Six Nations 2011 General Banter/Team Talk Thread

thomond2006

This was a good thread last year so it's back again! This is where we can talk about all countries, including Ireland.

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,16024_6673238,00.html

First item on the agenda is France, their Six Nations squad was announced today.

France squad:

Forwards (16):
Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Thomas Domingo (Clermont), Luc Ducalcon (Castres), Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Français), William Servat (Toulouse), Guilhem Guirado Guirado (Perpignan), Lionel Nallet (Racing-Métro), Julien Pierre (Clermont), Jerome Thion (Biarritz), Pascale Papé (Stade Français), Thierry Dusautoir (Stade Toulousain, cap.), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Sebastien Chabal (Racing-Métro), Alexandre Lapandry (Clermont), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz).

Backs(14):
Morgan Parra (Clermont), Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), François Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), DamienTraille (Biarritz), David Skrela (Toulouse), Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), Maxime Mermoz (Perpignan), David Marty (Perpignan), Aurelien Rougerie (Clermont), Vincent Clerc (Toulouse), Alexis Palisson (Brive), Maxime Médard (Toulouse), Yohan Huget (Bayonne), Clerment Poitrenaud (Toulouse).

The Toulouse backs of Medard, Clerc and Poitrenaud return. Poitrenaud has been playing a lot at 12 this season (and apparently doing well) so it will be interesting to see if he plays at centre or fullback.

Meanwhile, Wales have serious injury problems. It looks like both Gethin Jenkins and Adam Jones will miss at least some of the tournament while Andrew Bishop and Tom Shanklin will miss the whole tournament. The possible return of Gavin Henson is postponed as he's out for 3 weeks. That means a like centre partnership of Roberts and Davies, which is as creative as Tindall and Noon tbh.

Psst, its 2011

trackguy

Scary that they can leave out Dupuy, Tillous-Borde and others.

Zzippy

No Bastareaud. is he injured?

jolley123

Fair play to Skrela, he deserved a call up.

thomond2006

Deleted User wrote: »

Psst, its 2011

fail

thomond2006

thomond2006 wrote: »

fail

Not to worry. Was looking forward to this thread anyhoo so cheers.


Disappointed at the lack of Heymans,Floch, Picamoles, Malzieu and Szaezewski. Equally surprised that Chabal and Oeudrago are included. I wonder if Lieveremont is going to be tinkering right up to kickoff against New Zealand.

thomond2006

Scotland squad for training camp at St Andrews beginning Monday, January 24:

Backs:
Joe Ansbro (Northampton Saints), Mike Blair (Edinburgh), Jack Cuthbert (Bath), Simon Danielli (Ulster), Nick De Luca (Edinburgh), Max Evans (Glasgow Warriors), Alex Grove (Worcester Warriors), Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Warriors), Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh), Rory Lamont (Toulon), Sean Lamont (Scarlets), Rory Lawson (Gloucester), Dan Parks (Cardiff Blues), Chris Paterson (Edinburgh), Hugo Southwell (Stade Francais) and Nikki Walker (Ospreys).

Forwards:
John Barclay, Johnnie Beattie (both Glasgow Warriors), Kelly Brown (Saracens), Geoff Cross, Ross Ford (both Edinburgh), Richie Gray, Dougie Hall, Robert Harley (all Glasgow Warriors), Nathan Hines (Leinster), Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh), Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors), Scott Lawson (Gloucester), Moray Low (Glasgow Warriors), Scott MacLeod (Edinburgh), Euan Murray (Newcastle Falcons), Ross Rennie (Edinburgh) and Richie Vernon and Jon Welsh (both Glasgow Warriors).

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12505_6673459,00.html

irishbucsfan

Adam Jones and Gethin Jenkins will both miss the entire championship.

Can't see Wales making an impact now. They just dont have the players to be competitive.

I still think it'll finish 1. Ireland, 2. France, 3. England, 4. Scotland, 5. Wales, 6. Italy Although I'd like to see Scotland beat England.

