[Closed] 6 nations thread, let the arguments commence

don't get ahead of yourself, one game does not make a tournament Darcy

Of course, if you'd read what I said straight after the game, you might rethink what you're saying there. I've already said that England were clearly the best side in the tournament. But this throwing of "you only beat us because you're more up for it" is an insult to a team of professionals with far less resources and a relatively minuscule player-pool.

Fool

😆

Actually to be fair, you'd do well on a football thread.

to a team of professionals with far less resources and a relatively minuscule player-pool.

Getting your excuses in. If Ireland had played like throughout they would have won the 6 nations.

.. Having said that if we had played that bad throughout we would have the wooden spoon!

It's all good though, i do enjoy the 6n

Zut alors 😯

Wow! that was a score and a half!

I love this game, even if i have to share it with you lot! 😛

Anyway, doesn't NZ have the same population as Wales? They have a small player pool and they don't do too badly do they? 😆

Just think, when this games over you can take a leaf out of DD's and the Irish book and enjoy the craic

You are right muddy dwarf!

Wish England had played with Frances intensity...

Allez les Bleus!

England scrape to a tournament win.

It's been fun y'all - this time next yr? 😆

yay! allez les blancs 😀
scraping a win? we won 33% more games than anyone else!

Bon chance et au revoir mes petit ros beufs

scraping a win? we won 33% more games than anyone else!

Right, now the hostilities are over, can i buy you welsh and irish a beer?
(already know enough grasping Scots to bankrupt me!)

[img] [/img]

Oooh, where can i buy that?

Told ya, the English team looked really underwhelmed to lift the trophy.
Good game from the French and Welsh, really enjoyed that game.

muddydwarf - Member
Oooh, where can i buy that?

Booths or Sainsburys

£1.75 a bottle..

All over now till we all underperform at the WC 🙂

It has been great fun as ever, wish Wales had played a good 80 mins, playing great 20 minutes is not good enough.

Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread, lots of pages with out the usual descent into name calling and ego clashing.

Now to the WC and I predict that Australia will win.

It's been a great thread as ever. As for the namecalling, I'm going to forget being called a "Fool" today...but only because of who it was. 😀

Either Aus or NZ for the WC i reckon. England will flatter to decieve again.

Roll on the World Cup. Having England and Argentina in our pool we (Scotland) can't even be sure of last 8 but hopefully we have the drop on the Pumas for now and we can warm up against Romania and Georgia.

The Irish should get past Italy but it could be interesting for Wales if Fiji and Samoa start well.

Looking forward to that thread in 6 months time.

Oh NZ should win it but can they avoid choking?

DD just a quick question, but as you say Ireland have beaten Eng a lot recently and if that has nothing to do with "being up for it" ho do you explain the poor performance in 2007 RWC in the middle of it all if they are such model professionals? I dont believe it is the only reason Ireland keep beating England, but please dont pretend that Ireland have been a great team for all that time.

Where did I say Ireland were a "great team"? We only have a realistic chance of being the best team in the 6N from time to time. We notoriously underperform when expectations are high. We despair. I have no idea why. All I know is that they're a far more professional outfit than even ten years ago.

I'll just repeat what I said earlier: England were the best team in this 6N and they will no doubt go further in the WC than Ireland. (although, having a look at the groups, I dunno...but I refuse to get my hopes up). I just think it's unfair to say that we're more "up" for it when it's England and that's why we've won 7 of the last 10 encounters. If England fans feel they need to say that to make themselves feel better, then fair enough. I guess the fact that it winds other fans up is all part of the fun.

EDIT: tbh, the competition's over now and the thread's run its course. Im just going to enjoy our one excellent performance and not argue about it anymore.

Is it only 7 out of the last ten, ireland have won?

One or two surprises this year , but England deserve the championship over all.

However, the fact England have only won 1 grand slam since 1995 shows how difficult it is which puts Wales last two recent slams in perspective.

Roll on Gloucester tomorrow 8)

maxray - Member

to a team of professionals with far less resources and a relatively minuscule player-pool.

Getting your excuses in. If Ireland had played like throughout they would have won the 6 nations.

Talking about player numbers, resources or funding isn't an excuse, it's a reality.

England massively underperform every year if you consider how the player base they have (Number Of Registered Players:
2549196) compares to Ireland for example (Number Of Registered Players:
153080) or Wales (Number Of Registered Players:50557) or even NZ (Number Of Registered Players:137835).

So England have over 2million players compared to 50,000 Welsh players. Why don't England absolutely annihilate Wales every single time, and amusingly why do they need Kiwis and Saffers filling up the national team?

Add in the huge amount of money in the English game, the blanket coverage by the [i]national[/i] press (were Ireland playing this weekend? Not if you read some newspapers.), the fact that the BBC can only address a question if it involves an English team and you are getting close to the reasons why non-English supporters love beating the English.

so plenty of money, support and players won't get you the best team, but it makes you ripe for contempt? fair enough if it's done in jest and done to wind people up, but if there's vitriol behind it... then that's just petty.

England massively underperform every year if you consider how the player base they have (Number Of Registered Players:
2549196) compares to Ireland for example (Number Of Registered Players:
153080) or Wales (Number Of Registered Players:50557) or even NZ (Number Of Registered Players:137835).

Exactly what you'd exepect to hear from a sore loser. Shit excuse.
NZ have less players than most and are consistently one of the strongest teams on the planet. NEXT

brakes - Member
so plenty of money, support and players won't get you the best team, but it makes you ripe for contempt? fair enough if it's done in jest and done to wind people up, but if there's vitriol behind it... then that's just petty.

