Rugby 6 Nations 2013

[talkshowhost86]

Think England were the best team of the first weekend, but hard to tell as I don't know if Scotland were just poor.

Next week's game is massive. If England win in Dublin then they should win the competition.

 

[nightgoat]

Think England were the best team of the first weekend, but hard to tell as I don't know if Scotland were just poor.

Next week's game is massive. If England win in Dublin then they should win the competition.

Scotland were a definite improvement from last year. Still hard to determine how that will translate against the other teams - England's margin of victory was only three points more than against New Zealand. Likewise Wales were dreadful in the first half and Ireland built up a big lead without needing to play particularly well.

 

[talkshowhost86]

Scotland were a definite improvement from last year. Still hard to determine how that will translate against the other teams - England's margin of victory was only three points more than against New Zealand. Likewise Wales were dreadful in the first half and Ireland built up a big lead without needing to play particularly well.

From watching the games I think Scotland might give Wales and Ireland a good game. But as I said Ireland v England will be a good sign of how good the teams are.

Owen Farrell and BOD were the players of the weekend. If Farrell can play like that regularly then England may have a class fly half for the first time since Wilko.

 

[nightgoat]

Yeah, I think this has the potential to be the closest tournament for a long time.

Farrell's kicking has always been good, but that pass for Parling's try was superb. If Dan Carter had made it you wouldn't be able to move for superlatives being thrown around.

 

[talkshowhost86]

Yeah, I think this has the potential to be the closest tournament for a long time.

Farrell's kicking has always been good, but that pass for Parling's try was superb. If Dan Carter had made it you wouldn't be able to move for superlatives being thrown around.

Not just that. His all round play was excellent. I've been quite critical of him as being very one-dimensional but he was excellent yesterday.

I think Farrell, Tuilagi and Barritt could be a world class back line, and I think Youngs and Care are equally as good as eachother at scrum half.

Good times for England methinks.

 

[SugarRay]

I don't think they can. Their only home fixtures are Wales who are on absolutely abysmal form and Scotland, who they would expect to beat home or away. I can't see them beating both England and Ireland away, and they won't win the tournament by losing two games.

You are probably right and it is a huge task but its not completely out of the question that they can win at Twickenham. I think they will win in Ireland, the Irish will beat England next week but they will lose in Scotland! Basically I don't know what will happen and its wide open!

Love it!

 

[SugarRay]

Not just that. His all round play was excellent. I've been quite critical of him as being very one-dimensional but he was excellent yesterday.

I think Farrell, Tuilagi and Barritt could be a world class back line, and I think Youngs and Care are equally as good as eachother at scrum half.

Good times for England methinks.

Be nice if Foden can get back to his best and one of the young wingers gets and takes a chance instead of Brown being played out wide. Definitely shaping up nicely and a work in progress though. I would love to see 36 and Manu link up.

 

[talkshowhost86]

Be nice if Foden can get back to his best and one of the young wingers gets and takes a chance instead of Brown being played out wide. Definitely shaping up nicely and a work in progress though. I would love to see 36 and Manu link up.

Agree re: Brown. As a Quins fan I think he's as good as Foden and Goode at full back, but he's not a winger.

We don't have an outstanding option on the wing, but we should at least be playing a winger there.

 

[SugarRay]

JSD...if only!

Hopefully one of the younger guys from the Saxons can make the step up at some point.

I like Brown at full back though. He would be a close 2nd to an in form Foden.

 

[nightgoat]

Not just that. His all round play was excellent. I've been quite critical of him as being very one-dimensional but he was excellent yesterday.

I think Farrell, Tuilagi and Barritt could be a world class back line, and I think Youngs and Care are equally as good as eachother at scrum half.

Good times for England methinks.

Youngs offers more in terms of occasional flashes of brilliance, but can also be pretty awful at times. Care is more consistent, a safer option if you will. At least we no longer have to resort to Paul Hodgson and his persistent giving the ball away with dreadful box kicking.

Be nice if Foden can get back to his best and one of the young wingers gets and takes a chance instead of Brown being played out wide. Definitely shaping up nicely and a work in progress though. I would love to see 36 and Manu link up.

It may be a while before Foden gets back into the team as Lancaster seems to prefer the midfield support Goode provides. Slightly harsh on Foden, as he's consistently been excellent and very reliable for England, as well as scoring a few tries too. I'd like to see Christian Wade step up at some point soon.

 

[mpickard2087]

That was an excellent opening weekend, quite probably the best I can remember.

I thought the winners this year would be one of three: England, France, or Ireland. It looks like France have fucked things up already but don't rule them out from making a storming comeback. Next weekend's game looks huge already, and the scrum and back row battles are key to winning this game for me.

Wales are just going from bad to worse, I'm not sure if its the Gatland situation, a few injuries or just that people have worked out their game of just trying to steamroller the opposition with big outside backs (which I called happening last year). Scotland I don't know what to make of, they have some good young players and have a huge threat on the counterattack and running the ball back with the pace of their back three, but they have to secure more ball and territory to win matches at the end of the day. What they did have they used pretty well vs England, its just a case of getting more...

