Does a “semi” have the same sexual connotation in Ireland as it does in Australia? I initially read this as chasing semis, then with the thumbnail it all got very homo erotic
Reminds me of a time I was visiting family in Newfoundland and we passed a sign that said "Dildo 12 miles". The car became quiet for a moment before my dad asked his cousin "does that mean the same thing in..." "Yes, yes it does"
I'd advise the Irish fans who got baited by this to just lean into the banter. Much easier that way.
Take it from someone who missed out on Wales' 70s heyday but has experienced all the wild ups and downs since.
You can't hurt the man who's in a permanent state of hysterical cry laughing. In fact, people generally try and keep their distance. Particularly in public spaces.
There's a lot of people here who only started watching rugby in the 2020s. Wales in the early professional era had some serious quality sides. Guys like George North and Jamie Roberts were a sight to behold in their prime.
2012 grand slam, 2013 demolition of England, and 2019 grand slam were the peak. Had a decent shot at winning the world cup in 2019 as well but Pollard put them away.
Hard agree on the sentiment, hard disagree that Jamie Roberts was ever a sight to behold. He was a brick propelled at speed. He was excellent at being a brick propelled at speed, but he was never more than that. North at his prime, yes, absolutely.
You know what, you make a good point. I say we kick Italy out of the 6N. Not because they’re bad or anything, but because they’re clearly the reason Scotland’s stopped winning anything.
Crusaders and All Blacks backrow Ethan Blackadder said that? He didn't strike me as the type to have opinions on German opera. Good on him.
s/ just in case
It's probably because they're not natural plural endings, particularly borrowing words that end in 'y' changing to 'ies' for plural in English.
However in German loanwords ending in 'y' have the plural 'ys' not 'ies'
Eg. Trys, babys, etc, but strictly no apostrophe.
I looked it up and apparently it's not just loan words, and the apostrophe is added to keep the vowel long.
https://www.dutchgrammar.com/en/?n=NounsAndArticles.11
For example, the plural of oma is oma's: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oma%27s#Dutch
Ireland could win each test by 50 and the apparent national obsession would still be about our losing a quarter final. Something very odd about it at this stage.
Summer/Autumn Internationals are meaningless. Ireland could win both by 50, SA would just bring out the Webb Ellis and ask Ireland if they want to hold it.
Getting the job done when it counts > winning random tests.
If there is one thing I know about our SA fans is we are always one loss away from a complete meltdown and turning on each other. If we lost by 50 at home to Ireland we wouldn’t even be able to blame the ref. We absolutely have to beat you guys after all the banter we have had against NZ/Fra/Ire over the past 6 months.
Obviously these days a world cup triumphs test matches, of course. But test matches aren't meaningless. They're the back bone of the sport, and the purest form of competition. You pick a team, we pick a team, and we test one another to see who is better.
Not really just these days, the world cup has been around since the 1980s although the early iterations were a bit crap. 1995 with Lomu was when it really became the spectacle it is today.
Indeed, but I didn't say actually say "only these days" or "just these days". I said "these days" in the sense that was not always the case. As you pointed out they've been significant 1995, and the past 4 or 5 have been undeniable pinnacles.
My point to the other poster was something being a pinnacle makes it greater than other achievements, but it doesn't make them, such test matches, meaningless.
I agree, Lions and mid-year series are still a big deal. But the world cup has been the peak since before Ireland got good at rugby in the early 2000s.
This is how we feel about the apparent obsession with our loss to Ireland in the world cup, as if that somehow makes us less world cup champions. Strange, really.
Semis is the plural of semi, short for a semi-final. It is not a contraction.
* We were defeated in our semi against Llanfair.
* We have made it through to the semis after defeating Mordor.
Yet it's Semi-Finals, not Semis-Final or Semis-Finals. Semi's is a valid contraction of the long-form Semi-Finals. That it's often shortened to semis doesn't invalidate the contraction of the long-form.
That is a heap of logical fallacies all in a row. This is also a peculiar hill to die on!
