Six Nations 2020

[Merrow]

God if you can't celebrate an English loss i don't even know what you get out of sport.

English failure is the pinnacle of human achievement.

UnAustralian to think anything else

 

[Dan54]

God if you can't celebrate an English loss i don't even know what you get out of sport.

English failure is the pinnacle of human achievement.

Dunno mate, I a kiwi and as a rule we probably don't have the hate towards Poms that Aussies do (one thing I picked up in the 24 years I lived there) . But then Aussies tend to lean towards the yanks more in a lot of things and I think kiwis in general will go for Poms over someone like yanks most days of the week! Just something I have found in my lifetime, though not a biggy!
Though I will add Poms against other Colonial teams will usually find kiwis take the colonial side and I put Scots, Welsh etc in as colonials.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

For me seeing the Poms lose is all about getting one up on not only our former colonial masters (even though my family weren't colonials - who cares!) and the array of hooray Henry's and trolls that make up the English fandom.

 

[rodha]

But wasn't Tandy's record at the Tahs pretty poor as well?

Found some high praise for Tandy on reddit, the Scots are viewing his appointment as a god-send:

"Scotland have been building a genuinely competitive squad for a while now. Their results have at times been hit and miss. But I suspect to most rugby fans, the talent in that squad has been self-evident; (even if a little too unreliable to match Townsend's ambition). However, with the arrival of Steve Tandy, it seems - at least to me, as a Test match side they've been able to take a significant step forwards. While Edwards at France will always grab headlines for being a superb coach. Last year under Tandy, Scotland conceded only five tries, while France conceded 13. Indeed, even this year against Italy, France conceded yet again. Meanwhile, even away from home against England, Tandy's Scotland did not. While there has been a lot of focus on how poorly England apparently played. The fact is that Scotland prevented England from scoring even when down to 14 players."

"Tandy has been a revelation. His defensive systems have improved Scotland overall immeasurably and he has a better squad buy-in to his systems than Matt Taylor managed. Pretty happy that Rennie asked Taylor to join him at the Wallabies!"

 

[Dctarget]

Round 2 Six Nations:

England v Italy, Feb 13th 14:15GMT @ Twickenham
Feel bad man for Franco's Azzuri. Eddie Jones has been left smarting by the Scots and will be looking to get some form back by absolutely annihilating the Italians. Perfect chance to blood some new players but instead has opted to use it to get Billy V. back in form. Ford returns to 10 and Farrell back to 12. He persists with Lawes at 6, when he has so many good young backrowers to choose from which is odd.

England to storm home in this one, using a 40 pt victory over Italy to say "steady on chaps, all is right aboard the HMS It's Coming Home, nothing to worry about".

England: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Owen Farrell (c), 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Jack Willis, 22 Dan Robson, 23 Max Malins

Italy: 15 Jacopo Trulla, 14 Luca Sperandio, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Carlo Canna, 11 Montanna Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Michele Lamaro, 7 Johan Meyer, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 David Sisi, 4 Marco Lazzaroni, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Giosuè Zilocchi, 19 Niccolò Cannone, 20 Federico Ruzza, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Federico Mori


Scotland v Wales, Feb 13th @ Murrayfield 16:45GMT
Scotland riding high after a historic win against the Poms and Wales with a win in the bag but probably feeling quite lucky to have it.

You'd imagine Townsend would've wanted to keep the same 23 but injury puts Redpath, Maitland and Ritchie out of the team. All quite instrumental in their win. Shame Redpath doesn't get to have a 2nd taste of test rugby and build some form. Will be curious to see if Maitland's replacement, Darcy Graham, will be able to apply the same pressure to the Welsh wingers that Maitland did.

Pivac's happiness short lived with injury issues in the backrow. Last week they wheeled out Dan Lydiate for the first time in years, he got injured within 15 minutes. His replacement Navidi also got injured with uncapped squad member Macleod also injured. So, instead he's got Wainwright goes to 6. North has been booted too and they've included debutant Kiwi Welsh Willis Halaholo.

After last weekend's results it's hard to go past a Scotland win despite their crucial injuries. Scotland by 5.

Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg (c), 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Chris Harris, 12 James Lang, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ali Price, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Blade Thomson, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Scott Cummings, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Rory Sutherland
Replacements: 16 David Cherry, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 WP Nel, 19 Richie Gray, 20 Gary Graham, 21 Scott Steele, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 Huw Jones

Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Aaron Wainwright, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 4 Adam Beard, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Wyn Jones
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Leon Brown, 19 Will Rowlands, 20 James Botham, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Callum Sheedy, 23 Willis Halaholo


Ireland v France Sunday 14 Feb 15:00 GMT @ Aviva in Dublin

Must win game for Ireland to keep their Six Nations alive. Actually looked pretty good last weekend sticking close with Wales despite being a man down for the majority of the match. France haven't won in Dublin since 2011, but this year it's no crowds and a very, very different looking Les Bleus.

Enough has been written about how good the French are. I'm happy for them that Jalibert had Italy first up to calm his nerves, talented kid but needs more game time. Also looking at the team, looks like Jalibert will play the full 80 with no cover on the bench (Bouthier is there but he's more a 15). If Ireland can rattle him there might be a path to unsettling the French. Only two changes, Cretin drops out of the starting team for Jelonch and Teddy Thomas gets benched for....... Damien Penaud. An absolute embarrassment of riches at wing for France. You'd imagine Penaud is there for the high ball.

Farrell has been forced to ring the changes for Ireland: POM been given a 3 match ban to think about life, Sexton hasn't passed the fitness test and nor has his VC James Ryan (much bigger loss than Sexton IMO). Connor Murray is also out after a hamstring injury during training. Murray, Ryan, Sexton & POM are their four biggest names but a good chance to see their depth. Would be interested to hear KevinO's thoughts on whether Murray & Sexton should be starting if fit anyway.

Gibson Park and B. Burns are the halves with Iain Henderson captaining the side in the 2nd row with Beirne his partner.

Close game, want to say the French by 2 points but I think Ireland's injuries are worth at least a try, so France by 9.

Ireland: Keenan, Earls, Ringrose, Henshaw, Lowe, Burns, Gibson-Park; Healy, Herring, Porter, Beirne, Henderson (c), Ruddock, van der Flier, Stander.
Replacements: Kelleher, E Byrne, Furlong, Dillane, Connors, Casey, R Byrne, Larmour.


France team
Brice Dulin, Damian Penaud, Arthur Vincent, Gael Fickou, Gabin Villiere, Matthieu Jalibert, Antoine Dupont, Gregory Alldritt, Charles Ollivon (captain), Anthony Jelonch, Paul Willemse, Bernard Le Roux, Mohamed Haouas, Julien Marchand, Cyril Baille.
Replacements: Pierre Bourgarit, Hassane Kolingar, Uini Atonio, Romain Taofifenua, Dylan Cretin, Baptiste Serin, Anthony Boutier, Teddy Thomas.

 

[Dan54]

Looking forward to Scotland /Wales game tonight, or in morning, I find these 6am kick off times in NZ very civil, rugby over breakfast agrees with me.
May have to record the French/Irish game and watch Monday breakfast though.
Can't say I vaguely interested in Italy/Pom game.

 

[Dan54]

Well certainly enjoyed the Wales/ Scotland test, Wales held on against 14 man Scots team, was a bloody good test. Seems Welsh enjoying opposition getting red cards.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I thought Scotland were a bit stiff not to win that game, but I have to question the tactics of not taking points when on offer. The red was fair enough in terms of consistent application of the protocols.

England didn't impress me in their game.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Found some high praise for Tandy on reddit, the Scots are viewing his appointment as a god-send:

"Scotland have been building a genuinely competitive squad for a while now. Their results have at times been hit and miss. But I suspect to most rugby fans, the talent in that squad has been self-evident; (even if a little too unreliable to match Townsend's ambition). However, with the arrival of Steve Tandy, it seems - at least to me, as a Test match side they've been able to take a significant step forwards. While Edwards at France will always grab headlines for being a superb coach. Last year under Tandy, Scotland conceded only five tries, while France conceded 13. Indeed, even this year against Italy, France conceded yet again. Meanwhile, even away from home against England, Tandy's Scotland did not. While there has been a lot of focus on how poorly England apparently played. The fact is that Scotland prevented England from scoring even when down to 14 players."

"Tandy has been a revelation. His defensive systems have improved Scotland overall immeasurably and he has a better squad buy-in to his systems than Matt Taylor managed. Pretty happy that Rennie asked Taylor to join him at the Wallabies!"

I'm happy that they're happy. My point was and is that Tandy didn't exactly light the world on fire as Tahs defence coach and thus would have struggled to make a strong case for getting the Wallaby job.

