Then when you say that you can't tell, you are forgotting everything before 2010, before that France have routinely been the best or second best team in the NH, so you should know. France only raise their game against England because of a strong dislike and against New Zealand because they are the best.
Rugby 2017 Discussion
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Then when you say that you can't tell, you are forgotting everything before 2010, before that France have routinely been the best or second best team in the NH, so you should know. France only raise their game against England because of a strong dislike and against New Zealand because they are the best.
Decent streak.
But all good things come to an end.
But all good things come to an end.
More blowins coming on stream too when they qualify... Bundee Aki
Chiefs' scraps, the northern hemisphere needs to borrow some dignity. Kiwis are laughing at us.
I'll be laughing if Bundee stays with Connacht and plays for Ireland. He's been brilliant for Connacht.
You would and I understand. He is a very good player but when you look at Super Rugby and realize that every single NZ team have at least one center better than he is, we will never compete against them.
Sure, but Rugby is the fourth game in this country behind our national sports and Soccer. We have Henshaw, Ringrose and Payne at the moment and outside of that have to put someone like Earls (a winger) in. We'll gladly take decent centres who can compete and see where we go from there. We don't have any luxury outside that at the moment, along with a very good provincial development system that has been a remarkable success since the start of the professional era.
In fairness it was an amazing steak considering the two years previous.
I reckon everyone could agree with that. Eddie Jones is some coach.
Once again, I understand but you have the same amount of registered players than New Zealand and it's their second sport behind football. Also I was thinking about the NH as a whole not just Ireland. France and England are far more guilty of that.
I actually hadn't realised that. Fascinating. I can qualify that though - there may be the same number of registered players, but it doesn't hold a candle to the popularity of the other three games, though it's steadily catching up over the past 15 years. Until the professional era, the infrastructure for the 2 national sports and for soccer far surpassed that for Rugby.
Hang on - rugby is second to soccer in NZ? Really?
I don't really think centre is a particularly bad position for us. We have Henshaw and Ringrose who are our regular starters, plus you can throw in Payne. Then there's Aki, McCloskey, Olding, Marshall, O'Loughlin, Scannell and Farrell. I'd say most of those players are comfortable international test starters for Ireland, and their performances would in all likelihood be similar to those who are already there i.e. Henshaw and Ringrose.
Fair enough. Half haven't been tested yet though. I think we're very happy to have as many options as possible. Next development tour should be where the uncapped players of them are tried out (Aki unfortunately not available til August).
IIRC, in terms of registration yes, in terms of popularity it's third if I'm not mistaken behind Rugby Union and Cricket.
Wow. That's mad. I've always been told that the NZ stock exchange falls when the All Blacks lose though
Wow. That's mad. I've always been told that the NZ stock exchange falls when the All Blacks lose though
To be honest, even though it is out there I have a hard time believing it myself. @Stack what is your take on it?
Congrats to Ireland better team won on the day, no complaints. Outside of the Scotland game England have been stale this 6N perhaps this loss will change a few things for the better.
Hey come on, I'm telling him to chill.
But yeah, England, United and Seattle - not universally liked.
Its always big news here when the AB's lose but the stock market doesnt drop when it happens. The country has a collective whinge and a bad day then its forgotten again. Not winning the world cup for a long time was a cause of angst for a while.
Rugby is the biggest sport by far, football has more registered plays but not by much and thats tainted by the massive growth in the womans game boosting overall numbers. . Rugby dominates crowds, tv, radio, advertising, sports stars etc etc.
Cheers for the insight! Appreciate it.
Thanks. What were you playing as a kid, touch rugby or football?
For comparison, we didn't play soccer in my school
I rarely played football at school, mainly Handball, touch Rugby and Basketball.
Foreigner games
Funnily enough, Handball was huge here in the past, it was also considered one of the Irish games. There are handball alleys in towns and villages all over the country, though most are unused now.
I played rugby, rugby league and football. Full contact back then as well. Lots of kids end up playing rugby and football when I was a kid. Today its not as common because with all sports the kids are getting more intensively coached earlier on so the choices are made earlier.
Full contact? Nowadays, parents would riot at the simple thought.
I started playing when I was just turned a teenager, full contact. In the two or three years I played, there were something like seven or eight bone breaks, including me, and including a vertebrae injury
. A few were really stupid ones, like full contact under crappy floodlights where someone broke their leg - it wasn't meant to be allowed.Well done to Ireland, first team to beat England since Australia marmalised them during the World Cup. Wasn't a classic game but it was fascinating. England used some get out of jail cards earlier in the tournament, here it was the men in green who were good enough for long enoug unlike France and Wales earlier in the tournament. Having watched Jerome Garces referee in the Champions Cup and international games, I've found him to be a solid ref. I think he left a bit to be desired and should have penalised England for what they got up to with Jonny Sexton.
Exactly. We enjoy beating England because of the local rivalry. Not because we see them as some sort of unique sporting challenge. England have been not particularly good for ages. Their form since Jones took over has been an anomaly, if anything.
In terms of enjoying a win purely for the joy of beating a great team then it's all about winning against Southern Hemisphere teams. Beating England doesn't compare.
Bang on beating England and beating the all blacks, no comparison when Ireland plays the all blacks we generally hope we can be decent against them and be in the game in the last 10 mins, when we play England i expect to be in the game in the last 10 mins, to be honest I'd expect us to beat them at home, it's not the same England that won the world cup and it's not the same Ireland that lost the decider before that.
Hmm the fallout to France vs Wales containing accusations of cheating, feelings of being perceived as cheats and further suggestions of a bite.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-un...rob-howley-questions-french-integrity-france/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-un...rob-howley-questions-french-integrity-france/
I've read Howley's comments this morning with a massive pinch of salt, very ill-spoken. Talk about red tinted glasses. Considering there should have been a penalty try a good ten mins before France actually scored, and that Wales also got the benefit of the softest sin binning timekeeping ever, he's way off the mark.
Out of 10, how are we rating the tournament? I'm giving it an 8 out of 10. One team being easy beats for much of the tournament and the winner determined a week early takes some marks off. The rugby on display has been of good quality. Credit to the officials who i think have done well. Can't think of a game where the refs could be blamed for the outcome of a match. Of the three annual international tournaments involving tier one nations played post the last world cup, i think this has been the best. While acknowledging New Zealand's excellence, last year's Rugby Championship was a forgettable one horse race. Let's hope for something different in the Rugby Championship this year. If Super Rugby is anything to go by, this years Rugby Championship will be a one horse race. In the meantime, best of luck to the Lions in New Zealand. History is against them but i hope the Lions win the series.
Not necessarily in the 6N, their records this decade....
England 31-1-8
Wales 26-1-13
Ireland 22-3-15
France 21-1-18
Scotland 10-1-29
Italy 6-34
If you take out 2010 where they drew and lost twice, it's even better. Just need to close it better, losing a GS/Title on the last day 3 times I think?
As an Irish rugby fan, I hate Wales way more than I hate England. I enjoy beating England because generally, they're the better side but I bloody hate losing to the Welsh. It drives me bananas that we raise our game for England/NZ/Oz etc but whimper out, asleep at the wheel against an average Wales.
Yeah, kinda agree. In cultural terms England are the big rival but in rugby terms Wales irk me more.
http://www.worldrugby.org/rankings/mru?lang=en
End of the six nations means that New Zealand, England , Australia and Ireland are the top 4 seeds for the next world cup.
Possibility of a New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina group.
End of the six nations means that New Zealand, England , Australia and Ireland are the top 4 seeds for the next world cup.
Possibility of a New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina group.