Ireland will be good for 2 or 3 games until injuries decimate their squad.
English arrogance stomped all over the Jocks. I'm surprised there's not been a call from them to have a points head start in the 6N as it's so unfair.
Printable View
Ireland will be good for 2 or 3 games until injuries decimate their squad.
English arrogance stomped all over the Jocks. I'm surprised there's not been a call from them to have a points head start in the 6N as it's so unfair.
I wasn't overly impressed with England's performance and was surprised about how long Scotland remained in the game.
The Poms will have to improve and I predict a very close game with Ireland next weekend.
I only saw the later part of the Paddy V Taffy game and if I had not seen the scoreline (30 to 10) when I arrived at the bar I would have thought Wales were well in front based upon the way they played in the last 15 minutes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Loy Toy
It was very much the old cliche of a game of two halves.. Wales were dreadful for the first forty minutes..
But I got the feeling that Ireland set out to defend their lead in the second half.. Instead of playing positively like they did in the first half.
Cracking game between the 2 white flag waving nations.
Italy's tactics were spot on - wear white and France will think they're playing England and dutifully lose. It worked a treat.
Italy beat France again?? What is going on?
Ireland were worthy of me making Steak and Guinness pie last night....
Friend at work is a jock-frog so it's going to be fun tomorrow....
Poor sod, still least he ain't a Welsher as well.
You lucky bastard. I wish I had a Jock-Frog mate.Quote:
Originally Posted by Troy
Each to their own. :frog:Quote:
Originally Posted by Troy
Well that was a pretty interesting opening round for a 'neutral'. I must've switched my supporting allegiance at least half a dozen times during the Wales v Ireland game. Eng v Scotland was as expected, didn't see all of that as switched off just after half-time when the result was a foregone conclusion (in my defence I was really tired and not feeling well!). Italy v France quite the turn up for the books though!
^ I gave up on the Wales-Ireland match when it was 3-30
I was picking France to win the tournament, not out of it after one loss, may be a few worried punters though, imagine odds on England taking out 6N must have changed after the weekend's results, but then there's Ireland on Sunday.
And I see Planet Rugby gave their Man of the Match to:
Streetwise, skilful, a magnificent return to form from Brian O'Driscoll stole the show in Cardiff.
SAT - 9TH FEB 13
14:30 Scotland vs Italy
17:00 France vs Wales
SUN - 10TH FEB 13
15:00 Ireland vs England
As someone's already said above (Pete, was it?) you missed the classic game of two halves. There was a point where I thought Wales might have even snatched the win.Quote:
Originally Posted by trabant
And well deserved that too in my opinion. Utter class he is.Quote:
Originally Posted by trabant
Incidentally, how brilliantly audacious and skilful was this piece of magic from Zebo:
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2013/02/409.jpg
TO BLITZ OR NOT TO BLITZ?
No blitz:
Llewellyn wants Wales blitz defence dropped
Former captain Gareth Llewellyn says Wales should abandon assistant coach Shaun Edwards' blitz defence tactics.
Llewellyn says Ireland's 30-22 Six Nations win highlighted deficiencies.
The 92-times capped Wales lock told Scrum V: "I've never been a believer of the blitz philosophy... and the teams that we aspire to be - Australia and New Zealand - don't blitz."
Yes blitz:
Shaun Edwards defends Welsh 'blitz' tactics
Wales defence coach Shaun Edwards has dismissed criticism of his tactics following the defeat against Ireland.
"I was happy with the blitz defence, but I wasn't happy when we didn't blitz," he said.
"You notice from the scrum try we didn't blitz, you know people are saying the blitz defence is not working.
"The blitz defence works. We just need to do it at the right time."
The tactic sees defenders moving forwards towards their attackers, with the aim of closing down space quickly and preventing the opposition gaining any ground.
"We lost to Australia in the autumn because we blitzed at the wrong time and if we hadn't have blitzed in the last minute of the game they wouldn't have got outside us, we wouldn't have lost the match." he said.
