The Rugby Union Thread

bertie · November 2013

koneguitarist said:

Not sure who is left to play against Argentina, so should be interesting as I have tickets !

best take yer boots then

koneguitarist · November 2013

Yeah, mind of a no12 body of a very old no 1 !

fretmeister · November 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/24914863 Tuilagi possibly out for 6N too. Arse.

bertie · November 2013

while having some "quiet" games in his last few appearances, he was the one proven "match turner" we had in the whole back division

fretmeister · November 2013

Agreed.

I wish the Saints had offered more for him!!

Jalapeno · November 2013

Joost Van Der Westhuizen interview.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/24890861

Very sad

hywelg · November 2013

tbm said:

So, that all went as expected. Wales were a little unlucky, no doubt. I've just seen the highlights of that one and JDII looked to be in great form before he went off. Wales should have done more with the amount of territory and possession they had though.

No, I think Wales showed little or no imagination, whereas SA had very few chances but converted nearly all of them. Wales posession should have been converted to points, but as I said before, they always play poorly at this end of the season, not sure why. Phillips is on the way out I think. Pack played well apart from a few balls ups in the lineout. Really did need the solid partnership of Roberts and Davies to get the backs working properly. I still prefer Hook at flyhalf.

fretmeister · November 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/24892084 Another one out. Arse.

tbm · November 2013

Bowe is fit for the Wallabies game. Good job as we were down to our 5th and 6th choice wingers.

Tough one to call. Wallabies ressurgent but still mentally fragile, Ireland have to be better then they were last week, but Schmidt is a canny operator and he'll have . Neither team will have anything to lose and I expect a great match. We've a decent record against them in Dublin so I'm going for a narrow home winn, providing we don't kick loosely to Cooper.

Wales to win handy enough - the Pumas are a broken team me thinks - with Scotland and England to lose by not that much. I will be cheering for England though. You never know!

VimFuego · November 2013

losing Corbs is a big blow, without a good front row it'll be tricky to get decent ball and stop them getting quick ball. Could be a long day at the office on Saturday.

scrumhalf · November 2013

I fear for England. The ABs will be keen to avenge last year's defeat. We will need to be quick and effective at the breakdown, more so than we've been for years.

It's what happens after that's the problem. I've seen nothing from Farrell that convinces me that he's international class, he just doesn't get a backline moving forward quickly enough. Injuries are a problem, without them we'd have decent centres and Ashton (one botched try doesn't restore his reputation) would be lucky to be on the bench.

Watching how the French dealt with the ABs was interesting as well as entertaining. At one point in the game it struck me that for periods of immense unending pressure in sport you can't get much better than a top-quality side defending the try-line against the onslaught of another top-quality side. I'm no expert on rugby league, but presumably after the sixth tackle you'd get the ball off the attacking team - no such respite in union.

Another sofa-bound Saturday, great!

bertie · November 2013

sky sports might be coming off this week as quickly as it went on last !!

fretmeister · November 2013

bertie said:

sky sports might be coming off this week as quickly as it went on last !!

I added it for the internationals.

I'll be taking it off again after the weekend. Except to add is easy - do it on the web site. To remove an item you have to talk to them. Urgh.

strumjoughlamps · November 2013

loving ref cam

bertie · November 2013

well that, all thing considered (ie top players in key positions) was a pretty good performance. Great match to boot.

Shame Tuilagi wont be fit for the 6 nations, Tompkins best go back to league I think, ans take Ashton with him.

With the no 8 pairing of 'soften em up Vunipola' and 'finish em off Morgan". Im almost looking forward to the 6 nations.... once we find an outside centre

scrumhalf · November 2013

Agree, Bertie. Ashton's not worth a place any more, he butchered at least one chance.

Lawes was tremendous, and Launch played well until he went off. But Tom Youngs needs to go away and learn how to throw a ball.

After that performance we should be looking at the 6N and thinking " we should win that".

digitalscream · November 2013

Cracking game, I thought. I'm happy enough - against blatantly the best team in the world, we did pretty bloody well...certainly a lot better than I expected.

