England vs All Blacks

[Parson Henry]

Is Steve Thompson any good?

I know precious little about RU so assume that aside from throwing the ball in at line-outs (where he is crap) he is good being in the scrum.

Can someone explain?

 

[Parson Henry]

Come on....someone must know!!!

 

[Barrel of Fun]

He is great and relatively pacy for a big lumbering forward. I would be tempted to say he is the best hooker I have seen play for us and I started watching late 80s

 

[B.M.F]

Great hooker, ball carrier and scrummager but has to be one of the worst line out throwers I have seen. If he could sort out that part of his game we will have a very good chance of retaining the RWC

 

[Parson Henry]

He is great and relatively pacy for a big lumbering forward. I would be tempted to say he is the best hooker I have seen play for us and I started watching late 80s

Can't we get someone who throws straight to do the throwing then?

 

[Grendel]

Very few players come near him. On his day he's the best in the world. His throwing is diabolical but he's a solid scrummager and fantastic in the loose.

 

[London Irish]

Is Steve Thompson any good?

No. London Irish won our only cup in our entire 108-history because that eeejit was playing for the opposition. But his nearest rivals Mears and Titterell are deemed too small, so he plays.

Mealamu is also small but that didn't stop him crunching Thompson in the scrum over and over again on Saturday.

 

[B.M.F]

Can't we get someone who throws straight to do the throwing then?

Not allowed mate. for some unknown reason it is in the rule book that the hooker has to take the lineouts.

 

[Seasider]

Can't we get someone who throws straight to do the throwing then?

In theory yes, there is no law against someone other than the hooker throwing, the big problem would be who? as hookers generally throw the ball they are the only ones that practice it a great deal.

Easy to blame thomo but alot of lineout ball is lost when the opponent reads your jumpers and gets infront of them making the job of hitting your jumper exceptionally difficult

 

[Seasider]

Not allowed mate. for some unknown reason it is in the rule book that the hooker has to take the lineouts.

No it's not

 

[Parson Henry]

In theory yes, there is no law against someone other than the hooker throwing, the big problem would be who? as hookers generally throw the ball they are the only ones that practice it a great deal.

Easy to blame thomo but alot of lineout ball is lost when the opponent reads your jumpers and gets infront of them making the job of hitting your jumper exceptionally difficult

So why don't we do it to the other team?

 

[Simster]

To be honest, the lineout is the shittest bit about rugby union. It seems to me if you're clearing your lines, you can simply boot the ball out of play and give yourself a fairly good chance of then winning possession miles further up the field for free, by winning the lineout.

 

[Seasider]

So why don't we do it to the other team?

From recollection we did manage to steal a reasonable amount of ball from the aussie lineout. The aim is generally to get your jumjp up unopposed hence all the semi fake dummy jumps, switching positions in the line etc.

 

[Grendel]

To be honest, the lineout is the shittest bit about rugby union. It seems to me if you're clearing your lines, you can simply boot the ball out of play and give yourself a fairly good chance of then winning possession miles further up the field for free, by winning the lineout.

Not really. Unless the oppositions jumpers have a real shocker, you really shouldn't be winning more than 10% of lineouts against the throw, if that.

 

[Simster]

Not really. Unless the oppositions jumpers have a real shocker, you really shouldn't be winning more than 10% of lineouts against the throw, if that.

Yet teams do, frequently. I'd put money on the suggestion that 10% is a massive underestimation. My point is that - given the fact that one team has (more often than not) delberately kicked the ball out of play, it seems unfair that a line-out gives them a fighting chance of winning it back immediately in a more attacking position.

 

[London Irish]

Yet teams do, frequently. I'd put money on the suggestion that 10% is a massive underestimation. My point is that - given the fact that one team has (more often than not) delberately kicked the ball out of play, it seems unfair that a line-out gives them a fighting chance of winning it back immediately in a more attacking position.

Somehow, and I still can't figure out how, England won the World Cup with Thompson just winning 75 per cent of his throw (that rate is bloody good for him).