Yet another scrum reset required
First thing first
Rome
Saturday afternoon. Dry and warm. 19°C.
Weather should favour the Italians, who like to run the ball more and more incisively than Wales.
A solid scrum will get parity and may even create problems for Wales.
The Cannone brothers, Lamaro, Polledri are fast and mobile, all excellent poachers. But the Italian line-out might be a weakness. Garbisi is back and despite his young age will provide experience and vista. He’s surrounded by seriously good backs, Morisi at center and Bruno and Padovani.
Their big loss, though, is Capuozzo who would’ve kept the welsh defence on their toes. Allan is not in the same league.
As long as they do not attack crazily from their own 22 (it was suicide vs France) and show patience, they could create what wouldn’t be a surprise anymore vs a team deflated both on and off the pitch. Wales’ problems are well-documented. New coach but old horses, lack of confidence that leads to unusual mistakes, lack of a clear style or game plan….
Will the fear of a new defeat at the hands of Italy and the real prospect of a wooden spoon inspire a fight back or paralyse them?
I can’t tell. On one hand I wish Italy could win this so as to put an end to the boring discussions about their so-called unwarranted place in the 6N. On the other it’s sad to see Wales so down and out. True, Wales were boring for years but at least they won. Is Gatland really the answer? I doubt he can reinvent Warrenball, at least not until the emergence of a new generation of players. The U20 results – three losses out of three – do not bode well. Prediction: a very narrow win for Italy.
London
Saturday afternoon. Cold and wet. Very wet around 6pm.
I read the English press. It seems England, after years of playing ten-man rugby, have discovered a new version of the game: the one-man squad. It’s all about Smith and /or Farrell. Slade will tell you all you need to know.
My prediction? France by a score.
Edinburgh
Sunday afternoon. Cold, windy and wet. Quelle surprise.
For me the game of the week-end.
Both teams at their peak and full of confidence. Never seen a Scottish team so consistently good, and of course Ireland have been camping on the Everest of rugby for yonks now. For too long?
Not many weaknesses in any of them. A bit more structure with Ireland, wonderfully effective, regardless of who is on the pitch (not enough Northern Irishmen, I know), maybe to the point of having a hard time changing to plan B, if plan A does not work? But what won’t work? They do the basics better than anybody else, so a meltdown is quite unlikely.
Scotland seem a bit more flexible. They also do the basics well, except maybe at the line-out. They also showed their mettle as they reacted well to the early French onslaught. I poked fun at the English press for turning all their attention to the FH debate, but it’s hard in a post about Scotland not to mention Finn. I love the way he plays with a smile on his face and I’m convinced it helps him play better as he seems to feel no pressure. But it is a double-edged sword, isn’t it? He was dreadful with Racing last Sunday and literally cost them a must-win game, by missing several easy conversions and a kick into touch two minutes before the end when Racing was trailing by 4 points. Is it a question of concentration? He cannot afford these sorts of lapses vs Ireland.
My prediction: Ireland by a score. Or not.
Match predictions by Flair99
Firewood and the Art of Rugby Commentary
Last week I took delivery of our second annual (New Year) delivery of firewood; everyone in our countryside burns oak/hornbeam/cherry from local woodlands for heating and cooking. Nearly every commune contains a farmer who also cuts and delivers wood to local inhabitants. We use up to 15 cu. metres (or steyres) per annum.
The obliging and cheerful tractor driver, a chap in his mid-twenties, is a keen ‘rugbyman’ and plays 10 or 15 for the local club, Marciac.
This SW area of France is completely rugby mad and, whilst famous club names like Dax, Tarbes, Auch have faded in recent years, every large village / small town upwards has its rugby club. Typically, the pitch, premises and facilities belong to the local council, are usually multi-functional and therefore relatively grand for their surroundings. Marciac’s stadium is the base for our annual Jazz Festival and the rugby club benefits from the pitch being re-surfaced every August.
Marciac play in Regionale 3, Pool 5 and were lying second prior to last weekend’s fixture against local rivals Bassouse, lying first. Our team won 16 – 13 and are now top dog!
The French club structure is: Top 14 (who have now completed 20 rounds of fixtures this season); Pro D2; Nationale 1; Nationale 2 (2 pools); Federal 1 (4 pools); Federal 2 (8 pools); Federal 2b (8 pools); Federal 3 (20 pools); Federal 3b (20 pools); Regionales (lots of pools!). It’s no wonder the national team is pretty good!
So, anyway, we talked rugby whilst stacking wood. He knows Antoine Dupont and Claud Jelonche from neighbouring villages and these friendships reflect the pyramidal structure of the clubs.
Our local top teams are Toulouse, Bayonne, Bordeaux and Pau. My wood-man’s views on England is that they are always tough to beat at Twickenham, the toughest fixture in the two-year cycle. Farrell and Marler are the most highly rated English players: dour, unforgiving opponents with the necessary skills and combative spirit. Ntamack is considered to be similar to Farrell but Jalibert rated more highly skilful. Olivon now getting too old. Jelonch (now injured), Dupont and Alldritt are the grannies’ favourites – and they know what they are talking about!
France have won 11 times at Twickenham since 1911 and the prospect weighs heavily. It’s 18 years since the last victory, when the little devil Dimitri Yachvili was at the helm.
Since taking control, Fabien Galthié has not won there and Yachvili holds the strong belief that for England, France c’est l’équipe à battre absolument.
Imanol Harinordoquy (remember him?) believes that England are never stronger than when facing France at home.
But Yachvili sees reason for optimism: since seeing 10 minutes of interesting attack play by England facing the All Blacks in the 2019 semi-final, he has seen nothing notable, the team not having evolved since then.
So, just to win one over the irritating (as a player) Yachvili, I go for an England win. They are usually successful when they score early and hard and put on the squeeze. If it opens up, then France will win.
Interesting match-ups are: the front rows, the 9s/10s and the back threes: Thomos Ramos is a much better all-round player than Steward and the French wings are a real handful. However, key may be the back-row forwards – an English weakness so far.
Any red cards and all bets are off. I think there will be at least one as the intensity will be immense.
The view from the southwest of France by sladeis#42
Onna telly this week
Friday 10th March
| Italy v Wales (U20s) | 19:15 | BBC iPlayer / S4C |
| Scotland v Ireland (U20s) | 19:15 | BBC iPlayer / RTÉ2 |
| Northampton v Bath | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
| England v France (U20s) | 20:00 | BBC iPlayer |
Saturday 11th March
| Italy v Wales | 14:15 | ITV1 / S4C |
| England v France | 16:45 | ITV1 |
Sunday 12th March
| Gloucester v Leicester | 13:00 | BT Sport 1 |
| Scotland v Ireland | 15:00 | BBC1 / RTÉ2 |
Ovally Balls 
Hmm, now you know I will not accept that Aki is preferable to McCloskey. Apart from anything else, he’s a penalty machine. McCloskey carries better and further, and he can off-load or make a long pass, and kick too.
Agree on your last para.
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Was just doing my Bru pick for Super (not really) Rugby and saw that the Fijian Drua beat the
All BlacksCrusaders 25-24 over the weekend! Holy shit!LikeLike
@thaum
Apparently, if Ireland on Sat – Aki (assuming he plays) will have played (at some point) in all 10 games of the 2 GS
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if Ireland win on Sat…..
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I don’t think Aki played in the first match? Maybe he came on as a sub.
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………….. an easy omission to make …….
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Yeah…. these facts get batted around …. I didn’t have time to check ( but of course I had time to post it….. )
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Trisk – I’ve checked and oh, Aki started at 13 that match, and scored a try.
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if Ireland win on Sat…..
Nice try, Trisk, but underdogging not you style. A Grand Slam gaining win by anything under 30 pts would be considered a moral victory for England at the moment, I’m afraid. Graun reckons Faz to start even on one leg. Manu in the mix as well, so it’s highly likely that England will finish the game with a hooker and an 8 in the backs.
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My local booze retailer is trying to flog me a bottle of Sexton Single Malt for around 25 quid. Anyone know if it’s any good? I’m thinking it should be relatively robust, yet smooth, with longevity on the palate, but undertones of vulnerability and consumption in excess likely to leaving you feeling concussed.
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Someone’s done a Rassie
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If Rassie had spoken like Crowley after a match he would have been banned for life! Of course, it’s still possible that when the blazers manage to put down their gins and have a look at his comments that they will take action. And quite frankly, Rassie deserved a kick inna nuts for his actions.
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I’m assuming everyone’s off at their local boozer looking for cheap deals on Irish whiskey.
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A Grand Slam gaining win by anything under 30 pts would be considered a moral victory for England at the moment
@SBT
You are correct – No 1 team in the world, 9 tests undefeated – we should expect to win.
Three Red Kings made a game of trolling Leinster supporters who were playing down Ireland’s chances by recounting those facts and pointing out that 12 of starters are from Leinster who’ve not lost all season and who – Leinster supporters were proclaiming as “best team in world”. Championship and GS ought to be the baseline…..
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I don’t hate this but the poor fuckers don’t stand a chance.
England: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Henry Arundell, 10 Owen Farrell (c), 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Alex Dombrandt, 7 Jack Willis, 6 Lewis Ludlam, 5 David Ribbans, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Jamie George, 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Ben Curry, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Marcus Smith, 23 Joe Marchant
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Fuck’s sake.
Ireland: Keenan; Hansen, Henshaw, Aki, Lowe; Sexton (capt), Gibson-Park; Porter, Sheehan, Furlong; Baird, Ryan; O’Mahony, van der Flier, Doris.
Replacements: Herring, Healy, O’Toole, Treadwell, Conan, Murray, R Byrne, O’Brien.
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BBC article:
Ridiculous. More than happy to have O’Brien as a replacement, but the wrong man has the shirt.
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Already getting the grump over JvPF starting again. I guess Borthwick wants to see what he looks like when we get go forward ball on the front foot against a weak team. tbh I think he looks like a rabbit in the spotlights, while when Mitchell came on against France, at least he looked up for it. Jack has had enough starts to show his mettle, and hasnt. Think he could be a good long term bet, but needs a bit dog in him, and probably would benefit from not being continually exposed at this high level for another couple of years. He is far too nice, 9’s should be right annoying bastards, think Rhys Webb and Faf currently, not to mention Nick White Aaron Smith etc. Dupont would probably a right pain in the arse little twat if he wasn’t spending so much time running rings around everyone and creating magic.
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Hey Thaum ‘technical’ question in your inbox.
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The mystic 8-ball says Yes, Craigs.
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Dupont would probably a right pain in the arse little twat if he wasn’t spending so much time running rings around everyone and creating magic.
I musta created fuck loads of magic when I played.
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There is a story on rugbypass, who seem to have it right more often than not, that Sione Tuipulotu’s brother Mosese is being courted by the SRU.
Only a week ago I read another article elsewhere saying that Mosese had no interest and he wanted to play for Aus, but this is a new development.
It would lead to quite the log jam at Glasgow in the centres if he is anywhere near as good as his brother
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St Andrew to feed Saint Francis to the dogs by 8 points
Joan of Arc to march over Saint ‘Dewi’ David by 19
Saint Patrick to skewer Saint George by 18
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Scotland by 12
France by 19
Ireland by 12
(England won’t be that shit two weeks in a row)
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Hope everyone’s enjoying the Six Nations more than I am. Though I suppose one or two of you might not be.
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‘There’s a politeness to Swedes. It’s a facade. Deep down we’re animals’
A Guardian headline I just stumbled across that is no news at all to followers of this site.
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That video of the Wal-Italy game is very drawn out and I’m not sure what their point is for most of it. Seems to agree that it wasn’t a try but they want a penalty try for a player being taken out way back down the field who actually ended up in position to take an easy final pass and score that they never threw.
Think they should have gone back for the penalty probably – not sure if the tackling without the ball is something that advantage can be over for though (think it probably isn’t)?
Anyway it was an uninspiring game that I’m happy Wales won, but am fed up that we were involved in the least interesting match again as we have been every week. Now traditionally I would expect any game involving Italy to fit this bill and as it’s Wales that have taken over on that front this season I shouldn’t have expected any better, but still.
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Thought England’s biggest problem last week was that France were absolutely amazingly brilliant. So that game was better than the Wales one by miles even if it was less of a contest. And I don’t feel that’s just me enjoying watching the rare spectacle of England getting a proper full on hiding even if I did obviously get along quite well with that aspect of it.
England always have some sort of a chance even if Ireland are very clear favourites.
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On the Wales Italy front I felt last year that (taking notional overdog/underdog status out of the equation) Wales actually had the better of the game they lost and were on the wrong end of a fairly rough decision to disallow a try that would have won the game for them. If they got the rub of the green this year and won then so be it. I’ve been surprised that Italy have played as well as they have done in the other games which is good to see even if it does raise the spectre of some last place finishes in the near future for my lot if they can’t get their act together.
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“Aber Falls”
Hadn’t heard of this. Got me wondering if my home town was now producing whisky, but it turns out to be from Abergwyngregyn which is just down Aber Road from Llanfairfechan.
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The kids’ busy Saturday schedules have made getting to watch this year’s tournament quite complicated. My main bugbear is ITV player. Especially their ‘watch from the beginning’ function. This marvellous creation enables you to watch the programme from the start while it is still on. So far so good, but you can’t skip to the start of the actual game and have to sit through all the crap beforehand including all the ads. And then when you’ve done that it cuts out completely when the live broadcast finishes even if you’re only two minutes into the actual game having put up with all the drivel!
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CMW, I posted the video but personally I think it’s a bit of a joke, anyone who watches rugby for a while can nit-pick incidents and point out mistakes by the officials, and it’s always against one’s own team.
I know how that sounds coming from me, but I’ve learned to let go on the final whistle, it doesn’t stop me from saying that event X was a mistake by the ref, I just don’t get wound up about it any more.
There was a turnover by Mack Hansen during our game on Sunday that I went through several times, it was noteworthy because Jamie Ritchie, as captain, walked over to the ref and said, “He’s off his feet, Sir” to which the ref matched Scotland back 10m for dissent. The story is that Pearce apologised to Ritchie afterwards, saying that was a mistake.
When I looked at the play itself, the first point of contact Hansen made with the ball was when his back was parallel to the ground and his entire body was in front of his feet, it is physically impossible to be supporting your own weight in that position.
Anyway, I only relate that because the video replays on iplayer etc allow us to see that stuff, the refs make decisions in real time and even with TMOs they can get it wrong.
I think Italy butchered at least two tries, possibly three and leaked four to Wales, I don’t think that can be blamed on the officials.
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I think this is going to be quite the weekend in Dublin, with St Patrick’s, The Grand Slam game and Cheltenham going on, which seems to have an Irish connection that I don’t understand because I’ve never followed the gee gees.
It might be a laugh being around the city this weekend.
I can’t really see beyond three home wins tomorrow, even though Scotland are without Hogg, Finn, Darcy Graham, Grant Gilchrist and Richie Gray
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@Ticht – Yes, I think Italy would do well to look at their own defending as the tries they conceded were pretty poor. Their finishing won’t be done any harm when they get Capuozzo back, but there’s obviously some work to do on that front for the rest of them too.
That it was a less convincing win for Wales than the scoreboard suggested doesn’t cheer me particularly, but it is better than coming last.
I’m trying to stay calm about decisions that go against Wales – I’ve pretty much accepted that at the moment my team are usually not good enough to take advantage of the ones that go for them while other teams are.
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CMW, one good thing that came out of the incident with Ritchie is that I now fully understand the ruck and the first arriving player law.
Finally!
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@Ticht – I struggle with first player arriving and who’s allowed to play the ball and who isn’t. Quite often it’s because I’m thinking you need to be first, but when everyone else goes off their feet that’s not the case. That said something I think I will always struggle with is what constitutes being off your feet as by any ‘normal’ definition of it (i,e, ask someone to look at that person and say whether they’re on their feet or not regardless of it being rugby) I see loads of players called as on their feet who clearly aren’t and plenty called as off their feet for no obvious reason.
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“I see loads of players called as on their feet who clearly aren’t and plenty called as off their feet for no obvious reason.”
Yeah, it’s the perceived lack of consistency that annoys fans, I think.
Most of the time if we go through games in the cold light of day we can see decisions even themselves up, or close enough, most of the time.
There is still the phenomenon of big team reffing, though, I think that still applies at times.
The fans of the big teams will call it street smarts or playing the referee well, I suppose.
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Celebrated St.Patricks day today in the traditional manner by picking up corned beef and sauerkraut hard rolls from the local Oirish deli, Carbone’s. Did try to protest that as an Englishman it would be intruding on another nation’s sovereignty, but it was my turn, apparently. I have to report that I had no problems running the gauntlet of revolutionary Marxists bedecked in green, so I hope this is an omen that the Emerald hordes will be just as generous and welcoming on the pitch tomorrow.
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corned beef and sauerkraut hard rolls from the local Oirish deli, Carbone’s
*rolls eyes*
Have never encountered a corned beef sandwich in Ireland. Corned beef hash, yes.
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CMW – every word true.
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Thaum – you have mail.
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New post up!
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