Six Nations 2019

LeadBelly · Post by **LeadBelly** » Sat Feb 23, 2019 8:28 pm

England were poor 2nd half and didnt deserve to win after that.
Many Englishmen will be supporting Scotland (v Wales) next week. I think England will stuff Italy at TW and Ireland will easily dispose of France in Dublin in that round.
Two weeks to those games and hopefully Scotland will get back some of their injured players and make a good game of it in Edinburgh.

Rileybobs · Post by **Rileybobs** » Sat Feb 23, 2019 8:29 pm

I'm not a rugby expert by any means, but isn't it easier to win matches if you have the ball?

Tribesmen · Post by **Tribesmen** » Sat Feb 23, 2019 8:54 pm

Rileybobs wrote:I'm not a rugby expert by any means, but isn't it easier to win matches if you have the ball?

Put it this way the Clarets only had around 30% of the ball today yet they won .
It's what you do with it that counts

Rileybobs · Post by **Rileybobs** » Sat Feb 23, 2019 9:00 pm

Tribesmen wrote:Put it this way the Clarets only had around 30% of the ball today yet they won .
It's what you do with it that counts

True enough - we didn't repeatedly and intentionally keep giving Spurs the ball though.

Tribesmen · Post by **Tribesmen** » Sat Feb 23, 2019 9:06 pm

Rileybobs wrote:True enough - we didn't repeatedly and intentionally keep giving Spurs the ball though.

Yet we still won ............

Rileybobs · Post by **Rileybobs** » Sat Feb 23, 2019 9:24 pm

Tribesmen wrote:Yet we still won ............

Yes, I'm saying that, unlike England, Burnley didn't purposefully concede possession.

Tribesmen · Post by **Tribesmen** » Mon Feb 25, 2019 11:11 am

So if anyone watched yesterdays game it would make you wonder why Ireland are one of the favs for the world cup .
Goodness they were lucky and again disjointed is about the best way to sum them up at the moment .

Wales to win it now ?

tiger76 · Post by **tiger76** » Mon Feb 25, 2019 11:21 am

Tribesmen wrote:So if anyone watched yesterdays game it would make you wonder why Ireland are one of the favs for the world cup .
Goodness they were lucky and again disjointed is about the best way to sum them up at the moment .

Wales to win it now ?

Wales have both Celtic nations to play,and that won't be easy,Scotland at Murrayfield are capable of upsetting anyone,just ask England last year,Ireland at home in their last match,you'd expect them to win that,but when the pressure's on who knows.

England have 2 games at Twickers on this season's from that should yield 2 bonus point wins.

You can't completely rule the Irish out yet they should beat the French in Dublin,which keeps them in the hunt going to Cardiff last up.

Wales have a winning mentality ATM,which will get them over the line,they just have to hope they haven't peaked to early in WC year.

timshorts · Post by **timshorts** » Mon Feb 25, 2019 1:33 pm

It is still possible that Wales win the Grand Slam but don't win the championship. Not as likely now that England didn't get a bonus point on Saturday, but looking at the remaining fixtures, still a real possibility. That may also mean come the Ireland game, that Wales throw away a win by having to do stupid things to try and get a bonus point.

This is just plain wrong. There's an easy way to get around it by giving three bonus points to anybody that wins the grand slam.

derryclaret · Post by **derryclaret** » Mon Feb 25, 2019 2:31 pm

Tribesmen wrote:So if anyone watched yesterdays game it would make you wonder why Ireland are one of the favs for the world cup .
Goodness they were lucky and again disjointed is about the best way to sum them up at the moment .

Wales to win it now ?

Yep Tribesmen it was worrying, one thing for sure, we'll know where we stand after the games against France and Wales, have to be a marked improvement, need our big hitters back, so much for our strength in depth.

Falcon · Post by **Falcon** » Mon Feb 25, 2019 2:44 pm

timshorts wrote:There's an easy way to get around it by giving three bonus points to anybody that wins the grand slam.

Umm, they already do this. You know that right?

hampsteadclaret · Post by **hampsteadclaret** » Mon Feb 25, 2019 3:25 pm

Still a lot left in this competition yet.
England were poor in the second half, and the game plan was poor - very surprising given their previous two matches. More injuries now as well, Courtney Lawes.

Gonna stick my neck out and say that I still think that they will be this year’s Champions - because they have the easier two fixtures on paper.
England have always beaten Italy, who have now lost 20 matches in a row... I expect a bonus point win.
Scotland have not won at Twickenham since about 1983.
- can’t see that changing soon.

Wales have two trickier matches..
Scotland away
Ireland home.
I think they might lose one of them.

