The Dew Drop Inn Virtual Rugby Pub, Ballycastle Bar, Hong Kong.

First topic message reminder :

Hello and welcome to the Virtual Rugby Pub, a place where you can come in for a sly beverage and discuss whatever's on your mind, or just eavesdrop on the regulars if you fancy a break from all the rugby chat.

The pub has made its way to Hong Kong, host city for the British & Irish Lions first Tour match before their arrival in Australia - land of the Giant Budgie Smuggler.

So grab a beer, cider, whiskey or wine.... or a warm beverage and sit back and enjoy the rugby.

                     

The only rule in this pub is one of mutual respect for everyone in it, oh and no tampering with the pictures of Rory Best, Sam Warburton, the Limavady Luge Team, Papa Rodders, Mrs Rodders and our newest & sweetest member, Katelyn.    

last Pawb: https://www.606v2.com/t43001p1000-the-dew-drop-inn-virtual-rugby-pub-pyongyang

Look at Beckham. He retires and you can't get a decent debate on him as a footballer. In a few years time the consensus will settle.

Wilkinson is a very significant rugby player. New Zealand had developed first nine seventeenths who could kick to win games and distribute standing flat. However Wilkinson did those things AND was the cornerstone of the whole team's defence. The Holy Trinity were so good because they trusted him as the first line of defence. Their reputations would not be what they are now if they had ROG or Aled Thomas behind them.

If he was doing things no other player could do, I wouldn't have a problem. But he isn't doing anything all that remarkable at all. Against Saracens in the semi final, you'd be forgiven for thinking no one had ever kicked a penalty before.

Absolutely beeeeeautiful day in Belfast.

Just met MEFC and mrs MEFC. Lovely!

Scotty!!!!

How's you?

The hairy bikers are some craic

Pete330v2 wrote:Helloooooo Y'all from sunny, warm Ireland. Three words that are unusual in the same sentence.

How's things here in the glorious 606 pub these days.

Scotty bud! Good to see you. Hope all's well on Planet Scotty

Evening anyone and everyone.

Alright there Cari.

Looks like the 'Diff is gonna be getting some nice weather over the next few days.

I might have to support the Baa baas in Saturday. Three Waspies in the line up and coached by Dai. I'll wear a Wasps shirt for the day I guess.

http://instagram.com/p/Z9BAssEcgP/

Hope that link works. Couple of great tshirts arrived for the tour today, which are bound to get me in trouble but still. Lovely hand written note came with them wishing me good luck for my travels which I thought was a nice touch!

Bore da pawb / good morning all, thank Bounty it's Friday!

Good work on the t-shirts, Willy!

Bore da Pawb-sters.

I had a little discovery tour near where I now live. About 1.5km away. It was a perfect last day of autumn... quite warm for this time of year!

They've got this amazing Japanese Garden complete with a large lake, tea house, waterfalls. Also a Reflection Pool, Scented Garden, Rose Garden, Australian Native Garden, Fauna Reserve, Aviary, a Billabong (pictures came out fuzzy so I left them out) and a few roos, wallabies, emus... and well fed ducks and geese.

Note the albino "Red-Necked Wallaby"... true, that's what they call them! It stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the emu but my crap phone camera had trouble with all the light reflecting off the little fella.

Auburn Botanic Gardens

Looks beautiful, Breaker. The colour of the water!

Yeah, it looks surreal. Must be chlorine, no? Maybe not... just colour of the base of the ponds?

There was a very Japanese feel about it with the autumn leaves... but then you break out into the Aussie 'bush' again with it's distinctive aroma.

Those football fields are out the back. In this general area... we have about 50 of them. No kidding - mostly soccer, but also league, aussie rules, a really nice cricket ground with white picket fence and old granstand, bowling greens, tennis courts. It's out of control!

It's great that there's such a demand for football pitches. I suppose the climate helps!

Ready for the Lions tour, then? You've got a few regs coming over, haven't you?

Question: is there a difference in size, posts etc between RL and RU pitches.

Same size Staggy. Except for the "22" (the 20m is the 'quarter line' in RL) they simply divide it into 10m sections (just bars on the side) and only the half-way and 20m are painted across the field.

