The Rugby Union Thread

Gassage

koneguitarist said:

Luke Charteris out and Jake Ball in, still the one area that England will have the edge!

Goal kicking on a par, we have a more settled and balanced back row with more experiance. 

But England are the more in form team, gonna be tight.

Another poach from the WRU.

Fretwired

I shall be a Twickers on Sunday .... beer in hand ... ;-)

Gassage

Fretwired said:

I shall be a Twickers on Sunday .... beer in hand ... ;-)

So will I. But sadly dictaphone and notepad more important.

koneguitarist

Gassage said:

koneguitarist said:

Luke Charteris out and Jake Ball in, still the one area that England will have the edge!

Goal kicking on a par, we have a more settled and balanced back row with more experiance. 

But England are the more in form team, gonna be tight.

Another poach from the WRU.

Who Charteris from Cornwall or Jake ball from Wales ?

koneguitarist

Or could you be talking about, Tuilagi, Vunipola brothers, Corbisiero, Hartley, Barrett and god forbid I mention Russian Princes playing on the wings, or Dewi Morris ! )

bertie

Fretwired said:

I shall be a Twickers on Sunday .... beer in hand ... ;-)

I shall be in a huge comfy arm chair, in the warm,  10 bottles  of beer ready in the kitchen,  hot-dogs and crisps on tap delivered on command

Gassage

koneguitarist said:

Or could you be talking about, Tuilagi, Vunipola brothers, Corbisiero, Hartley, Barrett and god forbid I mention Russian Princes playing on the wings, or Dewi Morris ! )

I raise you a Brett Sinkinson and Shane Howarth ;-)

Fretwired

One of the guys I'm going to see tomorrow's game with has a grandson on the replacements bench for Wales - Jake Ball.

koneguitarist

Fretwired said:

One of the guys I'm going to see tomorrow's game with has a grandson on the replacements bench for Wales - Jake Ball.

Oh no he's not, he"s starting !

Fretwired

koneguitarist said:

Fretwired said:

One of the guys I'm going to see tomorrow's game with has a grandson on the replacements bench for Wales - Jake Ball.

Oh no he's not, he"s starting !

Oh I missed that ... good news for my mate then ... :-)

We're having some corporate hostility before hand so there should be some good banter over the beer .. :-)

fretmeister

Nice job by the Saints!

That will do.

VimFuego

good, solid performance by Ireland, barring a mishap next week in Paris, can't see anyone getting near catching them.

koneguitarist

Ireland by far best team, but did nige Owens penalise them at all, Ireland allowed to infringe at will. 

Very very surprised at supposedly one of the worlds top refs having such a one sided game. 

koneguitarist

Only France can stop them winning with that ref assisted points difference !

koneguitarist

Scotland a bit lucky with try, shades of the France Wales game.

koneguitarist

Well, first game I have got wrong, really thought Scotland would hang on.
Can Wales Do it tomorrow then ?

Rocker

BOD was awesome today.  Sexton looked slightly off his game yet he scored two tries.  For whatever reason Ireland did not kick offensively today so seldom got the opportunity to setup a rolling maul in the opponents 22.  Still a good win.  Hope our Celtic cousins do the biz tomorrow at Twickers.......

bertie

christ you two make Jiffy Davies and Philip Matthews sound non-partisan

koneguitarist

Something has to be done regarding the difference In penalties, refs have to have feel for the game yes, but some teams are getting penalised for their reputation others not as they are going forward ?

The law is the law, be harsh in first five Minutes so players know what's expected then you can also see who's infringing more.

Italy were trying to defend rucks but were taken out from all directions, Devin Toner was often behind the Italians pulling them back off their own ruck ?

A lot of blocking was just completely ignored by ref. The disparity in how the refs control the game is now too far apart and needs to be dealt with.

Good win Ireland, you deserved your victory, even if the the Italians will be wondering is it worth carrying on!

tbm

Satisfying victory but let's face it, an Italy with no Zani, no Parisse and no Castrogiovanni is always going to struggle. 

 I think your right Kone, but ref interpretations are always going to be different and it's down to the team and captain to figure it out. With a different ref Italy could have had two in the bin for persistent infringements within 5 meters. 

 Now, just win in Paris for the second time in 42 years and the championship is in the bag!