[Closed] STW 2014/15 Rugby Thread

Fickou and Joseph would be fun.

Healy, mas and ghiraldini front row?

Goujon looked very good. Well, in pieces, anyway. (Overdone joke!)

He did look very good though.

Healy was only just getting back to fitness for the last game, still not sharp.
Mas only played about 100 minutes total.
Giraldino played for Italy.

I'd have Debaty at 1 - mainly for That Try .
Overlapping A quick Fijjian wing after an hour of mental rugby is more than any prop can offer. Marler and Mcgrath were decent over the tournament and would be fair picks, as was Eddy ben Arous - played a bit like a younger GJenkins but could scrum.

Guirado at 2 , for the offload for the Mernoz (i think) try.
And generally being the least bad . The main candidates all had good patches, but all seemed to contribute to their teams losing their only matches by throwing bad darts at bad times. Or being a fat knacker and knocking out their own star player. Or both

Ross at 3, for surprising everyone and somehow making the Irish scrum a strength. Cole , lee (till he got broked) and Murray- for his caps record - were all worthy 3's but you'd have to have that 25 stone Frog on the bench for the last 20 minutes just for the craic. antonio

CaptainFlashheart - Member
The only definites for me on any team sheet now are AWJ and POC. Utterly superb performances from both throughout the tournament.

If only there were three second rows, I would also put Girafferis in there as well. Defensively he was fantastic.

SOB at 7. Finally fit for the last match. Beats players. Tackles, rucks, turnovers and 2 tries to win the tournament. The Best.

6 - Warburton - not cheating 'cos he played there and scored. Made some yards too, for a change , and may be a better at 6. Anyway, deserves a place on the team. probablly.

8 - Heaslip. for the Hogg tackle. Otherwise Vunipola for being England's best forward. And becoming an 80 minute player.

I'm aware who ghiraldini plays for and mas still got more game time than Castro didn't he?

Backs

9 Murray. Webb and youngs close ish.

10 Ford. To feed JJ. Sexton played like he'd been out for 3 months, which was still as good as any other FH, such is his quality. But he wasn't up to his top standards, so Ford is in for the link with JJ. Biggar was on a par with both of them too , so would be unlucky to miss out. And Finn Russell looks exciting.

11 Fitzgerald. For turning Ireland from a dull boring kicking team into a running, try scoring team of champions. After missing 4 years.

12 Henshaw. Biggest impact in the biggest games. Roberts would be worth a place only if I could move Henshaw to 15.

13 Joseph. "twinkle toes" and tries.

14 halfpenny. 'cos he needs to be in the team. And he shouldn't be allowed to play full back 'till he learns to tackle with his head on the correct side.

15 Hogg. Loads of yards, dangerous runner, and scored (and dropped) great tries. If I'm not allowed 1/2p on the wing, then he's (1/2p) FB and the big Fijian Frenchman can have a run on the wing. Noa Nakaitaci - played like Teddy Thomas was supposed to before it all kicked off.

Dont see the Henshaw thing. Roberts is limited and bit of a one trick pony but if you are going into a tight battle there is only one choice.
SOB and his backrow mates got taken tobthe cleaners by Wales.

Disagree. They lost a tight match by 7 points away from home.

Despite having 64% possession and 66% territory.

In nobody's book is that a back row "being taken to the cleaners".
Sloppy Finishing and breakaway try more like.

If you need a reminder of how a back row "being taken to the cleaners" looks, try the Vajazzle Friday match.

I'd have Sexton at 10, otherwise I'd go with what AA said.

AWJ as captain.

I'm till to be convinced by Sexton, he is either very good or rubbish, there is nothing inbetween. He has choked a few times as well.

Ford did well against France but the english pack had the slight edge how would he do if the pack was going backwards? Wouldn't have Farell full stop.

I always thing you have to look at players who are outstanding in a team that is rubbish, Howley and Jenkins spring to mind.

Despite having 64% possession and 66% territory.

In nobody's book is that a back row "being taken to the cleaners".
Sloppy Finishing and breakaway try more like.

I think you need to go take a look again. The Irish front five was well on top, but the irish backrow went nowhere carrying and made little impression at the breakdown. To summarise, they got owned.

Hey , if you think you can make a case for welsh back row in your team of the tournament, go ahead.
Otherwise, just looks like trolling others'.

I'll stick with the one that got the results that matter.

[img] [/img]

If we are playing that card then Ireland may have won a grand slam if Wales hadn't beaten them 😆

It's been an interesting tournament, with very few players on top form for the whole tournament.

AWJ, POC & JJ were the stand - out players for me. The biggest failure has to be Saint-Andre. He has amazing players at his disposal, but just can't get a proper team on the pitch.

Players coming back from injury who should be on top form for the WC - SOB, Lawes, Sexton, JD.

Biggest surprise - Wales 3rd string front row holding their own against Italy. I was expecting a massacre, but they had parity, which allowed the welsh backs to play the way they did.

To be fair the welsh front row was getting a thorough kicking until Castro ran out of puff and went off.

Hey , if you think you can make a case for welsh back row in your team of the tournament, go ahead.

Warburton, Robshaw and Vunipola would work for me. SOB was below his best, understandably, Vunipola carries better than any other option. Robshaw can do the graft at 6. OMahoney was blown away v wales, Heaslip was up and down, him and Faletau are on a similar level.

I was hanging all my hopes on the Wales Front Row being pushed off the park, denying their backs quality ball. I thought we could beat France by 16. After Ireland took Scotland to pieces I always thought 26 points was too much. If there is one team you do t really want to play fast and loose against I the NH, it's France. Once they got broken field possession they looked a different team. He hasn't been mentioned, but I thought Spedding had a great game against England.

