Rugby - formerly 6Nations, formerly WRC

Originally posted by Jacquin


Oh come on.. still deluded? If you mean in the way I was deluded when I said that England would win the world cup then yes, I'm afraid I am deluded in a predicting the truth kind of way.

Johnson we will miss, Dallaglio is about as good as a replacement as we could hope for, but we will miss him. Not having JW in the team is another blow, but that simply puts us in the position of having to play more of a running game with the best team in the world against second rate opposition. Wales will do pretty well, their hay-day has unfortunately passed some time ago and so pretty well in a small championship is about as much as they can hope for... I agree that if nothing out of the ordinary happens this will be a Wales v England contest. I honestly think though that it will be not much of a contest.

Yes we have new players, our main problem at the moment is that we have more brilliant players than we have spaces on the team. Any team that can afford to leave Paul, King and Barkley out of the starting line up is not short of talent. Yes we have a lot of work to do. Yes we are the best people to do it.

Trust me, I was right last time wasn't I?

J
Click to expand...

Ok I'll give you the robbery known as the WC. But I'm not letting you get away with England and running game in the same sentence. You mention the three most prolific KICKERS in the English game and then suggest they have talent? King is the biggest reject of the English club game, he's bottled every game he's played for England and if it wasn't for a dominant Wasps pack would be frankly mediocre, especially on the back foot or in a running game - oh and did I mention he can't tackle? I like Henry Paul but after the English press bashed us for 'granny gate' playing him would be the ultimate irony .......... after Mike Catt, given his dozen plus caps for NZ RL. He's not convincing defensively either. Lastly Olly Barkley - again I like him but after having watched him bottle it against Wasps on Saturday, missing I don't know how many kicks, its hard to be convinced he's going to do anything against teams such as Ireland, France and Wales who have experienced squads adapted to the riguors of international rugby. So I think you should reserve the term 'brilliant' for players of a far higher quality than the three named or most of the English squad for that matter.
Also you need to face reality :D :p You have an aging squad with a significant injury list and players who won the WC but who simply can't do it anymore, something proven even at club level recently. Further there is not a snowball's chance in hell you can compensate for JW's 20+ pts per game, face it laddie your in for a shock :D
I also think that all English fans should remember that the five and then six nations has always been the toughest competition in world rugby, to dismiss it so lightly and arrogantly is to forget that until 1989 England had never won in Cardiff and their record against the other nations wasn't exactly decent. certainly Wales's 'Golden Age' has passed for now, but thats sport - its cycles, you can't be on top forever and the same will happen with England. Your on top of the world now but it can and will so easily slip away, and sooner than you think if your not careful.

I think my exile may be over before it started thanks to this thread :D

See you in the trenches J :D :p :D (Oh and you may have to mollify Sam over this thread, Mr Mod sir :p )
 
LOL!

I love arguing with you, maybe I should call it debating but you know what I mean...

Time is the only thing that will actually tell, but I honestly think England will win. There is no reason why they shouldn't. The easiest way for us to make points has always been letting JW kick but we had some of the highest scoring players in the World Cup excluding him. We can play rugby against any team you pick. The team is still on the crest of the WC wave and however crap they have the potential of being it isn't going to happen.

In a way I'd love to see Wales win something worthwhile for a change mainly because you deserve it. After all who else has been so dedicated to a team that hasn't followed it up (not counting anyone Scottish of course)

A guy whose opinion I respect however misguided it sometimes seems once posted this.
Only in greatest hope can anybody face the most abject destruction of all they hold dear. When the price of success is so high then the repercussions of loss must be equally as great. What is left when dreams are shattered, replaced by despair so tangible shivers rack grief stricken bodies. Bodies that have sat through moments of electric excitement, have watched stunned as defeat rears it’s ugly head trouncing any brief flame of resurrection. Hope is that most terrible of emotions, it creates expectation that can only rarely be justified and even rarer vindicated.
It was on a field entirely Wales that the last great institution of God’s people was forever lost. No longer will the dragon soar through eighty minutes on wings of passion and song, no longer will weary bodies erupt in feverish celebration when the day is done and won. We have followed a black path, followed the piper to an extricable end, there is nowhere left to hide and no excuses large enough to evince even remorse. For years we were the light, alone amongst millions did we exemplify speed, guile, power and skill, all traits that were taught by legends of men with pride in everything red. All that was red is now so much mist that blinds the ever faithful from a terrible, inevitable conclusion – the dragon is dead. We mourn his leaving and turn unseeing eyes towards never more. Farewell, you will be missed.
Click to expand...

J
 
It seems I am undone :D I knew that piece would come back to bite me in the a$$ some day :rolleyes: :D Three years is a long time in rugby though ( you had to know there was a 'but' coming :D ) and another false dawn of hope rises for those who march in red, perhaps the dragon has some phoenix genes in him ;) :D

Predictions for the games on the weekend?


