The Six Nations General Banter Thread. *Read Mod Warning. Post no.5*

anonymous_joe

Deleted User wrote: »

Thats what the French said the last time they were in Twickenham

Sssh. Be bitchy next time we win, not after we've just managed to thrash ourselves. ><

twinytwo

anonymous_joe wrote: »

You can't?

I'm currently about 55:45 saying Ireland will win, maybe even 50:50 what with the Twickenham factor.

That English team is nowhere near as bad as people think.

They have a good setup of players but they cant play as a team. After the france game and if sexton keeps up the form Ireland will come out swinging. Along with the fact we have only lost once to them since 03... if we dont win ill eat my hat.

anonymous_joe

twinytwo wrote: »

They have a good setup of players but they cant play as a team. After the france game and if sexton keeps up the form Ireland will come out swinging. Along with the fact we have only lost once to them since 03... if we dont win ill eat my hat.

It's a fair point, that.

I'd reckon if you picked an attacking England team, and stuck with it through to the World Cup you'd probably see them overtake us and France.

In terms of players, they've so much ability, etc, but it's very badly managed.

In saying that, they've a lot of pace and power in the side, and our traditional weakness has always been pace. Tait, Monye, Cueto and Armitage are all capable of being that most frightening of things - the strike runner. Defending against any of that lot would be hard. Our only saving grace really is that we've got a lot of equivalent players - O'Driscoll versus Tait in particular is one I can't wait for.

twinytwo

anonymous_joe wrote: »

It's a fair point, that.

I'd reckon if you picked an attacking England team, and stuck with it through to the World Cup you'd probably see them overtake us and France.

In terms of players, they've so much ability, etc, but it's very badly managed.

In saying that, they've a lot of pace and power in the side, and our traditional weakness has always been pace. Tait, Monye, Cueto and Armitage are all capable of being that most frightening of things - the strike runner. Defending against any of that lot would be hard. Our only saving grace really is that we've got a lot of equivalent players - O'Driscoll versus Tait in particular is one I can't wait for.

Ya.. but is there any doubt as to who will come out on top.

andrewdcs

I reckon we'll put two tries over England, I'm going 27-10. England have way more talent than they give themselves credit for, Johnson is a terrible terrible coach and they'll see this after the 6 nations.

2040

Donncha:

"I thought Paulie was terrible. He says some nice things but everyone remembers him slagging me and making up general stuff about using sunbeds to get a fake tan," he said.

"It's clear to see he's jealous. That's a normal day in our changing room but the disaster was this was in front of the whole country.

"Paulie's just jealous - he has no hair, no tan, no teeth. You look at the two of us and it's clear to see who the better second row is."

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_5977795,00.html

Paul still got the better of him though.

Podge_irl

andrewdcs wrote: »

I reckon we'll put two tries over England, I'm going 27-10. England have way more talent than they give themselves credit for, Johnson is a terrible terrible coach and they'll see this after the 6 nations.

That'd come close to our second biggest victory over them wouldn't it? I think it would constitute the most points we've ever scored in Twickers as well...

toomevara

Breathless exclusive form the Daily Hate, sorry Mail, with the background story to Cipriani's move to OZ....God help him if this lot have got him in their sights...thought the 'seen openly cheering for Wales' revelation particularly funny....

Sportsmail has been told that Cipriani:

IGNORED instructions in training.
WALKED OFF after being reprimanded.
MOCKED manager Martin Johnson while watching England play Wales on television.
OPENLY supported Wales rather than England.

Heh, heh you couldn't make it up, but in fairness if anyone could, it'd be the Mail.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-1253578/Revealed-Why-talented-petulant-fly-half-Danny-Cipriani-England-outcast.html

thomond2006

toomevara wrote: »

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-1253578/Revealed-Why-talented-petulant-fly-half-Danny-Cipriani-England-outcast.html

Wow. :rolleyes:

danthefan

The Daily Fail? Wouldn't be taking my rugby news from them I have to say.

toomevara

danthefan wrote: »

The Daily Fail? Wouldn't be taking my rugby news from them I have to say.

Yeah, interesting though of late how rags like the Mail are taking an interest in Rugby players in a similar way to chav-ball players...

JustinDee

toomevara wrote: »

Breathless exclusive form the Daily Hate, sorry Mail, with the background story to Cipriani's move to OZ....God help him if this lot have got him in their sights...thought the 'seen openly cheering for Wales' revelation particularly funny....

