Six Nations 2014

holcs wrote:Well what a surprisingly good weekend of Rugby! I thought the Saturday was going to be dire, but the Scottish allowed a woeful and I mean farking woeful French side to win again!

That followed by BOD being simply brilliant in a good Ireland performance against the Scots who finally picked a decent side, but because they hadn't played together were all over the shop.

The England game was perplexing to say the least. Gatlands game plan was interesting except he had the wrong half backs to play it! Priestland was just terrible.

England's gain line defence was very good indeed, and our locks if they keep progressing and stay fit are going to be a scary tandem!

Not sure what the problem is with the Welsh and the refereeing at the scrums, they would have beaten us in this part of the game if they had just packed down square, but Gethin twisted like writhing snake, it was so obvious the ref had no choice!

By the way, Halfpenny is awesome, nothing more nothing less!

That being said, we do need Corbs and Cole back and our pack will be very good!

And sh1t the bed if Jonny May is a test winger! He is awful!

So, the Irish will send BOD out on a high in Paris, and the most consistent side will have won the 6 nations!

Word, word, word ... and (probably) good call.

beamer wrote:So, predictions for the final day of the Championship:

- England to labour to a single-figure victory margin over Italy, Farrell's boot getting us out of trouble.
- Scotland to stun a Welsh side going through the motions a Halfpenny short of a full pound...
- France to ruin BOD's farewell with a late winning try, England take the title.

You old cynic!

Well, it would make for a gripping series of events!

Growler wrote:There's a chance of the scots beating Wales, especially with Halfpenny absent, although it will be no easy feat in Cardiff.

History says that France should win in Paris, but the BOD factor could well make the difference this time.

I expect England to beat Italy quite comfortably (15 - 20 points ) - but not by the huge margin some think may happen. I think - as against Wales - we will force Italy to concede penalties, whilst I imagine Farrell Snr & Graham Rowntree will have given the squad an ear-chewing about conceding soft, stupid penalties when not under pressure ..... give one or two at most - not six.

Since Owen Farrell may well be in the Premiership finals and so missing the start of the summer tour, if England are ahead at half time and the Italians not too threatening then the management may give George Ford a run at fly-half and moving Owen to centre.

6N winners - heart hopes England, head says Ireland.

There is always a chance that Scotland will rouse themselves, but highly unlikely. Would be worth it for the lamentation, gnashing of teeth and rending of clothes and (no doubt) hue and cry for Gatland's head after all the hero-worship before. But I really can't see it happening. Wales have the skillsets and firepower to take their frustrations out on the Northerners with a big score, even if they don't have the flexibility, or the Halfpenny. And even if their prop keeps up his demented obsession with scrummaging sideways and destroying his opponents' front row. They could always replace him.

I agree that the Irish are likely to do all they can ensure a victorious send-off for their beloved icon (well, one of the two). Also, Schmidt is a very good and thorough coach, it seems. Currrently the Boof of Union? ~ at least to to judge by results in first turning around Leinster from also-rans (to Munster), then repeating the same magic with the national side.

I will keep mum on the Rome match! :o)

Paul O'Connell is the other icon, I meant. Led from the front in taking Wales apart. Was a fast-moving Juggernaut, a bloody grinning Golem in that match!

Oh dear. Another 2 days pass and you come again. You just cannot resist.

So here we go. Can England take it to the last match? If so, can Ireland secure the title?


As for Mr t  .... I'm not sure if you expect I should sit on the forum, insecure and terrified of responses and desperate to reply to them like a cobra, like yourself.

What I don't understand is this boastful, triumphalistic "You're easy" you've come out with a number of times - it sounds like some pint-sized street scrapper spoiling for yet another fight outside the pub. ~ I suppose you mean "easy to rile", "easy to flame"? Because one of your highest ambitions on this forum certainly seems to be to vex people. It's a skill - you've got into squabbles with a huge variety of people on this forum through your behaviour.

But a word about debating skills. It doesn't look too good if you, a) obsessively "tackle the man, not the ball" - avoid the issue at all costs, but do all you can to demean and discredit whoever disagrees with you; b) claim some great silent majority are on your side. Never specified, but your supposed army of support against your enemies (all of them). ~ I think I've shown higher up how both of these repetitive tactics are generally completely hollow. And desperate diversionary tactics. They are all too often blustery fronts for indefensible enraged, highly biased claims: hence, "non-arguments".

A real taipan snake has an excuse for not having a leg to stand on.

Trolling is best avoided.

Shame all this irrelevant shit has gatecrashed the thread on the most exciting and competitive 6N in years.

Shaky start from England, hopefully that Brown try will calm the nerves a bit. Win the match before starting to think about anyhing else.

Well, that should be game over as a contest, now can they come out and set Ireland a points target?

Good determination by Italy, and I lost count of how many handling errors (some "unforced") by England in a nervy first 20 mins.

But by "building and swarming", and good ground coverage in defence and attack, they appear to have set up a winning position. We'll see.

Otherwise, comments as in previous games. Same stars, same weak points. e.g. Hartley ... hmmm, room for improvement. May? May you never ....! But then, I was saying the same things about Brown only two seasons ago. Maybe he mainly needs to settle his nerves. Looks shocking ATM though, in almost everything he does.

(Incidentally, I can understand how Scotland were able to go backwards so far in three or four seasons when I hear Andy Robinson's expert analysis of situations!)

Hartley's line-out throwing is flawless, if only the rest of his game had the same discipline to it.

So, 3 more converted tries and Ireland will have to do more than just win. It's possible from here.

A careless pick-5 probably puts paid to that...

Very pleased about the final move. A fitting end to the season for Robshaw.

