2024 Six Nations
- Thread starter molman
- Start date
Italophile
Alfred Walker (16)
Italy U20 knocked off France U20 after pushing Ireland U20 to within a point last week. Arguably the best pack in the comp, a fizzing 9 and stout defence. Promising for the future.
Dctarget
Tim Horan (67)
Congratulations & commiserations for this morning. What a match. Poor Garbisi. That would’ve been an upset of all time. Italy’s defence in the first half was sublime.
France look so so so shaky without Dupont.
Dctarget
Tim Horan (67)
Nup not really
Sword of Justice
Arch Winning (36)
The highlight I saw had a commentator complaining about a water runner having some shenanigans. Ultimately I think it was a fairly straightforward kick and the tee was probably the bigger issue. Bring back sand and bucket.
Italophile
Alfred Walker (16)
Garbisi has owned the error. French only advanced after the ball came off the tee and then retreated. The bigger picture, though, is Quesada's influence. Defence wasn't a Crowley priority, they shipped countless unnecessary points. Their first-half defensive organisation and execution was excellent. France were rumbling. France AWOL in the second half - yet again - and Italy showed composure as opposed to Crowley's run-it-from-anywhere approach.
Sword of Justice
Arch Winning (36)
Crowley certainly didn’t come off looking great in the Netflix series. He’s an emotions based coach. Hard to know if he’s a wizard at keeping Italy in these contests or if he’s holding back a talented pool of players.
The_Brown_Hornet
John Eales (66)
The wheels have come off for France IMHO (much as it pains me to say). They look a shadow of their pre-RWC form.
Ireland look great and unbeatable from here. Wales defend manfully but look a bit directionless in attack. England look one dimensional and without any meaningful structure when they have the ball (their blitz defence is effective, however). Scotland are great value at the minute and I've enjoyed their 6N so far.
Ireland look great and unbeatable from here. Wales defend manfully but look a bit directionless in attack. England look one dimensional and without any meaningful structure when they have the ball (their blitz defence is effective, however). Scotland are great value at the minute and I've enjoyed their 6N so far.
molman
Jim Lenehan (48)
I think some of their outs atm like Dupont can't be understated, but I agree, something isn't right. You've got to wonder if they're just a bit flat after the RWC. They still have the players.
Dctarget
Tim Horan (67)
The step down from Dupont to Lucu is incredible. Their lock depth is terrible (hah suck it France, this is what happens when 50% of Top 14 locks are foreign). And they lost I think their two best player after Dupont: Jelonch and Alldritt. I think with those three and Paul Willemse they put Italy away a bit more easily.
molman
Jim Lenehan (48)
Ntamack also has been a loss for them. With him and Dupont you had that Toulouse core. Add in people like Alldritt etc. and you just increased the cohesion. You've seen them try to do the same with the Bordeaux, Matthieu Jalibert & Maxime Lucu axis, but it just not the same. They feel a little listless compared to that pre-RWC France team.
Italophile
Alfred Walker (16)
Crowley was prickly in the extreme. Italian rugby is an admin minefield at the best of times and he burned a lot of bridges. Angry at being replaced and let it be known. He did serve a purpose: brought in young players, encouraged adventure, but at the cost of common sense. He was attack-oriented, run it from anywhere, especially your own 22, with defence not a high priority. Hence so many points shipped. You can already see Quesada's influence. They would never have kept France out as they did in the first half under Crowley.
Italophile
Alfred Walker (16)
Fear not, there are young locks coming through. Did you see Tuilagi? 19 years old and a monster. As my mate in Paris says, strength in depth has its limits. They were missing Dupont, Ntamack (now also Jalibert out for 2 months), Alldritt, Flament, Jalonch, Willemse. You're right, the step down from Dupont to Lucu is incredible. Lucu is also 31. There are other, much better, much younger alternatives - Le Garrec, Couilloud, etc - but whether Galthie has the courage to turn to them is the question. Injuries aside, he's under pressure.
Dctarget
Tim Horan (67)
Yeah I'm a bit lost to his reluctance to turning to the younger scrumhalves, great depth there.
Tuilagi will be amazing in 5 years of games & conditioning and only 24. Fuck me. 1-2 punch with one of him and Meafou starting and the other coming off the bench is frightening.
molman
Jim Lenehan (48)
Well done to England. They played a physical game and made the breakdown a dogs breakfast. Referee was letting a bit go which suited the men in white and Ireland struggled to get both territory (it was well into the game before they really entered the 22) and rhythm. I don't know the stats, but their phase play was nowhere near their best and that lineout was causing them all kinds of issues. The scrum was solid and truthfully I feel they should have gotten a little more pay for it. The first scrum should have been a Irish ball as it clearly came off a white hand in the tackle and the spidercam didn't seem to align with the refs call of pre-engagement (51m) by the Irish. There was space out there with Englands rush defence often becoming compressed and if you could get around the umbrella there was a lot space on the fringes. Lowe got a lot of pay on his wing from it, but to may eyes there were other opportunities.
For England, we actually started to see some attacking play. Ollie was fantastic hanging out on the wing. Multiple players were a pest in the lineout and Earls continues to be one of my favourite players in that side. I think Care will be happy they secured it as that little grubber in the ~77min was not on at all and Fords set kicking wasn't quite as good as hoped. I don't think they have the polishing and you could see that with the opportunities that England left out there, but they have the cattle and are starting to actually put in performances that align with their skillsets.\
For Ireland I think this was a good wakeup call, especially before the tour to SA. They will be bitterly disappointed with that game and they almost got there, but there are still some work ons for this team. They're not as big and physical side a as some other teams, so when their flow gets disrupted they start to loose what makes them special. They need to reflect on this one and work out how they deal big collision games like this one.
For England, we actually started to see some attacking play. Ollie was fantastic hanging out on the wing. Multiple players were a pest in the lineout and Earls continues to be one of my favourite players in that side. I think Care will be happy they secured it as that little grubber in the ~77min was not on at all and Fords set kicking wasn't quite as good as hoped. I don't think they have the polishing and you could see that with the opportunities that England left out there, but they have the cattle and are starting to actually put in performances that align with their skillsets.\
For Ireland I think this was a good wakeup call, especially before the tour to SA. They will be bitterly disappointed with that game and they almost got there, but there are still some work ons for this team. They're not as big and physical side a as some other teams, so when their flow gets disrupted they start to loose what makes them special. They need to reflect on this one and work out how they deal big collision games like this one.
wamberal99
Jim Clark (26)
Italy are not easybeats any more. I gave them a chance.