Six nations FFS!

Rooooaaarrrr like fook this is our year. (Unless the Oirish teach us a kicking lesson courtesy of Sexton). Great competition last weeks games were awesome, Italy are at last capable of scoring a try, Wales looking strong, Scotland better than they have been in years and apart from ten minutes last night the Frogs a spent force lol. For an injury ravaged young team we ain't looking bad at all. Looking forward to Wales Scotland this arvo, and us against Ireland in two weeks will be door locked, phone off the receiver, only contact me if my dads dying, infact no wait until after the match he'd understand sort of an afternoon.
As for us May is the only player I'd change, couple of decent emerging young players and what about Easter? Are we gonna slam it?

If we can beat Ireland i think the Grand Slam is ours barr any cockups, France are a mess at the moment and Scotland are just Scotland so no worries there.

I was at argyle yesterday as you know but i did watch a bit of the Eng game via my phone before the game and during half time and caught the rest when i got home. One thing i noticed England have got to defend better. While they got away with it against Italy due to their attacking play they wont get away with it against the Springboks or All Blacks.

Also

I see the herald have got a weeks worth of content to milk to death thanks to a 6 year old mascot from plymouth

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Those mad five minutes here and there will cost us fore shore, but watching Scotland today we should do them easy, beat Ireland then watch France pull it out the bag to beat us.
Been some great Rugby.

I think you boys are getting a bit ahead of yourselves, both France and Scotland have serious threats and the Paddies in Dublin are always difficult.

England have looked good and I take the point about May whose defence is about as good as City's but all of the potential replacements are either not fancied by Bomber or not actually any better, me, I like Banahan, I think he is far better now than when he got his caps.

Angry wrote:

If we can beat Ireland i think the Grand Slam is ours barr any cockups, France are a mess at the moment and Scotland are just Scotland so no worries there.

I was at argyle yesterday as you know but i did watch a bit of the Eng game via my phone before the game and during half time and caught the rest when i got home. One thing i noticed England have got to defend better. While they got away with it against Italy due to their attacking play they wont get away with it against the Springboks or All Blacks.

Also

I see the herald have got a weeks worth of content to milk to death thanks to a 6 year old mascot from plymouth

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Wonder if there's any chance of getting him to do the Janner song at the fans fest?

Greenskin wrote:

Angry wrote:

If we can beat Ireland i think the Grand Slam is ours barr any cockups, France are a mess at the moment and Scotland are just Scotland so no worries there.

I was at argyle yesterday as you know but i did watch a bit of the Eng game via my phone before the game and during half time and caught the rest when i got home. One thing i noticed England have got to defend better. While they got away with it against Italy due to their attacking play they wont get away with it against the Springboks or All Blacks.

Also

I see the herald have got a weeks worth of content to milk to death thanks to a 6 year old mascot from plymouth

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Wonder if there's any chance of getting him to do the Janner song at the fans fest?

Well his parents are exploiting it for every little penny they can in the media so naturally Argyle will be wanting to do the same when the 15 minutes are up.

Lord Tisdale wrote:

I think you boys are getting a bit ahead of yourselves, both France and Scotland have serious threats and the Paddies in Dublin are always difficult.

England have looked good and I take the point about May whose defence is about as good as City's but all of the potential replacements are either not fancied by Bomber or not actually any better, me, I like Banahan, I think he is far better now than when he got his caps.

Not at all just some youthful optimism (I remember my yoof) after entering the comp with an injury hit team that as normal are written of by the press and the mainly biased welsh pundits before we have kicked a ball.
As for Scotland, all huff and puff but too many mistakes and they can camp on the 22 all match and not score much, their kicking was looking good until the Welsh caught all they kicked and ran it back at them. As for Wales? 80% possession against Scotland and hung on for a three point win, both teams riddled with stupid penalties although Wales have a decent kicker in Halfpenny. They also have a centre who doesn't know how to chuck a ball 5 yards lol.
Ireland are the team to beat from what I can see from decent coaching, organised, good in the breakdown and Sexton a real force with Murray not being too shabby with the boot either. If Ireland manage to keep us out of their half via Sextons boot we may struggle, personally I think we will have plenty to do the job.
France are lovely to watch at the moment but as I said before they have trouble knowing they are beaten sometimes and always raise their game against us, easy win though, roooaaaarr.

Its only Ireland i have serious concerns about given our defence. As for France and Scotland as i already said France are a mess and more than likely eyeing the world cup to fix things by and scotland are just plucky losers but ultimately wont pose a problem if England are on form.

