The Game for Those with Odd-Shaped Balls (the Rugby thread)
sionisais
Shipmate
in The Circus
Another round of the Six Nations takes place at the weekend. Wales have made ten changes to their starting XV and some claim this is a slight on Italy: let's see what the result is. Meanwhile Mike Brown has been dropped from England's starting XV and Dylan Hartley is out injured. I can't help thinking this could be a "tactical injury" as most clubs in the Premiership have a better England-qualified hooker, and that includes his own club. France v England won't be pretty but England ought to run the fat boys off the park if Ford and Farrell kick well.
Comments
How prescient that proved to be. England were slow in thought and deed and George Ford looked very unhappy when he was replaced, possibly thinking he's got to fight hard to get back into the team. Otherwise we just have to get that back row sorted out.
In Dublin, Ireland beat Scotland so they take the championship. They beat Scotland by a greater margin than the Scots beat England, so an Irish win at Twickenham would appear likely however, excepting Italy, every match has gone to the home team this season, so an Ireland Grand Slam isn't a foregone conclusion.
Talking of support, I see the Princess Royal was in the stands in Dublin. Never misses a Scotland match afaics.
That was true - their first half tries were thanks to a missed tackle and an interception but there must have been something in the half-time oranges because they were much more of a team in the second half, especially when they were a man short, and ended the game playing some very good rugby, even allowing for Italy being knackered.
The refereeing was dreadful - and it was Jérôme Garcès again: he seemed incapable of settling the scrum in good time, and generally nit-picked so that the game was bitty at times.
Very good to see George North back on form.
The prospects for the coming weekend are interesting, to say the least.
Although the Italy v Scotland match is in Rome I expect Scotland to win comfortably, then England host Ireland who are looking for a Grand Slam at Twickenham, where England haven't lost since the 2015 World Cup debacle: that will be very close but I reckon an Irish win although England will get a losing bonus point while Wales will beat France. Indeed, I hope they beat France hollow and look forward to Taulupe Faletau knocking down their #10 as conclusively as he did Italy's #10 last week.
England aren't a bad team, but I fear that EJ's stated belief that England can win the RWC in 2019 may come back to haunt him if they are beaten on Saturday.
And well held-on Wales! They had virtually no ball in the second half (something to do with missing 26 tackles) and conceding penalties that Trihn-Duc missed!.
EJ says that "some have played their last game for England" but we are spoilt for choice. I’d cast a critical eye over the entire pack for a start. Watson & Te'o had poor games today too. That's the problem with having so many players to choose from: it's easy to select good players that don't form a good team.
Well done Ireland, and on St Patrick's Day, too - not too scummy, eh, Mr Jones!
Think Wales were good and made the best of a scrappy match: have we finally learned how to "win ugly?" Whatever, second in the table ain't bad.
Poor Italy, they deserved more: certainly yesterday's performance gave the lie to those who say they should be dropped from the Six Nations in favour of Georgia.
Now we all wait with bated breath to see (a) who EJ decides to drop from his squad, and (b) which country he decides to bad-mouth next. Only another 78 weeks to the World Cup in Japan
So far only two sides have managed to "bridge the gap": Exeter Chiefs were promoted in 2010 and have since secured their place, while Worcester Warriors have been up and down a bit but look safe, for this year at least. A few others have been one year wonders, such as Rotherham, London Welsh, Leeds/Yorkshire Tykes/Carnegie and going back a bit I think Richmond and Bedford were there for a while. Now London Irish look doomed despite seeing off 'Quins: I'd far rather see Northampton go down; I don't like either of the big East Midlands clubs but "Saints" are a snarky lot who could use taking down a peg, not to mention playing against the Cornish Pirates (aka Exeter Chiefs B team).
I hope Bristol get more players in sooner than they did last year, if only to improve their depth.
It's awful to be beaten like that, and not much better to win like that either.
Wait, no! It is All Blacks 15 France 14!
