In an attempt to avoid royal crap I thought I’d start a thread on something important:
to play Aus
15-Stuart Hogg, 14-Joe Ansbro, 13-Nick De Luca, 12-Matt Scott, 11-Sean Lamont, 10-Greig Laidlaw, 9-Mike Blair, 8-John Barclay, 7-Ross Rennie, 6-Alasdair Strokosch, 5-Richie Gray, 4-Alastair Kellock, 3-Euan Murray, 2-Ross Ford, 1-Ryan Grant.
Replacements: 16-Scott Lawson, 17-Jon Welsh, 18-Tom Ryder, 19-Richie Vernon, 20-Chris Cusiter, 21-Duncan Weir, 22-Tom Brown

apparently Visser not eligible until next week.
Shame Wales have been screwed by their own greed, wales will be undercooked and only have half a squad in Aus whilst Aus will be nicely warmed up. Shame on a level playing field they would have an outside chance of getting at least 1 win i the series. Scotland have no chance.
Irish to be humped by all blacks
England, not sure what to make of them v SA.

Rugby is shite, played by toffs or wools.

Thread closed!!!

I do **** off you tiresom ****.

Scotland – they are effective the warm up match for Aus and its not the strongest Aus team. However I thik that once again robinson shows his poor selection in the forwards and as a result Scotland will be well beten – not able to get enough ball to the backs ( which are now the set of backs that should have started the 6N) Also Robinson is clearly unable to prepare the team mentally properly.

Wales – good chance of some wins and games that I think should be good matches – the ones worth watching out of this lot

England – they will find out just how far they are for a good team – 3 nil humping in a boring slugfest

I do enjoy some of the intellectual comments that crop up on here.

From my perspective, Scotland are on a hiding to nothing. A loss to Australia will be palatable but if they lose to either Fiji or Samoa, which is a distinct possibility, morale will be at an all time low from which it will be difficult to recover. A good number of tries, but not from Scotland.

Wales have the makings of a side that can beat Australia, made the more intriguing because the Austalians and the Welsh play a vey similar game. Tries gallore from both sides.

Ireland somehow need to tap into the HC winning mentality. However, taking on the ABs who will be full of confidence as World Champions; nah. A good handfull of tries for the ABs in the latter stages of their games.

A bit like Australia and Wales, England and the Boks are playing very similar rugby. If the mid-field can be sorted out then England have a chance. Hardly any tries but some tight results.

not able to get enough ball to the backs ( which are now the set of backs that should have started the 6N)

Err..De Luca is playing….

I like the look of the Scotland backs with the possible exception on NDL. I’m not sure how much clean ball they’re going to see with that forwards selection though.

Given the fact that Murray is not the dominant tight head he once was and is still refusing to play on Sundays causing disruption to the squad what is doing in Australia, never mind the starting line up, I have no idea.

Duckman – I would have played NDL on the basis of his club form – when he plays outside a 12 who gives him some decent passes he looks good – its just he never gets this opportunity in internationals and gets frustrated.

he had a great season for Edinburgh. Lets see if he can do it now outside a decent 12. Its his last chance tho

Judging by the interview’s SA are nervous of England. Their team hasn’t played together, is young/new and untested and not match fit (yet)

We (England) have picked some fast players who may excel on the harder ground and a reasonable defensive setup. I’d say they’ll play Barrit and Tuilagi in H1 and bring on the speedsters in H2 to finish off SA in the last 20 – if all goes to plan.

Could be interesting to see if Lancaster, having built a decent team can now work a strategy / increase thier ability / strike rate.

Kryton

If Mike Catt can get Tuilagi to operate like Mapassua did at LI you may be right. However, at the moment he rarely moves out of position so is predictable, as is Barrit. The two of them are too similar to play together me thinks. Tuilagi’s form will need to pick up quickly – he was woeful in the Premiership final.

Mike Brown or Ben Foden. Now there’s an interesting choice.

I do think we (England – my name is a red herring and an example of poor parental choice) stand a chance though.

whilst wales on paper should have a chance, the appalling build up to the game means they have made a tough job almost impossible. A lot of the players will be short of games and the build up will be shit with half the squad not yet in Aus. I also dont think Wales will try to play fast and loose (or they shouldnt) their advantgae is in the front 5.

this lads quick:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/18309811

I may be wrong, but I dont see England running rings around SA, those matches will be won and lost up front and I still remain to be convinced the england pack has what it takes to win away in SA.

Bloody hell! Quick isn’t the half of it. We and the Oirish will get pasted, WRU have decided that they don’t like preparing like a professional era team and have decided to see who turns up on the morning of departure.The interesting one is England; I think now that SA have a coach rather than a political decision running their team, they could start to rise again. England would do well to avoid Tuilagi as he was dire after xmas. (I suspect a head knock as he seems to have lost any ability to follow patterns) England will still be fragile,and are only five games on from what SA are doing now. 6N was a sticking plaster, this is how we can judge the way Lancaster is going to set out his stall.

