My goodness, this result must have really stuck in your throat. Still at least you now concede Scotland were excellent defensively and won some good turnovers.
I tend to be able to appreciate when a team plays well and see past my own team. As in Wales beating Scotland, where even if Murray had not been sent off it was obvious Wales were the better team and would have won.

I'll leave it at that and might just watch the Scotland/England match again tonight so that I can see England not being outplayed but strangely enough losing

 

Ignoring the "you were lucky"/"no we weren't" stuff for a moment....

My seven year old nephew played a mini-rugby tournament the day after the Calcutta Cup - Jason White, Marcus di Rollo and Chris Cusiter all turned up to present the prizes. Well done guys.....

 

Bet the kids were absolutely made up

 

I've never stated that Scotland didn't play a good defensive game but having watched and played rugby for nearly thirty years, I can and do understand the difference between playing the better Rugby and still losing. It happened at the last world cup when Wales played England - they still lost. It happens frequently in this game because the scoring opportunities are diversified and you only have to look at the whole of the last world cup to understand that England were not playing the best rugby throughout the tournament - that was the Kiwis but England became World Champions. Still, this time next year if England still aren't playing well we'll have another bunch of bandwagon supporters to deal with as the latest minnow comes out on top. There again, France could get it's act together for a few games and put together a decent performance that nets them the Six Nations conclusivel - you never know.

 

Dallagilio: is that the same guy that came on as sub and was put back 10 yards in his first attempt to run through. He also went on to do not a lot. I wont even mention his age, England seem to stick to old guys. Or is this the way forward, sorry backwards?

I was meaning drawing board in how they go to ground at the tackle, they dont stand up, they aint quick and your best try scorer is more worried about a tackle coming in than looking for the try line. Maybe relying on stamina from the Scots lagging in second half like previous years, was more the game plan. The game is changing and coach's need to adapt or fall behind, or go coach football

 

I had hoped that things would improve over the course of this championship but it seems that all sides only want to make my initial assessment look even more accurate.

Wales got what they deserved against Italy who were unfortunate not to win, the irony being that they're playing better than ever but are unlikely to get a win this season, whilst Scotland's one dimensional game was exposed by a side that kicked more penalties.

France were a very mediocre side, who got on the bounce after a stupid England mistake resulting in a try and then got on top of a woeful England team. England were tragic but I can't take much from the French who get a good thrashing from the Wallabies on the evidence of that game, let alone the 'boks or New Zealand.

The only team playing remotely attractive Rugby at present is Ireland but I don't think even they'd survive for long down under if they can't put a try down against Scotland.

Not a good weekend for Northern Hemisphers rugby.

 

True there all crap

Better watching the footy

 

Things aren't that bad.

 

Well the Scots seem to have told the Irish where they were chucking it in the line outs, must be to give them a chance ye

 

Weird. For a moment last weekend I thought the Taffs were going to beat the Frogs and the English, the Irish which would have made even more of a mockery of things.

Ireland won the first half and England the second and whilst it could have gone either way, I felt the Irish just deserved the win so fair play to them. As for the World Cup I think it's going to be an all southern affair but it'll be interesting to see if the bandwagon supporters come out of the woodwork again?

 

Don't think there was ever any argument that the All Blacks will be big favourites for the World Cup. Also be interesting to see what the Aussies and Boks do.
Finally the junior partners seem to have caught up on the proffessional front in the 6 Nations with England & France. I believe the only difference is in depth of squads as I would say Scotland and Wales only have about 20-25 players good enough so can't afford injuries.
The exposure the Scot/Irish/Welsh club/district teams have with the Heineken and Celtic League is really paying off.
Italy coming on in leaps and bounds due to their players playing abroad.
Could be an interesting next couple of seasons.

 

I think the lack of depth is troubling for both Scotland and Wales and you just have to look at how Wales have struggled this year to see that point being made. Whilst Italy have made excellent progress, the game just lack and form of exposure there and judging how their U-21 team seems to get thrashed I believe we're seeing the pinnacle of Italy's talents for the time being and that is a shame.

Ireland can play some excellent Rugby but they are stuck in similar rut to England and France who realistically have the best chance of retaining/winning the World Cup - none of these sides seem to be able to gel for an entire campaign and in the case of England and France it's not for the want of talent but they just don't seem to play well as a team, which is puzzling.

Oz won't be able to rebuild the team quickly enough for the World Cup and I'd expect the All Blacks to win it although they have a history of producing brilliant teams in between World Cups. My money's on the 'boks to do it this time.