Six Nations 2018

crispybug2

Will probably come down to a final day shoot out between England and Ireland at HQ, although if Scotland’s pack can get parity in a game then they’ve got a back line that can rip any team to shreds.
Wales are ageing and too injury prone to contend, France are a mess and Italy are sadly still Italy!!

I reckon it’ll finish.....

1) Ireland
2) England
3) Scotland
4) France
5) Wales
6) Italy

No Grand Slam

As per usual I can’t wait!

Pross

Wales will be interesting this season. All the injuries have forced a clear out and I think it could end up being a good thing. Today’s match will tell us more, win today and I think Wales will finish 3rd otherwise they’ll be 5th.

I reckon it will be:

England
Scotland
Ireland
France
Wales
Italy

Just on my way to Cardiff as I’m singing the anthems and pre-match stuff with my choir. Should be quite an experience!

coopster_the_1st

England
Ireland
Scotland
France
Wales
Italy

England and Ireland will play for the title in the final game.

I'm hoping for lots of high scoring entertaining games

crispybug2

Wales 34-7 Scotland

Didn’t see that result coming at all, Scotland were absolutely awful!!

Pross

Just didn’t turn up. Supposedly their best team for a generation. 7 points flattered them at the end.

pblakeney

Pross wrote:

Just didn’t turn up. Supposedly their best team for a generation. 7 points flattered them at the end.

Far too many handling errors/mistakes which Wales capitalised on. Those blind passes look great when they work, the epitome of stupid when they don't. England and Ireland are the main winners here.

crispybug2

France 13-15 Ireland



For seventy minutes it seemed to be meandering to a fairly insipid Irish win but a late try by Thomas put the cat amongst the pigeons , France then missed a chance to put the game out of sight missing a fairly easy penalty, Ireland then put together forty phases, including a sensational cross field kick from Sexton, culminating in a forty metre drop goal from Sexton to take the game.

pblakeney

Looks like I got bored at just the wrong time. :shock: :evil:
I thought an Ireland win in a boring game, can't be bothered with any more. Got the result right.

lucan2

So, two games in and the pre-tournament predictions are looking a bit, erm....

Matthewfalle

Heart says Wales to win, head says England together with associated smuggery from the English media.

crispybug2

Good first half between England and Italy, England looking very sharp with the ball in hand but Italy are giving as good as they get.

There’s more tries in this match but I think England’s superior fitness will see them to victory

Pross

As often in Italy matches the final quarter made all the difference. Next week suddenly looks intriguing, was the Welsh performance yesterday a one off? We're Scotland very poor in the Welsh defence just very good? England won't be happy to have conceded two tries. Simmonds is a concern.

I'm quite sure what to make of Ireland and France, theirs was a scrappy game and quite evenly matched. I suspect Ireland have more to give but are perhaps too reliant on Sexton. I know it's a cliche but you just never know with the French.

coopster_the_1st

England look exciting. We seem to have so many options heading into the World Cup in 2019.
Scotland on that performance will be fighting it out for the wooden spoon and their poor performance flatter Wales.
Ireland showed real grit and an amazing piece of skill from Sexton to win against the cheating French with another fake HIA. I'm happy the cheats lost but something needs to be done about this as the French did the same last year.

mamba80

We dont know its a fake HIA yet, its under investigation and the french are hardly the leading exponents of this, been going on for years.....

Austin Healey then suggested in commentary:

“The sensible thing to do here is – I know it’s not strictly legal but, to maybe claim that he has got a potential head injury and go off for a HIA. Get Williams [the substitute] on, maybe get him off, painkillers, strapped up and see how he is – get him to half time.

The problem is if he goes off now you can’t see him again for the rest of the game”.

Cracking game though, i thought the french would scrap it, glad they did nt.

laurentian

Didn't see the Wales v Scotland game as I was playing but thought a relatively youthful France really gave it to an experienced Ireland - thought the young 10 that went off was very ambitious at times and that France had done enough to win that but when you can combine Sexton's shoe with going through the phases like Ireland can, there's always the chance of a pragmatic win.

