Susan Hated Literature

I’m speechless. I have no idea what to say after that match. The first half was so horrible. Unless you were French^[1] of course. What is with Ireland and first halves in France? Remember 2 years ago? Although this was worst, because right up to the final whistle the hope was there.

And let me tell you hope is a killer.

French fuckers.

Still, lets look at the positives; the scrum. Yes, I said the scrum, imagine that, an Ireland scrum that was going forward. That dominated the French pack! That led to a penalty try. The forward pack had a great second half. ROG too had a great game, kept us in touch, barely, in the first half. But on the wings^[2] we’re a bit “who’s supposed to be playing there”. I also think that the lineout, at first, wasn’t great, but it did improve as the match went on. BOD was his usual hard-working self, but Trimble was very quiet. I don’t think he is good enough for the likes of France. Interesting to see who O’Sullivan will select for the next match against Scotland.

Sport really is a roller-coaster isn’t it?

Final score, btw, was France 26 - Ireland 21 and I officially hate Vincent Clerc.

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Gutted! Revisited.

There is no denying that Croke Park is an impressive venue. I haven’t been there all that often. I don’t remember who was playing for my first visit, but I do remember being asked if anyone had asked us to carry anything into the stadium. It must have been a Sligo game as Dad took us, though I’m not too sure when Sligo would’ve made it to Croker before. My last visit there was for the International Rules, and really, the less said about that the better. My ticket was for the Cusack Stand. Upper tier. So plenty of steps to be climbed, but you get a great view of the surroundings.

We had a great rendition of Amhrán na bhFiann^[1] and Ireland’s Call. I’m still not sure about Ireland’s Call^[2] It sounded great on Sunday, but often it sounds shite, maybe it needs the numbers singing it, or maybe we just aren’t comfortable singing it yet. Whatever, it was great. And yes, the French thingy sounded grand too.^[3]

But the match itself didn’t really go to plan. France came out all guns blazing, and the ref had issues with his mic tugging as he ran, nothing like listening in to the ref’s mic is there? Still Ireland never panicked, and although errors were made, there were also some wonderful moments. Boss charging down a kick and the sudden hint of a try. Murphy’s wonderful interception to prevent a definite try for the wrong side. But at half time it was France in the lead. And a deserved lead. We were lucky two be only to points behind. And O’Gara’s kicking out of hand wasn’t great. Does he just miss Lansdowne?

Second half and it was almost a reversal, but we couldn’t get the scores, although I think we deserved them. I’m not going to moan about the lack of advantage played by Walsh when Murphy would have scored. Nor about Horan being tackled without the ball. Swings and roundabouts as they say.

Still we went in front, only a point, but still. Victory was within our grasp. And then that lineout, and maul. And a penalty. And we went four in front. With two minutes to go. But we had a problems with the the restarts all day, and before we knew what was what the French were over the line. And with no time left for us to do anything.

So that is it, our Grand Slam dreams over, and only a faint possibility of winning the championship. We gotta hope France slip up and that we win the rest of our games. But this should have been our year.

I’m a fan of Eddie O’Sullivan’s, but I think he messed up bringing Horgan in from the wing. I would have played Trimble in the centre and left Horgan in his usual position. He was just back from injury, and expecting him to slot in and play like BOD was unfair.

There is still England to play at home^[4] and then we’re away, travelling to play Scotland and Italy. Fingers crossed that we have no more injuries, and that O’Driscoll is back quickly. And that O’Gara’s ankle injury is the nothing they are all making it out to be.

There are more photos on flickr but they aren’t great quality, too far away. I need a shiny new camera. And also, tickets to the Ireland V England match would be lovely, you know, if you have any to spare.

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In the current climate of this whole “war on terror” thing that we have going on, what do you think we need most in the world? Obviously the answer is… more war! Throw your hands up in the air^[1] and celebrate.
Or just do what I normally do, that is shrug and ignore.

I went by flickr last night and realised how long it has been since I’ve taken any photos. I forgot the camera over xmas, but did take one or two snaps with the phone. However, although the pic of Strandhill on Stephen’s day uploaded, for some reason the one of the kitten won’t appear. I’ll continue to wait^[2] before looking for my bluetooth fingymebob and doing it that way.

And in yet more good news it looks like foot and mouth may be back.

But in real good news I’ve just gone and ordered my ticket for Ireland v France, in Croke Park, which’ll be the first furrin game played there. Once you discount American Football and the like, cause they aren’t “garrison games” and so are merely entertainment, not evil Furrin sports, like rugby and soccer, as played by “them across the water”.

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It is January, so that means the Six Nations is just around the corner, and I’ve just gotten my ever-so-secret instructions from the Irish Rugby Supporters club that’ll enable me to purchase my ticket for the match against France tomorrow. Nice one. Just the one, but that won’t stop me. I’m so heading to Croker for the rugby.

