Six Nations 2010

For those who care.

What a dire two games today eh?

Ireland first half good but then woeful O'Sullivan era slow ball. O'Leary is not good enough for our backline imo. England won but zero good backplay, if France are any good they'll murder the rest of these sides.

lol revive...I know there are at least 3 rugby fans on ILX

have at it, R

(not a great game, neither team really deserved to win but Bowe has a cutting edge England seem to lack)

I noted elsewhere a while back that my interest in rugby disappeared when Bill McLaren (RIP) stopped being the person talking about it on my telly. Then occasionally I watch bollocks like Scotland chucking it away against Wales a couple of weeks ago and realise I don't miss it at all. Caught about the last 20 minutes of Italy v Scotland, got a bit frustrated with it all, turned off before the England v Ireland game.

not my game but that was awesome entertainment today. tackle stats were ridiculous.

Love the 6 Nations. V happy that France seem to be getting their shit together. For the first time since Marc Lièvremont has taken over as head coach, France have managed to string three victories in a row. Oh yeah and I guess gave more fuel to the Irish to hate them by ending their unbeaten streak.
Game between England and Ireland was fun to watch if not great rugby. Really glad that Ireland won too. They rule at throw ins, I was impressed by the way they stole so many balls from the english that way. Good game to watch, that ending was really stressful. And yeah tackle stats were ridiculous!

France were fantastic against us, I don't hate the French particularly, apart from a few of the nasty comments prior to the game. Really dislike a lot of the English rugby team tho, where I don't really mind their footballers.

Martin Johnson is basically rugby's Roy Keane, a big ego who can't manage a side, relies on all his old pals as players, and loses his rag massively with the media to generate headlines about himself.

As for the French game I thought France were awesome that day and Ireland's game plan went a bit crazy, running the ball all the time despite the fact that they were winning the French lineout.

Yesterday's game on the other hand was the opposite, I can't believe how much ball Ireland kick when they have one of the best backlines in the world. I guess you can't argue with a gameplan that results in victory, and maybe it's about percentages, but I really feel if Ireland passed the ball in hand more y'day they'd have obliterated England. Can't complain tho, six out of seven against Eng in the 6N, that would have seemed like fantasy land in the 90s.

And yeah the tackling was incredible, was it 100 tackles and only one missed? Insane stuff. Tommy Bowe is going to be the most popular sportsman in Ireland at this rate...

Did you not enjoy Scotland Wales at all Ailsa? I guess it must have been horrible to watch as a Scot but I thought that game was like every reason you watch sport, just totally exhilarating. I was at home watching it and afterwards I felt compelled to text my dad, my brother, friends who like rugby etc, just seeing if someone watched it!

I didn't enjoy it because I had just watched Celtic chuck away a two-goal lead at Pittodrie right before it, and didn't really need to follow it with another impossible cockup from a position of strength. I can't really enjoy things that I'm emotionally invested in, tbh. I take your point about it being a good game for the neutral, but I'm not neutral enough to see it like that.

France are OK, but still flaky at key moments. As ever, they don't have a 9 or 10 who can really control a game under pressure. They'll still be good enough to win the 6N though. Wales really should have won on Friday - two missed opportunities for 5 metre lineouts that Byrne blew with wretched kicks and a certain run-in botched cos Hook can't run a decent support line from outside centre. If the French can keep the same squad fit for the world cup next year and add the currently injured Ellisalde, Yachvili, Clerc, Traille, Ouedrago, Marconnet etc they'll have a chance.

The Irish did awesomely well at tackling the life out of England - Ferris, Heaslip and Wallace absolutely hammered the England back-row and centres. Ireland's kicking game was pretty good too - if you have tacklers like they have then it's OK to kick for territory and play the game in their half. They knew that mistakes would come from England, and when they occur in dangerous positions that's when tries come. Bowe's second was a case in point.

Scotland v Italy was pretty poor I thought. How Scotland contrived to lose a game where they has a clear advantage in the scrum and much better momentum in the forwards, I can't understand. They have absolutely no pace or penetration at threequarter, as ever.

grand Slam for France thanks to a win against England (sweet victory, beating the English by playing like they usually do, no tries and only penalties :D). I'm happy!