ljkeane Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 So, probably the key weekend of the Six Nations this year this weekend, although England did lose when they should have won away in France a couple of years ago. Some thoughts on the weekend's games: Ireland v Italy: The Italian backs have looked reasonable this year but unfortunately for them their pack, which has always been their strength, has fallen away. Given that and home advantage it's hard to pick anything other than an Ireland win. Still, I have to say I'm a little disappointed with a pretty conservative Irish team selection. The team they've picked, with more experience in the tight five and better defensively with Payne in midfield, probably does match up with the Italians better but, come on, they have to back themselves to beat Italy at home either way and they really need to start developing more attacking options for when they meet the better sides. So, yeah, I'm picking an Ireland win but my main take away is it's a pretty bad call not to have McCloskey and Dillane in the side, also what's the point of McFadden on the bench? England v Wales: The big game of the weekend. I think a few England fans are a bit wary because Wales have tended to win the key games between the two sides in recent years, not least in the World Cup, but lets not forget a largely similar England side won the last two Six Nations game and were reasonably comfortably in control for the first 50 minutes or so in the World Cup before the pressure came on and they panicked. I think one thing Jones (and Gustard actually) have brought to the England set up, without changing a huge amount so far, in that the players do look a lot more comfortable with what they're supposed to be doing compared to the end of the Lancaster era so hopefully they won't collapse mentally at least. Having said that though the Wales side are actually stronger than the World Cup side with their injured players back, and their defence matches up with England's physicality better than any of the sides they've met so far. I really don't think there's a huge amount between the starting sides, both of them have been good defensively without looking spectacular in attack. I think the impact the benches, and how the game situation allows them to be used, could be key. England have massive amount of ball carrying power on the bench. If they can make the Walsh shoulder the kind of defensive workload Ireland did and then bring on the likes of Mako Vunipola, Cowan-Dickie, Brookes, Clifford and Tuilagi to build on a lead and run at/over a tired defence in the last 20 I think it's hard to see Wales coming out on top. The concern would be if Cowan-Dickie has to come on early. His scrummaging is fine and he's arguably even better around the park than George but I'd worry about the lineouts. Especially given England are operating with limited back row options and are throwing a lot of ball to Kruis even though the opposition know it's coming, that puts even more pressure on the hooker to be spot on with his throws. Wales on the other hand don't have the power on their bench England do but they do have some real quality in Webb and Tipuric. If they're on the back foot I'm not sure they'll get a lot of joy from matching Tipuric up with England's big runners but on the other hand if they have a lead and England are chasing the game I could really see them picking off England with the pace Webb and Tipuric can bring to the game. Overall I think it's going to be a tight one but with home advantage, and Wales really struggling to score tries this year, I'm going to go for England. Scotland v France: I'm going to go with Scotland. They played pretty well against Italy and showed some pretty good attacking rugby, I think the decision to bring in a bit more physicality in Strauss and Dunbar to match the French is probably the right one but the most important thing is they look to have an actual pattern of play and France don't. Admittedly France did improve on that when Trinh-Duc came on in the last game, so they might be better, but I don't have any real confidence in Les Bleus at the moment. Noves looks to have a big job on his hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 I agree on Scotland beating France and a sofar unexciting Irish side beating Italy. Very much torn over England and Wales though. Impossible to say really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lessthanluke Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 We've been terrible but really haven't been helped by the refereeing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Which Tyler Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 Fair enough for most of the match; but that Francis decision more than evens out the reffing. Surely it's either nothing OR a red card; I just don't understand how it can be anything else; nor why different angles would help - the TV angle they had was absolutely perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lessthanluke Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 How does a decision ten minutes from the end even out us getting fucked by Joubert at the breakdown for 70? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 Fuck me that last ten minutes was far more nerve racking than it should have been but at least we won. No idea how you can give a penalty for gouging and leave Francis on the pitch though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Which Tyler Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 8 minutes ago, lessthanluke said: How does a decision ten minutes from the end even out us getting fucked by Joubert at the breakdown for 70? Well, for one thing you weren't "fucked by Joubert" you were just on the wrong side of him; and for another you got a penalty reversal in lieu of a red card - that's a pretty big swing on it's own (either that or you got fucked by having the penalty reversed when Francis did nothing at all wrong - which would be a tad cycloptic). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 Wow. England completely dominated this game. Even when Ford conceded a try due to Dan Biggar they still continued to score. Going down a man really changed it big time and it was very impressive to see how the Welsh really started getting going then. Of course the quest is, how much value do you need to put into that late Welsh resurgence against 14 men. On the other hand they just looked very good towards the end anyway. Itoje/Kruis is looking a very good combo in two matches now. Watson was excellent on the wing as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The BlackBear Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 I was so scared at the end of that game. Fucking hell England. That charge down was careless, but impressive Biggar kept on it to score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lessthanluke Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 17 hours ago, Which Tyler said: Well, for one thing you weren't "fucked by Joubert" you were just on the wrong side of him; and for another you got a penalty reversal in lieu of a red card - that's a pretty big swing on it's own (either that or you got fucked by having the penalty reversed when Francis did nothing at all wrong - which would be a tad cycloptic). We shall agree to disagree. What you call wrong side I call getting fucked by. The breakdown officiating was an absolute joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Good game so far at Murrayfield. To be fair to France I might have underestimated them a bit, they've looked pretty good in attack at times. Trinh-Duc has given them a bit of shape in attack and while it's broken down sometimes from them trying to force the offload/pass I don't have a problem with Noves telling his players to back themselves. Scotland have responded pretty well though and they've scored a couple of good tries themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macklunkey Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 I'm not sure that Glen Jackson is international standard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macklunkey Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Great performance by Scotland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Well that was a good game. Good win for Scotland as well because France were pretty good. France actually looked favourites for me for most of that second half but Scotland held up well and that Visser try was excellent to seal the win. So that cements England's first Six Nations title since 2011 and if they can win in Paris they'll have their first Grand Slam since 2003. That does look more of challenge than I thought it was going to be with France showing some good stuff today but barring a big defeat it's a pretty promising start to the Eddie Jones era. On yesterday's games for England I thought, along with everyone else, that Itoje was brilliant. He was always going to be a good player but I was a little concerned he might be slightly undersized to be an effective international lock but that's clearly not the case. Having him, Kruis and Launchbury is a great set of options for England. For Wales I really do think they need to have a bit of a rethink about their attacking game plan. The way Gatland's had them playing has had a fair amount of success but I think they've reached the limit of where it's going to take them, they're not going to be outmuscling the Southern Hemisphere sides and they haven't really been able to impose themselves physically on England either since 2013. I they're going to kick on I think they need to expand their game and they've got some quality backs to do it if they back themselves, as they showed in the last 10 minutes (yes, England were a man down but it was still good play). Ireland had a good win and it was good to see them showing a bit more attacking intent but Italy were very poor. Still, I hope that Ireland continue to play that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lessthanluke Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Spot on with your assessment of Wales but I've been saying that for 5 years. Nothing will change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macklunkey Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Scotlands 3rd try was lovely. Hogg is a quality player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 Tom Francis has picked up an 8 week ban for 'contact with the eye area' on Cole. That seems very lenient to me. At the least I'd say it's very hard to see how Chris Ashton merits a longer ban for what he did even if you accept it's not clear on Francis' intent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lessthanluke Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 RIP Seru Rabeni. 37 is no age to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 17 hours ago, ljkeane said: Tom Francis has picked up an 8 week ban for 'contact with the eye area' on Cole. That seems very lenient to me. At the least I'd say it's very hard to see how Chris Ashton merits a longer ban for what he did even if you accept it's not clear on Francis' intent. One foul I really disliked this weekend was the the French lock barging in to Johnny Gray when Gray was on his knees bent over to protect another player. He barged into his back while Gray was standing still, and even put his elbows forward to hit his unprotected lower back. That's the sort of stuff that is really nasty. These guys are muscular and very strong but every human body has weaker spots and the lower back is one of them, that is so easily injured. You could have trouble with that years on from just that one charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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