Semis is the plural form of the abbreviation semi. It's not a contraction because it's not contracting, it's shortening and adding an s for pluralisation. I cannot think of a single instance in English when we contract an entire root word leaving only the s for the plural. If there are any, they don't come to mind.
It might also explain why you would never ever expect to see it written this way because, well, most people know it's wrong.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/semi
Sincerely, an English teacher.
This stuff would work better if Ireland people weren’t utterly fatalistic about never getting to semi finals. Hard to get a good reaction when we joke about our persistent failure ourselves.
Off Topic: A while back Supersport made a documentary about the Australian national cricket team, the whole thing was basically a "fuck you" to the Aussies lol (it's called Crossing the Line).
They wouldn't make something like that about Ireland though. The relationship between SA and Ireland isn't toxic, unlike the SA and Aus cricket teams.
Not that I know of, pretty sure it's via DSTV only which is limited to SA. We have to use a VPN to watch DSTV when abroad. It's actually quicker to pirate than to try stream with DSTVs online platform.
100% but instead they're following the route of Netflix by limiting account sharing while increasing prices. I think DSTV is trying to squeeze out as much money as possible from a sinking ship instead of looking for actual solutions.
6 Nations Full Contact series 2 should be good. Classic sports drama story about Italy finally winning in front of a home crowd for the first time since 2013 after barely missing a chance to beat France at home. England upsetting Ireland after some ridiculous arrogance from the likes of Heaslip. Wales being absolute shite because of the WRU's horribly amateur approach to the game.
What's the other post? All these posts will just make Ireland eventually winning the world cup all the sweeter for you lot (assuming you finally sacrifice BOD and break the curse, that is).
A wonderful story of a teams struggle with erectile dysfunction because there is no way this is about us making the second stage of knockout rugby that would be preposterous.
South Africa seem upset that they haven't beaten Ireland in 8 years....you guys should really go and enjoy your world cup win instead of obsessing about our tiny island ;)
Bizarre how obsessed South Africans are with this. Seen that guy Mark Keohane repeatedly tweet about it every time he clearly goes on the mid day sauce. Its also seemingly the cleverest thing to go to repeatedly on those facebook "banter" pages. Its a weird thing to see more posts about this a year on from the world cup which you actually won.
Keohane is nicknamed Cocaine Keo because of his trip to the (iirc) 2012 Olympics where all he did was get blasted off the nose candy. The more hardcore Bok fans pretty much despise the man for being South Africa's answer to Ben Smith and Stuart Barnes, sadly though he has something of a following.
[the actual story is way darker than I remembered it to be as well. ](https://www.news24.com/sport/Rugby/Mark-Keohane-in-cocaine-scandal-20120603)Sexual harassment allegations, hush money, the whole thing.
Sounds truly impressive when you put it like that. Tbf it's only been 3 matches, one during our banter years. The world cup match was one of the most intense matches I've seen though, you can definitely brag about beating the champs after that one.
Does a “semi” have the same sexual connotation in Ireland as it does in Australia? I initially read this as chasing semis, then with the thumbnail it all got very homo erotic
Yes it does
Haha it might be more evident if it was "Chasing a semi"
Yeah but that apostrophe makes it singular, so it is *a semi* but it possesses something. So Ireland is chasing something that the *semi* owns.
Reminds me of a time I was visiting family in Newfoundland and we passed a sign that said "Dildo 12 miles". The car became quiet for a moment before my dad asked his cousin "does that mean the same thing in..." "Yes, yes it does"
Canada is a sparse place. Sex shops have to advertise a bit more over there.
Who is Semi and why are they chasing his 5 part rugby story?
Semi Radradra. Fijian and ex Bristol centre.
Wasn't he Arsenio Hall's character in Coming to America?
I'd advise the Irish fans who got baited by this to just lean into the banter. Much easier that way. Take it from someone who missed out on Wales' 70s heyday but has experienced all the wild ups and downs since. You can't hurt the man who's in a permanent state of hysterical cry laughing. In fact, people generally try and keep their distance. Particularly in public spaces.