P.S I don't know about you but I can't bloody wait for Saturday now, just talking about it gets me excited :D
 
Lol Jacquin when I listen to you I wonder if you even consider the possibility that England might not win?;)

My predictions for this week-end:
Wales vs Scotland: judging by their WC form, Wales by 7
France vs Ireland: close one but I'm biased so France by 4
Italy vs England: 4-0 with 2 goals from Del Piero,1 from Totti and Vieri each ... oh wait it's rugby so Italy by at least 40 points:D

Edit: just heard that O'Driscoll was out so France by 14
 
Last edited:
I've been keeping that one up my sleeve for a little while. I like to think of it as a kind of final solution! :p:D I think Wales are on the up now and in all honesty England's win will have done as much for you as it did for us. To think that a team you should be able to beat has done as well as they have? With a bit of dedication and perhaps a bit more enthusiasm for low level rugby you have the pedigree to be up there with the best. I hope you do it, I'd rather we lost the W.E. to another Northern Hemisphere team.

Yeah I'm all excited, trying to work out whether to go to the pub or just stop in... All way too complicated for me right now but you'll understand if I get a little more excited about sunday?

My predictions?

Wales to win after a surprisingly tough first half.

France to squeeze a victory fighting all the way.

England to win by a slimmer margin than I'd like after making a number of stupid mistakes...

How's that for honesty?

J
 
Can't be faulted m8 :D

I think Wales will win by ten, Scotland will be tough early but lack the imagination to score tries.

France are at home and with their sides doing so well in Europe I tip them by 12 against an O'Driscoll-less Ireland.

England by 20 though late points, I don't like Balshaw at 15, especially with Lewsey in the same team. I can't wait to see what Billy whizz does at centre and the pack should dominate. It'll be the benchmark game for the six nations I think, to see how the best team does against the supposedly weakest (though we ended up with the spoon 12 months ago)


By the way how about this for a story lol:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/international/3484975.stm
 
You could be right. Personally Lewsey is one of my favourite players. I think his absence gave you an advantage in the WC, I'm really looking forward to seeing him and Paul work together.

If we could only borrow Gareth Llewellyn to fill that gaping Johnson shaped hole...
 
Are you insane? Have you now lost your mind after looking like making a full recovery? :D Gareth Llewellyn is the biggest waste of space I have ever seen in a Welsh jersey, have him, we'll gladly swap you for Kay, Grewcock or Borthwick - as it is he's been given the place of a far better player in Sidoli. Plus he hasn't got a club after the Ospreys ditched him. Oh and Grayson is a waste of space, sorry but the guy doesn't even deserve to clean JW's boots, why they didn't give Barkley a bash I don't know - here's an article that made me smile, just for you J about eight reasons why you won't win the 6 Nations :D :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/international/3441311.stm
 
Fair comment, it's been a while since I've seen him play, guess that should speak for itself...

Looks like france did better than any of us predicted! Lets see what the rest of this afternoon holds.

J
 
I think France looked great in patches but Ireland were a bit poor and disappointing - without the invention of O'Driscoll and Murphy they look a bit one dimensional. France will have to put 80mins of that rugby together to win it all though.
Wales were disappointing, we got dragged down into Scotland's game second half, an overly pedantic ref didn't help but with all due respect to Scotland the scoreline is very flattering, 50 pts would not have been out of context.
Be interesting to see what England do tomorrow.
 
I think France commited too many handling errors to be judged good today.Still Brusque and Pelissade were in great form today
icon14.gif
.And O'Gara's kicking was impressive. But Ireland looked one-dimensional without BOD.

The Welsh were great I think. Clean hands in attack and a good defence coupled with enthusiasm
icon14.gif
icon14.gif
.Only problem is their style seems to eats up stamania, so they looked tired in the last 30 minutes.Scotland OTOH...Ugh, a strong contender I reckon... for the wooden spoon.
 
Not really adding anything new to what's already been said but anyway...
Today seemed to consist of warm up matches to me.

Wales started off so well, and seemed to have a bit of spark, but I'm not convinced by their second half performance- looked a little peaked (then again, Scotland did start getting their act together, so may not have just been Wales slowing down).

France did alright, but not quite as lighning fast as I'd have imagined- perhaps holding something in reserve there.
 
Also I don't understand the hype about Simon Taylor. Nothing really special it seems to me.

A question: do anyone know when decoy-runner are deemed acceptable? Cause Wales used a few today.
 
The laws on decoy runners are:
If he runs in front of the ball carrier before the pass is made, he is offside and liable to penalty (Law 11).

