Cheers guys. The bit i have bolded is what i wasn't so certain on, so thanks for clearing that up.
Rugby 2017 Discussion
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Cheers guys. The bit i have bolded is what i wasn't so certain on, so thanks for clearing that up.
Oh feck off!
Oh yeah?
He was over here with Maori All Blacks on their last tour apparently.England match-day 23 for the RBS 6 Nations game against Scotland
15. Mike Brown, 14. Jack Nowell, 13. Jonathan Joseph, 12. Owen Farrell, 11. Elliot Daly, 10. George Ford, 9. Ben Youngs, 1. Joe Marler, 2. Dylan Hartley, 3. Dan Cole, 4. Joe Launchbury, 5. Courtney Lawes, 6. Maro Itoje, 7. James Haskell , 8. Nathan Hughes.
Finishers (yes is what the official RFU website puts)
16. Jamie George, 17. Mako Vunipola , 18. Kyle Sinckler, 19. Tom Wood, 20. Billy Vunipola , 21. Danny Care, 22. Ben Te’o, 23. Anthony Watson.
Billy back is very good news for Ireland game. That is what you call an impact bench, Scotland will need to be winning by half time to stand a chance.
15. Mike Brown, 14. Jack Nowell, 13. Jonathan Joseph, 12. Owen Farrell, 11. Elliot Daly, 10. George Ford, 9. Ben Youngs, 1. Joe Marler, 2. Dylan Hartley, 3. Dan Cole, 4. Joe Launchbury, 5. Courtney Lawes, 6. Maro Itoje, 7. James Haskell , 8. Nathan Hughes.
Finishers (yes is what the official RFU website puts)
16. Jamie George, 17. Mako Vunipola , 18. Kyle Sinckler, 19. Tom Wood, 20. Billy Vunipola , 21. Danny Care, 22. Ben Te’o, 23. Anthony Watson.
Billy back is very good news for Ireland game. That is what you call an impact bench, Scotland will need to be winning by half time to stand a chance.
Don't know if there any Welsh fans here but i have just one wish for the weekend and that is for Ireland to beat Wales. Would set up the Ireland vs England game perfectly. For England vs Scotland - i don't mind who wins. I want to see the reaction in New Zealand if England break the All Blacks record for consecutive victories. On the flip side, a Scotland triple crown would be great to see considering their struggles of recent times and it'd be a very nice way for Vern Cotter's reign to be remembered. Can't even remember their last bit of silverware.
I don't see Scotland winning it at all to be honest. England should be too strong, and with too much depth throughout the 23
Another match on a knife edge. Next 7 mins make or break for Ireland. Can they keep Wales out while Sexton is off, and can Murray keep going...
My rugby stream has started showing some of the hottest birds (Except the daffodil lasses)
That's poor from Ireland.
Feck. Doing well initially and then it all went wrong. Looks like Murray is gone too.
Wales winning the back row battle
Ireland are back … amazing the difference Sexton made
So frustrating for Ireland. Any score will probably win it for Wales.
The amount of respect the ref gets is sort of rubbish isn't it ?
Ireland deserved nothing more from this game, the New Zealand game in Chicago looks like such an outlier. We're utterly inept at converting chances, we never anything subtle and then when we finally get something going we either make a stupid decision, drop the ball or get turned over.
England will stroll to the Grand Slam.
Ooooof, didn't expect that.
Ireland have lost 2 now yeah? If England beat Scotland they can only lose once. Taking in their bonus point V Italy, does a win tomorrow win the championship?
Winning away from home is hard. We slagged England for being a bit brainless in the Italy game, and Henshaw was a bit guilty of that with the maul that was heading for the line without him. Disappointing but not that much of a surprise I think.
Good game, glad I saw it!
With the amount of very good territory, Ireland tend to have, it's a wonder we aren't winning games like these. Moreover, our inability to convert once inside the opposition 22 is becoming very, very worrying. For the purposes of comparison, Wales create 4 to 5 good opportunities inside the Irish red-zone and come away with 22 points. Ireland create 9 to 10 good opportunities in the Welsh red-zone and come away with only 9 points. This compares starkly with the NZ game in Chicago where Ireland were exceptionally efficient in converting opportunities into tries.
I still feel Ireland need to work more on developing an attack that can actually really hurt teams out wide. Ireland do use width and wrap-arounds but they tend to be rather ineffective. This is frustrating in that the Irish players do tend to have good basic skills, yet Schmidt seems not to trust them enough. This isn't really just an Irish problem though, it's quite pervasive in the Northern Hemisphere (With the exceptions of England and Scotland) and it is especially troublesome at club level (Top 14 etc.).
I still feel Ireland need to work more on developing an attack that can actually really hurt teams out wide. Ireland do use width and wrap-arounds but they tend to be rather ineffective. This is frustrating in that the Irish players do tend to have good basic skills, yet Schmidt seems not to trust them enough. This isn't really just an Irish problem though, it's quite pervasive in the Northern Hemisphere (With the exceptions of England and Scotland) and it is especially troublesome at club level (Top 14 etc.).
According to the BBC, yup we can win it tomorrow.
Great.
