[Closed] Rugby thread 2016/2017

Loving that. Great game, still surprised England won!
Gorgeous George is by far the best hooker in the Eng team, would like to see Daily tried at full back, but only if Watson is in the wing opersit Nowell.
Welsh backrow head and shoulders above England as I thought they would be, but with the 5 starters back from injury, England are in a very good place.

Very well reffed - late tackle apart!!!

But great that we had 30 players on the pitch, playing with awesome intensity and commitment but no yellow cards

I thought the very average Jake Ball was brilliant today he put in a massive shift.
On that last kick Wales should have had the 9 kick to touch and not put it back to Davies as Biggar was still out of position. The 9 has to take charge. We'll never know if Davies meant to slice it down the middle but what we do know is that he's a pretty agricultural kicker at the best of times.

Yep, ballsack was immense. I didn't notice a shocking game from anyone to be fair, obviously a few poor moments but everyone deserved their place

Did look like it was so far infield that he would never have meant it to go there,just one of those things,but if you keep giving the ball back to strong opposition its only a matter of time,seems a very weird tactic(from a casual rugby fan,wo has been watching rugby all his life)

That is why we love rugby!

Great game, well played and referred.

Wonderful spectacle.

great game today. Nice to see Lawes hanging onto the ball in the tackle too.

Good finish for the try for England.

Farrell had a great game even if he did miss some kicks. He tackles really well and didn't complain after he got hit.

Farrell back at #10?

Among all the action - easy to overlook how good the England set piece was today.

Anyone else spot Tips blatently holding on to Itojes balls in a ruck? All part of the game, amd it didnt seem to phase Itoje at all.

Massive effort by Launchbury too.

Kryton57 - Member
Anyone else spot Tips blatently holding on to Itojes balls in a ruck? All part of the game, amd it didnt seem to phase Itoje at all.

You must have noticed what looked like a gouge on Moriarty's face in a first half ruck? Didn't seem to phase Moriarty at all. 😉

(I didn't rewind it to watch it again so it may have been a dodgy camera angle, but I'm surprised that the TMO didn't refer it to the ref.)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/rugby-union/38321692

While waiting for the gif...

Forgot just how well that was finished off in the excitement - brilliant pass from Farrell

Todays giggle courtesy of Mr Lee. Big man. Big talent. Small face.
[img] [/img]

The ref let go or didn't see a LOT. Late tackles, high tackles, robbing the ball on the ground, Liam williams being Liam Williams.

Did look like it was so far infield that he would never have meant it to go there,just one of those things,but if you keep giving the ball back to strong opposition its only a matter of time,seems a very weird tactic(from a casual rugby fan,wo has been watching rugby all his life)

[img] [/img]

That aside, what a great game. Moriarty was superb. Brutal in fact. Shame about the result, but a great game.

Odd to sub Moriaty when he was playing so well?

Yep, an odd substitution. He was having a hell of a game.

O Connell suggested he was killing himself for 60, knowing Faletau was coming on.

Just watched it.

Properly pissed off about that. Wales hugely improved over last year, I really wanted England brought down a peg or two. Plus that more or less nukes any chance Wales might've had at the championship, that and Ireland's bonus point. Someone has to beat England now, but who?

Odd to sub Moriaty when he was playing so well?

It's the old self-destructive capacity of us Welsh, isn't it. Take off the star player in favour of someone who hasn't played for months. Playing Cuthbert in any match falls into the same category. We always have to handicap ourselves by having at least one useless player and one broken player. 😥

[quote=teamhurtmore ]
While waiting for the gif...

P'haps his image processing software license has expired ?

I agree to some extent that Webb should have taken a look and seen that it was Davies (left-footed and not a cultured boot) who was in the pocket. He probably ought to have kicked it himself or got the forwards to pod for another phase until Biggar was in position.

Still, a brilliant match and the intensity around the breakdown was frightening to watch.

Small margins - I thought Browns kick out on the full had cost us the game when we were behind.

If I was a Wales fan, I'd want to know why they can only seem to muster that intensity against England?

