How to tell what the Referee is Signalling at Rugger Matches

Well it's been almost a year since I guided you in "What to Shout at Rugger Matches". So I'm thinking you bookmarked the post, took a print out of it and stuck it up on your wall, and take a glance before every match. If everything has gone to plan, you still have all your limbs, and no bruisers after any of the matches. Chicks dig that your on "top" of the game, maybe you landed one even... (if so you owe me a Drink). If you have a GF, she's mighty proud of you, and her friends think your cool too. :)

Untill she or one of her friends ask, "Hey what happened?" and you see the Ref, doing a number with his Hands... bomber... Ok so you say "you didn't see it", it's gonna work maybe a couple of times if your on the 200 buck Concrete Tier being shoved and pushed, but if your in the Grand Stand.... hmmmm.... I've got just what you want..

Objective :

Give you the ability to connect the with top man of the game, the Ref, who gets to call all the shots on the field (Off field feel free to throw a Flower Pot at him). If you thought you were on top of the game before, you'll feel like you grew an extra 6 inches... vertically ;)

In the end.. upgrade you from Cool Dude to "Rugby Jock", just in time for the 2nd Leg of the Bradby, tomorrow! Go Royal!

Assumptions :

You have already read and followed My Previous Guideline, and it's a fair assumption that you have made the upgrade from "Geek" to "Cool Dude". :)




So a few tips before you get behind the wheel, Ref's unlike our parents do not reward us for good behavior (don't expect an XBOX or a PS3 for being a Good Sport), so when you know he's signaling something that means somebody gonna get a hurt.. (oops sorry that was Russel) basically your only chance is that, your opponents committed the crime and maybe it's Christmas for you after all.


Here goes --> IRB Ref Signal Guide!!! (PDF 1.2MB)

NOTE :

If you want to upgrade to "Rugby Guru" try going through the entire IRB Rule Book (PDF 15MB). If your found murdered in your Hotel Room the next day, only to be later realized that you died of natural causes, you know it WORKED!!

As usual, my disclaimer as follows :

"If you Score.. I'm your Man... If you Screw Up... There's always another Rugger Match next week" :)

Another Year - Same Result

Well they say, it's all water under the bridge, but then would Blogs exist, if people just let it go, and not stop to bitch about it, and then maybe let it go?

So it's this thing that comes around every year around this time, that get all those who have a liking for the stage excited, 4 weeks (sometimes more.. sometimes less) of tiring practices, and getting the set, costumes organized for the Big Day. Actually 2 Big Days, if your lucky enough to get passed the 1st one.

The goal is to put up a good show, and in the meantime knock the socks off 3 individuals seated some where in the middle of the audience, in whose lap sits the scrap of paper that your fate is decided on.

In all this my experience is slightly different being the old geezer I am, still find my self roped into this whole experience. So obviously I'm not the schoolboy who's on stage, but come the time of announcing the verdict my heart beats equally to the tempo of the school boy. I share the same sorrow, but I know the feeling of winning is worth all the sorrows, and in time they will too. But 3 years in a row is enough waiting and I hope the light shines upon them next year.

As I hit the "Publish Post" button I cant help but think whether it would have been different if we had gone ahead with the original plan, specially with the judges routing for the comedy against the tragedy.

The Bard would say.. (from the Play itself) "What's done cannot be undone!"....

No More Invites!

Hello... ppl.. so I finally found some time.. amidst the bombs the road blocks and the million dollar corruptions. So what do I decide to empart on you lovely folk today? The simple answer to all those of you who haven't switched and still stagnating in your archaic web mail providers.. Yes.. the answer to Why use Gmail?

The good news is, it's no longer limited to Invitations.. so YOU don't need to feel LEFT OUT anymore!

What can be Better than Gmail you ask? That's Gmail on Firefox coupled with the following Extensions :

1. Gmail Manager
2. Better Gmail

Is the TRUTH out there?

There was a report by the LTTE and subsiquently all Foreign Media sources picked up on it about an Attack on the Pallaley Air Force Base in Sri Lanka.

This is a snippet on what the LTTE carried out. (I dont like linking to TamilNet, so therefore I'm just going to take a snippet off their site.)

Two attack aircraft of the Liberation Tigers bombed the Sri Lankan military’s main base complex in the Jaffna peninsula in the early hours of Tuesday morning, inflicting heavy damage and casualties, LTTE military spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan told TamilNet. Both planes returned safely to base, he said. Meanwhile sources said continuous explosions were heard from inside the High Security Zone for five hours after the air raid, fuelling speculation that a major ammunition dump had been hit.

However the SL Govt, have categoraly denied the statement, and issued their statement, saying it was artillery fire , and that too away from the Pallay Base.

The Sri Lanka Air Force denied the statement of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) that the Tamil Tiger air planes bombed the Palali air strip by using their propeller driven two fixed winged air craft and called it a complete fabrication. But military sources said by artillery fire six soldiers died at Myladdi , away from Palali air strip.

Reuters carried both version of the story :

• LTTE favoured.
• SL Army favoured.

This either another blown up set up by the LTTE propaganda machine, to justify the moola rolling in from TRO and other dim-wittted LTTEsympathisers, for their new light aircrafts, reportadley manned by the junior prabha him self.

On the other hand, this might be a cover-up by the local army chaps, in-order to show face despite the serious security lapses being brought to light.

What ever the case, my hind-sight tells me that the Happy-Go-Lucky Islanders (specially in the south) have bigger things to worry about at this moment. No it's not the increasing price of fuel, and the domino effect on consumer goods, it's the plight of Sri Lanka at today's World Cup Semi-Final. :)

Dilhara or Maharoof - Tharanga or Atapattu

Hey folks, braking the shackels, and cleaning up the spider webs on this blog I decided to bore you with my 2-cents on the team selection for the all important semi's. The team selection is all but final except for 2 spots, according my limited knowledge in the cricketing fields. That would be :

Fast/Medium Pace Bowler #3

After a stunning performance in the game against Ireland, the overuled Maharoof bought himself a spot to contend for the above position. Although Maharoof is not the most reliable of Bowlers, specially due to the fact that he has this nack of bowling short, and getting wolloped to the boundary at times, his late order batting skills make him a good contender.

Dilhara is yet to pass the fitness test, but from what I hear he's bound to be fit, thereby causing a little dilemma for the thinking dept. of S.L. Cricket. After all he's seemed to find his form during this world cup, bowling at good space, over come his over stepping problems, and the last over against England was a proving factor that he can hold his nerve (or he got lucky).

Opening Partner for Sanath

The master blaster is having a pretty good world cup, despite loosing out on the last 2 games. The only problem we seem to have is that his partner is suffering a bad patch, despite the century he scored in the practise match against the Kiwis.

Therefore giving rise to many a cricket wise folk in this island nation to question as to why former captain Marvan Atapattu has not been given a chance.

My Choice for the Semi's.

To start with the latter, it would be wrong to dump Marvan in the opening slot, without a proper chance to bat, and expect a ton from him, althought knowing the class of Marvan and the technique, he could deliver it, on his day. I would suggest get bringing Sanga to open (I know he's had a rough patch over the past games too) and drop Tharanga. Thereby opening up a vacancy which Maharoof could fit in, in the late order.

So, now that I have stirred up a controversy, in the fact of going against one of the cardinal rules of "Dont Change a Winning Combination", I will rest my case, and go hide under a rock, for fear of fanatics stoning my house and my blog. He he..