Rugby – 6 nations.

RE the knock on; It doesn’t matter really.
England beat france in paris despite rollands best efforts (I really don’t like bitching about the ref but this was as bad as I have seen). 3 wins from 4 so far. Even if it ends 3 from 5, it’s OK. It could be much much worse; look at scotland.

At least in the herald there is finally a piece questions Robinsons ability to run the team and suggesting he should take the blame

the glitch is back – burn the glitch

Brave Keith Earls lucky to escape with his life after vicious attack by Max Evans

Irish international Keith Earls was lucky to escape with his life (and possibly even a fate worse than death) after being horrifically assaulted by Max Evans of Scotland during Ireland’s 32-14 win in Dublin last weekend.

In the 73rd minute of the match, Earls chipped ahead in the Scottish 22 to try and create a try that would seal the game. Whilst chasing the ball he was blindsided in a cowardly attack by the Scottish three-quarter who aggressively touched Earls’ arm.

Displaying great composure during the life threatening attack, Earls was able to wave his hands in the air in a manner similar to an association football player before falling to the ground.

Amazingly, the officials only yellow carded the Scottish thug. It seems inevitable that Evans will never play rugby union again. He is too dangerous and stains our great game.

Astonishingly, Keith Earls, despite having his arm touched in such a brutal manner, has indicated he wants to carry on playing rugby union. Such bravery!

Mr. Earls, we salute you! You are all that is good about rugby union.

Taken from – http://theeastterrace.typepad.com/

austin healey off on one again, could be taken as racism his one comment but i actually laughed, i just find him a said man with small man syndrome.

seriously though how can his employers not get wind of it..

could be taken as racism

Only if you don’t understand the definition of racism

It doesn’t really matter.

It’s increasingly Wales’ Colonials v England’s Colonials anyway, if they can find somebody to bend immigration rules enough.

I think TJ could well be right and I thought the same, the yellow card was more a carry over from the warning rather than for the offence on its own. Albeit it is rare a warning is acted on so much later in a game, hence the failure of the analysts to make the link.

I think it has been the best six nations for many a year with so many tight games, often won by individual brilliance, rather than glaring mistakes.

rather than glaring mistakes.

You’ve obviously had the benefit of not seeing Scotland’s games.

Unfortunately, I think we’re saving the worst for last.

It’s increasingly Wales’ Colonials v England’s Colonials anyway

Or even England’s Welsh vs Wales’ English. Getting a bit like when NZ plays some pacific island nations I guess…

Well done England. France did not know what to do with the ball i.e. they had no plan. But that does not take anything away from England’s great effort. 3 tries against 1 is a proper win in my book.
And Rolland should never be aloud to referee a game when France is playing. He appears far to biassed. Wales v France semi-final in the last WC is far to fresh in my memory.

BW – I used the word often not always!

Getting a bit like when NZ plays some pacific island nations I guess…

Absolutely.

And Rolland should never be aloud to referee a game when France is playing.

Regardless of bias or not, he seems to think he’s the star, not the players. Not exactly what’s required in an international referee… If the referee’s good, he’s the one thing noone will be talking about after the match – his job is to be invisible

Too early for a prediction for next week? Hell, no!

Scotland v Italy – FORZA ITALIA! Italy to grind out a win. Scotland to be the architects of their own demise.

Wales v France – France to sneak a win with a drop goal in the last minute. Dull game.

England v Ireland – Ireland to win by 10. Another false dawn at the Cabbage Patch.

But don’t quote me on that. 🙂

England v Ireland – Ireland to win by 10. Another false dawn at the Cabbage Patch.

Whilst I agree with the scoreline, three wins out of 5 games is a right result for this team. Ireland are too strong in the breakdown for England at the moment. Now if you want to talk about false dawns; look no further than Cardiff. I predict the welsh will be exposed as over-hyped again.

I’m pretty sure Sharples would have done his best to intercept that pass and run away, rather than just pat it down. After all it was the only time he’d get to see any ball. For all his worth, Tuilagi needs now and again to stop running across the pitch looking for contact and actually pass to the winger when there is a split second of space.

As for the ref, very poor but didn’t he miss about 3 england players offside in the final few minutes within kickable range?

Now if you want to talk about false dawns; look no further than Cardiff. I predict the welsh will be exposed as over-hyped again.

I fear you may be right.

As for the ref, very poor but didn’t he miss about 3 england players offside in the final few minutes within kickable range?

I thought he was OK but as usual offsides in the centres missed all game long. Always, every game

this is why IMO we need more officials – so that the offside line can be done by somone else other than the ref

this is why IMO we need more officials – so that the offside line can be done by somone else other than the ref

No, what we need is the existing officials to do their own jobs, rather than asking the TMO every time they’re not sure about a try. And not wasting 5 minutes giving a lecture even Brian Moore would have been proud of ranting about in the scrum.

No, what we need is the existing officials to do their own jobs

^^This^^

Touch judges should (and often do) call the offside line.

ok- so england didn’t get the ‘rub of the green’ on some decisions but really a little OTT to go on about the ref too much – had the pitbull not mentioned it, would we really be talking about him trying to trying to be the star of the show? Ashton, for one, only has himself to blame for being a tool.