Contempt? I'm sure the Welsh/Irish/Scottish teams respect the English team as much as they deserve. The fans all drink together. Not sure where you are going with that.

BUT, thinking about it - the media started talking about an English slam after the Welsh game. Indeed last weekend, it was a certainty - before they'd even played Scotland. The contempt maybe comes from the English? Justifying the amusement WE get from seeing rich big brother fail?

Vitriol? Are you serious?

backhander, sorry I must have confused you because there was no reference to Godlike Jonny W in my earlier post. I do apologise.

as you say Ireland have beaten Eng a lot recently

Ireland beat England a lot because they are strong where england are strong in the front 5 and backrow (scrumaging apart as the irish are often weak in the scrum). Wales beat England less because england can bully wales upfront but that doesnt work against ireland.

NZ have less players than most and are consistently one of the strongest teams on the planet. NEXT

thats like comparing apples with pears, rugby is THE only sport in New Zealand that matters so they get all the best sportsmen

anwayteam of the tournament?

1. Mas
2. Hartley
3. Domingo
4. O'Connell
5. Nallet
6. Harry Ordinary
7. Warburton
8. Parisse

9. Para
10. Dont know
11. Clerc??
12. Lamont
13. O'Driscol
14. Bowe
15. Foden

as long as it's banter IdleJon, then that's fair enough 🙂 I just don't like how England is often derided and doesn't stick up for itself for fear of having an opinion rather than sitting on the fence.
I can see what you mean about the BBC coverage, they seemed a bit more balanced with the Ireland match yesterday until Brian Moore opened his stupid fatuous mouth.

In othernews who did Shaun Edwards have a fight with?

anwayteam of the tournament?

1. Mas
2. Hartley
3. Domingo
4. O'Connell
5. Nallet
6. Harry Ordinary
7. Warburton
8. Parisse

9. Para
10. Dont know
11. Clerc??
12. Lamont
13. O'Driscol
14. Bowe
15. Foden

I though Chris Patterson played well for Scotland, barely missed a kick, and made at least 2 excellent try saving tackles... the one against England was notable

[i]anagallis_arvensis - Member
In othernews who did Shaun Edwards have a fight with? [/i]

The team psycho according to planetrugby's forum. 😆

http://forum.planet-rugby.com/index.php?t=msg&th=220031&start=0&

I though Chris Patterson played well for Scotland, barely missed a kick, and made at least 2 excellent try saving tackles... the one against England was notable

But he's still not good enough to displace any of the team that a_a posted.

He is a bit of an enigma to me. If he couldn't kick so well, would he be in the Scottish team?

Paterson is shit his kicking isnt even that good from any distance.

[i]brakes - Member
as long as it's banter IdleJon, then that's fair enough
[/i]

Too many English people in my family to be too horrible to them, brakes... 😉

(It's just a cross we have to bear I suppose. Living in a verdant mountain bike paradise, riding straight from my door onto proper hills. A decent rugby team 5 minutes away. Beautiful sandy beaches, trout leaping from the streams, fantastic brewery up the road. No wonder the English try to get green cards..... 😆

Well, it's not raining today. And I may be lying about the rugby team seeing as it's the Ospreys.)

Patterson is au underrated player - he is faster than folk think,good tackler, elusive runner with the ball in hand. I don't think Foden has looked that good in the last couple of matches

Gray has to get a place in a team of the tournament

Gray and Davies will make a wonderful Lions pairing in time but I dont think either are good enough yet, Gray catches the eye but has he enough grunt?

and Patterson is shit, sorry, whilst he may be one of Scotchlands best backs he wouldnt get in any other 6 nations team apart from maybe Italy for his kicking. Masi looks a better fullback.

I just had a look at the first page of this thread - lots of predictions, none correct that I could see

England - improveda dn generally more consistent. Badly missed Croft and Lawes, need some pace in the back row and a centre with some skill
Worthy winners of the 6N, not good enough fora grand slam, nothing to scare the southern hemisphere teams 7/10

France - I though Leiveremnent was using all those players in preparation so he knew all the best combinations and had 2 players for every position. Instead it look like he hasn't got a clue. France end up much less effective than they should be 5/10

Ireland - aging team able to pull off a performance when needed. Lucky to end with 3 wins. Who coated Darcys hands with grease? couldn't hold a pass all tournament. 5/10

Wales - looked directionless and weak in some areas. Better performance that I expected. 5/10

Scotland - a major disappointment. I thought we finally had a team to do something - not the greatest back line but the forwards should be able to win lots of ball and dominate games. Instead the set piece crumbled and teh whole team was simply not good enough. No hunger from some players. Unlucky only to have one win but hardly deserved more 4/10

Italy - was this the season they came of age? Only one real beating and unlucky to only get one win - but what a win it was!
6/10 simply for the improvement and beating France

I didn't see the problem with Moore, especially yesterday. He's brutally honest. Maybe that's what some people don't like. I'm happy to accept he's an England fan. I couldn't bear to watch the Irish national broadcaster's coverage. It's embarrassingly one-eyed.

All the former players-turned-pundits are biased, only to be expected. I like Moore's commentary and i can listen to jiffy explain the plays etc til the cows come home, what he doesn't know about the game isn't worth knowing i would say.

I enjoyed this,see you all next year.

I think TJ's last post is the only one I've agreed with 😉

Team of the tournament was Italy for sure. Brilliant improvement and by far the most energy and commitment I reckon. Made all 5 games a challenge and good to watch, instead of merely being guaranteed wooden spoon insurance.

We despair. I have no idea why

DD, it's the Celtic mindset 🙂