Disgraceful piece.
If anyone wants to know how that particular 'news'paper works, it gets plenty of coverage in Nick Davies' book "Flat Earth News".

dromdrom

Think we should be able to get parity in the scrum , Payne is having a poor season (got destroyed against newcastle), hartley is on the light side and cole while good is only in for his second cap, while shaw is a good addition Borthwick won't add much weight so hopefully this can give a much better platform and let sexton show his worth

Stev_o

Why Golding isn't in the England set up is beyond me, a fantastic man mountain at loosehead for Newcastle. A ront row of Wilson/Cole, Hartley and Golding would be a massive pairing.

Goose81

anonymous_joe wrote: »

It's a fair point, that.

I'd reckon if you picked an attacking England team, and stuck with it through to the World Cup you'd probably see them overtake us and France.

In terms of players, they've so much ability, etc, but it's very badly managed.

In saying that, they've a lot of pace and power in the side, and our traditional weakness has always been pace. Tait, Monye, Cueto and Armitage are all capable of being that most frightening of things - the strike runner. Defending against any of that lot would be hard. Our only saving grace really is that we've got a lot of equivalent players - O'Driscoll versus Tait in particular is one I can't wait for.

How though,at full strength they are close to us in ability but I think we still have better players and as for France,you must be joking?

Stev_o

Goose81 wrote: »

How though,at full strength they are close to us in ability but I think we still have better players and as for France,you must be joking?

They'v beaten them in the last three years including a semi final in the World Cup and that was with a bunch of old timers!

The difference between France's free cap give aways and England's was that Livermont could do what he wanted when he wanted he had no one to answer to bar himself, Johnson is caught up in the bureaucracy of having to answer to Rob Andrew who answers to Francis Baron and so on. England's politics are as bad as South Africa's ffs. They took a massive and i mean massive step back when they fired Ashton and replaced him with Johnson.

The whole quaility issue is bull**** they'v managed to finish second in the past two years. How is that any different from the years we finished second? If they took the politics out of their rugby they would be a far more threat then they are at present.

thomond2006

Stev_o wrote: »

Why Golding isn't in the England set up is beyond me, a fantastic man mountain at loosehead for Newcastle. A ront row of Wilson/Cole, Hartley and Golding would be a massive pairing.

Isn't Golding injured at the moment?

anonymous_joe

twinytwo wrote: »

Ya.. but is there any doubt as to who will come out on top.

Probably not. Had Tait been managed properly (i.e. not been English), I'd say it'd be fairly bloody close.

Goose81 wrote: »

How though,at full strength they are close to us in ability but I think we still have better players and as for France,you must be joking?

Because you need to look at their side without actually looking at how they play. :pac:

It sounds fairly special, but I mean it. Ok, the current English front row sucks, what with injuries, and their second row is currently behind ours and France's, but they've got a wealth of resources at second row actually, and their back-row has the most potential of any in the world. Predominantly, because other than the Saffers, they've far and away the most players. You could probably name 10 or 15 English back-row forwards who'd be international-ish quality. It gives them massive flexibility. I mean, Croft, Haskell, Moody, Easter, etc, get f all credit, but they're not bad players at all.

In the backs, well, they've got a ton of decent scrum-halves, a half-dozen or so great out-halves, etc. Centre is actually a weak-area for them. Other than Tait, they've mostly got competence, unless someone like Flood or Geraghty becomes a truly outstanding playmaking 12. England's wingers, meanwhile, are pretty much all big fast and tough to stop.

That's a whole lot of variety and potential, mismanaged on a world-class level.

PhatPiggins

thomond2006 wrote: »

Isn't Golding injured at the moment?

He's starting a lot of games for Newcastle if he is

The Newcastle front row as a unit is a thing of beauty. There's too much politics in Englih rugby, players seem to get picked on the colour of their club jersey as much as form.

I'm glad Kidney has so far avioded any doubt of his impartiality.

Cueto is in doubt for the game, he has an upset tummy apparently .

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/english/8537029.stm

wixfjord

PhatPiggins wrote: »

He's starting a lot of games for Newcastle if he is

The Newcastle front row as a unit is a thing of beauty. There's too much politics in Englih rugby, players seem to get picked on the colour of their club jersey as much as form.

I'm glad Kidney has so far avioded any doubt of his impartiality.

Except he hasnt!

Goose81

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Probably not. Had Tait been managed properly (i.e. not been English), I'd say it'd be fairly bloody close.


Because you need to look at their side without actually looking at how they play. :pac:

It sounds fairly special, but I mean it. Ok, the current English front row sucks, what with injuries, and their second row is currently behind ours and France's, but they've got a wealth of resources at second row actually, and their back-row has the most potential of any in the world. Predominantly, because other than the Saffers, they've far and away the most players. You could probably name 10 or 15 English back-row forwards who'd be international-ish quality. It gives them massive flexibility. I mean, Croft, Haskell, Moody, Easter, etc, get f all credit, but they're not bad players at all.

