Six Nations

[TheGayTent]

Nearly that time again. 

Can't see past Ireland or England for the championship, and for me the two away games in Cardiff for England in the second round of games and Ireland in the 4th round of games will be pivotal. 

Intrigued to see how Finn Russell and his improved Scotland play, and also how much difference Conor O'Shea can make with Italy. 

Finally of course, there's Lions spots up for grabs....

[DareToDibble]

Agree it is hard to see beyond England or Ireland. England are also going after New Zealand's win record so they will be doubly motivated. 

I've been given some free tickets for Wales v England which is awesome... however I know I am just going to watch us get battered

I have actually put a bet on us (Wales) to finish 5th. Ireland and England could easily beat us at home and being away to Scotland and France doesn't fill me with confidence. In fact I can't say i'm fully confident we'll even beat Italy!

[LJS]

I'm probably being a tad on the optimistic side here - but maybe just maybe Scotland might be a bit of a surprise package. Glasgow have been superb this season destroying Leicester & winning twice against Racing 92 and they have 9 starters tomorrow so teamwork should be good.

Ireland may not be the ideal start but at least it's at Murrayfield.

Time to wheel this out again...

 

 

 

[pink_triangle]

1 hour ago, LJS said:

I'm probably being a tad on the optimistic side here - but maybe just maybe Scotland might be a bit of a surprise package. Glasgow have been superb this season destroying Leicester & winning twice against Racing 92 and they have 9 starters tomorrow so teamwork should be good.

Ireland may not be the ideal start but at least it's at Murrayfield.

Time to wheel this out again...

 

 

 

Every year for one afternoon it is very tense in the PT household as we take opposite sides for the Wales v Scotland match. I think we have seen 8 of them and Wales have won every time. I think one year Scotland were 7 points ahead with 1 minute to go and still lost. I fear this may be the year I pay for 8 years worth of gloating!

[TheGayTent]

2 hours ago, LJS said:

I'm probably being a tad on the optimistic side here - but maybe just maybe Scotland might be a bit of a surprise package. 

Depends what you mean by surprise package I guess? I'd be surprised if Scotland finished in the top 2. However I'd also be surprised if they finished in the bottom 2. 

Gregor Townsend has big shoes to fill come June. 

[LJS]

8 hours ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

You should never hate a team more than you support your own - be it club or country.

 

(That made me laugh though. Not seen it before. Can't believe they banned it).

I'd never wish Scotland to lose, LJS (except against England), but then I always want the guys with no chance to do well. 

Thanks.

 

[TheGayTent]

Perfect results 

[zero000]

Great result for Scotland. Really pleased to see them get that victory. 

England were extremely fortunate. Completely dominated up front for large parts of the game. 

[TheGayTent]

Superb set of results all round. Particularly for England with half our forward line out. Those are the type of wins that eek out championships... 

[DareToDibble]

We were absolutely terrible in the first half today. Luckily we looked a completely different team in the second half. 
Hoping that the injury to Biggar isn't too serious.

Can't wait for the match on Saturday - although I'm pretty sure we are going to get battered.

[ThomThomDrum]

That English defence is a defence that wins championships. Immense stuff from them. Super game to watch last night from start to finish. Wales can count themselves unlucky but they came upon a wall 

[LJS]

2 hours ago, ThomThomDrum said:

That English defence is a defence that wins championships. Immense stuff from them. Super game to watch last night from start to finish. Wales can count themselves unlucky but they came upon a wall 

True but Wales were the architects of their own failure to some extent - failing to take points int he first half when they were on offer and bafflingly failing to kick to touch which led to England's wining try.

Now, what's the chances of a Scotland win in Paris?

 

 

[LJS]

Wow, Scotland, Wow!

[pink_triangle]

5 minutes ago, LJS said:

Wow, Scotland, Wow!

The first time Scotland have beaten Wales for years. I'm glad I'm watching football on a cold, windy day in solihull, instead of at home with the Scottish girlfriend!

[grumpyhack]

I was watching at home with all the Welsh family.  But, fair play, the result was deserved.

[zero000]

Fantastic result for Scotland, absolutely well deserved.

Having said that Wales were absolutely dire in the second half. Completely unthreatening in attack once again and a huge number of turnovers and penalties conceded. 

Time for a shake up in the Wales coaching set up.

[LJS]

2 minutes ago, zero000 said:

Fantastic result for Scotland, absolutely well deserved.

Having said that Wales were absolutely dire in the second half. Completely unthreatening in attack once again and a huge number of turnovers and penalties conceded. 

Time for a shake up in the Wales coaching set up.

Looking forwards to Championship decider between Scotland & England

[TheGayTent]

1 hour ago, zero000 said:

 Time for a shake up in the Wales coaching set up.

Gatland will be back for next 6 nations

[pink_triangle]

I do wonder whether it's just a cyclical thing and Wales are due for a few years towards the bottom of the table. When I first became aware of rugby (late 80s) it always seemed to be Wales competing with Ireland for the wooden spoon!

[zero000]

1 hour ago, TheGayTent said:

Gatland will be back for next 6 nations

That's not much consolation in all honesty. Gatland's game plan has been found out. England have taken great strides with largely the same squad from the world cup, whilst Wales are treading water at best.

 

[mjsell]

Thoughts on Italy's gameplan? 

one of the strangest games of rugby I've watched. 

[LJS]

11 minutes ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

And to be honest if England had have wised up earlier and just picked the ball up and run forward every time whilst Italy were all on our side we'd have scored more in first half. 

Hmm, not sure which of our 2 final games to be worried about now - England or Italy!

[mjsell]

3 hours ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

Personally nothing wrong with it. Very weird but nothing illegal and surely one of the main jobs of a coach is to come up with new and innovative tactics. 

Yeah I would say I agree. It certainly made a game that almost everyone thought was a forgone conclusions more interesting. I really enjoyed Haskell and Hartley really struggle to get their heads around the whole thing.

Just hope it's not something that catches on (with refinements obviously). But yeah I appreciate what Italy attempted. One of the pundits/ commentators said around halftime that they thought Italy should go back to traditional rucking for parts of the second half to confuse the England lads further, which probably wouldn't have been a bad idea as they did eventually cotten on. 

Looking forward to Scotland England next week now. Scots playing some lovely stuff. 

[TheGayTent]

It was fucking terrible - O'Shea is the hypocrite here. He's spent the entire build up talking about all the mistakes Italian rugby have made in the past concentrating on the short term to a detriment to the long term development of the Italian team....then he employs a tactic like that solely in an attempt to lose by less points than otherwise....that performance and those tactics aren't going to do anything for the long term development of Italy, the opposite to my mind. 

Aside from that, England were poor, and they were poor before the no ruck tactics had any effect too. In the tackle and kicking execution in particular were awful. If Scotland play like they have thus far, and so do England, Scotland win in 2 weeks - which would be the first time in 35 years at Twickenham (I think?). 

[LJS]

3 hours ago, TheGayTent said:

It was fucking terrible - O'Shea is the hypocrite here. He's spent the entire build up talking about all the mistakes Italian rugby have made in the past concentrating on the short term to a detriment to the long term development of the Italian team....then he employs a tactic like that solely in an attempt to lose by less points than otherwise....that performance and those tactics aren't going to do anything for the long term development of Italy, the opposite to my mind. 

Aside from that, England were poor, and they were poor before the no ruck tactics had any effect too. In the tackle and kicking execution in particular were awful. If Scotland play like they have thus far, and so do England, Scotland win in 2 weeks - which would be the first time in 35 years at Twickenham (I think?). 

Here's hoping.