Rugby - 6 Nations, Heineken Cup, You Can't Beat A Northern Hemisphere Winter!

[kittenOFchaos]

Sale win woohoo!!!

Anything is possible...Italy beating Wales, Scotland beating Ireland and England beating the French

[kittenOFchaos]

Wahoooooo!!!!

Scotland won a rugby match!!!!!! In Croke Park!!!!!!!

I had £5 on Ireland to win the first half and Scotland to win the game at 14-1. No money for me

I had £5 on Dan Parks to score a try at about 14-1 or perhaps even better odds...which was perhaps a tad optimistic. No money for me

But Scotland won!!!!! WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooo.

[Havak]

Loved Sale beating the cheats!

Congratulations to France on the Grand Slam.

And to Scotland on stopping Ireland's triple crown.

And finally there may be hope for England? Play the game at pace and with ball in hand and you look a far better side.

In fact dare I say it England were the better side.

A fascinating game and I am posting on the far side of half a dozen bottles of Bishop's Finger (google it Finbar!) but I read it thus:

France played like England have so far. Nervous nellies in the extreme.

England played like France have so far - but lacking the great execution.

Bryce Lawrence spent 80 minutes pretending to be a referee. And largely failing?

We can only hope Mr Lawrence falls off the A list before the RWC because his pedantry and myopia drives me mad - and note he missed things both ways so it's not entirely partisan sour grapes.

Just mainly so.

Deluded quote of the tournament however goes to Stephen Jones today:

"We are a great side".

Um, no you aren't. Fourth out of six is an accurate reflection of where you are right now Stephen old boy. Improve your structured game and set pieces and you might progress to great - but this summer will see you put to the sword I feel (Boks and then Kiwis twice - no chance at all for you).

[LDiCesare]

Wales were much better with Philips at 9 than they were for the rest of the tournament. Italy got penalised too harshly in my opinion with that yellow card, and it cost them dearly.

Very beautiful match in Ireland. I'm quite happy for Scotland, they truly deserved a win this year.

As for France, very good scrum for France. The English played most rugby this evening, but the French defended very well. A pity Marty didn't see Poitrenaud when he pierced the defense, though (but then he rarely passes the ball anyway).

[Havak]

Then again Ashton ruined two clear scoring chances for England through poor choices?



France scrummaged well but were helped by clueless refereeing. France drove early on several occasions and Mr Lawrence ignored it. The again Cole got his binding wrong too often.

Still think England played all the rugby - and France defended their way to victory helped only by scores that came as the rain was very heavy.

The rain was Frances 23rd player (oh the irony after that RWC semi final in 2003?)

Tired now and three more bottles into my cups so Bonne nuit. Vive la France!

[LDiCesare]

Indeed Ashton's kicking when entering the 22's against one defender who had all the time to retreat and beat him to the ball while having players supporting him on both sides was not the most enlightened move.
And noone will dispute the fact England played all the rugby while France only defended. The rain didn't help either.

[finbar]

Ireland had two stinkers for the tournament - yesterday's the much bigger of the two - and it cost them. Their lineouts were farcical and their scrummaging pathetic. How John Hayes has got to 100 Tests is beyond me. An indictment of the lack of talent in the Irish prop department. Best I've seen from Scotland for a long time. Though I always had the feeling that Ireland only had to stop farting around and they would steal it. They couldn't and didn't.

Wales finally got their backline working but struggled elsewhere. The top teams will still punish them. Italy have played much worse than that. And, yet again, they proved they can play with ball in hand. Just a pity they don't have the courage and self-belief to do it more often. Perhaps they will.

France, for whatever reason - nerves, perversity - decided to play cautious, defensive rugby. Even before the rain came. They've done it before and don't do it terribly well. They were there for the taking. England's best effort for a long time. Typically, J**** is claiming that it has nothing to do with the team changes. Of course he has to, otherwise he looks like an idiot for not selecting people like Ben Foden months earlier.

And he's an idiot. It was the fresh blood - Foden's penetration from the back; Flood playing on the gain line; Ashton's inexperience hurt the team in try terms, but his involvement in the first try was superb, and he contributed more than Monye has for a long time - and initiative that produced an entirely different approach. As it was, it wasn't enough. If France had played anything like the game that best suits them, England's effort might not have been nearly enough. As Havak says, the usual roles were reversed, and France do what England did very very very much better.

The ref was utterly incompetent. Bizarrely so. Regardless, Dan Cole wasn't binding properly last week either. Something he needs to work on.

