Rugby - Laissez la balle, Bleus!

[finbar]

I suspect he's being very badly advised.

Mr Mercer is a goose.

[Havak]

A Goose indeed.

[LDiCesare]

A very poor refereeing at the end of the match between Italy and Wales. At 20-23, the Welsh ask whether they have time for a lineout. The ref says yes. They kick, the ref signales the lineout, then apparently hears something from the time referee and signals the end of the game. Unhappy welsh. The Italians are a bit lucky here, but they hadn't been last year against Wales nor against Ireland. They can be rejoice and it should be interesting to see them against Ireland, though the difference in class between the Irish and Italian backlines is huge.
But then again, Ireland made a quite poor show against Scotland, being unable to concretize most of their superiority.

[finbar]

I heard the ref tell the Welsh they had five seconds left. Before they kicked into touch. I really don't know what happened. Assuming J. Hook would have kicked the penalty, resulting in a draw, Italy would have been very stiff indeed.

Anyway, brava Italia! Well deserved win. They actually, for the first time, backed up their strength - hence possession - with a little bit of (dare I say it?) flair. R. Pez, despite a couple of errors, injects some creativity. Exactly what they've lacked. And I think A. Troncon must have sold his soul to the Devil in return for a couple of weeks of wonderful rugby. He's everywhere - doing his job very well at scrum half, tackling, carrying the ball, marshalling the team, sometimes even doing the forwards' jobs for them. He has to be Man of the Tournament.

All that said, apart from the occasional bit of razzle dazzle, Wales were ordinary.

Much better match than Ireland-v-Scotland. Ireland's Jekyll & Hyde character returned almost to cost them a match they should have won easily. Scotland are crap. Ireland turned up with an error-riddled B game, Scotland - surprised to find themselves still in the game - suddenly developed some confidence. And Scotland should have won. If the full back hadn't developed white line fever and, instead, used his winger, unmarked on his outside, a try was for the taking.

I don't know what B. O'Driscoll's problem was. I've never seen him so out of sorts, despite a couple of bits of his patented magic. Maybe he was just frustrated by the Irish effort.

Italy are now going to be chockers with confidence. Ireland will not want to reproduce their B game against them.

[ravagon]

I just wonder whether Havak will be more pleased at this than he was when England won the last cup ...

[finbar]

You mean the Taffys on the bottom of the table? Havak's giggling. He'll still be giggling after France crunch England today. A small price to pay, he'll say.

EDIT. Well, at least Leicester lost. I'm not sure how. I switched off at half time when they seemed to be doing it quite well.

As for your lot - the Western Farce - they are serious under-achievers. I've now seen them three times this season. They have the best player roster out of all the Australian franchises. As it should be, for the money they have spent. With the amount of skill in that team, they shouldn't be scraping narrow wins. I really have to wonder about J. Mitchell's coaching skills.

[finbar]

You deserve better than that, LdiC. You deserve a team that plays with passion, pride and commitment. Come to Italy.

Well-deserved win, England. Commitment and passion. Other areas - like skills - leave quite a bit to be desired.

[LDiCesare]

England indeed deserved the win. France had a quite good defence but never showed anything dangerous in terms of attack, kicking the ball away too often, particularly in the 2nd half. You can't give the ball back to the other team that much, while losing at the same time balls on your own lineouts and expect to win.
I thought Strettle showed a very good match once again.

[finbar]

Yes, D. Strettle is a serious talent. Havak tipped young Geraghty, too. He has something about him.

This English back row is worth persevering with, even if the French back row was largely AWOL. As they have been in this tournament. Back to English club rugby for S. Chabal. S. Betsen is showing his age, methinks, but he tried hard. N. Easter is vastly more mobile than M. Corry, who looked happier in the second row.

J. Lewsey is a certifiable idiot.

There has to be a better option available than M. Tindall.

Why did I always have the feeling that, if the French were to get their act together for ten minutes, they would win it comfortably? And, I have to say, it wasn't as if the English weren't letting them.

Presumably the nong England supporters - of which Havak isn't one - will get carried away by the result. If this - on top of Ireland's p*ss-poor effort - is the best NH rugby has to offer, someone had better poison the All Blacks' food again a bit later in the year.

[Havak]

The referee in the Italy-Wales game was Chris White gentlemen. He has not been a very convincing referee since 2004 (quite coincidentally the first year he had tri-nations duty) I suppose fate dictated that an English referee would be a villain to Wales?

It was actually ten seconds he reported to the Welsh Finbar. That said the whole incident was bizarre and at the very least was poorly handled. Were I a Welsh fan I would be highly annoyed. And predictably the Welsh coach – a man you will recall I consider a poor winner and an even poorer loser – is apoplectic.

The blind faith the complaining Welsh fans have that they would have scored from that line out is also very misplaced – The Italians had defended well at the set pieces. The Bottom line is that Wales failed to get the job done in the 80 mins. Italy competed well and deserved the victory for me. Not that I was entirely neutral.

