Stalins Organ

Yeah - different casings - from Wiki: I cant' help but think that the material chucked up from a ground burst crater might have been rather significant tho - which is what I was meaning. ther's some figures about cratering here that suggest a 10 Mt blast might generate a crater of 1,490,000 m3

Only those serving in the Aussie forces like Quade....

You wouldn't have to worry about anything eelse from then on! Interesting it is supposed to detonate on the ground - I wonder how much fallout a 9 Mt ground burst would generate??

Yes the refs used to be completely biased - South Africa had an apalling reputaion, and I believe there's a chapter in a book about the 1905 AB's tour of the UK where they note that the ref's walked the field in 3 piece suits and walking shoes, couldn't keep up, and blew penalties to slow the game down - our problems with Nth Hemisphere refs have a long history!! I watched 2 replays of the game yesterday, using slo-mo on a digital recorder, and in each case the close up shots of the front rowers who were penalised clearly showed the offender as being the 1st to buckle. The only obviously dodgy call all match was a lineout throw in the 1st half that probably wasn't straight - but that's the Assistant referee's call, and possibly it didn't deviate until it was past the lineout and low to the ground (jsut by way of excuses ). The French complained that time was taken to get Cruden off the park but not when 1 of their forwards was down - which ignores that Cruden's injury was exactly where a scrum was going to have to be taken, while the French forward was half a field away from the lineout that the ref told them to get on with. Also time went off when the French #10 went off even though he was nowhere near play. the French also complained that they had all the pressure on the AB's, but didn't get the penalties that they "deserved" - but you don't get penalties for applying pressure - you get penalties for the other guys screwing up, and if they don't screw up then you don't get any penalties, and there were simply no obvious penalties that were not given. There was nothing else on TV that was even remotely strange. What was noticeable was the number of tacklers who were obviously rolling away & players obviously letting go of the ball when they were off their feet (from both sides) although there were a couple of penalties each way for failing to do so. also I read somewhere that the AB's gave away exactly 1 penalty for hands/not rolling away in the semi final vs Australia - don't know what the Aus count was - maybe someone is actually teaching the top teams the rules & it is getting through??

Woodcock was $40 for a try, and $100 for the first try!! As for the reffing - Bollocks - as everyone told us 4 years ago, and as we learned to do - get over it!

Cheap shot? McCaw coming across the top & the #10 lifts his head into the way - it was accidental - get over it!! You obliviously missed the knee into the AB #8's head that wasn't actually in a ruck at all - but never mind - 4 MORE YEARS!! Wipu is a fill in kicker & IMO the last 2 games showed that - he stepped up when needed, but the management made a mistake giving him the duty at the start. The first line in hte local press is fair I think:

Yeah - the rugby wasn't all that great.....but there was a heap of tension for the partisan crowds of both sides. Nice to see the AB's not buckle under pressure and keep their breathing passages open And of course knees to the head were even and no ankles got stood on Again a lot of points squandered in missed kicks - the AB's 11 points I think - 3 Penalties & a conversion - the French 6 from 1 Penalty & a drop goal. And some irony or poetic justice that it was Stephen Donald who scored what ended up the winning penalty given he was vilified here for poor performances last year - essentially losing 1 test with a late game penalty clearance that failed to find touch that Aus scored a try from. Not bad for the 4th string 1st 5/8

The main thing we're looking for here is that the AB's play a good game - if the French do bring out their AA++ team and play better we can live with that - well I can at least. Worst case scenario - after all the plaudits the AB's play like idiots and the French play marginally less worse to win. Or the ref decides that game :/

No it's not OK to double spear tackle anyone - and IIRC no-one actually ever said it was...I certainly don't see anywhere where I said so?? But that's OK - feel free to keep the blinkers on..... Jamie Joseph is the AB you are thinking of - back in 1993 - and you guys tell us to "get over it"?? But again I don't see anyone saying it was OK - you seem to have this chip on your shoulder that whenever an AB does something bad therefore the whole of New Zealand thinks foul play is OK - dunno where you got that from - perhaps it is the case for your players and attitudes....over here we tend to grimace and wish it hadn't' happened because people like you go all sill over it. Sorry for your psyche, but AFAIK no-one indicated in either case that they were intending to do those as part of a game plane, a couple of days before the game. I'm sure with your even handed approach to foul play you'll spot the difference, and also of course be happy the IRB is coming down harder on it

So apparently the French are going to deliberately stomp on McCaw's ankle tomorrow night?? I think if here's any perception by the crowd of that happening they might only make the team bus with broken ankles themselves!!