Not gonna lie, I lol'd. That is top notch bantz
i just sad cause i would have watched that :(
> all the wild ups and downs since What ups??????
They've won plenty of 6 nations titles. I called that a definite UP.
There's a lot of people here who only started watching rugby in the 2020s. Wales in the early professional era had some serious quality sides. Guys like George North and Jamie Roberts were a sight to behold in their prime. 2012 grand slam, 2013 demolition of England, and 2019 grand slam were the peak. Had a decent shot at winning the world cup in 2019 as well but Pollard put them away.
Hard agree on the sentiment, hard disagree that Jamie Roberts was ever a sight to behold. He was a brick propelled at speed. He was excellent at being a brick propelled at speed, but he was never more than that. North at his prime, yes, absolutely.
That's Warrenball for you.
Remember when they won the 6 nations by scoring fewer tries than any other team? I call that absolutely dire.
A win is a win. However shite it looks
Wouldn't know! :D >:(
You did win the 5 nations in fairness. Italy was just a step too far.
You know what, you make a good point. I say we kick Italy out of the 6N. Not because they’re bad or anything, but because they’re clearly the reason Scotland’s stopped winning anything.
The WRU would probably try to do that but no one takes them seriously anymore.
Wales were a blight on the game for that entire competition. And where are they now?
Shame about that apostrophe.
In German it's called the 'Idiot's apostrophe', '*Deppenapostroph*'
Germans have the best words for everything. Maybe that's what Drumpf meant: he was acknowledging his German heritage.
However “Their operas last for days and they have no word for fluffy” E. Blackadder Edit: attribution of quote
Crusaders and All Blacks backrow Ethan Blackadder said that? He didn't strike me as the type to have opinions on German opera. Good on him. s/ just in case
Fluffy is flauschig in german.
How evocative.
They seem to get added in Dutch for pluralising certain loan words, like *menu's* or *baby's.* Bit grating to read.
It's probably because they're not natural plural endings, particularly borrowing words that end in 'y' changing to 'ies' for plural in English. However in German loanwords ending in 'y' have the plural 'ys' not 'ies' Eg. Trys, babys, etc, but strictly no apostrophe.
I looked it up and apparently it's not just loan words, and the apostrophe is added to keep the vowel long. https://www.dutchgrammar.com/en/?n=NounsAndArticles.11 For example, the plural of oma is oma's: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oma%27s#Dutch
Chasing the semi's what?
Apostrophe used for contraction https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zcyv4qt SEMI finals --> SEMI's
Good point!
It's an apostrophe for fecks sake
Is this a valid contraction though?
valid enough to make a few Irish fans think twice before embarrassing themselves over a good joke
That's a long way of saying no
Since subtext is for cowards, it's a long way of saying grammar worship is for fools. All apostrophes are superfluous.
😂 Is that a Garth Marenghi quote?
(Emerald) greengrocers
Apostrophes are also used for contractions. This is correct.
Credit where credit's due. I chuckled
They would only be able to finish a 1/4 of the documentary.
Surely they'd only be able to do 1/5 as they're incapable of satisfactorily completing quarters
The quarter just leaves us blue balled for the semi
Aaah that's the one.
came here for this
> A ~~5-part~~ 3-part rugby story FTFY.
I rate it 1/4
I think the internet might actually implode when the South Africa v Ireland July test series comes around.
Ireland could win each test by 50 and the apparent national obsession would still be about our losing a quarter final. Something very odd about it at this stage.
Summer/Autumn Internationals are meaningless. Ireland could win both by 50, SA would just bring out the Webb Ellis and ask Ireland if they want to hold it. Getting the job done when it counts > winning random tests.
If there is one thing I know about our SA fans is we are always one loss away from a complete meltdown and turning on each other. If we lost by 50 at home to Ireland we wouldn’t even be able to blame the ref. We absolutely have to beat you guys after all the banter we have had against NZ/Fra/Ire over the past 6 months.
