies for instance (fifteen aside has become increasingly like seven aside and Rugby League in the way the players line up). Rugby League scrummaging has long been a joke with blatant "feeding" of his own hooker by the scrum half and the scrums are nothing like the "set scrum" you mention. As Union scrummaging becomes more and more problematic for "'elf and safety reasons" the same trends have crept in.

EDIT: I should add that I do not consider myself a "rugby expert!" Just someone who played the game into his thirties and follows international rugby on the television rather than live as ticket prices have become so exorbitant.

Re: Congratulations To Joe Launchbury

Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2014 5:23 pm
by tub
Re: Congratulations To Joe Launchbury
by rockfreak » Wed Apr 16, 2014 2:12 am
Re: WPC (Beaky) Davies - he was England's centre partnership with Jeff Butterfield if I remember. I think he was the beef in the sandwich (you'd have remembered that if you'd seen him) and the late Butterfield was the dummies and dodges.
WPC Davies - ran with a slightly forward lean, with the prominent beak amply balanced by the prominent bum. We watched every term-time game on Johnny’s TV, and I was lucky enough to go to Twickenham for a couple of games. I didn’t know Beaky personally, but my recollection is that he was a really nice guy and very popular.

This makes it all the more galling that my main recollection of his play is that he had a tendency to drop some non-too-difficult passes. I was always very proud to wear the uniform, as we did at Twickenham, but the many cognoscenti around us knew exactly where he and we came from and they could be quite unkind. However, from bitter experience, standing up for Beaky was child’s play compared to being an Essex supporter and trying to defend the indefensible – the Trevor Bailey run-rate.
By the way, a question for you rugger ******* out there. When at school, if I'd put the ball into a set scrum the way they put it in now in internationals, the whistle would have gone every time. I can't remember the last time I saw one go in straight and sometimes it seems to disappear straight through the feet of the loose-head prop. Does anyone ever get a heel against the head these days? Have the rules changed?
David - as a guy who would have been trying to hook your input – I also watch this with absolute incredulity.

Re: Congratulations To Joe Launchbury

Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2014 11:41 pm
by Mid A 15
A shame he will miss the autumn internationals because of injury.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/n ... rnationals

One hopes he will be back fully fit and raring to go for the Six Nations and then the World Cup.

Re: Congratulations To Joe Launchbury

Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2014 12:21 pm
by J.R.
Mid A 15 wrote:A shame he will miss the autumn internationals because of injury.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/n ... rnationals

One hopes he will be back fully fit and raring to go for the Six Nations and then the World Cup.

One of the perils of the sport, I'm afraid.

Re: Congratulations To Joe Launchbury

Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2014 9:46 pm
by rockfreak
Rugby is getting incredibly physical with an increasing number of head, neck and shoulder injuries apparently. And the players are retiring much earlier - just as in football. It's sacrilege to say it, but is it all getting a bit too serious? Is there something to be said for the old amateur ethic??? That's why I enjoy my own sport of climbing (apart from the fact that I was on the small side for contact sports). A rope and protection gear, choose your climbing partner, and the crags of the country are your oyster. And the crack in the pub at the end of the day is almost as important as the climbing. Money rules everything these days, doesn't it. And Rupert Murdoch is never far away from the money.

Re: Congratulations To Joe Launchbury

Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 8:15 pm
by rockfreak
Further to my last post, I read in the sports pages recently that one England forward finds it hurts to shampoo his head the day after a match, and Wales's Sam Warburton has such dodgy knees that he hangs onto the banisters when climbing the stairs. He's 26.

Re: Congratulations To Joe Launchbury

Posted: Mon May 18, 2015 10:59 am
by John Saunders
I am glad to see that Joe is back from injury. He played well on Saturday. Now for the RWC. JHGS

Re: Congratulations To Joe Launchbury

Posted: Mon May 25, 2015 10:50 am
by onewestguncopse
Tipped to be an England Captain and one of only 4 players considered world class in the current squad - by a pundit in the Times whose name escapes me.

