Rugby Players

[Godot 149]

Excellent interview with Andy Ripley in the Telegraph today. It says he has prostate cancer.

 

He doesn't look anywhere near death's door to me although he has had a pulmonary embolism brought on, possibly, by his fanatical exercise regime on the rowing machines.

 

I know there are threads for football, cricket and baseball but there's nothing that I know of on here to discuss a real game, rugby union, where some big names, people like Fred Allen (former NZ rugby coach, born 1920) are getting on a bit. Others a bit younger, like Willie John McBride, have been ravaged by the after-dinner circuit so are not likely to last too long.

 

Then there are cannibal rugby players well worth tracking. Can't survive for ever.

[DevonDeathTrip 2,365]

He's rugby league rather than union, but Jack Gibson, the Australian coach would be a good bet. He introduced lots of new coaching and training methods into the sport.

 

According to Wiki "Gibson is now confined to a Sydney nursing home and requires around-the-clock care as he battles Alzheimer's disease and dementia"

[Gunjaman5000 32]

Excellent interview with Andy Ripley in the Telegraph today. It says he has prostate cancer.

 

He doesn't look anywhere near death's door to me although he has had a pulmonary embolism brought on, possibly, by his fanatical exercise regime on the rowing machines.

 

I know there are threads for football, cricket and baseball but there's nothing that I know of on here to discuss a real game, rugby union, where some big names, people like Fred Allen (former NZ rugby coach, born 1920) are getting on a bit. Others a bit younger, like Willie John McBride, have been ravaged by the after-dinner circuit so are not likely to last too long.

 

Then there are cannibal rugby players well worth tracking. Can't survive for ever.

Excellent idea Godot. If you don't mind me putting my anaorak on for a bit, Fred Allen's big achievement in my book is captaining the team of soldiers, the 2nd NZEF 'Kiwis' on a tour of Great Britain after WWII, he then went on to become All Black captain and didn't become coach until the sixties.

 

The international players of the fifties are now well into their seventies and should start heading for the changing sheds in the sky before long and Jonah Lomu could quite easily be worth a closer look if his new kidney gives up the ghost.

[Godot 149]

I wouldn't give much for Jonny Wilkinson's chances either after yesterday's performance. He's going to be the target of every front row thug on the pitch for the rest of the six nations. Take out Wilkinson and you can rub at least 10 points off the England score in every match.

 

Fantastic performance yesterday also by Ellis and Robinson. For those who follow England it was one of the great matches that you remember and can say "I was there".

[Godot 149]

Then again Wilkinson seems to have mastered the art of levitation (although this picture would suggest otherwise) so we might be unwise to view him as an ordinary mortal.

 

Talking of immortals. If

doesn't make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up I don't know what does.

[Godot 149]

Pete Docherty blah blah, Jade Goody blah blah, football blah blah, any f*****g puerile shite blah blah.

 

Dead horse for sale.

[Cowboy Ronnie 78]

Then again Wilkinson seems to have mastered the art of levitation (although this picture would suggest otherwise) so we might be unwise to view him as an ordinary mortal.

 

Talking of immortals. If

doesn't make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up I don't know what does.

 

Nice try, but was that a forward pass at around the 1 min mark?

[Anubis the Jackal 77]

Not to mention 2 or 3 high tackles by the All Blacks.

[Godot 149]

Yes those were the days before fourth officials and video when referees didn't mind the odd high slap. It was still a great try.

[Gunjaman5000 32]

Yes those were the days before fourth officials and video when referees didn't mind the odd high slap. It was still a great try.

You're dead right Godot, it was only a high tackle if someone was stretchered off back then. Great try, it reminds me of how France used to play before they started trying to play like everyone else.

[maryportfuncity 10,682]

We mentioned the ancient, and not always well, Cliff Morgan on another thread about commentators possibly near death. Anyone know how spritely a shimmy he's currently cutting on the golf course?

[BrunoBrimley 86]

There used to be a Ripley in my apartment.....believe it or not. She died in 1978 and I got the apartment.

 

 

 

Just thought I'd mention it, since this is a Ripley thread.

[DevonDeathTrip 2,365]

Former Scottish Rugby Union president Adam Robson has died at the age of 78.

 

Robson, who also won 22 caps as a wing forward between 1954 and 1960, played club rugby for Dalkeith and Hawick and also appeared for the Barbarians.

[Octopus of Odstock 2,215]

Roger Milward is a tough old guy. 4 broken jaws, a rare heart condition & now it appears he has beaten off cancer. More here.

One to still think about though.

[Anubis the Jackal 77]

Ex-Welsh rugby international Ray Gravell is on his last leg(s)

[Octopus of Odstock 2,215]

Scotland's oldest rugby international reaches 100 years of age

[Gunjaman5000 32]

Bloody hell!!! First New Zealand lose one game in the last twenty and now this. Things not looking good for Zinzan

[Geronimo 3]

Bloody hell!!! First New Zealand lose one game in the last twenty and now this. Things not looking good for Zinzan

I see he fell over getting out of a taxi. Hard bastards, these taxis. A tired and emotional situation perhaps?

[DevonDeathTrip 2,365]

Former England, Leicester and Bristol prop forward David Hazell has died at the age of 76.

[DevonDeathTrip 2,365]

Wayne "Buck" Shelford, who captained the New Zealand All Blacks in the 1980s, been diagnosed with lymphoma.

 

By all accounts, he is quite a tough cookie:

 

During only his second test with the All Blacks he had his scrotum torn open -leaving one testicle hanging free and four teeth knocked out in a ruck - but played on.

[Lard Bazaar 3,800]

Wayne "Buck" Shelford, who captained the New Zealand All Blacks in the 1980s, been diagnosed with lymphoma.

 

By all accounts, he is quite a tough cookie:

 

During only his second test with the All Blacks he had his scrotum torn open -leaving one testicle hanging free and four teeth knocked out in a ruck - but played on.

 

 

Blimey, that's made me wince, and I'm a girl.

[DevonDeathTrip 2,365]

Joey Sadler, one of only two remaining members of the 1935 All Blacks team, has died at the age of 92.

 

Deadpoolers might like to keep an eye on Eric Tindall, a double All Black aged 96, who is New Zealand's oldest living rugby and cricket international. Shockingly, he does not have a Wiki page, perhaps someone who knows how would like to provide him with one.

[Octopus of Odstock 2,215]

Joey Sadler, one of only two remaining members of the 1935 All Blacks team, has died at the age of 92.

 

Deadpoolers might like to keep an eye on Eric Tindall, a double All Black aged 96, who is New Zealand's oldest living rugby and cricket international. Shockingly, he does not have a Wiki page, perhaps someone who knows how would like to provide him with one.

 

He has had a Wiki page for some years, DDT, partly because his name is Eric TINDILL.

[harrymcnallysblueandwhitearmy 1,704]

Former London Irish outside-half Jarrod Cunningham has succumbed to motor neurone aged just 38.

[Guest Guest]

Joey Sadler, one of only two remaining members of the 1935 All Blacks team, has died at the age of 92.

 

Deadpoolers might like to keep an eye on Eric Tindall, a double All Black aged 96, who is New Zealand's oldest living rugby and cricket international. Shockingly, he does not have a Wiki page, perhaps someone who knows how would like to provide him with one.

 

He has had a Wiki page for some years, DDT, partly because his name is Eric TINDILL.

 

 

and what was the other reason he had a Wiki page for? Apart from having the name Eric Tindill?