# 6 Nations Rugby



## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

Great start to the 6 Nations Rugby









Scotland beating the French







OK it was a weakened French side but the Scots showed more balls than I have seen for a long time .... it will make it all the sweeter when England beat them at Murrayfield







Highlight of the game for me was the amazing forwards try early in the 2nd half when the Scots forwards drove the French pack backwards for 25 metres to score







As an ex-forward I know how much that hurts to execute .... legs swimming in lactic acid ... chest burning ... blood pounding in your ears ..... those were the days









England destroyed Wales; and if they had decent centres it would have been a another 20 points. The England mid-field is very ordinary but I can't see any alternatives







.... The forwards were immense Dallaglio came on and played a stormer









Italy ran Ireland close, and if it hadn't been for a dubious Irish try might have pulled off a historic win. The Irish didn't look good


----------



## scottishcammy (Jul 11, 2003)

Everything was going so well up until the 3rd sentence


----------



## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

scottishcammy said:


> Everything was going so well up until the 3rd sentence





















It is good for Rugby that the Scots won IMO, they have their own style which is great to watch ... I can't tell you how impressed I was with the Scottish pack .... they were superb for 60 - 65 minutes although they seemed to run out of steam towards the end. There can't be many times in French Rugby history when the forwards have been pushed back 25 metres, it was worth watching the game just for that









I am glad to see they have stopped the pre-match fireworks at Murrayfield and the lone piper on the stand roof and a national song singer ....







Don't you just hate that? The Welsh are the worst having Charlotte Church or suchlike singing the national anthem ... all you can hear is the singer and not the crowd. There used to be nothing more stirring than a packed Cardiff Arms Park singing "Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" perhaps with an un-amplified male-voice choir.

England made the decision not to jazz up the preliminaries a few years ago ... 70 plus (soon to be 82!)thousand people at Twickenham singing the first verse of the National Anthem is intimidating enough


----------



## Shaky (Dec 16, 2005)

JoT said:


> scottishcammy said:
> 
> 
> > Everything was going so well up until the 3rd sentence
> ...


I agree, wonderful listening to a crowd singing together, stirring stuff.

Missed the games, working at the weekend, glad to see England off to a good start.









Hope Scotland don't play like that against England, I don't think many sides could handle that.

Hope the buggers are too knackered by the time they play England.









Dave....


----------



## Roger (May 17, 2003)

France played very poorly up til about 65 minutes.....Scotland MUST improve touch-kicking, that was a weak point in their game...entertaining match though...

Italy were robbed...poor decision IMHO

Roger


----------



## pauluspaolo (Feb 24, 2003)

Agree that Italy were robbed - poor decision by the referee - but it's good that they are getting more competitive in each competition. It won't be long before they are a side to be reckoned with & they start winning games (or did they win a game last year??).

Thought that both the English & Welsh teams played well in the 1st half (and the close score at 1/2 time reflected that) but England were much better in the 2nd half. Having said that I thought the score flattered England somewhat. Cuetto, Corry & Cohen (if only because he snatched a try away from Wales at the last possible second) played very well. Good game I thought









What can you say about the Scotland v France game? Scotland played an absolute blinder, took the game to the French and wouldn't back down. A superb effort & a thoroughly deserved win - I loved every second of the match. France for the wooden spoon? I can only hope


----------



## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

Scotland 18 - 12 England









Good old-fashioned game .... no tries .... England were poor by their standards and the Scots tackled their hearts out and kicked for teritory very well.

England's half-backs were very poor ..... Hodgson was dire


----------



## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

Just caught the end of it John I was at work and assumed I'd missed it only to grab the remote off the wife in an add break in stars in their eyes kids (







) to see it was a late kick off and I'd missed 70 minutes, I could have watched the whole game if i'd know







mind you if the previous 70 was as bad as the last 10 then I'm glad I missed it!


----------



## PeterN (Sep 1, 2005)

I was quite sanguine at h-t, and thought we'd win just playing the same way, but 10 minutes in I had that old sinking feeling... Hodgson was by no means dire - his problem his having a scrum-half who's slow to the breakdown and has a slowish pass (by international standards) and having Tindall outside him. + Cohen dropping the ball with only Patterson to stomp over...

It's the usual story, England just seem completely brainless at times and Scotland were at their wonderful, frustrating in yer face best. But I'm half Scottish so the disapointment didn't last too long!


----------



## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

PeterN said:


> ... Hodgson was by no means dire - his problem his having a scrum-half who's slow to the breakdown and has a slowish pass (by international standards)


Well I thought Hodgson was dire ... I know Ellis is slow and Tindall is past his best but Hodgson's decision making was way off in this game. His tactical kicking was poor and was often straight down the throat of a Scots defender, there were three times when the England backs had an overlap and Hodgson went himself resulting in two turnovers, he just couldn't get the line moving (admittedly Tindall was part of the problem) on the three or four occasions the line did move it made very good ground ... as for Cohen dropping the ball when all he had to do was catch it and fall over the line









Anyway what do I know about backs .... I was a tight-head prop for twenty odd years









And what about Martin Corry as Captain? He just doesn't seem to be able to inspire or change the game on the field ... two games running he has been substituted by Dallaglio ... seems a very odd set-up







Could you imagine Martin Johnson agreeing to be substituted?


----------



## PeterN (Sep 1, 2005)

> Could you imagine Martin Johnson agreeing to be substituted?