England v Italy was what was expected although Italy scoring two tries will be the post match focus. Wales v England is always my favourite game of the 6N and seems to have become very significant for both teams . . .

crispybug2

Ben Youngs is out for the rest of the tournament and has been replaced by Richard Wigglesworth who at35 is definitely one for the future!!!!

pblakeney

If you are good enough, you are young enough.

laurentian

crispybug2 wrote:

Ben Youngs is out for the rest of the tournament and has been replaced by Richard Wigglesworth who at35 is definitely one for the future!!!!

Shame for England as Youngs starting with Care coming on as a "finisher" seems to have worked really well of late. I'm a bit surprised at Wigglesworth but don't really see enough Premiership rugby to comment on what kind of form he's in.

As an Englishman, I have to admit to getting a little nervous about the prospect of facing Wales on Saturday . . .

crispybug2

laurentian wrote:

As an Englishman, I have to admit to getting a little nervous about the prospect of facing Wales on Saturday . . .

Having spoken to some Welsh supporters over the last couple of days I can assure you that they are positively sh!tting themselves about facing England at HQ!!

herb71

laurentian wrote:

As an Englishman, I have to admit to getting a little nervous about the prospect of facing Wales on Saturday . . .

This!

England vs Wales is likely to be the tournament decider IMHO.

Pross

crispybug2 wrote:

laurentian wrote:

As an Englishman, I have to admit to getting a little nervous about the prospect of facing Wales on Saturday . . .

Having spoken to some Welsh supporters over the last couple of days I can assure you that they are positively sh!tting themselves about facing England at HQ!!

Really? I don't expect Wales to win but I'm more excited about the Welsh team than I have been for a few years. A week ago I would have expected a hammering but after last Saturday the starting 15 are confident and able to play a high tempo game. They need to defend like they did against Scotland and out the pressure on then who knows?

Unfortunately we don't have sufficient strength in depth and until the league structure gets sorted out never will.

Frank Wilson

I find it hard to take it seriously now due to the "passport of convenience" players.

When I used to watch it, it was 15 Welshmen, 15 Englishmen, 15 Scotsmen etc.

I would find it extremely hard to feel any pride in an England badge on my chest if I was from New Zealand or Australia.

pblakeney

Pross wrote:

crispybug2 wrote:

laurentian wrote:

As an Englishman, I have to admit to getting a little nervous about the prospect of facing Wales on Saturday . . .

Having spoken to some Welsh supporters over the last couple of days I can assure you that they are positively sh!tting themselves about facing England at HQ!!

Really? I don't expect Wales to win but I'm more excited about the Welsh team than I have been for a few years. A week ago I would have expected a hammering but after last Saturday the starting 15 are confident and able to play a high tempo game. They need to defend like they did against Scotland and out the pressure on then who knows?

Unfortunately we don't have sufficient strength in depth and until the league structure gets sorted out never will.

Quite frankly, judging anything based on a performance against that Scottish performance is futile. We will see at the weekend. Things are looking rosier than they were a week ago but I wouldn't get over excited.

crispybug2

Ireland 56 - 19 Italy

Comfortable enough win for Ireland but Italy showed that if you run straight and hard at Ireland then there are tries to be scored, England will have taken note!

Pross

Yep, pretty routine for Ireland but they fell asleep a bit after making changes. Italy no longer have a single player that would start for any of the other teams and Schmidt won't be happy to have conceded 3 tries to them.

A big loss for Wales with Halfpenny not playing and no Liam Williams to cover. I'm not a fan of Anscombe but hopefully he can make me eat my words, losing someone with the ability to kick a penalty from pretty much anywhere in the opposition half could be decisive.

Pross

That was a p!ss poor call by the TMO.

bendertherobot

Pross wrote:

That was a p!ss poor call by the TMO.

I've seen them given and not given. Very marginal, I think he did enough.

Pross

England winning the kicking battle, something Wales did very well in last week and another area where we are missing Halfpenny. Not protecting the ball well enough at the breakdown either. Very frustrating first half.

bendertherobot

bendertherobot

Pross wrote:

England winning the kicking battle, something Wales did very well in last week and another area where we are missing Halfpenny. Not protecting the ball well enough at the breakdown either. Very frustrating first half.

Brown is an interesting player, either brililant, 2 years ago, or gash, last year. He's rotating his seasons it seems. Very good today. Anscombe is, IMO, out of position. Maybe him and Patchell should swap

Pross

Even Clive and Jonny say try.