Lawrence Dallaglio's prediction

dixiefly

Lawrence Dallaglio said on BBC today that he thinks that England will "probably go on and win the Six Nations". He reckons that they can challenge France whom he thinks should be favourites.
no mention of the current Grand Slam champions Ireland. I did not like the arrogant tone of the interview when I heard it this morning.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/english/8373043.stm link to an article covering the comments, I dont have a link to the interview itself.

What do people think?

Rosser

dixiefly wrote: »

Lawrence Dallaglio said on BBC today that he thinks that England will "probably go on and win the Six Nations". He reckons that they can challenge France whom he thinks should be favourites.
no mention of the current Grand Slam champions Ireland. I did not like the arrogant tone of the interview when I heard it this morning.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/english/8373043.stm link to an article covering the comments, I dont have a link to the interview itself.

What do people think?

I think he is and always has been a nob and he'll find he's quite mistaken.

thomond2006

dixiefly wrote: »

Lawrence Dallaglio said on BBC today that he thinks that England will "probably go on and win the Six Nations".

corny

dixiefly wrote: »

Lawrence Dallaglio said on BBC today that he thinks that England will "probably go on and win the Six Nations". He reckons that they can challenge France whom he thinks should be favourites.
no mention of the current Grand Slam champions Ireland. I did not like the arrogant tone of the interview when I heard it this morning.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/english/8373043.stm link to an article covering the comments, I dont have a link to the interview itself.

What do people think?

Don't think theres anything wrong with that.

England will be competitive and France away is their toughest task. I'd imagine saying they'll "probably go on and win the Six Nations" was said tongue in cheek to emphasise how poor they've been of late, as in irony of all ironies.

Rest assured they won't win the 6N!

Podge_irl

As bad as England have been for the last while, they did come second the last 2 years. Considering we have France and England away, its not the most ridiculous prediction. Engand have consistently been better against France than us.

Chucky the tree

Not that unlikely tbh, the fixtures are set up nicely for them playing France last. If france are out of the GS by the last match it makes this easier for England.

Hyperbullet

Never had any respect for Dallaglio as a player or a person. Not gonna start now.

Eoin

Who would have said they would make the last world cup final after their pool games? Even at their worst, they have the ability to grind out results - winning the 6N is a big ask, but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they came 2nd, or were in contention until the last game.

sickpuppy

Hyperbullet wrote: »

Never had any respect for Dallaglio as a player or a person. Not gonna start now.

Whatever about him been a bit of an arse he was a great player who could have claimed for ireland and Italy i think he won everything in the game there was to win.
I guess was the other players that carried him :pac:

toomevara

No more posting of 'fail' pics on this forum. Not conducive to debate.

davyjose

TBH, the guy is expressing an opinion. He's always been ready to offer praise on Ireland and our players in the past.
Having no respect for him as a player is just silly.

OldJay

A little thin-skinned if you're offended by that comment. He's talking about his own team in his own view on the BBC.
The RTE anchor, McGurk, made a worse comment closing the programme on the day of an Irish defeat of England.
Remember that one? "You know where you can stick your chariots". Funnily enough, not many people gave a stuff about that.

Noffles

At least there's a modicum of balance in this thread, disregarding him as a player is just daft... and as said he's English and commenting on England..!!

And that comment from rheumy eyed McGurk.... less said the better!

outwest

i think england might come 2nd.right know rance are the team to stop.

we have both engand and france away.
if they get the this team out tey wil have a chance.
sheidan
mears
vickery
kennedy
shaw
haskell
moody
eater
ellis
wilko
moyne
fluty
tait
strettle
armitage.

then yes they do have a chance of winning the grand slam.

zenmonk

It hardly inspires fear now does it?
England are no better than Wales , Ireland or Scotland.
France are the best team in Europe at the moment.

SlickRic

it wasn't so much that he said England would win, or be competitive.

it was the fact he dismissed anyone else bar France. they were the only country he saw as competition.

he's comes across a horribly arrogant man. him and that austin healey one. wales and ireland will be more than a match for England; and scotland will put up a damn good fight too.

just don't listen to him. it's not worth the stress.

OldJay

zenmonk wrote: »

It hardly inspires fear now does it?
England are no better than Wales , Ireland or Scotland.
France are the best team in Europe at the moment.

