Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
There have been occasions when I've wanted to mention some tidbits I found interesting, or quirky or funny, but they didn't warrant a thread on their own.
If you have some things along the same lines or trivia just whack them in here. They may not be of interest to anybody else but you never know – give it a go.
This thread could be short lived, but let's see.
Here are some recent things that have been interesting for me:
Referees
• Wayne Barnes [Munster v. Edinburgh] - “Crouch – Touch – I'm still waiting for the touch – Pause – Engage.”
• Peter Allen [Munster v. Dragons] after the respective no.8s Leamy and Bearman had a physical difference of opinion. “If you two have got things to discuss I'll give you 10 minutes over there to do so.”
Players
• George Smith was the best player on the park playing for Toulon away at Clermont last weekend, He ended up playing scrummie because Mignoni had been substituted, then Henjak got injured. Late in the game he gave this horrible bounce pass from the ruck which fellow Aussie Brock James from Clermont knocked on into the hands of a Toulon player to score and earn a losing bonus point. George will claim it was part of his plan.
Earlier in the game Clermont and Canadian 2nd rower Jamie Cudmore got his 21st yellow card in French rugby.
• Nemani Nadolo was signed by Exeter (the same team that Noodles Kimlin played a few minutes for) from Burgoin in February. He has his first start last weekend against Northampton after getting 3 tries for their A team 2 weeks earlier and coming from the bench a week after that against Gloucester.
He had a top game in a terrific win for Exeter, who were promoted into the Premiership for 20010/11. A couple of times the Saints guys were double-teaming him and that helped others to make breaks. They were scared of him. Once the Saints 12. Downey threw his body at his legs and turned his back before impact rather than tackle him. Then almost halfway through the second half he chased a box kick, jumped up looking into the sun and grabbed the ball out of Reihana's hands, then gave a deft pass to another Fijian, 12. Naqelevuki, to score.
Commentator Ben Kay raved about his great hands which made me sit up, but then a few minutes later he dropped an inside pass on the run and the rugby universe was back in alignment. Before then he actually looked like a footie player; good on him. He's a crowd favourite already at Sandy Park: every time he got the ball he got oohs and aahs.
• Incidentally, in losing. Northampton racked up 100 days since they had won in the AP. Sure they don't play in it every week when the test matches and Heineken Cup games are on but they were leading the comp before the slump.
Commentators
• Talking of Fijians folks may remember the Manly lock from years ago: Simon Raiwalui. As a young bloke he played for Oz Schools with the likes of Roff and Tune but as a senior he represented Fiji for many years. He's closer to 40 than 30 these days but is still playing: now for Racing Metro, in Paris, after stints for Sale and others.
Anyhow, he does some gigs as co-commentator of Top14 games for Eurosports with Robbie Nock. They don't tell you this but they do nearly all their commentary from the Paris studio looking at a monitor, which is handy for Simon. He is articulate and very good value, as is the Racing backs coach, Simon Mannix, who fills in sometimes when available. The French kicking coach is another co-commentator sometimes. He's an ex-Puma and drops some interesting info on French and Argentine rugby.
One thing I like about these Top14 commentators is that they are not backward in bagging the referees when warranted - and that is often.
If you have some things along the same lines or trivia just whack them in here. They may not be of interest to anybody else but you never know – give it a go.
This thread could be short lived, but let's see.
Here are some recent things that have been interesting for me:
Referees
• Wayne Barnes [Munster v. Edinburgh] - “Crouch – Touch – I'm still waiting for the touch – Pause – Engage.”
• Peter Allen [Munster v. Dragons] after the respective no.8s Leamy and Bearman had a physical difference of opinion. “If you two have got things to discuss I'll give you 10 minutes over there to do so.”
Players
• George Smith was the best player on the park playing for Toulon away at Clermont last weekend, He ended up playing scrummie because Mignoni had been substituted, then Henjak got injured. Late in the game he gave this horrible bounce pass from the ruck which fellow Aussie Brock James from Clermont knocked on into the hands of a Toulon player to score and earn a losing bonus point. George will claim it was part of his plan.
Earlier in the game Clermont and Canadian 2nd rower Jamie Cudmore got his 21st yellow card in French rugby.
• Nemani Nadolo was signed by Exeter (the same team that Noodles Kimlin played a few minutes for) from Burgoin in February. He has his first start last weekend against Northampton after getting 3 tries for their A team 2 weeks earlier and coming from the bench a week after that against Gloucester.
He had a top game in a terrific win for Exeter, who were promoted into the Premiership for 20010/11. A couple of times the Saints guys were double-teaming him and that helped others to make breaks. They were scared of him. Once the Saints 12. Downey threw his body at his legs and turned his back before impact rather than tackle him. Then almost halfway through the second half he chased a box kick, jumped up looking into the sun and grabbed the ball out of Reihana's hands, then gave a deft pass to another Fijian, 12. Naqelevuki, to score.
Commentator Ben Kay raved about his great hands which made me sit up, but then a few minutes later he dropped an inside pass on the run and the rugby universe was back in alignment. Before then he actually looked like a footie player; good on him. He's a crowd favourite already at Sandy Park: every time he got the ball he got oohs and aahs.
• Incidentally, in losing. Northampton racked up 100 days since they had won in the AP. Sure they don't play in it every week when the test matches and Heineken Cup games are on but they were leading the comp before the slump.
Commentators
• Talking of Fijians folks may remember the Manly lock from years ago: Simon Raiwalui. As a young bloke he played for Oz Schools with the likes of Roff and Tune but as a senior he represented Fiji for many years. He's closer to 40 than 30 these days but is still playing: now for Racing Metro, in Paris, after stints for Sale and others.
Anyhow, he does some gigs as co-commentator of Top14 games for Eurosports with Robbie Nock. They don't tell you this but they do nearly all their commentary from the Paris studio looking at a monitor, which is handy for Simon. He is articulate and very good value, as is the Racing backs coach, Simon Mannix, who fills in sometimes when available. The French kicking coach is another co-commentator sometimes. He's an ex-Puma and drops some interesting info on French and Argentine rugby.
One thing I like about these Top14 commentators is that they are not backward in bagging the referees when warranted - and that is often.
