The Rugby Union Thread

lloyd

CJ Stander having a great game

Gassage

Very impressed with Rob Evans for Wales, and also NotToby is having a fabbie game, as is Tips.

Foxy Davies beings so much to that side it's untrue- absolutely world class player, but Henshaw is having an equally outstanding game and just grows every time he plays.

CJ Stander has been excellent as has the ever superb Conor Murray.

lloyd

koneguitarist said:

@lloyd agreed, which I also didn't expect

But Ireland are just killing any momentum Wales have at rucks. I am surprised Warburton has not been at Garces yet, as Garces is allowing all sorts to go on. How that tip tackle was not a yellow is beyond me, and I am sure he will be cited after the game. 

I am sure Ireland will now attack Priestland as that will be our only kicking option gone.

Warbuton has never been vocal enough for me, Priestland when he's good is great with ball in hand-brings on the attack nicely. Why he didn't put the ball down for a 22 drop I'm not sure but he's recovered and he's playing very well. If we bring our backs in a bit more we can sneak this one, beset game of the weekend for me.

lloyd

Harsh pen v Priestland

koneguitarist

Certainly not a slap down ball hit his bicep and went up and forward should have been a scrum.

lloyd

koneguitarist said:

Certainly not a slap down ball hit his bicep and went up and forward should have been a scrum.

You were calling yellow for one yesterday mate

lloyd

Sexton hurt

lloyd

Hypocrisy from the Irish crowd re silence for the kicker....again

lloyd

Clueless from Wales-plenty of time to set it up better

koneguitarist

lloyd said:

koneguitarist said:

Certainly not a slap down ball hit his bicep and went up and forward should have been a scrum.

You were calling yellow for one yesterday mate

Yep but even you know the difference between up and down..... I hope

lloyd

Did well to claw that back from 13 nil down, why we don't keep the ball in hand and give it to our runners more I can't work out. North is one of the best in the world with ball in hand-any of the SH would give him it all game. For all the good Gatland has done we still lack an attack, which is criminal as we have a superb back line. Decent result for both sides-us away, them with injuries.

koneguitarist

Wales unlucky there, a stricter ref and Ireland would have been penalised off the park with multiple yellows. As it is the penalty at the end for Sexton? A knock on from Ireland ?

lloyd

Bigger going off possibly cost us, that kick and that 22 drop out decision. Who knows?

lloyd

Thought Garces was shit equally to both teams at breakdown, Ireland could have been carded for me though. One that slipped away from us as Ireland's second string were apparently there for the taking. Credit the stand in guys though, brutal test match.

scrumhalf

Let's have a word for those in charge of the telly coverage. That word would be "abysmal". I don't care how many fancy angles you can show us, I want to be able to see the ball clearly and in context. And I want to see replays in good time.

We need an ex-pro with a cattle prod sitting behind the telly director.

crunchman

lloyd said:

Thought Garces was shit equally to both teams at breakdown, Ireland could have been carded for me though. One that slipped away from us as Ireland's second string were apparently there for the taking. Credit the stand in guys though, brutal test match.

There were a lot of tackled players holding on to the ball for dear life at the breakdown (including quite a lot of red shirted ones) and the ref just let them.

Gassage

scrumhalf said:

Let's have a word for those in charge of the telly coverage. That word would be "abysmal". I don't care how many fancy angles you can show us, I want to be able to see the ball clearly and in context. And I want to see replays in good time.

We need an ex-pro with a cattle prod sitting behind the telly director.

I love the French TV coverage- you know, a black and white slow mo close up of Freddie Michalak kicking panning to a dripping tap into a sink, cutting to the scoreboard, a french player shaking beads of sweat off, seguing to a smouldering Gitane in an ashtray and finally a pic of a Citroen Dyane sweeing out of a chateau drive....and then back to Brian Moore.

lloyd

crunchman;963454" said:

lloyd said:

Thought Garces was shit equally to both teams at breakdown, Ireland could have been carded for me though. One that slipped away from us as Ireland's second string were apparently there for the taking. Credit the stand in guys though, brutal test match.





There were a lot of tackled players holding on to the ball for dear life at the breakdown (including quite a lot of red shirted ones) and the ref just let them.

I thought we held on a lot and the ref let us.

I thought Ireland played the ball of their feet a lot and the ref let them.

Ireland can feel aggrieved that a lot of their choke tackles came to nothing (except the Liam williams one where he got his knee down which was excellent reffing).

Ireland seemed to come in from any angle and that wasn't penalised.

That's me being objective, I think fans see what they want to see-that is the offences of the opposition and are blind to their own transgressions. For example, my Irish mate thinks that we were boring in at the scrum while I saw us dominating and the prop collapsing.

I'd like to think I'm fairly even handed (after the game) so would say Ireland were lucky to have 15 men on the pitch for 80 mins as Williams was tipped.

As it stands I think the draw was a fair reflection of the game regardless of reffing decisions and interpretation.

tbm

Was driving back from a gig down the country so I missed a lot of the game, but I saw most of it.

Given the world cup Garces had I really thought he'd be better today. Earls was lucky, more often then not thats a yellow, but he didn't lift Willams beyond the horizontal. You could argue it both ways.

I think Ireland will be happier overall. Stander was a good as he threatened to be in a area I expected Wales to dominate, and Tommy O'Donnell was excellent too. I thought Wales protected the ball really well when building phases. Had Garces been pinging people earlier in the game? Because the Irish players seemed to not compete as much as you'd expect. 

They all looked ruined by the end of it. 

So are we all agreed that John Lacey was the best ref on show this weekend? (!!shudder!!)

Rocker

I thought Wales lacked the killer instinct today. Both sides rode their luck re offside. Fair result overall. Can someone explain why so much aimless kicking is part of the modern game. Why not abolish penalty kicked scores unless drop kicked from the mark? Few tries are scored these days. Kick penalties for line out position. And we will have a new maul interpretation next season. The ball must be held at the front of the maul and not at the back as now. We need more scores from open play...