[Closed] Rugby thread 2016/2017

MOTM Picamoles, kind of says it all, not a decent player in today's england team.
#PissPoor&Lucky

It's very satisfying that it has upset you so much. Happy days.

When's the next time New Zealand play Fiji?

I believe that teo has an English parent, he has that in common with George north at least.

I believe that teo has an English parent, he has that in common with George north at least.

Does he speak fluent welsh too?
What about Hughes thats a welsh name!!

? Vunipola x2, Captain Gouge? People in glass houses etc!!

I believe that teo has an English parent

Any Samoan parents as well? After all, he played rugby (league, admittedly) for Samoa.

#armguardforhire

Oh dear... a win is a win but WTF? I am looking forward more to watching Daughter and Barnsley ladies play at Derby tomorrow it will be a hard game but will be played with passion and skill something mostly lacking today. Last 16 of womens junior cup( finalist last year 😀 😀 looking good for this year as well, send the lads down to watch!

The Samoan/Kiwi try. Nice blocking from Lawes.

[img] [/img]

Vunipola

Both educated in England once at secondary school (Thornbury then Harrow) and played age grade rugby for England. Also both made senior appearances for English clubs...

The residency rules are way too short. There were enough imports playing in the first game too...

Anyway, the bench made the difference. We got away with that big style.

The back row was useless and the pack generally got schooled. Itoje at six really didn't work. Lots of work to do before we head to Cardiff. Wales won't be worried about anything they saw today.

I'm still in shock.

Both educated in England once at secondary school (Thornbury then Harrow) and played age grade rugby for England.

Mako does sound very welsh though!!

Wales won't be worried about anything they saw today.

? Vunipola x2, Captain Gouge? People in glass houses etc

And your Samoan international, wrecker?

Well I think before the game someone said the England pack looked a little undercooked.

It turns out I was right!

England were pish but got away with it. What was up with the tackling? The backs didn't seem to have played together before. Farrell was poor too - some aimless kicking.

The bench shored it up.

I'm glad we weren't playing SCotland.

But importantly, England, however shit they were, still won. It doesn't have to be a try fest, 3 points to 0 works ok! So much to improve on, and I suspect France won't lose all games this year. So a good French side lost to a crap English one, there's been worse starts to the 6 nations.. (certainly if you're Irish right now...)

And your Samoan international, wrecker?

He played international rugby for Samoa. Made his choice, surely?

It's very satisfying that it has upset you so much. Happy days.

You think that england were anything but dire.

Yeah not great. France were by far the better team in the first half but that ended all square despite england having a bloke in the bin for 10 minutes. England the better team in the second half, and got the points to go with it.
It's not luck, one of the things I like about rugby is that there are very rarely "lucky" results. Despite not playing great rugby, they took their chances and did what they needed to. France didn't.

He played international rugby for Samoa. Made his choice, surely?

namastebuzz - Member

I'm glad we weren't playing SCotland.

Thank you. It's not often you hear that from (I presume) an Englishman during the 6N.

To be fair I'm glad Ireland only turned up for the 2nd half.

Wrecker, I know it's not your call, and I suspect we very much agree! Residency rules are a joke, and made even more so by code switching, country switching mercenaries.

He's a mercenary. 😉
[img] [/img]

Not the first, either.
[img] http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/nov-2000-lesley-vainikolo-of-new-zealand-is-congratulated-by-his-team-picture-id1080628 [/img]

Whatever happened to the great talent that was Lesley "Volcano" Vainokolo?
Oh yes, he kept getting sacked down through the French leagues!

The most pertinent thing is, I can't remember us ever getting a proper (3 year residency) mercenary with no heritage qualification who was any good!
Henry Paul, Mauritz Botha, and a few others; all shite!

http://www.planetrugby.com/news/all-black-tests-positive-for-banned-substance/

the [s]All Blacks[/s]New Zealand lock was tested last year for performance enhancing drugs before New Zealand’s Test against France, which led to the player going back to New Zealand, citing personal reasons for his departure.

So, caught doping and then covering it up with 'personal reasons'?

Incidentally I leant a little more about the law today...

(a) Minimum. At least two players from each team must form a lineout.
Sanction: Free Kick on the 15-metre line

(b) Maximum. The team throwing in the ball decides the maximum number of players in the lineout.

(c)
The opposing team may have fewer lineout players but they must not have more.

Thanks Vern.

Went to cinema/dinner mid way through so only just caught up. The great thing about England playing badly is the vitriole it stirs up among other nations!! Good to see us able to win ugly where necessary and bench were superb. But so may errors!

Well done England, for a tremendous run!

vitriol[s]e[/s]

Itoje at 6 didnt work.
France failed to take chances.
Haskal was very good when he came on and as I said the lack of go forward up front meant the small England backs couldnt do anything as they had no space. Teo helped that by running straight. Also the ref was a massive homer. How a struggling England scrum got away with not actually scrumaging for 50 mins was inredible.

How do we get away in it - bungs, big ones. Why do you think we are able to cheat consistently?

Two teams who could and probably should have won both lost. Two teams who could and probably should have lost both won - just. So which teams are happier, which ones are top of the table and which ones should be copping the flak!!!

Why do you think we are able to cheat consistently?

