The Dew Drop Inn Virtual Rugby Pub

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 only rule in this pub is one of mutual respect for everyone in it, oh and no defacing the wedding pictures of Dan Carter and Honor Dillon above the bar! And if anyone tells the Australian Womens' Weekly that KiwiRedDevil's Mum smuggled a camera into the service* there'll be hell to pay - they paid a fair amount for the exclusive


So pull up a chair....what'll it be?



Old Pub: https://www.606v2.com/t19779-the-dew-drop-inn-virtual-rugby-pub#757023




* Note to any lawyer-y types, that's a joke and is completely and utterly false, Mum forgot to put the camera in her handbag

Who on earth is Honor Dillon?

rhino-dragon wrote:Who on earth is Honor Dillon?

The new Mrs Carter. Former NZ hockey rep and underwear model. Her Dad's farm was a couple of miles down the valley from ours and she was in my sister's class at primary school. The wedding was held at Mum's work on Friday

We need a pic Kiwi, just to see that DC is maintaining a certain standard like

Spoiler:

He aint exactly slumming it!

Not bad, quite a large forehead though

"* Note to any lawyer-y types, that's a joke and is completely and utterly false, Mum forgot to put the camera in her handbag"



Nice one


Best of luck to one helluva nice guy and his new missus.

And, before anyone asks...yup, I have met him.

Ozzy3213 wrote:Not bad, quite a large forehead though

Why you looking at her forehead?!

Cos I had too much too drinkand struffling to focaus prop me old mate

merry christmas x

She has a forehead?

So she does!

Now you come to mention it, possibly a fivehead?

Hic, hic hooray Ozzy

Strictly come drinking. Good man

Kip time - Exe and back in a day tomorrow for me, and there will be no fun to be had on this trip.

Double post deleted

I'm going on a course tomorrow entitled "Lawyers - stop delaying Justice". It's going to be Magistrates Clerks banging on about the latest scheme to streamline the process because it's taking a year for cases to come to trial in London and the bigger cities. This is of course because pesky defence solicitors refuse to play ball (by persuading everybody just to plead guilty and get it over with) and not because the CPS is underfunded, demoralised, crippled by terrible industrial relations and held hostage by the poorer end of the civil service intake. Our lot of course will gold plate it, fail to realise that rather than promoting justice here it will hamper it and the whole thing will be a farce.

Oh well, not a year has passed since I qualified in 2000 when there has not been a major change of the Court process, Legal Aid funding or a massive piece of Criminal Legislation. All of which require me to be told I am the problem, that another long held principle of the criminal justice system has been weakened or just taken away and that I must do more work for less money and if I don't like it, tough.

If it was for money I'd have packed it in 4-5 years ago. I am not some soppy socialist who is martyring himself for his principles either. I am the last one in my town, the court is closing a week tomorrow, I enjoy it and I think that it's part of the blydi service. If you are a high street practice, be a high street practice. The first port of call for local people with a problem. The city types can keep their glass towers, I'm happy in my 1st floor office in the middle of a small town which looks out onto peoples gardens abd lots of trees.

Evening pub

Really good to see you earlier Stag.

Poor sis is trying to get Jacob to go to sleep and he's having none of it! Thinks it's playtime even though he's shattered.

Bore da.

https://www.606v2.com/t20209-france-the-fifth-region#778453

Forgive the spelling, did it on the phone.

Glas, it's the same shenanigans with the Architect's Board here in NSW... always trying to scare us with lectures on 'potential areas of litigation' and 'what not to do' courses for our CPD (Continuing Professional Development) accreditation. Fair enough - but the list is endless. One person even tried to convince us in a lecture that "if a brick from the Coliseum fell on a tourist's head - then the descendants of the 'architect' could be responsible and therefore liable for damages."
Utter bunkum... I thought there was a Statute of Limitations?

However it's true you have to cover your rear-end as much as possible every step of the way in the design process and during the contract admin phase. There are so many traps and pitfalls... no wonder the profession acts like paranoid church mice and gets ruthlessly steam-rollered by certain clients/end users.