Look what these bastards have done to Wales. They've taken our coal, our water, our steel. They buy our homes and live in them for a fortnight every year. What have they given us? Absolutely nothing. We've been exploited, raped, controlled and punished by the English – and that's who you are playing this afternoon.

The great Phil Bennett OBE [b]1977[/b]

That's why!!

Yawn. Watch more rugby, folks. 2012. France in 2015. Etc.

As a lifelong rugby watcher but more of a Swansea city fan(yeah a know wendyball:),it's more of a 'oh well,better luck next time' thing,but it does wind me up that wales keep kicking to the opposition and giving the go forward to them,i'm sure its easy to say when you have given you're all and are knackered by why not just go for the gap and get run into touch ,its the same as kicking it back to them,at least you slow it down that way? as I said,i'm not anepert;)

I would agree - the premium placed on playing the game in the other half has gone too far. Much too much aimless kicking (not necessarily today) - and as an ex-forward it used to piss me off immensely. Work hard to get the ball, present it to the pretty boys on a plate and they kick it to the oppo for us to tackle again and repeat.... 😉

one failure doesn't make it wrong.

It does in that case.. I was too busy laughing at how illegal Williams turn over was...stopped laughing pretty quick though!

If I was a Wales fan, I'd want to know why they can only seem to muster that intensity against England?

Edit: cant be bothered to get onto it, will remain arrogantly superior.

Failing to see racial/colonial vitriol. Most Welsh supporters are praising the quality of the game and/or criticising Wales for mistakes.

Still, let's not let that get in the way, eh?

*edit - and he's edited it away. Still not seeing sore losers, but you carry on, Kryters.

Good decision on the edit - that was too far. Plus remember Kipling

"if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters both the same..."

Great match, great teams - lets keep it the same.

Amazing game!

just as well as you're talking shit

Great match, great teams

Yep. A great advert for the game. Despite the fact the colonial overlords cheated their way to victory. Racists! 😉 😉 😉

Kryters-esque rants aside, it was a great game. Not the result I wanted, but a great game.

Plus two excellent tries from either side.

I don't care if England won,the super furry animals and gorkys are still welsh:),but I hate all that wear a welsh top and hate the English crap,makes us seem like idiots,support your team through sport but if you want to slag England off at least learn a bit about your own country besides wearing a rugby top

mikey3 - Member

I don't care if England won,the super furry animals and gorkys are still welsh:),but I hate all that wear a welsh top and hate the English crap,makes us seem like idiots,support your team through sport but if you want to slag England off at least learn a bit about your own country besides wearing a rugby top

We've been exploited, raped, controlled and punished by the English

You can moan about me all you want, but dont pretend what THM posted isnt inflammatory and unecessary in this context.

Why not just admit we watched a great game of rugby and unfortunately the team he supports lost, rather than quote all that shite?

Anyway i move on thankfully.

Have you had too many ales my friend?

Don't ruin a good edit.

FWIW: (1) I was giving some historic context to a genuine question with a well known anecdote (nb, source); and (2) my team won. But apart from that...

Would you really like to "move on" now?

teamhurtmore . . . "Work hard to get the ball, present it to the pretty boys on a plate"
You've probably seen this before, but just in case http://ealingrugby.co.uk/?p=14008

😀 Thx hadn't seen that before

You can moan about me all you want, but dont pretend what THM posted isnt inflammatory and unecessary in this context.

Why not just admit we watched a great game of rugby and unfortunately the team he supports lost, rather than quote all that shite?

Everything THM posts is inflammatory and unnescessary but I'm a bit lost with the rest of your post.

Still, onwards come on Scotchland TJ deserves it!!

#jesuisTJ

Just finished watching that. I particularly enjoyed the way the ref let things go when it didn't matter.

AA, I take It that means you and me in Brokeback Mountain 2 is a non-starter or are you just playing hard to get?

Great game proper test match.
For me a case of giving mom to someone on the losing side as thought Tipuric was immense.

Tipuric was immense.

On current form, I'm struggling to think of a game when he wasn't. He's the best centre in the northern hemisphere. Just happens to play on the flank. A glorious rugby player.

