England V Wales Mutual Appreciation Thread

[RubyGuby]

First topic message reminder :

Well lads, this is a variation on a theme as we all love our teams and our rugby. I just want to say that these are good times for welsh rugby whilst England have at least started to shake things up and are developing some decent foundations after most of the old guard have been discarded which is encouraging. Most on here see Wales as slight favourites but the game is at Twickenham and home advantage is a big factor in the 6 Nations so it remains a bit of a 50/50 - Let's have some positive banter on here as we all have to come back on Monday. For the welsh fans, win or lose these are still good times for welsh rugby and we are developing a young powerful side with some srength in depth. Likewise England a win would really be something under the circumstances and perhaps the danger then is getting carried away too much, but I'm sure you'd take the win all the same . A defeat for England is certainly not a disaster as long as it is within reason and 3/5 in a brave new english world would be a plus IMO. Let's hope its a cracker and we can all come back on Monday and hurl abuse about or be brave and humble with our success or defeat. Kipling didn't just make cakes he also said you have to be aware of those 2 imposters. Enjoy it lads.

[englandglory4ever]

This game will be a mutual expression of kindred spirit more than most particularly as one or two Englishmen play for or have played for Wales.

[eirebilly]

I just want to know if the owners of this site have reserved some extra bandwidth for this weekend. The Welsh and English fans (and mitey ) will flood this site

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Wales in all honesty do seem to have problems winning at Twickenham as their record shows.

That's been a combination of Wales sending dud teams to Twickers, often to face good England teams, and Wales sending good teams to Twickers only to come up against better England teams. This time around, the Welsh team is (according to most) good and it's too early to say whether this England team is.

[Cowshot]

Wales deservedly favourites going into the game.

Very interested to see how that Welsh Back line does. It's a scary looking outfit! I'm sure England have plans to nullify them but if they do get going we will be looking at a big defeat.

I don't enjoy watching my team lose any more than the next bloke, but if we do lose, I want it to be to some real Welsh class and there are definite signs this Welsh side has that.

On the other hand, maybe this will be the game where England really click and we use chips and grubbers to turn those big Welsh backs, get in behind them and cause chaos.

Here's to a cracking good game and no injuries.

[miteyironpaw]

I just want to know if the owners of this site have reserved some extra bandwidth for this weekend. The Welsh and English fans (and mitey ) will flood this site

I've managed to wangle myself some tickets, so any posts from me will be of the drunken iphone originated ones. So I don't think I'll be a threat to anyones bandwidth. My enthusiasm for whatever I'm saying after a few pints start to slip below my threshold for frustration abortion typing onto a iphone keyboard.

[pontylad]

"I don't enjoy watching my team lose any more than the next bloke, but if we do lose, I want it to be to some real Welsh class and there are definite signs this Welsh side has that."

Real rugby fan class in that statement !

[RubyGuby]

Mitey - no need to charge the iphone - you won't be posting much on Saturday after a great win for England against the mighty welsh

[gregortree]

Mutual ? No.
Did nobody mention that The Severn Bridge is a one way street ?

[miteyironpaw]

I had cause to think this morning from the bickering thread when a poster made the comment that Wales were "recent grandslammers" whereas England were clinging on to ancient history.

Now, initially my thought was...FFS here we go, England are the reigning 6N champions and Wales came in twice nearer the bottom than the top last year, who are they to talk about recent success? (but wait...)

Then I realised something truely tremendous about my beloved neighbours in the splendid country of Wales.

Through many many decades of mediocrity, disappointment, humiliating spankings, and never quite managing to beat NZ since 1926 or whatever it is, Wales fans have found a way to stay positive, to keep believing, and most importantly, keep turning up, packing of the Arms Park, or now the MS, still feverishly belting out the anthems and defacto anthems, still dressing up like daffodils, pink cowboy hats and all those other trappings of optimism. You keep caring, and keep making it important.

Whether it's via the "moral victory" or the "almost win" or the "gave them a scare" or the relentlessly hanging on to the Andy Haden incident, or this new "recent grandslam" benchmarks, you relentlessly find a positive to take out of it, you find a way to see the glass half full, and it's remarkable. We here in England could certainly learn a thing or two from your attitude.

At the first sign of loss here, we go completely to pieces, rancorously blaming the players, the coaches, the RFU boffins, turn away from the game in droves, start clanging on about cricket or football or gymnastics or pretending we only care about club rugby.

What would have been the point of England being the best side in the world in 2003, if there wasn't a Wales who cared so much and were so desperately upset and annoyed by it?

