The Rugby Union Thread

[BramcoteRam84]

Well I had a cracking day out in Rome yesterday. Awesome weather, great company beer was flowing and the rugby was ok. Despite not playing great do think we have some talent coming through. I was a bit hacked off giving them a bonus point late on (great try from an Italian perspective) but consoled by Mendez’s winner at the valley. England winning, Derby winning, Wales losing perfect weekend.

[jono]

Rest in peace Barry John. Great memories 

[EtoileSportiveDeDerby]

I have enjoyed the Netflix documentary and been impressed by Shaun Edwards command of the French language.

“Quand le ballon est au milieu du terrain, kick the ducking thing”

There is no language tape for that I guess.

[Comrade 86]

Strong start from Scotland. France conversely, seem to have spat the dummy without Ntamack and Dupont their to marshal them. Aldrit was huge in the first game but not many others showed up and they need to settle down and graft. You have to build pressure in this game, before you get to throw the ball wide.

[Van der MoodHoover]

England 5-14 Wales

The SA blitz defense doesn't seem to work as well with English players for some reason. We just seem to run forward quickly and miss the ball carrier....

[Van der MoodHoover]

Turned it around to win 16-14.

I'm still trying to work out what we're trying to do. There seems to be flavors of old and new.

BTW Mitchell is starting to wind me up by dithering and taking ages to distribute from scrums and rucks.

[davenportram]

6 hours ago, Comrade 86 said:

Strong start from Scotland. France conversely, seem to have spat the dummy without Ntamack and Dupont their to marshal them. Aldrit was huge in the first game but not many others showed up and they need to settle down and graft. You have to build pressure in this game, before you get to throw the ball wide.

The jocks were robbed 

[CWC1983]

8 hours ago, Comrade 86 said:

Strong start from Scotland. France conversely, seem to have spat the dummy without Ntamack and Dupont their to marshal them. Aldrit was huge in the first game but not many others showed up and they need to settle down and graft. You have to build pressure in this game, before you get to throw the ball wide.

I'll hold my council until tomorrow to comment on the last play of the game....🤬

 

However we threw it away long before then

[RadioactiveWaste]

Failing to score when they were down to 14 rang the alarm bells.

[Comrade 86]

2 minutes ago, CWC1983 said:

I'll hold my council until tomorrow to comment on the last play of the game....🤬

 

However we threw it away long before then

It's a shame as really they were the better side for an hour. I'm not going to talk about the decision, as I've bemoaned the falling standards amongst game officials in almost every post recently and I'm boring myself now. I do think that Scotland too often are the architects of their own downfall though. 

As for France, WTF! They are a shadow of the side we saw prior to the RWC23. Only Ireland and Italy (arguably Wales despite the losses) have turned up to this tournament and that's really disappointing as it had the makings of being an absolute belter. 

As for England, we need to start the younger players; two wins from two is not to be sniffed at but I saw a deal more promise in the first game than today's and I think it's probably time to set aside the old warriors and begin a full rebuild for RWC27.

Wales were very spirited today, with a very youthful side who were in no way overawed in front of a typically large Twickenham crowd. I think they can be proud of their performance today in a game that could have gone either way and there's some promise in their younger players of significantly better days ahead. 0 from 2 is not a fair reflection of the way they have played and they have been the surprise outfit for me. 

[Van der MoodHoover]

21 hours ago, CWC1983 said:

I'll hold my council until tomorrow to comment on the last play of the game....🤬

 

However we threw it away long before then

Too negative I thought.

[CWC1983]

Good win from a very scrappy game. 

Thank god that boy that scored England's 2nd try didn't start, he looks a player. 

I have to say I thought Borthwick and George's interviews after the game were excellent. The question from Sonja to Borthwick about fans waiting for results was uncalled for and daft. 

It might have been me, but Russell seemed to charm the ref more than George did. Shouldn't matter, but it does. 

For the 1st time in my life I'll be cheering on England v a Celtic nation in a couple of weeks.....😅

[littleover ram]

Despite Scotland being favourites, this game will go down in history as typical arrogant England against a plucky Scotland side thrown together a week before the match, with an American captain.

england rest their best players, the England coach goes on a whisky tour of Edinburgh for the afternoon and will look at the score that evening in his hotel to check how many try’s England won by.

Typical arrogant English media report the score as 30-210 as they assume the videprinter is a misprint 

true Scot Van de Merwe never has to buy a pint for himself in Scotland again 

[RadioactiveWaste]

Is it that the scotland rugby side is pretty good and the england rugby side is pretty bad?

Delighted.

 

[Comrade 86]

9 hours ago, littleover ram said:

Despite Scotland being favourites, this game will go down in history as typical arrogant England against a plucky Scotland side thrown together a week before the match, with an American captain.

england rest their best players, the England coach goes on a whisky tour of Edinburgh for the afternoon and will look at the score that evening in his hotel to check how many try’s England won by.

