Yes, he started out as a fly half, in the days when 6 feet 15 stones fly halves were not the norm.

IRB Young PLayer of the year at 19, beating Clement Poitrenaud.

An odd request , I know, but do you or anyone remember the name of the Welsh scrum half who was alleged to have invented the scissors movement. this was in 1957/58 and he was at Oxbridge, Very strange name and later became the President of the Wales RFU, Who was he> He never playrd for the Lions and must have retired very young.

Yes, it was Dai Scissors.

No, sorry, no idea! It'll be interesting to know though.

I just cannot think of his name. There were two guys who played for Oxford and Cambridge in about 1957 in the Varsity match.

I can look up any cricket match on the net , but rugby no way, even Lions games are not on the net

Jason Robinson is returning to play for 2nd division side Fylde RFC. http://msnsport.skysports.com/story/...279927,00.html

Good on him.

Wales RL to play Italy home and away before defending their ENC title in the autumn.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugb...ue/8854437.stm

Just booked a visit to Paris for a Racing Metro against Saracens. £126 for flights and a hotel for 2 nights!! Not bad I thought.

ITV retain rights to host World Cup for 2011 and 2015

I'm pleased, as I like ITV's coverage of the tournament. It was the 1991 WC that got me interested in rugby

sure the BBC would have a great job (minus adverts), but sometimes they throw the kitchen sink at their sports coverage

They "borrowed" Barnes and the sky lot didnt they??

I wonder if they will borrow Greenwood to?

The guy i was thinking about was Onllwyn Brace

http://www.scrum.com/statsguru/rugby...ts;type=player

I did read that he and a fly half at Oxford invented the scissors movement. I have managed to find a rugby site on the net which gives players details, but not much else.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onllwyn_Brace

Not been on this thread for a while...


I know BBC would do a good job, But been Impressed with ITV. Although I wished in 2007 they done all coverage in France, instead of the lazy London studio option, it's not as if France was other side of the world.

Although a year away, I wonder what ITV will do. Craig Doyle, their rugby man, may well have gone as his contract with ITV was up in June. I hope Jim carrys on and does it. Bayfield is so dull and should not be used to present. Good to get someone like Angus Scott back in Freelance.

Problem lies with Commentary, if they don't get Harrison and Barnes again.

Jon Champion is permanently off to ESPN Now to cover the footy (I doubt ESPN Will loan him out to go NZ). As Taylor is past it, (he was in 2003 for the final, but never mind) and they had Bob Symonds too, again err...


So If they get or don't get Harrison/Barnes, it's a case of who else? Martin Gillingham maybe as he is freelance, but they need at least 4 main commentators.

So ITV Who can you use...

On another note the Womens World Cup starts friday with England tip[ed to be potetial winners. My new coach is playing in this!!

Exeter unhappy about parachute payments rule


how is that fair?

It's about as fair as The Championship has been for the past several seasons. Promotion, no promotion, primacy of tenure, ground facilities etc.

They simply cannot stop dicking around with the rules in order to maintain the 'big' clubs in the Premiership.

Remember a few seasons ago, when Bath nearly came down? There was some sort of dodgy goings on to stop the Championship side going up if that happened. In the end it didn't and they were happy to let Leeds come down.

Cecil Duckworth's also had a pop about the Championship playoff structure. Hmm, he didn't seem concerned about it last season.

I think English rugby needs a dramatic overhaul. You are dead right I remember the year you are talking about utter disgrace.

I actually believe we need regional rugby and centrally contracted players.

2 north of England teams.
3 midlands regions teams.
1 south east team.
1 team from each north, south, east and west London.
1 Cornish team.
1 team from Devon
3 South West covering Gloucester, Bath and Bristol.

Or something like that, controversial I know but if Wales can do it then so can England. Then we create a franchise with England players available to be be selected when needed.

The great thing about the English game is the league structure. Lets take your 3 Midlands teams. Leicester and Northampton obviously due to infrastructure at the grounds. Then who? Worcester?
What about the likes of Nottingham. Bedford? They are both successful championship sides. Have they got the structure for promotion? Maybe not, but the Bedford head coach last year was asked about promotion in the local press during the play-offs.
He basically pointed out his job is to get the team winning on the pitch. The finance/infrastructure is the boards issue.
Maybe in Wales, Ireland and Scotland the franchise system has worked. But in England there are clubs in big towns that would not follow a 'regional' franchise. But without a league system allowing a shot at the big time those clubs with no where to go will lose support.

Also Northampton sell out fixtures on a regular basis. So even if all 2,500 Bedford supporters went to follow the regional team at Franklins Gardens we could not all get in!
Below the Championship is Cambridge, a lot of the people who follow Cambridge would love to be in The Championship (and I am sure once their, would want to build to Premiership standard).

I think this thread should stay as the official Rugby (Union) thread.... seeing as we're still posting here

anyway more news folks

2011 Tri-Nations to end 2 weeks before RWC

so is this a good thing or bad thing

momentum going into the tournament or knackered teams who run out of steam?

So , the All Blacks clinch the Tri nations with two last gasp tries to steal the game against the Boks in Soweto. Blatant forward pass missed in the build up to Mcaws try , which went to the video ref and he got the benefit of the doubt IMHO. Ball seemed to be grounded at exactly the moment his foot went into touch and I thought it wouldn't be given.
The sort of good fortune that usually comes back against New Zealand in World Cup knockout matches
14 test wins on the bounce for them at the moment. They could break the world record they hold with the boks of 17 when they come up to the NH again in November.

The Tri Nations players seem to have so few games in a season compared to us up North , that I don't think it'll make any difference.

Actually Lithuania hold the record with 18 test victorys........... they won their 18th on 26th of April 2010 beating serbia..........I know it's not the same standard but it's in the record book.

Anyway enough of my pathetic pedentry. The All Blacks will get a lot of confidence from this win. A tight game where they were behind for large periods of time and yet they got a win. Good thing to draw on in the world cup. Forward passes and feet in touch aside.

One good thing about it not being the BBC is that John Inverdale will be nowhere near. The bad thing is that the presenters will somehow mysteriously forget there are four home nations playing and it will be England this and England that. England not playing that day? No problem as ITV will cram as much footage of the England camp into the pre match build up as they can. Mind you the BBC have selective amnesia too.

ITV's coverage is no different to the BBC's, or even Sky's in my opinion. All very professional, polished and normal. However, it's the exclusivity of the thing which makes it special. When you hear that localised version of World in Union, the Guinness sponsorship breakbumpers, the unique scoreboard etc... you know it's World Cup time!

Leicester bans players from Twitter

speaking as a saddo who uses Twitter (having previously slagged it off), it is quite useful for finding out what players are up to.

having said that I can understand why clubs would be angry about players revealing sensitive information before official press releases. I think a few years back an Australian cricketer got into bother for revealing he'd been dropped for a game.

Horrific news from South Africa
http://www.timeslive.co.za/sport/rug...death--reports