"Ya, might have mentioned that the oiks in the press give the family a hard time." "How far do you think I could throw that little fellow?"
Romanian rugby fans may well look back wistfully at the glorious days of the Ceausescu regime when the Oaks beat Wales, Scotland and France twice each, as well as running the All Blacks close in 1981. Probably not, though. Continue reading
No wonder that Georgian lad tried to break his arm at the end of it
The Mole was in Bordeaux four years ago when the French neutrals got behind a Georgian team threatening to upset Ireland in the group stages. All you could hear in the velodrome that night was “Georgie! Georgie! Georgie!” Continue reading
Injury-plagued monster once again plagued by injury monster
Ted has had to go home. Scans of his dickie shoulder were sent to specialists back in England and it was decided that his World Cup dream was over. ESPN scrum.com has more: Continue reading
Lawes was cited for a knee-strike on Puma hooker Mario Ledesma in the England vs Argentina group match on Saturday. He pleaded not guilty, but Australian beak Terry Willis disagreed, and sent the big lad down for two weeks of hard labour. Continue reading
Zen master points automaton Jonny Wilkinson had a hard to believe off day with his place kicking. Fortunately for the White Orcs, temporarily decked in black, so did Dr Phil and full back Rodriguez. Argentina missed most of their kicks before England did and it is difficult to see how England would have come back from a 12 point second half deficit. There have been a lot of missed kicks so far in this tournament and it will be interesting to see if kickers get more used to the new Gilbert ball as the games progress. Continue reading
Maradona heads one in against Angleterre in a typically unemotional sporting encounter between the two countries
England don’t have many options but to pick a huge pack, and they haven’t veered very far from the form book. Continue reading
Sayonara, old boy. England rugby player gets accused of being arrogant. So what’s new?
Whaddaya mean 'one-dimensional'? I can do happy AND sad.
Manu Tuilagi – arnchajusickovim? The Rosbif press have a habit of hyping their players out of the stratosphere at the first sign of international accomplishment. Maybe all national rugby correspondents are guilty of it, and we just pick on poor old Angleterre; certainly the Irish rugby media have never been slow to sing the praises of Keith Earls or Luke Fitzgerald. However, I think it’s fair to say that no Northern Hemisphere rugby press is quicker to acclaim or to damn than the hacks of Fleet Street and Wapping. Continue reading
Someone else has to drive home though, I left my keys at the palace ... and I've been banned from driving for three years.
“We have got to be careful. It is a different world to what it was 20 years ago. I remember going to New Zealand as a British Lion in 1993 and the boys had good fun but they have got to be careful not to put themselves and their team-mates at risk.” Continue reading
Digging Like a Demented Mole 