Agreed it was quality rugby, and had we been chasing the game for 40 mins I'd have been more or less ok with that. Just gutting from a partisan point of view that's all.

But still good to see such ambition and more creativity from Wales, even if they couldn't make it count often enough.

I enjoyed that. Watched the Wales / England game after my shift.

Standouts Itoje and 1/2p for me with mention for Liam Williams who looked dangerous all game, Launchbury for 23 tackles. Two great last ditch tackles from 1/2p and good with the ball all game. and Itoje was everywhere. I see why he is so rated from that performance

18 years since we won in Paris. Maybe I could hope to dare to dream but................ 18 years!

We will have to be better than we were against Ireland to win. Expect much the same from Scotland. Aggressive defence going for turnovers and interceptions. High risk / high reward attacking play mainly thru Russell with Hogg and Maitland given a lot of license to roam. Scrums are going to me tough since still no Nel and Dickinson but apart from that its pretty much a full choice team. Scotland will score 3 tries - but will that be enough to win?

Wales England stand outs?

Moriarty?

aye - him as well - couple of real momenteum changing tackles

That was some game,couldn't pick a winner until the last try. But games as close as that are always going to be decided by the thinnest of margins.

18 years since we won in Paris. Maybe I could hope to dare to dream but................ 18 years!

We will have to be better than we were against Ireland to win. Expect much the same from Scotland. Aggressive defence going for turnovers and interceptions. High risk / high reward attacking play mainly thru Russell with Hogg and Maitland given a lot of license to roam. Scrums are going to me tough since still no Nel and Dickinson but apart from that its pretty much a full choice team. Scotland will score 3 tries - but will that be enough to win?

Despite yesterday's cracker, I wonder if this might be the game of the w/e. Two teams billed as resurgent means neither side can afford to loose. Didn't watch much of France last week but think if Scotland can score first and build on the confidence of last week they can do it. Agree scrums will be hard but hopefully not too decisive

Ducks, please can you clarify one aspect of current scrummage rule?

One side (a) gets drive on and then scrum turns almost 90 degrees but with momentum still with (a)

Last week (a) was pinged, this week (a) won two penalties. From a distance I couldn't detect any difference.

Can you explain please?

Good luck today - fear France will win by 10. Too strong and home advantage

Nice change to see scrums played and ref-ed well yesterday. Could be wrong but I cannot recall any free kicks or pens at the scrum.

The contact worked. The scums largely stayed up and Garces let it go when it didn't and the ball was coming out. Nice change..,,

Re today's game.....

I suppose I should be supporting the underdog. Does anyone know which team that is?

🙂

In the scrums - Scotland

In the loose - hmmm. Don't know.

THM - Welsh penalised at scrum a couple of times, one of which looked like it happened after the ball was out. Not sure about England - they might have got away clean. Scrums just seem to be a mess these days.

I think Watson will be a miss, quietly impressive last week.

THM, even if you are getting a shove on you have to keep binding legal etc,pens could be that. Factor in a clever loosehead pulling on the TH to make it look like he collapses it and they remain a lottery. You also have individual refs interpretation, I wanted the ball out and would "have a word" during open play, however it gets to the point that you have to ping if players don't listen as somebody could get hurt.

Scotland need to make it a loose game, if they can do it and the front row doesn't fall foul of the ref then we have a chance. Tennants bar on the Byres road for me today, got to love half term.

No one can explain the scrum. It should br Rule #1 of Rugby version of Cycling: The Rules

Of course Rule #2 A pass is not forward if thrown by a player in a black shirt 😉

Garces had a very game, he should take some credit for the wonderful spectacle that the game was - absolutely brutal, I was cackling at the end it was such a relief of tension.

Always enjoy your ref posts Duckers!

Not seen much mention of Warburton-I thought that he was brilliant yesterday, back to somewhere near his best form. I know that he wasn't up against a truly world class backrow, but he caused us all sorts of problems in the rucks.

Looking forward to the Scotland France game later. I'm thinking that with home advantage it should be a French win. They're going to be very nervous though!

