Not a good start. Doesn't really matter til the match hits 60mins though, that'll be the point where we'll know if there's any possibility of an Italian win.
Rugby 2017 Discussion
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Not a good start. Doesn't really matter til the match hits 60mins though, that'll be the point where we'll know if there's any possibility of an Italian win.
Yeesh, desperate tackling there!
Went to yesterdays game, a real proper game with a super atmosphere, if maybe a bit too error strewn, Dan Biggar was sloppy as hell, but somehow Wales pulled it off, North was well up for it.
Sitting behind some mental Irish fans who we kind of thought were gonna kick off at the end, since they were relentlessly blaming the ref for everything and smashing up their seats it seems, so we'd be giving them stick by blaming the ref sarcastically for anything that was good play, but at the end they just turned around and handshakes, good stuff.
On the ref front, why is it so many just blame him, Ireland were no way up to par, don't care how you want to swing it, when England flopped in the world cup(and other times), they and the fans correctly put the blame on themselves, the players and the staff. I'm not sure why when they lose or are losing, it's the refs fault for it a lot of the time for Wales and Ireland.
Sitting behind some mental Irish fans who we kind of thought were gonna kick off at the end, since they were relentlessly blaming the ref for everything and smashing up their seats it seems, so we'd be giving them stick by blaming the ref sarcastically for anything that was good play, but at the end they just turned around and handshakes, good stuff.
On the ref front, why is it so many just blame him, Ireland were no way up to par, don't care how you want to swing it, when England flopped in the world cup(and other times), they and the fans correctly put the blame on themselves, the players and the staff. I'm not sure why when they lose or are losing, it's the refs fault for it a lot of the time for Wales and Ireland.
Yup, no excuses yesterday. We've felt hard done by by Barnes before but Ireland deserved nothing yesterday.
Referee Ben O'Keefe is a Kiwi. He's had two games in Super Rugby this season and handled them fairly well.
Great start for England. Scotland were lucky not to have a red for the tackle on Daley. There was no control over how he landed whatsoever.
Maro tackling two forwards like a champ.
The match will inevitably ebb and flow a bit, but this looks over to be honest.
Oops, sorry
All going wrong for Scotland. They're being marmalised and running through the bench already. I always wonder about the player who comes in during a HIA and how they're cold, and the result today is the replacement doing his ankle.
Punishing
Well deserved championship, and every chance they'll do the same to us next week if they're not cowed by home advantage.
They won't be cowed by it
Much closer game next week, but England's 'finishers' will make the difference
Plus Ireland have the incentive of stopping the winning run in it's tracks just as they did to the ABs
This is emphatic. New Zealand-esque to match the record.
That guy in Trainspotting will be going apeshit, and the women are winning 64 - 0.
Sooooo.... who's going to post that "stop it, he's already dead" picture from the Simpsons then?
The guys on the bench 
It's getting emphaticer too! I made a new word
I've watched two Scotland games and they've had an absurd amount of injuries in both.
Jinx
I don't think Eddie Jones is going to be happy until England beat New Zealand in a World Cup final 48-5 or something. He always seems miserable post match.
Scotland weren't great but England's attack was so fluid, it really clicked. There's just no weaknesses right now.
Can't wait to see how they measure up against NZ.
Can't wait to see how they measure up against NZ.
Truly emphatic from England who thoroughly deserve back to back championships. A brilliant performance when it mattered most. 18 straight victories and now a shot at the world record next week. Despite what many Kiwis will say, England will deserve the record if they beat Ireland next week - they can only best whoever is put in front of them.
I think the ref got it right there. If Daley landed on his head or neck, the tackle would have resulted in a red card. As it was Daley landed on his back, so yellow was correct. Stupidity though nonetheless, stupidity that cost Scotland.
Yeah, agreed but there was still a great deal of luck in it not being a red. Daley was centimetres away from landing on his neck. There was no control to stop him doing so, it was just luck.
Excellent. Thought the next game was meaningless. Didn't realise we could feck up their record. Doing something similar to Arsenal was one of the most enjoyable results in football. Here's to something similar in the rugby.