Only time that it matters as to who the best in "Europe" is next March 20th.
Til then its all meaningless Ali v Tyson waffle

Kev_ps3

He obviously doesnt think too much of the other teams, England are playing ****e..

little173

Hyperbullet wrote: »

Never had any respect for Dallaglio as a player or a person. Not gonna start now.

That is obviously your opinion, he was a fine player, and he has always come across as a fine man. Also I think his knowlege of the game is generally good. His comments about Irish players have always been fair and generally very complimentary, in contrast to many of the ex English Players.

He is only expressing an opion, and while I dont think England will win the 6N, they can put a decent side together even when they are a shambles. Look what they did in the RWC07. They have loads of players and really struggle to put out an awful team, even now I would say that beating them in Twickenham is a very hard thing to do.

Anyhow, he is partly Irish, due to his late Mothers Family, he is one of us..:D

twinytwo

Podge_irl wrote: »

As bad as England have been for the last while, they did come second the last 2 years. Considering we have France and England away, its not the most ridiculous prediction. Engand have consistently been better against France than us.

only because last year france couldnt be arsed when they played them... if it wasnt for wilkinson they would have gotten it way worse than what they did

Hyperbullet

little173 wrote: »

That is obviously your opinion, he was a fine player, and he has always come across as a fine man. Also I think his knowlege of the game is generally good. His comments about Irish players have always been fair and generally very complimentary, in contrast to many of the ex English Players.

He is only expressing an opion, and while I dont think England will win the 6N, they can put a decent side together even when they are a shambles. Look what they did in the RWC07. They have loads of players and really struggle to put out an awful team, even now I would say that beating them in Twickenham is a very hard thing to do.

Anyhow, he is partly Irish, due to his late Mothers Family, he is one of us..:D

Wasnt out to cause offence to anyone with that opinion, I just tend not to listen to anything he has to say. Hard to explain my rationale really, think everyone has a player(s) they just dont like, he's just one of them for me.

Having said that I'd listen to him before i'd listen to George Hook.

Podge_irl

twinytwo wrote: »

only because last year france couldnt be arsed when they played them... if it wasnt for wilkinson they would have gotten it way worse than what they did

Record books still show them coming second. And apparently France are regularly not arsed playing them, as quite often France have reamed us only to go on and lose to England.

England seem to be capable of beating France when they shouldn't in much the same manner that France have are capable of beating NZ. I don't really get it, but England are comparatively quite successful against France, even in Paris. A win there and they are well capable of winning the 6N given how the games line up. Over a home and away series they wouldn't have a hope, but Wales and Ireland have to travel to Twickers, and we only barely beat them at home last season

stephen_n

Don't think England have shown anything in the AI's so far that would put them in contention for anything but the wooden spoon. The only thing thay have going for them is that will probably have a lot of players back from injury before then but they will still have the same coaches behind Johnson who seem to have about as many good ideas as our current government!

egan007

dixiefly wrote: »

Lawrence Dallaglio said on BBC today that he thinks that England will "probably go on and win the Six Nations". He reckons that they can challenge France whom he thinks should be favourites.
no mention of the current Grand Slam champions Ireland. I did not like the arrogant tone of the interview when I heard it this morning.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/english/8373043.stm link to an article covering the comments, I dont have a link to the interview itself.

What do people think?

Jeez - that guy must be on drugs.:p

twinytwo

Podge_irl wrote: »

Record books still show them coming second. And apparently France are regularly not arsed playing them, as quite often France have reamed us only to go on and lose to England.

England seem to be capable of beating France when they shouldn't in much the same manner that France have are capable of beating NZ. I don't really get it, but England are comparatively quite successful against France, even in Paris. A win there and they are well capable of winning the 6N given how the games line up. Over a home and away series they wouldn't have a hope, but Wales and Ireland have to travel to Twickers, and we only barely beat them at home last season

and if u had watched the game you would no how lucky england were not to have numerous players binned/sent off... i would put no weight on that performance

SpAcEd OuT

I think England are a serious threat. Wilkinson back on form and they came out of the AIs ok so far considering the sheer number of injuries they had to deal with. The 6 nations is going to be very close this year.

Eoin

When England lose, it's rarely by much more than a converted try (yes, Croke Park '07 excepted). I don't know if we'll see them hockeying some of the teams by 30+ points for a while, but I reckon it wouldn't take a huge amount for them to grind out some dull wins. When 3 teams are in contention to win the championship on the last weekend, you can't rule them out.

