15 entries found with tag rugby.

Invictus. Good film, bad poetry!

The 1995 Rugby World Cup Final is one of my favourite sporting moments. Mainly because Francois Pienaar, in the midst of the glory of winning, gets down on his knees to thank God. He also then leads the team in prayer. The film did actually portray this, but here's a clip of the actual event.

In complete contrast to this sentiment, the film focuses on William Ernest Henley's poem Invictus. It concludes, "I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul." Who can honestly believe that?

Tags: rugby, Invictus, prayer

Australians all hate England

This is what Australian Rugby Union chief executive John O'Neill said ahead of today's Rugby World Cup quarter final.

When people say stupid things, I think it's important to work out whether it was out of character. Perhaps in this case the thought of revenge has clouded his judgment. Certainly what winning in sport is all about would be lost on someone who harbours such sentiments. Question is, will he be big enough to apologise?

Related: Australia, rugby

Argentina pummel France at home

The sound of booing from eighty thousand French fans could be heard only eight minutes into the opening game of rugby world cup 2007. It's now the day after and I don't think they've stopped yet.

This tournament was supposed to resurrect some pride in a nation still reeling from sporting failures such as losing the bid to host Olympics 2012 and last year's disappointment in the football world cup. They were the bookies' favourites after the (four-more-years-boys) All Blacks. Surely the group is now Ireland's to lose?

Rugby World Cup wallchart

***Discount rugby kits and equipment***

The Cricket World Cup is over, but there's another one on the horizon - Rugby World Cup 2007. Get your wallchart (excel spreadsheet), check the fixtures and clear your diaries!

***Make time lapse vids with a webcam***

By the way, the creator of this spreadsheet, Aaron Heath, has a whole selection of other wallcharts which can be found on his site.

Tags: rugby, World Cup, spreadsheet, wallchart

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Jonny Wilkinson's Injuries

Saturday will see JW in his first England match since the World Cup final in 2003! Below is a list of the injuries that has caused his long absence. Stay well Jonny!

Nov 2003 - Fractures a facet in his shoulder on the way to World Cup win
Dec - Suffers a recurrence of his shoulder injury

Feb 2004 - Sees a specialist who says he needs an operation on his shoulder
Oct - Ruled out for up to six weeks with a haematoma in the upper right arm

Jan 2005 - Knee ligament damage
Mar - Medial ligament damage to his left knee - the same knee from January
Jul - Suffered a 'stinger' in his arm and shoulder area
Sep - Appendix operation
Nov - Major operation for groin problems

Jan 2006 - Tears adductor muscle
Sep - Knee ligament injury
Nov - Kidney damage

Related: rugby, injury, Johnny Wilkinson

Six Nations rugby practice

Here are some online rugby games for you to play with to get you in the mood for the upcoming 6 Nations tournament.

Rugby Sevens World Cup

The Rugby Sevens World Cup in Hong Kong this weekend was awesome. It was nice to see here who Melrose Cup winners the Fijian team credited with their win.

Tags: rugby, World Cup

What's wrong with this photo taken a few hours ago of welsh rugby captain Gareth Thomas? Is it that his jersey says "Brains" on it? Not what I was thinking originally but good guess... no, I'm sure he's very bright... (Brains should sponsor a certain London premiership football team for a laugh though.) Wales won against England at rugby?! It can't be true!

Related: Gareth Thomas, rugby

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Not singing any more

In light of yesterday's performance on the rugby field, I feel the need to put this photo up (again).

England 53 - 3 South Africa

All I can say is that we deserved it; those South Africans were just too ill-disciplined. That tackle on Jonny Wilkinson was about a month late. Oi, Springboks! Who's yer daddy!?
Bring on the World Cup! Right now you could cut me and I'd bleed rugby...

England 32 - 31 Australia

Man, that was a good match. I was fraternising with the enemy again like last weekend, shouting at ~~them~~ their team... I couldn't help it, they were so weak! Tell me, was there or was there not an Aussie on the ground injured almost every single time there was a break in play? I mean come on. This isn't schoolboy rugby. But what I love most about the whole thing is the way Wilkinson nowadays just kicks the opposition into submission. Always, straight through the middle between the uprights. Simple. Effective. Yeah baby!

Tags: England, Australia, rugby

Got some new running shoes yesterday so training for the marathon can begin! (...tomorrow... if it's not too wet... and if I wake up in time to leave an hour or so before the rugby match versus the Aussies...)

Related: marathon, rugby

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Really looking forward to the Rugby match versus the All Blacks on Saturday. We're going to deck them. Just to educate myself I found out what the Haka actually means in English today. Now that I know it's a load of nonsense it's hard to take it seriously! But apparently there is a proper explanation and history to it.

I'm going to watch the match with a bunch of Kiwis which will make victory oh so sweet. It's the Alpha weekend away down in Eastbourne and three of the people in the group come from New Zealand. In fact there are loads of them in church. Anyway, we're going to do Eastbourne and check out all the old people. I've been warned that because most people down there are over 75 they whack the heating in the hotel on full blast! Had better start packing a few t-shirts...

See also: England, rugby, haka, All Blacks

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