Round 21

[fenlanderlady]

Tonymanx - Gaston and I can't both have our teams win this weekend!!

Waiting with baited breath for the team line up!

How are the secret Montpellier preparations going? (it's ok Gaston, you can whisper, no one will hear)...LOL

[gaston le gaff]

If i tell you i will have to kill you!!!!, no can do you will have to wait till Sat , its great being in control.he he ehe

[fenlanderlady]

Hmmmmmm - Oh the power if i was a betting lady i would place a small wager on the outcome of this match! Sure to be a very good game and a great atmosphere. Just hope that none of the Internationals (on both teams) pick up any injuries.


looks like my Saturday plans have altered again (and too late for a flight down to MHR neck of the woods) so my match will be Cambridge v Esher as my last work appointments will be in Cambridge so i think i'll toddle off and meet my friend Sally at the ground whilst Mr Quins is at The Stoop watching Worcester whoop the Hardly-wins!

[fenlanderlady]

Hey Gaston

Do you think our web forum hosts are trying to just add to our building excitement and anticipation by showing the prediction for MHR v RM92 as a win for 'Brive' ......LOL

I bet it gets changed now

But very amusing!

[gaston le gaff]

Colin gets confused now and again but he's a good guy at heart, the only think i can tell you about Sat's team is that we are staring with 15 on the park, and some of them are French !!!!plus its live on Canal + sport.

[fenlanderlady]

Colin is forgiven especially as he was writing for the local paper once upon a time.

Um Yeah - thanks for the 'insider info' on the MHR team! great, i'll email RM right now with the gossip! they had a long missive on their website yesterday regarding the game.

[TonyManx]

Colin correct on BO being incosistent but we have had serious injury problems to key individuals at crucial times - Balshaw, Traille, Yachvilli, Harinordaquy, Hunt and Barcella included which have contributed to that!

Have a sneeky hunch with Yachvilli, Traille and Hunt back from weeks out, that Toulon may be in for a little more than they bargained for but probably, even with a win, maybe too late.

What goes on with RM........everyone seems to have been suspended!!

[fenlanderlady]

Hey Tony

Good luck with your team this weekend - I think your hunch re: Toulon is a good one although their home record doesn't help matters - 12 from 12 home wins. But at least you have most of your internationals back for the game.

As for RM - not everyone - just a couple - and one of those for being silly enough to be taking controlled substances, what can i say - if you're daft enough to use the stuff then you risk getting caught but as a professionaly rugby player, its even more silly - someone like Gaston will always be testing for something (i mean that in a postive way Gaston as i beileve it is only right and proper that players/all sports people are clean)

And your Ref is Wayne Barnes i believe? Well i hope he performs in your favour too Tony?

[gaston le gaff]

it does not come any closer ,once again we kept our cool and smacked over the penalty in the last seconds, but we did deserve to win, with a little luck we could have had a couple more tries but Montpellier just love this heart attack style rugby. Not impressed with Simon Mannix very gobby from the touch line and never respects the area, was told countless times by 4th official to calm down!! Racing were very stero type using Steyn 's massive boot wth a good chase behind it, but not that entertaining to watch, my article should be on line sometime on Monday. Reception after match not bad got home about 2am, but worth every second. After match vestiare(Montpellier) just a little noisy, sold Chabals shirt at an after match auction for 4,100€ for heart foundation, excellent effort, along with Nallet's and clem Biacco,several thousands were raised, also sold the whole Montpellier kit, some pople have money to burn, but all for good causes and very done well by our President, we nearly had a few customers in the dying minutes for the same cause.
Great night and bring on Toulouse next Friday, maybe a touch harder, after their thrashing 29-0 against Stade watched by over 70,000 in Paris.

[TonyManx]

Congratulations and commiserations respectively!! Sounds like a good time and result has not done us any harm!!

Looks like I was very close to being right about the upset but, alas, it would appear that the only consistent thing about this season for BO, the porr discipline and consequent high penalty count, screwed us yet again....to give so many penalties and have two sinbinned at the end was criminal no matter the pressure.

