Wiltshire Warrior Dragon

Very sad news. RIP, Bill.

Nor was I, Tony, and I don't think there was one. Durham was indeed the third English location to have a university, but I don't think it was until the 19th century. In the late 16th century, my native county, Aberdeenshire, very briefly had three universities - one in Fraserburgh and two in Aberdeen.

Agreed - that was an epic game-and-a-half! Commiserations to Corcaigh, well done An Clar! It had a great sense of deja vu for me. I first saw a game of hurling in the early 1960s. It was live coverage (provided by RTE) on BBC2 of the All Ireland final. So history repeats itself today, in terms of the coverage medium in the UK. I was hooked! Not long after, and then living in Bristol, I saw my first live game, which was Eire Og Salisbury -v- either St Patrick's or St Joseph's (who were the Gloucester and Cheltenham GAA clubs), I forget which, at the Polo Grounds, Swindon. In 1966, we had a family holiday in Ireland and I got two tickets, via the GAA Gloucestershire County Board, for the All-Ireland hurling finals day at Croke Park, which my brother and I went to. A memorable day out!

In short, no, I don't suffer mid-season blues. I think I can identify at least two possible reasons for this. First, for a mix of reasons, I didn't gorge myself with six games a week when the season began. In previous seasons, I would watch both the games available, if at all possible. Nowadays, I tend to watch three. That's enough for me; I feel satiated. I suppose I am confirming the opposite of the adage that you can't have too much of a good thing! Also, and despite being retired from paid work, I have other activities and interests, not to mention domestic tasks, that limit the amount of time I can devote to watching rugby on TV. Second, sports have their own culture, as I have noted previously on other threads. The sport I have watched live the most over the years is ice hockey, first following Durham Wasps and then, following a move south, Basingstoke Bison. I am used to how ice hockey is organised, two aspects of which are repeat fixtures and no automatic promotion and relegation between the top tier and the next tier down. What I wanted above all was to see close games, ideally with the Wasps or Bison winning out in the end. The fact that you might play the same team six times in a season didn't matter, if they gave us close games. So, I realise that I might be in a minority of one on here, but repeat fixtures are fine by me. As to the competition you played in, in Basingstoke's case they wisely dropped down voluntarily from the first to the second tier. It then became an issue of securing, first, an end-of-season play-off spot and, then, making the most of it, with winning the second tier competition being the sole and wholly satisfactory aim; no need to bother thinking about promotion, as it wasn't going to happen. So fans took pleasure simply in winning that competition; it wasn't just a tiresome but necessary stepping stone to allegedly greater things, which is how soccer fans see their championship and, I fear, we are aping them with our view of our own championship. In ice hockey's English National League, about 80% of teams make the play-offs. Perhaps SL should have the top eight (66.7%) qualify for them. As the current SL table stands, that would mean ten teams currently with a valid aspiration to be in the play-offs, which would only need three weekends to complete, on a quarter-finals basis of 1 v 8, 2, v 7 and so on. All the above said, I am finding the spectacle of games this year in SL on the whole less attractive than last year, with a number of commendable exceptions. Some matches seem to have long passages of rather mundane or mediocre play, but I think that is another issue.

And I think I am right in saying that Clare haven't won it since 2013, so a refreshingly different final. I don't really mind who wins, therefore, but as Clare have fewer titles overall than Cork, I might harbour a soft spot for the Bannermen - sorry, C77.

Thanks for that, C77. I thought it was only on BBC2 in Northern Ireland, but now see that it is on BBC2 across here too.

I take your point, Padge, but doctors are not infallible (I should know. I am the son of two doctors, but, when I was a kid, it needed a family friend to point out - correctly - to my mum and dad that the reason I was 'off colour' was probably linked to the fact I was displaying whooping cough symptoms!) You say that not all contact with the head results in an HIA; true, but then not all contact with the head results in a red card. I am still surprised that an HIA doesn't automatically follow from a red card for this offence.

