Hoshifransu 0 Posted February 27, 2002 Hey, everybody, I don't know if you are interested in Rugby but saturday, this is a big classic : "France Vs England". In comparison with other sports, this is like a "Navy Vs Army" match in US football or a "Bayern M Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Manekineko 200 Posted March 1, 2002 I remember watching then Five Nations Tournament on Eurosport... I wonder if they still air it, I haven't seen any announcements. :-/ Rugby is one of the sports I really like... In Worlds I cheer for All-Blacks, and here I waver between Wales, Scotland, Ireland and France... so in this game I'm on the side of French! Amazing but true, Croatia also has national Rugby team, made up mostly of New Zealanders and Australians of Croatian origin... We are currently fighting for entry into the European A-group, or however it's called, but the sport doesn't have much support or publicity. Unfortunately. But neither did skiing until Janica hit the slopes! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hoshifransu 0 Posted March 1, 2002 Well, thanx for your support ! England are given great favourites, they're very strong at the moment, and many say England will trash France on Saturday. I hope on the great fighting spirit of the frenchies. We're at home at "Le Stade de France", after all, in front of our public. Although in soccer, our national team was lucky there beating Brasil in 98, for our Rugby team, the stadium has a sort of curse ! Our Rugby team was luckier when they played at "Le Parc des Princes" the stadium of "Paris St Germain" soccer team. We were already surprisingly beaten there by teams like Wales at "Le Stade de France" a couple of years ago and we have to be very careful against England ! This year, the national manager gave the chance to a lot of new young players to be selected and that had a great effect against many teams but against England ... They're on top at the moment. So, a very hard battle to come ! You know, we're great rivals with England. That should go back to Jeanne D'Arc, surely ! The public can forgive we lost against other teams but not against England ! And that's the same for England supporters with France. But they can be very fair-play too. And we know what we owe them too. So, on Saturday, I'll be in some Irish Pub, watchin' the Match of the Year, and supporting France ! In Rugby, there is a big tradition, for the supporters, this is called "the third half-time" because you have two parts of 40 minutes in Rugby and the third one is for the supporters, to drink "beer on draught" in pubs with the other team's supporters ! (Hehe...) You can't imagine that in soccer, for example ! I would say that, the best "third half-time" supporters are the Scots, so far. What a pity countries of North of Europe like Sweden, Finland, Norway, Germany don't go in for Rugby too ! There are certainly great "third half-time" supporters in North of Europe. For Latin Europe, Italy was allowed to be the sixth nation in 2000 and the former 5 Nationsship is now called 6 Nationsship, and Italy have improved a lot but they remain at the bottom of the Tournament's tables, with only a single win in 11 games. Rugby has great hopes for Latin Europe and countries like Spain, Portugal who have great chances to qualify for next World Cup in 2003. For Croatia, when you look at their soccer & basket-ball teams, you think they can make something with a great Rugby team in the future ! But Romania have certainly a so good team as Italy at the moment and it's a pity the Tournament don't compete with them ! (Oh my god...) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kotoseiya Yuichi 3 Posted March 1, 2002 What a pity countries of North of Europe like Sweden, Finland, Norway, Germany don't go in for Rugby too ! There are certainly great "third half-time" supporters in North of Europe. Wow! Even Finland has a rugby union. I didn't know that! Sweden, Norway and Denmark seem to be further ahead at least judging by their web presence. Even in Iceland there seem to be clubs. I've never seen a live rugby match. That could be a nice experience. It looks quite a rough sport indeed. (What is that?) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hoshifransu 0 Posted March 2, 2002 Well, Rugby really looks like American Football. If you like American Football, you like Rugby and the reverse is true too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hoshifransu 0 Posted March 2, 2002 Much easy for this saturday if you want to catch the big game of the year : Easy with the famous Hot Bird satellite on 13 degrees to the East, you've got the french channel called TV5 on 11322 Ghz, vertical pol. And it's full live at 3pm CET on TV5, this saturday, France Vs England, what a game, check it out ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kotoseiya Yuichi 3 Posted March 3, 2002 20-15 to you, Hoshifransu. Congrats! (Thumbs up...) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hoshifransu 0 Posted March 3, 2002 Thanx, Kotoseiya-zeki. Finally France beat England 20-15 thanks to a big defense. At the end, England were pushing hard to equalize, because we had a 17-0 lead during the game ! The year before, we were trashed in England, at Twickenham, by 48-19 and we hadn't beaten England since 1998. So, this is a great satisfaction for our Rugby team ! So, we will surely win the Tournament now, although Ireland have the best "fighting spirit" and that will be a difficult game against them. If France win the two remaining games, wining the all 5 games, they will make it "Le grand chelem". It's not happened from a very long time ... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