Out of interest, If Wales really are that good (on paper, experience, size and speed, exciting new players etc) why are they not winning more convincingly? On paper they should have mullered England and Italy.

someone on the tele commented that centres never being called offside unless it was blatant was a particular trait of Southern hemisphere refereeing so as to allow a more fluid running game.
personally, I think it’s too hard to spot for the referee as he’s rarely in the right place (in line with the front man) to observe it properly, and as such they can’t call it.

Rolland missed players being offside throughout the match, never mind the last five minutes. Both the English and French centres, spent more time offside than behind the back foot. Had he been different in the last five minutes then I suspect England could have got very upset.

Regardless of what TJ thinks, I thought that the Sharples yellow was very harsh. England may have been warned, but the ‘offence’ took place on the halfway line with cover in place, it did not stop a try scoring opportunity. There is a time and a place for yellow cards, but recently there seems to be a rash of them for infringements that don’t justify them.

what is all this ‘hype’ about wales being amazing? I dont read newspapers but I dont think they’re being hyped up that much from what i’ve seen or heard. I think the welsh team is pretty grounded, they haven’t shown anything else from what i’ve seen. Every welshman’s happy they’re doing well in this tournament, and thats natural, but i’m yet to hear anyone say they’d thrash any team or infact have thrashed any team in this tournamemt so far.

Sharples.

When I first saw it I thoght – deleiberate knock on and the rfirst replay looked very damming with two men outside

However a later replay from the otherside it looked much more like an attempt to catch

its a very difficult area – deliberate knock on or attempt to intercept.

Yeloow maybe harsh but I thought it was given for the presistant infringing not for the one incident

Teh reason I would like 2 more officials is to simply make it easier for the officials to see everything. too much gets missed now. Its all well and good saying they existing ones should do better – these guys are the best and they simply cannot see everything

I think Rolland’s strange decisions would be more acceptable if he shut up for 5 minutes. There was a point towards the end of the second half where he was talking absolute nonsense to the two captains who both just nodded in agreement while sharing a ‘WTF?’ look.

I think that his verbal diarrhea is one of the things which annoys everyone so much. Well that and his shocking decision making. 😀

Notice I said ‘more’ acceptable…

😆

Creamegg – don’t start this again… The moron Welsh commentator stated that Wales would “smash” England in the press a week prior to the match. The result was somewhat different. That’s getting to Moore-esque levels of partisanism, likewise his reaction to tuppence ha’peny’s carding.

Unless the Welsh media have changed in the past two years since I moved away, there will barely be 15 minutes passing by between the words “Grand slam” being heard on the telly or radio. Sure, it’s only natural, but there is most definitely hype. Same as there was for England last year.

What the players truly think is anyone’s guess. For the most part they are probably rightly professional on a public level, but I’m pretty sure the idea that they only have to win one more game for the GS won’t have escaped them

Teh reason I would like 2 more officials is to simply make it easier for the officials to see everything. too much gets missed now. Its all well and good saying they existing ones should do better – these guys are the best and they simply cannot see everything

There are 4 officials and a billion different replay angles in the much slower game of cricket, and that still doesn’t ensure every decision is correct. All it does it turn an already fragmented game into a complete farce. Rugby’s already suffering from being far too stop-start (and it’s not always the England forwards’ fault!) – adding more officials means yet more faffing. There’s a fine line between enforcing laws for the sake of them vs letting a bit of it slide in the name of a free-flowing and exciting game. More officials will cause the opposite, as will penalising people attempting interceptions for some other blithering idiot’s (Ashton’s) past indiscretions.

I’d just settle for someone growing a pair and sorting the scrums out.
It worked perfectly well before and was a far better contest. I used to love seeing scrums. I dread them now. I don’t think there’s any evidence of the new methods reducing injuries.

thats one commontators comment, and do you expect anything else from cyclops?
The media always hype everything up. I mean hype from informed and respected people from the rugby world. I dont think the hype is as bad as a lot on here make out. If you spoke to joe boio average out on the hills and i’d be suprised if you found anyone that was overconfident

So, what are the possible outcomes?

Welsh win at home = Grand Slam
Wales lose by ? points and then England have to beat Ireland by ? points?
France thrash Wales by ? points and then?

Anyone got a tidy synopsis?

Out of interest, If Wales really are that good … they should have mullered England

Show how well England played, and how Wales have become more resilient, largely through improved fitness. There’s not a huge gulf between the two sides. Anyone who believes differently is kidding themselves.

Anyone got a tidy synopsis?

Wales can win a Grand Slam, or a Championship, or nothing
England can win a Championship, or nothing

I think that’s it?

As boxfish said. The championship is as good as Wales’s as even if France and England win (that’s a big if) there won’t be a big score difference. Pretty much all the games have been tight.

EDIT: Wales have a 38 point advantage so they need to lose by 20 or so and England win by the same. Unlikely looking at the other results but it’s still possible. 😕

I suppose I was thinking more of the points differences and required scorelines for the various permutations.

The accumulated points difference of a Welsh loss and an English win must exceed 38 points.

e.g. Wales lose by 20, England win by 19 and England take the Championship

Again, I think…

EDIT wot ^he^ said

Looking at the order the matches will be played in, it could be quite an exciting day. I love super saturday.
Unfortunately, mrs w is expecting me to do to her fat dickhead cousins party in the evening. I may need an escort.

Hmm, so very “doable” then.

France could happily stuff Wales. England could happily stuff Ireland.

But, as others have said, most results have been pretty close this year.