I think France, Italy and Argentina get routinely shocking deals out of refs who cannot speak their langauages and I think home advantage on top of that played a part. The differences in how long English players had to be over all ball to get a pen compared to the French was massive. Look at ghe ruck before Daly's non try. The ref was not consistent.

I am still shocked by that Scotland performance. The finally did what they have been threatening to do for a while and blew Ireland away in that first 30 mins. Intensity and pace and a little bit of Russell magic.

Superb defence that was so well organised that even tho they missed too many tackles Ireland hardly got an overlap all game. Again its the speed - both linespeed and the speed with which they get back up and into the defensive line

The Gray brothers were immense. Watson showed plenty of fight and did his job well. Nice to see a specialist 7 on the field being a bloody pest on defensive rucks and clearing out in attack.

Fagerson - he is only 21, played a full 80 mins, held up his side of the scrum and very useful in the loose with a couple of turnovers and some good runs. He is going to be very special indeed.

Russell - what can you say. Today most of the passes stuck and so he is the hero. Its always heart in the mouth stuff watching him but his eye for space and ability to put players into space is incredible and he was the difference in the two sides. Plays so flat and bambooozles defences

Laidlaw - a good captains game. Got a bit of pace on the ball when it was on, slowed it down only when needed. Nailed his kicks.

Fantastic performance all round. Finally showed the bottle to close out a close game

Correct AA, it's institutionalised favouritism. Refs are complicit. Plus our foreign imports are better than theirs - actually not true, I though Spedding looked very dangerous. Must be all the biltong a l'ail he eats.

So two sides blew great chance for away wins - cheating aside - who should be the fall guys?

Stil two (arguably) lucky winners - one unbelievable, one dreadful. What does that say?

Anyway good luck Wales - one "sure" away win this weekend?

Anyway good luck Wales - one "sure" away win this weekend?

Well I am glad you are sure, yesterday was pretty worrying from a Wales point of view as all 4 teams looked much better than Wales.
If we do lose just make sure no one smiles.
[img] [/img]

[quote="tinybits"]

I think it's great TJ is back with the normal over optimistic Scottish rugby report. I think last time there was a great revival about to happen they won a wooden spoon.....

(I don't think it'll happen this time but Glasgow vs tigers / Racing is a long way from Scotland vs England or France!)

Humble pie sir? To go with your saucer of cream? 😉

Scotland did to Ireland what Glasgow did to Racing. Finally they did it. I'm a happy beagle

[img] [/img]

To echo AA seriously worried about next weekend in Cardiff, what ever happens in Italy this arvo, england will never play so badly again. With Howley being rubbish as well as stubborn it could get ugly.

Yes, fair play Scotland. I honestly think they caught Ireland napping. Which is poor from Irelands perpesctive as they should have been ready for it. I still think they'll struggle against England and France though (as per my post....)

Eddie Jones summary of the England performance 'we were rubbish' which compared to the old 'we did some things well we're growing as a team and I thought we were good ambassadors' is great to hear - something approaching the truth!

Do you think anyone will let us do this again? Audacious 🙂

[url= https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/313/31907445403_b8aaf070cd_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/313/31907445403_b8aaf070cd_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/QBxZT2 ]Image1[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/25846484@N04/ ]TandemJeremy[/url], on Flickr

I didn't the think the Eng/Fra ref was biased - I thought he was equally incompetent towards both teams but I agree the non English speaking sides generally get a rough deal.

I remember Eddie Butler once mentioning that Irish referee Alain Rolland was fluent in French to which Brian Moore replied, "Good, he can be wrong in both languages then."

The amusing thing about a lot of (but not all) Scotch rugby fans is that they take more joy from England losing than they ever gain from their own side winning.

My mate George (or "Dod" as he likes to be known) was delighted that his boys won a famous victory but by the end of the day he was a bitter and twisted man. Soured by the undeserved win for the dastardly English over the other half of the Auld Alliance.

What made his misery complete were my generous congratulations for his team.

😀

THe best bit of Satruday was having two matches that could have gone either way. We have a competitive 6N which is great and enjoyable to watch even when the skill levels are down.

But interesting that the pros were talking about the 6N enjoying the best refs in the world, but "we" know better... 😉

And another thing......

All this sniping about foreign players can stop.

ALL the home nations have played people who are not English/Scottish/Irish/Welsh.

I don't think the likes of Te'o and Hughes should be playing for England because they're not English. Hartley is English despite being born in NZ and the Vunipolas have been brought up in the UK so they're OK (even if they really should have played for Wales).

Scotland have used English players for years - long before the influx of kilted Kiwis and Saffas. Big Jim Hamilton is from Coventry for Chrissakes.

THe French have got it right. We should follow suite.

amusing thing about a lot of (but not all) Scotch rugby fans is that they take more joy from England losing than they ever gain from their own side winning.

England played yesterday? I switched off after GL kicked the last 3 points.

THe French have got it right. We should follow suite.

didn't the think the Eng/Fra ref was biased

I dont either just think he was crap and let the crowd guide him on top of the French front row not understanding what he was saying!!

What does "the ref was a massive homer" mean.....a fan of the Simpsons?

Well if you cannot understand what it means theres no point me trying to help you.