Who will win, the last time i seen the odds ireland were 3-1 favourite france 5-1 and england 9-1. I think it’s irelands trophy this year though any other opinions?
[quote]superscience wrote:
Who will win, the last time i seen the odds ireland were 3-1 favourite france 5-1 and england 9-1. I think it’s irelands trophy this year though any other opinions?[/quote]
Judging from days one and two, I’d say the favourite is a little pink pussycat.
Joking aside, none of the six teams played with the confidence and control I would associate with being favourite. Jonno is a major asset for England, but beating an underperforming Scotland is hardly evidence of a great team. France did their job against Italy but no more. It was only Wales and Ireland that showed a hunger to win, and only at times was that combined with flashes of great playing.
Final assessment: Ireland did look best. Look out for France when they wake up. England is in for the long haul until September.
I haven’t seen the Ireland Wales match or Italy France so I can’t comment much. I’m watching Ireland tonight though, so I’ll have more to say later. I saw most of the England Scotland game. Neither impressed me very much. Scotland was simply outplayed, gave Wilkinson too many chances to kick. England’s back line looked good, as did the forewards at breakdowns, but if they’re going to beat Ireland or France, or even Wales, they’re going to need to tighten up their scrums and figure out what the hell they’re doing in the lineout.
Based on what I saw in the fall and individual players performances in their respective clubs, I’d say Ireland and France are the teams to beat (should be a hell of a match this week, I gotta give Ireland the nod though). England has some serious tweaking to do if they’re going to have a shot. Scotland just doesn’t seem to know what they’re doing, although it’ll be interesting to see what happens if Paterson ends up at fly-half. Wales should be good, but I haven’t seen the match yet so I don’t know. And Italy, well, it’s Italy, let’s just say I’d be more than a bit surprised if they even manage a single win (although I suppose they’ve got a shot at beating Scotland if they perform like they did at Twickenham).
England in a dramatic and glorious fashion. I hope!
I honestly think they can win though; if Wilkinson is fit the whole time. He makes a huge difference.
m0dd3r, I agree with you about the lineouts but England’s scrum kicks ass. We will out scrummage any team in this tournament.
France are still too temperamental, they will do something stupid along the way. (Chabal is an utter beast as well!)
Ireland are obviously the team to beat; I think it will come down to England v them.
Nah - Ireland - France will be a huge decider. They’re our Kryptonite, always have been. You cannot write off the French (oh but God I wish you could).
As somone mentioned I think it’ll be England or Ireland. But I think I’d give Ireland the nod just. Depends how French play? Don’t think they’ll win but they may upset the above two and thus influence the outcome
[quote]VorteX wrote:
m0dd3r, I agree with you about the lineouts but England’s scrum kicks ass. We will out scrummage any team in this tournament.
[/quote]
Sorry, I guess I wasn’t clear. You’re right, England’s pack should be able to dominate scrums against any other side in the tournament. Key word being “should”. They didn’t look very solid in the Scotland game. I fully expected England to tear a hole through the Scotland pack, but for some reason the scrums lacked stability. Vickery was talked to/penalized for not binding several times and overall they just didn’t look like the England scrum I’m used to seeing. Although it could have been partly to blame on the Scots pack and a referee without his glasses.
On the other hand, I was thoroughly impressed with their mauling game. Not something I really expected out of the English side but they used the maul very effectively against a lighter Scottish side.
Either way, I think England might have a chance, seeing as Ireland has to face the 3 tough sides right in a row. Add in the fact that there were a good number of injuries in the Wales game, including the captain, O’driscoll, and that the French will undoubtedly play dirty, and you Brits might have a chance at beating the stronger Irish side.
Wow, I was wrong. Italy battered us up front and in the scrum. At least we got the win though.
Scotland played well, surprised me as well.
Should be a good game tomorrow. Its close to call, but I’ll say France by a whisker.
[quote]VorteX wrote:
Wow, I was wrong. Italy battered us up front and in the scrum. At least we got the win though.
Scotland played well, surprised me as well.
Should be a good game tomorrow. Its close to call, but I’ll say France by a whisker.[/quote]
Not sure we got battered in the scrum, they played at a very conservative game, and did it very well. We were, however, dissapointing for sure.
Ireland to win tomorrow. By a narrow margin.
Ireland was fucking robbed. Although they certainly didn’t play their best, especially their outside passing, but for fucks sake, I’ve seen better refereeing in pickup games.
I can’t beleve were going to have to settle for second this year again, we always seem to put half efforts in. I can’t see wilko or any other team beating france either.
