Full Version: Happy Birthday, Julian!
Hope you have an outstanding 40th birthday, Jules!!!
Happy Birthday Julian. 
Happy birthday Julian!
Best wishes from across the pond!
Many happy returns Jules. I hope the day went well and this year brings you every happiness! 
Sorry I'm late to the party!
Hope you had a lovely and relaxing day, Julian!
Cheers-
Hope you had a lovely and relaxing day, Julian!
Cheers-
Have a great day, Jules.
Have a non-blustery day!
Well, the main party I'm throwing is this coming Saturday. I've hired a restaurant in Cardiff (the city of my birth) and I've invited friends and family for a slap-up feed at my expense at the Armless Dragon restaurant there.
Originally I wanted to do this on my birthday itself, but when I came to start planning it about three months ago, I found that all the hotel space in Cardiff and in the surrounding towns and cities was booked solid, because a Rugby World Cup quarter-final was going to be held there. Apparently, as soon as the groups were announced back in the Spring, the New Zealand fans (and Irish) thought that Cardiff would be the venue most they would likely play at, since New Zealand were the long time favourites to win the whole shebang, and Ireland were thought likely to come second in their groups and play the NZ All Blacks (they are called that because they usually play in an all black strip).
So last weekend was a no-go for the party.
Instead, I went to stay with friends to watch the two quarter final matches. My team (Wales) had already been knocked out
by Fiji (who played amazingly well, considering their entire population is measured in the hundreds of thousands), so I was at best a neutral observer.
First up was the England vs Australia match. Despite being defending World Cup champions, England have been in something of a parlous state more or less since the last World Cup four years ago, and Australia were favourites to win by some margin. However, England (finally) played really well and Australia didn't, especially, and England won!
The guys I was watching in the pub with are both English, so this was cause for some celebration (plus some good-natured ribbing about how badly Wales had done by comparison). After that, we headed back to my friend's house where I was staying and played with/fed his baby son (now 8 months old). Once he went to bed, we fed ourselves (a rather fine Thai takeaway), then settled back in front of the TV to wathc the second quarter-final ; the one which had bumped my original birthday plans.
Instead of the predicted NZ vs Ireland match, this was NZ vs France. France AND Ireland (expected to have finished first and second in their group) had both been beaten by Argentina, who went on to win the group and put France into second place). On their current form, up against the tournament favourites New Zealand, France were not expected to do well but - again, surprising everyone - France took control of the tightly-fought game and they also won, setting up an England-France semi final (to be held on the new date of my party, next Saturday; I wonder if the restaurant might not mind setting up a TV?).
Yesterday's games went more as predicted, with South Africa beating Fiji and Argentina beating Scotland, in both cases by margins that flattered the victors and disghuised how close the underdogs had come to winning.
Argentina, where rugby has always come a poor second to soccer in the popular imagination, really got behind their team, moving a big soccer fixture so it didn't clash with the televisation of their quarter final. Good for them! It's good to see so many "minor nations" do so well - if the IRB play their cards right, rugby stands a chance of becoming the second truly global professional sport after soccer (cricket is limited to Anglophone nations, and former British Empire colonies at that; and the four big US sports - "Football", baseball, basketball and ice hockey - have little or limited penetration as pro sports outside the USA).
The IRB badly need to make sure that Argentina and the South Sea Island teams (Fiji, Tonga and Samoa) at least get a regular tournament slot in the annual Six Nations (England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France & Italy) or Tri-Nations (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) tournaments. Geographically, Argentina might go into the Tri-Nations, but since almost all the players play their club rugb in European teams, it would make more sense to include them in the Six Nations and use a proxy stadium in, say, Spain as their home base. The Basques like their rugby, so Bilbao might make more sense than Madrid.
And yes, countries like the USA & Canada (both of which played creditably) need support to give them a chance to get better by playing more often as a national team. The USA is especially well-placed, since there are a great many college football players (who have the physical size and some of the ball skills to play rugby) never make it into pro Football, but don't want to give up on pro sports. Currently there isn't the domestic support base for this, and - like soccer - the game format doesn't lend itself to the advertising model used in televising US sports i.e. the breaks in game play are infrequent, dependent on the run of play, and don't last long enough to be able to sell advertising effectively. Even with breaks for injuries, matches last for two halves of 40 minutes each with a 20 minute interval.
So anyway, my birthday weekend was good enough to get re-enthused by my favourite sport. The main event is still to come, though.
Thank you all for your best wishes.
