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Six Nations 2012
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Davies got a rocket on the pitch, from the rest of his team. You could see his face glowing from the upper tier as he trudged off.
Ireland weren't unlucky. They were lucky to be in the contest at half time, let alone in the lead. Ryan's try would have counted before tv refs came along - what is all this 'I can't see it so I have to disallow it' crap, anyway? Going forward, going down, with the ball = try. And Priestland missed sitters.
In the second half Ireland were even unluckier that they stayed in the game against the pressure that they were under. Priestland shouldn't have been kicking with a knee injury - Daft Gatland error with another kicker on the pitch and one on the bench. Unlucky that Paul O'Connell charged with the ball into the one defender in front of him when he had four free men outside... Unlucky that with a one man advantage they managed to score exactly as many points as the Welsh, and with one point up and four minutes to go they couldn't stop Wales getting from the red 22 to the green 22. That's a team that's tired of defending!
There were controversies, no doubt! But that was a great game of rugby, and not a poor one like the other Triple Crown one. In games like that the best team wins. The lead changed five times! Ireland didn't complain about the penalty once they watched it back - oh, sure, at the time it was the worst display of barracking I've ever heard in a rugby stadium, and Leigh Halfpenny was sublime to get the ball over in the face of it. Boo the ref, yes, but not the kicker!
The Irish press didn't talk about luck, and neither did the coach or players. They talked about not being good enough on the day to win a close match, especially from six points up with six minutes to go. Paul O'Connell made some great comments, firstly admitting to he and Ferris making the mistakes that allowed Wales the final eight points, and secondly that it's tough to beat a team that score more tries than you.
For five minutes after the game the Irish supporters were wound up, but they have a great ability to wind down. But looking forward to the rest of the tournament the Irish have some work to do! The best quote from the papers yesterday - "... leaves the Irish regarding their assignment in Paris with all the enthusiasm of hobbits heading to Mordor."
BOING!
So who do you fancy for this weekend?
I'm hoping France beat Ireland. The game is on really late, don't enjoy watching rugby after 9pm and trying to eat my dinner at the same time!
I think England will beat Italy but I'm interested to see what the game will be like in a bigger stadium.
I can't see Scotland troubling Wales unless there is a miraculous turnaround in the Scottish camp.
The Better Half is Welsh so i will have a cheeky £5 on Wales to stuff Scotland by 10 pts. England should beat Italy but it wont be a walkover...less than 6 pts i feel. And the French v Ireland should be a cracker as the boys in green have to go for it.
Get the runs in early then settle down
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
<sets fire to a cushion in disgust at lack of underpitch heating>
Yep, that's pretty embarrassing! (the French stadium, not the England game)
England played ok, Italy actually never looked likely to score, but I reckon that that's it for England wins this year.
I thought the Italy game was closer than it should have been on paper. The crowd certainly got behind the Italians, and the bigger stadium didn't seem unduly empty. Looks like a good move - hoping it spurs them on to better things.
The France/Ireland game should have been a corker. "Whoops" is about all one can say there...
Wales ought to take the Scots.
Time for Andy Robinson to go?
Hopefully yesterday's fiasco will stop the madness of scheduling games at 8pm. It's far too late to really enjoy the game and they've been lucky not to be caught out by the weather before. I'd prefer the France v. Ireland game to be rescheduled for next weekend and then it could be at the sensible time of 3pm!
Little Nemo it's not AR's fault. The blame lies with Gregor Townshend, as a backs coach nobody here is impressed! We are incapable of creating a score though our back line unlike Wales today who IMHO were dangerous every time they got the ball. It has only been our defence which has performed and our best chances have come from broken play. The same Scottish players are generally doing fine for their respective clubs week in week out and it is very frusratiing when you see how Michael Bradley's Edinburgh are performing and the way Sotland A played against the Saxons under his guidance. AR's only fault as far as I can see is his loyalty to players who should never be in the squad e.g. Nick DeLuca & Dan Parks. Hopefully one of these days we'll put in a performance, win or loose, than we can be proud of.
