Six Nations 2015

ddraver

There is a link on the same blog to a clip of RTE saying exactly the same as you stu.

No Steve "hey look at me" Walsh seems to have disappeared, Barnes is easily the worst referee in the International Game. I can best describe his officiating as random! I'm thankful that as he is english I will never need to worry about him too much from a passion point of view. In that RTE clip they criticise Ireland for not "managing Barnes better". I'm sorry but that Rugby in 2015 requires teams to "manage the referee" is just absurd!

jawooga

On the subject of commentators, I think almost all the BBC ones are really good. Jiffy, Moore, Keith Wood are all passionate and honest - often harshly so on their own country. I don't think there's anything wrong with acknowledging these guys are from the countries they're from, and they're rightly opinionated on their own country's fortunes.

Eddie Butler on the other hand spouts utter drivel continuously. And somehow the BBC believe that he's a poet, an orator, a wordsmith to wheel out at the start of any major sporting event to add gravitas.

ddraver

Well, Wales have certainly made it interesting...

(not sure where the surprise is coming from??)

bendertherobot

Only our very best teams have ever done that. Today was, in some quarters, not our best. But, by the end, one of the best we'd ever seen.

The changes help. Halfpenny is incredible but our gameplan with him is conservative. Scott Williams was immense today.

I hoped we could do 30. I thought we might do enough to put some pressure on the others. I didn't see THAT coming.

Interestingly France has less incentive now to beat England. But Scotland have a whole lot more to beat Ireland.

Frank the tank

Well done Wales they've put themselves in the box seat now.

fat_cat

This is getting very interesting, great performance by Wales, now Ireland off to a great start.

If France turn up I can't see England winning by a big enough margin, but then again they've been rubbish so far this year, so who knows.

bendertherobot

Massive MASSIVE pressure on England now. Started as favourites. Could come 3rd. Lots to live up to.

The gulf between England, Ireland and Wales and the others is currently massive.

Frank the tank

I can't see England turning the French over by anywhere near the required amount.

ddraver

Huh, well you could dream for a while guys

I think Ireland deserve the trophy this year, they ve been the best team over the 5 matches.

I don't see, and never did see, England putting a bundle of points on France. Nothing will please the French more than denying the English a Championship

Have to be honest bender, I don't think anyone cares about who comes 2nd

What is interesting is how we can encourage teams to play like this all the time. The rules are not the problem...

ddraver

Bloody French!

crispybug2

ddraver wrote:

Bloody French!

Yep, now we know which French team have turned up!!!


Haskell is doing a fine impression of a headless chicken!!

ddraver

What an amazing day!

God the fact that England had a chance is gutting! That mad 10 mins in the first half and the missed opportunities last week!!!

Congrats to Ireland, best team over the tournament! Low Lie the Fields etc

fat_cat

That's the best days rugby I can remember.

Congratulations Ireland. Well played England and Wales. Think the best team won.

Haskell needs to take a look at himself. That trip was just stupid

ballysmate

ddraver wrote:

Huh, well you could dream for a while guys

I think Ireland deserve the trophy this year, they ve been the best team over the 5 matches.

I don't see, and never did see, England putting a bundle of points on France. Nothing will please the French more than denying the English a Championship

Have to be honest bender, I don't think anyone cares about who comes 2nd

What is interesting is how we can encourage teams to play like this all the time. The rules are not the problem...

TBH in a couple of years people will forget who came first. The WC takes precedence.
Remember the Saffers fielding weakened teame in the Trinations on 07? Didn't matter to them where they finished as long as they won the WC.
Yes the 6N is exciting, but has diminished in value.

crispybug2

Ballysmate wrote:

ddraver wrote:

Huh, well you could dream for a while guys

I think Ireland deserve the trophy this year, they ve been the best team over the 5 matches.

I don't see, and never did see, England putting a bundle of points on France. Nothing will please the French more than denying the English a Championship

Have to be honest bender, I don't think anyone cares about who comes 2nd

What is interesting is how we can encourage teams to play like this all the time. The rules are not the problem...

TBH in a couple of years people will forget who came first. The WC takes precedence.
Remember the Saffers fielding weakened teame in the Trinations on 07? Didn't matter to them where they finished as long as they won the WC.
Yes the 6N is exciting, but has diminished in value.

I would say that the fact that six nations tickets at my rugby club are over subscribed by 3 or 4 times shows that the Six Nations hasn't diminished in value!

ballysmate

crispybug2 wrote:

Ballysmate wrote:

ddraver wrote:

Huh, well you could dream for a while guys

I think Ireland deserve the trophy this year, they ve been the best team over the 5 matches.

I don't see, and never did see, England putting a bundle of points on France. Nothing will please the French more than denying the English a Championship

Have to be honest bender, I don't think anyone cares about who comes 2nd

What is interesting is how we can encourage teams to play like this all the time. The rules are not the problem...

TBH in a couple of years people will forget who came first. The WC takes precedence.
Remember the Saffers fielding weakened teame in the Trinations on 07? Didn't matter to them where they finished as long as they won the WC.
Yes the 6N is exciting, but has diminished in value.

I would say that the fact that six nations tickets at my rugby club are over subscribed by 3 or 4 times shows that the Six Nations hasn't diminished in value!