By the way, I asked the girl about Featherdale. She told me that they have a greater variety of animals and they are easy to pat because they were mostly born in captivity. Apparently you can pat the emu there which is quite unusual because they are quite timid birds. That funny sound they make (heard it again today)... it's like they are sending sound waves into the ground to scare out bugs... and then they pick them off. The roos were so lazy... just sunning themselves. They really love stretching out on those pebbles - like big hopping cats!

Great stuff Breaker.

Looking forward to our first 606 Meetup in Australia!!

OK so its just me, you, Hound (and now Rugbydreamer!!). Never know we might run into some of the others out there.

A few of us are going climbing Sydney Bridge on the 7th July so looking forward to that too.

Morning all.....gorgeous day here in Cardiff!! Getting excited for the match tomorrow now....got a pretty good weekend coming my way too so all round!!

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:It's great that there's such a demand for football pitches. I suppose the climate helps!

Ready for the Lions tour, then? You've got a few regs coming over, haven't you?

Hound & Stag for one... plus how many others? An old BBC 606 chat buddy from 2007? will be here too. We keep in touch through FB.

I think also bluesmancometh is coming over. He wants to go for a surf... in winter? He needs to be very careful! It can get very rough and cold when the weather turns.

red_stag wrote:Great stuff Breaker.

Looking forward to our first 606 Meetup in Australia!!

OK so its just me, you, Hound (and now Rugbydreamer!!). Never know we might run into some of the others out there.

A few of us are going climbing Sydney Bridge on the 7th July so looking forward to that too.

That's my Mum's birthday. By the way - she offered to cook you guys are really nice roast meal (NZ style)... you're all welcome. She lives in the Northern suburbs... very nice area. We can kick a ball around beforehand at Lindfield Oval - where Stirling Mortlock, Cameron Blades... and yours truly used to play. We can work out a time - then hot foot it into the City after dinner. Takes about 20 mins (or less on a good night) and a spectacular view as you come down towards the Bridge. It would only be for a few hours if you are interested.

Breaker, I may very well take you up on that. It would have to be the 7th July as our Sydney schedule is pretty tight.

We arrive in from Cairns on 4th July. Some of us are going to Featherdale/Blue Mountains on the 5th and we have our dinner in Nicks that evening. 6th is obviously match day and we depart on 8th July. So 7th it would have to be though if its your Mums birthday she may have other plans.

She has no plans. If you can squeeze it in on the 7th that would be great - I can pick you guys up from the hotel late arvo/early evening, and we can head back when the night is still young. If we decide to go on a booze binge, I'll just park the car somewhere safe and pick it up the next day.

I realise the schedule is tight. Anyway, let the others know the offer is on and it would be a different experience - and you'd save a few $ too.

I think it sounds epic. I'll mention it to the others.

Ah, the Tahs lose at the death.

Season was over early on in the season anyway. They were leading the Crusaders 10-22... then lose on the bell. 23-22.

Linebreaker wrote:Ah, the Tahs lose at the death.

Season was over early on in the season anyway. They were leading the Crusaders 10-22... then lose on the bell. 23-22.

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:

Linebreaker wrote:Ah, the Tahs lose at the death.

Season was over early on in the season anyway. They were leading the Crusaders 10-22... then lose on the bell. 23-22.

Now to knock the Blues off the wildcard spot. I had that feeling a few weeks back.

How many years is it now? 10 I think...

Linebreaker wrote:

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:

Linebreaker wrote:Ah, the Tahs lose at the death.

Season was over early on in the season anyway. They were leading the Crusaders 10-22... then lose on the bell. 23-22.

Now to knock the Blues off the wildcard spot. I had that feeling a few weeks back.

How many years is it now? 10 I think...

For the Tahs winning you mean? Not sure. Last time the Crusaders missed the playoffs was 2001 - and that heralded the unbeaten season in 2002. The 'Tahs finished runners up on the points table in '02 despite the 96-19 thrashing in the last round.

17 seasons of Super rugby, and the 'saders have missed the playoffs 3 times - 1996 (stone dead last), 1997 (6th) & 2001 (10th).


Kieran Read missed the 2nd half with a neck injury which is a worry for the 1st test next week, and Dominic Bird apparently didn't look great when he came off.

