Rugby 2018 Discussion

GloryHunter07 said:
Foul play / dangerous play according to google.
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Think of it more like when Suarez handled it on the line for Uruguay against Ghana. He got sent off, but stopped a certain goal that would have knocked them out.

Just remember him, celebrating in the tunnel when Ghana missed the subsequent penalty. Then equate it to today :D
 
unchanged_lineup said:
Think of it more like when Suarez handled it on the line for Uruguay against Ghana. He got sent off, but stopped a certain goal that would have knocked them out.

Just remember him, celebrating in the tunnel when Ghana missed the subsequent penalty. Then equate it to today :D
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I think i am more biased against Saurez than i am for England!
 
unchanged_lineup said:
Hmmmmm... is it possible England don't know they need a bonus point?? This is very strange.
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Eddie Jones really needs to explain this. Four tries was the order of the day. Four tries and they'd surely win the game. Congrats on the 6 nations win, the Wallabies will have their work cut out down under in June in what should be a good series.

if Ireland start well at Twickenham, a third grand slam and triple crown since World War 2 is on the cards i think. Eddie's Wallabies tenure went downhill in it's fourth year, could his England tenure unravel in it's third?
 
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Two beautiful results in super rugby this weekend, in my biased opinion.

Beautiful result number 1: QLD Reds 2nd straight win under Brad Thorn. It's a case of substance over style at the moment.




Beautiful result number 2: Felicidades Jaguares! But i hope the Reds go to Argentina and win next weekend.

 
Xaviesta said:
Eddie Jones really needs to explain this. Four tries was the order of the day. Four tries and they'd surely win the game. One or two penalty goals would have been fair enough. Six in a game where they need at least four tries is inexcusable stupidity. Congrats on the 6 nations win, the Wallabies will have their work cut out down under in June in what should be a good series.

if Ireland start well at Twickenham, a third grand slam and triple crown since World War 2 is on the cards i think. Eddie's Wallabies tenure went downhill in it's fourth year, could his England tenure unravel in it's third?
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Not to mention that they had a big points difference to make up too. England needed to go for it from the first minute yesterday. Ireland went for it rather than play it safe and got a championship as a reward.
 
Interesting warm up drills before Montpellier-Racing.

 
So are Ireland ready to claim the grand slam? I've never doubted that we were the best team in the Northern Hemisphere, even with England's results over the last couple of years, but I feel the task of beating them at Twickenham may be a step too far. I just feel that we have too many, while undoubtedly talented, youth/young players in the squad to achieve it. If we had the services of the likes of O'Brien available I'd be much more confident. I'm not saying we aren't capable of it because we certainly are but I just feel we have to many 'green (lol)' players to do so. I hope we can because the likes of Sexton, O'Mahony and Murray deserve it but I feel,like ourselves last year, that England may be too fired up for us to deal with.

Either way i'm proud of the lads for their achievement in not only dealing with the massive injury problem prior to the tournament but also the ones we picked up in the games too.
 
kidbob said:
So are Ireland ready to claim the grand slam? I've never doubted that we were the best team in the Northern Hemisphere, even with England's results over the last couple of years, but I feel the task of beating them at Twickenham may be a step too far. I just feel that we have too many, while undoubtedly talented, youth/young players in the squad to achieve it. If we had the services of the likes of O'Brien available I'd be much more confident. I'm not saying we aren't capable of it because we certainly are but I just feel we have to many 'green (lol)' players to do so. I hope we can because the likes of Sexton, O'Mahony and Murray deserve it but I feel,like ourselves last year, that England may be too fired up for us to deal with.

Either way i'm proud of the lads for their achievement in not only dealing with the massive injury problem prior to the tournament but also the ones we picked up in the games too.
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Away matches are extremely hard to win. No matter what state England are in right now, they'll have to face their own fans next weekend and will in all likelihood perform much better. Ireland have a decent shot though.

This probably won't go down as a memorable win for Ireland because they wrapped it up with such efficiency rather than in a dramatic showdown, but it'll be very satisfying for the coaching staff and players. A solid gameplan that doesn't set off fireworks and hasn't always delivered the goods in the past is fairly purring now.
 
So England had South African official Marius Van Der Westhuizen refereeing their training session this morning.

Nothing too strange there except for the fact Van Der Westhuizen is the assistant referee for our game on Saturday.
 
https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/ru...apologises-for-scummy-irish-comment-1.3427445

Eddie Jones has admitted he is “very sorry” after footage emerged of the England head coach referring to Ireland as the “scummy Irish” and Wales as a “little shit place”.

