The Rugby Union Thread

Gassage

lloyd said:

Some good ideas there, I'd like to see a zero tolerance policy on hands in the ruck rather than the "hands off" sure,y if hands are on it he's slowed the ball down and done what he wanted?

Lloyd- tough one- IRB want the game to flow. Do that and it'll be a kickfest.

Gassage

koneguitarist said:

@gassage a little over the top, I don't feel Wales will be much more of a test than Ireland. Just hope it's a decent game, for a change.

Taff- ssshhhhh....sensationalism sells space

lloyd

Gassage said:

lloyd said:

Some good ideas there, I'd like to see a zero tolerance policy on hands in the ruck rather than the "hands off" sure,y if hands are on it he's slowed the ball down and done what he wanted?

Lloyd- tough one- IRB want the game to flow. Do that and it'll be a kickfest.

In what way?

tbm

Interestingly positive take on Saturdays loss from an Irish POV:

http://www.rugbyworld.com/countries/ireland-countries/ireland-five-things-we-learnt-v-england-54579

Basically says that Billy V was the difference, but that we're error prone atm.

lloyd

tbm said:

Interestingly positive take on Saturdays loss from an Irish POV:

http://www.rugbyworld.com/countries/ireland-countries/ireland-five-things-we-learnt-v-england-54579

Basically says that Billy V was the difference, but that we're error prone atm.

Billy V was very very good (89 Metres carried?)

You're a side in transition with a shit load of injuries, I'm not sure what is expected from Ireland this campaign to be honest? Think a draw was a good result v Wales despite being at home, you've lost to us plenty of times there recently with a full squad (you tend to beat us up in Cardiff) 

France away, never easy, but a new team you should really have won but there we go.

England's first game at HQ since world cup with a new coach? I'm glad it wan't us up for that. This England team are going to be the best one since 2003 IMO (not too difficult) I don't see a settled and pretty much full Wales winning there in a fortnight.

He's right about Ireland not dominating the aerial battle though and without that you lose your most effective attacking weapon.

tbm

Yeah, as I stated before the tournament that I thought winning the home games and being competitive away was a realistic goal. That's still kinda achievable. I'm glad Italy are up next. If that goes well and we're confidant going into he Scotland game we should win the final one as well. Thing is our year only gets tougher. 3 tests v SA in June, then we're playing NZ twice in the autumn and Australia too.

England Wales will be a stormer I reckon. Nobody gave Wales a shout in October, and England will be favorites this time too. They won't bully Wales in the same way they did Ireland.

lloyd

tbm said:

Yeah, as I stated before the tournament that I thought winning the home games and being competitive away was a realistic goal. That's still kinda achievable. I'm glad Italy are up next. If that goes well and we're confidant going into he Scotland game we should win the final one as well. Thing is our year only gets tougher. 3 tests v SA in June, then we're playing NZ twice in the autumn and Australia too.

England Wales will be a stormer I reckon. Nobody gave Wales a shout in October, and England will be favorites this time too. They won't bully Wales in the same way they did Ireland.

Apart from the draw against us you've pretty much done that. I think England were comfortable for 90% of that match, that is I never felt Ireland were going to win it.

England v Wales will be more of the same I'm sure-brutal and low on adventure, they will try to get runners in to space more than us, I don't think we have the skills to get beyond their narrow defence but who knows.

It will be an interesting one for sure.

tbm

Also, happy St Davids Day @lloyd and @koneguitarist. I'll be adding leeks to my pea and mint risotto later in your honor. 

lloyd

tbm said:

Also, happy St Davids Day @lloyd and @koneguitarist. I'll be adding leeks to my pea and mint risotto later in your honor. 

Diolch yn fawr!

Rocker

I join @tbm on St David's Day wishes to our Celtic Cousins

sev112

I see Mike Brown has not been cited - so in fact the ref, the TMO, and the Citing Officer all believe he had nothing to answer. - None of them are English either I believe . It must be great being right and knowing more than those 3 impartial experts. Nice quote from one clearly unbiased person Keith Wood : "I hope a precedent is set where you can't kick from the back through a player who is holding the ball." When I refereed rugby you couldn't hold onto the ball when you were lying on the ground. I must have missed that change in the rules when they allowed that.

lloyd

sev112 said:

I see Mike Brown has not been cited - so in fact the ref, the TMO, and the Citing Officer all believe he had nothing to answer. - None of them are English either I believe . It must be great being right and knowing more than those 3 impartial experts. Nice quote from one clearly unbiased person Keith Wood : "I hope a precedent is set where you can't kick from the back through a player who is holding the ball." When I refereed rugby you couldn't hold onto the ball when you were lying on the ground. I must have missed that change in the rules when they allowed that.

I'm not sure that taking the law into your own hands was ever allowed either? He shouldn't have been holding it but for me the fact that his foot has caused damage to the eye area is evidence of recklessness. Brown wasn't bound either, but let's ignore that. I imagine he's not been cited as its been seen as a yellow card or penalty offence, which are not offences that are dealt with by the commission? I may be wrong on that to be fair. 'Expert' is not a word I'd use for the citing commission in recent years, the range of decisions given over the last decade have been all over the place I think we can all agree on that.

koneguitarist

tbm said:

Also, happy St Davids Day @lloyd and @koneguitarist. I'll be adding leeks to my pea and mint risotto later in your honor. 

Cheers @tbm

lloyd

Dwayne Peel's retired due to injury, he's 34 so that's probably influenced the decision, but alwasys sad when injury forces you to quit.

Great player in his day and the only player in Wales that really fell foul of Gatland's Law-playing outside of Wales losing your place in the National team.

Real shame as he offered something different to Mike Phillips and I think they both could have pushed each other to perform better.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/35706538

Fretwired

sev112 said:

I see Mike Brown has not been cited - so in fact the ref, the TMO, and the Citing Officer all believe he had nothing to answer. - None of them are English either I believe .

The Ireland manager didn't think Brown should be punished either but thinks the laws of the game should be changed to protect players.

lloyd

Fretwired said:

sev112 said:

I see Mike Brown has not been cited - so in fact the ref, the TMO, and the Citing Officer all believe he had nothing to answer. - None of them are English either I believe .

The Ireland manager didn't think Brown should be punished either but thinks the laws of the game should be changed to protect players.

It's a strange one as it's illegal to kick the ball out of someone's hands, it's also illegal to hold onto the ball on the floor but every player holds on for a short amount of time.

Gassage

My latest ramblings- with the legend and all round top bloke, Conor O'Shea

http://www.planetrugby.com/news/expert-witness-six-nations-11/#fb-comments

eSully

FWIW I was screaming blue murder at the screen when I was watching the match but he does kick for the ball not the player. Irish players doing a terrible job of protecting Murray and securing the ball. 

eSully

@Gassage - Did O'Shea mention anything about where he's going next season, I've heard a rumour director of rugby at Munster?

lloyd

It's his back lift that catches him, I can't see how anyone can deny that his use of the foot is reckless, he kicks him in the face a few times-illegal to do so. He does it because he is legally challenging for the ball but in doing so performs an illegal action.

For me it's like when a tackle starts off legal but then becomes a tip tackle due to the succeeding actions of the player, or when two players go for the ball in the air and one takes an elbow to the face and hit's the deck, no intent, no nastiness just that what you did accidentally is dangerous. 

Ignore everything else and you'll find that kicking someone in the face in rugby is illegal and should really be punished, penalty kick for me in this incident, possibly a YC. If he misses his head then he's doing nothing wrong (he should be bound and Irish should let go but...) but he doesn't miss.