Ireland were appalling against Scotland. At no point did they find their game and only an element of panic by the Scots (when they thought they had a chance of winning?) allowed Ireland to get off the hook with two late penalties. A triple Crown won – but O’Driscoll had no right to look so happy taking the shield as much work needs to be done before the world cup.

Scotland are crap

Hard to refute – though I think Sean Lamont has done enough to suggest he will be a Lions representative for the Scots. And if Rugby was like American football and you could bring a man on just to kick then Patterson would be handy too.

I just wonder whether Havak will be more pleased at this than he was when England won the last cup ...

I am definitely pleased Ravagon – though I will not be getting carried away. I liked the commitment and passion they showed. The execution was still very sloppy. And where were France? They were remarkably flat throughout for some reason.

EDIT. Well, at least Leicester lost. I'm not sure how.

A poor reffing performance. Two late penalties that weren’t and hey presto – Glaws sneak a win they didn’t deserve.

Presumably the nong England supporters - of which Havak isn't one - will get carried away by the result.

Right on the nail unfortunately. Some supporters are indeed getting carried away. Myself I am still looking at the ‘Chef’ solution should we meet the All Blacks at any point.

Strettle has taken the chance and made that shirt his own. So much more threatening that Cueto ever was. I’d still like to see Varndell on the other wing.

Easter had a much stronger game than against Italy and Tom Rees impressed me a great deal with his work rate. Corry looked surprisingly happy in the second row and Palmer marshalled the line out well. Ellis had his ‘good’ head on this time and played well.

Tait should be in the 13 shirt Finbar – pace and skill instead of Tindalls grunt and power.

And best of all – Meers never came on.

Now if I were a religious man I would be praying that my deity allowed England to be the ones to consign Wales to zero points.

Who was that poster who found that wooden spoon image for me back in 2005? two years and a different coach can make a world of difference to many teams.

(Am I enjoying Wales misery a little too much?)

[Havak]

What Ireland did not need ahead of visiting Rome is the news that Paul O'Connell will miss the game (fractured thumb I believe).

Troncon versus Stringer should be feisty - though I fancy the Italian to edge that contest the way he has been playing.

[finbar]

I thought the French were dreadful. That's what makes it hard to put the England effort into perspective. It was almost as though England's passion and commitment - which has been missing - overcame their skills shortcomings enough for them to win. Against a better team, who knows?

S. Lamont always look v. threatening whenever he gets the ball. Massively powerful and quick. He just doesn't get it enough. I'd stick him in the centres.

M. Cueto is a better player than B. Cohen, but still of the human refrigerator variety. D. Strettle is akin to J. Robinson, with a couple of important exceptions - he seems to know what he's doing and where he's going.

A. Troncon would give anyone a toweling the way he's playing. The BBC said he wasn't up to the standard of his earlier efforts. Bullsh*t.

Wasn't R. Pez at Leicester? Or somewhere in England? Flaky, but he gave the Italian backline something.

I await M. Tait with interest. I've seen little of him. I get him mixed up with that other young bloke - Noon, I think.

[Havak]

Yes France were poor. I am still happy with the win but I won't be getting the RWC bunting out of storage just yet.

Tait is a class above Noon. Much more skilful. Hopefully he will get some game time in the Centres next weekend (made a cameo on the wing against France – replaced Strettle late on).

Pez was with Rotherham and then Tigers. His was the big money signing that ultimately led to Dean Richards downfall. When with us he was exposed badly in defence – couldn’t tackle for toffee. I think he has improved on that front – but not a great deal.

Sean Lamont played for the Colts at my local club – I don’t claim to know him well but I was one of the allacadoos on two of his tours with that side and I know some of his friends from that team quite well. I mention it just so you know I have a vested interest in seeing him do well (despite his having signed for Northampton).

[finbar]

L. Tuquiri has re-signed with rugby for $1.2m a year for 5 years. Now let's see him earn it.

P. Vickery and M. Tindall are missing from next week. England's chances get better and better.

[LDiCesare]

When with us he was exposed badly in defence – couldn’t tackle for toffee. I think he has improved on that front – but not a great deal.

Pez is indeed weak in defence. I heard that BErbizier told his back row to help cover his area, which means that could open holes elsewhere on the field.
Interestingly, Pez is now playing in France in Bayonne, and not that often either. He certainly lacks rugby but played much better than Scanavacca. Still, the Italian options at number 10 are scant.

As for France, Ibanez said his team seemed to have played with not enough willpower nor intent. They should have attacked more and shown more commitment, well, at least he knows what went badly. I believe Chabal showed once more his limits and we'd rather have Vermeulen (or Lievremont) instead. Yachvili made poor choices, but he hadn't been playing rugby for more than a month. Laporte is seeing that taking the players off the field for a long time doesn't make them fit or able to play correctly, as the match against the Pumas showed...