After the ball carrier has passed the ball, the decoy runner must not obstruct opposition players (Law 10.1 Obstruction and Law 11 Offside)."
 
50 - 9

Robinson showed all his potential, his pace and dexterity leaving the Italians for dead on more than one occasion, Grayson did us proud, JW might have scored more but maybe not. Lewsey, Greenwood and Balshaw were great. Dallaglio came about as close as he could to filling Johnson's boots.

Italy should have scored more, they played really well even though they made a couple of serious mistakes.

All in all I thought the new team played as well as could be expected. They didn't shine except for a couple of beautiful moments but they only stand to get more polished.

I'd say the cup is ours (but then I would wouldn't I?) :D

J
 
Your welcome Blabla :)

50-9 was flattering, but then I would say that wouldn't I ;) :D I think Italy had far more of the game than such a scoreline suggests and were very unlucky - the one occasion where the full back broke through and almost scored was a certain yellow card offense by Kay. Had they scored early on when they had their best periods of play Italy might have done themselves justice.

Robinson is class and I'm sure he has welsh blood but he was allowed to play, against better defences I think he may be stifled at 13. That said he was the main difference, without him it would have been a fair bit closer imo. But lets be honest England weren't tested, Balshaw wasn't put under any pressure nor the half-back axis, Grayson kicked well but then thats not a surprise, its why he was picked ;)
I thought the Italian back-row out played and out muscled the aging English back row - much as I think Hill is a legend he and Dallaglio looked out of it today and Worsley is anonymous whenever he puts on an England shirt, Woodward really should give James Forrester some games. Lewsey has been superb in the Zurich Premiership on the wing but for me he has to play full-back for England. Overall - they played what was in front of them, it wasn't exciting or entertaining but workmanlike is what England do best. The much vaunted 'brilliance' :p of Paul, Grayson and Barkley was unsurprisingly nowhere to be seen :D I'll be very interested to see how they go in Scotland next week because we didn't learn anything today.
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by kater
50-9 was flattering, but then I would say that wouldn't I ;) :D I think Italy had far more of the game than such a scoreline suggests and were very unlucky - the one occasion where the full back broke through and almost scored was a certain yellow card offense by Kay. Had they scored early on when they had their best periods of play Italy might have done themselves justice.
Click to expand...


The reason they didn't score then was simply because the guy with the ball tried to run it rather than passing left to a huge hole in our defense.

Robinson is class and I'm sure he has welsh blood but he was allowed to play, against better defences I think he may be stifled at 13. That said he was the main difference, without him it would have been a fair bit closer imo.
Click to expand...


So we agree he is class, that's a start! :p There was no defender in the world who would have been able to stop him on his first scoring run. He left Wakarua trailing in his wake.

Yes we would not be the same team without him, but that's exacty what you said about JW and MJ. The fact is that we have the best players and so we win. If we didn't have them we probably wouldn't but as we have more brilliant players than we allowed to field we will continue to win. :p:p:p

But lets be honest England weren't tested, Balshaw wasn't put under any pressure nor the half-back axis, Grayson kicked well but then thats not a surprise, its why he was picked ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah, we made the fatal mistake of scoring points by kicking, that automatically invalidates the fact that we won.

I thought the Italian back-row out played and out muscled the aging English back row - much as I think Hill is a legend he and Dallaglio looked out of it today and Worsley is anonymous whenever he puts on an England shirt, Woodward really should give James Forrester some games. Lewsey has been superb in the Zurich Premiership on the wing but for me he has to play full-back for England. Overall - they played what was in front of them, it wasn't exciting or entertaining but workmanlike is what England do best. The much vaunted 'brilliance' :p of Paul, Grayson and Barkley was unsurprisingly nowhere to be seen :D I'll be very interested to see how they go in Scotland next week because we didn't learn anything today.
Click to expand...

I was a little disappointed by Paul, but then after his last appearance I think he is wise to play it safe. He didn't do anything spectacular but he held his own.

I think just as I said during the WC, the telling point about England is that they win even when they play way off their best. The same cannot be said for any of the other teams in the cup.

The only downside imho was seeing Dallan stretchered off.

As to Scotland? Bring them on!
 
I thought the Welsh were looking tired after an hour or so. It was one of the reasons we came unstuck in the WC and it was what I feared would happen.
I thought we were guilty of sitting on our lead too.
After watching the England v Italy game today, I tend to agree with Kater. Robinson is good enough to be a Welshman.
There must have been a mistake somewhere in his birth certificate. :)
Still, after the Welsh U21s gave the Scottish U21s a beating on Friday as well, things could be looking up.

42
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Sponsors


We try to keep the forum as free of ads as possible, please consider supporting SFFWorld on Patreon


Your ad here.
Back
Top