I couldn't honestly see how England were going to rack up the 80 points or whatever that would have kept them in the hunt even if Ireland won in Paris. Italy started to get sloppy in the last quarter, but they would have had to play like that (or like cardboard cutouts) for the visitors to be in with a big shout. Ireland had built up a massive points advantage over four games.

Several players - including the indefatigable Farrell looked out on their feet towards the end, and the mistakes come from tired bodies labouring to climb a mountain *in the sudden heat*. The interception try, and a couple of wrong decisions and a bit of frustration by England's #10 being classic cases in point.

For all that, well done (mostly) the England squad on a season of great progress. Get the injured players back to supplement that lot, sort out some important technical issues at 1, 2, 3 (and errrm find a new left wing, on present showing) and they look slowly to be approaching something like top class. Not New Zealand maybe, but otherwise.

Yeah, probably the best 6N campaign from England since 2003, even if it doesn't end with the main prize. Two worthy potential winners, whichever way it goes this evening, and at least the fortunate French won't sneak the title, unless they beat the Irish by an improbable margin of 70+ points in which case they would deserve it!

I'm going to stick my neck out here and say that last bit won't happen!

Ireland's to lose - which is fair enough over the season.

No coincidence that the only two teams with a reliable number 10 are contesting the title.

A first half which goes to show you can't afford to lose your head (and arguably your best player - especially if he is also the full-back) against Wales.

The home side all over Scotland like Eeee-yann Rrrrash. And such positions are where their training really counts - talented and remorseless. This looks like turning into the sort of score England needed today!

The Scots will have to use their substitutes liberally and regularly. And perhaps try to recycle a few of them back on to play, ice-hockey style.

Andy Nichol for the next Scottish coach?

beamer wrote:No coincidence that the only two teams with a reliable number 10 are contesting the title.

It's true.

But to an extent, you could also reverse that perspective. It has been the teams - not only the packs - that have played well enough to give their stand-offs sufficient opportunities (time, space and kicks) to prosper that have come out in the top two positions!

PeterCS wrote:So here we go. Can England take it to the last match? If so, can Ireland secure the title?


As for Mr t  .... I'm not sure if you expect I should sit on the forum, insecure and terrified of responses and desperate to reply to them like a cobra, like yourself.

What I don't understand is this boastful, triumphalistic "You're easy" you've come out with a number of times - it sounds like some pint-sized street scrapper spoiling for yet another fight outside the pub. ~ I suppose you mean "easy to rile", "easy to flame"? Because one of your highest ambitions on this forum certainly seems to be to vex people. It's a skill - you've got into squabbles with a huge variety of people on this forum through your behaviour.

But a word about debating skills. It doesn't look too good if you, a) obsessively "tackle the man, not the ball" - avoid the issue at all costs, but do all you can to demean and discredit whoever disagrees with you; b) claim some great silent majority are on your side. Never specified, but your supposed army of support against your enemies (all of them). ~ I think I've shown higher up how both of these repetitive tactics are generally completely hollow. And desperate diversionary tactics. They are all too often blustery fronts for indefensible enraged, highly biased claims: hence, "non-arguments".

A real taipan snake has an excuse for not having a leg to stand on.

Trolling is best avoided.

Oh fark.. Another petification.

I could go on and on about your debating skills but the point is that I would be wasting my time. Since the day you arrived on C4 you have been whining about me. On this very board you have stated numerous times you will ignore me. On this very thread you stated you will let me have the "last word". Even in this thread you rage about me playing the man, but are you not doing the same.

The bottom line is pettikins, I can throw in a one liner and two days later you come back with a twenty paragraph missive. Most of the time I don't even bother reading them. If that is trolling, so be it.

But, fark me, you are farking easy, and even more Farking predictable.

Time you got back out into the real world and got a job.

One point in it at half time, but Sexton left five easy ones on the table, suspect that will decide it. What an occasion to leave his place-kicking boots at home...

Blimey O'Rahilly!!

Cracking game to the last kick, full of incident and attacking play.

Engrossing 6N season.

And worthy champions.

Yeah, after so many near-misses over the years BOD and the Irish wouldn't have deserved to lose that one right at the end. The missed French penalty and forward pass for the disallowed try were just signs it was their day.

It was a year when the old shared trophy system would have been appropriate, but there's time for this young England team, whereas it may be a time of transition for Ireland, they'll be hoping the likes of POC and D'Arcy go on until the World Cup at least, although there is some younger talent there, let's not forget they were missing the prolific Tommy Bowe and the two young wingers who made an impact last year throughout this tournament.

France and Wales showed they will be back as well, though Scotland and Italy will find it tough to break out of their own mini-tournament for the wooden spoon in the near future. Overall though a classic tournament which Northern Hemisphere rugby needed, even if they're all still some way off the standards of the All Blacks.

At the risk of pointing out the obvious. England had both Wales and Irelamd at home. In the present system the 6 Nations is slightly flawed but there is no obvious solution to this.

Time to split the six nations into 2 sections?

Well, it's fair enough given you have the reverse pattern in the alternate years... the order of matches varies within that structure, and there doesn't seem to be any clear pattern to which teams do well in odd/even years, although France have tended to do well in post-Lions years - perhaps the Welsh dominance of last year's touring squad negated the Lions hangover impact on England and Ireland.

By two sections do you mean promotion/relegation, or a parallel group system with a final between the two winners? The former would just leave Scotland and Italy stuck playing each other year after year, with the others taking turns to join/thrash them. The latter might work but would mean losing key rivalry games and playing other teams twice instead. Another idea would be a home/away structure over two seasons, but that would be protracted and lacking impact. I'm not sure there's really a format that would improve it.