From an English perspective, things look to be developing well. It now seems as if we are getting together a good squad of players with options for most positions (cover at tight head prop, and for Parling as the lineout guru apart) to deal with the inevitable injuries. Some of our forwards in particular are showing some real form right now. Cole, Parling, Launchbury, Wood and Robshaw are just playing exceptionally in the last few games they seem to get all round the park with incredible workrate and setting the platform for others to follow.
I liked the game that we tried to play, a lot of offloads which meant a few mistakes but at least we were trying to play some rugby and move the ball about. If we manage to just hone it a bit and get support runners going through off the shoulder of the man with the ball then we could be a serious contender. The only thing I think lacking is someone with serious pace in the back three. A strike runner and I think the team is near enough complete.

 

[nightgoat]

The thing that impressed me most about England was how much quick ball we had. I'm used to seeing us slow it down and allow the defence to regroup and fan out and end up struggling the get over the gain line. But on the back of the way we dominated the All Blacks at the breakdown there's definite improvement there.

 

[mpickard2087]

The thing that impressed me most about England was how much quick ball we had. I'm used to seeing us slow it down and allow the defence to regroup and fan out and end up struggling the get over the gain line. But on the back of the way we dominated the All Blacks at the breakdown there's definite improvement there.

Definately. At long last we seem to have woken up to modern rugby and the need for quick ball. I think the Australia game was a wake up call, we were slow in that aspect and their No.7 Hooper had a field day against us. Since then though we have competed ferociously, a couple of additions to the team (Wood, Launchbury) have helped, but in all fairness pretty much all of the team, both backs and forwards, seem to have a good attitude and willingness to hit rucks, clean out the opposition like a prop would do, and make sure we secure quick ball.

Ireland will be a test though, very good at holding the man up and preventing the ball coming back and securing turnovers. It will be an interesting part of the game, to see if we continue our good form at the breakdown.

 

[nightgoat]

Tuilagi's fit for the Ireland game. Would be harsh on Billy Twelvetrees (surely that's a nickname, not his real name?) but you'd expect him to go straight back into the team.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/21327566

 

[LSUY]

Billy Twelvetrees (surely that's a nickname, not his real name?)

That's his actual name. I read in the Times that his mother's maiden name is Twelvetrees and his father, a tree surgeon, realising the marketing potential of the name took her surname. His nickname is 36 as the captain of Leicester has a thick Irish accent so whenever he says Twelvetrees it sounds like twelve threes and of course twelve threes are 36.

 

[mpickard2087]

So Tuilagi has to make do with a place on the bench, probably just about the right decision considering he hasn't played for a month.

Should be a cracking encounter between Ireland and England, cannot call the result but with home advantage would put Ireland as favourites. Lets just hope the games this weekend continue in the same fashion as we saw in the opening round.

 

[talkshowhost86]

So Tuilagi has to make do with a place on the bench, probably just about the right decision considering he hasn't played for a month.

Should be a cracking encounter between Ireland and England, cannot call the result but with home advantage would put Ireland as favourites. Lets just hope the games this weekend continue in the same fashion as we saw in the opening round.

It'll be really interesting to see who gets dropped once Manu is properly fit. Not sure if Lancaster is brave enough to go with 36 and Tuilagi.

Hell of an impact player to bring on though if it's all going wrong on Sunday for England.

I think you have to give the edge to Ireland at home, but if they only play for 40 minutes again then England could sneak it.

It's a really really interesting set of fixtues this weekend. Scotland v Italy should be close and Italy could win two games in the competition for the first time ever (which would really get Wales scared) and Wales v France is a battle of two teams who should be good but are at the moment either shit (Wales) or crazily inconsistent (France).

 

[nightgoat]

It's a really really interesting set of fixtues this weekend. Scotland v Italy should be close and Italy could win two games in the competition for the first time ever (which would really get Wales scared) and Wales v France is a battle of two teams who should be good but are at the moment either shit (Wales) or crazily inconsistent (France).

Italy won two games in 2007. But I agree, with Wales shocking out of form and Italy's performance last weekend I'd almost consider making Italy favourites when they play.

 

[mpickard2087]

It'll be really interesting to see who gets dropped once Manu is properly fit. Not sure if Lancaster is brave enough to go with 36 and Tuilagi.

Hell of an impact player to bring on though if it's all going wrong on Sunday for England.

Yeah I think Tuilagi will be on early in the second half to do just that, which will be interesting if the Irish start to fatigue a bit. That defensive effort in the second half last weekend must surely have taken it out of them a bit.

As for the centre pairing. I think for this tournament it might be Barritt and Tuilagi to see us through it. Going forward I'm not sure at this stage. I think Twelvetrees has to show he is reliable in defence over a number of games, whilst Barritt has to start offering a bit more of a threat with ball in hand. The shirt is there to be won.

 

[talkshowhost86]

Italy won two games in 2007. But I agree, with Wales shocking out of form and Italy's performance last weekend I'd almost consider making Italy favourites when they play.

Really? I thought they'd only ever managed to win one game. Would still be a good achievement if they won two in this tournament and yes I think they'll be looking for 3.

Yeah I think Tuilagi will be on early in the second half to do just that, which will be interesting if the Irish start to fatigue a bit. That defensive effort in the second half last weekend must surely have taken it out of them a bit.

As for the centre pairing. I think for this tournament it might be Barritt and Tuilagi to see us through it. Going forward I'm not sure at this stage. I think Twelvetrees has to show he is reliable in defence over a number of games, whilst Barritt has to start offering a bit more of a threat with ball in hand. The shirt is there to be won.

Yep it's a decent competition at centre, and as with the rest of the squad England have pretty good options all over the field now.

Still a squad in its infancy though so won't be surprised if they drop the ball at some point in this tournament. Hope they keep them together up to 2015 though.