 

[Dctarget]

Damn, so close for Ireland against France. Going down 13-15. Both teams felt like they were playing below standard but still a tense match. France looked a bit off it except for Dulin, Dupont and Alldritt and that's all you really need. Ireland look a bit toothless in attack but their defence is good and their high ball is immaculate. Perhaps providing Aus a game plan for how to take on France when they tour here.

Anyway, England & Wales will be buoyed by that game. Definitely shows France are beatable.

 

[Dan54]

Damn, so close for Ireland against France. Going down 13-15. Both teams felt like they were playing below standard but still a tense match. France looked a bit off it except for Dulin, Dupont and Alldritt and that's all you really need. Ireland look a bit toothless in attack but their defence is good and their high ball is immaculate. Perhaps providing Aus a game plan for how to take on France when they tour here.

Anyway, England & Wales will be buoyed by that game. Definitely shows France are beatable.

Exactly how I saw it too Dc, I was a little surprised how close Ireland got, though the injuries they had got may of hampered them more than it did. I thought James Lowe had a good game, but showed why he maybe never made ABs, does a lot of good but just makes 1 or 2 mistakes, runs out of defence liine etc.

 

[Kevin77]

Exactly how I saw it too Dc, I was a little surprised how close Ireland got, though the injuries they had got may of hampered them more than it did. I thought James Lowe had a good game, but showed why he maybe never made ABs, does a lot of good but just makes 1 or 2 mistakes, runs out of defence liine etc.

As an Irishman I genuinely thought we'd get well beaten. France just couldn't get on top in the forwards and Ireland starved them of ball really well. I thought the Irish pack played really well and has good depth.

We're just so short at 9 and 10 right now. Sexton and Murray have a lot of miles on the clock but are still the best option. The players behind them (that are available) aren't international class. Really need Carbery back from injury or one of the young guns to get more game time at provinces. Casey is a good young scrum half at Munster, maybe should have got a few mins off the bench yesterday.

France definitely beatable if you can keep the ball off their backs who are lethal.

 

[Dctarget]

As an Irishman I genuinely thought we'd get well beaten. France just couldn't get on top in the forwards and Ireland starved them of ball really well. I thought the Irish pack played really well and has good depth.

We're just so short at 9 and 10 right now. Sexton and Murray have a lot of miles on the clock but are still the best option. The players behind them (that are available) aren't international class. Really need Carbery back from injury or one of the young guns to get more game time at provinces. Casey is a good young scrum half at Munster, maybe should have got a few mins off the bench yesterday.

France definitely beatable if you can keep the ball off their backs who are lethal.

I actually thought Gibson Park was pretty good, he’s getting a lot of hate online, but his bombs were pinpoint and kept them in the game IMO.

 

[Kevin77]

I actually thought Gibson Park was pretty good, he’s getting a lot of hate online, but his bombs were pinpoint and kept them in the game IMO.

Yeah, he wasn't as bad as some would have you believe. But equally I don't think he was brilliant.
Would have been good to get someone different on for last ten

 

[Dan54]

Yep Ithink Gibson-Parkes was ok, but he not really ever going to better then ok. He another of these players that should get credit for playing to best of his ability, but his very best wasn't quite enough to break into a Super team here in NZ on a premanent basis and I not sure he has improved enough to make a real impression at test level.

 

[Dan54]

Bloody hell another enjoyable test! Well done Wales, may of had a couple of decisions go your way, but you got stuck in and seserved win. Great breakfast time TV watching this!
Can I add thought Farrell was very classy after game , no whinges or excuses, even if that women doing interview was trying her hardest to get him to make some. Same as Alan Wyn-Jones handled her quite well.

 

[Forcefield]

I don't like the idea of a resurgent Wales.

England have been pretty poor this year. I wonder if Eddie's head would be on the chopping block if they lose to Ireland or France. The team is a far cry from 2019.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Ah another England loss. Makes my heart glad to see those two smirking wankers Farrell and Jones on the wrong end of a result again.

 

[formerflanker]

Ah another England loss. Makes my heart glad to see those two smirking wankers Farrell and Jones on the wrong end of a result again.

Harsh. But fair.

 

[boyo]

England played some dumb rugby; they gave away many penalties (I'm looking at you Maro Itoje: the penalty magnet).
When they did string together some good play, they often came undone through unforced errors.
Wales capitalised on England's schoolboy errors, caught them napping, and scored some good tries.
LRZ has jet shoes; his pace blew England away, and his defence was very good.
Even if you take away the 14 points from the two "controversial" tries, Wales won by 2 points.