Six Nations - written in the stars?

pugh-the-special-one said:
Rob I watched that game and I certainly wouldn't describe them as a poor French team they have a great defence plus they are big and powerful England will certainly have to play well above what they've shown so far to beat them in Paris.
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I agree they are powerful but what I was getting at is the number of handling errors and other mistakes - including the one that gifted George North a try and saved his embarrassment at kicking air.
I tried to find some statistics on the number of handling errors to back up my claim but couldn't find anything. I watched the whole 80 minutes and my impression was that they got into good positions at times only to drop the ball at the crucial moment.
 
Eddie Jones philosophy was aired early on in an interview with the Vunipola brothers, yesterday that seemed to be a step or two closer to it's destination, but only a step or two.
The intention is to be quicker for longer, quicker to the ball, quicker to the ball carrier, whether defender or attacker, and to maintain that for the full 80 minutes.

For my enjoyment of the game, I really don't give a toss, if we have to beat someone up for 10 rounds to finish them off in the final 2, then so be it.

England have played some fine 5 and 6 Nations over the years, far too many times have they needed a win in the final game to secure a Grand slam, only to see it plucked from their grasp, if we manage to hold onto this one by just outlasting the opposition, I'll be more than content with the wind of change that is only just taking shape.

Pretty much all 6 teams are in a state of flux one way or another this year, next year there should be no excuses.
 
The whole of Northern Hemisphere Rugby seems to have been set on loop round for as many years as I can remember. Build team, play team to death, retire team and restart. The difference between us and the Southern Hemispheres teams, is they are constantly bringing the brightest youngsters into the fold, and keeping a balance of experience and youth on the field. They move bodies in and out of the setup so they always have a good sized pool to pick from. We do seem to be starting to do things the right way, but as usual the politics of the old school British systems have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the present. We need a larger pool of players to pick from so everyone is training and playing for their place, and the honour of wearing their national jersey. This is the only way to stop the boom and bust nature of our game in Europe
 
I'm surprised no one has posted about the big game tomorrow - I'm really looking forward to it and that tells me something about myself - confidence. I think England will win - maybe not comfortably, but any win will do. Everyone has been talking about the midfield battle but I think that misses the point - it's up front where the real test is and, I'm hoping as well as expecting, that the referee will see beyond the Welsh pointing to the English scrummaging.

I see Sampson Lee as a weak link - if his head pops out of the scrummage on a couple of occasions it will either be bin time or get him off.

Come on chaps, give me some of your opinions.
 
Those three youngsters we have in the front row are the best I've seen in decades I'm so pleased we have found such quality and these three will only improve Samson Lee Rob Evans and Scott Baldwin are the most powerful of Welsh scrummagers and Eddie Jones is obviously quite worried by the Welsh front row because he's started the build up by saying the Welsh scrum is illegal this is always a good sign when your opposition highlights a aspect of your game it shows he fears it. Also congratulations to the Wales under 20s for winning the triple crown who gave England a good hiding last night 42 - 16 to give them a certain six nations title with their last game a home tie against Italy well done Boys take note Wales senior team.
 
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That was unnecessarily close! Credit to Wales for very nearly beating England (and what were England thinking by cynically collapsing the maul in order to stop a Welsh try when it left them with 14 men for nearly 10 minutes?), but, Jamie, you must be frustrated that Wales played so badly during the first half.
 
chrisbell said:
That was unnecessarily close! Credit to Wales for very nearly beating England (and what were England thinking by cynically collapsing the maul in order to stop a Welsh try when it left them with 14 men for nearly 10 minutes?), but, Jamie, you must be frustrated that Wales played so badly during the first half.
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I think there's a good argument that a Welsman should have joined Coles in the sin bin after trying to rip his nose off. Yes, unnecessarily close but would it have been with numbers evened up?

Why Coles was still on with Brooke's on the bench is a mystery - surely Jones can't continue with this penalty machine.
 
UKRob said:
I think there's a good argument that a Welsman should have joined Coles in the sin bin after trying to rip his nose off. Yes, unnecessarily close but would it have been with numbers evened up?

Why Coles was still on with Brooke's on the bench is a mystery - surely Jones can't continue with this penalty machine.
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I must admit I didn't see much in the "gouging" incident, Rob. From the angle we saw, it seemed more like a casually swinging arm to me, though other angles may show cynical foul play. Regarding Coles, I suspect Jones likes players that get into the opposition's faces, and Coles is a powerful front-row presence. I must say, though, that I'm always a bit concerned as to how many penalties he'll concede, and I understand your preference fotr someone else in the tight-head position.
 
UKRob said:
I think there's a good argument that a Welsman should have joined Coles in the sin bin after trying to rip his nose off. Yes, unnecessarily close but would it have been with numbers evened up?

Why Coles was still on with Brooke's on the bench is a mystery - surely Jones can't continue with this penalty machine.
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Not sure how you can get penalized for contact to the eye area and not at least get a yellow card!
 
chrisbell said:
I must admit I didn't see much in the "gouging" incident, Rob. From the angle we saw, it seemed more like a casually swing arm to me, though other angles may show cynical foul play. Regarding Coles, I suspect Jones likes players that get into the opposition's faces, and Coles is a powerful front-row presence. I must say, though, that I'm always a bit concerned as to how many penalties he'll concede, and I understand your preference fotr someone else in the tight-head position.
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I think it was a lot more serious than that Chris. I'm not sure whether the rules allow for a citing once the infringement was bought to the ref's attention - but, if so, I would'nt be surprised if he's cited.
 
Oh man, Joubert, what a God awful referee. Some iffy decisions and that blatant gouge on Dan Cole that went essentially unpunished...what did he need? A written notice advising he's allowed to make a serious decision?

That said, England won, and for 60ish minutes looked potentially world class.
 
UKRob said:
I think it was a lot more serious than that Chris. I'm not sure whether the rules allow for a citing once the infringement was bought to the ref's attention - but, if so, I would'nt be surprised if he's cited.
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Joubrt (who had a good match IMO given his shady past), did say that it would be examined after the match to determine intent. Presumably that suggests that citing is a possibility.
 
nick_s said:
Oh man, Joubert, what a God awful referee. Some iffy decisions and that blatant gouge on Dan Cole that went essentially unpunished...what did he need? A written notice advising he's allowed to make a serious decision?
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Tbf Joubert was seeking clarification and the TMO utterly bottle it, no idea why he needed another angle to see him curl his fingers and try and rip his nose off.
 
Wales were rubbish If they had played like that for 65 minutes against any one of the southern hemisphere teams they would have lost by 60 points, and how on earth the referee didn't see all the England runners in front of the kicker beggars belief, the England front row can count themselves very lucky they were getting really screw in the scrum Marler was popping up the ref should have shown the two prop yellow cards.
 
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