Shit in a teapot

Athena. London. Rugby Fanatic A football free zone. A tumblr dedicated to rugby.

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Pink grapefruit and toasted Silver Hills ‘Squirrelly’ bread topped with almond butter and dark chocolate, hemp seeds, buckwheat groats, pumpkin seeds and slivered almonds.

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I want to write a film and I don't want to talk about it

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The great Margaret Atwood writing The Handmaid’s Tale in Berlin, 1984.

(These days, her desk looks like this)

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Scotland's Problem with tries.

So after the painful match against Wales yesterday, I have come to a few conclusions about why, oh why Scotland cannot get over that bloody try line.

There is an inability to read the game. It's all very well and good learning a strategy and back game play but things could be completely different on the day. Yesterday Davies knew their strategy of throwing out to Denton and was prepared, EVERY TIME. Good teams do their homework, you have to be smarter

'We'll just get the forwards to heave it over when we get close'- I hate this attitude and now call it 'Doing an England'. It's a load of bollocks. Yes, we need the forwards to ground out a few metres but there comes a point when you have to take risks, pass it wide and give the backs a go to be clever, fast and sneeky. I even heard Dan Parks say ' We need to stop flinging it out when we get close'- I don't remember seeing this 'flinging' once, just endless pointless play with the forwards until a penalty was given away. Wales did not gain those tries yesterday by using this strategy, neither did France, Ireland, NZ, Australia...

A very specific mindset to Scotland is when the other team score a try, it means it's over. Things were pretty level at half time and then because of one try early in the second half, that was it. From this point on, Scotland did not and do not play as they start or can.

Viola!

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They've got white line fever

Jonathon Davies gives us the quote of the weekend

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Totally agree with the man of the match today, Lydiate was immense. Although we (Scotland) gave you A LOT of opportunities, Wales were pretty brill.

27-13

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Let's just call the England vs Italy game: THE ERROR GAME.

Never seen anything like it, literally scraping by.

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why cant you live closer, there are no girls who are into rugby like you are here, it sucks :(

Wait, where do you think I'm from? Aha, thanks though. :) x

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I'd really recommend this for any avid rugby readers. It's a bit blokey and laddish but paints the most painful picture of a terrible event. It also is a great insight into the deep cogs of the pro game and written so well (very un-sports-book like), a good read all round.

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Bradley Davis to miss the rest of the six nations with seven week ban for spear tackle.

I agree everything said in the video. There was such clear intent and both players were so far off the ball, it can't be mistaken for anything else. That's what makes it different from other similar incidents. Silly boy...

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"On reflection, after talking it over with family, I've come to the decision that now is the right time to retire."

Dan Parks quits international rugby.

This is a sad story especially after the mistake, expected him to come back fighting a bit more. Does not represent his career whatsoever.

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Huge boost for Ireland as Earls returns for French game.

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I don't care that he scored a try. Charlie Hodgson is absolutely useless and he doesn't even have youth in his defence. By now, they should have figured all of this out.

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Just digging up some old French flair.

Serge Blanco RWC 1987

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"It's a funny game. I enjoy, and I think you enjoy,"

After Leicester Tigers were thrashed in their round 5 game of the HC, Poite was criticised heavily for his refereeing particularly at the scrum.

There was quite an interesting exchange during the match going a little like this: "It's a funny game. I enjoy, and I think you enjoy," said Poite, to which Murphy replied quite frankly, "No I don't."

This guy may have been a bit of a joke or totally ridiculous but it is not the position of the players, particularly on the field to start moaning. It's childish and pathetic considering it was basically because Tigers were losing. Rugbydump, the source I got this from claims that 'Poite did a good job of defusing the situation and calming everything down for a bit, as well as allowing Murphy to to provide his blunt, honest response.' - Um no, Murphy is a player and does not need to provide his bleeding blunt response on the pitch. This is rugby, don't you know!

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Six nations with statistics!

Usually I'm quite averted to hardcore statistics regarding our beloved sport as I feel it tends to feel too mathematical and detailed that eventually it means nothing. However Tom Fordyce has just written an article with a fascinating take on six nations figures, giving us something to think about. This article is written as 'pub fueled banter'. I.E don't get too hooked up on them, provocative not predictive.

So basically on total victories, it looks like this..

1. France 39 2. Ireland 35 3. England 31 4. Wales 23 5. Scotland 13 6. Italy 7

He then goes on to do several tweaks, factoring in qualified players, players per country, available professional players and what I find particularly intersting: per £1m turnover which looks like this..

1. Ireland 0.71 2. France 0.53 3. Wales 0.393 4. Scotland 0.386 5. England 0.28 6. Italy 0.23

It starts to look quite interesting doesn't it? Eventually he comes to this table after all the tweaks and factors considered.

1. Ireland 0.27 2. Wales 0.16 3. Scotland 0.14 4. France 0.11 5. Italy 0.0933 6. England 0.0931

Great news for Scotland fans no? ;) They are punching well above their weight and what I think these figures do best is expose the RFU's stupidity and waste! (Not that at this point in time, they haven't already been exposed enough)

To finish we are able to analyse against the amount of tries scored..

1. France 140 2. England 139 3. Ireland 126 4. Wales 105 5. Italy 56 6. Scotland 53

So there we go, some really interesting things to think about but really the statistics are not for facts but just to give us something to think on and clarify our own thoughts. Have a look at the full article here