Rugby 2024-25

Australia are much better than they were at the World Cup.

They were totally abysmal at the RWC.

Now they’ve improved to being rubbish.

Now they’ve improved to being rubbish

Good enough to win at Twickenham. Jeez how shit must you think England are…I thought that the Welsh should be the ones moaning and hand wringing today

Meh; not sure we deserved to lose by that margin. I will take that, a humping of Fiji last week and the best team in the World given a hard game. Only black spot is that I am staying in Embra, am 4 pints in and HMIE are pitching up at school tomorrow. Thankfully I am not acting faculty head….oh;wait! Oh well; as AA said; “If you are going to get hung for stealing a sheep, you may as well shag it as well.”

not sure we deserved to lose by that margin

Unlucky with the try at the end, although the Scotland pack did crumble a bit in the last 20…… Not looking forward to Wales playing them though, we’ll crumble after 2mins!! Still Autumn whitewash and another 6nations wooden spoon might see the WRU find enough money down the back of the sofa to sack Gatland, although who would want the job is gard to fathom.

That’s what they play for, we are thin past first choice front 3, SA; not so much.It is bloody effective mind!

Indeed, SA also improved a lot when they replaced the 9.

We went to Cardiff to see the Fiji match. Got tickets through the local clubs so £30 for adults and £15 for kids which I think is good value.

Lots of tries, massive Fijians running from any part of the pitch and a great atmosphere.

Fun day out and the right result ?

Perhaps unsurprisgnly, SA are a level above.   Could be an ugly score by the end of this 🙁

You lot are ahead now @Kryton57 . Show some confidence.

Er…..

Well there we go.  I think England played very well for 70 mins, then it went to pieces.  Some great stuff.   I do think the “6 losses in a row” tag is over hyped; we’ve just played the top 2 teams in the world, and lost, but scored more tries than usual.  Should have won against Aus of course, but the losses are very much not a whitewash.

England managing that strange mix of being competitive, but having zero chance of winning…

England managing that strange mix of being competitive, but having zero chance of winning…

Channelling us Scots there.

I thought England did well but the difference between say England and NZ is the NZ forwards use their feet before contact, the England forwards tried to out muscle Etzebeth and his mates,,,it doesn’t work.

Steward is still a carthorse who looks great when teams kick at him, much less when they run at him in space.

Not looking forward to Wales SA, but luckily have tomorrow’s pasting by Aus to keep me occupied for a while ?

France beat NZ in an awesome game!

Been out all evening – got some catching up to do.  Think I’ll start with France Nz

You won’t be disappointed.

scooter électrique

Steward is still a carthorse who looks great when teams kick at him, much less when they run at him in space.

Nah. Steward is the reason other teams have to ‘play’ as opposed to just kicking high and letting the percentages play out. TBH the obligatory WTF pick for England (again) was Slade. He’s an object lesson in how to flatter to deceive.

A few England players are reaching the end. George huffs and puffs but he’s never been world class in any dept. Genge is a beast in club rugby, a normal Joe at international level. Stuart is waiting for someone better to come along and he won’t be seen again. Itoje is an incredible athlete, but he’s not dominant enough, Martin is a dependable lump, no more. And on we go.

England are solid 2nd tier right now. But we simply do not have world XV 70-80 minute players right now.

Steward is still a carthorse who looks great when teams kick at him, much less when they run at him in space.

Nah.

I bet he’s still untangling his legs after that 9 went past him now!! He is far too slow to turn for an international 15.

I bet the starting England 9 spent all night having nightmares about Etzebeth charging down kicks too.

He did get turned inside out a couple of times. He’ll really suffer against the French back in defence and aldrit will be lurking out there for him. I’m not sure I’d play him in the 6N. Furbank a better choice mond you I have no idea why Willis isn’t even on the bench

At least with Steward the oppo tend to have to string more passes together from further out. Instead of just kicking to the likes of Furbank and getting a scrum or ruck 20 yards closer. Full backs like Furbank enhance the threat of average three-quarters.

