Rugby - Laissez la balle, Bleus!

[finbar]

The cricket.

[Caligastia]

*chirp* *chirp*

[LDiCesare]

My view on England - Italy:
Looks like England are crap.
What's doing Tindall in a national team? He would have passed the ball, England would have scored one more try. As it was, they scored as many tries as the Italians. Had the Italians had a better kicker and leaked less stupid penalties, they might have won. England really needs to play way better if they want to beat France or Ireland.
Italy on the other hand would play well if they stopped leaking penalties like that. A good chance for them to beat Scotalnd and Wales this year I believe.

[finbar]

Couldn't agree more. What a difference a week and an outmuscled pack make. This week, with his pack under pressure, H. Ellis was invisible. A. Troncon played him off the park. Just a pity he kicked so often. That's the Italian problem - they have no bona fide attacking options other than the boot. And if the #10 could kick, and if the ref hadn't shat on the Italians, it would have been mighty close.

Oh, and I still think A. Farrell is too slow. Nice hands, but a plodder.

Wales -v- Scotland? Shakespeare wrote a play about it called Much Ado About Nothing. It was like watching a couple of fairly talented schoolboy teams. Neither set of forwards would knock the skin off a rice pudding. If Italy had at least one attacking option, they could beat both these sides.

A pity Ireland are missing a couple of useful players tomorrow. But I'm still looking forward to the match.

[LDiCesare]

Yeah, the Celts match was a lot of fumbling players I believed. Lots of willpower wasted by lack of cohesion most of the times. "Now it's my turn to try to score the try alone" followed by "I'll rip through the defense 5 meters, get tackled and lose the ball" and other variants.
Italians need to be able to adapt themselves to the play. They kicked for the first half everytime they had the ball, when SOME variety could have been used. Send their number 10s to France or England so they learn a bit more ropes.

As for tomorrow, it should be easier for France without Stringer and O'Driscoll in the Irish side, but it'll still be hard. I wish they played, though, as Stringer is a very nice poison of a player and O'Driscoll is way more interesting to watch than Horgan.

[LDiCesare]

Other news, Tonga will be the last of England's pool in the WC. So Tonga, Samoa, US, England and the Boks. Boks, Tonga and Samoa in the same pool looks interesting. I believe the U.S.A. team will get back home with a few hurt players...
That and Michalak will be playing for Natal next year. I don't really know what he expect there, maybe playing less but at a high level if he gets selected for the S14.

[finbar]

Originally posted by LDiCesare
Other news, Tonga will be the last of England's pool in the WC. So Tonga, Samoa, US, England and the Boks. Boks, Tonga and Samoa in the same pool looks interesting. I believe the U.S.A. team will get back home with a few hurt players...

With Tonga, Samoa and the Boks in the same pool, there will be more than a few players going home minus their heads.

That and Michalak will be playing for Natal next year. I don't really know what he expect there, maybe playing less but at a high level if he gets selected for the S14.

It depends whether the SARU lets people play for their S14 teams who aren't eligible for the Boks. I don't think they do. In which case, he's going for the money and a comfy life.

[LDiCesare]

I think the Boks let foreigners play in S14 and that's why he gets there. It would be utterly stupid to leave Toulouse otherwise.

[finbar]

Why are you always right? Gregor Townsend played for the then Natal Sharks in the then Super 12.

On an unrelated matter, it serves Australia right. Cockiness comes before a fall. And that's what cost them the first final.

[finbar]

How ironic. France loses the plot after 20 minutes, catches the Italian disease of pointless kicking, then, with one minute to go, remembers how to run with the ball. And gets out of gaol and wins. Ireland, very unlucky. Big effort from them. I'm not sure how they weren't further in front. Is that #10 the best #10 France has to offer?

Still, very entertaining game from the two best teams in the comp. By a kilometre.

[LDiCesare]

Ireland hasn't been that unlucky. Did they miss two penalties and land a drop on one post?
They were lucky that the French didn't score a try at the end of the first half.
As for the 10s, I don't know which one you're talking about, since Skrela was replaced after about one hour of play. He's a good player, but Michalak, Boyer or Traille would probably all be better, except all of them are hurt. As for the one who played the end of the game, Beauxis, he's a very young lad and alternates in club with Skrela after playing with Pau up to last year, a club which didn't help him much (they got relegated). So watch out for Beauxis, probably not this year, as I expect Traille, Michalak and maybe Boyer to come back, but in the years to come.
A whole level above the matches played yesterday. England plays Ireland next, they'll suffer quite a bit I believe.

[LDiCesare]

Thinking a bit more about it, Ireland could have won had they not tried to score tries when the ref had an arm up for a penalty. Twice they played in the French half, gaining an advantage of about 20 meters and then losing the ball somehow. Had they kicked in touch or knocked the ball on, they would have gotten a penalty and O'Gara could have scored. I wonder whether Stringer would have done that.

[finbar]

I meant they were unlucky because France only remembered how to run the ball in the last minute. Before that, they spent hours kicking it straight down the throats of the Irish back three.

Yes, I meant Skrela. Thought he was only average. I didn't realise the others were all injured.

Pity I have to wait two weeks to see Ireland demolish England ... and, hopefully, Italy roll Scotland.

[LDiCesare]

Indeed, even though the Irish lacked their first choices at center and scrum half, we fielded our third choice scrummy and a fourth choice fly half, along with a second choice center (Marty, who made an excellent start of a match but was more ordinary afterwards).
2 weeks to wait. I hope we'll see victories of France, Ireland and Italy. France on paper should have the easiest match but we'll see what team Laporte selects. He should be using other players than those he has picked until now: He selected 40 players and only 24 have been called in the two matches, and one of these hasn't played. That's 17 players who are supposed to play in the next three matches who were neither on the field nor replacements this and last week.

[ravagon]

Originally posted by finbar
The cricket.

Well, seeing as you mentioned it ...

Not a bad way for England to finish off the tournament. That's the only Australian-based tri-series I can recall Australia losing in quite some time.