Rugby - Six Nations, S14, Lions, Can't Wait

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Agree with all of that, except I'm tempted to give Cueto a chance. I've seen quite a bit of him in club rugby and he seems to have developed his game beyond steaming up the touch line like a fridge on wheels. Now he puts himself into the game more, goes and gets the ball, and he can kick. That's what modern wingers need to do. Which is what Sackey, Varndell, etc, don't.

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Wales were good for about 65 minutes. Speed, strength, continuity. Enough to skin England next week anyway. Pity they switched off. Pity Shane Williams fell off that Scots try-scorer. Same old Scotland - lots of furious activity behind the gain line, next to nix to show for it.

[LDiCesare]

Didn't see the last quarter of the Welsh game, but the Scots were as bad as I expected.

Mallett will hopefully never pick a flanker for scrum half again. It's really a pity. Even his fourth choice scrummy was better than poor Mauro. I'm also afraid the guy will be so shocked after the game is the next game will either be excellent or totally catastrophic. I hope he's strong in his head to overcome the burden his coach put on him. A real pity, as Italy with a scrum half could very well have beaten England. It didn't help Italy either that the best English player was their scrum half.

About Ireland France, it's sad France lost so many points to poor discipline and that their defensive placement was bad. I mean Beauxis is a 10, he missed a tackle on O'Driscoll, but he's the 13, where were the centers and the back row, and why was there no full back behind? Not to mention the way the French defenders walked and weren't advancing together in a flat line... Still, it was a beautiful match of rugby. Well done Paddies.

[MOBIUS]

Wales were good for about 65 minutes. Speed, strength, continuity. Enough to skin England next week anyway. Pity they switched off. Pity Shane Williams fell off that Scots try-scorer. Same old Scotland - lots of furious activity behind the gain line, next to nix to show for it.

Well after 63 mins we basically put our 2nd string on. The really troubling thing was the kicking IMO, what was it - 11 points or 14 missed by the boot...?

[LDiCesare]

I think Jones missed all the conversions, and saw Halfpenny miss one penalty.
Now, several conversions were not easy, and Jones is usually a better kicker than that. Maybe it was jsut a poor day and he'll work on it for the next match.

[MOBIUS]

One of the conversions was virtually in front of the goal posts. Hopefully he will iron things out and I suppose it is better to do so against poor opposition than when the kicks actually matter.

Though in saying that, had Paterson touched down for that try at the end - the last 5 minutes would definitely have been squeaky bum time!

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Well after 63 mins we basically put our 2nd string on.

The bench for the national team is second string? If you make it to the bench for the national team you're good enough to play for the national team. The reality is that Wales switched off across the board and Shane Williams cocked up a pretty straightforward tackle.

[Joe Kick Ass]

The bench for the national team is second string? If you make it to the bench for the national team you're good enough to play for the national team. The reality is that Wales switched off across the board and Shane Williams cocked up a pretty straightforward tackle.

Yeah, and Bennett, Peel & Hook at the least are hardly second string anyway. Disappointing final quarter but the scoreboard would have looked a lot better if Jones had got his kicks. IMHO Halfpenny should be first choice kicker when he plays.

Greatest thing about the match was the scrummaging though. Awesome stuff.

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It was. I enjoy watching Scotland scrums going backwards like they're on roller skates.

[kittenOFchaos]

The Scotland Vs Wales game won me £27.50 from a £5 stake on sky bet, plus I got £20 free to bet with (covers the 6 Nations).

Had Cross not gone and got himself knocked out and sent off for 10 minutes, it could have been a closer game, indeed with Jones missing so many kicks, Scotland were in with a chance, very much so if they had scored just before the break and someone had bothered to gather that restart in the 2nd half.

I think Scotland will improve this 6 Nations and be a tougher prospect, Wales have the potential to improve, but they weren't great.

I didn't get to see Ireland Vs France, so I can't comment there, but as for England, it is impossible to tell if they have improved one iota with the scrumhalf fiasco. What can be said is that the penalty count was still horrific and against a side with a good place kicker England will pay. I could still see Scotland taking England down...truely.

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England haven't improved. If anything, they were worse against Italy than in the autumn.

[sanarota]

Why is soccer such a class less sport, with cowards, riots and idiot support compared to Rugby ? Compared to other football codes, soccer is a cowards sports, they can't tackle or hit hard, are premadonnas on the field, and cowards and cheap shot thugs off ! Why is Rugby a Gentlemans game yet physically so much harder than this girly, cowardly soccer game ? Remember real men play Rugby, the toughest men play Rugby League, cowards play soccer !

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Men who can't count beyond six play Rugby League.

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Sorry. I just saw the England team.

I mean, apart from anything else, how loudly is Martin Williams giggling?

[LDiCesare]

I read that Dallaglio was very critical of the team...:

There are a lot of guys who think they are there - but they are not.

I'm delighted at the thought Havak might actually agree with Dallaglio.