Noffles

Us losing the 2 props has put a right dampener on it for me... we're just going to have to do it like the Wallabies then... win without a scrum

BoarHunter

Hi thomond, hope you're having a good time in France. If i may say something : I think Poitrenaud plays 13 when he starts at centre and he alternates with Fritz, and he made some brilliant games.

however there is already 4 centres in the group + Traille ... so i don't know if he'll play there

bastareaud is over 120 kg ... he was asked to make an effort and didn't... so this is a no

irishbucsfan

BoarHunter wrote: »

Hi thomond, hope you're having a good time in France. If i may say something : I think Poitrenaud plays 13 when he starts at centre and he alternates with Fritz, and he made some brilliant games.

however there is already 4 centres in the group + Traille ... so i don't know if he'll play there

bastareaud is over 120 kg ... he was asked to make an effort and didn't... so this is a no

What team would you pick from that squad?

Are you happy with it?

MikeHoncho

Its a pity Tim Visser is not eligible to play for Scotland yet he will make a great addition to their team and the tournament in general when he does become eligible next year.

porterbelly

1. Domingo
2. Servat
3. Mas
4. Pape
5. Nallet
6. Dusatoir
7. Ouedraogo
8. Harinorduqoy
9. Yachvilli
10. Trinh Duhc
11. Rougerie
12. Jauzion
13. Mermoz
14. Medard
15. Poitreanaud

That would be my team, although I'd havee Malzieu in there ahead of Medard. Yannick Nyanga has looked very impressive for Toulouse and I felt he should have been included too.

Lievremont will probably go with Parra ahead of Yachvilli, and could choose Julien Bonnaire in the back row. Doubt Mermoz will start either although I think he's a class player and should start. 2nd row would be the only area of weakness for the French IMO. Alot of bulk but not alot of anything else. Nallet is a good player but is well past his best and would struggle to see out 80 minutes.

BoarHunter

1. Domingo
2. Servat
3. Mas
4. Pierre
5. Nallet
6. Dusautoir
7. Harinordoquy
8. Chabal
9. Parra
10. Skrela
11. Palisson
12. Jauzion
13. Poitrenaud
14. Clerc
15. Medard


nallet is still one of the best 2nd row around imo. the quickest .

sock puppet

Do you think he'll try Rougerie in the centre again?

thomond2006

sock puppet wrote: »

Do you think he'll try Rougerie in the centre again?

I think that selection against France was focusing on power and size. He played Traille, Jauzion, Rougerie, Huget and Malzieu who are all big players. Going down that road was obviously a huge mistake, the smaller Aussies just ran rings around them.

I don't think he'll try Rougerie at 13 again.

Noffles

Noffles wrote: »

Us losing the 2 props has put a right dampener on it for me... we're just going to have to do it like the Wallabies then... win without a scrum

We all know Henson is the real loss.

theboss80

Moody injured and will miss first 2 games

Armitage suspended for 8 weeks after pushing doping offical (what a dope:D)

duckysauce

theboss80 wrote: »

Moody injured and will miss first 2 games

Armitage suspended for 8 weeks after pushing doping offical (what a dope:D)

classy guy

jolley123

Never liked Armitage(daft, I know seeing as I've never met the guy), he seems to be quite arrogant on the pitch. Not a big loss for England nyway seeing as Foden is lightyears ahead of him.

PhatPiggins

duckysauce wrote: »

classy guy

Made worse by the fact that he gave a clean sample. Fck knows what provoked him.

[Jackass]

I'd love to see an experimental team sent over to Italy.

Just fringe players been given a go and young lads getting a chance. It would open the net wider for world cup selection, and I think Kidney needs to react to the recent troubles of his usuals in Ireland.

A team capable of winning the game, and giving players who aren't "names" but deserve to be there a shot and also inviting some young players into the fold to see how they progress.

I'd love to see Kidney do what the French do every so often and just thrown in some mix of fringe players and young players and some positional switches to experiment. If you have quality players outside of the regular starters, which we do, no harm can come from it, especially in a world cup year, where you only risk unearthing a few more gems at international level. I'd love to see: (although absolutely unthinkable in current climate)...

1. Healy
2. Cronin
3. Hagan
4. Cullen
5. Tuhoy
6. Leamy
7. Jennings
8. O'Brien

9. Stringer
10. Sexton
11. Trimble
12. McFadden
13. Bowe
14. Horgan
15. Carr

16. Varley 17. Court 18. Toner 19. McLoughlin 20. Boss 21. Keatley 22. Earls

irishbucsfan

Lets not forget, this is the management team that selected John Hayes against Samoa

AboveandBeyond

If I was going experimental I'd like to look at something like this....