What would the demand be if your Home Union was in a WC final?

ballysmate

Further to the above, did Gatland not say that this year was building to the WC and that the 6N was part of the journey?

verylonglegs

You are only referring to World cup years though, what about the 3yrs in between? The media coverage for the Six Nations has increased along with it's popularity, hence some Friday night games for TV, they wouldn't move them if it had no value. I find more people remarking on the rugby than in years gone by.

ballysmate

I didn't say the 6N had no value, just that its value had diminished. The extra interest this year? WC year? Any connection?

ballysmate

I didn't say the 6N had no value, just that its value had diminished. The extra interest this year? WC year? Any connection?

ballysmate

In March 2012 Lancaster was made England coach. His target wasn't the 6N in 2013. On the day of his appointment Lancaster said "The challenge now is to take this squad and the players we will see emerge forward to 2015, It is one that I can't wait to get stuck into".

ai_1

Ballysmate wrote:

ddraver wrote:

Huh, well you could dream for a while guys

I think Ireland deserve the trophy this year, they ve been the best team over the 5 matches.

I don't see, and never did see, England putting a bundle of points on France. Nothing will please the French more than denying the English a Championship

Have to be honest bender, I don't think anyone cares about who comes 2nd

What is interesting is how we can encourage teams to play like this all the time. The rules are not the problem...

TBH in a couple of years people will forget who came first. The WC takes precedence.
Remember the Saffers fielding weakened teame in the Trinations on 07? Didn't matter to them where they finished as long as they won the WC.
Yes the 6N is exciting, but has diminished in value.

I think you're spouting nonsense.
It doesn't really matter what people remember in a couple of years. Diminished value? What are you on about? It's sport. Enjoy it or don't.
I thoroughly enjoyed 3 bonkers games today. Wales made me think it could be out of reach, Ireland played us back into it. Then England and France left me guessing and shouting at the TV for the entire 80mins before we finally came away with the win. One of the better days of sport I can remember. Diminished value.... has no meaning. This is sport not a business investment.

ballysmate

Yes it's sport and enjoy the moment. But if you don't realise that the 6N plays second fiddle to the WC you are deluded. The height of your delusion?

This is sport not a business investment.

RDW

It's not like there's only so much 'importance' to go around. The 6 Nations are as important as ever, perhaps more so in a World Cup year, where they've just given us a great idea of how well the top Northern Hemisphere sides are doing. Of course any side would prefer to win the World Cup rather than their regional championship, but that's just stating the obvious. I wonder whether we'll actually see anything as entertaining as today's triple bill in the WC? The scheduling of what amounts to a three way tie break certainly seems to have brought out the best in the top three.

Pross

Extraordinary day of rugby and probably a very fair, if tight, table at the end. It also goes to show what can happen when teams are forced to play positively - suddenly the talk that defences are on always on top in modern rugby goes out the window. 221 points scored in 3 matches and I lost count of the tries. I'd like to think it will lead to teams playing to win rather than playing to not lose but I suspect normal service will be resumed at the RWC.

ai_1

Ballysmate wrote:

Yes it's sport and enjoy the moment. But if you don't realise that the 6N plays second fiddle to the WC you are deluded. The height of your delusion?

This is sport not a business investment.

I don't remember saying anything of the sort.
Where's my delusion.

ai_1

RDW wrote:

It's not like there's only so much 'importance' to go around. The 6 Nations are as important as ever, perhaps more so in a World Cup year, where they've just given us a great idea of how well the top Northern Hemisphere sides are doing. Of course any side would prefer to win the World Cup rather than their regional championship, but that's just stating the obvious. I wonder whether we'll actually see anything as entertaining as today's triple bill in the WC? The scheduling of what amounts to a three way tie break certainly seems to have brought out the best in the top three.

Exactly!

ddraver

+1 RDW. I assume Bally doesnt watch any other game than the WC Final as they re all subordinate to that...

Anyway, if you did nt watch the "best of the 6 nations" thing tonight (the one they ve been trailing all the bloody time) the it's worth a watch.

Oh and Sqirrel, it could be subtitled - greatest victories over England - so you ll like it :P

ballysmate

Warren Gatland speaking 2 weeks before the England game.

It would be nice to get the win but we are very much looking to the World Cup and there’s a debate and discussion among the coaches about how much we show. You don’t want to show your hand completely but it’s important you go out there and play well and win at home.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugb ... ns-8482148

Of course the tournament has been diminished if the coaches are deliberately holding back.
Yes, I thought I was stating the bleedin' obvious and I hadn't realised that it would rankle with anyone. I agree that this years tournament has exceeded all expectations entertainment wise but the fact remains that IMO the 6N is losing relevance. Nice to win, yes of course, but is increasingly becoming a testing arena for the bigger tournament.
The 3 Autumn Internationals, although not a tournament are gaining in importance. The 5 and latterly 6 Nations was the premier international competition with tests against SAANZ being much more rare. We now get to face them more regularly. These tests give an indication of where each nation stands in what hopefully is becoming a more world game.

stu-bim

Warren Gatland is a habitual and consistent lawyer, it is all part of his pre game tactics

The man would state anything in the press to try and get an advantage in a game whether over his own team, the opposing team or a referee