The Rugby Union Thread

lloyd

That "knock on" decision becomes a big one now. Surely we can't.

lloyd

Ah there's tha game

lloyd

Is he out? Close one

lloyd

North wasn't out...to be fair that would have been ridiculous had we nicked that. Great finish to a game.

koneguitarist

Best team won, restored some pride at the end, but too little too late.

lloyd

The score line flatters us, make no mistake we got fucking battered today. We were terrible.

koneguitarist

Trouble is, if we play just 15 minutes of match and almost win, what could we do if we play for 30 minutes?

lloyd

We're super fit and we had better players on at the end to be fair. We were always gonna finish better. Baldwin, Davies and Cuthbert shouldn't start, they're not good enough.

lloyd

No one in the studio gonna point out North wasn't out.....

lloyd

Anyone see a Marler punch at 3-0 under the sticks? Apparently he was calling Samson Lee a gyppo too, clearly heard on tv....

koneguitarist

Wasn't a punch, it was an elbow to the face, a citing will follow.

lloyd

koneguitarist said:

Wasn't a punch, it was an elbow to the face, a citing will follow.

Ah ok thanks.

lloyd

I'm changing my mind on the Francis one too, should have been red. Dirty gouging bastard. Hope he gets a lengthy ban.

koneguitarist

lloyd said:

I'm changing my mind on the Francis one too, should have been red. Dirty gouging bastard. Hope he gets a lengthy ban.

that was not a gouge, should have shown a pic not just of hand but position of arm and shoulder, what was his intention, to clear out or to slap Cole in face, either way he did nothing, no contact with eyes, not even sure there was any real contact.

Yet two clear neck rolls, a clear elbow to face?

lloyd

his fingers are crooked and he's doing it to Cole who's infringing. Watching it again, I TMO he knows what he's doing. Joubert got a lot of big calls wrong today (again).

fretmeister

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/fr/cp0/e15/q65/1098001_10153884762533726_4781281614305651152_n.jpg?efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&oh=f4f87cee2463fdc0d4a8c6b84c2599e1&oe=5791FCA6

fretmeister

Forgot to say.

Bertie sends his regard to the whinging pit ponies.

lloyd

Don't get me wrong the best team won, we were terrible in the first half.

Joubert is incompetent to ref at this level though.

Incidents missed/bottled:

Marler forearm
A neck roll
Roberts high tackle (you scored after it)
The knock on for Norths first try
North being out at the end

All big decisions, all wrong.

lloyd

This is a straight red and a long ban for me, I detest gougers. Have zero time or respect for any of them, including my own team. Hope they throw te book at him.

https://gfycat.com/PeskyHeavenlyDouglasfirbarkbeetle

koneguitarist

Right, having seen the match and had a think, I have absolutely no idea why Wales were so bad?

England as expected came at Wales with a bit of fire, but apart from penalties against Wales of which some were incredibly harsh, some 50-50, I am not sure how much was down to Wales inability to assert them selves or Englands pressure. 

In that first 50-55 minutes Wales were awful, and what stood out for me was Alun Wynn Jones, looking half arsed and out of energy, fair play England were incredibly good at lineout, stats will say we got the best at scrum, but the story seemed to be that Wales were just not playing?

If England were so good why did they not put 30-40 points on us by half time as we were blown off the park. At every breakdown Wales were shouted at roll away or whistled immediately handing 3 points to England. England were offside so often some of them should have worn Red, yet Warburton did not seem able to talk to Joubert and highlight the issues.

Hardly any Welsh players stood out, maybe Faletau, Williams and Biggar maybe, but even Biggar was subdued to his normal self. 

A lot of niggle from Marler in the game, not sure why his blatant cheap shot went unpunished, and still a bit amazed at two clear neck rolls only amounting to a single penalty to Wales. 

Now I am not entirely sure about Francis "gouge", no way does it look like he is going to attack the face in any way, he rushes in to clear someone his head is not facing to look at Coles face, and hand is floppy not tensed as he led with other shoulder, but he does make contact with face of Cole. 

Now as with Brown kicking Murray nemerous times in the head, intent has been deemed irrelevant, it's the outcome that must be acted on, in which case Francis could get a short ban for making contact, but how it can be deemed gouging I have no idea.

Be interesting to see if Francis gets a ban, how many English players pick up bans for their work on Saturday. 

If Wales had won, which was quite possible, it would have been a travesty of a game, but 3-1 on tries alone, tells a different story to match I saw.