I renewed my Dragons season ticket earlier. I've upgraded to the posh seats in the Bisley stand.

The real reason Rory Best didn't make the initial touring party;

http://thescore.thejournal.ie/video-rory-best-lions-coach-question-of-sport-931598-May2013/

Morning All!

HAPPY LIONS DAY! And that goes for you too Breaker! Enjoy the tour everyone. Hope the Lions get off to a cracking start today.

Morning Cari!

Best of luck for the Baa-baas game tonight. Less than an hour to go.

Quade having a shocker in Brisbane. 2 charge-down tries in 5 minutes but he did help set up the play leading to the Reds first try and potted a field-goal. Reds trailing 13-20 (47') The Highlanders upset the Blues 38-28 in Dunedin earlier after leading 29-0 at one stage.

Kurtley Beale had a very good game too this afternoon. Although Syd Uni won 38-25, Randwick came back from 26-6 and KB had 3 touches in one of the tries. The Uni defence was up on him very quickly in the 1st half but he found more space as the game wore on. Cheers from everyone in the small crowd at Uni No.2 Oval - and KB had a wide smile at the end of the match.

Oh no... Scott Higginbotham has just dislocated his shoulder.

Is Beale going to be back for Oz then?

QC is a funny one...he seems to go from one extreme to another. I hope he's playing shockers against the Lions...

Dislocated shoulder is an awful injury....ask Adam Jones.

Afternoon pub

Well, here we go!

Time to get a brew and get settled on the sofa

We'll know on June 11, Cari. With all these horrible injuries and 'brain explosions' - it's impossible to guess who will be left standing on June 22.

A major blue just now. I thought we held the exclusive rights to brawling with Qld'ers but it seems the Brumbies and now the Rebels want a part of them too! We are a mad, mad lot.

Hey Swanny! Beat you to that I have (and biccies!) I'm at my dining table though on the faithful lapdog.

Breaker - be interesting to see what happens...you're a volatile lot aren't you?

Not all of us... but some of our sportspeople, yes.

It's the first night of 'winter' here. A little cool and wet.
Might put on a brew myself too now.

Reds 21-20 , 68'. Cooper near the line but the ball slipped out on the line? Ref reckons it's on the line. Try! 26-20 kick to come.

I think Sean Maitland and Conor Murray look alike...

Hi Cari got a now, didn't think of biccies though, that was a mistake!

EDIT: Just found some Nature Valley bars!!

Here we go!!!!

littleswannygirl wrote:Hi Cari got a now, didn't think of biccies though, that was a mistake!

EDIT: Just found some Nature Valley bars!!

NV bars are good...especially the choc ones!

Evening, pub. Tougher challenges lie ahead*, but that was a decent performance from the Lions. Besides the actual rugby, what really pleased me was the the glimpses of unforced togetherness between the players. The one that springs to mind is Alex Cuthbert's little celebration with Conor Murray after Cuthbert's (first or second?) try. Those two wouldn't have known each other except in passing before this squad got together, but there's a fraternity there already. It's great to see and it's only going to strengthen as the tour goes on.

* It only hit home to me mid-morning that the Lions will be playing the Australian Super 15 sides, and they're damn good sides. To get to the first Test undefeated will be an achievement in itself.

And there's some serious dross on this jukebox, but some good stuff too if you look hard enough:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34P18at0Q7s

Oh, they've got this too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeAtre3Bxg8

Valiant effort Lucky.

Morning all.

for Castres who toppled Toulon 19-14 in the T14 final last night and claim their first 'Brennus' for 20 years.

Very pleased for tthem - cracking club in a lovely town with very hospitable fans.

Chuffed for Castres.

That got me thinking...https://www.606v2.com/t44753-what-makes-a-tough-group-in-european-rugby

A victory for rugby last night as Castres showed that you don't need legions of world class foreigners to succeed. Very very happy about it.

Some interesting Lions combinations yesterday. Looking forward to watching how the next 3 games unfold.

Castres rolled over Toulon?

They did, Glas. Delon Armitage scored a late try and Jonny Wilkinson missed the conversion. I know, I almost fainted too!