Can you imagine anyone daring to try! I'm not totally convinced by Corry - he's very good player but we've been spoilt by riches in recent times But anno domini must catch up with big lol sooner rather than later.

I shouldn't pontificate on back play either - I was a hooker, long long ago! The scariest moment I ever had was playing against the school up the road who had a hooker two years older than me with a terrifying reputation - Brian Moore by name. Fortunately he played scrum half that day. I kept my head down and had a very quiet game!


----------



## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

PeterN said:


> The scariest moment I ever had was playing against the school up the road who had a hooker two years older than me with a terrifying reputation - Brian Moore by name. Fortunately he played scrum half that day. I kept my head down and had a very quiet game!


What a coincidence







I was at Uni with Moore ... trained with him but never propped for him in a game unfortunately.

I agree about big Lol .... worries me that there doesn't seem to be any alternative to Corry at present ... I think Wilkinson could have made a good fist of it ... but I just don't see him ever playing for England again


----------



## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

I am suprised our Scottish contributors have been so quiet


----------



## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

they are probably still celebrating John, doesn't happen that often does it?


----------



## scottishcammy (Jul 11, 2003)

Just in from work, sorry for the delay......



























































































, reminds me of a song I know...."And sent them homewards, tae think again", Cheers, Cammy! (Come on, you can't grudge me a wee bit of pleasure!


----------



## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

England lost at something again?

That's nothing new and will soon be forgotten.









But, tomorrow is another day.









Best wishes to the victors, don't get too bad a headache.


----------



## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

scottishcammy said:


> Just in from work, sorry for the delay......
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The Scots played well Cammy and deserved to win









Must have been a good night in "Auld Reekie" last night ..... Scotland Rugby, Hearts and Hibs all winning!


----------



## scottishcammy (Jul 11, 2003)

You missed yourself pal!


----------



## Nalu (Nov 28, 2003)

After finally seeing the delayed matches here on Setanta, I wrote a long post which was lost when my computer crashed yet again









So I'll summarise:

Well done Scotland - work to do, but formidable at home.

England need Wilko and a captain. And a scrummie.

BOD is amazing, but his shoulder is dodgy. Pack is coming together.

Wales never looked like winning after Jones went off.

ANDIAMO AZZURI!

















PS - some outstanding S14 matches this past weekend and if anyone saw the Saints match: "Carlos is _still_ the King. Long live the King!"


----------



## cujimmy (Aug 27, 2003)

JoT said:


> OK it was a weakened French side but the Scots showed more balls than I have seen for a long time .... it will make it all the sweeter when England beat them at Murrayfield


Aye right, pal.


































































cujimmy


----------



## Nalu (Nov 28, 2003)

BTW, I was wondering if anyone who watched the Wales v Ireland shellacking noticed this tidbit:


----------



## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

Probably only you Coiln would have spotted that


----------



## Griff (Feb 23, 2003)

Bond SMP...............right


----------



## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

cujimmy said:


> JoT said:
> 
> 
> > OK it was a weakened French side but the Scots showed more balls than I have seen for a long time .... it will make it all the sweeter when England beat them at Murrayfield
> ...










I hoped nobody would remember that quote







:lol:


----------



## PhilM (Nov 5, 2004)

Anybody watching the France v England match half time and we have been stuffed







Come on what the hell are they playing at so many errors no leadsership back too basics guys


----------



## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

PhilM said:


> Anybody watching the France v England match half time and we have been stuffed
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Robinson has take Hodgson off at half-time ... thank goodness ... and brought Andy Goode on









Now to take Corry off and bring Lol on .....

Goode just nailed a penalty ... now 16-6


----------



## Roger (May 17, 2003)

I watched the ireland match yesterday......

anyone know why with ONLY 2 minutes of the match gone......o'gara needed someone to run on so that he could have a pull from his "baby bottle"....is he so weak that he cant cope with just 2 minutes of rugby, during which, he did almost nothing?

This performance with the "baby bottle" was repeated each time a kick was taken.

In my rugby days. we did 40 minutes and then, if lucky, got a segment of orange.

Why this constant "baby bottle" ?


----------



## Nalu (Nov 28, 2003)

10 minutes left in the England/France match as it is being shown here - horrible performance on England's part, especially considering how many kicks at goal France have missed and that the score could have been much worse.

Roger, I missed O'Gara going off, but noted the sippy bottles. I've got mixed feelings about this.

On the one hand, it seems as if the players do get a lot of breaks in the modern game: stoppages for injuries or just breath-catching, copious substitutes, water/sports drinks at every break, etc. OTOH, their schedule is abominable (I've read about the schedule problem but didn't fully appreciate it until gettting Setanta this year and seeing the same faces on the pitch week after week without breaks), the matches are played at a much faster pace and are much more physical and the players are on the pitch sick or injured. They're pros and don't have much of a choice, particularly when playing representative rugby where missing a match due to the flu or a sore ankle means losing a slot you may never get a chance to earn back.

I just watched the full '73 AB v BaaBaas match last weekend. It was a great match, but really very sloppy and I just didn't see an athletic performance anywhere close to what you can see in any GP/CL/6N/S14 match these days.

Ultimately, I'll give these guys the benefit of the doubt: they have taken the sport to a whole new level and are pushing the limits of human sports performance. Just as clubs have become businesses, the athletes have to take every advantage available.


----------

