Flatcapdriver

Well,

I said it last year and I stand by what I said then, Northern Hemisphere rugby will struggle against the best from Dununda but...

it's getting a bit closer. Good to see England slowly coming back to form and they could even present a stern test to the Kiwis, if they continue to improve as consistently as they have after the Autumn Tests. The backs are looking better and given that the forwards win a game and the backs decide the margin, there is definitely more to come.

Unfortunately, for the Taffs they've proven that they don't have the strength in depth and looked very lacklustre without some of their key players and unless they can nurture more home grown talent then they're going to struggle if injuries occur.

I didn't see the Sweaties game but it was a big shock for France to do down like that even if they do start slow so it'll be interesting to see if Scotland can develop or if it was a flash in the pan.

So, anyone care to place some bets on the outcome of the Six Nations this year?

Nicks VR4

Scotland v France was a good game France are missing a few key players but Scotland played better


Mmmm my Guess it will be England but might need to see a few more games

Alas

Scotland were excellent today.
After being fed on the rubbish from the last 2 years even a good performance would have been acceptable, but they outplayed France for most of the match.
I won't get carried away and predict great things but they went back to their old style today of fast rucking and tackling which suits them down to the ground.
Could be interesting although England still look pretty good.

Reality

England v Scotland looks like being the key game this year.

So glad I've got a ticket .

Alas

Lucky git - not one to miss

Flatcapdriver

Barsteward! Yeah, it would be nice to put the Sweaties to the sword.

We desperately need some good, tough games to start bedding some of the Home Nations' teams down ahead of the World Cup but still too early to say how good any of them will be at that stage although I'm impressed by the England forwards. Get the backs working fluently, stop getting pinged and tidy up the loose ball and the jobs a good 'un - strewth I sound like Clive Woodward.

Flatcapdriver

This is turning out to be the weirdest Six Nations for many years. The France v Ireland game was like watching schoolboy rugby with so many unforced errors combined with France coasting after their substitution frenzy, that Ireland nearly made it the comeback of all comebacks.

Italy's defence was excellent and it would be a shame to see them collect the wooden spoon, especially now that Benitez is on board although given the pasting that the U21s gave them, they may not have the strength in depth they need. Is anyone watching or was last year's enthusiasm more about jumping on the bandwagon, than anything else?

David Lock

Mike Ruddick - what's that all about???????????????

Argument over selection of centres perhaps???

Any one with "inside" info.

SJ_Skyline

France v Italy this weekend, hard to call. Italy's defence against England last weekend was amazing although France may always try to counter this with Michalak playing a kicking game but his form has been poor to say the least!

Should be a good game

Flatcapdriver

Given the sudden departure, I reckon it had more to do with negotitions breaking down on his contract. Either that, or he got sick of Henson poncing himself up all the time and couldn't fact the prospect of his imminent return.

David Lock

You could well be correct...

Flatcapdriver

Hmm. It looks as if the WRU have managed to make the RFU look halfway competent if the rumour mill is anything to go by. It seems that a player revolt led by the senior players was to blame for this fiasco which sees both Ruddock and Johnson go by the end of the season.

David Lock

I read some stuff in Daily Mail (so it must be true!) about it all but didn't make a lot of sense on one reading. You'd have thought that they could all stay friends until the end of the Six Nations at least.

SJ_Skyline

Gareth Thomas out!

shippy

England to beat scotland today by 10 points
French to slaughter the Italians
and the welsh to get one over the irish

Anybody say different

shippy

oooooooooooops

GM

LOL!

Frank Hadden walks on water......

Alas

Excellent - it does'nt happen often but fan-bloody-tastic Scotland

As usual when we went back to the studio all they talked about was England. Hmmmmm

Alas

Yep - me m8

pippyrips

well done to scotland - great game and they derserved the win - come on wales tomorrow

shippy

Yeh, well done to the jocks, played us off the park

The game would of been better had a few tries been scored by either side

Bram

It was the quality in scots tackling and turn overs. England made a lot of unforced errors and there handling was a bit s**t. They need to go back to the drawing board on how modern rugby is going.

shippy

Very true mate, england didnt turn them over once and scotland did it to them all the time

Drawing board it is

SJ_Skyline

Another god show from Italy. Wales just didn't turn up for the game yesterday with old perma-tan's kicking all over the show!

