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Rugby thread (6 Nations, Heineken Cup etc)

Rex Grossman

By Rex Grossman,
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g wings

g wings

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, phresh said:

Ireland we’re favourites anyway so not sure the red card changes things massively. Idiotic tackle.

I don’t think it was idiotic, it was literally a split second reaction. He was already upright, and It’s not like he lined him up for ages.

 

I don’t disagree with the red card but I agree with the sentiment of a lot of ex-player pundits (Dawson, Hartley, etc) who think a red card from accidental incidents should mean the offender gets sent off and then 15 mins later a sub can be brought on. 

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phresh

phresh

Posted
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I think it’s still avoidable, although yeah, it looks a lot more idiotic in slow motion than normal.

 

I agree on the 15/20 minute forced sub, it does seem like a good half way house when the tackle isn’t deliberately dangerous.

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phresh

phresh

Posted
Posted

Interesting England team, Steward goes on the wing + Ben Young back in at SH suggest a pretty unsubtle kicking game. Furbank at FB is a bit of a surprise with Daly in the squad but he's a decent all round player (covers fly half at Northampton when Biggar is away). Great to see Sam Underhill back too, even if it as at the loss of Curry.

 

Would have preferred to see Lawes in the back row rather than Isiekwe but oh well. It's a bit all or nothing for England really, a win would be a great result and an average tournament, a loss is almost expected and would be a terrible tournament (again). It doesn't feel like someone fighting for their job though so I wouldn't be surprised if England lose and Jones keeps his position.

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merman

merman

Posted
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Good luck to Furbank, he can make a name for himself this weekend and secure a spot through the World Cup with a good performance. Steward has shown a lot of potential, yes, but is still early in his international development.

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kensei

kensei

Posted
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France look very good but have they done an Ireland and peaked a year too early?

 

I'm also comforted by how close we got to them in Paris. At home we might have scrapped it.

 

Wales allowing Shaun Edwards to go seems even more insane in retrospect.

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g wings

g wings

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, kensei said:

France look very good but have they done an Ireland and peaked a year too early?

 

I'm also comforted by how close we got to them in Paris. At home we might have scrapped it.

 

Wales allowing Shaun Edwards to go seems even more insane in retrospect.

It’s always been insane. He wasn’t even pushing to leave or get a pay rise. They just handled it like the Wales set-up handle everything; take something good and fuck it up.

 

Pivac isn’t cutting it. I know I’ve said it lots of times before but Stephen Jones is not the answer as the attack coach. But even so, this team should be able to beat Italy even if I was the coach. 

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phresh

phresh

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England, Wales and Scotland all look in a bit of trouble, I don't think any of them come out of the tournament with many positives. A couple of new players here and there but that's it.

 

I fully expect Jones to keep his job but two piss poor tournaments in a row isn't acceptable (he get's a bye for '18 based on the '19 WC). I assume he has some sort of plan but England just looked so poor. It feels a bit like the 2007 team where you have enough decent players that your baseline should be enough win some games, and stay in the ones you lose, but that isn't good enough.  

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g wings

g wings

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Yep. Scotland have probably lost the most ground and now just wait for another massive Russell tantrum. 

 

Wales are screwed from the ground up. Garland had an amazing group of players that came through despite a shitty set-up. But that can’t carry on forever. Don’t know how they solve it because the welsh public have never accepted the regions. Going down to two regions might be the solution but the public still won’t support it. Totally depressing. 
 

England are just under-performing. They have enough players and resources to do well if things click but they just don’t look like doing that consistently  under Jones. I do wonder what the players think of him. He’s pretty unlikeable and his man management seems odd.

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Rattlehead.ie

Rattlehead.ie

Posted
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With no offense to any Scotish fan meant.

Scotland always seem to have something good coming together and the thing is they probably do have the players to do something great. The coaching ticket has to go in my opinion of all the coaches. Pivac while Wales under-performed, there is a core issue that needs to be fixed at club level first so it cant all be put on his shoulders. Jones, in my opinion built a game around at least one of 2 players being on the pitch, Tualagi or Farrell, with both gone, they looked rudderless yesterday with flashes of great rugby. 

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merman

merman

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Matt Dawson summed it up well - England won’t win the World Cup if we spend eighteen months attacking Eddie Jones. But Eddie also needs to change his approach to the press and get out of rigid game plans. There are good young players here (despite a couple of mishaps Furbank looked ok, Steward showed some good moments and Smith is growing all the time) but on the breaks and big moments the execution let us down.

 

France could have won by a lot more, given the number of drops. With those huge players and Shaun Edwards defence, they must be favourites for a World Cup win at home. Just need to keep a settled side.

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g wings

g wings

Posted
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On 11/03/2022 at 09:27, g wings said:

I don't know what I'm getting so frustrated with the Wales set-up, But I am...

 

Also, I should say I've nothing against Seb Davies. Wales need an abrasive back rower and he could be great. He loves to get in teams faces, has a great work ethic and runs great lines and has great handling skills. 

 

But I still don't like the way Pivac handles players. Ellis Jenkins, Halaholo, Wainwright, McNicholl and more. All players we are told have huge potential. All bought in pissed about with and then dumped. 

 

Again, I actually think I'm more consistent and positive than the average Welsh fan but this coaching set-up is not world class but could be...

 

Edwards was let go, HUGE mistake. Warburton walked away, why? Stephen Jones as attack coach? Lol. 

Fucking Pivac…

 

During the 6 nations he jettisoned Basham (screwing his confidence with it) to get Seb Davies in the team. Seb put in some strong performances and carried that momentum in to his regional game.

 

Now he’s been cut from the South Africa squad. This is a player Pivac singled out previously for his excellent abrasive and athletic performances.

 

Pivac selects squads and teams like he’s about to play a cup final.
 

I really hope he’s got a plan because he’s further destabilising a player base that exists in a national game structure built on quicksand. 

 

The outlook for Wales rugby hasn’t looked this bad in over a decade. 

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g wings

g wings

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, merman said:

The outlook for Welsh rugby looks even worse if they go ahead and cut a franchise for financial reasons, reducing the player pool even further.


I’m not sure what the right way forward is. In reality the regions just don’t work. Theoretically they should (other countries have managed it) but the public have just never supported them. They seem happier to watch rugby die than get behind them. 

 

There’s no money to support four teams and arguably there quality isn’t there either for more than 3 squads. But it’s all more fundamentally broken than that I think. They need to basically sack everyone on the WRU, total bunch of self-serving, out of touch idiots. 

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Matt Defis

Matt Defis

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Posted

David Moffat the guy that created regional rugby in Wales came out recently and said that he didn't understand just how tribal club rugby was in Wales and if he knew then what he knows now he would never have created the regions, he said it was a huge mistake and it was never going to work and never will work. 

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g wings

g wings

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On 20/05/2022 at 21:22, Matt Defis said:

David Moffat the guy that created regional rugby in Wales came out recently and said that he didn't understand just how tribal club rugby was in Wales and if he knew then what he knows now he would never have created the regions, he said it was a huge mistake and it was never going to work and never will work. 


Yep, they ignored public opinion and acted like they knew best what people wanted.

 

But, If the public wanted to get behind the regions they could still, but they won’t.

 

The welsh game has been screwed since the 80’s though in truth.

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phresh

phresh

Posted
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The 7's thing is fucking stupid, there are so few try saving tackles on the try line they should just adopt a variation of american football touchdowns. It's always annoying seeing players wait to score until an opposition player approaches them at some point, this is just an extreme version of that.

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