The Rugby Union Thread

koneguitarist

Let's be honest with the resources available to Jones, England should be World Cup winners and GS champs, too often they have underperformed or played beneath their capabilities. 
It would have been frightening to see what Gatland and Edwards could have done with that squad. 

crunchman

I was interested to see Jack Maunder picked for a tour a year or two back (I was at school with his dad), but he's not even starting regularly for Exeter.

At this point in the cycle, we should be picking the younger guys to give them some experience and develop them.  They can't play that much worse than Youngs, and Youngs definitely won't be around for the next world cup.

A young scrum half would require an experienced number 8 to help them out though.  Don't know what Jones has against the proper number 8s.

hywelg

Is the problem the success of English club rugby? A counterintuitive theory I accept. But because of how rich the English clubs are a lot of them import players to fill weaknesses. So development of new talent takes a back seat? France have a similar problem  but theirs could possibly be explained by National temperament. Or could it just be piss poor coaching at National level?

Wales are pretty piss poor at club/region level yet seemingly able to bring on new talent successfully. 

tbm

Poite was rubbish in that game. I’m delighted but jaysus he’s f@cking awful. We should have had a card way earlier.

Rocker

A very good win by Ireland over Wales today.  Many curious decisions by the referee (mainly favouring Wales).  Two from two, not many Irish people expected Ireland to turn Wales over as they did.

kaypeejay

Well deserved win for Ireland. Thought they would get a yellow for hands in the ruck earlier, but they were by far the better side on the day. I like the fact Wales tried some early offloads, but the execution was a bit sloppy. Hope it’s a transition period. 

sev112

But once again, many many playing of the ball on the ground Tipuric first half lying on his back, pulls the ball back, inside his 22. 

VimFuego

tbm said:

Poite was rubbish in that game. I’m delighted but jaysus he’s f@cking awful. We should have had a card way earlier.

the bit on bold you didn't need to say, he's always rubbish. He's so bad, I'd be happy for him to ref a game that France are playing in. He's not good enough to be biased. 

Schnozz

I like Eddie and I'm confident of an England win today. I'm not a fan of Sinckler and that's about it.

koneguitarist

Polite was rubbish, always is. Twice he got in way at Welsh scrums, time and again warned Stander, yet only penalised him on his own try line. Should have been Yellow. 
Whats the point in giving a yellow with one minute left. 

koneguitarist

Polite was rubbish, always is. Twice he got in way at Welsh scrums, time and again warned Stander, yet only penalised him on his own try line. Should have been Yellow. 
Whats the point in giving a yellow with one minute left. 

VimFuego

better from Eng this half, but I think the player having the most impact on the game is the weather. 

koneguitarist

Why have refs given up on enforcing the laws of the bloody game? Time and again May is two three yards in front of 9-10-12 whoever is kicking. We have touch judges or "assistant refs" yet ignored. 

sev112

How about the guy who tackled May on the kick off was ahead of the kicker?

sev112

But all teams are the same at the moment, it’s not being referred

scrumhalf

If the wind is so bad that kicks downfield are  more likely thsn usual to go out on the full, might it not be a good idea to try something else? Although Scotland's lineout is bsdly broken. 

ewal

As a 53 year old Partick Thistle and Scotland supporter, I've decided I've had enough of the torture. Sport means nothing to me from this day on.

drofluf

So, Ciara won England came second just ahead of Scotland. 

VimFuego

I'm just glad it was free to view on TV cos if I'd paid to see that match I'd have been well peeved. 

ewal

Eddie Jones though... what an arse.