Ireland have not had a great competition (surprisingly)..
- about 13 handling errors on Saturday, misplaced kicks and missed tackles. Sexton has not been the man, neither has Conor Murray.
Ireland are not out of it yet and the match against Wales is massive.

It could be a very exciting final Saturday.

Clarets4me · Post by **Clarets4me** » Tue Feb 26, 2019 12:07 am

hampsteadclaret wrote:Still a lot left in this competition yet.
England were poor in the second half, and the game plan was poor - very surprising given their previous two matches. More injuries now as well, Courtney Lawes.

Gonna stick my neck out and say that I still think that they will be this year’s Champions - because they have the easier two fixtures on paper.
England have always beaten Italy, who have now lost 20 matches in a row... I expect a bonus point win.
Scotland have not won at Twickenham since about 1983.
- can’t see that changing soon.

Wales have two trickier matches..
Scotland away
Ireland home.
I think they might lose one of them.

Ireland have not had a great competition (surprisingly)..
- about 13 handling errors on Saturday, misplaced kicks and missed tackles. Sexton has not been the man, neither has Conor Murray.
Ireland are not out of it yet and the match against Wales is massive.

It could be a very exciting final Saturday.

I think I'm on fairly safe ground in saying England will beat Italy at Twickenham, they'll be smarting from that defeat in Cardiff. Courtney Lawes is out for the rest of the 6 Nations, but Mario Itoje looks set to return. I suspect this will be a long afternoon for the Italians ... Scotland have two weeks to get players back and it's never easy at Murrayfield, I still think Wales will win, but not perhaps with a bonus point . Ireland will beat France in Dublin by between 10-15 points ...

On the last weekend, when all 3 games are on the same day, England will have the advantage of playing last, and will know what they need to do, if they're still in with a chance of the title .. you can rest assured Scotland will not make it easy though

Stalbansclaret · Post by **Stalbansclaret** » Tue Feb 26, 2019 7:24 am

Rileybobs wrote:I'm not a rugby expert by any means, but isn't it easier to win matches if you have the ball?

This. As a layman when it comes to rugby I just cannot understand the thinking of keep booting the ball up the pitch back to the oppo which is all England seemed to want to do for chunks of that game. Also so many times when a bloke gets the ball in the middle of the park with loads of players lined up to the side of him but, rather than pass the ball out and get some forward momentum he just puts his head down and runs into the nearest pack of defenders. I suppose it's about sucking in more defenders and creating more space but there seem to be very few times when there is a desire to exploit this.
Also scrums...a lot of fannying about puffing and panting getting the collapsing structure set up but the team putting the ball in always wins the ball , simply by putting the ball in crookedly.

I was too busy celebrating our magnificent win v Spurs to care too much about the above but I'm bored in a coffee shop so thought would post these layman's thoughts.

timshorts · Post by **timshorts** » Tue Feb 26, 2019 8:03 am

Falcon wrote:Umm, they already do this. You know that right?

No I didn't. I can't recall it ever being a potential issue until right now, and that seemed the best way to fix it.

I'm not a fan of the bonus point system, particularly the 4 try thing. 3 tries more than the opposition, maybe better.

Anyhow, it's marginally better than the point scoring in ice hockey, not least because that one is very easily 'fixable'.

Clarets4me · Post by **Clarets4me** » Tue Feb 26, 2019 9:54 am

Stalbansclaret wrote:This. As a layman when it comes to rugby I just cannot understand the thinking of keep booting the ball up the pitch back to the oppo which is all England seemed to want to do for chunks of that game. Also so many times when a bloke gets the ball in the middle of the park with loads of players lined up to the side of him but, rather than pass the ball out and get some forward momentum he just puts his head down and runs into the nearest pack of defenders. I suppose it's about sucking in more defenders and creating more space but there seem to be very few times when there is a desire to exploit this.
Also scrums...a lot of fannying about puffing and panting getting the collapsing structure set up but the team putting the ball in always wins the ball , simply by putting the ball in crookedly.

I was too busy celebrating our magnificent win v Spurs to care too much about the above but I'm bored in a coffee shop so thought would post these layman's thoughts.

I think modern defences are so well coached, that the kicking, if done accurately and with good chasers, is a way of finding space. IMHO England rather overdid the tactic on Saturday, and in the event, Wales were driven on by the crowd and were worthy winners ( he said thru gritted teeth ! )

The tactic of tying in defenders is effective if the ball comes back quickly, before defences have time to realign. Then you can try and engineer a situation where a faster player can find a gap between two of the slower opponents. It's a lot easier to play the game going forward, taking the ball running forward, than to receive it standing still and have to try and create something out of nothing. As a former Lock forward, ( no. 4 or 5 ), don't even get me started on modern scrums ....