Typical arrogant English media report the score as 30-210 as they assume the videprinter is a misprint 

true Scot Van de Merwe never has to buy a pint for himself in Scotland again 

The second really intelligent post I've read in under 10 minutes. Bravo. Crammed in as many non-rugby related, racial stereotypes as possible, I reckon. Bravo.

Seems to me you don't get the game and you sure as hell don't get the ethos, so on ignore you go. 

[Comrade 86]

The game and result I expected as right now, Scotland have our measure. Borthwick is looking to the future which I welcome and while RWC 2027 seems distant right now, it'll be on us quicker than we think. He is being hampered by injuries, but we have to accept that as he starts to bed in younger players, there will be bumps in the road. Our relative 'success' at the last WC presented a rather rosy view of the current crop and having watched us humbled at home by Fiji, most England fans are fully aware of how big a job he has on his hands. 

Well done to the Scots though. It's always VDM these days that puts us to the sword. He's been the difference again today. As it is, Scotland have a cutting edge we lack at the moment. Thankfully I had the big lad to score two or more and Scotland to cover a 7 point spread so they made me a decent chunk of change today, which has somewhat eased my pains 😋

[Van der MoodHoover]

On 25/02/2024 at 05:32, Comrade 86 said:

Well done to the Scots though. It's always VDM these days that puts us to the sword. He's been the difference again today. As it is, Scotland have a cutting edge we lack at the moment. Thankfully I had the big lad to score two or more and Scotland to cover a 7 point spread so they made me a decent chunk of change today, which has somewhat eased my pains 

Not guilty mate......

I was somewhat mystified by our new "blitz" defence which seems to entail players running very quickly in the wrong direction.

And disappointed that our initial good play couldn't hold up. George Ford had a bit of a stinker with his passing which seemed to veer wildly between head and ankle height.

But, you know, Steve borthwick is trying something new. I wish he'd go further. Danny Care still?

[Comrade 86]

4 hours ago, Van der MoodHoover said:

Not guilty mate......

I was somewhat mystified by our new "blitz" defence which seems to entail players running very quickly in the wrong direction.

And disappointed that our initial good play couldn't hold up. George Ford had a bit of a stinker with his passing which seemed to veer wildly between head and ankle height.

But, you know, Steve borthwick is trying something new. I wish he'd go further. Danny Care still?

It was a poor performance all-round. Our ball handling was incredibly poor. I shan't revisit them but the stats were pretty damning. I do expect a bedding in process and I accept that'll mean that the less experienced players will need time to acclimatise to test rugby, but yes, I couldn't agree more that seeing Danny Care at 9 was depressing and Ford whose distribution is typically very good, was a mile off his best. I'm afraid it will take a little more time than it ought. Players talking about how 'heavy' the England shirt weighs need to have a serious re-think if that's the case. It'll be interesting to see what side Borth picks this week, as Ireland appear to be the only team who have turned up for the 6N this year and are levels above what we saw last week. 

Ah well, we could be France I suppose, who have somehow conspired to go from world beaters to also-rans in a matter of mere months, but if nothing else, it does illustrate the need to have a solid 9/10 axis. France will have theirs back in time though, whereas for England, the search continues. It's frustrating.

[Van der MoodHoover]

2 hours ago, Comrade 86 said:

It was a poor performance all-round. Our ball handling was incredibly poor. I shan't revisit them but the stats were pretty damning. I do expect a bedding in process and I accept that'll mean that the less experienced players will need time to acclimatise to test rugby, but yes, I couldn't agree more that seeing Danny Care at 9 was depressing and Ford whose distribution is typically very good, was a mile off his best. I'm afraid it will take a little more time than it ought. Players talking about how 'heavy' the England shirt weighs need to have a serious re-think if that's the case. It'll be interesting to see what side Borth picks this week, as Ireland appear to be the only team who have turned up for the 6N this year and are levels above what we saw last week. 

Ah well, we could be France I suppose, who have somehow conspired to go from world beaters to also-rans in a matter of mere months, but if nothing else, it does illustrate the need to have a solid 9/10 axis. France will have theirs back in time though, whereas for England, the search continues. It's frustrating.

Must be something about the coaching. The young replacement 9 looked as slow and ponderous as prime Ben Youngs.

Oh for a Matt Dawson, the days of him and bracken are such fond but distant memories......

[Comrade 86]

40 minutes ago, Van der MoodHoover said:

Must be something about the coaching. The young replacement 9 looked as slow and ponderous as prime Ben Youngs.

Oh for a Matt Dawson, the days of him and bracken are such fond but distant memories......

Him and Healey were probably the last decent two we've had. The game is won and lost at 9 / 10 as often as not, so it beggars belief that we can't find anyone who can zip it off either hand directly off the floor. It's a drill I can remember doing countless times as a kid and I'm wasn't even a 9. With Dupont absent, Gibson-Clark is in a league of his own in this tournament. Depressing really.