But former rugby league international Edwards claimed: "It didn't work because we didn't blitz, the left winger didn't blitz on that occasion."
full article
or is it just Schlitz ?
not quite 6 Nations
Belgium v Georgia Rugby World Cup qualifier descends into huge brawl – video
Tuesday 5 February 2013
Things get out of hand at a Rugby World Cup qualifier between Belgium and Georgia in Brussels. Players break into an onfield pitch battle during the game, starting a fight which traverses from one side of the pitch to the other. Two players receive red cards.
Belgium v Georgia Rugby World Cup qualifier descends into huge brawl
Winners this weekend then.
Italy by 5+
France by 15+
Ireland. by 1-2
Sound about right.
Italy 5-10
France 10-15
England 5-10
We feel that the intensity and our mindset in training this week has been a little bit sharper. When you lose, or play like we did in the first half last week, it certainly focuses the mind.
Rob Howley
Quotes of the week
France: 15 Yoann Huget, 14 Wesley Fofana, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Benjamin Fall, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 1 Yannick Forestier, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 3 Nicolas Mas, 4 Jocelino Suta, 5 Yoann Maestri, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 7 Thierry Dusautoir (capt), 8 Louis Picamoles.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Luc Ducalcon, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Damien Chouly, 21 Morgan Parra, 22 Francois Trinh-Duc, 23 Florian Fritz
Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Mike Phillips, 1 Gethin Jenkins, 2 Richard Hibbard, 3 Adam Jones, 4 Andrew Coombs, 5 Ian Evans, 6 Ryan Jones (capt), 7 Justin Tipuric, 8 Toby Faletau.
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Paul James, 18 Craig Mitchell, 19 Lou Reed, 20 Aaron Shingler, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 James Hook, 23 Scott Williams.
Trio battle for fourth spot in rankings
(IRB.COM) Friday 8 February 2013
England, France and Ireland could all end the weekend as the leading northern hemisphere nation in the IRB World Rankings depending on results in the second round of RBS 6 Nations matches.
England currently occupy fourth position behind the southern hemisphere triumvirate of New Zealand, South Africa and Australia, but defeat to Ireland at the Aviva Stadium will see them surrender that to a French side victorious over Wales.
However, if Ireland were to keep their hopes of a Grand Slam alive by beating England by more than 15 points and France lose at the Stade de France, then Declan Kidney’s men would climb two places to fourth and equal their best ever ranking.
A smaller margin of victory over Ireland will still lift them above a Les Bleus side suffering a second consecutive loss in 2013, but on the other hand if the Irish lose heavily to England, they could fall one place if Wales also win by more than 15 points on French soil.
Wales have now lost eight matches in a row since winning the Grand Slam and slipped to 10th – equalling their lowest ever ranking – but if they can end that run with victory over France then they could climb as high as sixth, depending on other results.
Buoyed by victory over France last weekend, Italy could climb to a new high of seventh in the rankings if they can beat Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday. They will definitely climb above Samoa and Argentina, but could end up eighth depending on a Welsh margin of victory.
A second defeat of 2013 will not see Scotland slip from their lowest ever position of 12th as they will still have at least a 2.66 point cushion over Fiji below them. However, an emphatic win over Italy – and the same for France – could lift Scotland as high as ninth and drop Italy to 11th.
Italy
France
England
Scotland
France
England
Italy
France
Ireland
Will I get a clean sweep tomorrow...?Quote:
Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog
Both Wales and France looked poor. The misery was compounded by having to suffer that Taffy dwarf's biased, blinkered commentary.
^ I think my Jock-Frog work colleague will be a Jock-Jock on Monday....
Les Blues really were a sorry bunch today....
I'm only 100% wrong so far - another reminder why I never do sports betting; and my 'still a chance for France' theory is a goner.
A chance for the wooden spoon?
"The result leaves pre-tournament favourites France rooted to the bottom on the Six Nations Championship standings"
Scotland 34 - Italy 10
France 6 - Wales 16
Only 1 unbeaten team left in the six nations now. :england:
Only Wales can prevent a Grand Slam, but they need to start playing if that's going to happen.Quote:
Originally Posted by daveboy