Has CH ever had an England Captain in any mainstream sport - by that I mean Cricket, Football, Rugby, Hockey or Netball. We are National Champions in some minor sports (Fives) and many sports do not have Captains (such as Tennis) - hence my mentioning these as prime examples.

Re: Congratulations To Joe Launchbury

Posted: Mon May 25, 2015 1:58 pm
by John Saunders
Did J.A.Bailey captain the cricket team? Was he not President of the MCC? Other Captains in sports were D.R.W Silk Cambridge and Somerset. Also Rugby Blue. ? Dingle President of the CUBC. Is netball classified as a main sport?

Re: Congratulations To Joe Launchbury

Posted: Mon May 25, 2015 7:18 pm
by HowardH
Neither Jack Bailey not Dennis Silk ever captained the England Cricket team. I believe that Dennis captained the MCC on at least one overseas tour.... note, not England.

Re: Congratulations To Joe Launchbury

Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 2:45 pm
by Mid A 15
"Our" Joe was one England player able to hold his head up following the disappointment of England being eliminated in the World Cup group stages last night.

Superb catch and pass to Watson for his try and his general all round game was good too.

Re: Congratulations To Joe Launchbury

Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 5:13 pm
by HowardH
I was there, Andy. Joe's first start in an interntaional match since New Zealand in June 2014 was a strong reminder of the length of time needed for full rehabilitation from injury in the modern game. I certainly thought he was the pick of our players - a view confirmed by correspondents in three of the main Sunday papers, though strangley not by eddie Butler who would not include him in an England team for the 6 Nations in February.
I have no doubt that we will fare very well in Japan in four years time, but we need someone with the insight, experience and fierce determination of Jonny Wilkinson on board.

Re: Congratulations To Joe Launchbury

Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 6:32 pm
by rockfreak
A letter writer to the Guardian has obviously sat through the recent England vs Ireland match with a stopwatch because he informs us that, out of the 80 minutes play, only 37 actually involved open play, i.e: handling movements, rucks and mauls. The rest was taken up by set pieces, collapses of set pieces, balls out of play, ref lecturing miscreants, lengthy television monitor playbacks, etc, etc.
And now on the subject of schoolboy rugby and injuries, two other letters give an opinion: "Compulsory schoolboy rugby was certainly unpleasant, standing around in the mud and rain. Still, it was never dangerous, provided of course that one stayed well clear of the ball. That was where all the trouble was."
And someone else questions the whole game. "What is the point of bringing the game to a standstill and compressing the players, and the ball, into a postage stamp. As for the strategy of kicking the ball off the pitch..."
My main remembrance of house rugby (apart from requirement to put ball into scrum straight) was believing that I could make a name for myself by making a death or glory dash for the line round the blindside. I was quite small but pretty quick and maybe I thought they wouldn't see me. They did. Their back row broke and nailed me every time. After I'd gone down under a heap of bodies a yard from the line for the umpteenth time and my backs were getting agitated, NT Fryer (the same) shouted, "If you want to be in the scrum Redshaw you can be in the wretched scrum!" And he dragged some fat lunk out of the second row and put me there instead. I discovered that actually it was the warmest place to be on a cold afternoon as long as you didn't mind your ears being rubbed off and people farting in your face. But I didn't bring much weight to the pack so we got wheeled every time.

Re: Congratulations To Joe Launchbury

Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 7:40 pm
by HowardH
On another note there are two very good articles in Saturday's edition of The Guardian. One is on the sterility of the modern game (I have been saying that for years!) and the other is on the tetchy subject of qualification to play for a particular country, Both articles are well worth a read.

Re: Congratulations To Joe Launchbury

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2016 12:07 pm
by Mid A 15
Appointed captain of Wasps for 2016/2017.

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/ ... n-11761502