rugby talk
 

oh it's comeing up to the six nations so there will be.alot to talk about
in the world of rugby. !

Re: rugby talk
 

Indeed, fingers crossed Ireland can improve on last season. :D

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Well since I have welsh, irish and scottish relations through marriages in the family I'm kind of hedging my bets ;)
Saturday is going to be interesting to say the least :erm: Wonder where I put my 6ft St George Flag????

Re: rugby talk
 

Carry on like that you Englander and it will go where the sun doesn't shine!! :ninja:
Now where did I put my 12 ft Welsh Dragon flag? :D
I already have a miniature version on my car aerial - very handy for locating it in the car park at Tesco! :D

Re: rugby talk
 

Well, following last nights game of real rugby, I thought people might be discussing the merits of the Rhinos and the Bulldogs!


Also, if England picked up anything from the best rugby league club side in the world, they should stroll home today. :cool:

Re: rugby talk
 

Defeated I hope!!!!!!!!!!!!;)
Im Welsh but the y wont let me back in!

Re: rugby talk
 

Six nations, marvellous. It will be interesting to see what the England team can do, almost newbies!


:D

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Well I'm on my way to Cardiff right now, unfortunately it's to work for the weekend :( staying in Newport, might see the match before work tonight ...... come on the lads ( England that is ;) )

Re: rugby talk
 

:disturbd: Well, i am going to end up watching it while at work in a Welsh call centre, whilst supporting england :disturbd:

Re: rugby talk
 

With interactive as well - impressed!

Re: rugby talk
 

i know that did come as a bit of a shocker :Yikes: scotland not doing to bad
so far lets just see how thay do in the next 40 mins

edited
you can talk about rugby League in this thread to you know :)

Re: rugby talk
 

The Scots are indeed working hard and playing much better but now the French are fighting back. Wow what a match!



:)

Re: rugby talk
 

a brilliant match, what a shame the end was overshadowed by two questionable decisions from the officials - I didn't think he had a foot in touch & the try should have stood, also the sin bin decision was bizarre.

Having said that, Scotlands failure to clear the lines at the end, leading to the French try, was a bad mistake.

Good open game, though, great to watch :tu:

Re: rugby talk
 

Certainly on video it looked like a questionable decision, one can only assume that the touch judge had seen something we couldn't and what's more he looked certain. Otherwise agreed, good fighting start. Tonight England will defeat Wales say around 20:10. Actually, this match may not be easy to predict.


:)

Re: rugby talk
 

I have to admit the touch judge had an excellent view and did look certain of his decision, and that is what he is there for, it just looked ok to me - & at that point in the match, too....

anyway, I agree Wales v England is not easy to predict, I have divided loyalties in this & will just say that I hope the team that plays best is the winner - something I don't think happened in the Scotland game ;)

Re: rugby talk
 

hats off to NTL for there good interactive Content.during the Scotlond v French
game :tu:

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Is it me or do England need to go away and learn to play rugby properly again? Talk about a shambles :no:

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England are lucky to be only 5 points behind. Unless they have a crash course on playing rugby at half time, the gap is going to get bigger

Re: rugby talk
 

to true Paul if wales win me dad and miss drinks.won't hear the end of it !
from a over Excited mum.

Re: rugby talk
 

Quick everyone, we're ahead for 30 seconds ;)
Edit:
Oh well never mind lol Just shows what happen when you try to play a sport you are no good at..... bit like cricket, football, tennis, darts, hockey etc etc ;)

Re: rugby talk
 

:D :D :D :LOL: :clap: :clap: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper:

Re: rugby talk
 

You beat my time to posting estimation by 30 seconds ;)
Anyone want to take this opportunity to describe just how ****** poor England were? Jeez even Wales could beat us playing like that.... oh yeah, they just did :mis:

Re: rugby talk
 

Well done NTL for the BBCi interactive which actually worked.

England lost to Wales! I Can' t believe my eyes and ears. Hats off to Wales for a good game. Please England rugby team, please learn lessons from this game.

Very disappointing England performance we hope for better in the next match.