Apologies if this point has already been made and I have not spotted it. In this era in which player welfare is allegedly paramount, how is it possible for a player to be sent off for a dangerous tackle to the head, but for the player illegally tackled to be allowed to play on without going off for an obligatory HIA? We heard the ref say there was contact to the head with no mitigating circumstances, so Harrison clearly wasn't sent off for intent; he was dismissed for the actual contact.

I predict that, on 30th August, you might get your wish, TR!

Agreed, yet never is.

I take your point to a degree, Padge, but only to a degree. I still think there are backwards fumbles which are erroneously deemed to be knock-ons. ps my spell-checker tells me your spelling of 'travelled' is wrong; yours probably did too. Thanks for ignoring it! pps my spell-checker tells me that my spelling of 'knock-ons' is incorrect in that it should have an apostrophe before the final 's'. I'm ignoring that (of course, really pedantically, it arguably should be 'knocks-on'!) OK, I'll shut up now!

I wholly agree with you, PL. Indeed, you could delete 'of a knock-on' from your last sentence and your comment would be relevant to a number of things - not least of all various aspects of the PTB - but I fear I am going off-topic to get on a hobby horse!

For those with an interest in such things, Les Dracs had eleven Frenchmen in their seventeen. There were eight in the starting line up - three in the backs, both half-backs and three in the pack.

Elliott Whitehead finally, officially confirmed as back at Les Dracs in 2025.

She should get out more...except, for safety reasons, when there is thunder about...obviously!

Thanks for an interesting map, HG. I wonder how its compilers define 'from each English county' and 'top selling'. James Blunt seems a slightly surprising choice for Wiltshire, although he was born in it. Latterly, his parents have more connection to Hampshire, I think. A few years ago, we rented a self-catering cottage in Suffolk from a Hampshire-based Mr and Mrs Blount, who turned out to be James Blunt's parents; he has dropped the 'o' in his surname. More specifically Wiltshire - and also 'top selling' (whatever that means!) - are Salisbury's very own Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch. Likewise, just over the border in Hampshire, how about Andover's very best, the Troggs?

I realise you must be young, Click, as I have no idea what 'tyvm' means. Is it something from the mysterious world of texts?

I am sorry to learn of the death of Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh, at the age of 93 - a great sports commentator with a wonderfully distinctive voice, not least on account of his strong Kerry accent. He also came out with some great, seemingly off-the-cuff remarks during his commentaries. Try these “Anthony Lynch, the Cork corner-back will be the last person to let you down - his people are undertakers.” “I saw a few Sligo people at Mass in Gardiner Street this morning and the omens seem to be good for them, the priest was wearing the same colours as the Sligo jersey! 40 yards out on the Hogan stand side of the field Ciaran Whelan goes on the rampage, it’s a goal. So much for religion.” "Colin Corkery on the 45, let’s go with the right boot, it’s over the bar. This man shouldn’t be playing football. He’s made an almost Lazarus-like recovery from a heart condition. Lazarus was a great man but he couldn’t kick points like Colin Corkery." “Pat Fox has it on his hurl and is motoring well now, but here comes Joe Rabbitte hot on his tail. I’ve seen it all now, a Rabbitte chasing a Fox around Croke Park!” “Teddy looks at the ball, the ball looks at Teddy” “Teddy McCarthy to John McCarthy, no relation, John McCarthy back to Teddy McCarthy, still no relation.” “Danny “The Yank” Culloty. He came down from the mountains and hasn’t he done well. He grabs the sliotar, he’s on the 50, he’s on the 40, he’s on the 30, he’s on the ground” “In the first half they played with the wind. In the second half they played with the ball”. “Pat Fox out to the 40 and grabs the sliothar, I bought a dog from his father last week. Fox turns and sprints for goal, the dog ran a great race last Tuesday in Limerick. Fox to the 21 fires a shot, it goes to the left and wide, and the dog lost as well.” “Sean Óg Ó Hailpin, his father’s from Fermanagh, his mother’s from Fiji, neither a hurling stronghold.” “The stopwatch has stopped. It’s up to God and the referee now. The referee is Pat Horgan. God is God.” “…and Brian Dooher is down injured. And while he is, I’ll tell ye a little story. I was in Times Square last week and I was missing the championship back home. So I approached a news stand and I said, ‘I suppose ye wouldn’t have the Kerryman newspaper, would ye?’ To which the Egyptian behind the counter turned to me and he said, ‘Do you want the north Kerry edition or the south Kerry edition?’ “He had both… so I bought both. And Dooher is back on his feet…”

