Cup Rugby Notes

It’s the Konica Minolta Cup on Saturday 15 December. It’s the third round where the Premiership clubs join in.

Following a contrived WRU draw to ensure that they were kept apart, these are the 14 (of 32) games that feature the Premiership teams.

Ammanford v Pontypridd
Bedwas v Nantyffyllon
Blackwood Stars v Neath
Bryncethin v Bridgend
Carmarthen Ath v Newport
Cross Keys v Loughor
Felinfoel v Maesteg
Glamorgan Wanderers v Rumney
Llanelli v Llangennech
Llantrisant v Ebbw Vale
Pontypool v Cardiff
Swansea v Tredegar Ironsides
Tredegar v Aberavon
UWIC v Llandovery

I fancy that Tredegar v Aberavon should be interesting, and Pooler v Cardiff could be an upset. As for me, I’ll be popping five miles down the road to see the Steelmen visit the Black Army.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day in the United States is an annual day of thanks for the blessings of the past year, observed on the fourth Thursday in November, 22 November this year.

It is a historical, national, and religious holiday that began with the Pilgrims. After the survival of their first colony through the bitter winter, and the gathering of the harvest, Gov. William Bradford of Plymouth Colony issued a thanksgiving proclamation in the autumn of 1621. This first thanksgiving lasted three days, during which the Pilgrims feasted on wild turkey and venison with their Indian guests.

Lots more on Wikipedia.

Happy thanksgiving for this Thursday.

British Library

I had a meeting in the British Library in London last week. As well as learning about the risks associated with storing some 150 million books including some of the rarest books in the world. Their collection expands by some 7 miles of shelving every year. (I know the feeling; I was in IKEA last week buying a new bookcase.)

I was able to spend a short while in their ‘Treasures’ museum, which includes the Magna Carta as well as original manuscripts for Handel’s Messiah and Lennon and McCartney’s Yesterday. Side by side.

And it's a library rather than a museum, so you can actually get to touch and read almost all of these books.

TV Notes

Nowadays it’s a diet of repeats – The Sopranos is being shown from the very beginning, and The West Wing is in the middle of a re-run. Both of them on More 4.

Of course the weekend TV viewing, what there is of it, is Heineken Cup rugby and the NFL, both on Sky Sports.

Other Blogs of Note

Interesting to see how many journalists use people’s blogs as the basis for their stories.

This past weekend the papers have been full of the information gleaned from the blog of Alex Allan, newly appointed chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee and Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice. As a board member of a probation board, I guess in some way he is my boss.

Anyway, as well as being a Grateful Dead fan, he also once windsurfed to work up the Thames. Oh, and his home address and phone numbers were published. I say “were”, because they have been hastily deleted.

You, and other journos, can find the blog at http://www.whitegum.com/.

Rugby Notes

After last week’s great win over Newport at Dave Parade, there was a poor showing by Ebbw Vale yesterday at Glamorgan Wanderers, going down 8-16.

Details as always on the newly updated and jazzier than ever Ebbw Vale RFC website.

Scorers: A try for Rhys Williams and a penalty for Simon Hunt.

Highlights: Not too many. I guess the fact that Ebbw came back from a 16-0 half-time deficit after a dismal first 40 minutes should be some encouragement.

Lowlight: The laughable passive scrums after Wands got a prop sin-binned lat on. It’s a stupid rule in those circumstances since the 7-man pack doesn’t get penalised at the set piece.

Man of the Match: John Bowd for another tireless effort.

Pontypridd fireworks show

A picture I took last night of the fireworks display put on by the Council in Ponty Park. Great display.

The weather was perfect and, judging by the traffic, people came from all over to see the show. The best view though was looking out of our bedroom window.

Hopefully I'll get around to putting a few more fireworks photos up on my Flickr site (there's a link in the right-hand column).

Rugby Notes

Another fine win for Ebbw Vale on the weekend, 16-12 at Pontypridd. I say “at Pontypridd” because it’s still an away game for me even though its only less than half a mile walk to Sardis Road.