Just as well that it's a Sunday evening and I've got to go to work tomorrow!!!
That match was badly refereed.
However, it was badly refereed against both sides, and only one decision was big enough to potentially have an impact on the final score, which was Hogg's 'knock-on'. I had a Scottish bloke behind me screaming that Welsh players kept going off their feet at the rucks, when I was seeing a very intriguing piece of play in that two Scots would pull a Welshman forward over the ruck and therefore off his feet. Clever. To the letter of the law, a penalty against Wales. But the shouts in my ear of Welsh going in at the side were biased, as Poite seemed happy to let anyone come in at the side, allowing a number of Scottish turnovers at vital points - strange given that we had four back-rowers on the field.
Fair enough that Scotland took the set-pieces. What would you expect with four Welsh back-rowers on the field? Likewise the retention of possession by Scotland was superb, and exactly what you would expect from their pack. But the ball was crying out to be run. Lots of phases of play will eventually lead to a mistake, and I was surprised that Scotland made it to 21 and a yard from the tryline before the mistake occurred, but that's probably a result of excitement about being the first Scot to score for such a long time. But you can't throw it out wide when half of the time your midfield are going to get driven backwards. Get it wide enough quickly enough, and the runners were definitely dangerous. As to screams of offside, only as much as any international team on that pitch.
Where the Scots had the edge in the pack, easily enough, the Welsh gained any lost ground and more through the backs. George North off, three tries scored. Is it because they're all so big? 1/2p scores two tries... Mind you, I did enjoy Cuthbert strolling through Laidlaw!
The Scots have plenty more to give if they can get better ball distribution through 10-12, and find a decent 10-12-13 combination. Unfortunately I do think AR is to blame. He learned 10-man rugby and he's happy to stick with it. His players' will and grit got near to getting him a result, but again the team came up short. It might have been different with better discipline, but that's part of a player's repertoire too.
I can't wait to see what happens when Wales put their first XV on the field!
Looks like the France v. Ireland match won't happen this weekend
LN, it'll be a shame if France and Ireland have to play four in consecutive weeks, but far worse if we had to wait until June for the outcome of the championship! I think the fixture revision for those four weeks works out slightly better for Ireland, who have Italy and Scotland either side. France would have to play Ireland, England, Wales in three consecutive weeks.
These international rugby players today aren't used to that anymore...
They'll just have to man up, Ratzer! It's only 80 mins of rugby
You're right at least they'll finish on time. It was a bit rubbish when the championship finished in September because of the Foot and Mouth outbreak a few years back.
I quite fancy George North...
So the rescheduled match is on March 4th, 3pm, and those French nancies are going to have to man up!
I'm glad the competition hasn't been completely disrupted, and glad that there will be 4 consecutive weekends of top class rugby to watch!
Pas de probleme - je suis sure
Something to look forward to after a long Sunday run
Glad to see we have gone easy o nthe French. If that match had been called off at Twickenham there would have been an outbreak of national self-loathing, we look idiots to the retst of the world etc.
a) A major national stadium, built in recent years in a reasonsably northerm climb that doesn't have undersoil heating !!! If it had been Rome then OK, No point installing something that will be used once in 30 years but Paris !
b) You could see all week what was coming. The Seine was frozen so it was clearly cold. They could have called off earlier or more to the point on Thursday moved the kick-off forward to the Saturday afternoon. Most people would have been in Paris by then anyway, so wouldn;t have messed with too many trasnport arrangements.. You could say that TV drove the time but in the end TV got nothing. Much more sensible to move forward
c) The Referee was right. So what if it was playable 90 minutes earlier (see point b) the fact is it was getting later and getting colder. Quelle Surprise it froze harder! I see the French blamed the referee because he was English, whereas the Italy vs England game went ahead because the Referee was French. Well it went ahead in the afternoon and it was snowing rather than freezing, the snow probably protected the ground, it did for our cross country on Saturday for instance.
