CWC1983

Don't think I've ever seen a worse Centre Forward performance than that big lummox up front for Wednesday tonight. 

The clubs get to mark the ref's performance as part of the grade he/she gets for the game. 

It doesn't seem right. What if a club constantly gives a ref a high score, surely it could potentially influence their decision in future games. 

Likewise a low score. 

I would have thought that it should be done independently. 

I've been binging Guilt over the weekend. 

Done series 1 and 2. After a slowish start it has gripped me. Brilliant characters. 

2 hours ago, angieram said:

Is it my age, or what? 

This is never a red card for me. The other player is nowhere near when Shinnie makes the tackle. He's the one who's late. 

I agree with those saying that the game is gone when VAR is giving these. 

There's been a few of these in Scotland this year. 

VAR is 2 years behind England and the officials are struggling to use it competently. 

There's an offside decision given by VAR last night that looks incorrect, even with the lines in place. It disallowed a goal. 

Very late to the party but I reckon Gomorrah must be the best show I've ever watched. 

I'm nearly at the end of series 3 and the tension building to the end of the penultimate episode regarding a hostage handover was incredible.

Some boys (and girls) those neopolitans.

5 hours ago, Eddie said:

Don't normally quote myself, but it's now basically £3 a bottle - 4 for the price of 3.

 

I'll have to take a trip to my local tesco tomorrow. I normally have a browse of their beers but havnt seen mint stout in loughborough yet. 

How good were ireland 2nd half? 

They are brilliant at the clearout, we couldn't get a hand on the ball at the breakdown. 

The world cup might be Hoggs swansong because he's the shadow of his former self. 

Win v Italy and it should be 3rd place. 

One of those games for England where almost everything France did in attack came off. 

France in the breakdown had the game of their lives and their strength on the gainline was immense. 

I guess Borthwick will come under scrutiny for letting Smith go back to Quinns while the backs were training with Ford and Farrell for a week. 

No better place for redemption than Dublin next week. 

Ireland u20's showing that there is a conveyor belt of talent on the way. 

82 - 7 v Scotland u20's tonight....?

Every game this weekend has a fascinating element to it. 

Welsh players being part of a fire sale from after having had a 70 to 80% wage cut from their club.

Cardiff have 30 players out of contract in the summer and a £400k wage budget to replace them.

Italy with a level of expectation that they've never had to deal with before. 

I think Wales might sneak it. 

Are the French on a downward spiral? Is England's progress over the last few games genuine or a consequence of playing Italy / Wales

The French have not won at Twickenham since 2005......

It will be brutal up front, but I'm going for a boisterous Twickenham to shout the English home after some ill discipline will leave the French playing with numerous yellow cards. 

Can Scotland manage to play their fluid game v Ireland or will the Irish juggernaut keep on rolling? They could go into Sunday's game knowing a win secures the title.

I think the Irish pack have power that we can't match and they will win penalties at crucial moments to put points on the board. 

I'd love to see us get a 10 point lead to see how they react to chasing the game. Ireland have managed the refs really well so far, it will be interesting to see if they loose a few contentous decisions. 

Ireland to win by 2 clear trys, and win the title before week 5. 

1 hour ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

Poor. Yes we've won in Wales, but I take zero comfort from that performance, bar our defensive set up which has improved markedly over the 3 games to date. Sinfield has quickly remodelled and we looked very strong today in that regard. That said, Wales offered next to nothing in attack and were absolutely there for the taking today. I literally lost count of how many really good offensive positions we either spurned or butchered. This was as grim a game as I've seen in a long while. 

My weekly gripes list...

JVP has to go - he's been given a run of games now and has been weighed, measured and found wanting. He offers nothing going forward and his box kicking is aimless and simply turns over possession. Honestly, if I see another 9 who can't pass without taking 1 or 2 steps first, I'm going to scream. Mitchell, Randall and Quirke all in a different league to my eye. We looked a different side the moment Mitchell stepped on the pitch, firing away bullets straight off the floor. As per the last game, we scored within minutes of him stepping on the field and looked a different side offensively.

Tactical kicking - my arse! How many overlaps are we going to squander with pointless kicking from hand. The last one from Slade when we had a 3 on two and 20 yards width to work with had me literally screaming at the telly.

The 10 slot - Farrell is a warrior, but his machine like accuracy off the tee has vanished and while he offers plenty in defence, as we saw today, he offers very little with ball in hand. Never thought I'd say it but his leadership qualities alone no longer justify him playing the full 80 every game. If we are to use a crash-ball 12, then we need a 10 who can buy us space and has the timing and slight of hand to give Lawrence the chance to break the gain line. By all means start with Farrell, but please, give Smith some meaningful game time. 

For me there remain far too many players living on their reputations, rather than their performances. And whilst I have nothing but respect for Cole and Maku, if they are the answer, what the hell is the question? Willis, Chessum and Ludlam are papering over the cracks for us right now and outside the set piece, Itoje seems a shadow of himself. 

A last moan would be the three subs with 40 seconds on the clock - WTAF is that about? We have a really strong bench but seem loathed to use it. If the likes of Smith, Arundel and Murphy are not going to be trusted against tiring legs, pick players who will be. 

Right, a de-stress Guinness or 6 required! Apologies for the rant ?

 

? take the win, I did the 6 Guinness watching it. 

England killed Wales at the breakdown and should have been out of site in the 1st half. 

Both teams did far too many box kicks, it's was like watching Ireland from 3 years ago. (it's boring) 

Wales looked clueless, kicking to Steward time after time ?. 

The building blocks are there for you to mount a decent challenge at the world cup. 

I honestly think you'll give France and Ireland a good game. 

