The Rugby Union Thread

hywelg

fields5069 said:

I am happy for you. It’s high time the country with the much larger ego actually won something! 

FTFY

digitalscream

fields5069 said:

I am happy for you. It’s high time the country with the much larger population actually won something! 

I do wonder why people always trot that one out, when the mere existence of the All Blacks makes it a pointless statement

hywelg

fields5069 said:

VimFuego said:

fields5069 said:

I am happy for you. It’s high time the country with the much larger population actually won something! 

yum, I'm loving your sour grapes. 

You can pretend all you like. My take is that a win for Wales would have covered up deficiencies in their execution of the game plan. I think they still have the talent, just not the execution and in the early exchanges they got hammered. Also the scrum was shit. To be honest you could argue that England should have put the game to bed, they almost certainly didn't need to infringe so much, chances are that Wales would have fluffed chances.

I agree. For all the closeness of the eventual result Wales deserved to lose 33-16. We didn't play well enough and no ideas how to open the England defence.  I was happy about howTipuric rose to the occasion, how North decided it was time to get involved, how Tomkins played like he's been there for years, and how Tomos Williams sped things up at the breakdown.  Biggar was competent but lacklustre, Faletau underperformed from his best but he needs time, front row are underwhelming. What will we do when AWJ hangs up his boots??. Lose alot more I reckon.

I also thought England were very good at playing the ref, until he realised what they were doing, very late in the match.

VimFuego

hywelg said:

fields5069 said:

I am happy for you. It’s high time the country with the much larger ego actually won something! 

FTFY

awesome, some shoulder chip to have with those sour grapes.

hywelg

fretmeister said:

No Welsh citings at all.

Unless England cite AWJ for having a small todger....

exocet

fields5069 said:

VimFuego said:

fields5069 said:

I am happy for you. It’s high time the country with the much larger population actually won something! 

yum, I'm loving your sour grapes. 

You can pretend all you like. My take is that a win for Wales would have covered up deficiencies in their execution of the game plan. I think they still have the talent, just not the execution and in the early exchanges they got hammered. Also the scrum was shit. To be honest you could argue that England should have put the game to bed, they almost certainly didn't need to infringe so much, chances are that Wales would have fluffed chances.

Personally after WC, I had written this 6N off for Wales. Too many changes / injuries to be serious contenders. I had them down to win 2 matches (Italy and Scotland). 

Our main issues are fairly longstanding I.e lack of International Standard Props (scrummaging with mobility). Plus some aging players elsewhere.

Our scrum struggled at times against Italy, even more so against Ireland so result against England was no surprise.

What has alarmed me is the obvious change to our defence. Clearly they are playing to a new plan there and it really isn't working. We were narrow against Ireland and England. I'm doubtful that Two tries conceeded in the England game (2nd and 3rd) would have been scored against the old defensive structure. That's not to say that England wouldn't have won the match by the way.

At the end of the day, England beat a fairly poor Welsh side. Whether Wales will improve under the new regime / develop some International grade Props is far from certain in my mind.

VimFuego

fields5069 said:

VimFuego said:

fields5069 said:

I am happy for you. It’s high time the country with the much larger population actually won something! 

yum, I'm loving your sour grapes. 

You can pretend all you like. My take is that a win for Wales would have covered up deficiencies in their execution of the game plan. I think they still have the talent, just not the execution and in the early exchanges they got hammered. Also the scrum was shit. To be honest you could argue that England should have put the game to bed, they almost certainly didn't need to infringe so much, chances are that Wales would have fluffed chances.

not quite sure why we're not really closing matches out, it's almost like we punch ourselves out in the 1st 40 mins then play 40 mins of clinch. There are still some odd selection choices, I get why he's going with the big, hard hitting pack, but then why is he picking some many 7's? And Ewells, who is, at best, a solid domestic performer, but not an international lock at all. There's a fair number of big, gnarly 6's/8's in the prem, I'm thinking Dombrant, Ted Hill, Dave Ewers, wossisname at Wasps, all of whom are out performing Ewells and offer far more than him. 
re the infringing, teams always do infringe when defending their own line for an extended period (though some teams rarely get carded for it ). I recall Baxter talking after the quins match, where he said the best place to defend a 5 meter scrum etc is on the halfway line. It's about game management, stop giving teams easy ball that allows them to pressure your line (though the 16th man on Saturday did help wales a lot in that ) we allowed wales too many opportunities to run back at us, and one thing wales has in abundance are great open field runners. 

Jalapeno

How can Tuilagi be cited when the ref already red-carded him   ?

VimFuego

Jalapeno said:

How can Tuilagi be cited when the ref already red-carded him   ?

lazy journalism mebbe? After a red card there's a disciplinary hearing, maybe that's what they meant. 

fretmeister

Jalapeno said:

How can Tuilagi be cited when the ref already red-carded him   ?

There's very few proper rugby journos.

The BBC sports page still gets player's teams mixed up and mis-names anyone who looks like they originate from the South Sea islands.

If they can't tell the difference between teams they won't get the rules right!

fretmeister

The Pro14 season is called off indefinitely!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/51858815

VimFuego

heh, be funny if the gal prem was called off and sarries ended up not getting relegated. 

fretmeister

Tuilagi, 4 week ban
Marler, 10 week ban.
Lawes, citing dismissed. Was foul play, but not enough for a red card. Free to play immediately.

drofluf

fretmeister said:

Tuilagi, 4 week ban
Marler, 10 week ban.
Lawes, citing dismissed. Was foul play, but not enough for a red card. Free to play immediately.

From an England, rather than a club, standpoint it’s probably moot given the postponement of the remaining matches, certainly for Tuilagi. I assume the ban starts from now and applies to club as well?

koneguitarist

I think Tuilagi was deserved as to the letter of the law. The arm was down by side and he was leading with shoulder. 
Like Liam Williams in SA. 
England were wouldn't up by Eddie Jones, and their play was bordering on out of control at times especially Farrell, definitely not captain material. 

hywelg

koneguitarist said:

I think Tuilagi was deserved as to the letter of the law. The arm was down by side and he was leading with shoulder. 
Like Liam Williams in SA. 
England were wouldn't up by Eddie Jones, and their play was bordering on out of control at times especially especially Farrell, definitely not captain material

I agree Farrell should have been yellowed for the shove on Biggar. Not doing so showed England that they could get away with quite a bit. Unfortunately Wales didn't spot the laxity and whilst by no means saints didn't respond likewise. It was only in the last 15 that the ref decided it was time to get a grip. 

VimFuego

still luving those sour grapes. You always get the best one from wales. 

VimFuego

heh

https://www.ruck.co.uk/watch-footage-emerges-of-clear-red-card-tackle-on-manu-tuilagi/

VimFuego

I'll await welsh condemnation with bated breath. 

p90fool

VimFuego said:

still luving those sour grapes. You always get the best one from wales. 

We honestly don't care that much, despite our drop off in form we'll still be Grand Slam holders at the end of this null and void season.