In the backs, well, they've got a ton of decent scrum-halves, a half-dozen or so great out-halves, etc. Centre is actually a weak-area for them. Other than Tait, they've mostly got competence, unless someone like Flood or Geraghty becomes a truly outstanding playmaking 12. England's wingers, meanwhile, are pretty much all big fast and tough to stop.

That's a whole lot of variety and potential, mismanaged on a world-class level.

I agree with you 100% on their depth and obviously they would cope very well with injuries as they are doing now but I still dont see the quality there when at full strength that would make them dominant.

They would be very competitive but I dont see them creating a better team than France or Ireland.
They are like Munster except international level,they play above the sum of their parts imo.
Personally I think the colonialism factor comes into it when they play the SH teams,for some reason they have alot more fear/respect of England than any other NH team.
That goes a long way to helping England beat the SH teams.

buck65

Goose81 wrote: »

They are like Munster except international level,they play above the sum of their parts imo.
Personally I think the colonialism factor comes into it when they play the SH teams,for some reason they have alot more fear/respect of England than any other NH team.
That goes a long way to helping England beat the SH teams.

Surely they're not that bad

France have a better win percentage against the SH teams than England though.
Eng vs NZ won 18% France won 25%
Eng vs Australia won 37% France won 44%
Eng vs SA won 39% France won 30%

toomevara

Wales' Jamie Roberts' spot may be under threat following the French Game. Interesting that Gatland has called Gareth Delve back into the squad too. May mark a subtly different/more conservative approach to the Ireland game.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/welsh/8549750.stm.

Simon Shaw's out of the England Squad for the Scottish game.

thomond2006

It would be very harsh on Roberts if he was dropped, although I do think he has become a "marked man" since he came back from the Lions Tour.

I'd say Delve will only make the bench. Amazing that the day after he told BBC Wales that there was no contact from the coaches since the Summer, he's called up. :pac:

Gatland has tried to play Hook in the BOD role at 13 and they haven't clicked yet. I'd stick with them for now. Bishop is average and Shanklin is too similar to Roberts imo.

It should be:

James
Rees
A Jones
Davies
Charteris
Thomas
Williams
R Jones (if fit) / Warburton
Phillips (Rees has played well but Phillips is Wales' talisman so he must come in IMO.)
S Jones
Williams
Roberts
Hook
Halfpenny
Byrne

toomevara

thomond2006 wrote: »

I'd say Delve will only make the bench. Amazing that the day after he told BBC Wales that there was no contact from the coaches since the Summer, he's called up. :pac:

...and he's off to France/Australia/Cardiff depending on who, if anybody, you believe (a belated attempt to make him reconsider?). Also an interesting rumour doing the rounds that Andy 'Buggy-Boy' Powell may be considering a cross-code switch to the Crusaders.

thomond2006

toomevara wrote: »

...and he's off to France/Australia/Cardiff depending on who, if anybody, you believe (a belated attempt to make him reconsider?). Also an interesting rumour doing the rounds that Andy 'Buggy-Boy' Powell may be considering a cross-code switch to the Crusaders.

A paper said Delve had signed for Melbourne, can't remember which.

I read quotes from Powell saying he is a big fan of RL and would consider a move when his contract runs out.

smurphy29

D Armitage (London Irish); M Cueto (Sale), M Tait (Sale), R Flutey (Brive), U Monye (Harlequins); J Wilkinson (Toulon), D Care (Harlequins); T Payne (Wasps), D Hartley (Northampton), D Cole (Leicester); L Deacon (Leicester), S Borthwick (Saracens, captain); J Haskell (Stade Francais), J Worsley (Wasps), N Easter (Harlequins). Replacements: S Thompson (Brive), D Wilson (Bath), C Lawes (Northampton), L Moody (Leicester), B Youngs (Leicester), T Flood (Leicester), B Foden (Northampton).

A pretty weak looking selection I must say. Hard to work out the coach's thinking. Moody has been one of their better forwards and is dropped, while Haskell didn't make any impression against Ireland and keeps his place. Deacon is a very average player, it's hard to know what Johnson sees in him. Armitage is having a poor season, I would hav thought it was time to give Foden a start, he looked reasonably threatening aginst us in Twickers.

Looks like MJ is the new EOS - harder to be dropped than picked.

Otacon

If Scotland had a full compliment of players, I would strongly fancy them against that team.