Well done Wales, you are an inspiration and a lesson we could learn from if things do really go as badly as some of us fear they might.

[WELL-PAST-IT]

Man for man the Welsh sing better than the English
Man for man the Welsh are bigger than the English
Man for man the Welsh backs are more skillful than the English.



But I still think that come 18:00 hours on Saturday, we will have put the provincial upstarts in their place and given them a damn good thrashing.



Then I had a dose of the medicine the doctor gave me and my thoughts turned to a depressing "we might just win, but we will have to play out of our skins to do it"

[gregortree]

Ruby, yes goodyour post of 21st, very fair . And I always like that Kipling quote. Each of us will have to face one or other of the twin imposters come the morning. I hope we can all do that with the equanimity Kipling calls for. However much gloating no doubt can be expected on these boards. Best luck to all.

[damngoodOvalball]

Spot on Mitey, I recall a Welsh poster on the old 606 boards who said, in the immediate aftermath of Wales being knocked out of the '07 RWC by a sandbank in the pacific ocean, that Wales would win a GS in the next 6N. This they subsequently did of course.
At the time I dismissed it as ludicrous arrogance / delusion. However, with hindsight, I should have been impressed that despite the utter humiliation of the '07 RWC, the Welsh fans continued to bravely predict glory.

Of course they were still predicting it for the '09, '10, and '11 6N, but thats beside the point.

Good luck to Wales this weekend, although I doubt they will need it. I just hope, as an Englishman that there are positives for us to take from the game.

Cerddwyr Edrychwch I R Chwith

[RubyGuby]

OvalBall we might have predicted more Grand Slams after 2008 but we didn't go ahead and prepare any DVD's - What's that about bravely predicting

[RubyGuby]

Ruby, yes goodyour post of 21st, very fair . And I always like that Kipling quote. Each of us will have to face one or other of the twin imposters come the morning. I hope we can all do that with the equanimity Kipling calls for. However much gloating no doubt can be expected on these boards. Best luck to all.

[damngoodOvalball]

OvalBall we might have predicted more Grand Slams after 2008 but we didn't go ahead and prepare any DVD's - What's that about bravely predicting

That was the american guy in the Nike marketing department, honest!

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Cerddwyr Edrychwch I R Chwith

[Cowshot]

OvalBall we might have predicted more Grand Slams after 2008 but we didn't go ahead and prepare any DVD's - What's that about bravely predicting

Bit like the Scots before the England game this year? Chuckle. Marketing departments do what marketing departments do and it has little relation to reality.

[english warrior]

This period reminds me of 2006 when Wales had won a GS on the back of beating England by 9-8 in Cardiff the previous year, where 'Champagne Charlie' Hodgson missed about 5 sitters, and Wales were talking themselves up and in 2006 at Twickers England beat them by 45-5.

Now i don't see a drubbing of this magnitude for wales, but i do sense Welsh fans talking their team up as Favourites is not doing them, or their team any favours at all.

Achieve something first, and then spout off, as pride often comes before a fall.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Warrior, do you have some kind of condition that means you can only read posts that confirm your views? There are Welsh posters here who are, whilst reasonably confident, still wary of England at Twickenham. Also, there are plenty of posters of other nationalities who have Wales as favourites for Saturday's game. Have you read these posts and chosen to ignore them as they contradict your narrow view of things, or are you actually incapable of reading them?

[munkian]

Plus all the ENGLISH papers, ENGLISH journalists/pundits and ENGLISH posters.

Most realistic Welsh fans, who've supported Wales pre 2008, are bricking it.

[damngoodOvalball]

Plus all the ENGLISH papers, ENGLISH journalists/pundits and ENGLISH posters.

Most realistic Welsh fans, who've supported Wales pre 2008, are bricking it.

To clarify, are you saying that everyone who cares about rugby in both countries apart from the Western Mail journos and a few fat lasses with a penchant for pink cowboy hats and inflatable daffodils is nervous about the match? If so I'd be inclined to agree with you

[Glas a du]

And me.

[munkian]

My point really was that english warrior is suggesting the Welsh seem to be full of hubris and predicting a huge fall by England.

I was refuting this.

But yes, most realistic actual rugby supporters from both sides of the bridge are nevous

[gregortree]

The Welsh have hyped themselves so high, they are now looking back down with some sense of vertigo - 'bricking' .
We English ? Who knows WTF will happen Saturday ? We don't claim to know. Just stay cool, wait and see.