1.Healy
2.Cronin
3.Hagan
4.Touhy
5.McLaughlin
6.Ferris
7.O'Brien
8.Heaslip
9.Marshall
10.Sexton
11.Fitzgerald
12.McFadden
13.O'Malley
14.Trimble
15.D'arcy

durkadurka

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Made worse by the fact that he gave a clean sample. Fck knows what provoked him.

Never liked armitage since that cheap shot on BOD in 09.

thomond2006

Read somewhere that Steve Borthwick is out for 6-8 weeks, so he won't be making an England comeback anytime soon.

thomond2006

thomond2006 wrote: »

Read somewhere that Steve Borthwick is out for 6-8 weeks, so he won't be making an England comeback anytime soon.

Gutted for Ireland

thomond2006

Wales squad:

Forwards:
Paul James (Ospreys), John Yapp (Blues), Craig Mitchell (Ospreys), Ryan Bevington (Ospreys), Scott Andrews (Blues), Matthew Rees (Scarlets, capt), Richard Hibbard (Ospreys), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Bradley Davies (Blues), Ryan Jones (Ospreys), Sam Warburton (Blues), Jonathan Thomas (Ospreys), Andy Powell (Wasps), Josh Turnbull (Scarlets), Toby Faletau (Dragons), Dan Lydiate (Dragons).

Backs:
Mike Phillips (Ospreys), Dwayne Peel (Sharks), Tavis Knoyle (Scarlets), Stephen Jones (Scarlets), Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), James Hook (Ospreys), Jamie Roberts (Blues), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Shane Williams (Ospreys), Morgan Stoddart (Scarlets), Leigh Halfpenny (Blues), Lee Byrne (Ospreys).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/welsh/9370298.stm

Martyn Williams isn't included and Rhys Priestland is in ahead of Dan Biggar, probably punishment for Biggar's shocking performance against Fiji.

I think we will see a starting XV of:
James, Rees, Mitchell, Wyn Jones, Davies, Lydiate, Warburton, R Jones;
Phillips, S Jones, S Williams, Roberts, Hook, Halfpenny, Byrne

jolley123

It would suck if you retired 2 caps of one hundred.

CouchSmart

Very harsh on Williams considering he was asked out of retirement for one last WC cycle.. He'll still go to the WC though, I'd say.

jolley123

jolley123 wrote: »

It would suck if you retired 2 caps of one hundred.

I think Rafa Ibanez is one shy of a hundred.

wonton

so on friday the 4th the irish under 20s six nations, the wolfhounds game and the england and wales are on at pretty much the same time!

ugh decisions!

CatFromHue

wonton wrote: »

so on friday the 4th the irish under 20s six nations, the wolfhounds game and the england and wales are on at pretty much the same time!

ugh decisions!

Arghh thats the problem with friday night 6 nation games, the A and U 20 games are on at the same time. Both of which people would like to watch.

Considering there is only 3 games per weekend I'd perfer if all three were on the saturday. The heineken cup has shown that 1.30, 3.30, 5.30 get good viewers numbers. Even if im not a huge fan of 1.30 games. i'm less a fan of sunday games, and friday nights should be left for the U20's and A's.

jolley123

Williams exclusion is understandable though. A back-row of...
6.Turnbull
7.Warburton
8.Powell
...is a serious back-row.

CouchSmart

jolley123 wrote: »

8.Powell
...is a serious back-row.

:rolleyes:

He's just terrible, like really bad. Does he even know how to play rugby?:p

jolley123

CouchSmart wrote: »

:rolleyes:

He's just terrible, like really bad. Does he even know how to play rugby?:p

No he's not...
Yeh he can do stupid things at times but he is a good ball carrier who gives the team he is playing for good go forward ball. Plus, if you watched the Wasps v Toulouse game he played very well.

irishbucsfan

jolley123 wrote: »

Williams exclusion is understandable though. A back-row of...
6.Turnbull
7.Warburton
8.Powell
...is a serious back-row.

