on tv there scoring loads

CGI, I think 🙂

well i did think it might be the clips they show before the game as i don’t watch much rugby

We’ll fail the post match drug tests 😀

Finally my shouting at the tv pays off and with quicker ball they manage to play a bit. I’m sure normal shonky performance will return soon.Well done for now though.

Quicker ball? Only in the first half! How long did Ellis spend just waiting with the ball semi-out of the rucks? As Moore said, that has to be sorted out. If it’s there, take it or lose it.

That said, it was really quite a first half from England. Let it go a little in the second, but one hell of a first half. There was always a good game in them as a team, they’ve had half of it!

Now, time to beat the Irish by over 13 at the TRUE home of rugby! 😉

Confession….fell asleep for most of the second half.zzZZZ

See them at the end – totally wasted. They really worked for that, both sides. You don’t see that in Football.

England progressing but bet it is not so easy against Scotland. If England had got another win then it would have been wide open, what if what if what if

France great one match, shyte the next

6 nations is fab this year

Indeed, tis good this year. Thought Scotland looked surprisingly good yesterday against Ireland.

Wales vs Ireland should be a great match to decide the tournament on, just hope Ireland are playing at their best and beat em!

Is the Wales vs Ireland game being played at a private school in the Midlands then CFH?
Great game, England were fantastic throughout but praise must go also to the French for not letting their heads drop, pulling themselves together and making a bit more of a game of it in the second half.

Pity about the cricket team.
🙂

Now, time to beat the Irish by over 13 at the TRUE home of rugby!

I sense quite the week of banter Flashy – it’s going to be one hell of a game. But I fear the pressure of expectation (as ever) will get to the green machine and we’ll find some way to rob ourselves of a deserved grand slam. Wales simply have too much quality and too much desire to wreck the dreams of others to roll over quietly and let us have it. Indeed the millennium stadium has been a happy hunting ground for the Munstermen (cheating b’stards from Leicester aside) but not so on Saturday I fear.

Martin Johnson threatened to beat **** out of them if they didnt win today. That was the team chat before the game and it seemed to have worked very well.

Eh Darcy? cheating from Leicester?, mmm in rugby its only cheating if you get caught isnt it?
(Leicester chap here whos very pleased with the Tigers and today Martin Johnson!)

Which other Englishmen will be busy supporting Ireland next week (I’m actually 1/4 Irish with an Irish surname, so support them against anybody but England anyway)? If I’ve worked it out right, if Wales lose and England win, then England will finish second in the table (provided France don’t run up a cricket score against Italy), which would make life great fun for those of us who know Welsh rugby fans 😀 Wales could finish as low as 4th I think!

I think France were pretty poor in that game to be honest, in the first half. They seriously flattered England, although England did play more like they should’ve been playing all along. Seems like Johnson is getting the hang of being a coach somewhat.

As for the tournament, it’s good from a sporting spectacle point of view, but in terms of rugby quality it’s sadly a bit dire, I think. No-one’s consistent, and the ELVs are confusing game plans and leading to frustrating and frankly ridiculous bouts of full-back tennis. I mean, Wales needing to score with a few minutes to go against France booting the ball to the other end of the field – wtf? I know the ELVs are new and all but you still can’t score without the ball, can you?

Molgrips – Its nice to see England playing rugby these days without resorting to the boring old tactic of booting the ball at every opportunity too.

Its a shame that many of the other teams have now started copying what seemed to suit England for a short while a few years back.

sootyandjim – Member
Is the Wales vs Ireland game being played at a private school in the Midlands then CFH?

😀

I was luck enough to play on ‘the’ pitch a couple of times.

Rubbish playing surface, awkward wind situation, but still…..nice to have played at the source!

So is that the REAL home of rugby you were on about in your earlier post or do you, in some fit of delusion, somehow think that title has passed to the concrete boo boy bowl in south Wales?

Have they moved the game on Saturday next door to the Arms Park 🙂

One half of good rugby against the most inept French side I have ever seen still does not a return to form make. Second half was a bit ponderous.

DD do you really think the green machine will choke. I just want it to be a barnstormer, we were woeful in Italy so hope Gatland and Edwards can get the best 15 on the paddock and playing well. Rumour has it that Henson had a tantrum after the whislte, shame as his small contribution was brilliant.

Molgrips – Its nice to see England playing rugby these days without resorting to the boring old tactic of booting the ball at every opportunity too.

Aye, even as a Welsh fan it was good to see them playing properly. One of the list of reasons why England have traditionally been hated (imo) is the tactic of trying to spoil the game rather than play the game we all want to see.

Aye, even as a Welsh fan it was good to see them playing properly

Agreed. Was good ot see some great rugby being played.

Rumour has it that Henson had a tantrum after the whislte

Didn’t see the game, but the report I read suggested he was upset with the decision to attempt a penalty at the end (to try and improve their points difference) rather than just booting it out and ending the game. Obvioously the penalty risked the Italians coming back at them to win the game.

…trying to spoil the game rather than play the game we all want to see.

Indeed. Its seems that Mr Johnson’s drive to get England playing ‘old fashioned rugby’ might be finally showing the first fruit. Unfortunately its happening just as many of the other 6 Nation sides are switching to the boring ping pong version they’ve decried England for playing for so long.

the report I read suggested he was upset with the decision to attempt a penalty at the end

Yeah, but he dealt with it well. Really, just showed how mature the squad is if they can get really angry and just deal with it properly.

I happened to be at the match yesterday, and well, yes England did play well at times and took their opportunities when presented to them… but on at least two of their first 1/2 tries there was quite obvious interference and blocking runners that went on that the ref didn’t spot… and also when the French were pressurising in the first half, england took out a quite a few of the next in line ball carriers (when they didn’t have the ball! Which is illegal for those who don’t know!) so the french HAD to take it into contact and not cycle it quickly… I think the Ref had a very poor match and didn’t even get control of the scrum properly at all…

Oh and LOL to ‘others’ playingt eh kicking game and not england… Did you not see they put Goode the hobbit on?!!!

I agree with the good doctor about the refereeing, it was bad on loads of levels. And yes there was lots of kicking in the game but less than some of the others and there was some decent ish rugby in between.

I’m just annoyed with the bad performances that’ve littered the tournament… Only a few decent performances or even just halves.. We’ll never compete with the SH at this rate.

Very true…for quality, the tournament has been lacking and I shudder to think what the SH sides would do with any of us. I dunno though, maybe it’s just that the sides are closely matched. The Ireland-France game was excellent as was the Wales-France game.

Despite always wanting to see England lose (apart from when they play Australia), you had to hand it to their backs on Sunday – they definitely showed there was the makings of a good nine to fifteen there and the discipline in the forwards was impressive given their recent displays. Can’t help feeling that the ref interfered a little too much and that France just didn’t turn up. One could talk about the blocking and seemingly forward passes leading up to two of the tries but England deserved them – when you’re playing well and your guys are making the runs at the right angles, well, sometimes that dummy runner ends up looking a bit like a block, obstruction, call it whatever and that pass that went “forward” would have found it’s man if it had been level anyway. France can have no complaints; England took them apart in the first half because they were stupid enough to come with yet another messed-around-with team.

Eh Darcy? cheating from Leicester?, mmm in rugby its only cheating if you get caught isnt it?

Hmmm, I would say there’s “cheating” and there’s “cheating” but never mind, you’ve never been much of a problem for us since.