theboyangel Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 Haven't seen a thread for this years tournament and for me, this is a most welcome break from disappointing sporting results on a Saturday!!!! It really could be the most open Six Nations for a long time, England with their new coach, Scotland having a good nucleas and recent showing at the World Cup, Wales with a settled team, Ireland without some influential players, France still totally unpredicatble and sketchy and Italy, who sadly whilst improving year on year won't keep up with the big boys but may spring the odd surprise. I really don't know what to make of the Eddy Jones appointment and Dylan Hartley as Captain - both could prove to be masterstrokes however, equally they could be awful decisions. I think today will be a very tight match against Scotland, with the Scotch in their best shape for a long time and always put in the extra effort against us. As much as I hate to admit it, I think Wales will win it as England haven't had time to adapt to Eddy Jones' way of thinking. 6th/7th February France vs Italy. Scotland vs England Ireland vs Wales 13th/14th February France vs Ireland Wales vs Scotland Italy vs England 26th/27th February Wales vs France Italy vs Scotland England vs Ireland 12th/13th March Ireland vs Italy England vs Wales Scotland vs France 19th March Wales vs Italy Ireland vs Scotland France vs England Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 England vs Wales will decide it. Scotland will have a decent showing. Ireland will struggle because of injuries and loss of form. Italy will put in a good show against someone. France should steamroll everyone but who the **** knows with that lot. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 (edited) . Edited February 6, 2016 by CarewsEyebrowDesigner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted February 7, 2016 Author Share Posted February 7, 2016 Thought Scotland battled well against England yesterday but never looked like scoring. England on the other hand looked like a team under new management, as certain moves didn't quite come off. However, the game plan was clear and executed well. Dylan Hartley performed well as Captain and only needed to be told to calm down by the ref once, which must be a record for him! Man of the Match was undoubtedly Billy Vunipola but was run close by Jack Nowell who was also immense. As for the earlier game, I feel gutted for Italy as they did all they could to get their first victory in Paris. Typically, the French played well in sporadic moments but horridly in others - somehow they squeaked the win. Today will be an interesting game, Wales although away from home will be favourites but I still fancy the Irish to score a narrow victory. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 Not a big Rugby fan at all but did enjoy watching the WC so will be watching the 6 nations a bit more. Shouldn't there be another team added in to it now? I say as it's a bit lopsided surely e.g. some teams get 3 at home and 2 away and others just 2 at home. Say you get 3 at home and one of your away fixtures is Italy, you're at a massive advantage to a couple of the other teams. It's a bit like half of the premier league only having 18 home fixtures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rds1983 Posted February 7, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted February 7, 2016 1 hour ago, VillaChris said: Not a big Rugby fan at all but did enjoy watching the WC so will be watching the 6 nations a bit more. Shouldn't there be another team added in to it now? I say as it's a bit lopsided surely e.g. some teams get 3 at home and 2 away and others just 2 at home. Say you get 3 at home and one of your away fixtures is Italy, you're at a massive advantage to a couple of the other teams. It's a bit like half of the premier league only having 18 home fixtures. It generally balances out over the years but home games can decide it and be an advantage as you say. England vs Wales is often down to which stadium it is played at. There has been talk of it being expanded and maybe Georgia joining but nothing concrete so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rds1983 Posted February 7, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted February 7, 2016 6 hours ago, theboyangel said: Thought Scotland battled well against England yesterday but never looked like scoring. England on the other hand looked like a team under new management, as certain moves didn't quite come off. However, the game plan was clear and executed well. Dylan Hartley performed well as Captain and only needed to be told to calm down by the ref once, which must be a record for him! Man of the Match was undoubtedly Billy Vunipola but was run close by Jack Nowell who was also immense. As for the earlier game, I feel gutted for Italy as they did all they could to get their first victory in Paris. Typically, the French played well in sporadic moments but horridly in others - somehow they squeaked the win. Today will be an interesting game, Wales although away from home will be favourites but I still fancy the Irish to score a narrow victory. I felt awful for Parisse. MOTM performance apart from missing the kick. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 entertaining game but no changes that would even allow them to compete against the Southern teams, blood and thunder but no real running skills 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rds1983 Posted February 7, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted February 7, 2016 Happily take that draw between Wales and Ireland. The best bet for a good running game is England at the minute; we have some exciting young backs coming through who are quick, creative and good with the ball in hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 It'll be another tight one this year. Defences on top in the NH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 Bloody Irish chucking away the lead like that cost me my bet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turnbull Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 On 2/7/2016 at 16:54, Rds1983 said: Happily take that draw between Wales and Ireland. The best bet for a good running game is England at the minute; we have some exciting young backs coming through who are quick, creative and good with the ball in hand. We do have some good young backs, yes, but EJ has again ignored arguably the form back in the Premiership, Elliott Daly. The guy is immense. I've been watching him at the Ricoh since Wasps moved there and some of the runs he makes are astonishing. On top of that, he can put kicks over from his own half, or find touch from distances other players can only dream of. I thought he'd be given a chance against Italy on Sunday, but on the up side at least he'll be available for the Sarries game on Sunday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 Unlucky Scotland. Did not deserve to lose that. How the TMO did not spot the offside try, I'll never know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rds1983 Posted February 14, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted February 14, 2016 On 11/02/2016 at 20:59, turnbull said: We do have some good young backs, yes, but EJ has again ignored arguably the form back in the Premiership, Elliott Daly. The guy is immense. I've been watching him at the Ricoh since Wasps moved there and some of the runs he makes are astonishing. On top of that, he can put kicks over from his own half, or find touch from distances other players can only dream of. I thought he'd be given a chance against Italy on Sunday, but on the up side at least he'll be available for the Sarries game on Sunday. I think Jones will be quite conservative with his selections until the next six nations. He will want to get off to a solid start and we have to move right up the rankings by the end of the year. If we are not top four in the world we are basically guaranteed another pool of death in the next world cup when the draw is done. I'm also not 100% convinced he knows the Premiership that well yet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted February 14, 2016 Author Share Posted February 14, 2016 Tough first half but superior fitness and bench made all the difference. Italy looking to have a few decent players but no depth of squad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Yeah Italy always seem to compete well in first halfs and then tail off badly in the second. Knew that would happen when they missed that kick at 6-9. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted February 14, 2016 Author Share Posted February 14, 2016 10 minutes ago, VillaChris said: Yeah Italy always seem to compete well in first halfs and then tail off badly in the second. Knew that would happen when they missed that kick at 6-9. I thought the ref was hot on everything today but missed the opportunity to sin-bin Haskell for tackle in the air. This was a major turning point as Italy we still going strong and then gifted the first Joseph try within a few moves. Can't knock the England second half performance but there were still too many silly mistakes made - if we make them against Ireland, Wales or France we'll be punished more. No disrespect to Scotland or Italy, but Jones' first real test will be against Ireland in two weeks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 In fairness England haven't played at Twickenham yet... they were always very strong at home under Lancaster, well until the World cup started! 2/3 to play at Twickenham, when was the last time England lost at home in 6 nations? You'd have to make them favourites at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rds1983 Posted February 15, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted February 15, 2016 17 hours ago, VillaChris said: In fairness England haven't played at Twickenham yet... they were always very strong at home under Lancaster, well until the World cup started! 2/3 to play at Twickenham, when was the last time England lost at home in 6 nations? You'd have to make them favourites at this point. Wales beat us at home in 2012 and as you mentioned we lost two on the trot at home in the world cup. We are probably favourites at the minute but no guarantees at this point as Wales will raise their game massively against us and the final game is away in Paris. Their is a good chance that will be the deciding game and France usually have one stand out game each year. We should have a better idea after the 26th. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rds1983 Posted February 15, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted February 15, 2016 On 11/02/2016 at 20:59, turnbull said: We do have some good young backs, yes, but EJ has again ignored arguably the form back in the Premiership, Elliott Daly. The guy is immense. I've been watching him at the Ricoh since Wasps moved there and some of the runs he makes are astonishing. On top of that, he can put kicks over from his own half, or find touch from distances other players can only dream of. I thought he'd be given a chance against Italy on Sunday, but on the up side at least he'll be available for the Sarries game on Sunday. Who do you think should be the midfield pair at the next world cup? Whoever is in form or a settled two with a decent amount of caps? I'm leaning towards a more settled pair as great centres who understand the poeple around them can win games for you (like Roberts on Saturday) but to do that you have to give them as many games as possible. Joseph did brilliantly yesterday but we have a lot of options available with Slade, Daly, Tuilangi, Barrett, Farrell (prefer him at 10 but never mind) etc. There has been too much chopping and changing under Lancaster so I'm keen to see what Jones will do but feel that there will be some very good players struggling to get near the starting 15. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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