The Rugby Union Thread

bertie

koneguitarist said:

Not sure who is left to play against Argentina, so should be interesting as I have tickets !

best take yer boots then  

koneguitarist

Yeah, mind of a no12 body of a very old no 1 !

fretmeister

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/24914863 Tuilagi possibly out for 6N too. Arse.

bertie

while having some "quiet" games in his last few appearances,  he was the one proven "match turner" we had in the whole back division

fretmeister

Agreed.

I wish the Saints had offered more for him!!

Jalapeno

Joost Van Der Westhuizen interview.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/24890861

Very sad

hywelg

tbm said:

So, that all went as expected. Wales were a little unlucky, no doubt. I've just seen the highlights of that one and JDII looked to be in great form before he went off. Wales should have done more with the amount of territory and possession they had though.

No, I think Wales showed little or no imagination, whereas SA had very few chances but converted nearly all of them. Wales posession should have been converted to points, but as I said before, they always play poorly at this end of the season, not sure why. Phillips is on the way out I think. Pack played well apart from a few balls ups in the lineout. Really did need the solid partnership of Roberts and Davies to get the backs working properly. I still prefer Hook at flyhalf.

fretmeister

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/24892084 Another one out. Arse.

tbm

Bowe is fit for the Wallabies game. Good job as we were down to our 5th and 6th choice wingers.

Tough one to call. Wallabies ressurgent but still mentally fragile, Ireland have to be better then they were last week, but Schmidt is a canny operator and he'll have . Neither team will have anything to lose and I expect a great match. We've a decent record against them in Dublin so I'm going for a narrow home winn, providing we don't kick loosely to Cooper.

Wales to win handy enough - the Pumas are a broken team me thinks - with Scotland and England to lose by not that much. I will be cheering for England though. You never know!
 

VimFuego

losing Corbs is a big blow, without a good front row it'll be tricky to get decent ball and stop them getting quick ball. Could be a long day at the office on Saturday.

scrumhalf

I fear for England. The ABs will be keen to avenge last year's defeat. We will need to be quick and effective at the breakdown, more so than we've been for years.

It's what happens after that's the problem. I've seen nothing from Farrell that convinces me that he's international class, he just doesn't get a backline moving forward quickly enough. Injuries are a problem, without them we'd have decent centres and Ashton (one botched try doesn't restore his reputation) would be lucky to be on the bench.

Watching how the French dealt with the ABs was interesting as well as entertaining. At one point in the game it struck me that for periods of immense unending pressure in sport you can't get much better than a top-quality side defending the try-line against the onslaught of another top-quality side. I'm no expert on rugby league, but presumably after the sixth tackle you'd get the ball off the attacking team - no such respite in union.

Another sofa-bound Saturday, great!

bertie

sky sports might be coming off this week as quickly as it went on last !!

fretmeister

bertie said:

sky sports might be coming off this week as quickly as it went on last !!

I added it for the internationals.

I'll be taking it off again after the weekend. Except to add is easy - do it on the web site. To remove an item you have to talk to them. Urgh.

strumjoughlamps

loving ref cam

bertie

well that, all thing considered (ie top players in key positions) was a pretty good performance.  Great match to boot.

Shame Tuilagi wont be fit for the 6 nations,   Tompkins best go back to league I think,  ans take Ashton with him.    

With the no 8 pairing of 'soften em up Vunipola'  and 'finish em off  Morgan".   Im almost looking forward to the 6 nations.... once we find an outside centre

scrumhalf

Agree, Bertie. Ashton's not worth a place any more, he butchered at least one chance.

Lawes was tremendous, and Launch played well until he went off. But Tom Youngs needs to go away and learn how to throw a ball.

After that performance we should be looking at the 6N and thinking " we should win that".

digitalscream

Cracking game, I thought. I'm happy enough - against blatantly the best team in the world, we did pretty bloody well...certainly a lot better than I expected.

Even Ashton wasn't a total embarrassment, although part of me wishes he'd lost us a try or two so he'd finally get dropped before the 6N.

bertie

scrumhalf said:

But Tom Youngs needs to go away and learn how to throw a ball.

ah yes, forgot that...............some great English performances on show today..............  with the two props back,  a No. 13 and some decent wings ................ things are looking OK

strumjoughlamps

well, and remember I don't follow the ins and outs of the game, I really enjoyed it, partly cos the wife and kids are in S-o-A at the mo in laws so it was enjoyed in peace with a few King Goblins, but mainly because knowing England were playing the 'best team in the world' we were tip top... and our Tigers players rock.

bertie

strumjoughlamps said:

 and our Tigers players rock.

except Tom Youngs of course