I was struck how this game unfolded very much like the Toulouse victory against Halifax a few weeks ago. You score more than twenty points in the first half, while holding your opponents scoreless, and then contrive to almost throw it away in the second, as your team implodes, mentally and physically. Is there perhaps an FFRXIII coaching manual suggesting this approach? As they say in a well known organ, "I think we should be told!"

It is customary to note when one heard a cuckoo for the first time each year, but what about the last time? I know I am lucky in this day and age to hear one or more calling on the majority of days from when they arrive in early April, in the course of my daily dog walks in the New Forest. However, I have not heard one since 11th June and I think I probably won't hear another this year. No doubt some that arrived a couple of months ago are now on their way back to Africa or already there. With such a brief stay in this country - not to mention their distinctive call which cannot be confused with anything else - it is no wonder that they are considered such harbingers of summer.

Good job for you that you don't live here, HG! Lerwick Town Hall | Shetland Webcams Shetlanders have a wonderful phrase for the almost perpetual daylight through the night at this time of year; they call it the 'simmer dim'.

I have just watched this match. As a Dracs' fan and a dad, this didn't make good Fathers' Day viewing! As before, I think there is not too much wrong with the Catalans' defence, but the attack looks slow and predictable. Just some speed at the PTBs and then down the backs' line and to the wings might help. So, too, would more running off the ball to create uncertainty in the opposition's defence. Satae's body language suggested to me that he is not entirely happy with life at the Dragons, and I imagine that Abdull may not be either. His return to the UK by mutual consent before the season end would not entirely surprise me, though I would be delighted to be proved wrong by his return to the starting treize in reinvigorated mood. I don't hold Agbrigg's low opinion of Romano; he is far from perfect, but I think is still developing. Nor do I agree with his view on the penalty try possibility late in the game. We know that the first tackle on Romano was not going to stop his momentum from taking him over the line, as even with the involvement of O'Brien, the Dracs' centre still ended up in the in-goal area. We know he was in possession as his sliding body approached the line. We know that he lost possession when O'Brien intervened. It appeared to me that O'Brien's involvement consisted of a tackle round the throat which is illegal. This is the relevant law: Penalty try (d) the Referee may award a penalty try if, in their opinion, a try would have been scored but for the unfair play of the defending team. So, if you accept my description of events, this should have been a penalty try. I think it was a bad call by a good set of officials; nobody is perfect! And, over a whole season, these calls even themselves out, I think. Leigh were commendably organised, and I don't begrudge them their win. I have an appreciation of what they have achieved in recent times and also remember, with affection, their role in introducing me to the game, along with Wigan; Central Park one week, Hilton Park the next! Incidentally, I have no idea why the modal form of the verb 'award' is used in the penalty try law; it just seems to add unhelpful doubt. Why not, "the Referee will award..."? But that is maybe for another thread...

The 31-player, French squad breaks down thus. 9 are from St Esteve/XIII Catalan (i.e. Les Dracs); there are 4 each from Toulouse Olympique, Avignon and Villeneuve; Carcassonne, Entraigues, Albi and Lezignan each contribute 2; and there is one from both of Limoux and Carpentras.

Both home wins on Saturday; all away wins on Sunday.

Apologies, but I am a day late with this. Yesterday was the 162nd anniversary of the Blaydon races, as described by the contemporary song-writer, George Ridley Aa went to Blaydon Races, 'twas on the ninth of Joon, Eiteen hundred an' sixty-two, on a summer's efternoon; Aa tyuk the 'bus frae Balmbra's, an' she wis heavy laden, Away we went 'lang Collin'wood Street, that's on the road to Blaydon.