Rugby now more popular than football AND GAA?!

**Stuttgart88** · 13/10/2011, 10:09 PM

"it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that what Cox did was actually worse than the Hand of Frog incident"

**Jinxy** · 13/10/2011, 10:14 PM

I think there is a certain type of individual in this country whom Mr Lowry is probably representative of.
They've no interest in sport in general and yet they claim to love rugby even though they've never played or been a member of a club, nor could they tell you the name of the closest AIL team.
Plus they don't understand the rules.

**Irish_Praha** · 13/10/2011, 10:20 PM

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

What a cnut. Did anyone read Liam Toland saying after we went 7 down against Wales Cian Healy should have gone down feigning a head injury so the Irish could regroup and effectively call a time out (because a stoppage involving a front row necessitates a clock stop)? Or Marcus Horan feigning injury in the Magners League decider? Or a Munster centre taking out BO'D in the same game? Or 'quins feigning a blood injury against Leinster - using fake blood capsules? Or Brian Moore on BBC saying Ireland should deliberately collpase a French scrum in case a ref gave a penno erroneously? Or Matt Dawson running off line into PO'C after a pen just to get him yellow carded and to gain 10m?

Rugby is a great game, but let all the holier than thou egg chasers go fcuk themselves if they think their sport is inherently honest whereas football isn't.

Jesus, that crap makes me hopping livid.

Cox did not set out to cheat. Handball happens. Refs call it or they don't, just as refs call forward passes or late tackles, or they don't. Should the Aussies who high tackled the Springboks last w/e be asahmed? No. An incompetent ref missed it. Thierry Henry handled the ball deliberately and calculatedly. In fact Cox as good as admitted he handled it. It was quite a refreshing interview.

IRL Rugby WC Q/F. Public reception? A few turned out at the airport. Ireland's rugby players deserve more than that muck journalism too.

CNUT CNUT CNUT CNUT

I was amused by the interview too. The stream i was looking at started with RTE for the pre-match analysis and changed to Sky Sports for the game and after match analysis so I presume you saw the Sky interview or else he was asked the same questions by RTE. I know he was probably buzzing after the result and getting MOTM but it was bilndly obvious that he hadn't really been following the fortunes of the Irish team from a young age when the interviewer started talking/asking about past play-offs all he could think of was the France play off. He's only been on the Irish scene for about 6 months and there is a bit of a plastic about hime but now that he is on board I can see him being very commited and hopefully he will have as many fond memories to look back on like the likes of Townsend and co.

BTW did Dumpy get it put back at him about Cox getting MOTM after all his pre-match slating of him?

**Jinxy** · 13/10/2011, 10:27 PM

In fairness Dunphy put his hands up and said he got it wrong.

**Charlie Darwin** · 14/10/2011, 1:12 AM

Anybody who's ever played rugby knows that a substantial part of the game is based around who can cheat the most cleverly. There are a lot of honourable things in rugby that soccer can learn from but altrusitically obeying the rules is not one of them.

**Irwin3** · 14/10/2011, 1:17 AM

Originally Posted by Irish_Praha

I was amused by the interview too. The stream i was looking at started with RTE for the pre-match analysis and changed to Sky Sports for the game and after match analysis so I presume you saw the Sky interview or else he was asked the same questions by RTE. I know he was probably buzzing after the result and getting MOTM but it was bilndly obvious that he hadn't really been following the fortunes of the Irish team from a young age when the interviewer started talking/asking about past play-offs all he could think of was the France play off. He's only been on the Irish scene for about 6 months and there is a bit of a plastic about hime but now that he is on board I can see him being very commited and hopefully he will have as many fond memories to look back on like the likes of Townsend and co.

BTW did Dumpy get it put back at him about Cox getting MOTM after all his pre-match slating of him?

