The Rugby Union Thread

digitalscream

hywelg said:

We will be challenging for the wooden spoon this year.  I fear we might even struggle against Scotland. And worse than all that with Howley at the helm we will probably lose whilst playing unexciting predictable rugby. At least in previous lean spells we often lost in style.

Jeez, man...don't start writing the concession speech just yet. Many has been the team who didn't have the best players, but won a lot of games anyway because they inexplicably suddenly clicked.

Admittedly, that's a bit of a hail Mary, but still...wait and see what happens.

Gassage

Mate of mine has put a grand on Italy/Scot/France as a treble at 84/1

tbm

Gassage said:

Mate of mine has put a grand on Italy/Scot/France as a treble at 84/1

Mmmmm....not as bananas a bet as it seems. I think the games will be tight this weekend, but I still can't see past Wales and England, even with the injuries they have. Scotland v Ireland will be very competitive. On one hand Scotland have a settled team that are very used to playing together, they're at home, they had a decent November, and Sexton is out for Ireland. They're playing with a ton of conferance - at least Glasgow are - and in J Grey and Hogg they've two of the top players in their position in Europe. On the other, Ireland have an excellent recent record in Murrayfield, had a really strong second half of 2016, and have the best coach in the tournament. Our defense has also improved a lot under Farrell. Losing Sexton is big, but Jackson started the win in south Africa, and the win over Australia in Dublin. If it wasn't for Ulster lightweight pack they'd still be in Europe, because Jackson can get their backline humming. I do think in Heaslip, Stander and O'Brien we have the best backrow in the tournament. Even if Billy V wasn't injured that backrow would match England. Cover for Ireland at outhalf this weekend is weak though, Like, if we're behind with 15 to go and Ian Keatley is at 10, I think we're goosed. Hopefully we'll be ahead then, because we've gotten pretty good at closing out games. 

Anyway:
Ireland by less then 7 
Wales by less then you'd think
England by 8-10

hywelg

My end of tournament predictions 

Ireland
England
France
Scotland 
Wales
Italy. 

My reasoning is Wales have demonstrably no attacking game plan. My only doubt is France  and my prediction is based on them turning up, they could equally end up nearer the bottom

hywelg

Very well played Scotland. Fantastic game.

cj73

I'm in shock. Never thought we had a chance today.   Guess it's up to us to stop England winning a grand slam 



dream on 

cj73

I'm in shock. Never thought we had a chance today.   Guess it's up to us to stop England winning a grand slam 



dream on 

scrumhalf

Cracking game of rugby. That third try was reminsicent of Wasps against Leicester in 2007.

Sets things up very nicely/

tbm

Yeah, they toughed out that second half. Ireland had a line out to win it and effed it up. Scotland were so great in the first half they totally deserved that win. Ireland weren't bad, Scotland were just brilliant. Super game. 

snakemanStoo

Was a gripping game.  

Hoping the intensity keeps up from all the teams.

fretmeister

Cracking game. Thoroughly entertaining.

Would only have been better if it was a draw.

digitalscream

Wow. That may have just ruined everybody's predictions for the final standings...

Great to see Scotland come good and be more than competitive after all these years. As long as they still know their place, we'll get on just fine

hywelg

digitalscream said:

Wow. That may have just ruined everybody's predictions for the final standings...

Great to see Scotland come good and be more than competitive after all these years. As long as they still know their place, we'll get on just fine

Certainly ruined mine. C'mon France let's stir it up good and proper.

StanleyAccrington

What a cracking game.....hope the rest are as good. 

Caffeined

So happy for Scotland, even though i'm English. Always been a fan of Scotlands defensive commitment.
Glad to see them back in the mix, like they were in the years back with Gavin Hastings and pals.

Come on England now!

snakemanStoo

There have been better performances by England but a win is a win, even one as ugly as that one.

digitalscream

snakemanStoo said:

There have been better performances by England but a win is a win, even one as ugly as that one.

Indeed. Seems like England were totally thrown by the French size and sheer power; not sure we can draw any conclusions, except that the other teams might take France a bit more seriously than perhaps they have in recent years.

I'd imagine that Wales will end up on top of the table after the weekend's done and dusted; despite all the negativity, they should put four tries over Italy.

koneguitarist

Thought Englands back row selection let them down, Tom Wood seems to lose his head in an England shirt. Hughes got better, but French were done over in the scrums by a pedantic ref who was pretty consistent in most areas of the game. 

hywelg

digitalscream said:.

I'd imagine that Wales will end up on top of the table after the weekend's done and dusted; despite all the negativity, they should put four tries over Italy.

Wales have forgotten how to score tries. I'll be pleasantly surprised if they score 2 and win.

digitalscream

koneguitarist said:

Thought Englands back row selection let them down, Tom Wood seems to lose his head in an England shirt. Hughes got better, but French were done over in the scrums by a pedantic ref who was pretty consistent in most areas of the game. 

Can't argue with that, apart from that ridiculous situation at the ruck where he said the ball was out and in open play, but then pinged our guy for diving to claim it. Talk about a no-win situation.

We just didn't front up at the breakdown and made too many mistakes, which you can't do when faced with a team as big and up-for-it as the French put on the pitch.

On the bright side...Ben Te'o was pretty outstanding within seconds of joining the fray.