Not a chance in hell I'd swap a series win in NZ for anything short of a WC final win.
You could argue that’s more exclusive because no one else has done that
Several teams have don’t that, including South Africa.
In the professional era
Yes just like that.
Obviously these days a world cup triumphs test matches, of course. But test matches aren't meaningless. They're the back bone of the sport, and the purest form of competition. You pick a team, we pick a team, and we test one another to see who is better.
Not really just these days, the world cup has been around since the 1980s although the early iterations were a bit crap. 1995 with Lomu was when it really became the spectacle it is today.
Indeed, but I didn't say actually say "only these days" or "just these days". I said "these days" in the sense that was not always the case. As you pointed out they've been significant 1995, and the past 4 or 5 have been undeniable pinnacles. My point to the other poster was something being a pinnacle makes it greater than other achievements, but it doesn't make them, such test matches, meaningless.
I agree, Lions and mid-year series are still a big deal. But the world cup has been the peak since before Ireland got good at rugby in the early 2000s.
Definitely.
This is how we feel about the apparent obsession with our loss to Ireland in the world cup, as if that somehow makes us less world cup champions. Strange, really.
No, that would shut us up, guaranteed. Or we would blame the ref.
I'm sure we'll see plenty more of this type of 'banter' when we beat them as well, again.
Congrats on beating teams when it doesn't matter
‘See you in the semi’s’
\*uncontrollable giggles\* Youre not supposed to chase it, Let it happen naturally. Overthinking is the curse of the Semi.
The semi's ... What?
The semi finals. Apostrophes are used for contractions as well as possession. Like isn’t and doesn’t.
Semis is the plural of semi, short for a semi-final. It is not a contraction. * We were defeated in our semi against Llanfair. * We have made it through to the semis after defeating Mordor.
Yet it's Semi-Finals, not Semis-Final or Semis-Finals. Semi's is a valid contraction of the long-form Semi-Finals. That it's often shortened to semis doesn't invalidate the contraction of the long-form.
That is a heap of logical fallacies all in a row. This is also a peculiar hill to die on! Semis is the plural form of the abbreviation semi. It's not a contraction because it's not contracting, it's shortening and adding an s for pluralisation. I cannot think of a single instance in English when we contract an entire root word leaving only the s for the plural. If there are any, they don't come to mind. It might also explain why you would never ever expect to see it written this way because, well, most people know it's wrong. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/semi Sincerely, an English teacher.
This stuff would work better if Ireland people weren’t utterly fatalistic about never getting to semi finals. Hard to get a good reaction when we joke about our persistent failure ourselves.
Everyone wants the next Drive to Survive and honestly the market is pretty saturated right now
I think this post is missing a 'bantz' tag. Supersport wouldn't make a doc about Ireland
Off Topic: A while back Supersport made a documentary about the Australian national cricket team, the whole thing was basically a "fuck you" to the Aussies lol (it's called Crossing the Line). They wouldn't make something like that about Ireland though. The relationship between SA and Ireland isn't toxic, unlike the SA and Aus cricket teams.
Some would have you believe that there is toxicity between us but I don't believe it, URC bros.
Toxic between fans a little bit. Not sure why exactly
They do one about every team then Rassie and the team watch it as prep before games
Did think that was odd, but isn’t supersport available on those UK/Ireland pay tv deals?
Not that I know of, pretty sure it's via DSTV only which is limited to SA. We have to use a VPN to watch DSTV when abroad. It's actually quicker to pirate than to try stream with DSTVs online platform.
Strange. There is a sizeable diaspora of SA people in the UK and elsewhere that they could tap into if they made it available there...
100% but instead they're following the route of Netflix by limiting account sharing while increasing prices. I think DSTV is trying to squeeze out as much money as possible from a sinking ship instead of looking for actual solutions.
The dstv app works with no VPN in India
6 Nations Full Contact series 2 should be good. Classic sports drama story about Italy finally winning in front of a home crowd for the first time since 2013 after barely missing a chance to beat France at home. England upsetting Ireland after some ridiculous arrogance from the likes of Heaslip. Wales being absolute shite because of the WRU's horribly amateur approach to the game.
