Funny. Even funnier in conjunction with this:Zou bisou bisou. Mwah!
The Mole is a fan of Mad Men, AMC’s breakthrough show that chronicles the goings on at a Madison Avenue advertising agency during the golden age of American capitalism. The main protagonist is Don Draper. Women want him and men want to be him. While the show revolves around Draper’s character, the Mole’s favourite is Roger Sterling; insouciant, charming, funny and often drunk. How can you not like the guy?!
The Complete Footballer
The Dutch are credited with creating the idea of ‘Total Football’, where each player could perform the roles of others on the pitch and therefore understood the requirements of the team. If ever there was a player who encapsulated the idea of ‘Total Rugby’, it was Zinzan Valentine Brooke.
Continue reading
The Mole just got a lot more excited about ‘The Rugby Championship’/Tri-Nations + Guest [with thanks to @HarpinOnRugby and @rugbyonslaught] – great to see Serafin Dengra feature so prominently, the best Argentine forward of the 1980s and a bit of a VHS icon in Mole Towers!
The Chiefs celebrate their semi-final win over the Crusaders. They were beaten finalists in 2009, and will be looking to win their first ever Super Rugby title in front of their home fans in Waikato Stadium against the Sharks tomorrow.
One of the pleasures of a Saturday morning this year has been to get up early, brew some coffee and watch the Chiefs play in the Super 15. Continue reading
Roger Wilson bursts through a gap for Northampton. The two-time Ulster Player of the Year has returned to his home province, having spent four busy years with the Saints. It will be interesting to see if his performances in the white No8 jersey can push him forward for international contention, or if there’s too much track worn off the tires.
Roger Wilson: since making his debut for Ulster as a 21-year old in September 2002, the Belfast-born No8 has played an enormous amount of professional rugby. In five seasons with Ulster he played 116 games [101 starts] and since moving to Northampton at the end of the 2007-08 season he hasn’t let up, playing 117 games [108 starts] for the Saints. In total, he has played 46 Heineken Cup games, all but one of them from kick-off.
How many tests for Ireland has he played? One. Against Japan. Seven years ago. Continue reading
Chris Henry predicts the number of minutes he’ll get off the bench for Ireland next season.
What looks like having been the sole dog day of the summer fell a month to the day after Ireland’s dismal 60-0 drubbing. Continue reading
The idea that test matches are a neat block of matches played at one level, with Heineken Cup games forming another distinct grouping a step down from that in intensity, speed, skill levels, physicality, time allowed in possession and tactical appreciation – and Pro12 matches a discrete block a further notch down from those Heineken Cup games – is one to which The Mole doesn’t subscribe. Continue reading
Name the Boks! All three of these players STARTED against New Zealand in Wellington in the 2011 Tri-Nations Test.
Dexy’s [relatively] recent article in the Irish Times made the point that “… Ireland have used 46 players in their 17 Tests in this unrelenting [2011-12] season. As this tour underlined in abundance, Ireland don’t have 46 Test players.” Continue reading
Sure, there are a lot of moving parts in a team and they all have to do their job, but some are more vital than others.
Many moons ago, when the Mole was a nipper and student transport offered only two options – the heel-toe express or the push bike – to get to training or school or any of the other ‘priorities’ of our young lives, he learned all about the linchpin. Uniquely shaped [square at the top and tapering smoothly within its two inches to a round threaded base], the linchpin connected the crank-arm of the pedal through the centre of the big cogs of the front chain ring to the joint of the frame where the seat tube met the down tube. It seemed insignificant in the overall use of a bicycle: it wasn’t a wheel which covered the ground, and it wasn’t a pedal which took the weight. But without a linchpin, the bike wouldn’t go. You couldn’t apply power and you couldn’t cover ground. Continue reading
The single currency uncannily mirrors Declan Kidney’s stock as an international coach. Cause or correlation?
It’s rare enough that The Mole finds himself in agreement with the Indo’s porcine hack, but one look at the most recent signings by all four of the provinces would convince you that the various branches of the IRFU aren’t singing from the same hymn-sheet. You’d imagine that Declan Kidney is looking at his paymasters in the IRFU and wondering just what the f*ck they’re doing. Continue reading
Digging Like a Demented Mole 