I like to think Lancaster will have the defence drilled ready for Ireland next week we cant allow them the same chances Italy had especially with Sexton's boot.

It's those mad five minutes that could cost us, if we started against the all Blacks in the same vein we started against the Italians we would never get back into the game.

Looks as though you could get your wish Iggs, Jack Nowell has been training with the probables this week and Bomber came out to knock May's contribution so far, bit of a liberty really after he picked and coached the boy.

Of course I would love to see Jack in, an Exeter boy though and through, coughs, but I would still go with Banahan if we are scared of aerial stuff, he is brilliant under the high ball and is fooking huge.

Five bad minutes can absolutely kill you even at the 'B' level of the 6Ns, Goode against France still makes me shiver.

If May was picked in the first place, he shouldn't be dropped after displaying poor defensive positioning - it wasn't exactly an unknown weakness beforehand. I don't dislike him, he evidently has his weaknesses, but he also scores tries. At least he's interesting to watch.

Goode at fullback is worrying. Would they not plump for Watson there?

Still, it'll probably come down to how disciplined the pack are against the likes of O'Connoll, O'Brien etc. Good news that Heaslip's ait.

I think the French/Welsh could still win the thing.

Mock Cuncher wrote:

If May was picked in the first place, he shouldn't be dropped after displaying poor defensive positioning - it wasn't exactly an unknown weakness beforehand. I don't dislike him, he evidently has his weaknesses, but he also scores tries. At least he's interesting to watch.

Goode at fullback is worrying. Would they not plump for Watson there?

Still, it'll probably come down to how disciplined the pack are against the likes of O'Connoll, O'Brien etc. Good news that Heaslip's ait.

I think the French/Welsh could still win the thing.

Three tries in 13 games is not much of a return for a winger, Ashton averaged a try every 2 games yet was dropped.

Goode is shit but Bomber is blind to it, Pennell is a far better full back and Watson the better prospect. Nowell was a decent full back as a kid but may struggle in future as Baxter fancies him as a centre playing outside Slade and Hill.

Heaslip is a big miss, 3 cracked vertebrae, ouch, the perp got a 10 week ban, not near enough in my book, a cowardly knee in the back should be met with a more stringent sanction imho.

Mock Cuncher wrote:

If May was picked in the first place, he shouldn't be dropped after displaying poor defensive positioning - it wasn't exactly an unknown weakness beforehand. I don't dislike him, he evidently has his weaknesses, but he also scores tries. At least he's interesting to watch.

Goode at fullback is worrying. Would they not plump for Watson there?

Still, it'll probably come down to how disciplined the pack are against the likes of O'Connoll, O'Brien etc. Good news that Heaslip's ait.

I think the French/Welsh could still win the thing.

Shorely the welsh puffed so hard against the scots they All have sore ribs? Can't see it myself as for the Forgs they don't know when they are beat, they can always change a squad to good effect and can always raise their game against us, I'm guessing out match against them is at the stade de France?

We've only got Ireland away.....other two at home.

Iggy wrote:

I'm guessing out match against them is at the stade de France?

Nope, this is our year for 3 home games.

Angry wrote:

Its only Ireland i have serious concerns about given our defence. As for France and Scotland as i already said France are a mess and more than likely eyeing the world cup to fix things by and scotland are just plucky losers but ultimately wont pose a problem if England are on form.

I like to think Lancaster will have the defence drilled ready for Ireland next week we cant allow them the same chances Italy had especially with Sexton's boot.

i wish i wasnt right sometimes! this is absolutely awful. the irish backs are having a field day and england are just gifting ireland points with ill discipline and mistakes allowing sexton to punish.

I said about Sexton in my opening line as for Murray, quality as well, us too indislined and turning two attacking line-outs into turnovers and not taking the points for 6 all our downfall. Ford not up to it, no confidence, give me Farrell anyday, I don't see Fords off the ball play being any better than Farrell but attacking kicks to touch at thirty metres is pathetic at that level. Fair play to Ireland worthy winners.

Iggy wrote:

I said about Sexton in my opening line as for Murray, quality as well, us too indislined and turning two attacking line-outs into turnovers  and not taking the points for 6 all our downfall. Ford not up to it, no confidence, give me Farrell anyday, I don't see Fords off the ball play being any better than Farrell but attacking kicks to touch at thirty metres is pathetic at that level. Fair play to Ireland worthy winners.