The video shows Jones giving a talk on leadership for Fuso, the Japanese parent company of England sponsors Mitsubishi.

It was uploaded by Fuso to YouTube in July last year but has only come to light before Saturday’s final round of the Six Nations when England will face Ireland at Twickenham.

Jones apologised for his comments on Wednesday evening and admitted his choice of words was inexcusable, saying he was “very sorry”. The Rugby Football Union said it would apologise to the Irish and Welsh unions.
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One man wrecking ball for the people who say Rugby is more refined and respectful than Football :lol:
 
diarm said:
So England had South African official Marius Van Der Westhuizen refereeing their training session this morning.

Nothing too strange there except for the fact Van Der Westhuizen is the assistant referee for our game on Saturday.
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I think I read somewhere that there's nothing illegal about this, but feck me... terrible optics, surely.
 
diarm said:
So England had South African official Marius Van Der Westhuizen refereeing their training session this morning.

Nothing too strange there except for the fact Van Der Westhuizen is the assistant referee for our game on Saturday.
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As @unchanged_lineup mentioned there's nothing illegal at play. Assistant referees can do what Marius Van Der Westhuizen did, but match referees can't. It's not ideal but at least none of the officials have spoken publicly about either team which Nigel Owens did before refereeing a Bledisloe Cup test three days later.
 
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Xaviesta said:
As @unchanged_lineup mentioned there's nothing illegal at play. Assistant referees can do what Marius Van Der Westhuizen, but match referees can't. It's not ideal but at least none of the officials have spoken publicly about either team which Nigel Owens did before refereeing a Bledisloe Cup test three days later.
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It's awful timing though, considering everything else that's going on. A 6N to forget, and then some.
 
Sensible move this.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2018/0315/947752-world-rugby-replace-touch-judge-for-ireland-england/

World Rugby have replaced Marius van der Westhuizen as assistant referee for Saturday's Six Nations meeting of England and Ireland after the South African attended one of the hosts' training sessions hosts earlier this week.

World Rugby said that although it was happy for match officials to attend team training, it was not appropriate for them to do so if they would soon be officiating the same team.

Van der Westhuizen will be replaced on the touchline by veteran Welsh whistler Nigel Owens.
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Maybe World Rugby should change the law that allowed Marius Van Der Westhuizen to do what he did.
 
K2K said:
What time is England v Ireland?

I feel that could be good.
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Itv's website says 2:45. Should be good. A role reversal to last year when England went to Dublin hoping to leave with a grand slam.
 
Ironic thing about Nigel Owens being drafted in as an assistant ref is that he probably should have refereed the game as he's probably the best ref eligible to referee this match.

World Rugby though probably felt the need to give an up and coming ref this match even if he might be on the somewhat inexperienced side for a game of this magnitude.
 
Xaviesta said:
Ironic thing about Nigel Owens being drafted in as an assistant ref is that he probably should have refereed the game as he's probably the best ref eligible to referee this match.

World Rugby though probably felt the need to give an up and coming ref this match even if he might be on the somewhat inexperienced side for a game of this magnitude.
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Surely England fans would not want him after the Scotland match, they seemed to have been complaining a hell of a lot about him after that. He's had an odd championship and I seem to remember a few odd ones in the Pro 14 too.
 
unchanged_lineup said:
Surely England fans would not want him after the Scotland match, they seemed to have been complaining a hell of a lot about him after that. He's had an odd championship and I seem to remember a few odd ones in the Pro 14 too.
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To be honest, i would have penciled him in for this match and had somebody else referee the Scotland vs England game. In any case, as long as Angus Gardner isn't mentioned much post match, everybody will be happy. Hopefully he's the only Aussie involved in tomorrow's match happy with their performance.
 
Xaviesta said:
To be honest, i would have penciled him in for this match and had somebody else referee the Scotland vs England game. In any case, as long as Angus Gardner isn't mentioned much post match, everybody will be happy. Hopefully he's the only Aussie involved in tomorrow's match happy with their performance.
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Fingers crossed. I think he's had a good 6N.
 
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Ultimately none of this rubbish will make the slightest difference, although I imagine it's making the decision makers in England's RFU quite nervous. The key factors will be that away matches are extremely difficult to win, whether England rediscover some motivation and determination and if Ireland can overcome the nerves of having a chance to go down in history in this country.
 
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