We will also get a chance to buy two other tickets, either for France or for England. I’m aiming to get to for the England match, have half promised B#5 that if I get them he can come along. But we’ll see what happens.

Anyways, a before Christmas Donagh of Dublin Opinion got in contact regarding books of the year, but of course it has taken me this long to get around to it. And because I rarely buy hardback books, and pay no real attention as to whether a book is new or old, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to regard this as a “Books of 2006″ type post, more a “books I enjoyed in 2006″ list.

In no particular order, my top reads of 2006:
• The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper
  This is a children’s fantasy sequence, arthurian in places, the first in the series of 5 was published back in 1965, but they really aren’t that dated at all. An example of some great writing, with no effort made to talk-down to a child’s level or anything so nasty.
• On Another Man’s Wound by Ernie O’Mally
  Ernie O’Malley’s account of his life fighting the Irish War of Independence. Entertaining and gripping account of how people from all sorts of backgrounds ended up on the same side.
• Seeking Whom He May Devour by Fred Vargas trans. David Bellos
  I loved this book, which I picked up because of the cover
  
  but I loved for the writing, characters and the plot. Mainly for the character of Adamsberg though, he is great, and I’m waiting for more of Vargas’ work to be translated from French so I can enjoy them.
• The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
  Anther old children’s fantasy, though this is very, very different to The Dark is Rising. It is simple, and childlike and totally adorable. A little dated, but who cares.
• Thud! by Terry Pratchett
  Terry Pratchett is nothing less than a genius. Everyone should at least try to read some of his Discworld novels. But just because you don’t like one is no reason not to try another. I enjoy most of his books, but I LOVE his watch ones. Vimes has to be among the greatest of all fictional characters ever thought up.

And of course honourable mentions must go to the following:

Check out the other lists and reviews from this technorati page

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I’ve become a bad player in two weeks according to a lot of people but there’s not much I can do about Saturday’s game now

Poor Geordan. Don’t worry, we forgive you. And more importantly we all know you aren’t a bad player. Yes you made a mistake or two, but we still think you’re great.

To spare the rugby-phobes there is more, but I’ve hidden it under the cut. So I have.

Continue Reading »

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Talk about your bloody clichés. Was that game of rugby ever a game of two halves?

My first half commentary could be summarised as “fucking, french fuckers, and fucking stupid silly mistakes”, or to reduce that even further: FUCK!”

Lets look at the score timeline:

• 3 min.s and the french score a try 5-0
• 7 min.s and another french try. Converted. 12-0
• 18 min.s and guess what? Another French try. Also converted. 19-0
• 28 min.s sees Ireland’s first score. A penalty. 19-3
• 30 min.s and France erase Ireland’s score with a penalty of their own. 22-3
• 38 min.s, and a huge error by Murphy sees France get in for yet another try. Once more converted. 29-3

Half time, and we are all thinking of turning the telly off, cause this is just humiliating.

• 45. min.s and France continue on their Try scoring ways. Converted. 36-3
• 48 min.s and a block down from an O’Gara kick sees France’s SIXTH try 43-3
• 58 min.s sees us score our first try. Converted. Not much a reason for celebration as the score is still 43-10
• 61 min.s - Another Irish try. converted. 43-17
• 67 min.s and O’Callaghan makes it three for Ireland. Converted. 43-24
• 70 min.s and why the hell didn’t we play like this in first half; A converted try makes it 43-31

And that was the final score. 43-31. 6 tries to 4. Can you imagine, ten tries in the one game!

So did France take their foot off the pedal and allow Ireland back into the game? Or did Ireland’s work in the first half wear the French down enough so that they just weren’t capable of maintaining that level of defence in the second half.

Here’s hoping, against all reality, that Italy beat England.

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The build-up to this week’s football has begun. Ireland v France. Of course we will win And in order to help our team the journalists are already calling us the underdogs, because the Irish team simply cannot win a match that, on paper, they should easily walk away with. Although, obviously enough, this is not the case against France. They should beat us, which in turn, makes it more likely that we will actually perform. Or at least, so I hope.

We can play a little football but let’s not forget that while the papers were noting the return of Zidane, Makelele and Thuram they were also wondering whether Clinton Morrison would be at Norwich this season. There’s a gulf. In this fight we’re the underdog but it’s the size of the fight in the dog, not the size of the dog in the fight, that matters. Let’s rumble.

As for the title, well that is from a statement of Thierry Henry’s: “The Irish possess the fighting spirit that we don’t have in France and I find it striking, it is going to be a case of everyone going to war, pure and simple.”

Nothing like a cliche is there Thierry?

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