The Rugby Union Thread

VimFuego

I thought Ford had one of his best ever games for Scotland, set up at least 2 of Van De Merwe's tries. Deserved MOTM IMO.

fretmeister

Furbs did make mistakes, but no more than Ford or Lawrence, and fewer than Daly! 

elstoof

Give Feyi a chance to take on the England camp coaching properly so he can lose all of that attacking edge, by the end of 6N he should be as pedestrian as the rest of them 

ewal

Not an 80 minute performance by any means but got the job done.

Finn and Duhan will get the plaudits, but I was more satisfied by overall team discipline compared with earlier games, and the players coming off the bench having an impact when it mattered.

Credit also to the coaches for picking the team back up after the France game. It would've been easy for heads to go down quickly today, but they found a way to win while not playing at their best.

Hopefully a better performance in Rome, then at least make a game of it in Dublin.

tbm

Loads of English mistakes, but they were in the game until 15 mins out. Kinda. 

It’s a funny old game. The score in Dublin flattered Ireland, but even though Scotland were by far the better team, the score here flattered England a bit I think. No panic from Scotland at any stage. Excellent in defence. The captaincy seems to suit Finn. He wasn’t moaning after France, he didn’t lose the run of himself here either. Came across very well after. Scotland should put a cricket score on Italy.  

Blaendulais

What has Elliot Daly got to do to be dropped? 

Surely Finn Smith to start the last two games as nothing at stake.

crunchman

Lawrence was worse than Daly yesterday.

MaxA867

elstoof said:

Give Feyi a chance to take on the England camp coaching properly so he can lose all of that attacking edge, by the end of 6N he should be as pedestrian as the rest of them 

Haha, please don’t joke about this. I’m a Chiefs fan and am absolutely terrified about what they might do to him! 

digitalscream

Two things, other than the absolute obvious "stop dropping the ball, FFS", leapt out at me yesterday.

First, yet again, we get to the last 10 minutes and there's no accounting for the points that need to be scored versus the time left. England needed two converted tries, we're near the middle of the pitch, so what do we do? Start kicking it to the opposition and playing for territory like it's the start of the second half. No attack, no plan, just a blind "Yeah, hoof it up there and we'll flip a coin as to whether we get it back or not", and that's on top of the fact that we were missing the one guy who has a better-than-30%-chance of getting it back for us. England always do that, and almost always spend the majority of the last 10 minutes running out of time because we don't actually have the ball with which to score, which is the only thing we need to do.

Meanwhile, Scotland are laughing their socks off - "Yeah, sure, we'll play kick tennis and run down the clock for a bit, why not?".

Second...what on earth is it with forwards popping up on the wing at the key moment of a try-scoring move in the dying minutes of the game? This is at least the third time it's happened recently, and it's utterly bonkers. Beautiful move, finally playing the way we should've been playing all along, ball goes to the last man who just needs a bit of speed and agility to cross the line, and...it's Ben Earl, who - fast as he is, for a forward - can't take the ball because he's five yards off the pace of the backs. Ball floats into touch, along with our chances of even getting close to the scoreline.

bertie

George Martyn for No 8 

at least we're at Twickers v Ireland,  should keep it down to 50

koneguitarist

Thought first half reffing against Wales seemed to be very one sided, and forward passes galore. Possible two Irish tries were not legal and possible Welsh try by Wainwright not even checked. Having said that, result was never in doubt and this is probably the most complete Irish side I have ever seen. Well coached, strength in depth and all keyed in to same plan. 

To be honest at beginning of season I was very fearful for Wales with injuries, retirements and unavailability resulting in a very callow inexperienced side. But I feel despite scores two games could (not should) have been won and away against one of the best sides in the world the scoreline seemed to flatter Ireland, things are not as bad as I thought. 

bertie

@koneguitarist ;;;    I think you're pretty much spot on there. er the Irish,  and they're not even at "full strength"  in the backs

Wales  defo need to sort the 10 12 13   - North isnt a centre,  certainly not an international one,  and Tompkins doesnt play well when he has to be the leader in mid-field (IMHO)  he gets over abrasive.and Wales struggling to find a 10 ?!?!?!   some irony in that. 

VimFuego

PSA, England A v Portugal is free on youtube. Some england stars of the future on display today (some of them hopefully not too far in the future).

Offset

Pickle couldn't bear to watch.

sev112

koneguitarist said:

Thought first half reffing against Wales seemed to be very one sided, and forward passes galore. 

Agree, I was screaming at the ref for highly inconsistency - Irelands 2nd and 3rd pkayers always immediately off feet off the ball, yet only Wales penalised for it when the Ireland player pulled him in.

Ireland entering mauls from the side, and agreed forward passes

its a shame they don’t have VAR

TJT1979

Lovely Italy try. Fingers crossed...

scrumhalf

Soooo close, Italy.

TJT1979

Aaaaasrgh!!! So close. 

Hats off to Italy. They stuck to the gameplan, played with ambition, and looked to be enjoying themselves. Honestly they were much more entertaining to watch than Eng. 

koneguitarist

So where is all the plaudits for Shaun Edwards now? France will still probably beat Wales in two weeks then it’s all for wooden spoon in Wales final match. 

tbm

Bernard Jackman on RTE yesterday saying Galthié could be gone sooner rather then later. Mad given where they were a few months ago.