Not worried by that back row in the least. None of those players would even make the Irish squad.

jolley123

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Not worried by that back row in the least. None of those players would even make the Irish squad.

True. But that's less of an indication on their lack of skills and more of an indication on how awesome our back-row is.

CouchSmart

jolley123 wrote: »

No he's not...
Yeh he can do stupid things at times but he is a good ball carrier who gives the team he is playing for good go forward ball. Plus, if you watched the Wasps v Toulouse game he played very well.

He gets isolated too much for my liking. I was watching that game earlier, well it was on in the background, I saw him twice and once was messing up at the back of a scrum and the other was a break which eventually led to a turnover.

Nuigforce

wonton wrote: »

so on friday the 4th the irish under 20s six nations, the wolfhounds game and the england and wales are on at pretty much the same time!

ugh decisions!

ANyone know where i can find the tv schedules? are the i assume rte will show the wales game... Wolfhounds on setanta?

dinjo

jolley123 wrote: »

No he's not...
Yeh he can do stupid things at times but he is a good ball carrier who gives the team he is playing for good go forward ball.

ive never known a welshman to knock on more into contact..... and if he does hold onto it, he holds on too long and once again... penalty against Wales. He is physically strong but thats all he brings to the welsh pack.

on another topic. gutted for martyn williams... i still think he would bring plenty to the team. i think we havent seen the last of him in a wales jersey!!

thomond2006

I think Williams will play some part in the Six Nations.

corny

jolley123 wrote: »

Williams exclusion is understandable though. A back-row of...
6.Turnbull
7.Warburton
8.Powell
...is a serious back-row.

Bar the Italians i reckon its the worst in the tournament!

Scotland: The killer B's
France: Any combination of 6 or 7 players.
Ireland: Any combination of the same number.
England: Not great and not helped by the loss of Croft but i reckon Easter, Moody and maybe Haskell would be a better combination.
Actually Parisse and M Bergamasco (although i think he's injured) might give the Italians the edge too.

If Gatland returns to the old ways and uses Powell as a ball carrier from deep he'll create more problems for Wales than the opposition. There's no art to him. Artless ****er.:)

I'd say if they lose against the English the away trips to Edinburgh and Rome could leave them with nothing when they play us. Their backs will most likely be too much for the Italians though.

jolley123

corny wrote: »

Bar the Italians i reckon its the worst in the tournament!

Scotland: The killer B's
France: Any combination of 6 or 7 players.
Ireland: Any combination of the same number.
England: Not great and not helped by the loss of Croft but i reckon Easter, Moody and maybe Haskell would be a better combination.
Actually Parisse and M Bergamasco (although i think he's injured) might give the Italians the edge too.

If Gatland returns to the old ways and uses Powell as a ball carrier from deep he'll create more problems for Wales than the opposition. There's no art to him. Artless ****er.:)

I'd say if they lose against the English the away trips to Edinburgh and Rome could leave them with nothing when they play us. Their backs will most likely be too much for the Italians though.

Ah well, agree to disagree:)

I think Warburton is the best 7 in the northern hemisphere, maybe behind Barcley, plus Turnbull has been playing fantastically for the Scarlets. I dunno whether Powell will play or not. He might go for Thomas.

Morf

Is BBC HD showing all of the 6 Nations matches?

thomond2006

Any idea how to get Six Nations in France?

Podge_irl

thomond2006 wrote: »

Any idea how to get Six Nations in France?

French TV?

If you want English commentary then proxies and iPlayer are the way to go.

Gracelessly Tom

thomond2006 wrote: »

Any idea how to get Six Nations in France?

There's a decent streaming site on www.myp2p.eu , been using it myself to look at the H Cup games over here (Toulouse) over the last few weekends.

There's always the great alternative of the pub! Few decent pubs where I am showing the games in English. Roll on Saturday week!

Noffles

Lol... nice to see the votes of confidence for the Welsh selection.... I'm not too depressed about it to be honest, a squad based on form and a little smaller than most.... 1st game the real decider for us, odd saying that but it is, beat England we'll do well, lose (if we do I would imagine it'll be fairly substantial) and we'll be all over the ****ing place... Still can't wait for it to start though!

trackguy

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/welsh/9372376.stm

Will this man ever learn??