Flatcapdriver

Bull****. You could say the same about Scotland if you wanted to. England played far more attacking Rugby which is why the Sweaties tackle count was so high and whilst you can say fair play to them for defending so well, it was old fashioned Northern Hemishpere (win by penalties) Rugby that Scotland displayed. Scotland looked like scoring a try once, compared to England having at least four chances which they were either unlucky or too stupid to make stick.

England simply need to put Corry on the blindside, bring in Dallaglio at number eight and stick with Dawson. Do that and stop worrying about the criticism, play route one Rugby and they'll do well. Unfortunately, it's only when England aren't playing well that we get an open Six Nations...

Alas

Think Wales might disagree with that last year.
France might disagree with it most years.
Sadly m8 your post reads as if no one else can play rugby and can only win if England fall below their incredibly high standards.

Give other teams credit if its due. Scotland don't win against England that often so its insulting & patronising to say it was because England were "unlucky". They were'nt. They were put under so much pressure in the tackle and at rucks they could'nt function. I'm not saying that. The England coach did

Foot_Tapper

Yep Scots are getting their act together... and they could win the 6N
If you look at the all the teams on 4 points, the Scots have the easier 2 games left. And at something like 7/1 a bloody good bet.

England did not play well, but then you can only play as well as the opposition lets you. If you cant change tactics through nouse or ability ur sunk. Ok England did make a few **** ups with final passes, but didnt do enough to win the game anyway.
Plus this 15 man rugby ethos that I thought was the herald of a new playing style has f'ing disappeared, back to the gloom of forward power..
but thats another story I spose.
well done the Scots
( disappointed england supporter)

Flatcapdriver

Last year England played extremely badly against Wales who won by the narrowest of margins enabling them to build a platform that allowed them to win the Six Nations. I got shouted down then when I suggested that Northern Hemisphere rugby had a long way to go to catch up with that of the Southern Hemispere. I also suggested that Wales wouldn't be able to sustain that momentum but again I got shouted down by over enthusiastic Welsh supporters claiming I was being patronising.

Well, guess who was correct?

I also didn't say England were unlucky but was responding to comments made that England should go back to the drawing board to see how rugby should be played. In my opinion, you cannot make that claim when the Scottish version of rugby was a good example of how the game was played in the '90s which is to win by penalty kicking with a distinct lack of the running game.

Now you might not like my comments and I'm pretty sure that Scotland won't be at the top of the pile this time next year, if indeed they are now but just as one swallow doesn't make a summer, one win against England every six or so years does not make a championship team.

It's funny how there are so many people jumping on the Scottish bandwagon now but where are the Welsh supporters from last year? It will be just the same with Scotland. Fair play, they won but England weren't playing well and just to reiterate - to suggest that England need to go back to the drawing board because of one bad game against opposition that was hardly scintillating (outside the defensive element) shows either a complete ignorance of the game or excessive exuberance because Scotland have won a couple of games.

Alas

Again lets take your points
1. I also believe Northern Hemisphere has a very long way to catch up with Southern so I did not mention or dispute that point. As to Wales being a one pony season I would suggest that may be due to injury and a much smaller playing pool than England.
2. You did say England was unlucky see Post 25
3. Where did I say Scotland would win the Championship. I actually brought up the point of how infrequently Scotland win against England.
4. Again I did not say that England had to go back to the drawing board. But again you say the only reason Scotland won was because England were not playing well.

Your grapes get more sour by the minute m8. Your team was complacent and were outplayed.

Flatcapdriver

My grapes aren't sour, just well reasoned. If you had read this thread in it's entirety you would realise that I've already explained why Wales are struggling and that is due to their lack of strength in depth. The unlucky comment that you correctly pointed was in relation to being unlucky in one of their failed attempts to score a try, not in relation to whole game.

The rest of the comments you raise are the ones you've confused as part of my response to other posters suggesting that England need to go back to the drawing board, which is plainly ridiculous. I don't think England were outplayed, other than defensively which Scotland did extremely well but you only have to look at the tackle count to realise that. England had 60 passes out of rucks, compared to Scotlands 16. England completed 168 passed to Scotland's 56 and won far more line outs. I could go on and whilst I agree that Scotland were excellent defensivel and won some good turnovers in the second half, I think that to suggest Scotland outplayed England is over generous at best.