Well done Wales, deserved win.
Did it surprise you to see Ireland kicking so much in the final third?
Yep if England win they go to 17 points, Ireland and France (assuming they get the bonus point against Italy) have 10 points with 1 game left.
Ireland generally kick a lot so it didn't really surprise me. Actually, I have no real problems with Ireland kicking and FWIW, they kicked fairly well on the whole tonight. The problems however were pretty much everything else in attack. Kicking shouldn't be neglected. I said earlier that Schmidt doesn't trust the Irish players enough to adopt a more aggressive game-plan; even if they were to adopt a much more aggressive game-plan, they would still likely not be quite as good as NZ. There's no real shame in that and in my eyes, I see no reason as to why Ireland can't attack in the same aggressive manner as England, Australia and Argentina do. Once you can't play as well as NZ however, you're going to have to at least use kicking as a minor aspect of your strategy. Only NZ are truly capable of playing out from their own 22 down to the red-zone in a consistent manner; even if Ireland did improve, they likely wouldn't be as consistent (No real shame in that) so there would be a necessity to at least use the kicking game as a minor aspect of the team's strategy.
Those two cross-field kicks late in the half were really good. It's using any element of surprise generated when the opposition is on the back foot that's a big problem. Any time someone breaks the gainline, we inevitably don't actually make anything from it. Story of Ireland's championship, it'd be a grand slam finale if one chance per game more at crucial times had actually been taken instead of being spilled or grinding to a multi-phase going nowhere fest.
Those problems seem to be quite profound unfortunately. I am concerned that this is happening under Schmidt considering his reputation as a master tactician. When we go and play "Warrenball", we are ridiculously ineffective and tend to either stay where we are or go backwards. When we go wide, there is no real danger of us cutting the defence to pieces like New Zealand would. In all honesty, considering the depth we have (Which is the best it has been in this country), the coaching resources we have and the talent pool we have, I feel we should be in a situation whereby next Saturday's game at home to England would be a Grand Slam decider. That that has not happened is both disconcerting and very much frustrating.
Another witless performance from Ireland in attack. They were sloppy, not clinical and out of ideas.
Afraid so. There were moments of bad luck perhaps, perhaps that Heaslip-Henshaw moment against Scotland, but it's way more than just bad luck. I didn't have much faith in us tonight to be honest, but I was hopeful as ever that it might just click again.
Excellent. Let's win it tomorrow, wrap up the record and grand slam next week!
Congratulations to England on back to back Six Nations championships, there's no way I can see them bottling it now. Ireland was so dissapointimg though, their realistic title hopes were on the line and they played so badly. The game could have gone for two hours and they probably wouldn't have scored a try. Wales deserved their win after a dissapointing tournament to date.
Who do guys think will be Lions captain? I think Sam Warburton for me he's had an amazing 6N. I know ruled himself out of Wales cap but I think he can handle 1 Lions tour. In my opinion he's only guaranteed captain type figure to start. Best/Hartley won't start, I think Gats will go with Jamie George with Ken Owens as his back up. Laidlaw is what 5th choice scrum half so won't be him. Leaves Alun Wyn Jones of home nations captains, I think Itoje/Jonny Gray will start over him in second row so AWJ won't start. Won't be be Billy V either, don't know if any Irish lads can say if CJ Stander who would start with Billy, Warburton in back row for me has ever captained Munster? if not leaves Sam for me. We'll all have different 15s but I think it's fair to say all home nations captains haven't exactly been all that great.
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Don't count on it! Scotland to win today, wreck the record and seal the title next week - come on!
Don't count on it! Scotland to win today, wreck the record and seal the title next week - come on!
I admire your optimism and Scotland's improvement under Vern Cotter. That said, I can't see them beating England at Twickenham. For the tournament, I'd love to see Scotland win.
Don't know about captain, but a back row of Stander Vunipola and Warburton.....jeez
So, er, England to lose today, Scotland to somehow lose to Italy and Ireland to beat England? No problem.
Seriously, both sides have great motivation today, hoping for a great match. Scotland for their first triple crown in 27 years and a shot at the championship against the worst side at home in the final round, which would be a huge upset... England on the streak and wrapping up the championship today, also with a point to prove after the last round. It'd be shades of Ireland's recent championships for Scotland if they to go into the final round needing to rack up points against the worst side.
Seriously, both sides have great motivation today, hoping for a great match. Scotland for their first triple crown in 27 years and a shot at the championship against the worst side at home in the final round, which would be a huge upset... England on the streak and wrapping up the championship today, also with a point to prove after the last round. It'd be shades of Ireland's recent championships for Scotland if they to go into the final round needing to rack up points against the worst side.
Italy make another great start! @JPRouve , what has been the buzz in France this week? Are the team up for it or could this be an embarrassing day?
Edit: Bah, missed kick again!
Italy mixing up the no-ruck tactic today, a good mix so far. @Mitchell Nicholas , is this ref one of your lads?
Edit: Bah, missed kick again!
Italy mixing up the no-ruck tactic today, a good mix so far. @Mitchell Nicholas , is this ref one of your lads?
I'm out of the loop, I haven't followed any news around the team.