Even Ashton wasn't a total embarrassment, although part of me wishes he'd lost us a try or two so he'd finally get dropped before the 6N.

bertie · November 2013

scrumhalf said:

But Tom Youngs needs to go away and learn how to throw a ball.

ah yes, forgot that...............some great English performances on show today.............. with the two props back, a No. 13 and some decent wings ................ things are looking OK

strumjoughlamps · November 2013

well, and remember I don't follow the ins and outs of the game, I really enjoyed it, partly cos the wife and kids are in S-o-A at the mo in laws so it was enjoyed in peace with a few King Goblins, but mainly because knowing England were playing the 'best team in the world' we were tip top... and our Tigers players rock.

bertie · November 2013

strumjoughlamps said:

and our Tigers players rock.

except Tom Youngs of course

VimFuego · November 2013

gah, how close was that. Tom Youngs had a howler. Mind you, you have hand it to the AB's, they are the masters of being a fag paper on the right side of the laws.

koneguitarist · November 2013

Well an interesting weekend of Rugby, England close, but 3 tries to one tells its own story. Wales demolish Argentina, but pay the cost with injuries, both 2nd choice centers out. Bring back Gavin !

hywelg · November 2013

koneguitarist said:

Well an interesting weekend of Rugby, England close, but 3 tries to one tells its own story. Wales demolish Argentina, but pay the cost with injuries, both 2nd choice centers out. Bring back Gavin !

Just Google 'Gavin Henson' Comment in right hand box

Gavin Lloyd Henson is an orange Welsh rugby union player, born in Pencoed, South Wales, who currently plays for Bath Rugby. He used to be good but now is a bit shit

Sums it up really.!

bertie · November 2013

koneguitarist said:

Well an interesting weekend of Rugby, England close, but 3 tries to one tells its own story.

yep they did well, most were expecting about 6 to none !!

NZ by their own admission are at their peak, England are still only 50% through the building cycle.

koneguitarist · November 2013

Agreed, a lot of positives for England, power of forwards, great full back good kicker, but like 2003 team still no flair, but that doesn't always win the games. If England sort their back line out, then we could all be in trouble. As for Gavin, was only joking, as he is still the best Welsh Center ever, but after this weekend, he could be called up, ain't many centers left, top four that we have are all injured. He would slot straight in, allways was the guy for the big games. Any injuries against Tonga, which is normally expected and we will be in serious trouble for Australia match.

VimFuego · November 2013

it is interesting to speculate what a full strength England side would've made of that game, but with so many injuries forcing us to play out of position or out of form players, it was always going to be difficult. I was really impressed with 36, and as usual Brown played outstanding. You could see Foden was struggling at times, getting out of position at crucial moments, in times of stress muscle memory takes over and it's very difficult to fight against.

bertie · November 2013

koneguitarist said:

. as he is still the best Welsh Center ever,

I assume you're joking again ?

John Taylor

John Dawes

Gibbsy

Bateman

even Arthur Gould - all "better" than Gavin "David Dickinson" Henson

tbm · November 2013

Poor old Gavin gets a lot of stick, much of it deserved, but he was still a class player before it all went to pot. I wouldn't have him near that Welsh team though.

A sobering weekend for the Irish rugby fan. The fact that it was a brilliant Aussie performance, there best this year, is of little comfort. This was not the Wallabies the lions faced. Bested us everywhere around the park, most notably in the scrum. Biggest failing was the utter lack of aggression and urgency from Ireland save for 2/3 players. When Kuridrani spear tackled O' Mahony - resulting in a red card - no Irish player went near him.

Anyway, a tempering of expectations is probably no bad thing, we need to blood some new players and ditch some old ones and that will mean taking some losses. It was only Schmidts second game, and you can see they're trying new things that will bear fruit in time. I just wish to f#ck we didn't have BNZ next Sunday. If we keep it under 20 poitn gap it will be a massive achievement.

bertie · November 2013

tbm said:

. This was not the Wallabies the lions faced. Bested us everywhere around the park, most notably in the scrum.

and they trained hard for it to by the looks of it.................>> http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/24983640

VimFuego · November 2013

to be fair bert, only half the wallaby team were pissed, so they still had twice the rugby players on the pitch that Ireland did.

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