Predictions for this week-end?

Steibhin

Scotland will come out all guns blazing for the first 20mins. Ireland need to stay withing 3 points at this stage. Fitness will tell and Ireland will ended up winning by between 15-20pts. Scotland are not as poor as the Italian game suggested, but they are not far off that. They have guts, etc but little else unfortunately.

Italy should just keep it tight and beat Wales by less than 7. Wales have a better set of backs, but they can't do much without the ball. If Italy win it will be a great day for the 6nations. We need rugby to develop outside of the Anglophonic countries. With the desperate state of their domestic league maybe the Italians will do 'an Irish' and switch from Soccer to Rugby!! Italy by 6.

On Sunday, England need to show what pride they have in their shirts. Again the first 20 will be all england. It is vitally important that they stay ahead or within one score of France or the heads will drop and the crowd will turn on them. English fans expect a lot better from their team and will be ready to turn on Aston and co if things go wrong on Sun. Still France should have too much class, they handled Croke Park well and showed they have a mental resolve lacking in past French teams. France by 10.

grahamo

Ireland to win
England to win
Italy to win

Wonder what odds I'd get on that down the bookies?

Steffano2002

Steibhin wrote:

Scotland will come out all guns blazing for the first 20mins. Ireland need to stay withing 3 points at this stage. Fitness will tell and Ireland will ended up winning by between 15-20pts. Scotland are not as poor as the Italian game suggested, but they are not far off that. They have guts, etc but little else unfortunately.

Italy should just keep it tight and beat Wales by less than 7. Wales have a better set of backs, but they can't do much without the ball. If Italy win it will be a great day for the 6nations. We need rugby to develop outside of the Anglophonic countries. With the desperate state of their domestic league maybe the Italians will do 'an Irish' and switch from Soccer to Rugby!! Italy by 6.

On Sunday, England need to show what pride they have in their shirts. Again the first 20 will be all england. It is vitally important that they stay ahead or within one score of France or the heads will drop and the crowd will turn on them. English fans expect a lot better from their team and will be ready to turn on Aston and co if things go wrong on Sun. Still France should have too much class, they handled Croke Park well and showed they have a mental resolve lacking in past French teams. France by 10.

Very good analysis there Steibhin! Let's see if it holds true now!

marius

Ireland by 25+ they will just have too much for a really poor scottich team and they will be looking to make a statement that they can put together a string of strong performances

France by 20+ England are total shyte I would be very surprised if france didn't massacre them even in 'fortress' twickenham. You just cant change a team that performed so badly 2 weeks ago into a team that can challenge againts the French....

Italy will beat Wales....but not by much maybe 5 points...

....im off to the bookies

Chucky the tree

I presuming everyone who is tipping England will win havent seen there team?


15 Josh Lewsey (London Wasps)
14 David Strettle (NEC Harlequins)
13 Mike Tindall (Gloucester Rugby
12 Mike Catt (capt, London Irish)
11 Jason Robinson (Sale Sharks)
10 Toby Flood (Newcastle Falcons)
9 Harry Ellis (Leicester Tigers)
1 Tim Payne (London Wasps)
2 George Chuter (Leicester Tigers)
3 Julian White (Leicester Tigers)
4 Martin Corry (Leicester Tigers)
5 Tom Palmer (London Wasps)
6 Joe Worsley (London Wasps)
7 Tom Rees (London Wasps)
8 Nick Easter (NEC Harlequins)


This lot have no chance against France.

Diamondmaker

Yeah ANOTHER new captain ( trivia Q how many capts have Eng had since WC MJ ? ) answers in a post card!!

Old man Catt in from the wilderness and given captaincy to boot.
Young Flood could be to the lions.
Corry ( another recent captain ) moved to 2nd row.
Easter in for Corry
Use less lump Farrel dropped


I cant see this team wining at all, not least for the amount of disruption that is happening to the myriad of recent team combinations.

GS France:mad: !!

zAbbo

Farrels injured, not dropped

Still France by 20+

Diamondmaker

zabbo wrote:

Farrels injured, not dropped

Still France by 20+

Do you really thing he would have started if fit, given the amount if changes made !
I have my doubts.
The JW revolution was short lived. Poor guy, body does just not seem to be up to his talents.

That backline actually isnt that bad, bar the obviously inexperienced Toby Flood. Putting Corry in at 4 is just plain weird.

Steffano2002

I'm worried that all this craziness might work for them in the end! Furthermore, the English really don't have anything to lose... It's not like they've beaten France since the WC nearly 4 years ago! They've nothing to lose really... France could lose the GS however... And we're always cacl against the English, especially in Twickers...