I've been very lucky so far. Apparently, "NSW is the 2nd most litigious state on the planet after California".... well, I feel so much better now knowing that.

Kiwi - bloody AWW. They are an awful bunch of greedy you-know-whats. Why doesn't someone (not your Mum) slip those snaps to Women's Day... just for the kicks? On second thoughts, better not. I'd have to hear about the 'war' going on for weeks to come. Not a good idea, no?

Absolute limitation is 15 years here LB. To be honest there is so much wrong with that statement it's hard to know where to start. There is a massive complaints culture currently, it's become noticably worse in the past 6 months. I suppose in a recession people look for scapegoats, but the Ombudsmen seem to be bending over backwards to feather bed punters. Tip the balance too far one way though and it will come round to bite you on the arse.

Morning peeps. We should see some teams announced for HC R4 today, love it.

Yeah, an old boss used to say to me - in the economic cycles we have; there is a parallel tightening and loosening of the laws & requirements of our professions, etc. You have to be seen to be doing the right thing (and document it!) but he basically told me "you just have to ride out the storm every few years or so"

The new guard will inevitably come in and want to change everything... then 5 years down the track they realise the original setup made more sense after all... and they change it back a little (after inventing new names for the same old things). But we all have to ride it out and/or keep on the cutting edge of developments. Otherwise you simply get washed away by each new generation.

Problem is... what happens if we have a 5 year, 10 year or worst of all... an endless storm like we've seen on Jupiter? or

bore da pawb/good morning all.

bit of bruce springsteen on the radio now, great way to kick start the day!

Mick - aye can't believe it's that time of the week already. Scarlets will do the usual and leave their announcement till tomorrow though

Ah yes, and the Munster match isn’t an ideal time for anyone I would say. Early on Sunday is a funny kickoff, nobody has a few pint in them before the match and more than likely everyone is hungover. Leinster have hit the jackpot with 6pm on Saturday, it’s looking likely we’ll break the attendance record for an Irish pool game that we set last year against Clermont and we’re pretty close to breaking the attendance record for this year (Sarries v O’s in Wembley).

The only thing is, Met Eireann are saying it’s going to be -4degrees on Saturday night, hope that doesn’t keep people away…

Well it was -6 last year at the ASM game mick, or so i was told. Still havnt gotten over missing that game, poxy snow

ah sure Mick they'll just have to get started on making an alcohol blanket a bit sooner is all. Yous have definitely got the better ko time though, and day. I blydi well hate Sunday matches! Am sure I'll be making my way hungover to a pub to watch it though

We had a 12.45 kick off on Sunday last week, so it’s swings and roundabouts.

Yeah Hughie, it was -6 alright. I remember talking to you on the phone after the game, had to cut the conversation short because I couldn’t feel my hands any more. Unreal cold.

Have to say I'm surprised they've sold so many tickets for this game. I don't want to say its "only" Bath, but they didn't strike me as a team that was going to attract 45,000 to the Aviva. If you get what I mean, especially in the pool stage

Well, I guess tis not that far for a lot of Bath fans to travel so that would add to the numbers, but aye, 45,000 is one heck of a lot.

You’re right Hughie, Clermont arrived as French champions, having beaten us in their back yard the week before and we knocked them out the previous year in a fantastic match. Bath don’t have that draw all by themselves, but this match was really well marketed.

There’s the one province initiative where clubs get tickets for kids for a 5iver each, the hour of power, where the first 1000 tickets go on sale for a tenner each, they’ve got a special offer for people who want to have their office Christmas party at the stadium and watch the game etc. top work by the marketing dept.

It's great that they can attract so many to the Aviva and so often as well, its the fifth time in a year that its been 40,000 + there so happy days!!!


Just contrast that with the (sexy rugby) scarlets, on the heart of rugby loving Wales and they could only get 13,000 on the weekend against Munster. And that was a Heineken Cup record for them. Something is just not right about that

ha Hughie do you want a stick to help with your stirring?