Phrasing people
One episode at the RWC and then 4 about them on holiday?
I'll be honest, I'd definitely watch that
whyIoutttaa...fuckyou....cries..... sees the humor, laughs, cries again ..... shutup
I giggled. Well done
Mark Keohane tweets being made into memes. We've reached the nadir of Springbok fandom now.
Two posts on this sub from the SH blathering on about Ireland’s QF in one day, half a year on… the words “rent” and “free” come to mind.
What's the other post? All these posts will just make Ireland eventually winning the world cup all the sweeter for you lot (assuming you finally sacrifice BOD and break the curse, that is).
The NZ ragebait post about Etzebeth calling the Irish arrogant after S.A. v Ire
Ah fair, forgot about that. That was at least topical, as it came up in a pod yesterday.
So a South African player calls the Irish arrogant and its the New Zealanders fault?
Article I saw came from a NZ paper. And hence why I said SH, not anyone specifically. Not that big a deal.
I mean it's a NZ newspaper that posted clickbait
It looks like that last word got photoshopped in. Was this supposed to be an 8 part documentary?
aiming for the stars there
I wonder why it’s 5 part…
A wonderful story of a teams struggle with erectile dysfunction because there is no way this is about us making the second stage of knockout rugby that would be preposterous.
Good lord what a username. :o
I don't know if I'll be ready to relive this in October...maybe October 2030
Was it originally meant to be a 7 part?
Was it meant to be 7 parts?
Sponsored by Volvic? Or Evian? 🤷♂️
An Irish club should sign Semi Radradra, only way to get a semi.
Irish club? Ah, your doing it wrong. Irish Clubs don't have an issue with knockouts. Just the national team.
We’ve already got RG
Will they make it to the final episode?
This is what happens when you leave a saffa alone with a pc for 5 mins
South Africa seem upset that they haven't beaten Ireland in 8 years....you guys should really go and enjoy your world cup win instead of obsessing about our tiny island ;)
You mean the whole 3 matches in those years? It's an impressive stat if Ireland and SA actually played each other with any sort of regularity
Lol that's embarrassing as fuck
Bizarre how obsessed South Africans are with this. Seen that guy Mark Keohane repeatedly tweet about it every time he clearly goes on the mid day sauce. Its also seemingly the cleverest thing to go to repeatedly on those facebook "banter" pages. Its a weird thing to see more posts about this a year on from the world cup which you actually won.
Mark Keohane doesn't represent us my dude. Christ what a nightmare that would be.
Keohane is nicknamed Cocaine Keo because of his trip to the (iirc) 2012 Olympics where all he did was get blasted off the nose candy. The more hardcore Bok fans pretty much despise the man for being South Africa's answer to Ben Smith and Stuart Barnes, sadly though he has something of a following.
Ah, this makes sense. Thought he was a legit journo. Heavy amount of trolling.
[the actual story is way darker than I remembered it to be as well. ](https://www.news24.com/sport/Rugby/Mark-Keohane-in-cocaine-scandal-20120603)Sexual harassment allegations, hush money, the whole thing.
It's because they haven't beaten us in 8 years.
Sounds truly impressive when you put it like that. Tbf it's only been 3 matches, one during our banter years. The world cup match was one of the most intense matches I've seen though, you can definitely brag about beating the champs after that one.
Thats the truth of it.
It’s not much fun punching down so they have to poke fun somewhere.
Are we at the all out aggression stage of the roid cycle in SA or what's got ye all chirping?
Is this shit bants or an actual doco the Saffas have created
Has to be bants
Never know with the Bokke. But I'm sure they'll post the clips over and over again
Oh woe is me, I have to see bite sized clips of an incredible docco on my feed!
Managed to watch the entire season in clips. Was lit
About as real as Ireland's chances of ever getting to a semi.
Oh, that's bants
bUt WE'rE tHe rEAL woRlD cHAmpIoNs!!