😆

Ah right, I see.

Just an opinion DD, god knows we have to suffer your bitter chip on the shoulder ones 😉

Ah now, don’t be getting shirty honey.

As for Chabal, yeah, that booing isn’t on at all! I think (hope) it was a bit of pantomime stuff.

Even Keith Woods & Jiffy think England are the form team at the moment, i’ll go with the experts view 8)

not a bad game really.
the irish need some go forward forwards tho.
as did the french today.

rugby union gets a bit boring when it is decided with penalties.

bastid……….. 😆

Ah, micky pulling and wind-ups aside, I’m still a bit gutted at that result. We had the game to beat the French today, but we also had another game where we gave away silly penalties and allowed them to stay in touch. Add to that the handling errors, especially that one near the end, and we threw it away.

Positives to take away? We moved the ball well, our scrum was much improved and we slowed down the opposition ball…though France were out of sorts and helped us on that front. Heaslip was a big addition to the squad. McFadden looks good, as does Fitzgerald. Some of the younger players coming in also look good. We really do miss the bull Hayes though.

Negatives…too many, and enough to lose us the game. O’Connell still doesn’t look 100%, our line-out (which arguably was our best asset a few seasons ago, is struggling).

In reality, there’s not much between Ireland, England and France – each one has the game to beat any of the others. However, England, to me, have the brightest future. There’s a squad which may well win a slam this season and no doubt will go far in the RWC. While Ireland look slightly to be waning, England are certainly waxing.

I’m looking forward to the remaining games – England v France in London and Ireland v England in Dublin. I suspect France have had their one really bad game today though and as muddydwarf (expertly 😆 ) pointed out, still won. But that’s the mark of a class side – you stick in there and win games you sometimes shouldn’t. Probably how Ireland won a slam a couple of years ago.

Best of luck to France and England for the rest of the championship – they are the sides to beat now…there may yet be some surprises left.

Agreed. Really looking forward to England vs. France.

Interesting that Gatland said Wales played much better against England(defeat) than they did against Scotland (easy win).

People seem to be blaming Dan Parks and the rest of the backs for Scotland’s woes but the truth is their forwards came off second best to the Welsh and the much-vaunted back row especially. I don’t think Youngs and Flood would have done any better with a similar platform.

Scotland lack depth so in the (highly likely) event of some of their starting 8 not being fit, the pack is much weaker.

England France is the big one now. France have been hopeless at defending the narrow channels close to the breakdown and poor defensively in general so England must look at exploiting that. It’ll be interesting to see how France cope with Ashton. The Italians constantly tackled/held English support runners before they received the ball and I’d expect the French to do the same but more effectively. It’s interesting that Ashton actually gets ahead of the ball into offside positions so that he’s magically right on the shoulder of the tackled ball-carrier.

It won’t surprise me if he gets roughed up off the ball in the early stages or has his ankle trodden on “accidentally”.

If England don’t concede the dumb penalties that Ireland did and take their chances when they come (although there shouldn’t be as many) they should win.

That’s what’s great about the 6N though and why I love watching France – you never know what’s gonna happen. 😀

If I was Ashton i’d be worrying about what is happening to my club side while I’m away. 🙂

I went to the England game on Saturday and I f***ing loved it.
Not least because we won convincingly, that I saw 8 brilliant tries, nor that I heard 80k people (give or take a few Italians) singing ‘Sweet Chariot’ at full volume then clapping themselves for the rendition 🙂 , but that I’ve been to Twickenham 5 times in the last couple of years and it’s the first time we’ve won.
Yes, Italy were bad, had massive holes in their midfield, lost their lineouts and couldn’t react to the most obvious England plays, but England had fast handling, were running with confidence and had some killer set plays – their confidence peaking with the set-up plays for Haskell in the second half which eventually paid off for him.
I know we’re only two games in, but England are the team to beat.
.
oh and Ashton is aided massively in the set plays that he finishes off, but they work so well because his pick-up speed from a standing start is incredible and can not be matched, this combined with impeccable timing mean that if he gets good ball he is unstoppable. 😀

IMO Cueto is a better player,indeed when he first appeared he was a finisher in the mold of what Ashton is doing now.He has developed his all round game a lot more the last couple of years.Mind you,he would get a lot of experience of defensive duties playing for Sale.

England are the team to beat 😆

Wise up don simon, they’ve beaten two of the worst 3 sides in the competition, world domination is the next step.

Ashton is a fantastic finisher, whether he will be more that a winger we will see. I wouldnt play him at full back or anywhere else. Still has league flaws that in Union can get you into all sorts of trouble. Iestyn Harris is the classic example.

Shame TJ isn’t about, his Cueto is rubbish statement looks a bit daft now. The Scottish backs woud love someone with half the skill of Cueto

Calling for Byrne to be cited is joke, when I played going up for a high ball you always kept your foot up, a bit of protection.

Cueto has been playing well – yes, he can spin out of tackles etc and make 20 yards through traffic around the half way line. zero tries recently is a worry – he is just not quick enough and perhaps i’m spoilt at Gloucester, but i like my wings quick.

There are always a few players like Cueto in every good international side. He does the basics very well, his decision making is sounds, his error count is very low. Weaknesses are always going to be exposed at international level, especially out wide. Look at Earls for Ireland, gas to burn but he was all over the place in defence. The French just got nice a deep and spun the ball out to his wing and waited for him to give them a chance.

ocrider I couldn’t agree more, it has been a terrible decision from Munster and Ireland to try and turn him into a 13, all it has done is set back his development as a wing.

He is prone to trying to rush inside on defence, its a decent tactic from a 13 if you have good judgement, but he has nae wit and he is now rushing in off his wing like an U13.