I bet he’s still untangling his legs after that 9 went past him now!!

In that situation the only thing Steward did wrong was not commit to trying to bury the 9. He might as well. If the 9 steps the right way the end result is the same. If he steps wrong he leaves the field in two pieces and Steward looks like a god.

But, on a different note… how nice is it to see wingers (Kolbe, Arendse, Bielle-Biarret) who are small, quick and actually try to run around tacklers?

In that situation the only thing Steward did wrong was not commit to trying to bury…

The last few internationals where he did that he was carded, one a red.  Maybe that was on his mind.  Agree we need a better all around full back though.

On the plus side, Sleighthome seems to have fitted in quite well, and yeah, Slade needs to make way.

But, on a different note… how nice is it to see wingers (Kolbe, Arendse, Bielle-Biarret) who are small, quick and actually try to run around tacklers?

Don’t worry Wales have small wingers except they try to run through people. Don’t worry our midget sized backline will be breasted by the likes of Aus and SA.

In that situation the only thing Steward did wrong was not commit to trying to bury the 9

Surely in that position that’s the only thing to do, same for the cross kick where Colby scored.

He was looking to flatten him but Colby just stepped back and steward just went past .

Wales came back into it well to be fair, the Aus back much bigger, stronger and faster though.

He was looking to flatten him but Colby just stepped back and steward just went past .

What Kolbe did was incredibly skillful and brave. He had to set himself to take that catch in an unnatural position with a freight train coming at him. If Steward had guessed right, Kolbe would not have been able to soak up any of the impact.

As good at the scrum half’s run was, it was pretty much a regulation step.

I stand by my comments though – Steward at least forces the oppo to play from further out, more often. With the current level of the whole team, I think that is the right way to play.

Come on Aus get 50, then we might see Gatland gone when SA repeat it next week.

Ooooof.

Watched the first half before my streaming solution failed me.

At 15 minutes I thought Wales were going to be humiliated, then they got a couple of scores (was that just Aus not paying attention?) and thought it was going to be closer.

I was right the first time.

I don’t know anything about coaching but it seems to me that Wales have just run out of players and the WRU don’t seem to have a solution.

If they’re not careful kids will see that Wales are no longer in the “top tier” and the home game will lose it’s roots.

Watched the first half before my streaming solution failed me.

Wales games are all on s4c you can watch on iPlayer

Wales games are all on s4c you can watch on iPlayer

Oh damn!

I am here to pass on Teej’s apologies for not posting about our demolition of Portugal. He has a sprain in his typing hand from celebrating Darcy’s try yesterday.

Oh damn!

You didn’t miss much!

“Wales games are all on s4c you can watch on iPlayer”

At some point Nick Mullins will get an award for the sterling service he is doing by encouraging people to learn some Welsh by switching to S4C…even if it’s only “cais’ “dyfarnwr” and “Rwy’n meddwl bod Gatland wedi cael ei sglodion”

This link may be handy for Welsh learners/beginners trying to follow S4C coverage

Terminoleg Rygbi / Rugby Terminology

Top tip – if you have Sky you can set your box default language to Welsh and it will automatically give you English commentary for S4C matches….as long as the broadcast rights allow it…so mainly URC matches…not so much internationals or European fixtures

yep – Cymru games via S4C + VPN here, plus France2 for most other games as it reaches over the border. Haven’t watched a game with English commentary for years

South Africa side to face Wales
Aphelele Fassi; Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Kurt-Lee Arendse; Jordan Hendrikse, Jaden Hendrikse; Ox Nche, Johan Grobbelaar, Thomas du Toit, Jean Kleyn, Franco Mostert, Siya Kolisi (capt), Elrigh Louw, Jasper Wiese.

Replacements: Malcolm Marx, Gerhard Steenekamp, Vincent Koch, Eben Etzebeth, RG Snyman, Cameron Hanekom, Cobus Reinach, Handre Pollard.

Gulp,  tbh I think they would win just using the players on the bench!!!