I hope Yachvilli in on the bench on Sunday as he has only played one game since returning from weeks off and a full game would potentially be very damaging against the Italians........

[fenlanderlady]

At last i get an opportunity to comment about the game - been manic the last couple of days.

Well that was a close run thing Gaston?! And i'll have to take your word for it on RM's performance on the night but glad you got the points. I would rather RM had won purely from the point of view that with SF tumbling to Toulouse, we would have had a bigger margin over SF leading into the final weeks.

The post match auction sounds like it was a very successful event? And a very worthy cause as well - sadly as i do not have money to burn, I would definately have been unable to buy Chabals shirt, however i would have been happy to divest him of it....or Nallet for that matter.....LOL

And what about BO, your prediction nearly came true Tony, that too could have been a nice little upset for Toulon - and such a shame that it was all lost in the dying minutes - poor discipline at that late stage of the game can make or break the end result as we all know too well from seeing it happen time and time again.

Ok well we're off to Montauban this weekend and despite their lowly position, there is no guarantee that this will end in a positive result for us; Chabal et al back on international duty; SF are away to Brive and will be looking for a win to recover some dignity; Toulouse i guess will wish to build on their success last weekend and take on Montpellier (best buy a new kit for the game Gaston!) and BO away to Perpignan - good luck to the Basques, i'm hoping for a positive result for your team Tony (and no more sin binning!)

[fenlanderlady]

Excellent write up Gaston - no mention of any players stripping for the crowd though

[gaston le gaff]

We are off to Toulouse Fri night with all their stars in Paris and one or two injured you never know!!!!!!
Sat night we have our first International at Yves de Manoir France v Italia girlies, should be excellent I often watch are girls who are French Champions this year, the rugby is very good slightly slower but everything very skillfull and they fight properly as well.With abit of luck i should get a box invite plus banquet after match they normally look after chantal and myself very well. Will let you know the result, dont know how many will turn up but all the Ladies are invited and there is a one off price of 10€ for the boys, and with all the protocol, pomp and splender of the FFR it should be a great occaison.
Racing may find it very tough at Sapiac, never easy playing Montauban,they will have to change their tactics if they want to succeed and B.O, will find it difficult at Perpignan, who today have asked all the supporters to come along and help clear the pitch of snow plus they have to bring their own shovels, hope they at least make them coffee cognac afterwards for their services!!!

[gaston le gaff]

Sorry forgot to sat thanks for your comments on my article, kind lady from Cambridge even if your man does support Hairyquins!!!! i try my best, although i have never done this before, but i must admit great fun ,and get to interview the rugby world in general, which is fantastic.

[TonyManx]

Good having a Forum just for three of us!! Wonder does anyone else read it?

Fernlanderlady - thanks for the sympathy but self inflicted I am afraid. BO do not learn very quickly from their mistales and definitely have not learnt how to play a ref, in particular a non-French one! Tough game on Friday night against Perpignan but they said that about Toulon and we lost that rather than being beaten! Ufortunately, we will not have Yachvilli this week and that will make a diffference. We have two excellent youngsters coming through at 9 and 15 although the latter has a serious injury at the moment. Incidentally, the match is on ESPN about an hour or two after actual kick off........

Montauban will be fighting fit and it could well be a tough game for RM there without the internationals - you will recall that I do not rate Chabal so do not think he will be over-missed as he has become a bit of a show pony like Powell of Cardiff/Wales!!

Gaston - Feel that no matter how many internationals are absent Toulouse have that many more in reserve to come into the game!! Good luck but a tough one for you guys! Have a great time with the ladies international and watch the food....understand that food poisoning always possible there?!!!

Gaston

[fenlanderlady]

Hi Tony - i'm thinking that there are others out there its just a shame that no-one else contributes (or maybe my ramblings put them off!) Thanks for the tip by the way re ESPN - i'll see if i can pick it up somewhere as i don't have it at home. I already picked up that you didn't have that great an impression of L'Homme des Cavernes - but then i've followed the man through his career as well as a couple of other players; i actually have no time for Wilkinson or Bothwick.