4 hours ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

Cheers buddy. Will try to enjoy it but I do tend to get a bit tense watching England play. Much more so than when I'm watching footy. 

Agree with your assessment. Honestly, I expect us to win, but better England sides than this have gone to the Principality and been dismantled, so it's never a game I take for granted. 

As for Wales rugby, it's a terrible mess. I'm not going to rant on again but I do think that it's time to tear it all down and re-build from solid foundations. I'd pretty much same the same about England though for slightly different reasons. 

Enjoy the games yourself in any case. Tough one for your lads tomorrow as I'd expect a reaction from the last game, especially in front of the typically partisan Paris masses. Suspect the opening 15 will be absolutely brutal, but weather the storm and you never know. I fear for Italy today; suspect they are in for a royal tonking from the Irish ?

I'm the same, can't fully enjoy watching my national side. 

Italy giving Ireland a decent game. 

As for tomorrow, we will probably give it a good go but France are a step up that I don't think we will conquer. 

9 hours ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

England U21's give Wales a proper going over down in Colwyn Bay. Hopefully a portent for more of the same tomorrow. A lot of good performances from a very fluid and attacking English side but the outstanding player for me was the uncapped Tristan Woodman. Murderous in the tackle, covered the entire park and won an astounding 5 turnovers. A born jackal who was a thorn is Welsh sides all night. 

Two tough games against France and Ireland left for England who are now 3 from 3, with the Welsh still  to register a win in the tournament. Fingers crossed for a big performance from the seniors tomorrow to cap off a decent 6N weekend's work.

My head says that England have had 2 weeks to build on the Italy performance and should win, but Wales might be galvanised by the events this week. 

Get a start like Ireland did and Wales could crumble. The longer Wales stay in touch the more confidence they get. 

Its weird, there's actually more pressure on England to win today after the week Wales have had. 

Must admit, I didn't realise how much of a mess Wales rugby was in, if you have some spare time listen to this weeks 6 nations podcasts on bbc sounds. 

Enjoy the game, should be a cracker. 

On 16/02/2023 at 12:57, Alpha said:

Yeah I can't see past Lara. I know some lads who are going and have a spare ticket but they're more likely to end up fighting than see the fight. 

Morons 

Yeah, good call on both counts. 

Don't think I'll go back to an arena event again.

To many Stone Island, CP company lads on substances last night that decended into a massive brawl about 4 rows behind me. 

A Wood Warrington fight would be chaos. 

2 hours ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

After the Ireland - France game, this is not terribly easy on the eye ?

Error strewn 1st half but Finn came into his own 2nd half. 

He's got a pack moving forward this year which buys him time to pick his passes. 

Paris in 2 weeks will be tough. 

Ireland just look formidable. 

On my way back from Cardiff. 

Very impressive Irish performance, brutal up front and in defence. 

Wales gave it a go 2nd half. 

So many Irish around the city and stadium. 

I'm watching a different game from Eni Aluko. 

2 hours ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

 

Nice work on the tickets - my lad is just finishing up his Masters and I've promised him we'll go to the home games at Twickenham next year. Contemplating RWC tickets as a surprise, but they are fiercely expensive. I've a couple of places to stay in Paris though, so it's a definite maybe. Such a shame that rugby is so expensive to watch as it does rather limit its exposure to a fairly well-heeled minority, especially at HQ where some of the prices are frankly ridiculous. Be nice to see more young'uns at games.

Good luck getting Twickenham tickets, almost as bad as trying to get Dublin ones. 

I was looking at the RWC website this week and you are correct, prices are a lot higher than I expected and tickets very scarce. I imagine they are in the hands of ticket agencies. 

Scotland are in Paris v Ireland and Marseille v South Africa so I looked at flights and they were ridiculous. 

The national football team are in Cyprus in Sept, do I might settle for a week there instead. 

Got tickets today for Wales Ireland next week.  Going as a neutral. 

Got offered 2 free tickets this week via work for Scotland v Wales 12 Feb and it included hospitality in Hearts new stand. 

I had to fund travel and accommodation myself, cost circa £350 and the 1st train back on the Sunday got me home at 5pm....

if it was the Saturday 215pm game I might of considered it but the overnight stay in Edinburgh is expensive for the 445pm game.

I got a ticket for Wood v Lara in the Nottingham arena next month. 

Should be a good fight and hopefully lead onto a fight with Warrington at the city ground in the summer. 

I didn't realise how lop sided the World cup draw is. 

NZ, France, Italy, SA, Ireland and Scotland on 1 side - top 4 sides in current rankings. 

Never a better chance for England, Aus, Wales to get to a final. 

Townsend named his squad today. No Darcy Graham or Rory Darge. Both big misses. 

Jamie Ritchie a deserved captain which hopefully let's Hogg concentrate on his own game. 

I think the Calcutta cup may be moving back over the border after 4 years. 

From a Scotland point of view, Wales and Italy at home are must wins. 

Can we give Ireland a game at Murrayfield. 

England and France away are 2 losses. 

5 hours ago, Woodley Ram said:

Did well at the weekend, I am very happy for him and hope it goes well while he is up in Aberdeen 

Was brilliant yesterday. 

Roos did well too.

He's exactly what Aberdeen are needing at the moment. Leadership in the middle of the park. 

He won't be the same player that left to come south, but he should have a few decent seasons left in him. 

It says much about his character that Lampard brought him down and then left to join Chelsea soon after. 

Cocu obviously didn't fancy him and he was kicking his heels on the bench at the start of the season. Fast forward a few months and he was a certain starter. 

Used to love that Sampdoria front 3 when they were on Football Italia. 

Vialli, Mancini, Lombardo. Pure entertainment.