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Rugby thread (6 Nations, Heineken Cup etc)

Rex Grossman

By Rex Grossman,
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Matt Defis

Matt Defis

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Well it's here and I'm excited, mostly because I'm flying to Galway with 6 friends tomorrow for 4 days to watch the Wales V Ireland Game in a nice Irish pub and get pretty drunk.

 

Ireland haven't beaten Wales at home in the 6 nations for about 8 years and with Gatland back it's possible Wales could turn them over but I'm not expecting a Wales win, I think Scotland will turn over England but it'll be a last minute penalty and I'd lve for the Italians to win but I think the French will be in control the entire game.

 

 

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phresh

phresh

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Yeah, I think if Pivac and Jones were still at the helm of their respective teams it would be a pretty dull tournament but instead it could be seriously spicy.

 

Good to see some changes in the England team, even if the Farrell/Smith axis has returned (possibly due to injuries). It looks like a good team, maybe not the quickest, but if they get some momentum you could see them doing some damage. Both games could be really tight, genuinely can't wait for Saturday afternoon!

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Ireland just don’t really look like losing, I suspect that even if that Wales performance was far more accurate Ireland would still have found another gear.

 

God knows how the England game will end up!

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g wings

g wings

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Ireland were so clinical and Wales the opposite. Interestingly Wales made more meters and had more line-breaks and hand-offs. But we gave away the ball so much, terrible line-outs, stupid box kicks. Ireland’s ruck speed made all the difference. 
 

Scotland v England was great to watch wasn’t it and had some incredible moments. 
 

 

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sir podger

sir podger

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Scotland v England was a great match to watch. As an England supporter I could only applaud the brilliant play of Scotland.

 

It was disheartening to see Dan Cole back on the pitch, he is an immense scrummager, but that is it, and he resumed his standard England role of stand at the back of the ruck and do nothing like he had never left 

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England have got a real front row problem at the moment, there just isn't really enough depth. I agree it was a bit depressing to see Dan Cole back, but i'm not even sure who was the next fit option, there are loads of injuries, and whether they'd have been a strong enough scrummager. It's all well and good being good on the ball, and England have quite a few front rowers like that, but if you're coughing up penalties at the scrum the former does not outweigh the latter.

 

Borthwick may also have been restricted by the number of changes he is allowed to make to the EPS (the same issue cropped up with Lancaster, not sure about Jones). It will be interesting to see what changes they make this week though as I think there will be a couple at least. It's a difficult position to be in though, there is no magic wand that suddenly fixes everything with less than 10 competitive games before the WC. Ultimately all we're seeing is the result of a failing Jones regime that should have been ended a minimum of 12 months ago and, by his own admission, not building experience in the future player pool, just targeting the WC.

 

I also think Borthwick probably picked a team and game plan but with all the injuries to centers had to switch it up half way the two weeks training which won't have helped.

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Sidewaysbob

Sidewaysbob

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They clearly didn't get past Jones' play book page 1, "Kick the ball away, and hope something happens this time" plan. 

I really hoped Borthwick was going to come up with something a little be different, like "run the ball lads" but alas, not.

 

Still it can't be that bad again .. can it ?

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Rattlehead.ie

Rattlehead.ie

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As a Irish fan I was relatively happy with that. I think having a significant number of players from 1 province helps the gel of the team, it's quicker and they know each other. France next will be a massive test.

I think Borthwick needs to be given a chance here, he really is having to start from scratch again and of he can get the basics down and sorted in this tournament they can then build on that for the World Cup, but like the opposite of Ireland, he has to compete with umpteenth different clubs to build his team it'll take a while 

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McFly

McFly

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England have some great fast runners but rarely use them prefering to try and batter down the opposition. When the trued to be a but more adventurous it worked. Was good to see teams pick and go rather than aine out when given a penalty so close to the line, way less risky.

 

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4 hours ago, Sidewaysbob said:

They clearly didn't get past Jones' play book page 1, "Kick the ball away, and hope something happens this time" plan. 

I really hoped Borthwick was going to come up with something a little be different, like "run the ball lads" but alas, not.

 

Can't agree with that particularly, the attacking patterns were visibly different, primarily because they actually existed. England under Jones would almost always kick after a few phases (outside the opposition 22) whereas they continued to play and make yards on Sunday. Yeah it fell off in the last quarter, but you could clearly see the influence of Nick Evans on some of the attacking play.

 

On pace, it's all good if you're getting quick ball at the breakdown but England haven't had that for years. I think that's why Jones stuck with Nowell and would have preferred Watson (when fit) as they are both pretty good at getting over the gain line with limited space, although Watson isn't slow either. They were getting quicker ball on Sunday, and had some joy down Malins wing, but not a lot the other way.

 

It'll be really interesting to see what he does on the weekend, i'm not sure if any players are due back from injury so i'm guessing he'll persist with Smith/Farrell. I was also a bit surprised with Borthwick's 'England were bad at everything in the autumn' statement, which suggests that they were maybe a bit, statistically, worse than he'd anticipated.

 

Should be another 3 great games though!

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Matt Defis

Matt Defis

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Wales have been absolutely shocking this second half, not sure what to expect really considering how bad things are with the WRU and rugby in general in Wales. Not even the great Warren Gatland can sort this shit out and it's going to be years before it's sorted. 

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