:(

Re: rugby talk
 

it was a case of Rugby '0' The Pitch '1', as far as I could see, I'm amazed the players coped as well as they did.

Had to agree with Gavin Henson as man of the match, he had a brilliant game, even apart from that penalty kick :tu:

Re: rugby talk
 

Yeah - what WAS going on with that pitch?
Anyway - a good game - I will wear my Welsh rugby shirt to work with pride on Monday (anything to upset the boss!)

Re: rugby talk
 

:(


Oh well, Wales did deserve it.

Re: rugby talk
 

Must admit though the TV shot of a Welsh lady wearing a red shirt with the words: "scrum with me and get it" was quite nice, but then again I'm happily married.

Good game shame about the result.


:)

Re: rugby talk
 

:hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :spin: :PP: :drool: :disturbd: :D

Re: rugby talk
 

Celebrate while you can ;) If England continue to play like that for the rest of the tournament our Scottish members will be joining your party :(
Looks like our rugby team need to go back to basics and learn to play the game again without relying on one member of the team to kick them out of trouble.

Re: rugby talk
 

I think that bit of exitement was about the young lady in the 'scrum & get me' T-shirt - she was very scrummy ;)

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Yeah - well Homer, he's so miserable about 'his' team losing, i don't think it would have made any difference if she'd been here in the room with him! :rofl:

Re: rugby talk
 

both games today didn't really follow the script, did they - I think it's good, both Scotland & Wales will have gained some confidence & France & England got a rocket - it can only get better :tu: :)

Re: rugby talk
 

Miserable? I beleive I predicted the outcome of the match before it was more than 10 mins old :p:

Re: rugby talk
 

Go on the Welsh..... :D

Ok, so Scotland put in a solid performance for 50 or 55 minutes of the game. On the other hand, France where woefull, but dont forget they had a number of young players on the pitch. All in all I think Scotland did stirling work in Paris, ans got thoff to a good start.

As foe the England/ Wales match...... :rofl:

England where dire. Ball was too slow on the set-peice plays, too many handling errors, to much confusion. But again England had a lot of young/ inexperienced players out there today. Wales on the other hand really showed England how to play the game, at times anyway. Superb game of rugger.

But dont forget IRELAND are playing Italy tomorrow, and with a bit of luck can get a good chunk of points on the board. At the same time, Italy can be a tricky side to play, and can surprise any team they play against.

All in all, I think I'll be posting on here Sunday evening about how Ireland are at the top of the pile. :D :D :D

Re: rugby talk
 

Thankfully for you lot my keyboard was playing up last night so all I could post was smilies.... :D

Who cares if we've got other teams to play......

Who cares if they're going to beat us......

Who cares if we don't win the whole tournament......

As long as we beat the English, we don't care...

And we did!

Re: rugby talk
 

Well, I completely missed the Ireland/ Italy match today. :cry:

But it turnded out allright in the end...... :D :D :D


:hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper:

Re: rugby talk
 

Here we are another busy Six Nations weekend and right now the Italy & Wales game is quite exciting. Looks like a gloomy end for the Italians but at least they are trying hard. tomorrow England & France should be interesting.


:D

Re: rugby talk
 

WALES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WALES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bring on Inger-land at Twickers!!

Re: rugby talk
 

:confused: In a years time?

If France beat England tomorrow, Ireland go above England in the world rankings.

England and France both have to come to Lansdowne, I feel confident of Ireland beating them both. If Wales beat France and Italy it would set up a cracking showdown for the Grandslam at the Millennium Stadium.

Re: rugby talk
 

Oi - if France beat England tomorrow I'm gonna be on cloud 9!!! :D

Re: rugby talk
 

Wales played some fantastic moves today against the Italians, cant wait for the big bust up with Ireland in Cardiff, not sure what will happen for the France match but they are as fired up now like they have not been for a loooooong time! Tickets are over £300 a pair for the Millenium match!

Re: rugby talk
 

Well, Whales put in another good performance. :D

But what a cracker the Ireland v's Scotland match turned into. Ireland and Scotland both looked a little wobbley at times, but a super match all in all.