Why would anyone want to interview you about Gaddaffi?? But regardless - 1 down...still a few dozen to go....

Interesting - so they want it to be able to be kicked out & retain possession, which you can't do with a free kick. Perhaps just change the laws so a Free Kick can be kicked out outside the 22 (atm you can't - the other side gets the throw in back at the point you took the kick from same as any other non-penalty kick out on the full)? If they want to stop penalties and replace the scrum with a minor sanction then that would probably be enough - the team in possession can choose to take that possession at the point of the scrum, or take a distance advantage and give away possession with the option of contesting. FC's are mainly for scrum and lineout infringements, so I think that would be a useful change.

And of course Aaron Cruden's rise to fame has been quite impressive.... Can you guess what he was doing over the last few weeks leading up to Saturday's test?? He had 'em licked Nek minit

And in actually important news.....Kleeburger shaves his beard, and Warren Gatland, Wales coach, thought about faking an injury to one of his tight 5 to avoid his scrum going backwards - apparently he thought losing a loosie was a problem for the push too..... And the IRB is so incensed he didn't cheat they are going to investigate him!! Meanwhile the minnow nations might actually have an important say in who is the next head of the IRB ....nice for them to have a bit of clout for a change!

Pick a game...any game - they all hae their arcane rules - even AFL which has plenty going on - why do they bounce hte ball?? why do they hit it to each other? What are the tackle rules & what's with them grubbing around on the ground??

Way back when rugby started, a try was worth nothing - except it gave you a chance to kick a goal - ie you could then "try" to kick a goal - and yuo won by having more goals than the other guys. This is also why the "extra point" in american football is officially called a "try" - originally they had hte same system - touchdowns were not worth anything, only the goal or converts kicked afterwards. I think the modern preponderance came about a bit before Johnny Wilkenson - after all the Saffa's won both their world cups without scoring any tries in either final & Aus only managed 1 try in 1991. IIRC it came about in the 80's, when it was much easier to defend than attack - there were fewer rules at the ruck and so defending teams could REALLY slow down attacking ball. Increasing the points for a try to 5 was an attempt to improve the situation, as you say, as were the ELV's from a few years ago that are now part of the official rule book and attempt to improve the attacker's chances of getting quick ruck ball.

IIRC teh Canadians scored a great try from one that came down about 1/2 metre from the try line 26 points is still 13-26 times as many as you see in most soccer games......

The "new" Haka is "Kapa o Pango" - which literally means "All Blacks" (kapa = group, as in "kapa haka" - a performing group, and pango = black/dark) is a haka specifically created for the All Blacks in 2005 - I remeber seeing it on TV when it was performed & being surprised by it. "Ka Mate" is an old haka - possibly even predating te Rauparaha who is it usually credited to from the early 1800's. The AB's have performed several haka over the decades as per the first link above. Haka are supposed to be about the group performing it - about them, their challenge, etc. te Rauparaha's one is well known.....but not really about rugby, or a game, or the AB's. Being white is no longer an issue for a haka in New Zealand - no more than being a convict is a requirement to enter Australia

huh?? There is the ability to make it a yellow card - if you read the article I linked to you would see that. They are under instruction that it is a red card, automaticaly, if the tackled player is driven into the ground, or droppped. If neither of those 2 things happen then they can give a yellow.

That'll do me - even if Cooper did start playing properly

Only 8 pts in it - far too few vs a Wallaby team that's perfectly capable of coming out with a much better 2nd half than 1st......but better the AB's 8 pts up than behind! Thanks o Quade & Pocock for helping the AB's so far - hope they keep it up!

Oh, right - their sub prop - a man with a mere 26 caps, is so freakin' useless they might as well have had my grandmother (bless her departed soul) playing the position.....

Well that didn't last long... They drafted the centre for their own scrums...defensive or offensive - to make sure they got their own ball as I saw it. They didn't bother on the French put in. and if the flankers don't help with a bit of a push then the Welsh scrum must be utter crap because they got shoved around quite a lot after he left.....hmm..??

Do we....?? really?? sure you aren't just out fishing??

And the IRB's notes on interpretation: From Stuff article Sad - but apparently the only possible response - the Welsh payer says he had no intent to injure - but that is irrelevant.