Podge_irl

twinytwo wrote: »

and if u had watched the game you would no how lucky england were not to have numerous players binned/sent off... i would put no weight on that performance

I did watch it, though I'll readily admit I don't remember it very well. I'm not one to discount a win because it was lucky though, the same could be levied against Ireland many times (not so much with the sin binning, but with other elements). I don't put weight on the performance per se, I'm just saying England have a knack of winning games they shouldnt in the 6N, for whatever reason.

Even when ****e, and even when relying on luck, England are good at winning 6N games. They've been useless for years now, and still manage to perform to some degree.

anonymous_joe

The arrogance here is unreal.

A full England team, with no injuries, can be astonishing. And I mean that.

Sheridan (grrr, I want him)
Mears
Vickery

Beats our front three. We've got the weakest in the 6 N though.

Kennedy (grrr, I want him)
Shaw

Utterly brilliant players

Haskell/Croft
Moody/Armitage S.
Easter

Not as strong as ours, but have the option of a 7. The 6 Nations has no weak backrow, that England one would be very strong though

9. Hodgson/Care/Ellis/Foden/etc

Not bad. Not bad at all.

10. Wilkinson/Geraghty/Cipriani

Infinitely more variety than we could ever hope for

12. Geraghty
13. Tait

Now I know that we've Wallace/D'arcy and O'Driscoll, probably Europe's best, I know France have Mermoz and David who are highly rated, not to mention Jauzion, Traille, etc, but that's an astonishingly talented centre pairing.

Not mentioned includes Flutey, Tindall, Noon, etc, all of whom are of international quality, and some of the younger lads, Turner-Hall and so on.

11. and 14. Monye, Cueto, Strettle, Banahan (dunno why he's so gash for Ingerland, he's not that bad). Pace, power and finishing out wide basically.

15. Armitage/Foden

Again, speed and talent.

England are missing a staggering number of players. They're not as bad as results suggest. If they sacked Johnson and got in Jake White or someone of that ilk I could see them challenging for a WC and taking a couple of 6N titles too.

twinytwo

SpAcEd OuT wrote: »

I think England are a serious threat. Wilkinson back on form and they came out of the AIs ok so far considering the sheer number of injuries they had to deal with. The 6 nations is going to be very close this year.

maybe close but i still cant see them winning even with all their players... if france play the way they did against SA they will cream everyone.. tbh i see it coming down between france and ireland unless scotland get the thumb out

Podge_irl

twinytwo wrote: »

if france play the way they did against SA

Pretty big "if"

twinytwo

anonymous_joe wrote: »

The arrogance here is unreal.

A full England team, with no injuries, can be astonishing. And I mean that.

Sheridan (grrr, I want him)
Mears
Vickery

Beats our front three. We've got the weakest in the 6 N though.

Kennedy (grrr, I want him)
Shaw

Utterly brilliant players

Haskell/Croft
Moody/Armitage S.
Easter

Not as strong as ours, but have the option of a 7. The 6 Nations has no weak backrow, that England one would be very strong though

9. Hodgson/Care/Ellis/Foden/etc

Not bad. Not bad at all.

10. Wilkinson/Geraghty/Cipriani

Infinitely more variety than we could ever hope for

12. Geraghty
13. Tait

Now I know that we've Wallace/D'arcy and O'Driscoll, probably Europe's best, I know France have Mermoz and David who are highly rated, not to mention Jauzion, Traille, etc, but that's an astonishingly talented centre pairing.

Not mentioned includes Flutey, Tindall, Noon, etc, all of whom are of international quality, and some of the younger lads, Turner-Hall and so on.

11. and 14. Monye, Cueto, Strettle, Banahan (dunno why he's so gash for Ingerland, he's not that bad). Pace, power and finishing out wide basically.

15. Armitage/Foden

Again, speed and talent.

England are missing a staggering number of players. They're not as bad as results suggest. If they sacked Johnson and got in Jake White or someone of that ilk I could see them challenging for a WC and taking a couple of 6N titles too.

and?.. baring the props and wilkinson we easily have the players to match and/or surpass them... and depending how healy and sexton get on it could be down to one player. and lets face it id take fitz/bowe,heymans/clerc,williams/halfpenny over monye and banahan any day of the week

anonymous_joe

twinytwo wrote: »

and?.. baring the props and wilkinson we easily have the players to match and/or surpass them... and depending how healy and sexton get on it could be down to one player

Do we?