The pack dominated again but failed to convert lots of early pressure into points. Mental mistakes are still killing us, keeping Ponty and their fans interested. A yellow card for a high tackle by Nio Aiono just before half time helped let Ponty back into the game. Ponty’s Nathan Strong was outstanding in the loose, but Ebbw pack made life difficult and Neil Edwards gave yet another lineout masterclass.

The backs suffered from being switched around, and a few new combinations failed to click. Both wings (Williams and Bevan) were substituted and the reshaped backline defended superbly late on to keep a surging Ponty out.

Ebbw didn’t play well, but came away with the win. No easy achievement down at Sardis Road.

The Western Mail’s report is here and the Wales on Sunday’s here. A less objective view is on the Ebbw Vale RFC site here. As a result Ebbw stay second, and look forward to a trip to the Evil Empire Newport next Saturday.

Scorers: Tries for Bryan Shelbourne and Will Thomas, two penalties for Simon Hunt.

Highlight: Yet again the pack was excellent. As Ponty tried to disrupt the scrum by wheeling, Ebbw’s loosehead Alistair Lyons would have nothing of it. Instead of being pulled around, he simply stood up with his hands in the air when the Ponty tighthead was going backwards.

Lowlight: A couple of lapses of concentration and/or commitment led to Ebbw conceding tries. Need to ‘switch on’ for the full 80 minutes.

Man of the Match: Will Thomas (pictured, from Graham's site), excellent in the tight and showing up everywhere on the field, including on the wing to nab his try.

Baseball Notes

The Boston Red Sox won the World Series over the weekend, beating the Colorado Rockies 4-0 in the best of seven series. Lots of reports all over the ‘net, including an electronic tree’s worth on the Boston Globe’s website.

But here’s my view, bleary eyed from staying up to late to watch the games or else trying to avoid the score to watch the game on Sky+ from the night before.

Pitching wins matches in the post season. Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling, Dice-K and Jon Lester all pitched well, and Jonathan Pabelbon closed games with nerves of steel. Next season expect Clay Buchholz to come through as well.

Rookies Justin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury played their parts too, and they look like names to watch. Big Papi and Manny were awesome in getting the Sox to the World Series, but the rest of the team played so well that they weren’t overly relied on to get the job done. Mike Lowell was deservedly named MVP for the series.

There’s no resting on laurels though. Already the world has moved on though, with many players at the end of their contracts registering for free agency. One such story is on Curt Schilling’s own website.

Rugby Notes

Excellent 12-9 win by Ebbw Vale over Cardiff last weekend. Despite a poor showing by the ref Phil Fear, and Cardiff’s ability to be permanently a yard offside, Ebbw held up well. After trying a wide range of kickers with mixed success this year (McCarthy, Bramwell and Shelbourne to name but three), this week winger Simon Hunt stepped up and landed 4 of 5.

Until the last five minutes when panic started to set in, Cardiff seemed unwilling to play any sort of attractive rugby, settling instead of hoofing it downfield or keeping it up the jumper.

Ebbw’s pack was awesome again, but need to be a bit more organised to stop the opposition disrupting at scrum and maul.

You can read some more reports in the Western Mail, the South Wales Andrex or on Ebbw Vale’s own website.

Scorers: Four penalties by Simon Hunt.

Highlight: Excellent defence late on. As the Western Mail says, Cardiff had eight phases of ball at the death, and didn’t make a yard, let alone look like scoring a try.

Lowlight: The shambolic line-outs. Cardiff had clearly been watching the World Cup, as the new tactic of stepping away from the opposition when they start to form a maul was much in evidence. It leads to the bizarre sight of the opposition running away from the maul. The rules have to be changed to a) stop the game be ruined, and b) stop Cardiff looking as though they don’t want to play any rugby.

Man of the Match: Nio Aniono for his tireless work.