Gotta say, I reckon Ireland can clean up this year. :D


:hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper:

Re: rugby talk
 

No :)

Re: rugby talk
 

ROTFLMFAO....... :rofl: ;)

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Well who cares, as long as it's not Ing-er-land :D

Re: rugby talk
 

It's only Union. Who cares? ;) :D

Re: rugby talk
 

True, or France for that matter. ;) But I still reckon Ireland can clean it up. :D
__________________

Oiiiii. Union is PROPER rugby. ;)

Re: rugby talk
 

:nono: Not union, league... ;)

Re: rugby talk
 

I've had this argument with an ex rugby league pro, and the only true rugby is UNION . :)

Re: rugby talk
 

Union may have been the first, but league is far more entertaining. :)

Re: rugby talk
 

I would have to disagree with you there, its also a less skillful game. When I played rugger (many years ago) :( we played league in the off season for a laugh. Union is deffo the better game. :D

Re: rugby talk
 

Rugby Union is a really physical experience, played with skill and strategy, it's really hard work getting those all important points. Today England have a chance to try and score against France. Hopefully, the lessons learnt in the last games would have been learnt and the boys are able to play good rugby and win.


:)

Re: rugby talk
 

What a shocking display of kicking, never seen as bad a performance in a long time.

Re: rugby talk
 

My arse!

Re: rugby talk
 

Supect failure to practise, Wilkinson practises by the hour daily, a competent kicker could have scored those vital points. Barcklay & Hodgson need to practise.

Re: rugby talk
 

which goes to show how many of England's previous successes have been helped by Wilkinson's superb kicking.

You have to keep the pressure on the opposition by keeping the scoreboard ticking over and England failed to do that, today.

France should have been punished for their abysmal first half - and were let off the hook to the point of coming back to win. So well done France.

Re: rugby talk
 

Is white and hairy?????? :erm: ;)

Re: rugby talk
 

What happened!!!! Watched the whole thing and was just gobsmaked when the French managed to scrape a win. Even with there second half perfomrance, they were by far the weaker team.

The kicking was the big downside, I mean they missed so much (we lost 18 (or was it 21) points that we could have had on penalties alone. Get those kickers out there and practicing from 6 am till 9 pm day in, day out. I'm not asking for miracles but jeez

Re: rugby talk
 

You should have watched the penalty shoot out between Sheffield United & West Ham in the FA cup replay, :D at least 3 clean over the bar, think they must have got their boots mixed up.
__________________

I suppose thats why Union poached several League coaches to teach them how to play proper rugby, and how to defend.:p:

Re: rugby talk
 

That would have been teams in the English RFU that went poaching players from League. Considering how England are playing this year they need all the help they can get, and that includes players from rugby league. :rofl: ;)

Re: rugby talk
 

But what about all Englands recent success, and Irelands also, both national UNION teams have had several ex LEAGUE coaches for many years now. I could even put a post in the 'met anyone famous' thread as Mick Ford the ex Wakefield Trinity and GB LEAGUE player and currently the Ireland RFU's defensive coach is a long time customer of mine.:)

And I believe that the practice of using LEAGUE coaches to improve UNION play was an Aussie idea in the first place.

Re: rugby talk
 

Fair point, but looking at it from that piont of view its noting more than a reverse of what happened 10 years ago. Back in the days when Union was still officialy amature, many brilliant players where seduced to League because of money. Now Union is professional and now league is loosing players to Union. But I still think Union is the better of the two games.

Re: rugby talk
 

:rofl: :rofl:

You gotta love the way they blamed everything on the kickers. (well if you not English that is).

I like the way they forgot they played absolute ****e for 80mins.

France were dire and still beat them.

Still at the least French knew when to keep their discipline and relied on Engerland slipping up knowing they had a player who could actually slot the ball between the uprights.

Looks like this will be a worthy addition to Englands trophy cabinet -

Re: rugby talk
 

W00t w00t!!!

:rofl:

Wouldn't it just be OSSUM if the Saesneg ended up with the wooden spoon?? Ha! Heros to zeros in 18 months :D

Re: rugby talk
 

I like the way that people forget that for the first 40 minutes England absolutely dominated the game. The French were all over the place and continually giving away penalties (most of which were not converted :( ) Had a few more of those penalties actually gone over then there would most likely have been a different result.