That crowd was 5K bigger then any other we've had all season, and not far off capactiy. Brilliant for us.

aha! Just realised that it's pay day today, guaranteed good mood here I come

I'm not stiring though, I brought this up over the weekend. It makes no sense to me that the region with the most "history" you'd think they'd be able to attract more than 7,000 a game

Bore da pawb / good morning all. Sunny here but we're due snow overnight...

Dreamer, I get paid every Thursday, but after last weekend I need the money pretty urgently!

hughie1986 wrote:I'm not stiring though, I brought this up over the weekend. It makes no sense to me that the region with the most "history" you'd think they'd be able to attract more than 7,000 a game

Isn't it an issue of catchment area that we talked about on the journey back from Cardiff? Oh hang on, you were in the dog box, I forgot. I think Wales may have made a mistake locating their 4 regions within 50 miles of each other - they're competing against each other for crowds

How though? Llanelli doesn't have that big a population, and a lot of the people there prefer football. Add to that it's a very poor town (which you've seen for yourself now) so there's not that many people who can afford to go every week. All the rest of our home support have to travel really far to get there (so again, can't make all home games). We don't have the benefit of somewhere like Cardiff, Newport or Swansea where they should realistically have a much bigger fan base right near the stadium (regardless of football competing with it).

Take all that into account, the fact that we are getting the biggest attendances of all the regions, and had more than double the Blues' crowd on the weekend. I think the Scarlets are doing a pretty damn good job. Got absolutley loads to improve on, and ideally, getting an average of 10K is the aim for now, but still, moving in the right direction

Good new on the pay front Dreamer. Don't go spending it all at once though

Hughie, I do agree on the attendances in Wales. I was looking at the Cardiff v Edinburgh game on Sky and couldn't believe how few people there were at that. Prime Friday night spot, team unbeaten in the group etc etc.

They are and they aren't As. I mean, you won't get Llanelli folk supporting a Swansea region, just like you won't get Swansea folk supporting a Cardiff region etc. So competing for fans isn't always really the main problem. Loads of smaller factors build up to the bigger picture of poor crowd attendances I think.

Had no idea that Stuart Lancaster is half-Scots and has represented them at U19 and Student level: http://www.scotsman.com/sport/rugby/club-rugby/rugby_from_dark_blue_to_red_rose_for_new_england_coach_stuart_lancaster_1_2008861

Rava - ha well I'm out on Fri and Sat night and have got to finish off (i.e start) my Christmas shopping this weekend, so reckon my bank account might take a bit of a hit! Still, should be home lots over Christmas and New Year so shall save my pennies then

rugbydreamer wrote:They are and they aren't As. I mean, you won't get Llanelli folk supporting a Swansea region, just like you won't get Swansea folk supporting a Cardiff region etc. So competing for fans isn't always really the main problem. Loads of smaller factors build up to the bigger picture of poor crowd attendances I think.

Can we do a demographic study? What are the populations within a 5-mile radius for each catchment centre for the Celtic pro teams?

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

rugbydreamer wrote:They are and they aren't As. I mean, you won't get Llanelli folk supporting a Swansea region, just like you won't get Swansea folk supporting a Cardiff region etc. So competing for fans isn't always really the main problem. Loads of smaller factors build up to the bigger picture of poor crowd attendances I think.

Can we do a demographic study? What are the populations within a 5-mile radius for each catchment centre for the Celtic pro teams?

Well aye we could do, not sure off the top of my head where to find that info though,will have to have a nose about online in my lunch break.
I would assume it would go in order of largest to smallest though as Blues, Dragons, Ospreys, Scarlets.

Na dreamer they are just excuses. Decent marketing could easily improve the attendences, mick has just pointed out how much of an affect it can have, plus when your not selling the tickets anyway give them away to schools and charge the parents to bring the kids. Attendence improved straight away

Morning all.

I had to put the rubbish out this morning in a howling gale and rain, but now the sun's out and it's a lovely winter day in London.

Rugby news from down-under:

• Steve Hansen should be confirmed as new ABs coach overnight tonight.
  
