The Wooden Spoon

Diabhal Beag

Scotland were an absolute joke. Made France look like world beaters.

Amprodude

England should beat Wales and will have the grand slam in the bag after today. That be my thinking. I couldn't see Wales doing enough to beat England. England are too good.

The Lost Sheep

Amprodude wrote: »

Just explains why Scotland cannot win the 6 nations. They are a disgrace. 1999 is a long time since they won the competition and last time they beat France in Paris. They are like Ireland in 1990s not there to perform but to fill up the numbers. I think their women's team would put on a better show. 2 dreadful teams.

Disgrace bit much. We cant say much considering how long we went without beating France in Paris/win competition etc

Marengo wrote: »

That's the longer term challenge for Ireland in the World Cup. To break the quarter final glass ceiling we'll have to deal with resurgent teams with tradition.

Teams who have won WCs like SA, teams who have made 3 finals, like France. Teams who have made semis, 1987 and 2011, Wales.

We have the worst record of the 6 Nations in WCs bar Italy.

Yeah and that really needs to change... Hopefully it will be this time round.

Amprodude

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

Scotland were an absolute joke. Made France look like world beaters.

They always mess up in Paris a bit like Irish teams in the past.

Amprodude

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Disgrace bit much. We cant say much considering how long we went without beating France in Paris/win competition etc

Yeah and that really needs to change... Hopefully it will be this time round.

Well the only difference now is since 2000 we have beaten them a good few times and few times in Paris.

bilston

Point of law question.

Belleau kicks the penalty to touch right at the end. Adam Hastings catches the ball. Now it looked to me as though Hastings caught the ball in play and then stepped into touch. That being the case the game should have ended there?

Dave_The_Sheep

bilston wrote: »

Point of law question.

Belleau kicks the penalty to touch right at the end. Adam Hastings catches the ball. Now it looked to me as though Hastings caught the ball in play and then stepped into touch. That being the case the game should have ended there?

I thought the same actually. Surprised it went on.

The Lost Sheep

bilston wrote: »

Point of law question.

Belleau kicks the penalty to touch right at the end. Adam Hastings catches the ball. Now it looked to me as though Hastings caught the ball in play and then stepped into touch. That being the case the game should have ended there?

Answered in laws thread but for me AR call was correct.

Clegg

Scotland are an ok side. They've higher quality players across the starting 15 than they have at any stage over the last 10-15 years. But they've little to no depth up front and it's killing them.

I also think they play a style that just isn't suited to them. A fast paced running, offloading style looks fantastic, but it rarely works for them.

Amprodude

I thought in the game today Scotland passed the ball about in a manner that some of their players werent expecting it. A lack of professionalism in their game it seems.

razorblunt

thomond2006 wrote: »

Dupont daring Gilchrist to give away the penalty. Gilchrist obliges.

I can't fathom how he's Edinburgh captain and an international player. If he wasn't wearing a scrum cap you'd miss him. Toolis is a much better player.

Bradbury is another benefitting from local lad blindness.

Ardillaun

Bastareaud showed a bit of finesse with that chip over the defence and the young lads looked promising. Bamba was a big improvement over Atonio. He was excellent in all aspects of play.

Why don’t refs let scrums carry on a bit? At 38 minutes the French scrum was clearly going forward but the ref demanded the ball be used.

sydthebeat

Ardillaun wrote: »

Why don’t refs let scrums carry on a bit? At 38 minutes the French scrum was clearly going forward but the ref demanded the ball be used.

i dont know that particular scrum... but sometimes teh ref might deem both sides to have popped up at once, which would be a reset.... regardless of one team moving forward... and the ref would rather the team use the ball if its available to be played.

Losty Dublin

Ardillaun wrote: »

Why don’t refs let scrums carry on a bit? At 38 minutes the French scrum was clearly going forward but the ref demanded the ball be used.

A scrum is a means of restarting a game after a break in play. It's not really in the interests and spirit of the game to win the ball at a scrum and then sit with it not playing it. If a referee sees the ball at the back and it's clearly won then you need to play the ball. There is also an issue of safety; you can't expect the front rows to stay bound for any longer than is required to see the ball played. Leave the ball in there forever and somebody in the front row will get hurt sooner or later.

Obviously there is a difference whereby a team can scrummage better than their opposition and able to gain a yard or two but the expectation to play the ball promptly when it is available to play still applies, especially when a scrum begins to fall apart as the risk of injury here is quite high.

Ardillaun

Losty Dublin wrote: »

A scrum is a means of restarting a game after a break in play. It's not really in the interests and spirit of the game to win the ball at a scrum and then sit with it not playing it. If a referee sees the ball at the back and it's clearly won then you need to play the ball. There is also an issue of safety; you can't expect the front rows to stay bound for any longer than is required to see the ball played. Leave the ball in there forever and somebody in the front row will get hurt sooner or later.

Obviously there is a difference whereby a team can scrummage better than their opposition and able to gain a yard or two but the expectation to play the ball promptly when it is available to play still applies, especially when a scrum begins to fall apart as the risk of injury here is quite high.

The scrum was called about six seconds after the ball went in. I don’t think that’s a long time.

Losty Dublin

Ardillaun wrote: »

The scrum was called about six seconds after the ball went in. I don’t think that’s a long time.

That's as much as you need to complete a scrum. As the saying goes, Slow Ball Is No Ball.

Ardillaun

That sounds like rugby league to me. What’s the point of having world-class scrummagers among your forwards?