[miteyironpaw]

Yes, the Welsh optimism is a function that various exponentially with respect to the time between any given time and the match. This explains why they are always opimtistic of any approaching game that is sufficiently far away, and can rewrite history so effectively with regard to losses.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

The Welsh have hyped themselves so high, they are now looking back down with some sense of vertigo - 'bricking' .

It's no use pointing out that it's not exclusively the Welsh, nor indeed all the Welsh, who have made Wales favourites. Some English fans here would prefer it if their version of things was true, and nothing as trivial as THE TRUTH is going to change that. Sigh.

[RubyGuby]

Mutual Appreciation not

[BlueNote]

Here we are with all the English fans over-confident about thumping Wales on Saturday, makes you sick doesn't it (etc, etc). Well, at least, there was a comment in a thread a few days back that sort of said that.

[RubyGuby]

I just heard the Queen on BBC saying "My Lords I think Wales will win on Saturday"

[miteyironpaw]

Typically, it was the Welsh fans that derailed this mutual admiration thread.

[Glas a du]

Yeah well, the ponies thread is full.

[miteyironpaw]

I saw the writing on the wall early when English fans were saying things they didn't mean to be nice, and the Welsh weren't reciprocating but instead lapping up all the fake good will and believing it to be genuine praise.

I knew the lid would blow off it in this way.

It's a pity though - it could have worked.

[munkian]

To be fair this could be a very good English side, just not yet - at least until it clicks.

[damngoodOvalball]

I just heard the Queen on BBC saying "My Lords I think Wales will win on Saturday"

Yeah well, she is a german / Scot so its unlikely that she'd back the Sais

[munkian]

But the sais ARE german. Or French...

[RubyGuby]

But the sais ARE german. Or French...

I thought they were a mixture of Saffers and New Zealanders with some Samoan thrown in

[Glas a du]

Or Greek. We're all Greek! Or Irish.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Okay, nice things to say about England... Hmm... Well, Dylan Hartley has done remarkably well, carving out an international career despite having a woman's face.

[miteyironpaw]

Well ok lads, you can behave this way, but don't expect anyone to pull punches after the game when you've lost and want a spot of sympathy. It's going to be remorseless.

[ChequeredJersey]

Probably if you go far enough back, an eclectic mix of Italian (well, Roman. Very different things), every nationality in the Roman Empire (everyone), Celtic, some Gaelic, French, Viking, German, you name it we've got it. I don't see why it's a problem, the UK has been built on other nationalities entering our cultural and genetic pool for centuries

[miteyironpaw]

I sincerely hope that the moderators are noticing that the mutual appreciation thread was derailed by the Welsh fans.

When there's accusations of WUMmery later after the Welsh loss is confirmed, I know it will be the very same ones of you running to the mods and crying.

[RubyGuby]

Probably if you go far enough back, an eclectic mix of Italian (well, Roman. Very different things), every nationality in the Roman Empire (everyone), Celtic, some Gaelic, French, Viking, German, you name it we've got it. I don't see why it's a problem, the UK has been built on other nationalities entering our cultural and genetic pool for centuries

That means we could have had Parisse' and Dusatoir - Gutted

[ChequeredJersey]

Yeah, I reckon we can claim that through colonisation and immigration, everyone is technically English and are all eligible for play for us, regardless of previous international caps. Done

[ChequeredJersey]

^ this was a joke

[gregortree]

The rising tension has derailed the poor old appreciation train before it gets gets anywhere near Twickenham terminal. Don't think it even made it through the Severn Tunnel. The Fat Contoller is v saddened. PASSENGERS, please disembark, board the other rugby special for Greater Bickering, which is filling already.

[Glas a du]

The rising tension has derailed the poor old appreciation train before it gets gets anywhere near Twickenham terminal. Don't think it even made it through the Severn Tunnel. The Fat Contoller is v saddened. PASSENGERS, please disembark, board the other rugby special for Greater Bickering, which is filling already.

[munkian]

Pretty sure the de-railing was a mutual effort

[Glas a du]

Blame Netwrok Rail. Stingy Flip.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Tea? Coffee? Light denouncements?

[miteyironpaw]

Pretty sure the de-railing was a mutual effort

Don't try to start with that. It was entirely the Welsh fans here who got completely over the top excited and derailed this forum instead of venting any anxious tension in the bickering thread. Frankly I'm upset and depressed about it. Would it really have been hard just to post your anti-English tripe into a different thread and leave this one working? It's quite pitiful and very sad behaviour. It's been like watching delinquient youths kicking a puppy and I think you should all apologise and say something nice about England.

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