Tuilagi was utter pants in the Aviva final.

Angus Wells – Member
Kryton

If Mike Catt can get Tuilagi to operate like Mapassua did at LI you may be right. However, at the moment he rarely moves out of position so is predictable, as is Barrit. The two of them are too similar to play together me thinks. Tuilagi’s form will need to pick up quickly – he was woeful in the Premiership final.

What I meant was, I reckon Lancaster will put them together for the first game, in the first half to quell the SA enthusiam – ie as a defensive posture then swap and see what works later. It’ll be all abput not letting them score first.

In other news: http://www.espnscrum.com/heineken-cup-2011-12/rugby/story/165014.html?CMP=OTC-RSS

French and English in “We haven’t won anything in a while so now we want the rules changed” shocker

Dunno how changing the rules will make the Irish teams any easier to beat. Leinster, Munster and Ulster will still be in top six. What they need to do is have the top 8 from England and France and call it the Channel cup. Or ban teams who’s name finishes in “er”

English midfield is their weakness 0- stodgy and predictable.

Scotland to get humped

Ireland to do ok but will ship a lot in last 10 mins

Wales to show some good signs but loose

South Africa to beat up england but england may win one.

Leinster, Munster and Ulster will still be in top six

Would they though, both Blues and Edinburgh were outside top 6 this season and Ulster were only 6th. What it would do is make the welsh regions even less happy about sending players to join up with team wales so much, same would apply to edinburgh. Tell the froggies and england to get **** I say. English clubs I would think should be very careful about aligning themselves with the french, it wouldnt take much to tip many of them into serious financial problems.

Thing is,in the wee games ie thumping Embra, the Irish do not field full strength teams. I have run touch for all three of those teams in the last couple of seasons,and strugled to recognise many of the starting xv’s. They would have to change this policy. Wales would be in bother with the exodus of high wage earners/current skintness. SRU have the money now the stadium is paid for, but are hinting about another stab at a Borders team (watches tj’s eyes go agaog)

yeah the irish would be fine, the top three teams have very deep squads, the welsh would be screwed as would the scots, however the english playing the irish and french might start to lose appeal, especially as the french often dont take it seriously. A good old england wales club game brings in the fans, whilst watching their teams get humped sensless by the irish may start to grate on the average english club supporter

and dont get me started on how London Welsh have been screwed, people in glass houses shouldnt throw stones IMO

I think Welsh are in with a very good chance of turning that one over AA,rest of prem clubs have the same conditions. LW should immediately be bought by WRU and players poured into LW on central contracts; imagine if they did this and Welsh finished 6th in prem? 😀 😀 😀

I hope you’re right. Then i will get to see my fav player in oxford!!

So

Scotland to play this morning.

Just read an interview with Robinson – going for the wrong tactic again – intending to go for a set piece battle especially kicking for touch.

Scotland will not improve until we get rid of this plonker. Scotland have a young fast team with some great ball players – they should be playing in the Edinburgh style. Fast and unpredictable and moving the ball around the park / keeping it in play to create mismatches.

Robinson will insist on playing tactics from years ago, the wrong tactic for the players we have and tactic designed to limit the opposition score not enhance our score. Its a pity we do not have the leaders to tell him to away and jump and to play the right tactics

Aus by 20 pts

I’m not really sure how these things work, but wouldn’t it have been better for Scotland to play a series against Argentina rather than one game against a weakened Aussie team and the Fiji etc? Seems a shame for them not to have a decent summer tour.

I think its going to be a poor summer for all of the home nations.

Ireland are going to NZ with a very inexperienced pack and several out due to injury. The backline will score if they get ball but I think that will be the issue. Whitewash I’m afraid.

Scotland will loose to Aus and win against Samoa and Fiji but only just.

I can’t see Wales or Eng fairing much better, Wales might get a win but it will be very close.

Did anyone see the Irish youngsters beat their hosts the Junior Springboks last night? I think the Boks thought that they were going to walk it and the intensity of the Irish took them by surprise. We will chalk that one up as a win for the Northern Hemisphere. Here’s hoping for a similar attitude from the real Boks on Saturday.

Live stream anywhere?

http://mypremium.tv/

http://www.vipbox.tv/watch/55340/1/australia-vs-scotland–live-stream-online.html

Cheers teej xx

Angus Wells – Member

England have a chance.

Funny guy eh… You should seek out a career in comedy.

fixed it.

YES!!!!! YA **** DANCER!!!!!

I don’t mean to diss scotland, as I like my kilt wearing neighbours it was a great win, awesome defence and they kept their heads.
But this reminds me of when england won the RWC in 2003 and beat Ire at the end of this years 6N. The ref was on side for the last 10 mins…

I take back everything I ever said about Euan Murray

Well played scotland. I fear for wales on saturday!

Congrats to the Scots, a great performance 🙂