Looking fwd to the WC - is Wales v Aus at the millennium?

dantsw13 - Member
Looking fwd to the WC - is Wales v Aus at the millennium?

Twickers

Working from home is going to be a "challenge"...

I thought Spedding had a great game against England

He was good going forward but his positioning for kicks looked a little suspect, that may have been due to the nature of the game though.

Its on ITV isn't it? so will be crap coverage, Brian Moore said on Twitter he has been told he is to controversial so wont be involved.

Warburton,SOB and panda-cola for me, with the craveat that Warburton needs to be unbroken/not just back from injury,SoB has had another month and the "Wales saw him first" no8 has been told he has to make say,half a dozen defensive tackles a game.

forgotten how funny this was.

[img] [/img]

How come he played the best game of his career against us and reverted back to being a penalty giving away yellow card for tripping oaf the other games?

Pigface - Member

How come he played the best game of his career against us and reverted back to being a penalty giving away yellow card for tripping oaf the other games?

Because he is the "Archbishop of Banterbury" and needs everybody to notice him,including the ref?

@loum, one of those clueless moments which make the coaches cringe, if he dives for the line/base of the post he scores.

Yup,touch the post up to a metre from the ground and it is a try.

And England would have won the 6 nations 😥

other game[b]s[/b]

I only saw a trip in the last game, please enlighten us on this apparent blight on Haskells character...

I reckon there must be at least 10 moments in the tournament that could so easily have gone the other way for every team. In many ways, it may do England more good as a young team to feel the pain.

Could worse Henson once got pinged for thinking about yripping someone and not doing it! 2005 grand slam game v ireland I think.

@loum, one of those clueless moments which make the coaches cringe, if he dives for the line/base of the post he scores.

I'm not one to defend English players but I think he is too far out to dive, then it is the initial part of the tackle that takes him towards the post as he is spun and wrapped. I can't see him doing anymore than he did TBH. Credit has to go the defenders.

I know others will disagree but for me the 10 of the tournament is Biggar, good in the air and defence, solid kicking and shows leadership and a really cool head under pressure. Doing the basics well and making the right calls under pressure is what wins big games. He scored a nice try also.

people (including apparent england "fans") have very short memories. Brown was the best FB in the 6N last year by some distance

Was he? He's an average player who had one very good season - where people kicked long to him and he ran loads of balls back, creating good stats.

He'd rank 4th in Lions selection behind Kearney, 1/2p and Hogg.

Add the fact that he's too slow to be an international fullback, doesn't score enough tries and can't draw a man and give a pass as in Wales v England 2012 (last minute).

Finally, he's a total dickhead.

I thought Spedding had a great game against England

Bloodandmud.com disagree with you:

Scott Spedding - There are members of native amerindian tribes deep in the rainforests of the South American continent who live a rudimental hunter-gatherer life, untouched by civilisation and unadorned by modernity, who have no anthropological concept of sport and who would make better international fullbacks than this bloke.

He kicked well, and carried well against us. I haven't seen him previously.

dantsw13 - Member

And England would have won the 6 nations

Posted 1 hour ago #Report-Post

Likewise Sexton may have torn his knob off in a bizarre sex game with DD the night before they played you. It's all speculation and "what if?" The best team to thrash us won it IMO.

And if you read my post under the one you quoted, you might find I broadly agree with that sentiment.

Let's be honest, there is nothing between the 3. Over 5 games, a10PD spread and equal points is nothing. The crux is which team thinks they gave the furthest to improve on their performances before the WC.

Ireland have a new, and growing centre pair, and are adding potency to their solid game.
England are gaining experience and exposure for a young team - the WC may well come a year to early.

Wales, if they sort their front row, just need to believe they can beat Australia.

It is nicely set up, IMHO.

One trip is bad enough, I am pretty sure he gave away his usual number of penalties but may of been pushed in this by Cole who seemed spectacularly braindead at times 😆 please review all the games and tell me I am wrong Kryton 😉

Just had my vaguely heated debate with my nemesis in work, I just said Lawes was a lucky boy to be met with a tirade of it was the best tackle ever, the ref said it was alright so whats the problem, he then went on a rant about foot being out of play and incorrect touching down of the ball, I pointed out to him the ref said it was ok he then called me a very rude word and went back to his desk 😆

😆 at Pigface.

As Dragon says up there ^^ I don't think Biggar has done himself any harm at all this 6N. Got on with his job with no fuss. Kicked out of hand well, except for 40 minutes v Eng. Immense under the high ball, and stepped up and slotted the kicks when needed.

Wales have certainly won the Gary Owen trophy this 6N.

Who's Gary Owen? 😀

On Haskell - tripping is an embarassment to the team, for that reason alone I think he should be completely dropped! One good half against Wales, then a pretty average 6N culminating in that trip. Tosser.

Namastebuzz, you forgot to mention that Brown can't tackle either

Really? Can't think of many tackles Brown misses?

Pigface - is he talking about the French foot over the DB line? Maybe also mention to him on slowmo it appears Vunipola dropped the ball for his try!!

Also, if Wood had been fit, he would have played instead of Haskell, and come WC, he will be in the team. Haskell would make a great impact sub though - can play 6 & 8.

That is Morgans role coming on as a big impact sub, but I dont think he is going to make it.

Brown is too slow and lacks the one on one, last man tackling of a top international FB. Put the other way, when can you remember watching him making a great try saving tackle? One on one you'd always fancy a half decent back to score. Kearney is physical enough to do well, Hogg fast enough with great technique and timing and 1/2p is mental enough to be solid. I am biased though as I fondly remember his attempts to tackle Cuthburt.