Six Nations 2018

veronese68

Great first half by Scotland, be interesting to hear what’s said to the England team by Eddie Jones.

crispybug2

22 - 6 to Scotland at half time and to be honest the score line doesn’t flatter them.

Huw Jones has been sensational

Pross

I'm enjoying this, not sure if my highlight was Mike Brown passing the ball over Watson and into touch or Mike Brown being dragged 5m across the try line trying to tackle Huw Jones.

bendertherobot

Edinburgh will be carnage...

veronese68

Have to say Scotland deserved that win.

bendertherobot

It's fairly clear that they were mugged that first weekend.

narbs

Pross wrote:

The scoreline was in danger of flattering Wales there. I'm not sure why they insist on playing this 'counter attacking' style, yes they have very good defence but if you constantly allow a team as good as Ireland to run at you and try to absorb them they will eventually score as we saw today. If you are playing that way then you have to do a better job of looking after the ball in the rucks and the tackle area and not give up turnovers and penalties. They demonstrated how good they can be when they do protect the ball and get some pace in the game. Sexton had a rare off day to keep it tight until Anscombe decided to chuck a suicide pass when all they needed was to keep the ball and go through phases. If I were Irish I would be worried how easily Wales cut them open with such limited possession.

Glen Jackson should be embarrassed by his officiating, especially in the first half.

Pross

narbs wrote:

Pross wrote:

The scoreline was in danger of flattering Wales there. I'm not sure why they insist on playing this 'counter attacking' style, yes they have very good defence but if you constantly allow a team as good as Ireland to run at you and try to absorb them they will eventually score as we saw today. If you are playing that way then you have to do a better job of looking after the ball in the rucks and the tackle area and not give up turnovers and penalties. They demonstrated how good they can be when they do protect the ball and get some pace in the game. Sexton had a rare off day to keep it tight until Anscombe decided to chuck a suicide pass when all they needed was to keep the ball and go through phases. If I were Irish I would be worried how easily Wales cut them open with such limited possession.

Glen Jackson should be embarrassed by his officiating, especially in the first half.

It wasn't just me then? I found him whistle happy and inconsistent in how he dealt with the ruck area.

laurentian

Re start tomorrow - Eddie Jones appears to have selected the same back row to play France that were so inept against Scotland . . .

Pross

laurentian wrote:

Re start tomorrow - Eddie Jones appears to have selected the same back row to play France that were so inept against Scotland . . .

He's pretty inflexible but then most international coaches seem to be, maybe it's the best way to be and acknowledge a bad game doesn't mean the players are suddenly no good. That said, Robshaw has never been all that great.

bendertherobot

There won't be any surprises from Wales v Italy this weekend. But the other two games could certainly be won by the teams in Blue.

crispybug2

I fear for England this weekend

Too many players having been playing substandard rugby for too long and don’t seem to have the threat of being dropped to put the requisite rocket up their arses!!
Most particular in this group are Robshaw, Itoje and Cole. The most startling statistic from the Scottish match was that Dan Cole didn’t touch the ball once during the game and as his scrummaging was at best ineffectual you have to wonder if he has compromising photos of Eddie Jones as I don’t know what else he has to do to get dropped!

I can also see a Scotland victory over Ireland as well this weekend, Wales should also win against Italy with something to spare despite fielding a third XV!

Pross

England I'll stuff France (much as it pain me to say it). This Ireland v Scotland match could go either way though but I'm off to watch some proper rugby in the rain instead!

crispybug2

Ireland 28-8 Scotland

Really thought it would be closer than that!

After the heroics of a fortnight ago Finn Russell and Huw Jones were completely anonymous today.

England now need a bonus point victory over France in Paris.......so that’s the championship tied up for Ireland!!

bendertherobot

Russell and Jones were the same players, but those high/not close passes are the difference between winning and losing well. Ireland played a controlled game, did very well.

crispybug2

France vs England has been mind meltingly dull so far!!

Anyone surprised?

crispybug2

France 22-16 England

To be honest it was no less than England deserved!!

So Ireland are 2018 Six Nations Champions

Pross

So Wales could finish second and paper over the cracks for another season. England seem to have been found out although the ref certainly gave them a few chances to snatch an undeserved win at the end.

bendertherobot

Good to see a ref dish out the correct penalty. Too many would have given one or the other.

crispybug2

Wales 38-14 Italy

Bonus point win for Wales without them having be any good or try very hard

Italy were shockingly poor, they are going backwards at a rate of knots!

Pross

England could quite conceivably finish 5th next week. Would Eddie Jones get sacked / resign if that happened? That long unbeaten run seems ages ago now!

Pross

crispybug2 wrote:

Wales 38-14 Italy

Bonus point win for Wales without them having be any good or try very hard

Italy were shockingly poor, they are going backwards at a rate of knots!