The French should be embarassed about this but not sure what they will do. Too late to really install under-soil heating now. In reality probably doesn't get that cold on Paris that oftern anyway. So will they make sensible decisions on kick-off times.
Still at least they have given themselves a lot games in successive weeks so that won't help them.
Wales look like the pick for me so far reasonably open at the moment.
I suppose the people who built SDF would say that they never anticipated -10 in Paris, it has been freakishly cold. They were never going to call it off on Thursday, imagine if it had warmed up, people would have complained about that.
I think it was the late KO that was the real problem. If it stops games starting at 8pm in the future(which I don't like) then at least there's been a silver lining.
No rugby this weekend
*twiddles thumbs*
Not cold here now, LN, is it? Well, only here for two days and spending time working with a guy from Toulouse who's been a bit laissez-faire about the whole frozen pitch thing. I think the guys here knew it was going to happen, and who wants to watch a game at 9pm anyway? How can you get out for a glass of vin afterwards??
I know that undersoil heating wasn't put in due to concerns about methane pockets in the ground. So why build a modern stadium on an old tip?
No rugby this weekend.
Might have to go for a race. 
Liking the debate on the Jonathan Davies quote about "smashing" the English pack. The Daily Mail is up in arms! 
My impresions of the 6N so far.
The Wales backs are just too big.
The Irish team is just a little bit too old.
The French are too stubborn in the face of freezing weather.
The Scots are too afraid of crossing the try line.
The English are too easily impressed with very ordinary performances.
The Italians wear blue.
My forecast:
Wales win the 6N, then go on to win the basketball gold in the Olympics.
France rugby federation attempts to schedule the winter olympics in the sahara. In june.
Ireland lobby to have zimmer frames allowed on the field of play before rescuing the season with a resounding success over England.
England announce that a dream team of Fabio Capello and Sven Goran Eriksson will jointly manage the English rugby team.
The Scots are so deparate to score a try that they insist that touching down in their own in-goal area should count as an 'own-try'. Even an own try would be better than no try.
The Italians will wear blue. Or white.
LOL, bos1
No rugby this weekend, I may have to resort to housework...
So, it appears the Welsh have managed to scrabble together nearly a First XV. At least there are two second rows in there, and the back row's up to full strength. Not sure about the hooker, but the props are decent. Behind that lot, and obviously covering all the failings in the line outs, are the same backs that have run through everyone so far.
I think Ireland/Italy is going to be won by the team in green, not blue (or white). I think Scotland/France is going to be won by the team in white (or blue), not by the other team in blue (or white). England/Wales will be won by the team in red (or green or black or white) and not by the team in white (or black?). I don't think it'll be close either, contrary to all the critics hedging their bets in the papers. I think Wales will win by a reasonable margin, 10+ points.
France by 7+
Ireland by 5+
I don't think England will take the game lying down and could prove to be dangerous on the counterattack but their defence is going to have to be sharp against our lot going forward. it will be interesting to see what the final England line up looks like - and whether Dickson and Morgan get starts.
and I agree with the wins for France and Ireland - but both by bigger margins
Can't see England troubling Wales much in attack, though defensively, all international teams are well drilled and highly competent...and England haven't been giving away many penalties.
England may well win the lineout battles and it'll be well worth watching the scrums too, where England's young guns will be up against Wales' experienced men. Be interesting to see how well they do.
However, even in the worst case for Wales, they'd do far more with 40% of the ball than England would with 60%, so it's a comfortable win for Wales for me. If the Welsh pack get 50% or more, it could be a right stuffing.
Ireland should beat Italy; France should beat Scotland, both by fairly big margins
Can't believe I've missed this thread.
Well England have the two wins I'd have asked for them at the start of the tournament. Scotland were nice enough to lose to us, which is good as we were never going to win it ourselve.
Suspect we're going to get hammered this weekend, think I'm watching it in the pub with a group of Wales fans. Should be fun.
As for the tournament, my heart says Wales, my head says France.
If we have to lose by 30 points this weekend, for Wales to win the championship, so be it.