RWC Reflections

As I suspected, there were no great fireworks in the Rugby World Cup final last Saturday. England huffed and puffed, but couldn’t blow South Africa’s house down. In a game of kicks, they lost 15-6. Many England fans and commentators have been lobbying for tries to be allowed whilst one foot is in touch; but the rule hasn’t been changed yet. They could always move the line out a bit though.

To round the tournament off, here are my ‘Six Nations’ and ‘Rest of the World’ teams picked from the form players in the RWC.

Six Nations
15 Jason Robinson (England)
14 Sean Lamont (Scotland)
13 Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland)
12 Yannick Jauzian (France)
11 Chris Patterson (Scotland)
10 Johnny Wilkinson (England)
9 Andy Gomarsall (England)
1 Andrew Sheridan (England)
2 Raphael Ibanez (France)
3 Phil Vickery (England)
4 Simon Shaw (England)
5 Alun Wyn Jones (Wales)
6 Martin Correy (England)
8 Julain Bonnaire (France)
7 Thierry Dusaustoir (France)

Rest of the World
15 Chris Latham (Australia)
14 Vilimoni Delasau (Fiji)
13 Seru Rabeni (Fiji)
12 Luke McAllister (New Zealand)
11 Bryan Habana (South Africa)
10 Juan Martin Hernandez (Argentina)
9 Fourie de Preez (South Africa)
1 Rodrigo Roncero (Argentina)
2 Mario Ledesma (Argentina)
3 Martin Scelzo (Argentina)
4 Patricio Albacte (Argentina)
5 Victor Matfield (South Africa)
6 Nili Latu (Tonga)
8 Sisa Koyamabole (Fiji)
7 Juan Smith (South Africa)

Player of the tournament – Fourie de Preez
Game of the tournament – Wales vs Fiji
Unluckiest team – Canada

Rugby Notes

Wasn’t at Ebbw Vale’s 15-12 win over Bedwas on the weekend, but you can read all about the win on the Ebbw Vale RFC website or in the South Wales Andrex.

Ebbw are now second in the Principality Premiership. Next up its Cardiff at home on Saturday.

Basball Notes

Phew. Boston made hard work of it, but has eventually made it through to the World Series. They beat the Cleveland Indians 4 games to 3 in the best of seven series, having been 3-1 down. Pitcher Josh Beckett was deservedly named man of the series for his two wins.

Boston faces the unbeatable Colorado Rockies (they’re won 21 of their last 22 games) in the best of seven final which starts tonight at Fenway Park. Coverage on NASN and five.

Dilbert Quotes

Here are some quotes from the people who put the ‘duh’ in ‘Induhvidual’, culled from the Dilbert newsletter:

"There's more than one way to peel a cat."

"That woman uses olive oil like it grows on trees."

"He'd give you the arm off his back."

"You play ball with me and I'll scratch yours."

"We do not have a smoking cow at this point."

"It's our golden goose. We better figure out how to make her purr."

"You are in the top one hundred percent."

"She has four kids, and she's pregnant with her third."

"He'd still be alive today if he hadn't died.”

"How many quarters can you cut an apple into?"

"Why don't they just put the water back in the lake when it's been through the generator?"

"Is your nephew a boy or a girl?"

This Week's Stuff

Link of the Week

James Blunt, the mushy singer-songwriter and rhyming slang, appears to have a sense of humour. He appeared on Sesame Street, and sang a version of You’re Beautiful, about a cute, furry triangle.

“This shape was brilliant / This shape was pure / I saw three angles, of that I am sure...”

See the video on YouTube

Website of the Week

This bizarre website is in the Sion Barry category of splendid waste of time blogs. In this one, Running from Camera a man sets his camera timer to two seconds, and runs:

Old Joke of the Week

1) Just been to my first Islamist birthday party. The musical chairs was a bit slow but boy, pass the parcel was quick.

2) Two aerials got married. The service was nothing special, but the reception was fantastic.

DIY Notes

Found the shower leak! A bit of dodgy grouting was the cause. A good dollop of sealant has fixed it - for the time being anyway.