I said it earlier in the tournament, they no longer have a single player that would be a first choice player for any of the other nations. In the past they had Parisse who would have got into almost any other team plus one or two others who would have made it into some other teams.

bompington

It is really a bit quiet in this thread isn't it?

From Scotland's perspective, it would have been nice to follow up victory over England with a win against a top team, but never mind.

bendertherobot

Pross wrote:

crispybug2 wrote:

Wales 38-14 Italy

Bonus point win for Wales without them having be any good or try very hard

Italy were shockingly poor, they are going backwards at a rate of knots!

I said it earlier in the tournament, they no longer have a single player that would be a first choice player for any of the other nations. In the past they had Parisse who would have got into almost any other team plus one or two others who would have made it into some other teams.

3 tries yesterday resulted in missed tackles from Parisse. Which is proper unheard of stuff. There's only so long you can play in that team and be a beacon.

Wales need a non experimental back row to beat France next weekend.

bendertherobot

Liam's yellow may well be cited and he'll probably get a ban. Which is fine, cos he's a cheap shot player on occasion. I'd drop him anyway.

veronese68

bompington wrote:

It is really a bit quiet in this thread isn't it?

Didn't manage to watch any of it this weekend as we were celebrating my mother's birthday on Saturday and was out yesterday. Don't think I'll bother watching them now, sounds very poor. Being half English and Italian isn't great in this 6 Nations. At least the Italian half is used to losing and can comfort the English part.
Following on from Pross's comment I don't think it makes sense to sack a manager after a couple of bad results. Not a football man, but it seems to be the way they do things.

laurentian

I wouldn't say that England have been "found out" after just two poor performances but, for the first time in his reign, I have to question Eddie Jones.

The back row seem to be unable to cope with the demands of the past two games and I have to say its not surprising given that Robshaw, for all his effort and committment, is not a 7, and Lawes is (in my opinion), a second row player. To me, play Robshaw at 6, perm one of 3 or 4 genuine number 8s already in the squad to play 8 and then find a proper 7 from somewhere in the vast pool of resource that England have at their disposal. I don't see much premiership rugby but I hear that Armand (sp) at Exeter is being overlooked by Jones when he is apparently the outstanding candidate. Perhaps the reason he is not being selected by the obdurate Jones is because the media etc are calling for Armand's selection?

The inability of the back row to secure the ball at the ruck means that we had at least one extra man in there compared to the French and the relatively pedestrian nature of Care's distribution from the ruck meant that France and Scotland had the time to be able to "D up" with a man over and eventually turn England over.

I have seen Care play a couple of times for his club and he has been very impressive but if I look at something that was present and constant in the last 20 or so England wins and and that was absent in Edinburgh and Paris, it's Ben Youngs - I don't think that is coincidental.

Pross

laurentian wrote:

The back row seem to be unable to cope with the demands of the past two games and I have to say its not surprising given that Robshaw, for all his effort and committment, is not a 7, and Lawes is (in my opinion), a second row player. To me, play Robshaw at 6, perm one of 3 or 4 genuine number 8s already in the squad to play 8 and then find a proper 7 from somewhere in the vast pool of resource that England have at their disposal. I don't see much premiership rugby but I hear that Armand (sp) at Exeter is being overlooked by Jones when he is apparently the outstanding candidate. Perhaps the reason he is not being selected by the obdurate Jones is because the media etc are calling for Armand's selection?

The inability of the back row to secure the ball at the ruck means that we had at least one extra man in there compared to the French and the relatively pedestrian nature of Care's distribution from the ruck meant that France and Scotland had the time to be able to "D up" with a man over and eventually turn England over.

I'd go along with most of that. England are spoiled for choice in the second row which I assume is the reason for Lawes (who I think is an excellent player) is being played at 6. England seem to have a history of opting for bulk in the back row over a genuine 7 and aside from Neil Back, who was one of the greats, I can't really recall them playing a proper openside. Steffon Armitage was the stand out player for a few seasons and only got 5 caps. That said, I would argue that the English back row were the main reason England beat Wales. They beat our back row at virtually every breakdown.

Pross

bendertherobot wrote:

Liam's yellow may well be cited and he'll probably get a ban. Which is fine, cos he's a cheap shot player on occasion. I'd drop him anyway.

I think that would be excessive, it was inches from being a really good hard tackle. He wrapped his arms around and the point of impact of the shoulder was partly as the Italian player dipped to take the impact. The on field decision was right I would say with the current laws although watching the one angle over and over again in super slow mo makes it look worse than it was. As the radio commentators said about the Watson tackle, two years ago it would have been classed as a great tackle but I can understand why things have changed with all the issues over head injuries.

However, I also wouldn't select Williams for the France game as Halfpenny is looking in better form, Stef Evans has done nothing to warrant being dropped and North is starting to look more like his old self and offers a bit of a contrast in style.

crispybug2

Italy 27-29 Scotland

Best performance of the tournament by Italy by a country mile but still not enough