I know I'm being very pessimistic but every time I think "it's in the bad" or "it's going to be a walkover" it blows up in my face so now I'm weary!

Marshy

It does seem like a more mature French team at the moment however. I mean whatever people say about us blowing it, they were really up for the game at croker and ultimately held their nerve to win it. Its just a question of reproducing that kinda performance. The english wont bring half as much as we did.

Steffano2002

Marshy wrote:

It does seem like a more mature French team at the moment however. I mean whatever people say about us blowing it, they were really up for the game at croker and ultimately held their nerve to win it.

I agree. It's nice to finally see a French team that doesn't give up the second they're behind on points! Twice we had to come from behind to win the game and I'm happy to see the players have that kind of attitude! Never give up! Never surrender!

crybaby

good points really a typical France team would have given up after going behind but not this lot which is worrying for all of us hopeful optimists so i have to go with my head here and say France to win by 10-12

Scotland will start bravely and give it a load of huff and puff but they will tire quickly and we will end up running rampant, Ireland to win by 15-20

I hope Italy beat Wales but really Wales dont want to suffer anymore embarrasment from this game and I think they will step up and win the big factor in favour of Italy here though is Wales complete lack of self discipline. Wales to win by 5-10 points

Hippo

France by 10

Ireland by 20

Italy by 5

Steibhin

Chucky the tree wrote:

I presuming everyone who is tipping England will win havent seen there team?


15 Josh Lewsey (London Wasps)
14 David Strettle (NEC Harlequins)
13 Mike Tindall (Gloucester Rugby
12 Mike Catt (capt, London Irish)
11 Jason Robinson (Sale Sharks)
10 Toby Flood (Newcastle Falcons)
9 Harry Ellis (Leicester Tigers)
1 Tim Payne (London Wasps)
2 George Chuter (Leicester Tigers)
3 Julian White (Leicester Tigers)
4 Martin Corry (Leicester Tigers)
5 Tom Palmer (London Wasps)
6 Joe Worsley (London Wasps)
7 Tom Rees (London Wasps)
8 Nick Easter (NEC Harlequins)


This lot have no chance against France.

Rearranging the seats on the Titanic springs to mind. Still though there is some individual quality there. Just as a unit they seem ill fitted.

MonkeyWrench

Ireland to win by 21
France to beat England by 14 (unfortunately for us)
Wales to beat Italy by 7

Steffano2002

Steffano2002 wrote:

Here are my predictions:

Ireland x 17
Italy x 6
France x 18 (Allez les Bleus!!!)

So far so good! Hope we cream the English tomorrow *fingers crossed*!!!

Was shocked when I heard the score of Scotland -v- Ireland! :eek: 1 point! And here I was, thinking I was pessimistic with my "Ireland x 17"!

grahamo

grahamo wrote:

Ireland to win
England to win
Italy to win

Wonder what odds I'd get on that down the bookies?

I was right. ****! I didn't put the bet on.....:(

zAbbo

France in choke shocker.

Marshy

Marshy wrote:

It does seem like a more mature French team at the moment however. I mean whatever people say about us blowing it, they were really up for the game at croker and ultimately held their nerve to win it. Its just a question of reproducing that kinda performance. The english wont bring half as much as we did.

What was I on about? Got the predictions way off too.

nacho libre

Sangre wrote:

Don't know how anyone could predict an English victory.

Blisterman

So, what are your predictions for this weekend?
I say
Ireland 25 Italy 6
England 20 Wales 10
Scotland 9 France 23-25
I'm not making any predictions as to the overall winner.
What happens if it's a tie for points at the end?

DS

Comes down to tries scored, Ireland and France currently have 9 each. If tries are equal the championship is shared.

iwincosimcool

'More than 17,000 Ireland supporters will descend on the Stadio Flaminio, capitalising on an error in the Italian Rugby Federation's ticket selling procedures to effectively turn the 25,000 capacity ground into home territory.'

That has to be a good omen, as well as it being on St Patrics day

nacho libre

Ireland to win by 8
France to win by 25
England to win by 13

Baz99

Ireland by 10 -15
France by 15 - 20
Wales by 5

Wheels not completely back on the English chariot...... France the champs, Ireland suffering from an acute form of advanced Padraig Harrington-itis - second again

Also read somewhere that the "error" by the IRF was actually the official ticket agent offloading the match tickets at a inflated price here in Ireland

bugler

Ireland to win by 15

France to win by 15

Wales to win by 3.

iwincosimcool

Ireland to win by 23 points
France to win by 12 points
England to nick it by 1

Kojak

Ireland to win by 10

France to win by 12

England to win by 15

jackbhoy

Ireland by 20+

France by 15+

Wales by < 5