The kickers have to take a fair amount of the blame since as was seen you need to keep scoring points even if you do have a big lead and they just didn't deliver.

But then the rest of the team let them down in the second half with some sloppy play and giving the French chances to score (which they did most of the time).

All in all, I don't think the French deserved the victory, they were on the day the weaker team but the got the oppotunites and took them. On the other hand England have managed to do the same in the past so I can't really complain.

Don't forget, this is still a team in its infancy give it another season and some experience under its belt and hopefully we'll start to see the old England back again.

Re: rugby talk
 

Anyone else backing Wales for a change today? ;) C'mon let's face it, we like the French less than the Welsh :p:
C'mon boyos http://www.corridor.net/dpeirce/pics...heerleader.gif

Re: rugby talk
 

Apparently, Wales have had to change their shirt logo. Instead of Brains it has been changed to Brawn, so as not to offend French feelings. Anyone know why.:confused:

Re: rugby talk
 

It's not their feelings that are the problem, just their alcohol advertising laws ;) The shirt logo change was due to the fact that in France alcohol is not allowed to be advertised so any team that travels to play in France has to remove any advertising if it's linked to alcohol :(

Re: rugby talk
 

Seems the Scots had problems too - see here.
Bit rich when you think how much wine the French consume! ;)

Re: rugby talk
 

C'mon Russ, games over, you're letting us down you know ;) Been at least 30 seconds now lol

Re: rugby talk
 

That has got to be the most entertaining game I have seen for ages - plus a great result :tu:

Re: rugby talk
 

WALES!!!!!!!!!
WALES!!!!!!!!!
WALES!!!!!!!!!!

Wow....do you think we might even with the 6 Nations???? :eek:

Re: rugby talk
 

Russ is that suprised by the outcome he can't even type properly ;) The way Wales are playing and the way the other nations are playing it is quite likely that Wales can and probably will take the 6 nations without loss.

Re: rugby talk
 

In which case I'd better warn you in advance.

You remember the way you lot just wouldn't shut up for weeks when England won the world cup?? ;)

Re: rugby talk
 

Looks like my lucky Wales Rugby shirt worked its magic then! :D
Must make sure it's clean for the next match.

Re: rugby talk
 

Let's face it Russ, you hardly shut up even when Wales do badly :p: If they win they will have deserved it, the way England are playing they should be ashamed to pull on the jersey :mad:

Re: rugby talk
 

Don't worry Russ - I'll make Paul's life hell later (well more than usual). Wonder if he likes ground glass in his cheese sandwiches? :)

Re: rugby talk
 

The positions so far.....


1 Wales
2 Ireland
3 France
4 Scotland
5 England
6 Italy


And as far as I'm concerned it can stay just like that! :D

Re: rugby talk
 

Unless something special happens tomorrow it probably will ;) If England actually go back to basics and start playing rugby again we might be able to grab 6 points and get away the bottom of the table.
Wales have Scotland and Ireland to go, not being nasty but that should be at least 3 points in the bag although Scotland have been playing well but don't seem to have the final killer punch and Ireland could stretch Wales. Whatever happens March 19th is a date for the diary ;)

Re: rugby talk
 

I can't see Scotland causing too many problems although the Irish could be tricky.

Ahh who cares, as long as we've beaten England :D

Re: rugby talk
 

Many have and before March the 19th many more probably will lol ;) Ireland will most likely be the only stumbling block and if Wales concentrate on the task in hand they should get through it. Ireland V France is going to be an interesting game on the 12th ;)

Re: rugby talk
 

LOL, not a chance Russ come tomorrow and Ireland thrash England, then Ireland will once again be in the number one spot.

Saying that I was miffed with France today. Useless gits couldnt do the needful and beat Wales. Ahhhh well, I suppose Ireland will just have to do it the usuall way and just beat France and Wales.

Re: rugby talk
 

Makes a change from having an arrogant England supporter :D

Re: rugby talk
 

Whilst I would love to see Ireland woop England I think England will be our trump card in this.