If they picked Kennedy and Shaw at second-row they'd be better than us in the air.

Their full strength backrow would challenge ours, especially as we're the last major nation not to pick a proper cheaty openside. We need one desperately badly.

Halfbacks could be their's too. On form Wilkinson's better than O'Gara and Sexton.

Outside backs, we've definitely got the edge, but they've a lot of pace and power there too.

The gap's really not as big as one would think. They almost took us last season after all.

madds

I think we need to u/stand the context of LD's comments. England are coming out of a series of bad results and performances but the 6N campaign looks promising if they can get their injured players fit.

LD was being interviewed by Healey and IMO he was beating his drum a bit about England's chances. Healey asked him if he really believed England had a chance and LD's reply was "Of course we do" or something like that. Healey than turned to the camera to sign off with a kind of "like hell we do" look on his face. No more "bias" than we'll hear on RTE2 next Saturday afternoon prior to the Boks game.

siltirocker

twinytwo wrote: »

and?.. baring the props and wilkinson we easily have the players to match and/or surpass them... and depending how healy and sexton get on it could be down to one player. and lets face it id take fitz/bowe,heymans/clerc,williams/halfpenny over monye and banahan any day of the week

Healy better than Sheridan come Six Nations, your having a laugh. And the though of Sexton (or el Saviour Jesus Christ to some posters on this forum) being a better player than Wilkinson by then (or ever) is laughable.

Although i agree it's a good England team, very good if fit infact, but we are better in about 12 positions on the pitch.

PhatPiggins

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Do we?

If they picked Kennedy and Shaw at second-row they'd be better than us in the air.

Their full strength backrow would challenge ours, especially as we're the last major nation not to pick a proper cheaty openside. We need one desperately badly.

Halfbacks could be their's too. On form Wilkinson's better than O'Gara and Sexton.

Outside backs, we've definitely got the edge, but they've a lot of pace and power there too.

The gap's really not as big as one would think. They almost took us last season after all.

Wilkinson hasn't been on form for nearly 5 years though.

Shaw is only good for 55 minutes and Kennedy is completely unproven at international level(the GP is no barometer)

Their outside backs are fast but largely braindead and in desperate need of decent coaching.

There are to many unknown variables to say to say they're as good as Ireland.I will concede that they have a habit of performing when you least expect it.

davyjose

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Do we?

If they picked Kennedy and Shaw at second-row they'd be better than us in the air.

Their full strength backrow would challenge ours, especially as we're the last major nation not to pick a proper cheaty openside. We need one desperately badly.

Halfbacks could be their's too. On form Wilkinson's better than O'Gara and Sexton.

Outside backs, we've definitely got the edge, but they've a lot of pace and power there too.

The gap's really not as big as one would think. They almost took us last season after all.

They lack any real coherence as a team, though. And have done since 2003. You're falling into the same trap as Dallaglio, by looking simply at names on a page. The fact is they don't have the right coaching or international set-up that the other top nations have to make those fine set of players in to a formidable team. And nor do they look like rectifying that before next January.

Podge_irl

davyjose wrote: »

The fact is they don't have the right coaching or international set-up that the other top nations have to make those fine set of players in to a formidable team. And nor do they look like rectifying that before next January.

Nor did they last year and yet they came second in the 6N and within a whisker of beating the ultimate champions away from home...

England rarely get trounced in the 6N. They are always close, and as such they always have a chance of sneaking the game. England in Twickers is going to be a very close game for us, they always are (well, they always are when we win, we've gotten trounced plenty of times). England have a surprisingly good record in France, even recently.

I imagine Lol's comments were slightly tongue in cheek, but its not beyond the realm of conception that it could happen.

GiftofGab

twinytwo wrote: »

and?.. baring the props and wilkinson we easily have the players to match and/or surpass them... and depending how healy and sexton get on it could be down to one player. and lets face it id take fitz/bowe,heymans/clerc,williams/halfpenny over monye and banahan any day of the week

Fitz aint playing in the next 6 nations, he'll still be injuried

siltirocker

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Wilkinson hasn't been on form for nearly 5 years though.

:O He has been unreal this season!!! Not forgetting he single handedly-walked England to a RWC Final IMO two years back.

mink_man

not unlikely!

anonymous_joe

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Wilkinson hasn't been on form for nearly 5 years though.