Ciprinai should have come on and see if his kick could have made any difference not that the end result would have changed mind.

God that was pretty poor.

Trying to outkick the Irish was never going to work. You need to flatten them, flatten them again, and keep flattening them in the breakdown. Then you'll get space out wide.

Disappointing performance, poor decision making, poor execution of poor decisions, turgid gameplan, decent opposition.

FFS Iggy, Offal?

Ford is doing what he can within the constraints of poor possession and Bomber's gameplan, Cips might be a better bet for the next couple of years and Henry Slade is the heir apparent.

Lord Tisdale wrote:

Disappointing performance, poor decision making, poor execution of poor decisions, turgid gameplan, decent opposition.

FFS Iggy, Offal?

Ford is doing what he can within the constraints of poor possession and Bomber's gameplan, Cips might be a better bet for the next couple of years and Henry Slade is the heir apparent.

Maybe but Ford missed a couple of kicks, looked like he had no confidence at all and the major fault was that we had no runners chasing his high kicks, every high kick from Murray or Sexton ended up with a fifty fifty between us and them, we just kicked possession away every time. His kicking to touch was piss poor, I could have done as well. At least with Farrell he wouldn't have missed the kicks at goal and would have put us on the five metre line from a pen not the thirty metre line. As for Cips yes please. The first lineout we lost shouldn't have even been a lineout he should have levelled the score at six all (not fords fault that's Robshaw (who I thought had a mare as well) or Lancaster). All those mistakes were making Woodward feel ill and I don't blame him.
As for Nowell he did loads better than May did.
Wales may cope better as they like the ariel game, fingers crossed.

Iggy wrote:

Lord Tisdale wrote:

Disappointing performance, poor decision making, poor execution of poor decisions, turgid gameplan, decent opposition.

FFS Iggy, Offal?

Ford is doing what he can within the constraints of poor possession and Bomber's gameplan, Cips might be a better bet for the next couple of years and Henry Slade is the heir apparent.

Maybe but Ford missed a couple of kicks, looked like he had no confidence at all and the major fault was that we had no runners chasing his high kicks, every high kick from Murray or Sexton ended up with a fifty fifty between us and them, we just kicked possession away every time. His kicking to touch was piss poor, I could have done as well. At least with Farrell he wouldn't have missed the kicks at goal and would have put us on the five metre line from a pen not the thirty metre line. As for Cips yes please. The first lineout we lost shouldn't have even been a lineout he should have levelled the score at six all (not fords fault that's Robshaw (who I thought had a mare as well) or Lancaster). All those mistakes were making Woodward feel ill and I don't blame him.
As for Nowell he did loads better than May did.
Wales may cope better as they like the ariel game, fingers crossed.

The one thing Ford doesn't lack is confidence, unlike, apparently, Nowell, I have never seen him fork about like he has in an England shirt.

SCW can feck off, he was everybodies' bitch until the team of the century fell into his lap and after with the Lions.

We have a problem with the restart, the chase, general decision making, execution of many of the basics, discipline, coaching, Bomber and Farrell really aren't the ticket, and much else. Murray and Sexton are, imho, the best 9-10 around at the moment, the Bog Dwellers had us out experienced all over the pitch and it showed, yet if 36 had kept out of the fecking way and Nowell's late try had not been disallowed, I noticed that we never got to see a play back of the forward pass, then we should have beaten the No.3 rated side in the world on their own patch. I do fear that under the current regime, in place until 2019, we shall struggle to impose ourselves as we have the devine right to do, but I doubt very much, barring major league slip ups in the group, that we shall not be in the shake up come October.

Maybe even in this tourny, if Sexton doesn't make it to Cardiff, he looked a tad hurt coming off, then any drop in the quality of their kicking game could see the Taffs run the ball back at them far harder than we did, Not of course that the Kermits and the Sweaties are going to be easy meat unless we can really up our game.

Half time Wales 15 Ireland 9! Comp wide open again if this stays as a Wales win in another forty, can they hang on? Fecking discipline is awful, pen, pen ,pen. Well see the mettle of the Irish in the second half, I think they'll sneak it but COME ON SHEEPSHAGGERS!

Back on, cracking game, Wales defence second half was awesome, need to get serious pointage against the Scots.

Iggy wrote:

Back on, cracking game, Wales defence second half was awesome, need to get serious pointage against the Scots.

Agreed, a cricket score would be most helpful England as its going to go down to points next week i feel.....