Six Nations

[Uppercut]

It doesn't really matter. I watched Julian White recently and he looked good in the GP.

Haha, i never watched much GP though. When I said domestic i really meant club/provincial rugby. Heineken Cup ftw.

 

[TT Boy]

Haha, i never watched much GP though. When I said domestic i really meant club/provincial rugby. Heineken Cup ftw.

I use to like the Heineken Cup but since it became too obvious that the French sides only give two ****s about their Top14, I kinda lost interest. Magners is a pretty good watch though.

 

[Uppercut]

I use to like the Heineken Cup but since it became too obvious that the French sides only give two ****s about their Top14, I kinda lost interest. Magners is a pretty good watch though.

I think the Heineken Cup is possibly the greatest tournament in the world for pure entertainment. The proportion of thrilling matches is incredible. French apathy doesn't apply to all of their sides either, although it's kinda disappointing.

Nobody pays much attention to the Magners League in Ireland either, so you could say it suffers from something similar. Would definitely prefer to watch it that the GP though, at least there I've got someone to support.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Not a fan of Cueto or Sackey, but at least they're not picking Vainikolo on the wing. Tom Varndell is the option for me, can score a try out of absolutely nothing. I hate the trend of big ****-off immobile wingers. You can teach Varndell to tackle but you'll never teach Sackey much magic. It's endemic negativity, that sees a player like Andy Goode play international rugby. It's not that he's a bad player, he's a solid, reliable performer, but he doesn't win rugby matches. I still have nightmares about what Danny Cipriani did to us last year.

Bear in mind, though, that i haven't got watching much domestic rugby this season so all of my opinions are about six months out of date.

Varndell? You absolutely sure? He's just a big quick lump with bollocks for hands; his ball skills make Sackey & Cueto look like the bastard sons of Phil Bennett and Barry John. Can't tackle either.

You're confusing him with Strettle for mine.

& I hardly think any nation whose last two regular pivots have been Humphries & O'Gara is in any postion to lecture on "endemic negativity"....

 

[Uppercut]

Varndell? You absolutely sure? He's just a big quick lump with bollocks for hands; his ball skills make Sackey & Cueto look like the bastard sons of Phil Bennett and Barry John. Can't tackle either.

You're confusing him with Strettle for mine.

& I hardly think any nation whose last two regular pivots have been Humphries & O'Gara is in any postion to lecture on "endemic negativity"....

Varndell is magic! You don't score the amount of tries he does in the world's most anti-backplay team without something about you. I'd take Strettle over Sackey too though. At the very least you want Varndell on the bench in case you're four points behind with ten minutes left.

He could just be one of those that always plays incredibly when I'm watching (which is pretty often tbf, but still).

 

[BoyBrumby]

Varndell is magic! You don't score the amount of tries he does in the world's most anti-backplay team without something about you. I'd take Strettle over Sackey too though. At the very least you want Varndell on the bench in case you're four points behind with ten minutes left.

He could just be one of those that always plays incredibly when I'm watching (which is pretty often tbf, but still).

You must've caught him on very rare occasions. Hardly even made the Tigers team this year & I'm 99% sure his season's try tally is currently slightly less than one.

A physical specimen, but way too inconsistent currently to be in serious contention.

 

[Uppercut]

You must've caught him on very rare occasions. Hardly even made the Tigers team this year & I'm 99% sure his season's try tally is currently slightly less than one.

A physical specimen, but way too inconsistent currently to be in serious contention.

Yeah the Tigers have actually always tended to be a bit selective with when they play him, largely a tactical thing. I've seen no rugby at all this year though so my opinions, as i said, are a good six or seven months out of date.

I just think playing Cueto, Sackey and Goode is almost consigning England to being the fourth best team in the six nations for the foreseeable future. There's none of them you could say will ever be much more than adequate in all likelihood. Cipriani, on the other hand, could easily become the best out-half in the world. England could try to build for the future and a time when they have the players to properly compete, but instead, they're settling for mediocrity. It frustrates me.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Yeah the Tigers have actually always tended to be a bit selective with when they play him, largely a tactical thing. I've seen no rugby at all this year though so my opinions, as i said, are a good six or seven months out of date.

I just think playing Cueto, Sackey and Goode is almost consigning England to being the fourth best team in the six nations for the foreseeable future. There's none of them you could say will ever be much more than adequate in all likelihood. Cipriani, on the other hand, could easily become the best out-half in the world. England could try to build for the future and a time when they have the players to properly compete, but instead, they're settling for mediocrity. It frustrates me.

Cipriani needs to get his head out of his arse. Talented boy, but rates himself out of all proportion. Was gash in the autumn and had developed an unfortunate habit of allowing clearance kicks to be charged down (hence my Dream Team name, as it goes).

Goode's a safe pair of hands (even if his kicking has been disappointing in the two tests so far), but we aren't exactly overburdened with choice just now. Flood looks a natural 2nd 5/8 to me and his place kicking isn't test standard, Hodgson's a multiple failure, Wilko's in bits again & I don't think Geraghty's quite ready to be trusted at ten for 80mins yet. An option actually could be converted kiwi Glen Jackson, who's kicked just about everything for Sarries this year, but is 33 & rising.

Sackey's the best finisher we have (IMHO, obv) & Cueto's kicking game (limited as it is) probably lifts him about the other wing options we have. Topsy Ojo did well on the pitch in NZ, but was one of the 4 who got ensnared in the alleged ***ual assault, so problem has ground to make up there. Least we aren't still playing Cohen...

 

[Scaly piscine]

Come on France... put Wales back in their place as 'underpeforming' also-rans.

 

[vogue]

have they ever played a six nations on a friday before?....

anyways,France just miss the penalty and stay 5 points ahead...

 

[Scaly piscine]

No fluked Grand Slam this year for the Welsh.

Get in.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Yessss. So happy.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Lovely try from Danielli for the sweaties.

Amuses me that he plays for Scotland whilst Italy have a fly half who rejoices in "McLean" as a surname. Perhaps an exchange of prisoners is in order?

 

[Scaly piscine]

There we go good position, scrum and Vickery gets warned and gives them a penalty anyway.

F***ing idiot.

And shortly after the kickable 3 points.

 

[Uppercut]

FFS O'GARA. Couldn't kick a dead horse today.

 

[Jamee999]

There we go good position, scrum and Vickery gets warned and gives them a penalty anyway.

F***ing idiot.

And shortly after the kickable 3 points.

I have no idea why international props get penalised for binding, especially after being warned.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Lovely try from Danielli for the sweaties.

Wasn't that great match otherwise. Couldn't have expected more from Scotland and Italy though.

Had a decent day out otherwise, can't complain.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

On another note, refs awful with forward passes and straight line-outs these days.

 

[vogue]

Pretty uninspiring so far...from both sides...

 

[Scaly piscine]

Figures, go downstairs to collect a sarnie and 30 seconds into the second half and Ireland are kicking a penalty in our half...