Bechet45 said:
Have you been watching 6 Nations, Chris? Please enlighten me - what on earth have you seen to suggest the NH has anything at all with which to challenge the SH?
But then, you can't see the arrogance of the English, can you?
Carl, I don't accept that the population of the nation known as "England" are empirically more arrogant, or prone to arrogance, than the population of the nation known as "Scotland", or the Nation known as "Wales". I did, however, say:
Perhaps in rugby any arrogance can be explained due to the fact that, for a time, we happened to be the only home nation capable to taking the fight to the southern hemisphere on anything like a reliable basis.
by which I meant that I wasn't confident enough in the humility of some England rugby fans and commenters (coughLawrenceDallagliocough) to extend my comment to them.:s
I base my opinions on NH vs. SH on the fact that an on-form England won an autumn international against the All Blacks, and that France were pretty decent as well, in addition to the events of the last World Cup. Of course, France are a pale shadow of what they were last autumn, and, on todays' performance, England would be decimated by Australia, New Zealand or SA, but I'm taking the last few years as a whole rather than cherry-picking.
In fact, before I read your stinging criticism of my previous post, I came to this thread to congratulate Jamie on Wales's Championship win, as I expect Wales to beat England by more than the necessary 8 points next weekend.
England were woeful today - despite having much of the first half possession, they were attacking so laterally and, with the back row failing to carry ball around the ruck to pull Italian defenders in, the spaces weren't there for the backs to run into. In addition, they were attacking singly so there was little chance of offloading and, at times, the support when the ball carrier went to ground seemed slow and dithering.
Of course, that was the better half of play for England(!), who lost their way entirely in the second half. Falling off tackles, leaving gaps, bad-quality kicking...plus, I cannot recall seeing a game with such wildly fluctuating fortunes in the scrum - one minute England had the Italian pack on the ropes, the next, Italy were splintering the England pack. A few minutes later, and England were back on top then it seemed to swing yet again.:huh: