Could anything be more exciting than last week’s matches?
Read on to find out.
Wales vs Scotland
Scotland, all day, easy peasy, we lost to the eventual winners innit.
Ahem. Ok, victory for Scotland for the first time in Cardiff for a while (but they did win in Llanelli) against a team who has had their number for a while now. Wales have too many injuries and lost 90% of their caps in Alun Wyn-Jones. They also don’t have Josh Navidi, Taulupe Faletau or Justin Tipuric so I can’t see them win the battle up front. Scotland on the other hand have only lost Jamie Ritchie (big loss, mind) and will feel confident after their recent win against … err … can’t remember. In fact, looking at the line-ups, it’s only n° 6 where Wales have a significantly better player.
Wales won by a single point last year and have regressed since. Their defence has become pretty bollocks after Shaun left and they lack the experience at international level (this does not mean they are like England. Repeat, they are NOT like England). Further, they didn’t really set the world alight in the autumn (win against Australia aside). Whereas Scotland have won 6 of their last (arbitrary point in time warning) 7 matches and will be confident going in.
30 – 20 to Scotland.
France vs Ireland
Some people might point out that Ireland don’t have Cateyes and therefore are not going to be as competitive as they could be against France. I, on the other hand, think that this is more than counterbalanced by the number of Ulster players in the team which shows strategic and forward thinking on Faz’s part.
This is probably the game of the weekend. Both sides are in great form having won their opening games and recently beaten the All Blacks (but who hasn’t nowadays? Scotland and Wales actually, but we’ve already discussed that) in convincing style. Ireland play a brand of ‘Pro-pleasing precision rugby and now have a pack which won’t get munched by the opposition whereas France have actually made a team worth the sum of its parts. Both teams are very strong in defence whereas France are a bit better in open play and will score some tries against the run of play. I think Ireland will win the breakdown so these are evenly-matched foes.
I think the key battle will be the set piece with these two teams. If either one can get an edge in the scrum and/or lineout then I expect them to win; probably Ireland. It won’t be by much but it will be down to the old heads such O’Mahoney at the end to see Ireland through.
28 – 22 to Ireland
Italy vs England
England v Italy is always a tough one to preview. Either it induces 50 Shades of meh as England eventually beat them or there’s a surprise around the ruck laws or there is a comedy rage moment where Brian Moore reveals how many toys his ma bought him for his birthday. Recently, England rarely seem to come out of these encounters with glowing match day reports. Either they won well, but didn’t lay down a marker, or they won and it was a poor performance. Or it wasn’t rugby maate.
Apparently Eddie is going with the same team as last week. I think it’s good to have a settled team to build confidence but I’d prefer it if we had some more bosh and experience. Courtney buggering his beautiful noggin is a big loss for us and after last weekend England need Faz’s direction. So I’m thinking that next Monday we’ll have a column from Matt Dawson saying how he would have done something different in hindsight. That’s because he is well clever and if you look at his articles, he doesn’t write many paragraphs, just widely spaced single sentences listing the random thoughts he is having at that moment.
Eddie normally talks about how England will ‘smash’ Italy, but he’s been quiet on that front so far. Which is actually quite nice. I’m expecting a disjointed first half, and then a comfortable gap to open up in the last 20 minutes. I am hoping that we show a bit more attacking shape than last week, and that Marcus Smith finds his feet (watch Squidge’s video about the Calcutta Cup for what I mean by that).
I think Italy will score a couple of nice tries but also shoot themselves in the foot more often than not. They have a young and exciting fly half and Benetton won that cup thing which I think was good, but not sure how seriously the other teams were taking it. Like that development cup in the Prem.
25 – 17 to England.
UPDATE!!!!
Randall starts!!!! And Marchant is in the centre and we have proper wingers and, and, and FFS Eddie, why can’t you do this when we play Scotland?!!!
Hand-wringing by Craigsman
Onna telly this week
Friday 11th February
| Leinster v Edinburgh | 18:00 | RTÉ2 / Premier Sports 1 |
| Italy U20 v England U20 | 19:00 | BBC iPlayer |
| Leicester v Northampton | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
| Wales U20 v Scotland U20 | 20:00 | BBC iPlayer / S4C |
| Toulouse v Stade Français | 20:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Glasgow v Munster | 20:15 | TG4 / Premier Sports 1 |
Saturday 12th February
| Lions v Stormers | 13:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Wales v Scotland | 14:15 | BBC1 / S4C |
| Bulls v Sharks | 15:05 | Premier Sports 2 |
| France v Ireland | 16:45 | ITV |
Sunday 13th February
| Saracens v Harlequins | 13:00 | BT Sport 1 | ||
| Italy v England | 15:00 | ITV |
Ovally Balls 
Someone in the crowd is waving a Swiss flag. Must be a neutral.
LikeLiked by 1 person
LikeLiked by 1 person
So it looks like my predictions are going well then.
LikeLike
Dear Lord,
I haven’t been the most loyal servant but please could you make me right about one thing this weekend.
Ta,
Craigs
LikeLike
I have also met BOD
LikeLike
On balance, France deserved to win – but we might have stolen it.
Not sure what Carty was thinking of – even if the ball wasn’t dropped, that pass was almost certainly forward. Keenan’s kick was a strange decision too….
Utna is probably right – difficult for Carbery to play a game built around Sexton. He has to start vs Italy and maybe remainder of 6N
Positives – 15pts down – we got back to a point. Once upon a time, it would have turned nasty but we worked our way back into the game.
LikeLike
If Scotland beat France, then they are still well in it, no?
LikeLike
As the old joke goes – well, that’s a big plus…..
badum-tish!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Craigs – re BOD, ewww. I mean, ewww in general, but plus he’s not an attractive man.
LikeLike
Phew… I can’t spake!
Could’ve gone either way. Well played both teams. France were terrific in the first half, Ireland were imperious in the second. Around the 65th minute, I thought it was game over and Ireland would claim a famous win. Fine margins indeed.
Please more of the same in a fortnight.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“If Scotland beat France, then they are still well in it, no?”
If Scotland beat France then everyone’s still in it. Apart from the loser of tomorrow’s match I suppose.
LikeLike
Sadly, no Jamie Ritchie available for French players to punch…
It would be a bloody miracle if we beat France. We’d need Bloody Unbelievable Finn to turn up, and he owes for today’s display (as do a large number of others). Darcy was one of the few pastries from today for us.
LikeLike
Well done Wales too. The game may not have been as entertaining as the one in Paris but with so many major players injured they did pretty well. I thought Scotland would walk this, I’m a bit surprised they didn’t. I thought their win vs England was a bit fortunate, albeit deserved, and Wales being so poor vs Ireland pointed ( for me) to an easy Scotland win. Wrong, as often.
Biggar must be made of steel. Or even rubber, as he can stay on the pitch despite what seemed like serious pain. My MOTM, no doubt.
LikeLike
Thaum – as someone mentioned on the thread that tweet implies 4 girls licking his ears. Luckily there were no ear lickers in the Waterstones I met him in.
LikeLike
England were roundly criticised for not taking 3 last week…. granted it was 77m ( or thereabouts) and only a 3pt gap.
You’re dammed if do and damned if you don’t…. we still needed a converted try to win…. taking 3 with 8 mins left meant any score could win or draw. We also just lost a lineout following Beirne’s 50-22
LikeLike
@Trisk – But assuming you weren’t really after a draw taking the three meant you still needed a try to win, there wasn’t much time and no guarantee you would get another really good chance. especially if you were going to kick the ball away subsequently. I get that it was insurance against a France pen putting the game out of reach, but still think it was the wrong call.
LikeLike
That was an enjoyable game to watch, so fiercely competitive. France’s defensive ruck is something else. Carberry played a very good third quarter and Ireland played really in that time. France, though, are getting much better had taking those body blows and coming back into the game. The same thing happened v New Zealand.
LikeLike
CMW – exactly. Plus, if had made it, even if we had still gone on to lose, it would have been a second freaking bonus point.
LikeLike
The Sharks beat the Bulls today at Loftus. This was brilliant by Lukhanyo Am:
LikeLike
Our U14s travelled to Corca Dhuibhne this morning and put up the worst performance of the season.
It was really disappointing – we’d won our last 4 games (albeit 3 against weaker opposition) and a bunch of them had played with our U13s last Sunday to defeat Listowel U14s. But this was hopeless – opposition weren’t really that good. No redeeming features at all.
We’ve 3 maybe 4 very strong ball carriers/runners but that ability is negated by the tendency to carry into contact and recycle only as last resort and refuse to pass even with an overlap. I’d reckon we kill 3 or 4 tries every game. This game died when at 12-0 down we spurned a 3 man overlap on the 5 m line to run back into contact and concede a penalty for holding on. We conceded again soon after and at 17-0 game was lost.
The reaction to this was to double down on the solo running – I guess it’s a level of maturity 13 year olds don’t have…. they double down on the personal effort but don’t try to use their team mates.
LikeLiked by 1 person
…….from the Exeter vs. Gloucester game:
“The tackle count of Exeter 11, Gloucester 162 was indicative of just how impressive the Chiefs were during that opening 40 minutes.” – in which Exeter were playing into a fierce wind. The half ended 5 – 5.
LikeLike
LikeLiked by 7 people
Sorry Brookter, Refit, Craigs and others, but…
Forza Azzuri!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Excellent joke, Thaum.
LikeLike
That didn’t take long, sadly.
LikeLike
I’m amazed England can hold the ball, the amount of jizz ITV are spraying all over them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
a bit ponderous but not really under much pressure……………….
LikeLike
Ben Kay praises Italian defence there. Lol struggles to.
LikeLike
England – comfortable but wasteful.
LikeLike
Starting to click tho, Refit. Quick ball from 9 opens up all sorts of options, it seems.
LikeLike
A bit too confortable for England to my liking. In 30 minutes Italy conceded more penalties than France during the entire game vs Ireland. Most of them naive or unnecessary.
Some good running from England. Smith looks the deal, I wish England persevered with Farrell.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Italy out of the 6 Nations. Italy Under 20s in.
LikeLike
Some nicely taken tries. Bit too easy really though with Italy giving away soft penalties almost every time the ball gets into England’s half. Every time I’ve wondered if the ref is being harsh towards them I’ve then seen a replay and he isn’t.
LikeLike
I seem to have at least been watching the same game as Flair.
LikeLike
@SBT – can’t wait for it all to grind to a halt, when Youngs comes on.
LikeLike
Coughing up the scrum penalty after Smith messed up the kickoff was about par for the course from the Italians.
LikeLike
Nice pass, but not much defending going on there.
LikeLike
Some of Randall’s kicking could do with a little work, but otherwise he’s been good.
LikeLike
Why on earth would you bring Youngs on?
LikeLike
Eddie’s seen enough of Randall.
LikeLike
Got to get him his cap, innit.
LikeLike
Obviously you need all that experience knocking on at the base of the scrum….
LikeLike
For him to knock on?
LikeLike
Hope that injury is not too bad.
Good start from Youngs there. I guess Eddie wants him and Smith to have game time together which is probably fair enough.
LikeLike
Both teams playing quite badly at this point.
LikeLike
Why should they let him get back to his feet?
LikeLike
Second half quite flat.
Some would say dull.
The expression on .Italys coach’s face says it all.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Flair – he appeared to be reading his mobile phone manual at one point near the end there.
That was painful to watch.
LikeLike
Not a lot to take from that. England don’t look like a finely tuned unit , and Italy put up a good showing, particularly in the second half, but too many little errors from both sides. I may be looking for something that wasn’t there, but can’t help feeling that the extra second or so Youngs takes gives the defence 5 yards to close down England’s backs, and what was the box kick from the back of a twenty yards driving maul about.
At least, I suppose, England have secured 5th place now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
England look strangely afraid of passing the ball. Strangely because they are quite capable of it. At pace. Had they tried it, they’d’ ve scored 70 points. Are they afraid to stray from the game plan?
Strange subs too. Or at least strange timing of it.
Even if I was good enough, and young enough, (hahahaha!) this is not a team I’d like to play in. And certainly not under that coach.
LikeLike