Rugby - The Game They Play In Heaven II

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Rugby God smiled on Wasps giving them Irish yesterday.

The Top 14 produced a mixed tipping bag:

Toulon - tick
Agen - another tick
Bordeaux-B - nuh, Biarritz humped 'em
Bayonne - nuh, pipped by a point by Metro
Brive - tick, thumped Stade
Clermont/Toulouse - nuh, tipped Toulouse on the basis that Clermont had lost more talent to the Test match. How very wrong. Clermont humped 'em
Castres - half a tick, they drew with Lyon

Bummer.

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Cripes, a couple of dodgy Tigers tries. We'll have to put a question mark beside that bonus point.

[kittenOFchaos]

Rugby God smiled on Wasps giving them Irish yesterday.

The Top 14 produced a mixed tipping bag:

Toulon - tick
Agen - another tick
Bordeaux-B - nuh, Biarritz humped 'em
Bayonne - nuh, pipped by a point by Metro
Brive - tick, thumped Stade
Clermont/Toulouse - nuh, tipped Toulouse on the basis that Clermont had lost more talent to the Test match. How very wrong. Clermont humped 'em
Castres - half a tick, they drew with Lyon

Bummer.

Here I did abit better - Clermont have some special magic that means they can't lose at home. Only the Castres Vs Lyon result caught me out - all academic given it just takes one messed up result to drown accumulators.

As for Sale...we're all over the place. I don't get why we aren't doing better, poor Richie, he certainly likes lost causes.

[kittenOFchaos]

Opinions please gentlemen...

The referee doesn't get such a good view, but lets say he did, what should the ruling be (we all know what the daft rules say, especially daft given what goes on in the lineout):

http://www.superxv.com/video/francoi...9a24af79a.html

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He was a bit of a victim of circumstances in that the Cheetah behind the tackled Cheetah stopped Hougaard driving him backwards, but Hougaard did lift him, he went beyond the horizontal, Hougaard didn't ensure a safe return to earth. They're the ingredients for a red card. There was no more evil intent than in Sam Warburton's case. Intent doesn't enter into it, though.

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Outstanding Irish defence but not a lot else on offer from them. France found some intensity during the break but not their finest day either. Their drop goal business was farcical. I guess a draw was a fair result. I've never seen anyone better under a high ball in traffic than Kearney.

[kittenOFchaos]

I'm cursed.

Had some money on Tommy Bowe to score the 1st try of the game and Ireland to win. Zero points in the second half - wow.

I thought Pearson had an absolutely dreadful game - with bad decisions going both ways. It hasn't really been a good 6 Nations for the referees so far tbh.

So, only Wales can win the Grand Slam. Given what we've seen of France, you've got to fancy Wales to do that now.

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D. Pearson was pap. Gutless not to yellow card (a) Healy for blatantly obviously interfering with a French attack from an offside position; and (b) Darcy for his red zone offside work.

I'm watching Sarries -v- Saints. They're playing in a swamp. Some surprisingly good rugby being played in the conditions, though.

[kittenOFchaos]

Charge-down Charlie ftw

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/17196216

Been watching the highlights of Super 15 - some amazing tries. Watching the Rebels however is simply a tutorial on how not to tackle, their defensive coach, assuming they have one is lucky to still have a job.

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Charlie was excellent for Sarries. Didn't miss a kick. Playing in a swamp suited Sarries' limited game. Saints were more inclined to try to run the ball. Not that they flubbed it much, there were remarkably few errors for the treacherous conditions, but territory was the key. Charlie kept Saints in their own half enough for them to give away enough penalties for him to kick to win.

Yes, the Rebels' defence is dire. Same as last season. They had three out of the top five in the missed tackle stats, including, of course, Cips. Nathan Gray, former Wallaby, was and still is defence coach. How does he keep his job indeed?

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Mmmm. POC sidelined for the rest of the tournament. Big big loss for Ireland. Less so Murray, who is quickly turning into a poor man's Mike Phillips - a poor man's Mike Phillips? that's verging on bankruptcy - who fancies himself as a third flanker instead of someone whose primary role is to service the backline.

[Havak]

As my friend was unable to distinguish club sponsor from stand name (!) I was in fact in the Crumbie, middle tier above the try line at the club house end. Or if you prefer about where the unfortinate Mr Salvi surfed into the hoardings early doors.

A strange game in which the conditions seemed to make the visitors disinterested. Dubious tries quite possibly, but Tigers controlled the game without ever really needing to get out of first gear. I expected a much more closely contested game. Glaws will rue their failure to turn up for that one I suspect.

Enjoyed what I saw of the France-Ireland game. A result that opens the door even wider for Wales?

Given where we were after six games it is quite remarkable where we are after seventeen rubbers. We have a hard run in however. Whilst this isn;t thew Tigers of odl one thing that they do share with those great old sides is still that esprit d'corp. The lads were busting a gut for one another at the death on sunday to keep Glaws locked out of the try stats. I like to see such commitment when a game is long since settled.

Oh and I'll take the bonus point, dubious scores or not. Was the interception a good one? From where I was it looked as if Alesana may have been offside...

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Hard to tell from the angles shown. Jonny May just booted it straight into the ample Samoan gut.

I can see no Grand Slam this year.

[Havak]

The big lad was on the far side from me and well ahead up the field - I could see he got it in the bread basket but I wondered if that bread basket was in our kitchen so to speak (if that metaphor makes any sense?). As you can probably tell I have yet to watch the game again.

I would assume you expect France to upset the apple cart then? Or are you backing the Azzuri to do so?

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Well, Gli Azzurri have beaten them before. Seems a lifetime ago, too. Sigh.

It was mentioned on the Sarries-Saints coverage that Peter Stringer is now off to Newcastle. The little mercenary. Still, on the bright side, he's good enough at this level to give Newcastle a real boost. There may be hope for them yet.