British and Irish Lions

Why not?

One of the things that I can never get my head around is this view that it's a hugely dangerous game, or that being on a rugby pitch is a particularly intimidating environment.

The sport is really, tremendous fun. Freak injuries can occur of course but they're pretty rare.

Besides, if one of the * get hurt they can always just go to their posh doctor

 

Dont really know, ive done a bit of MMA and Boxing in my time and played a bit of GAA so i think i could handle it ok.
Litilary no one around where i live would play Rugby simply because it is known as a 'protestant' sport, which is stupid but is the way it is.

 

Fair enough

For a pretty popular sport on a national level it is completely alien to some parts of the country, much like cricket in Scotland.

If you've done some hard sparring or fought in boxing/mma the rugby field would be pretty easy.

I remember as a kid in early secondary school lining up against guys with facial hair from some of the posher places. :smiley-laughing002: cheating *

 

yes but what its become now is no more than a promo tour, a money spinner for sponsors. I cant see why the pick of 4 countries cant beat Australia, I mean Ireland beat them in the world cup not so long ago, rugby union is way down the list in Australia, I don't get the hype - its media driven hype.

besides that rugby is an awful game to watch, there is absolutely no skill involved in the game, its the bigger and stronger you are, throw the ball sideways, try and make some ground to get to the try line, its so tedious. rugby league is a bit more enjoyable to watch. but in union I think a lot of the rules are to the referees discretion, you see people in the crowd with ear phones tuned into the referees microphone so they know the reasons what decisions are given for, like if they cant spot a foul clearly in fairness?!!

I was only speaking about rugby in Ireland where its played by and followed by a so called elite class, the private school, yaght club, tennis playing types, generally, since the celtic tiger its been the in thing to do and followed by wannabe's who havnt a clue. the company I work for have season tickets to thomand park (munster rugby), some of my colleagues go to the games with their missus and a group of friends, they wouldnt know a rugby ball if it jumped up and bit them, its keeping up appearances really, the pretence that they still have money, they wear shades while sitting in the stand in the height of winter taking pictures of themselves at the rugby and tweeting them and putting them up on facebook while they are at the game, tagging their location etc...its sickening pretentious bullshit if you ask me and if they think that people cant see through them then they are even bigger fools!

 

Hope New Zealand hammer them

 

tbh you sound like someone who has a bit of a chip on their shoulder about the subject.

There is skill involved at the top-level of every sport. Rugby is no exception. If it's a question of pure athleticism, then why didn't Dwayne Chambers succeed in even playing a first team game?

 

I would normally like to see the british lions lose. But listening to all the moaning and crying in the Irish media with headline like this "the entire nation is hurt, insulted and aggrieved on BOD's", I am tempted to want to see the lions win. The blanket coverage the media give rugby in Irelnad does not reflect its popularity.

 

I was only speaking about rugby in Ireland where its played by and followed by a so called elite class, the private school, yaght club, tennis playing types, generally, since the celtic tiger its been the in thing to do and followed by wannabe's who havnt a clue. the company I work for have season tickets to thomand park (munster rugby), some of my colleagues go to the games with their missus and a group of friends, they wouldnt know a rugby ball if it jumped up and bit them, its keeping up appearances really, the pretence that they still have money, they wear shades while sitting in the stand in the height of winter taking pictures of themselves at the rugby and tweeting them and putting them up on facebook while they are at the game, tagging their location etc...its sickening pretentious bullshit if you ask me and if they think that people cant see through them then they are even bigger fools![/QUOTE]

There is certainly too much hype around test rugby these days (blame our friends at Sky for that). I didn't realise that rugby was perceived like that in Ireland, I watched a couple of the Leinster Heineken Cup finals and ended up drinking with a few Leinster boys and had a great time, they all seemed very down to earth. Likewise I was over for the England game in Dublin in February and was drinking with some lads from a local rugby club (whose name escapes me) who were sound, and they were also talking us through the GAA stuff that was on TV in the pubs, they seemed to support that as well.

 

My lad boxes, and anyone who can train like boxers and can step into a ring, would be able to handle the physical side of rugby fine.
They are plannig a 'dads n lads' day at our boxing club where I'm sure a few dads will be expected to step into the ring, I'm dreading it!

 

I would thing you have to be strong to play any sport, as for big?
Off the top of my head I thought of 4 world class players who weren't tall (I had to go to Wiki to see what their actual height was)

Jason Robinson and Rory Underwood at 5' 8"
Jonny Wilkinson and BOD at 5' 10"

Hardly giants, specially when you consider some of the monsters in the 2nd row.

 

Cricket is a complete unknowen in Ireland, i actually dont know where the closest club would even be.
I dont know so much if it was hard sparring or just ended being a punching bag for some of the Polish lads :smiley-laughing002:

I am happily retired from MMA/Boxing :smiley-laughing002:
Its a good buzz tho, didnt do it for too long at all but enjoyed it.
Haha just keep swinging the haymakers you will be grand

 

Cricket btw is a great day out. I'm off in a couple of hours down to Taunton for the big local derby Somerset (bunch of * carrot crunching Bristol City fans) v Gloucestershire (more sophisticated city dwelling Rovers fans). It's a roasting hot day, all tickets are sold, and there aren't many better things in life than being sat in the sun, having a cider and watching cricket (apart from the fact they will beat us which is always a bit of a downer).
I don't know about throwing haymakers, I was planning on taking a dive early in the first!

 

I don't have a chip on my shoulder at all, maybe im just associating rugby with a certain type of individual, which is probably generalising. but rugby is a serious bandwagon in Ireland and bandwagoners who are busy trying to keep up with the jones's, its pathetic which I cannot stand.

skill? not really, remember that flick that simon zebo did in the 6 nations v wales I think it was this year? the whole country nearly creamed themselves for a week over it. I suppose in the context of rugby it was skillfull but to be fair it was really a thing of nothing. the only skill in rugby is ball handling and throwing the ball behind yourself. the out half is a kicker other than that, its just a physical game.

 

I'm not much of a motor sport fan (F1 bores me shitless), and I commented to an F1 loving mate that it was just some blokes going round and round a track really fast. Knowing I was a football fan he said 'and football is just 22 blokes kicking a bag of air around', his point being that just because you don't enjoy a particular sport, it doesn't mean it has no merit, and he was right.

 

If this is a Deans reference, he renounced his citizenship when he took over that mob...

Figuratively, at least.

 

F1 bores me too but there is huge skill levels, nerves of steel and concentration required, 1 wrong move and your a dead man. theres skill required in football too, theres so many ball skills in the game I don't know where to start. rugby, there is no skills other than throwing the ball and bad kicking, the rest is just physicality.

 

Thing about it this way. Look at the skills of two very different sports, golf and boxing.

The skill of hitting a small ball into a small hole a few hundred yards away is pretty * high. But then if you can do it in practice by yourself, it should be relatively easy to then apply it to a game.

Boxing in the other hand has a relatively simple skill set. You could probably learn how to throw a jab reasonably well in a few hours. Put that same person in a competitive bout and that jab would be useless to them, they would forget how to even throw it.

Application of a skill is important, passing a ball to someone a few meters away from you probably isn't that difficult. Try receiving it from another player and passing it on while the whole time you're being closed down by half a dozen 200lbs + men and it becomes much more difficult.

 

Go the Welsh...

 

Rugby is an absolutely * dreadful sport, I'd rather watch paint dry.

 

Here you go enjoy.
[ame="http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PqmBpXxWZYs"]10 Minutes Of Your Life: Watching Paint Drying - YouTube[/ame]