Official Rugby Thread

[ripper868]

Hard lines for the Pumas, some silly errors of there own making though.

 

[Ali TT]

Hard lines for the Pumas, some silly errors of there own making though.

Saw the second half. Came down to an exciting finish but some **** rugby along the way. Ireland a little lucky.

 

[ashley bach]

Didn't see the game but backed the Bargies at 6/1. Sounds like they were a bit unlucky from what Ripper reports.
All the best in Cardiff @ripper868

 

[ripper868]

They were probably the better team for 60% of the game I think - they somewhat exposed Ireland around the ruck with consistent pick and go rugby, so the 'rush' defence that seems to be the way for 5 nations teams at the moment is negated - they then went away from that for a while and got caught out at the 2nd pass area by the rush defence. If not for the stupidity of the #18 with 7 to play (with Argentina on attack and looking good) they may well have stolen it, and very nearly did with only 14 on anyway.

Good signs though where a team like Argentina are challenging the team that was #1 in the world last week at home. Internationals are far more interesting when the result isn't a foregone conclusion like they would of been 10 years ago (though, thats a kinda dumb statement given what happened to Ireland at the 2015 quarters).

 

[ripper868]

Well, that's certainly a start for the Red Rose. See if they take it longer than 15 minutes this week.

 

[StephenZA]

Already too many knock-on's by SA.

 

[ripper868]

Good little game this one, could end up another 42-39 type of scoreline.

 

[ripper868]

Not sure we needed the close up of Ox Nche's knee there, looks a nasty cut.

Weird game now, feels like both teams dominate for 5-10 minutes, and then...nothing. England looking much better than that 10-15 after their initial try as well. Boks perhaps lucky to have the charge down try (EE probably offside), but JvP as comms said is still taking way too long.

 

[Ali TT]

England up early in the second but **** up the restart. Definitely some rusty rugby in these internationals

 

[Molehill]

Some dumb decision making in the last 20 again. It just all stems from the coach who is clearly not good enough. He can’t even keep hold of his coaching staff.

Yes it’s against the World Champs, but cannot take opportunities.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Reading the commentary, England got pinged for a dummy line out throw when they were on attack with a Saffer in the sin-bin. That seems more than a little poor.

 

[Molehill]

Reading the commentary, England got pinged for a dummy line out throw when they were on attack with a Saffer in the sin-bin. That seems more than a little poor.

Yep, when SA had been penalised already for collapsing the maul. I think the players are good enough, they’re just not smart enough.

Meanwhile, France do cling on to beat NZ in a thriller.

 

[ripper868]

Intrigued by Barrett's choice to go for the posts with 6 to play and down by 4, think many NZ sides would of fancied the lineout there, but hindsight 20/20 etc.

Another great game, probably not a classic even with the 1 point scoreline, but as you said, definitely a thriller to the last.

 

[ashley bach]

Ah ****

Gotta say I don't like the idea of taking 3 when you're down by 4 with not much time on the clock.
Fair enough perhaps when there was 11 mins to go but not with 5 to go.

 

[ashley bach]

Ha Ripper thinks alike

 

[ripper868]

Must say, the Haka under a spotlight thing was pretty cool as well

 

[ashley bach]

Intrigued by Barrett's choice to go for the posts with 6 to play and down by 4, think many NZ sides would of fancied the lineout there, but hindsight 20/20 etc.

Another great game, probably not a classic even with the 1 point scoreline, but as you said, definitely a thriller to the last.

Ah ****

Gotta say I don't like the idea of taking 3 when you're down by 4 with not much time on the clock.
Fair enough perhaps when there was 11 mins to go but not with 5 to go.

Just to break this down again, apologies to those who had no real interest in the game, while losing to the frogs is no fun this is no sour grapes just
mere thoughts on tactical decisions.
So I woke up with 12 mins to play and tuned in on radio. When they took the 3 points it crossed my mind if they should of or not but thought fair enough.
Then with 6 mins remaining(which means less than 5 by the time the penalty is kicked and kickoff resumed) I really cringed at the idea.
Here's what you need to win taking 3 points:

1. The penalty needs to be kicked.
2. No more points can afford to be conceded which is what happened the first time.
3. You need to go from deep in your territory and get the ball downfield quite some distance.
4. Another penalty needs to be awarded.
5. Again the penalty needs to be kicked.

Too much required with such limited time remaining.
Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing and there is no answer as to what is right or wrong, and looking at it later is always easy I suppose.
But the more you think about it, kicking to the corner and scoring a try seems so much simpler than requiring a handful of results to go your way
in such a short space of time.

 

[ripper868]

Ruined:
Train Engineering Works and driver shortages - looks like we can't guarantee we'll get back to London (or even to Cardiff initially) in decent time tomorrow...mrs ripper has big things at work on Monday so we can't chance it.

Filthy. I've seen Wobblies win at Twickenham (2015 Pool Stage) and Murrayfield (2016) so was looking forward to ticking off the Millennium. Always another time I guess.

 

[Furball]

Ah ****

Gotta say I don't like the idea of taking 3 when you're down by 4 with not much time on the clock.
Fair enough perhaps when there was 11 mins to go but not with 5 to go.

I can see the thinking, if you get the ball back with 2-3 mins to go it puts a hell of a lot of pressure on the opposition defence not to infringe.

 

[ripper868]

Italy / Georgia turning into quite the game here as well. Imagine the added drama if this was an annual play-off to stay in the 6 nations. Italy have done well to come back from 17-6 down - I didn't see the first half, but they've been reasonably composed in the 2nd.