• Zac Guildford has been banned for 4 matches (3 pre-season friendlies and the Crusaders' SXV opener) after his drunken episode in Rarotonga, and he's vowed to quit drinking
  
• Richie McCaw has been awarded an honorary doctorate in natural resources by Lincoln University* in Canterbury. Expect either an ONZ (OBE equivalent) or knighthood for the man come the New Years Honours List.

* There's a traditional rivalry between Lincoln (formerly "Lincoln Agricultural College") and the University of Canterbury, my alma mater. So in honour of that rivalry:
Q - What's the latest fashion accessory at Lincoln? A - Velcro gloves.
Q - Why did they let female students into Lincoln? A - Sheep can't cook

hughie1986 wrote:Na dreamer they are just excuses. Decent marketing could easily improve the attendences, mick has just pointed out how much of an affect it can have, plus when your not selling the tickets anyway give them away to schools and charge the parents to bring the kids. Attendence improved straight away

I agree with you to a point, for a lot of people those reasons are just excuses, but for a lot of other people they are completely valid points. Plus, marketing isn't always the answer (although obviously does help). The Blues have been doing the free tickets for kids, and it's hardly a scheme that's working brilliantly for them!

Apathy is the biggest problem in Welsh rugby at the minute imo. There are too many people who are all too happy to sit at home and watch the games on tv instead of getting out there and supporting their team. Drives me nuts!

From a Scarlets pov, we are improving out attendances year on year, even if it is a slow growth, so for me, that is only a good thing. can't speak for the other regions though and what their problems are.

Morning all. Not a great start as some plonker was trespassing on the line at Acton. Delayed half an hour out of Paddington and crawling along.

On the support thing, Leinster and Munster rely heavily on support from non-rugby fans.* More so Munster. The team are representing their Province, and the concept of 'Province' is far more ingrained in Ireland than any sense of connection with an artificial Region in Wales.

* I have heard many of these 'fans' and they know jack all about rugby. But its tickets sold and bums on seats I suppose.

Exactly Hound, the regions are still new and many people are still getting used to them. If I recall correctly, the Scarlets are actually getting bigger attendances now then when it was just Llanelli at Stradey. Not sure on that but will check. I think sometimes people have this romanticised view that Welsh attendances at club level used to be massive, but from what I can recall they are either similar to what they are now, or a lot lower.

Would the attendances be boosted if the BBC / S4C were only allowed to show highlights of the regions' matches, rather than covering them live?

I think they would be Lucky, maybe not massively but it would make a difference, and maybe start getting the casual fan back in the habit of actually going to watch rugby live.

Kiwi, are you happy with the Hansen appointment?

Lovely place Lincoln... my cuz-bro lived out near West Melton (near the epicentre of the first quake). Beautiful country. I used to do the Weedons Rd thru there on the way to Akaroa.

Rarotonga is a great place to lose it all... but I think Zac must have set new records with his boozing.

He should have done the cross-island trek with the old legend guy... forgotten his name right now (he was 64 in '98... but when he asked us to guess his age, most people said ... ummmm, 42?) There's a bit like in the King Kong movie when you have to literally crawl up these amazing twisted monster tree roots inclined at 45 degrees. This guy did it backwards with his hands on his hips... a bit of a show off - but he'd done it thousands of times. We were all clinging on for our lives. The view from the top of the mountain towards the coast is something I'll never forget!

They have this ukelele music which seems to be blaring out everywhere though. It's fine at first but eventually it's like an Elvis movie on crack... it just gets faster and faster. They even have live bands playing it non-stop during breakfast complete with dancing girls in grass skirts. Makes you want to go out snorkelling straight away!

That sounds a bit crazy but a load of fun breaker


And aweomse, penguins on my latest Christmas card! Am in freakishly good mood today

Hound_of_Harrow wrote:
On the support thing, Leinster and Munster rely heavily on support from non-rugby fans.* More so Munster. The team are representing their Province, and the concept of 'Province' is far more ingrained in Ireland than any sense of connection with an artificial Region in Wales.

* I have heard many of these 'fans' and they know jack all about rugby. But its tickets sold and bums on seats I suppose.

Massively agree.