In fairness to Cox I don't think there are many 14 year olds with one Irish grandparent who would be closely following the Irish team. Also he openly declared in the press aged 22 and had notified Doyle/Hunt of his eligibility beforehand when at his first club Reading. Obviously part of this is that he realised as a pro footballer that his prospects were better with Ireland than with England. All this shows that he doesn't mess about and like you said he appears very committed.

http://eircomsports.eircom.net/News/...simon-cox.aspx

**Noelys Guitar** · 14/10/2011, 2:10 AM

Isn't it wonderful. We are getting under their skin again. I love it. I hope he writes more articles like this. Everyday if need be for self therapy purposes. Lowry and his ilk should band together with the wee chaps. A type of shared misery club. Because it is only going to get worse for them. Wall to wall coverage. What Coxy ate for breakfast 15 years ago. Davy Kehoe presenting Prime time. Extended coverage of 1988. Extended coverage of 1990/1994/2002. Fcuk it. Lets throw in a few qualifiers from down the years as well. Player profiles. Management profiles. Fan profiles. A new song. Fcuk it a whole bunch of new songs. Chat shows, endorsements, billboards. Replica shirts. Sing songs near closing time (ever weekend up to and including June 2012). Cars with flags on. Houses with flags on. People with flags on. Packed pubs. Now lads show some sympathy for Lowry and the wee individuals. Just not too much.

**jbyrne** · 14/10/2011, 7:47 AM

Originally Posted by Jinxy

Chris Lowry: No wonder fans are abandoning soccer for honest rugby
how can the Irish rugby team sell out the O2 Arena for a game that starts early on a Saturday morning?

the tickets were free and it wasnt full

didnt read the rest

**tetsujin1979** · 14/10/2011, 9:26 AM

Originally Posted by jbyrne

the tickets were free and it wasnt full

didnt read the rest

I knew it wasn't a sell out, but I didn't realise it was free tickets. Pretty much invalidates the rest of the article

**jbyrne** · 14/10/2011, 10:10 AM

Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

I knew it wasn't a sell out, but I didn't realise it was free tickets. Pretty much invalidates the rest of the article

was 1/3 to half full i heard. tickets were free and i think you could nab up to 16 tickets!

**Jinxy** · 14/10/2011, 10:22 AM

Originally Posted by Noelys Guitar

Isn't it wonderful. We are getting under their skin again. I love it. I hope he writes more articles like this. Everyday if need be for self therapy purposes. Lowry and his ilk should band together with the wee chaps. A type of shared misery club. Because it is only going to get worse for them. Wall to wall coverage. What Coxy ate for breakfast 15 years ago. Davy Kehoe presenting Prime time. Extended coverage of 1988. Extended coverage of 1990/1994/2002. Fcuk it. Lets throw in a few qualifiers from down the years as well. Player profiles. Management profiles. Fan profiles. A new song. Fcuk it a whole bunch of new songs. Chat shows, endorsements, billboards. Replica shirts. Sing songs near closing time (ever weekend up to and including June 2012). Cars with flags on. Houses with flags on. People with flags on. Packed pubs. Now lads show some sympathy for Lowry and the wee individuals. Just not too much.

Great stuff Noely.

**Sullivinho** · 14/10/2011, 11:45 AM

Originally Posted by Noelys Guitar

Isn't it wonderful. We are getting under their skin again. I love it. I hope he writes more articles like this. Everyday if need be for self therapy purposes. Lowry and his ilk should band together with the wee chaps. A type of shared misery club. Because it is only going to get worse for them. Wall to wall coverage. What Coxy ate for breakfast 15 years ago. Davy Kehoe presenting Prime time. Extended coverage of 1988. Extended coverage of 1990/1994/2002. Fcuk it. Lets throw in a few qualifiers from down the years as well. Player profiles. Management profiles. Fan profiles. A new song. Fcuk it a whole bunch of new songs. Chat shows, endorsements, billboards. Replica shirts. Sing songs near closing time (ever weekend up to and including June 2012). Cars with flags on. Houses with flags on. People with flags on. Packed pubs. Now lads show some sympathy for Lowry and the wee individuals. Just not too much.

This. Amen. Word. And indeed, hear hear.

**ArdeeBhoy** · 14/10/2011, 12:03 PM

All this proves is we should adopt cricket as our national game.
Were it not for the weather...

**BonnieShels** · 14/10/2011, 12:39 PM

Like it was before 1884...

**tetsujin1979** · 14/10/2011, 1:19 PM

Originally Posted by jbyrne

was 1/3 to half full i heard. tickets were free and i think you could nab up to 16 tickets!

was the same for the Australia game, which was on later in the morning.

**bennocelt** · 14/10/2011, 2:08 PM

"I was watching rugby with my friend last week, he said 'let's make this interesting', so we put football on instead" -a joke I heard today, i liked it anyway.