The officials wrecked a potentially good contest..again!
Would have been angry if I had paid money to watch it.
EJ is going to have to find a way to train his players without breaking them though. That, or select players who don’t break so easily
Bring back proper tours!
Anyway, enough regrets and “if onlys”. He really was a great player. I don’t think there was much between him and Richie McCaw, but McCaw was better at bending the rules, shall we say, which is always worth a few points.
As you say, a wonderful player, and generally above bending the rules.
Don't agree with enfant terrible: Cipriani is 30, Ashton 31.
Normally it would have been a 6 week ban but the panel cited his dismal disciplinary record - and it is:
If Ashton gets straight back in the squad it sends a lousy message to at least a dozen other rugby players too, many of whom are not so young but have hopes of playing at the top level. That said, EJ probably shares my view thaat Ashton could be very effective with Cipriani at #10.
How do they keep doing it.
Do refs actually favour them? In this game, a last minute penalty resulted in a driving mall that led to a try. The game was the Springboks for all money!
The All Blacks don’t play the opposition, they play the ref. If you couple that with their basic method of minimising errors, you aren’t going to lose much.
That is very insightful. But if playing the ref means testing the waters of how refs will adjudicate every game that seems to be a dangerous game.
It seems to me that the refing is so inconsistent that I have almost lost interest since every time that arm and the cry of 'advantage ' goes out, I do not normally know why and this is a game I grew up playing.
The refs seem to persistently restrict defensive tactics sometimes quite wantonly. At other times they allow blue murder such as 'cleans' which are essentially tackles on players who do not have the ball. They also allow tackled players to play the ball when off their feet rather than requiring immediate release and they dictate actions while on the field rather than letting the lads play. Cries such as 'use it' are not part of refing as I think it should be.
And scrum penalties? These disadvantage really unfairly.
England took on South Africa at Twickenham and yet again failed to score a try: it was only indiscipline by the 'Boks that gave them the 4 penalties they needed to scrape a victory by one point.
All the talk in the newspapers about England being "on track" to have a realistic chance of raising the RWC next year are pure fantasy, based on this doleful performance.
Oh, and Owen Farrell has managed (again) to escape being cited for a blatant shoulder charge...
I have to agree with you there on every point but you failed to mention the woeful lineout play by South Africa. They have, supposedly, one of the world's best hookers and some terrific line out forwards but with four five yard throw ins they failed to convert any of them into a try. Farrell's indiscretion apart England did defend well but their discipline was nothing to write about. Itoje might just make the bench against the ABs on Saturday.
The curse of Barnes strikes again.
England were fortunate against Japan. I'm not sure if the problem was the starting XV as a whole or the players themslves. In the first half the defence was poor and Lozowski and Slade don't look a good combo: they lack power. If Lozowski is to play he ought to be outside Farrell, his club colleague, and Ford must be behind any number of England-qualified #10's now! Cokonasinga is what England have lacked for many years, a truly big, quick wing. He makes Matt Banahan look a wuss.
Still baffled at Don Armand's exclusion. He's mobile, got good hands, destructive and a great lineout option.
What to say about Wales in Paris? I know the appalling weather made handling very difficult in the first half but Wales were always half-a-yard behind or just dropped the ball. However, the nice Mr Gatland seems to have had a word to good effect because the team that came out for the second half were so different: brilliant interception try by George North, Dan Biggar kicking everything well and we ran out 24-19 winners.
The Scots had something to prove this afternoon and they did - but equally the Italians showed that they are capable of scoring tries and it was not the desperate rout that appeared on the cards at 50 minutes.
England in Dublin looked pretty good, but they were flattered by an Irish side that seemed incapable of learning from mistakes.
All-in-all things should be interesting for the next few weeks.
Neither made any difference to the results, anyway.
I'd never leave him out. If fit Halfpenny, North and Williams is as good a back three as you will find, certainly in the Six Nations. England's best three get close, but Jonny May isn't as good a defender.