Firthy · Post by **Firthy** » Tue Feb 26, 2019 10:29 am

Clarets4me wrote:I think modern defences are so well coached, that the kicking, if done accurately and with good chasers, is a way of finding space. IMHO England rather overdid the tactic on Saturday, and in the event, Wales were driven on by the crowd and were worthy winners ( he said thru gritted teeth ! )

Spot on. Englland kicked far too much and kept giving Wales posession which they thrive on. The problem for England was that the kicking was so successful against France but with the kicking game there is always an element of luck with the bounce etc. You can't always rely on that luck working in your favour and on top of that Englands kicking against Wales was nowhere near as good as it was against France.

Clarets4me · Post by **Clarets4me** » Fri Mar 08, 2019 11:29 pm

Round 4 coming up over the weekend ....

Wales by 6-10 points against a Scottish side, shorn of several 1st choice players, England by 35 or so points against Italy, and Sunday's game in Paris is a knife edge, Ireland feeling the strain of being the top ranked side, whereas God knows which France will turn up !! ....

Tribesmen · Post by **Tribesmen** » Sat Mar 09, 2019 1:34 pm

Yep all set for today, as in my Chair in front of the box, beers in the fridge and on here on other sites to see how things pan out in in the football .
Funny game this as everyone thinks Wales just needs to turn out to win so stick my neck out and say upset on the cards as Scotland to win by 2 points .
England rubbing their hands get a bonus point win and go on the win the six nations , yer i know what i typed .
Ireland on Sunday to beat the French in another disjointed game .
Hey in all my predictions i have been somewhat wrong to say tuned .

Opps i forgot to say the the lad above me that Ireland are at home

hampsteadclaret · Post by **hampsteadclaret** » Sat Mar 09, 2019 2:12 pm

Come on Scotland, do England a big favour [yes I know it is not in your nature].

Unfortunately I see Wales picking up the points..

Blackrod · Post by **Blackrod** » Sat Mar 09, 2019 3:03 pm

Can’t see Scotland getting anything out of this.

Blackrod · Post by **Blackrod** » Sat Mar 09, 2019 3:37 pm

Looking up a bit. Needed some of that pressure to pay off. Good try.

timshorts · Post by **timshorts** » Sat Mar 09, 2019 5:35 pm

Ooo we got a bit lucky there. Good first half performance, but almost threw it second.

One to go. Could do with a few Irish injuries if we play like today. Have to thank the ref for a few decisions, which makes a nice change.

Clarets4me · Post by **Clarets4me** » Sat Mar 09, 2019 11:43 pm

Tribesmen wrote:Yep all set for today, as in my Chair in front of the box, beers in the fridge and on here on other sites to see how things pan out in in the football .
Funny game this as everyone thinks Wales just needs to turn out to win so stick my neck out and say upset on the cards as Scotland to win by 2 points .
England rubbing their hands get a bonus point win and go on the win the six nations , yer i know what i typed .
Ireland on Sunday to beat the French in another disjointed game .
Hey in all my predictions i have been somewhat wrong to say tuned .

Opps i forgot to say the the lad above me that Ireland are at home

Apologies, a slip of the geographical finger !! I have Ireland to win, 27-17, in my Club predictor competition ...

tim_noone · Post by **tim_noone** » Sun Mar 10, 2019 12:12 am

Good documentary following MOTD on British Lion Sam Warburton.

Tribesmen · Post by **Tribesmen** » Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:24 am

So Wales win and England romp home . A two horse race for the six nations now .

tiger76 · Post by **tiger76** » Sun Mar 10, 2019 11:27 am

Can't see the Welsh failing on home soil,they deserve the GS over the piece.

Dazzler · Post by **Dazzler** » Sun Mar 10, 2019 5:31 pm

Tribesmen wrote:So Wales win and England romp home . A two horse race for the six nations now .

If Ireland beat Wales,which is possible & Scotland beat England,a possibility,then Ireland win the title.

Clarets4me · Post by **Clarets4me** » Sun Mar 10, 2019 8:30 pm

It's 36 years since Scotland won at Twickenham, I've seen nothing this year that suggests that this will change ....

bfcmik · Post by **bfcmik** » Sun Mar 10, 2019 9:31 pm

As a matter of interest is it possible for England to win the 5 Nations title by completing a bonus point win even should Wales do a Grand Slam?

They would both be on level points in the table (assuming that Wales do not get a bonus point in their game against Ireland) but England have a massively better score difference.

