Hereward Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 I hope that's the end for Youngs. 20 out of 20 for Hartley and then three straight losses on our own throw when he got substituted.By God, Scotland were awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The BlackBear Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Very solid game for Ireland. Scotland England. That was painful to watch, even though I went there to support England. England played much better last week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted February 9, 2014 Author Share Posted February 9, 2014 I hope that's the end for Youngs. 20 out of 20 for Hartley and then three straight losses on our own throw when he got substituted. Yeah, I do think it's getting to the point were they might make a change. Hartley really has become excellent at lineout time so I'm not sure we can expect the back up hooker to be at that level but Youngs' lineout woes really are starting to become an issue. I'm not quite sure what the issue is as he was ok when he started and he's got a decent record for Leicester but he's been struggling for a while now. Very good win for Irish away to Saracens as well yesterday which is a bit of bonus for them. Having watched the Ireland-Wales game now I'd agree with Deedles it was a very efficient performance from Ireland. They did an excellent job neutralising the Welsh attacking game by disrupting their ball at the breakdown and when they identified a weakness in the Welsh maul defense they were pretty ruthless in exploiting their advantage. Another reasonable performance from Italy in Paris and the scoreline probably didn't reflect the margin between the two sides. France did deserve the win though and although I'm not a huge fan of the usual French game plan under Saint Andre they do have some fairly lethal players in their backline to take advantage when they get a chance. On the positive side for Italy I do think Gori and Allen do look to be providing some decent shape to their side which they've been missing for a while. There was a bit of fun with the two red cards as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereward Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 France and Italy really don't like each other. Entertaining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deedles Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Oof. Of all the stupid red cards to give away. Pointless. You'd find it hard to select again after such foolishness. Picamole was commanding. I think Ireland are going to find the French incredibly tough opponents. Those flashes of brilliance are tough to predict and defend against. Still, you never know which French team will turn up on any given day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The BlackBear Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 I still think you have a bit of a right to hit back. The Italian headbutted first, I think the French guy had the right to headbutt back, it was a lot harder though. The punch was what pushed it over the edge for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 As in ice hockey, that sort of stuff adds a bit of fun, for viewing pleasure anyway. It was a good game between France and Italy. Very close actually, which you'd never guess if you only saw the game result. First half they were very evenly matches but the Italian kicker sucks, he misses the easiest of opportunities and that means you need to score pretty much everything from a try, which is damn hard against the French. Italians were fierce though. It's just that whenever they came close to scoring, they lost the ball. They just weren't as capable technically, but physically they stood their ground, and then some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted February 21, 2014 Author Share Posted February 21, 2014 My predictions for this round of the Six Nations: Wales v France: Wales were poor last time out and their struggles against the maul in particular will be a bit of a concern with the size of the French pack but the return of Charteris should improve their lineout to make it less of an issue. Webb's in for Phillips as well which is fair enough for me as Phillips, who always had slow service, isn't offering enough in the other parts of his game to offset that anymore. France have been ok but not particularly good in their first two games but Tales back on the bench should be a bit of a boost. I think it'll be close but Wales have shown an ability to bounce back from poor performances in recent years, they'll have to improve their work at the breakdown but I expect they'll probably have enough at home against an inconsistent French side. Italy v Scotland: Italy have been ok without getting the results this year but they're usually a tougher proposition at home, I think Barbieri and Zanni are an improvement in the back row as well. Scotland unfortunately haven't been ok this year and Johnson's made another bizarre selection call in dropping their best player from last week in Denton to the bench. I think Scotland will be fired up so should improve their performance but I'm going to go for an Italy win. England v Wales: This is a very close one for me. England have been pretty good and without Young's wobbles in the lineout and a rejigged backline late against France they'd probably be coming into the game undefeated. Ireland are coming into the game undefeated and their comprehensive win against Wales is clearly the best performance of this Six Nations so far. While Ireland have been a bit more impressive England do have home advantage and they way Ireland have been playing so far, aggressive work at the breakdown in defence and playing for territory and targeting the lineout, plays to England's strengths. England's breakdown work, other than when they played with an unbalanced backrow against Wales last year, has been excellent under Lancaster with their mobile tight five, their lineout while Hartley's been on has been impeccable and they have a better kicking 10 than Scotland and a back three more willing to counterattack than Wales. While I'm wary of predicting how Ireland will play since Schmidt will know all that and he'll certainly want include a more expansive game at some point you'd have to expect their strength's so far this year will still be a major part of their gameplay. Given all that I was going to go for England, just, but the loss of Cole is a massive blow. Wilson in general is not a bad replacement, although he does reduce the mobility of England's tight five, but he's just back from injury and apparently he looked a fair way below full match fitness for Bath last weekend. Henry Thomas is good around the park but he's simply not an international class scrummager at this stage. That's a major weakness in a key position in a tight game so I'm going to reluctantly go for Ireland, just. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Mongoose Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 France need to wake up, here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted February 21, 2014 Author Share Posted February 21, 2014 Good start by Wales though, Webb and North at 13 are both looking sharp.A bit harsh to send Rolland to the Millenium Stadium, where he was pretty much guaranteed to get booed, for what is apparently his last test before retirement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LessThanLuke2 Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 I love hearing the Welsh national anthem at the Millennium Stadium. Good start for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padraig Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Well that was easy for Wales. A big game tomorrow for Ireland. We were going to have 3 big tests this year in the 6 Nations. We passed the first one with flying colours but 2 big away fixtures still await us. And while we had a positive record against England for a good while in the 2000s, it has taken a battering in more recent years. The main thing is to keep up the consistency in performance that was managed against NZ and Wales. At least then you can say we are progressing finally, even if we don't actually get the win tomorrow. I'm not confident but I can at least hope! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Scotland unfortunately haven't been ok this year and Johnson's made another bizarre selection call in dropping their best player from last week in Denton to the bench. I think Scotland will be fired up so should improve their performance but I'm going to go for an Italy win. Johnson does seem to have this obsession with continually rotating the players. I don't know how the team are meant to get used to playing together if the personnel seem to keep randomly changing. At least we've only got three more Tests of this to endure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Useless trivia for the day: this is the first time since 1970-1972 Wales have managed three consecutive victories over France. It's also their largest post-war victory over France, tied with 21-0 in 1950. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deedles Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Today's match was so much more fun to watch than yesterday's. May have been more mistakes but hugely entertaining. Am a fan of Friday night matches. 75 pounds for a ticket yo Cardiff last night sounds high.Now, let's hope for a good match (and a triple crown) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Scotland showed a significant improvement today and showed good composure to get the final drop goal. It's still going to be tricky for them to win another game, since their remaining two opponents should be better than Italy were today. It's amazing what a difference a functioning line-out makes. Hopefully Johnson will stick with Lawson rather than Ford since he seemed to improve things significantly. Dunbar's two tries were good as well, especially since they're the sort of opportunities that Scotland have thrown away so many times in the last few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The BlackBear Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Duncan Weir I forgive your slips. You beautiful neckless bastard! Really good start by England. Not what I expected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted February 22, 2014 Author Share Posted February 22, 2014 Tense first half in the England-Ireland game, nothing in it at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Mongoose Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Two cracking games today. Great effort from England. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted February 22, 2014 Author Share Posted February 22, 2014 Well that was very, very close. Neither side was totally ruthless with their chances but good performances from both teams. Both still in with a good chance to win the championship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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