Wales versus All Blacks.

 Having newly acquired an All Blacks team off trusty ebay, and Wales due to play the All Blacks today at 5.15pm, I thought we might just as well have a table rugby match beforehand to see how it went!!

                            Picture shows Wales about to kick off for the second half. The first half was pretty uneventful with neither side gaining any real advantage, and ended up with no score. The second half however saw an early try for Wales with a successful conversion attempt making the score 7-0 to Wales. A scrum from a knock on in the All Blacks half resulted in a successful drop goal attempt by Wales, making the score a healthy 10-0. The restart by the All Blacks resulted in a long kick forward and a subsequent try in the right hand corner. The conversion attempt fell short leaving the score 10-5 to Wales. With about 3 minutes to go, a good run by the All Blacks resulted in another try left of the posts, and the conversion was successful making the score 12- 10 to the All Blacks! Wales restarted, and a bad possession flick by the All Blacks gave Wales a line out down by the All Blacks goal line, from which Wales scored a try right in the right hand corner. The conversion attempt went wide and that was the end of the game.
                                 Wales 15    All Blacks 12.
      So there you have it, the All Blacks can be beaten, come on Wales!!!

Australia v England.

  As the real game is on Saturday, my trusty opponent and myself decided to stage a subbuteo version of the game to see how it would pan out!

 Teams lined up for the national anthems!

                            Australia won the toss, so they kicked off, and early pressure resulted in a lineout close to the England goal line.

                                       England were able to defend well despite a very dangerous push forward, but the ball ended up going over the dead ball line. Play then continued with no side gaining the upper hand, until a Mark called by England, the kick from this ending up in touch just off the Australian line.

                     England quickly gathered the ball, and a neat run with the ball produced a try right under the posts.

                                     The conversion was good and with only seconds to go of the first half England ended up leading 7 points to nil.
                   Unfortunately the camera batteries ran out so was unable to film the second half.The second half was pretty uneventful for most of the time, with both sides attacking and defending equally well, but with 10 minutes remaining, England tried a drop goal that was successful. Australia came back attacking with vigour, and  also tried a drop goal attempt, but the ball failed to achieve enough height. Australia continued to pile on the pressure, and with less than a minute to go, scored a try in the right hand corner. The conversion was going to be a bit tricky from such an acute angle, but despite this was a good kick the went right through the middle of the posts, this was then the end of the match, final result: England 10 Australia 7.

Ireland match.

Having found someone as daft as me to play a game, I thought it only right that Ireland should have a proper match against an opponent. Decided on 30 minutes each way with 5 minutes half time for a beer, and me playing for the Barbarians!!

 Ireland won the toss, so they kicked off, a bad defensive move by me gave Ireland a penalty on the half way line, Mike decided to go for goal, but despite good hieght and length, the ball just went wide of the left hand post. The game then progressed to a very tight to and fro match with neither side being able to take advantage of the play, resulting in a half time score nil nil. The second half started well for the Barbarians with a good tactical kick into the opponents in goal area, but the try attempt was missed resulting in a 20 metre drop out. The game again tightened up until 10 minutes to go, an off ball tackle gave the Barbarians a penalty from the 10 metre line, this was successful. The restart produced a great kick forward and follow up by Ireland, and  some bad defending by me resulted in a great try for Ireland in the right hand corner. Unfortunately the conversion attempt went wide, and that was time up, so Ireland won 5 points to 3.
  It was a damned good gfame, and it is great to be able to play against a proper opponent, even if he does play mainly table football!!!