LeadBelly · Post by **LeadBelly** » Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:51 pm

As a matter of interest is it possible for England to win the 5 Nations title by completing a bonus point win even should Wales do a Grand Slam?

No (I think it's been covered on this thread or another rugby related one). A team which wins all 5 games gets a bonus of 3 points so Wales will definitely win the 6N IF they beat Ireland.
Ireland looked to be back to somewhere near their best today (that was the biggest 12 point hiding I've ever seen) so Wales will have to be on top form in Cardiff next week. Very interesting round next week.

Tribesmen · Post by **Tribesmen** » Fri Mar 15, 2019 12:40 pm

So down to the last weekend of the Six Nations and we will see what happens .
Can Italy beat France , hey I would say this is their chance and would love to see them pull it off .
The next game well it's Slam time for Wales , just can't see how Ireland can stop them as they are so close . Now I have to admit Wales haven't really blown teams away but they do not let too many teams get easy points from them , yes it will be tight but Wales to win by 10 points . If the Irish do turn up like last week then it's going to be some game .
The last game well England should beat Scotland and if Ireland do win then the English will beat them by 25 points other than that I still can't see how it will be close .

hampsteadclaret · Post by **hampsteadclaret** » Fri Mar 15, 2019 1:11 pm

It's in Wales' hands alright - they will start favourites against Ireland but the Irish have plenty of good players and are certainly in with a chance.

England should beat Scotland tomorrow [who haven't won at Twickenham since 1983, I was at that one] and could still be Champions if Wales slip up.

I see that Gatland and the Welsh have tried to pull a fast one with regard to the roof being open/closed for the match tomorrow [see the link] - they tried to get the roof closed without consulting the Irish, which is not how it is supposed to happen.
The weather is supposed to be pretty poor tomorrow [wind and rain] which might level things up a bit on the field.
It will keep the noise down as well.

They're expecting a massive crowd in Cardiff tomorrow, with tens of thousands heading into the city for what they hope is a Grand Slam party.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/47574452" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Clarets4me · Post by **Clarets4me** » Fri Mar 15, 2019 3:49 pm

France by 10-15 in Rome, Wales by 7-12 in Cardiff and England by 18-25 at Twickenham ....

LeadBelly · Post by **LeadBelly** » Fri Mar 15, 2019 4:12 pm

My bookie has it as:
France by 10
Wales by 1
England by 19

I'll be having a bet on Italy to win by 1-5, Italy have been good in attack, not so good in defence but France have been generally poorish and, as they're playing away, could well fall to defeat.
I'll go for Wales by 1-5 too. As an England supporter, I'd like the greens to win but they'll need to play much better than they have been to win in Cardiff
I think England will win by 11-15 after a tight first 40 minutes.

timshorts · Post by **timshorts** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 8:21 pm

It's all gone a bit quiet on this thread.

conyoviejo · Post by **conyoviejo** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 8:33 pm

Well,England didn't half bottle that .. 31-0 in front and ended up scabbing a lucky draw..

hampsteadclaret · Post by **hampsteadclaret** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 10:24 pm

I was fortunate enough to be at Twickenham this afternoon and I have never seen anything like I witnessed today, in any sport ever. England 31-0 up after 31 minutes but two minutes from the final whistle were losing 31-38.
George Ford came to the rescue with a very late equalising converted try. Eleven tries and a great atmosphere, thousands of delirious Scots, until the death - I am not sure which side looked most deflated.

Clarets4me · Post by **Clarets4me** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 10:26 pm

Clarets4me wrote:France by 10-15 in Rome, Wales by 7-12 in Cardiff and England by 18-25 at Twickenham ....

Well, that started well, France won by 11pts, got a bit worse Wales won by 18pts, and then ... wtf ???

Farrell should have taken the 3 points on offer at the end of the first half and gone in 34-7 up ... the bonus point was already secured !
Scotland were sensational in the 2nd half, every credit due to them ... we got out of jail in the end!!

Tribesmen · Post by **Tribesmen** » Sun Mar 17, 2019 7:46 am

Goodness what a day .
Now feel sorry for Italy as they did deserve a bonus point at least but not to be .
As for Wales well easy really as the Irish just got it all wrong on the day , Wales only got one try but the penalties which the Irish gave away was very poor for us .
Now the game of the day talk about come backs or what but in the end how they fell short and only to come away with a draw . Fair play to the Scots you were super .
So at the end of it all .
Wales were very strong and were better than i was thinking to be honest .
Ireland were good and bad but looked a different side after the opening game with the loss against England .Scotland expected more but injuries hit them hard .
Italy boy another poor six nations .
France shocking, really shocking not sure where these lads are going , now they will no doubt go on to win the World Cup and stuff us all .