Shaw is only good for 55 minutes and Kennedy is completely unproven at international level(the GP is no barometer)

Their outside backs are fast but largely braindead and in desperate need of decent coaching.

There are to many unknown variables to say to say they're as good as Ireland.I will concede that they have a habit of performing when you least expect it.

I know there's a lot of unknowns in there. I just think it's too easy to dismiss them.

davyjose wrote: »

They lack any real coherence as a team, though. And have done since 2003. You're falling into the same trap as Dallaglio, by looking simply at names on a page. The fact is they don't have the right coaching or international set-up that the other top nations have to make those fine set of players in to a formidable team. And nor do they look like rectifying that before next January.

Were I English I'd accept your point.

It's foolish to write anyone off. This time last year, Ireland had a solid but uninspiring series of games. We didn't expect anything much from the 6 Nations really I'd reckon.

I do agree that they've shown no signs of harnessing their ability.

Magic Eight Ball

England grand slamming the 6N's isn't beyond the realms of possibility, just not under Martin Johnson!

KELTICKNIGHTT

Trevor Coulahan wrote: »

England grand slamming the 6N's isn't beyond the realms of possibility, just not under Martin Johnson!

i agree and i dont like him

Nigel Farage

I think Lawrence makes perfect sense here, as usual it has to be said. The Irish won't repeat their luck next year and they have their toughest fixtures away. The sweet chariot will be sang with gusto around Twickers.

Eoin

Luck? How gracious of you.

sickpuppy

Nigel Farage wrote: »

I think Lawrence makes perfect sense here, as usual it has to be said. The Irish won't repeat their luck next year and they have their toughest fixtures away. The sweet chariot will be sang with gusto around Twickers.

You know where you can stick your chariots,
some irish presenter said a couple of years back

davyjose

In fairness, we got lucky with "that" penalty. Think we finally deserved a bit of it though. Especially after '07.

stephen_n

anonymous_joe wrote: »

The arrogance here is unreal.

A full England team, with no injuries, can be astonishing. And I mean that.

Sheridan (grrr, I want him)
Mears
Vickery

Beats our front three. We've got the weakest in the 6 N though.

Kennedy (grrr, I want him)
Shaw

Utterly brilliant players

Haskell/Croft
Moody/Armitage S.
Easter

Not as strong as ours, but have the option of a 7. The 6 Nations has no weak backrow, that England one would be very strong though

9. Hodgson/Care/Ellis/Foden/etc

Not bad. Not bad at all.

10. Wilkinson/Geraghty/Cipriani

Infinitely more variety than we could ever hope for

12. Geraghty
13. Tait

Now I know that we've Wallace/D'arcy and O'Driscoll, probably Europe's best, I know France have Mermoz and David who are highly rated, not to mention Jauzion, Traille, etc, but that's an astonishingly talented centre pairing.

Not mentioned includes Flutey, Tindall, Noon, etc, all of whom are of international quality, and some of the younger lads, Turner-Hall and so on.

11. and 14. Monye, Cueto, Strettle, Banahan (dunno why he's so gash for Ingerland, he's not that bad). Pace, power and finishing out wide basically.

15. Armitage/Foden

Again, speed and talent.

England are missing a staggering number of players. They're not as bad as results suggest. If they sacked Johnson and got in Jake White or someone of that ilk I could see them challenging for a WC and taking a couple of 6N titles too.

Yes they have the players, they always do and given the size of their population that's hardly surprising but given their ability to perform even when they have most of the players and what they have shown so far in the AI's they are no where near being the sum of their parts. Also with the style of play and the sheer volume of matches the GP has England will always suffer more than other countries with injuries!

KELTICKNIGHTT

Nigel Farage wrote: »

I think Lawrence makes perfect sense here, as usual it has to be said. The Irish won't repeat their luck next year and they have their toughest fixtures away. The sweet chariot will be sang with gusto around Twickers.

thats your and the lawrence english view only,maybe the chariots need better tyres:D

anonymous_joe

stephen_n wrote: »

Yes they have the players, they always do and given the size of their population that's hardly surprising but given their ability to perform even when they have most of the players and what they have shown so far in the AI's they are no where near being the sum of their parts. Also with the style of play and the sheer volume of matches the GP has England will always suffer more than other countries with injuries!

They will learn though. I think they're starting to.