I think England will be beaten up over losing to us Welshies and the French and they will be well fired up for the Irish game and beat them clearing the way for us Welsh to have a chance of cleaning up.

I hope Ireland win tomorrow and we can beat the Scots in a fortnights time leaving Ireland to beat France and then setting the scene for a nice showdown for the climax in Cardiff the week after.

:D

Re: rugby talk
 

I would have preferred a French victory over Wales yesterday, certainly the Welsh only just won the final segment was very exciting.

Watch out for upcoming talent for England both the U21 and U19 teams are doing very well both thrashed the Ireland U21 & U19 teams yesterday, so clearly the future holds great prospects.

It is possible we are looking at a possible English victory over Ireland today, could be close though.


:)

Re: rugby talk
 

Hmm, had an interesting question put to me today, ahead of the England/Ireland game.

If England win then that'll go a long way to helping Wales take the 5 nations. However if Ireland win, England face the wooden spoon. A Welsh triumph would be forgotten about after a few months. But England coming last....now the press (and us taffies!) would savour that for a LONG LONG time.

So as a true Welshman, what would I rather see? Wales win the 6 Nations or England win the wooden spoon?

Believe me when I say that's a VERY touch decision to make!

Re: rugby talk
 

No - I think the press would bury the story if England got the wooden spoon! Might be different in Wales though. :D
I'd go for Wales winning the 6 Nations Russ - the other option makes you seem a little bitter and twisted! :PP: :D (And I know you aren't.)

Re: rugby talk
 

Don't be so sure - it's in the heart of every Welshman to enjoy watching the Saesneg lose :D

Re: rugby talk
 

So where does that leave me - half Welsh, half English? :spin: :D

Re: rugby talk
 

Well seeing as you're not a Welshman I think that should be obvious :D

Re: rugby talk
 

:rolleyes: Wasn't referring to the gender!! :D

Re: rugby talk
 

It's just good to see that England have learnt their lesson and are no longer giving away free points through needless penalties :rolleyes: How do they think they are going wo win matches if they give the opposition more points than they actually score in open play? That wooden spoon is looking more and more likely :dozey:

Re: rugby talk
 

Ohhhhh yes....that feeling would be almost sexual :D

Re: rugby talk
 

Now, now, what you get up to with cooking implements in the privacy of your own home is up to you ;)

Re: rugby talk
 

Indeed it is......

Oh hang on, hang on...."England have won the wooden spoon"....huhhhhh....

Just seeing how that headline would feel :D

Re: rugby talk
 

Heh .. England lost

Re: rugby talk
 

Ain't it nice to beat them ;) :D

Re: rugby talk
 

Indeed it is.

Saying that, Ireland still arent playing to their full potential. If the team can just pull it together a little more, play with a little more conviction, then the Grand Slam is gonna be Irelands.

:hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper:

Re: rugby talk
 

England are now lauching an official complaint about the ref? What bad losers!

I wonder if this complaint will mention the constant infringements at the breakdown by the English which resulted in slowing the ball down when the Irish were in a good position?

My views on the tries..

Corry Try
In my view this try is very borderline. It looks like O'Gara is close enough to the play in order to be eligible for being cleaned out. Borderline because some refs would have allowed the clean out and some would not.

In my view he probably was close enough to be cleaned out so the try is legal.

Cueto "Try"
With this one I have not seen a camera angle that shows the location of Cueto when Hodgson kicked so with this one we will have to trust the ref. Under IRB protocol this play is NOT one that can be sent to the TMO for review.

Lewsey "Try"
A maul formed and drove for the Irish line, the maul appeared to cross the line and was then pushed back by the Irish where it collapsed. I believe the ref had a look and saw that where the maul had collapsed the ball was not over the Irish try line, hence he awarded a scrum to Ireland.

If, in my view, that the ref saw the ball had not crossed the line, then as above under IRB protocol he is NOT allowed to send the play for review by the TMO.

Re: rugby talk
 

Looks like it's down to our 2 nations :)

Jolly good luck to you and your team sir, may the better side win.

If Wales aren't going to win the 6 Nations then I'll be happy for Ireland to take it :D