The most impressive thing about this England winning streak, is that its continued, despite not deserving to win many of the matches. We are far from the finished article, but a hard team to beat.

Cheers duckman obviously I was looking at this from rose-tinted specs as Eng were pinged for pushing France as described last week and the Ireland did the same thing against Italy but they won the penalty

As you say lots of skullduggery. There was nothing better than "pulling" a fast on on the ref. In my day the wheel was a contentious issue and plenty of opportunity to aggressively pull on the other team and make it look like it was the oppo doing the wheeling. You could only do that about twice a game though!!

(Hope krytrons head is ok this morning. My tennis partner was still pissed from his trip to Cardiff! )

I know 'we" missed two yesterday (IIRC) but the quality of modern goal kicking still amazes me.

Incredible skill under pressure and akin to Wendy penalties. I guess one difference it that rugby kickers believe in practice and routine rather than "bottle and luck"?!?

This is true. That 3rd person shot of Daly preparing to kick, I just thought there is no way an average or even above average human could get anywhere near that. The posts looked tiny!

CFH

Scotland are actually above France in the world rankings!

Nous sommes tous TJ!

I bet those big nasty frenchmen will steal the ball and not let us play with it. Rotters!

Who is the next cab of the rank if Hughes gets banned? Clear contact with eye area and it doesnt matter if its accidental.

https://twitter.com/Smallclone/status/830473038248476674

Is there a cottage industry dedicated to finding alleged English indiscretions?

the quality of modern goal kicking still amazes me

agree, particularly under pressure which in the end is what it comes down to. Most sport relies on 'reaction' - not necessarily speed of (although often it does) but as a situation develops, needing to respond to it. Goal kicking doesn't, it's all controllable and should be easy (a machine would do it perfectly) but add the pressure and suddenly it's not.

I do remember actually seeing I think a grandstand docu piece about kicking. Was donkey's years ago because Dusty Hare was involved, but they were basically saying that (at the time) rugby kickers basically lacked basic kicking skills because it wasn't taken that seriously. They had some Leicester RUFC kickers, and some Leicester City FC apprentices together, gave the soccer players a bag of balls and half an hour to get used to it, and then had a kick off. The soccer boys wiped the floor, but without all the rigmarole of fives steps back, two side steps, all the stuff you (still) see; they'd just spot it (it was back in the days too of kicking up a tee, no plastic ones) walk back, run up and score. Because kicking was their trade.

I think the point was that Hare had employed a football coach to help with his kicking, I guess everyone takes it seriously now. Be interested to see success % nowadays compared to the past. Although that's not always comparable as I suspect as kicking has improved so they now take on longer and harder kicks.

It seems to be a thriving industry 😆

Not sure about that as gouging as the Wales player moved his head into the hand, but these things can go either way. Need a longer clip to see if the hand was removed.

Pages ago we looked at a video of The Blues lock who got a red card from what was clearly accidental eye contact. I saw this incident watching live. No idea how the video ref missed it. **** all in it and Moriarty wasnt bothered but it is clearly contact with the eye.

I'll take yesterday; three fron three for England (U20's, women and men's) plus Worcs beat Sarries!

Our back row is a massive issue; they were schooled yesterday and offer no real impact at the breakdown. Hughes grew into the game but doesn't make the yards that Billy does from a standing start. Clifford didn't really offer much. I wander if Brand H will start against Italy?

Brown's datsas full back must be numbered. He's ok defensively but offers very little going forward other than running into traffic. Thought that Daly was very good. Ford's kicking game deserted him but some of his passing was very good.

With all due respect to Italy, Scotland then Ireland will present us with sone big challenges especially at the breakdown.

Will be interested to see how Scotland go against France this afternoon; can they cope with the expectation that is now on them?

Today will be interesting indeed as France seem a strong team to me. A lot of Scottland hype - ok some from Andy Nicoll which can be discoursed immediately - so will be ntersting to see how they live up to it today. Ireland SHOULD have won last week in which case championship would be looking very different.

Just watching the Beeb clip from yesterday and Brown* made first England try!!!

Farrell's pass gets better each time they show it.

* would still like see Daly tried at #15 against Italy.