Originally I wanted to do this on my birthday itself, but when I came to start planning it about three months ago, I found that all the hotel space in Cardiff and in the surrounding towns and cities was booked solid, because a Rugby World Cup quarter-final was going to be held there. Apparently, as soon as the groups were announced back in the Spring, the New Zealand fans (and Irish) thought that Cardiff would be the venue most they would likely play at, since New Zealand were the long time favourites to win the whole shebang, and Ireland were thought likely to come second in their groups and play the NZ All Blacks (they are called that because they usually play in an all black strip).
So last weekend was a no-go for the party.
Instead, I went to stay with friends to watch the two quarter final matches. My team (Wales) had already been knocked out
by Fiji (who played amazingly well, considering their entire population is measured in the hundreds of thousands), so I was at best a neutral observer. First up was the England vs Australia match. Despite being defending World Cup champions, England have been in something of a parlous state more or less since the last World Cup four years ago, and Australia were favourites to win by some margin. However, England (finally) played really well and Australia didn't, especially, and England won!
The guys I was watching in the pub with are both English, so this was cause for some celebration (plus some good-natured ribbing about how badly Wales had done by comparison). After that, we headed back to my friend's house where I was staying and played with/fed his baby son (now 8 months old). Once he went to bed, we fed ourselves (a rather fine Thai takeaway), then settled back in front of the TV to wathc the second quarter-final ; the one which had bumped my original birthday plans.
Instead of the predicted NZ vs Ireland match, this was NZ vs France. France AND Ireland (expected to have finished first and second in their group) had both been beaten by Argentina, who went on to win the group and put France into second place). On their current form, up against the tournament favourites New Zealand, France were not expected to do well but - again, surprising everyone - France took control of the tightly-fought game and they also won, setting up an England-France semi final (to be held on the new date of my party, next Saturday; I wonder if the restaurant might not mind setting up a TV?).
Yesterday's games went more as predicted, with South Africa beating Fiji and Argentina beating Scotland, in both cases by margins that flattered the victors and disghuised how close the underdogs had come to winning.
Argentina, where rugby has always come a poor second to soccer in the popular imagination, really got behind their team, moving a big soccer fixture so it didn't clash with the televisation of their quarter final. Good for them! It's good to see so many "minor nations" do so well - if the IRB play their cards right, rugby stands a chance of becoming the second truly global professional sport after soccer (cricket is limited to Anglophone nations, and former British Empire colonies at that; and the four big US sports - "Football", baseball, basketball and ice hockey - have little or limited penetration as pro sports outside the USA).
The IRB badly need to make sure that Argentina and the South Sea Island teams (Fiji, Tonga and Samoa) at least get a regular tournament slot in the annual Six Nations (England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France & Italy) or Tri-Nations (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) tournaments. Geographically, Argentina might go into the Tri-Nations, but since almost all the players play their club rugb in European teams, it would make more sense to include them in the Six Nations and use a proxy stadium in, say, Spain as their home base. The Basques like their rugby, so Bilbao might make more sense than Madrid.
And yes, countries like the USA & Canada (both of which played creditably) need support to give them a chance to get better by playing more often as a national team. The USA is especially well-placed, since there are a great many college football players (who have the physical size and some of the ball skills to play rugby) never make it into pro Football, but don't want to give up on pro sports. Currently there isn't the domestic support base for this, and - like soccer - the game format doesn't lend itself to the advertising model used in televising US sports i.e. the breaks in game play are infrequent, dependent on the run of play, and don't last long enough to be able to sell advertising effectively. Even with breaks for injuries, matches last for two halves of 40 minutes each with a 20 minute interval.
So anyway, my birthday weekend was good enough to get re-enthused by my favourite sport. The main event is still to come, though.
Thank you all for your best wishes.
Happy belated Birthday Julian.
And I too was gutted by Wales being out...
And I too was gutted by Wales being out...
HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY, JULIAN!!! 
Hope you spent the day with good friends, good times and a good tall cold one.
Hey, Julian, another belated Happy Birthday!
Good to hear from another rugger! I missed the NZ France semi, had it set to record but my daughter apparently changed the channel when it came on. Can't believe the AB's lost that one...they had been playing SO well. But, sounds like a good B-day bash...rugby and beer with friends! Hope you had a swell time.
Good to hear from another rugger! I missed the NZ France semi, had it set to record but my daughter apparently changed the channel when it came on. Can't believe the AB's lost that one...they had been playing SO well. But, sounds like a good B-day bash...rugby and beer with friends! Hope you had a swell time.
Four-oh! 
You're still a baby (Compared to some of us!) 
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