The Rugby Union Thread

koneguitarist

scrumhalf said:

koneguitarist said:

Red card in Bath Gloucester game, Faletau gets to play 14 man team for 3rd week on trot! 

14 each now, Bath 5 goes for another head incident.

Listening to commentary, they thought that both players that tackled Gloucester player made contact with head, so could have been a double. 

scrumhalf

I can just about speak after Wasps' shocker today at Welford Road. Okay, we had players missing but that was dire. More red cards today and whilst he wasn't entirely to blame for the result another idiosyncratic refereeing effort from Craig Maxwell Keys. 

koneguitarist

Seems like they are really bearing down on head issues, rightly so, but 5 red cards in two games, and it could have been a lot more judging by reports. 

koneguitarist

Any thoughts on weekend matches? 

Looks like France Scotland game is on, but a lot of disruption for France could prove costly. 

Ireland should be back to winning ways however nothing less than a bonus point victory will be good enough for Farrell. Dare I say lose, and he is looking for a new job. 

Wales England at Cardiff. Should be a close one, can England get their forwards up to speed to outmuscle Welsh front 5? Will Welsh back row win their battle, it all depends on forwards I think. 

Team that gets best clean ball for backs should win. Be interesting to see LRZ up against club mate speedster May! 

exocet

koneguitarist said:

Any thoughts on weekend matches? 

Looks like France Scotland game is on, but a lot of disruption for France could prove costly. 

Ireland should be back to winning ways however nothing less than a bonus point victory will be good enough for Farrell. Dare I say lose, and he is looking for a new job. 

Wales England at Cardiff. Should be a close one, can England get their forwards up to speed to outmuscle Welsh front 5? Will Welsh back row win their battle, it all depends on forwards I think. 

Team that gets best clean ball for backs should win. Be interesting to see LRZ up against club mate speedster May! 

If England keep 15 on the park, they'll win comfortably - usual story of too much horsepower up front coupled with strength in depth. I'm sure we'll score a couple of decent tries though.

crunchman

exocet said:

koneguitarist said:

Any thoughts on weekend matches? 

Looks like France Scotland game is on, but a lot of disruption for France could prove costly. 

Ireland should be back to winning ways however nothing less than a bonus point victory will be good enough for Farrell. Dare I say lose, and he is looking for a new job. 

Wales England at Cardiff. Should be a close one, can England get their forwards up to speed to outmuscle Welsh front 5? Will Welsh back row win their battle, it all depends on forwards I think. 

Team that gets best clean ball for backs should win. Be interesting to see LRZ up against club mate speedster May! 

If England keep 15 on the park, they'll win comfortably - usual story of too much horsepower up front coupled with strength in depth. I'm sure we'll score a couple of decent tries though.

As an Englishman, I am definitely not confident that England will win comfortably.  We haven't been playing well.

scrumhalf

koneguitarist said:

Team that gets best clean ball for backs should win.

Well, that's us screwed. Eddie only wants hoofball.

p90fool

Having watched the Premiership last weekend I'd say it probably still depends on red cards, like our last two games did.

drofluf

Scotland/France postponed. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/56196639

Mixed feelings; I’d like to see a good contest but the French players had a responsibility to stay uninflected and it seems they’re being rewarded for their negligence. Doubly unfair if it’s moved to next weekend and a similar number Scottish players are unavailable if they have to return to their clubs. 

ewal

Yep - postponement favours France. France have 11 players out because of Covid, Scotland will have 10 players out next weekend. Ah well... Hope they all get better soon...

exocet

Looks like Pivac has lost the plot.

JD2 makes a return from injury, surely won't be match fit?? Only one Centre replacement on the bench.

fretmeister

drofluf said:

Scotland/France postponed. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/56196639

Mixed feelings; I’d like to see a good contest but the French players had a responsibility to stay uninflected and it seems they’re being rewarded for their negligence. Doubly unfair if it’s moved to next weekend and a similar number Scottish players are unavailable if they have to return to their clubs. 

Bit harsh! Catching an invisible long incubation virus isn't negligent if they were following the rules.

scrumhalf

I see Eddie Jones has rolled the changes.

I had you going there for a second didn't i?

Gassage

My fantasy side is  in disarray.

koneguitarist

I’m wondering if SRU can make a deal with RFU for player release, if not could be very harsh on Scotland. 

Ref Jonathan Davies in at 12, I’m not sure I understand his reasoning there myself unless it’s to target Farrell. 

drofluf

fretmeister said:

drofluf said:

Scotland/France postponed. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/56196639

Mixed feelings; I’d like to see a good contest but the French players had a responsibility to stay uninflected and it seems they’re being rewarded for their negligence. Doubly unfair if it’s moved to next weekend and a similar number Scottish players are unavailable if they have to return to their clubs. 

Bit harsh! Catching an invisible long incubation virus isn't negligent if they were following the rules.

We can only speculate as to whether they followed the rules or not but the French were definitely "unluckier" than the other nations in how many players were infected. 

koneguitarist

drofluf said:

fretmeister said:

drofluf said:

Scotland/France postponed. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/56196639

Mixed feelings; I’d like to see a good contest but the French players had a responsibility to stay uninflected and it seems they’re being rewarded for their negligence. Doubly unfair if it’s moved to next weekend and a similar number Scottish players are unavailable if they have to return to their clubs. 

Bit harsh! Catching an invisible long incubation virus isn't negligent if they were following the rules.

We can only speculate as to whether they followed the rules or not but the French were definitely "unluckier" than the other nations in how many players were infected. 

Well as they are in a bubble of sorts,if someone catches it, stands to reason quite a few will end up with it. 

ewal

koneguitarist said:

I’m wondering if SRU can make a deal with RFU for player release, if not could be very harsh on Scotland. 

Ref Jonathan Davies in at 12, I’m not sure I understand his reasoning there myself unless it’s to target Farrell. 

Apparently it is highly unlikely to be re-scheduled for next weekend now, so might not be quite so harsh.

koneguitarist

Trouble is the clubs in England can be quite militant about player release. Can’t remember who it was now, but one of the clubs was fined for letting a player play for country outside of international window. 

Let’s hope common sense wins out. 

cj73

As an ardent Scotland supporter I'm glad that they've postponed it.   The thought of losing to a French second XV would be too much to bear