Even if there was no record on the line next week, i disagree about calling the game meaningless. For England, there's the opportunity for a grand slam (winning all 5 games in a championship) and a triple crown - wins against the other three home unions. For Ireland, they went into this competition expecting to make a really solid tilt at winning the tournament and it hasn't happened so they'll be desperate to finish on a high note and ensure England don't achieve a new world record, grand slam and triple crown. For players from both sides, there's the small matter of putting their case forward for a spot on the Lions tour to New Zealand.
I was out walking yesterday so listened to the buildup on BBC Radio. It was really interesting hearing how a Lions year motivated (or didn't) players. Ugo Monye talked about how he was raging that everyone was bigging up Thom Evans in the week before England Scotland and then this moment happened...
The thing is though, both sides had massive motivation yesterday and look what happened. Grand slam on the way i think.
It'll be close. Ireland will be bang up for it, they've got absolutely nothing to lose, whereas England have everything to lose. Plus going to Ireland is tough, probably the toughest fixture (from an English perspective) in the six nations.
On recent performance there is only going to be one winner but it would be a pretty rubbish St Patrick's Weekend if England arrive in Dublin and are allowed to complete a Grand Slam, that said it will take a massive improvement from Ireland to even give England a game next Saturday.
Man I wish Ireland could of gone 4-0 as a lot thought they would going into it too, the hype for it was insane when that was the belief, still it's a big big game for both and it'd be insane if Ireland ended both 18-streaks.
When England trump New Zealand disguised as the Lions in the summer, and the backups trump Argentina at the same time, I hope they get the additional 6 added to their streak, 25-0 baby, hasn't been a streak like that since Goldberg!
When England trump New Zealand disguised as the Lions in the summer, and the backups trump Argentina at the same time, I hope they get the additional 6 added to their streak, 25-0 baby, hasn't been a streak like that since Goldberg!
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@JPRouve Thoughts on Racing 92 and Stade Francais merging to be one club from next season onward.
I don't know what to think, it's a surprise for most people. They kept it tight.
It's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen in rugby. They are the last two winners of the Top 14 and the two major clubs in Frances biggest city.
They should absolute hate each other to the extent where this isn't even a nightmarish possibility! It's like Chelsea and Arsenal or United and City merging for feck sake!
Money has ruined the game in France.
They should absolute hate each other to the extent where this isn't even a nightmarish possibility! It's like Chelsea and Arsenal or United and City merging for feck sake!
Money has ruined the game in France.
Wow, that's mad. Must read up on it.
Seems like less of a merge and more of Racing simply buying SF!
One of the Stade players doesn't seem to happy with the situation!
One of the Stade players doesn't seem to happy with the situation!
To be fair, it's Paris not France. Biarritz and Bayonne could and probably should merge but they refuse. It's definitely crazy though.
Schmidt getting huge stick for calling up McFadden to replace Tommy Bowe. Deserved really, it's baffling. Even leaving out Connacht and Munster players performing better, he's been picked ahead of Leinster players keeping him out of the team. 4 appearances for Leinster this season apparently. Baffling.
Schmidt has built up a lot of credit in the bank which is useful for him considering this call-up is pretty much inexplicable. You have to worry that he is being way too conservative in his approach towards selection, with no real regard for building a young team for the 2019 RWC. Worse, he can't really say that the quality of young players in the country is poor. For example, I don't see what benefit there is to starting Rob Kearney right now. If you want someone who is currently a better player to play there, play Jared Payne at 15. If you want someone who will be a cornerstone of the team to gain experience, play Olding or Stockdale there. Like McFadden is keeping the likes of Adam Byrne, Tiernan O'Halloran, Niyi Adeolokun, Darren Sweetnam, Craig Gilroy and Olding out of the team. McFadden is 31 in June. All of the other players are significantly younger. Moreover, not only will they be much better players in the future than he is now, they are currently better players than him. Unfortunately, this isn't just the case for McFadden. You can make similar claims for Best, Toner, O'Brien, Heaslip, Sexton and Kearney. In all honesty, Schmidt should be developing a good, young side for 2019, not instead trying to eke out the the best from the 2015 side.