Agree entirely with your thoughts on Montauban - this is not a game where the RM boys are going to find it a breeze; definately one of those meetings where giants can be toppled! In the meantime i'm keeping my fingers crossed for both BO and MHR to give their opponents a good run and hope for a positive result for both teams.

Gaston - credit where credit is due; for me it is good to read a match report in English for a French game; as i have said before, I can get by with my French - i can read most texts although sometimes need the help of a translator if i'm stuck on a word (although thats not usually that helpful as it throws the context or makes nonsense of a sentence); Envious of your opportunity to report for your team and be able to get the inside info of preparations and events. However roll on 19th March when i will be back in Paris then i can continue practising my French language skills (as i try not to speak english in whatever country i visit). I'm thinking that i will email Dan Scarborough and see if i can't link up with him to write an english page for RM - if nothing else, his family and friends might like to read about his career?

[gaston le gaff]

you should contact the Racing , the worse thing they can do is say no, but you already have a reference (me) and i'm sure Paris has just one or two anglophones here and there, and you never know what and where it might lead too, i'm doing something with the FFR at the moment but we are in very early stages so can not talk about it.
Great idea to speak the language of the country you are visiting that way you wont stand out with all the other Rosbifs searching for Kleenex's after they get their drubbing, mind you they have not beaten Scotland yet, could another piece of Paradis happen to this poor nation of wilting roses and broken chariots!!! My mate Brian Moore must not be a very happy bunny at this moment. Luv it!!!!!
Please dont take me serious when i said a result at Toulouse is possible, every dog is allowed a dream!!!!! ALLEZ MONTPELLIER, AND ALL THINGS FRENCH.

[fenlanderlady]

Well you know perhaps i might just do that! It can't do me any harm and like you say, may open up some other opportunities? Maybe i should just start writing something and sending it to see if they wish to take me up on the offer?

I am aware though that the parisiens can be somewhat insular about outsiders although to be fair, the people that live in the suburbs are very kind when it comes to my stumbling French. I will give it a go though and see what materialises!

The languages thing - last year i managed pleasantries and food ordering in Spanish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian, Polish, German and Swedish. Don't profess to speak any of them, just be able to say hello etc - doesn't do any harm and the reception that you get from trying to communicate in someone elses tongue pays dividends. On the other hand Mr Quins has been learning a few choice French words none of which you would say to your grandmother!

[TonyManx]

As you are in the UK, and if you are a sky subscriber, you can further subscribe to ESPN and watch it on your computer through SkyPlayer which can be downloaded off their web page and indeed have done this in various camp sites (with WiFi) in the Uk when I have not been able to get TV reception in the van.

Next year they are, I believe, going to have one Guiness Permiership match on their channel each week...shame really as they only play at French coverage and will do the same for the UK matches which are covered brilliantly at present by Sky who will see their coverage halved. If only Sky would take advantage by showing the French League as well.........

Agree with you re Borthwick and Wilkinson...and for arguments sake Care, Delon Armitage, Monye, Deacon and Payne are not international players, some permanently so and some only temporarily so!!

[fenlanderlady]

Cheers for the info Tony, Sadly no Sky in our household however finally in the next month or so we shall get broadband at home - so dial-up can be binned at last and then maybe i can get something sorted that way.

Generally terrestrial TV coverage of any rugby is limited to international events; ITV4 run a twice weekly round up of highlights from the previous weekends games but even then you don't get everything - and i needn't say really but if i followed the round ball game then i would have more choice than i could ever wish for practically every night of the week!

But i equally don't wish to see rugby going the same way as football and being dominated by high earning TV coverage affecting the quality of the game or dictating the way teams rely or become dependent on revenue based on airtime. At least the cost of attending a premiership game here doesn't have to break the bank - Mr Quins went to Quins v Worcester for £20, had a seat four rows back from touch line at the 22 and enjoyed a thoroughly good day. We did Sale v Quins last year for £17 each and had similarly located seats. Even lower level is a good day out for relatively little outlay - i think the Cambridge Uni games during mid-week are only about £6 - haven't been for a while though.