[Havak]

Oh my head.

Did I incorrectly feminise night time there LDiCesare? My French remains school boy level.

The crucial thing is France did defend - and did so well. I can't argue with the result in the sober (well almost) light of day.

I still think Bryce Lawrence is appalling for an A list official - he had no idea in the set pieces did he?

Cole does need to sort out that binding problem though.

Yes France execute way better than England did - but there is a glimmer of hope there. Leave me my crumb of comfort please Finbar?

Jonno is not stupid - as they analyse the game they will see that the changes made the difference. I have to believe that!

[kittenOFchaos]

The worst thing about the England game was the ruck.

France could let the ball sit at the back of a ruck for 30+ seconds and all England could do was watch.

Why is that allowed? How is that exciting?

I was shouting and throwing things around with frustration.


Last night, only England came to play rugby. France and the referee were there only for a French win.

The positives for England - they ran the ball, made line breaks and scored a nice try. Better still when there were problems in the scrum they removed Cole reasonably early and removed Hartley too as he was being a jerk (he could have earnt a yellow for some of the stuff he was trying).

Another big positive was Tindall. He played well in attack and defense and opened up alot of space. He also meant that Bastereaud was shown up for the extremely limited player he is - stupid Guscott thinking he is great cos he scored twice against Scotland (both soft tries due to poor defending by Max Evans and Godman).

Had Ashton been used earlier in the tournament he'd have been more composed and might has set up two tries. Had England got a score ahead in the second half, France would have had to start playing!


Best player of the tournament by country? Dan Parks/Beattie (Scotland), Harinordoquy/Parra (France), Ben Forden (England), Earls/Bowe (Ireland), Mirco Bergamasco/Craig Gower (Italy), Hook/Shane Willians (Wales)

As a Scot I really think Dan Parks was awesome this year and would be my 6 Nations top player

Worst player of the tournament? I'd love to say Godman, but it reality it was Cooper whose inclusion at 9 helped ruin Wales in a similar way that experimenting with Sexton for so long against Scotland ruined Ireland.

Worst English player? Flutey. Had been fantastic last year, did very little positive, particularly in attack this year and didn't get the best out of Wilkinson who also underperformed significantly. The worst Ireland player (Best) who couldn't hit a lineout to save his life. The worst Italian - not sure and I'm not sure about the French either.


Well, some optimism that England might accidentally go in the right direction after this. Alot of hope that Scotland will do well in their tour of Argentina and be preparing well for the RWC 2011. Wales will improve with Phillips/Peel back along with Gethin Jenkins but until their forwards become less of a liability they will always struggle. Ireland...lol.

[finbar]

There's certainly a glimmer of hope. It started with the selections. It continued with Borthwick's injury. Lewis Moody has energy.

I opted not to Google Bishop's Finger in case it took me to an article about the Catholic Church in Ireland.

[kittenOFchaos]

I want to see England Woman Vs Engand Men:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/8568567.stm

[Havak]

@ Finbar

I've seen the women play - even the England that played Scotland would put three figures on them. No equality in contact sports.

[LDiCesare]

France could let the ball sit at the back of a ruck for 30+ seconds and all England could do was watch.

Why is that allowed? How is that exciting?

Ever saw a Munster game ?

The rules are consistently changed to forbid defenders to contest the ball. This is a consequence of not allowing people from the sides of rucks, not using hands, not being allowed to contest the ball after a tackle. That's not exciting indeed, as it leads to pick and go's, since rucks no longer attract many forwards, so you need more phases to pin the opponents in place before sending out wide. Poor rules thought to make for more offensive rugby, but you see the result. Still, players would be stupid not to play by the rules.

Bastereaud was shown up for the extremely limited player he is

He is overhyped because he's heavy. He's a good player, but a very young one still. Had Mermoz been available, I think a pair of Mermoz/Jauzion, even they are both inside centers, would have been the best we could field.

I'm surprised you think Hook was one of the best Welsh players. I think he was one of the worst. Made a lot of silly mistakes and showed a clear lack of vision in all the matches he played. I mean, hadn't it been Italy, he wouldn't have scored twice yesterday and you'd only remember the try he wasted.

[Havak]

The issue behind the ruck would clear up if the IRB clearly defined when the ball is out. Have the referee know exactly when to say 'use it'.

Right now the ball is often technically outfor me - but the refs are currently pinging players who then compete for it.

I suspect it is on the IRB list for revision.

[Mablir Dorlig]

Biggest improvement possible in the ruck would be to allow rucking