[quote]superscience wrote:
I can’t beleve were going to have to settle for second this year again, we always seem to put half efforts in. I can’t see wilko or any other team beating france either.[/quote]
I dunno, if the English pack manage to pull their heads out of their asses (not likely) they should be able to dominate France in the scrum. Their back line has played well so far so if they can stay tight on defense and frustrate the French in the scrum and breakdowns France might make just enough mistakes. With Wilko’s golden boot they might just have a chance. Or we could always just pray for a miracle match out of Scotland or Wales;)
supermick - yeah, I guess we weren’t battered, but I expected us to be dominant up front and it was more of a stalemate. We always seemed to be on the back foot.
m0dd3r - I don’t think you were robbed; I think it was more a lapse of concentration that cost you!
superscience - 2nd isn’t in the bag for you by any means!
I’m not sure if there will be a slam this year. I think the title could still go one of 3 ways (England, Ireland, France).
Im glad that france beat Ireland coz its set up a hell of a game between England and Ireland. And I think the Italy game was a wake up call to the England forwards which will help us against the Irish but we still need to work on our defence especially if O’driscoll is back!
I’ve been a bit dissapointed with Wales so far they lost to Ireland but put up a good fight, but against the Scots they just imploded, I think all the changes in the pack screwed them but fair play to scotland they were unlucky not to score a couple of tries. Simon Taylor was awesome and they’ve still got Alli Hogg to regain full fitness adn Jason White to come back from injury…Look out!!
What are peoples predictions for the games in a weeks time? I’m going with France, England and Scotland!
[quote]VorteX wrote:
supermick - yeah, I guess we weren’t battered, but I expected us to be dominant up front and it was more of a stalemate. We always seemed to be on the back foot.
m0dd3r - I don’t think you were robbed; I think it was more a lapse of concentration that cost you!
superscience - 2nd isn’t in the bag for you by any means!
I’m not sure if there will be a slam this year. I think the title could still go one of 3 ways (England, Ireland, France).[/quote]
I’ll agree it was a lapse of concentration that allowed France to score the winning try. But Ireland should have been up by 2 tries (Murphy’s run where the ref decided not to play advantage, and then Horan getting pulled back after kicking through) at that point. Not to mention the knock on by the French scrum half in France’s final scoring drive.
My predictions for next weekend are Ireland, France, and Scotland, although I’d give damn near anything to see Wales tear France apart (not likely).
On reflection i think France deserved the win. Sorry Irish guys but they played well in a very intense atmosphere. There forward play was good but their defense was outstanding. Chabal is a behemoth, and true to the Kiwi newspapers reports, Ireland and France seem to be the only two teams in World rugby capable of beating the all blacks.
Concering Ireland though, they simply missed O driscoll. The commentators picked up on Frances back play and they exposed Dempsey for what he is - an inside center playing out of position. He was attacked repeatedly early doors and France broke the irish line several times. Against BOD this would not have happened.
Wales just …well…Im not sure. Were they terrible? Were scotland good? Probably a bit of both and it makes it interesting for the Scotland Italy match. The Italian pack are no mugs. They NEED a kicker though. Quick - or they can forget turning any team over in a long long time.
I just want Ireland England to be a Great match and England to win. If a team wins the grand slam, it bodes well for a world cup campaign. (1991 - England won the slam = world cup final, 1995 - England won the slam = semi final, 1999 Freakily scotland won the championship but france had won the back to back grand slam the previous 2 years and got to the final, 2003 - England won slam, won world cup. Happy days).
Or do we just give it to the kiwis?
bump for the weekend.
more croke park hype-
Cant wait for the game!
Looks like a lot of pre match talk is centering around the midfield battle. Personally i see the front five as critical, the back row battle will be special too. Lots of match ups all over the park. Im very much lookin forward to it.
Ireland - England this Saturday is my most eagerley anticipated game for a long, long time.
I actualy think Ireland have a better chance of beating England now after losing to France. If the pressure of a likeley Grand Slam decider were still there added to the immensity of the occasion of playing the Old Enemy at Croke then Im sure they would have bottled it. Not so sure now though, especialy with O’Driscol back.
Ive got my fingers crossed for a pummelling performance from the English pack and a narrow win aided by Johnnys boot. Bring it on!
By the way Mick, dont you think the All Blacks will bottle it again in the semi or final? The pressure and expectation is going to be MASSIVE and I think they’l miss Umaga’s leadership when it comes to the big crunch.
[quote]Ashes wrote:
By the way Mick, dont you think the All Blacks will bottle it again in the semi or final? The pressure and expectation is going to be MASSIVE and I think they’l miss Umaga’s leadership when it comes to the big crunch.[/quote]
I can only assume this is meant to be tongue in cheek because surely everyone must be sick of saying (and hearing) the ‘same old shit’ comments like this one.
Tana was a fantastic captain but there are plenty of ‘leaders’ in the ranks. Both McCaw and So’oialo have shown their leadership abilities time and time again not to mention other players who would be just as good.
As far as cracking under pressure…You should check out Allblacks.com and look at the test match statistics. Although you will have to pull your head out of your arse to be able to see the screen.
Mick - Good to see you back! Will PM you soon.
Now i’ll let you get back to your 6 Nations ballet recital.