Geoff Horrell

@SquidgeRugby Stewards inquiry needed.

That’s about the toughest decision a TMO has ever been given. The ball is almost certainly down, but the various angles and question asked/on-field decision protocols makes it impossible to give. Cruel for whichever team is on the wrong side.

Tip for aspiring commentators: Always have a Willem Dafoe line ready, just in case.

We were 27 points up

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Funniest scenario here would be five minutes to go and Scotland leading 36-20 with both teams having scored four tries. At that point, Ireland would qualify by conceding a try, would go out if they didn’t Graphic from @topofthemoonGW 🙏

Some sources. bws-school.org.uk/main/BWSOW/OW/… en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of… en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeebrugge…

If you’d like to read more about the raid I’d recommend this book. It gave me a whole new insight into what my grandfather must have experienced g.co/kgs/qt6pT7

8 Victoria crosses were awarded. Ballots were used (the last time this was done) to select who received the VCs. Heralded in the UK as a victory. U-Boats were back operational in a matter of days.

My Grandfather was on HMS Iris. He never spoke about it to anyone and became distressed every year on its anniversary.

HMS Iris, the ferry. Got a direct hit by shells, killing 66 of the c100 on board. It limped home, taking 12 hours to get back across the channel. With no doctor left alive to assist the wounded.

One of the Mersey ferries couldn’t get alongside the mole. And by the time they got ready to leave the boat, the signal to retreat was given.

I can’t do justice to the carnage and terror they must have experienced. One account highlights the 10foot drop off the mole and the drawing of swords to attack Germans manning artillery positions.

The men tried to get off the boats over wooden gangplanks into the full force of the heavily fortified mole defences.

An old cruiser, Vindictive, was adapted as a raiding ship. Two Merseyside ferries, packed with volunteer navy, were towed by vindictive alongside the enormous concrete mole at Zeebrugge. (The ferries went back into operation on the Mersey afterwards!)

Of the 1700 men, 227 were killed and 356 wounded. All in the space of around 30 minutes.

The diversion was provided by a huge number of navy volunteer ‘commandos’ who by storming the harbour defences would draw fire. There was also a submarine attack on the mole to stop reinforcements arriving.

To sail ships right into the port and sink them to block their access required a diversion so that the ships could get as close as possible without being stopped by the harbour defences.

In short, the British navy tried to block German U-Boats by blocking the entrance to the Sea at Zeebrugge.

If you read nothing else about WW1, go read about the Zeebrugge raid. It’s an astonishing story of bravery, terrible loss of life and the futility of war.