The Rugby Union Thread

tbm

double post.... move on.

fretmeister

With 5 of the best Saints on England duty I'm not confident about the Sarries game on Saturday.

But to be fair it's only the LV.

Fretwired

koneguitarist said:

I think France are gonna beat England, not by much, but after watching some of the H-cup matches ..

Not sure ... adding lots of new talent wishing to impress who are not hamstrung by past failures could upset the French. Knock them out of their rhythm, score some points and the crowd will be on their backs and they seem to fold.

bertie

Fretwired said:

Not sure ... adding lots of new talent wishing to impress who are not hamstrung by past failures could upset the French. Knock them out of their rhythm, score some points and the crowd will be on their backs and they seem to fold.

could do,  but we need some ball first............lets hope there's not too many scrums

Fretwired

bertie said:

Fretwired said:

Not sure ... adding lots of new talent wishing to impress who are not hamstrung by past failures could upset the French. Knock them out of their rhythm, score some points and the crowd will be on their backs and they seem to fold.

could do,  but we need some ball first............lets hope there's not too many scrums

Agreed .. but I bet the French game plan's been shot to pieces with some key names missing for England.

bertie

especially the no 11,   he might have some work to do now  

tbm

This is really interesting, stats from last years tournament:



Italy made the most ground, Ireland were second only to Wales in completed tackles, France beat more defenders then anyone else.

Ireland had 9 line breaks over the 5 games. Less then half the amount England had.

bertie

tbm said:

 interesting, stats 

oxymoron

snakemanStoo

koneguitarist

Preview starting with bloody inverdale as usual ! Needs a muzzle.

bertie

koneguitarist said:

Preview starting with bloody inverdale as usual ! Needs a muzzle.

not as much as jiffy

digitalscream

Well, the ref doesn't seem too impressed with Wales at the moment...and Italy did bloody well to cover and disrupt in their 22. Seems like they're going to make more of a game of this than I thought they would...

VimFuego

interesting game so far, Italy are fantastic in defense, and really getting in the welsh players faces, not letting them get any momentum. Wales do look dangerous whenever they get the ball though and you feel it's only a matter of time before a try comes, can't see Italy scoring any tries unless Wales make a mistake.

digitalscream

VimFuego said:

...can't see Italy scoring any tries unless Wales make a mistake.

Given the last couple of minutes...I'm not so sure about that. The Italians have come alive a bit...

EDIT: Le. Sigh.

VimFuego

 

have to feel a bit sorry for Italy, they're doing many of the right things it's just not going their way. A knock on by parise then a poor ref decision to award a relieving scrum to wales. Wales certainly are not in top gear though.

digitalscream

Yup, got to feel for them. Similarly, Wales are pretty lucky - strikes me that their tries have come from Italian mistakes rather than anything else.

On the bright side, I've just been watching some highlights of Jonny May. That kid looks like he's got some zip and sparkle, almost reminiscent of a certain Mr J Robinson...looking forward to this

VimFuego

wow, bit of luck for Italy there.

digitalscream

Whoa...was not expecting that. And I was just about to go and make some food...

VimFuego

heh , I was about to hang up some laundry, could be a very interesting 10 mins.

digitalscream

Well, bugger. I really thought Italy might do it for a short while there.

Wales...kinda of an England-esque opener for them. The result went their way but it didn't exactly seem like a win, if you see what I mean.