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6 Nations 2011

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[quote author=Kenny4PM link=topic=43754.msg1298012#msg1298012 date=1299706482]
You have no idea what you're talking about.

Saracens had no choice in the matter (do you actually know how long his contract was with them?). He was with the Ospreys before then and they were desperate to keep him (i'll dig up the articles if you like?). It nearly went to court but the Ospreys pulled out after taking legal advice.

I can only remember us disagreeing on 3 players before this and they are ROG, Bowe and Powell.

You think ROG is a good defender, i think he's shite.
You never rated Bowe, where as i pointed out he was class.
And Powell I'll give you hasn't lived up to his early performances.

If anyone suggests that Henson is "shite" though after what he's done in the game at the age of 28 (i think), then they either know nothing about rugby or are on a wind up.
[/quote]

These two points are incorrect. I said a couple of very specific things - ROG's defence wasn't poor enough to warrant dropping him given his excellent tactical management of games. And that Bowe was shit when he made his debut for Ireland,which he was, but I hadn't seen anything of him since then.
 
[quote author=Rosco link=topic=43754.msg1298023#msg1298023 date=1299707382]
[quote author=Kenny4PM link=topic=43754.msg1298015#msg1298015 date=1299706769]
[quote author=Rosco link=topic=43754.msg1298000#msg1298000 date=1299705444]

he's massively overrated and has done fuck all in his career to warrant the hype.

[/quote]

So winning 2 GS and being a B&I Lion is doing fuck all?

Please remind me how many Grand Slams any Irish player has ever managed to win?

[/quote]

Won them both on his own did he ?
[/quote]

Key in both.
 
Don't you start JJ ;)

I'm still gobsmacked at Rosco's latest attack on a Welsh player.

Double the amount of Grand Slams than any Irishman and a B&I Lion, yet "he's shite and never done anything in the game"?
 
I don't have a clue how to call this one mate. At a guess i'll go with home advantage and say a 5 point win for Wales.

I see that Gatland has been pointing out to Kaplan about how the Irish have been getting away with foul play. Ireland have given away 35 pens so far, guess the only side to concede more?
 
I have no idea. I wouldn't have picked the same squad as Kidney so I'm a bit apprehensive.
 
Seems Worcester's young prop Callum Black is joining Ulster next season BTW. I'd have called him a steady Eddie rather than a star in the making, but we'll see.
 
I didn't realise he was Irish. Presumably he's hoping he'll get noticed a bit more by playing with Ulster - I'd have a steady Eddie at loosehead every day of the week JJ.

I'm starting to feel a little more confident today without any real reason behind it. I just think Earls, Fitzgerald and a few others are due to make an impact today.
 
As far as Black's concerned I think it's more a question of a grandparent or some such having come from Norn Iron. He himself is about as Irish as Clinton Morrison. Anyhoo, good luck to him.

Wales v.Ireland is anyone's game. Man for man I'd probably give Wales the edge, but that's not what rugby's about. Gonna be interesting.
 
Just watching the Italy v France game and it's clear that rugby really needs to sort out the scrum. I'm sure the refs are simply guessing most of the time when making calls.
 
We really need to get some ex front rowers qualified as Refs. Every single week its a shambles.
 
[quote author=Rosco link=topic=43754.msg1299105#msg1299105 date=1299945203]
We really need to get some ex front rowers qualified as Refs. Every single week its a shambles.
[/quote]

Yeah that might work for the scrum, but they could well struggle a bit with keeping up with play.

Are you watching this? It's 19-21 to France with 8mins left.

Once again if Italy had a decent kicker, they'd probably win this game.
 
[quote author=Rosco link=topic=43754.msg1299105#msg1299105 date=1299945203]
We really need to get some ex front rowers qualified as Refs. Every single week its a shambles.
[/quote]

They just need someone on both sides of the scrum.
Stop with the Pause shite... just touch and engage.
Also, stop with the rugby league style put ins... It's shite how they always get away with not putting it in straight.

Do those three things and the scrum will be sorted out.
 
Pretty average game where in which both teams defences came out on top. Still i'm more than happy with the result even if we did need a little help from the officials/ball boy ;).

If we can put in a decent performance in Paris i'll be quite happy with how this young welsh side's gone in this seasons 6 nations. Good times ahead!
 
[quote author=Mr_V link=topic=43754.msg1299137#msg1299137 date=1299956698]
[quote author=Rosco link=topic=43754.msg1299105#msg1299105 date=1299945203]
We really need to get some ex front rowers qualified as Refs. Every single week its a shambles.
[/quote]

They just need someone on both sides of the scrum.
Stop with the Pause shite... just touch and engage.
Also, stop with the rugby league style put ins... It's shite how they always get away with not putting it in straight.

Do those three things and the scrum will be sorted out.
[/quote]

I think the scrum should be set with front rows binding first, then the rest of the forwards joining behind them before the shove is allowed. This whole pause, engage thing results in such a powerful coming together that a collapse is always likely. The power needs to be cranked up, rather than applied with a jolt.
 
Wouldn't that make it even harder to referee? There'd be all sorts of jockeying for the upper hand before the shove were allowed to start. At least if there's one definable moment when the two scrums meet you know nothing can have gone on beforehand.
 
It would help if the refs knew what they looking for, the amount of times i've seen binding issues right in front of the refs eyes only for him to let the scrum continue is crazy.

I know it won't be easy, but i want it sorted out without taking anything away from this fantastic set-piece.
 
[quote author=Kenny4PM link=topic=43754.msg1299212#msg1299212 date=1300008644]
It would help if the refs knew what they looking for, the amount of times i've seen binding issues right in front of the refs eyes only for him to let the scrum continue is crazy.

I know it won't be easy, but i want it sorted out without taking anything away from this fantastic set-piece.
[/quote]

Exactly... Just touch, engage, feed the ball immediately. Any delay resulting in a free-kick.

Sorted.

Ref/touch judge on both sides looking for binding issues. The amount of times the ref switches sides just for the other side to not bind properly is unreal.
 
Congrats to Wales, even though I feel you never actually won that game Declan Kidney handed it to you.

It's a bit frustrating watching us play this season, the two games we lost we did so because we handed the game to the opposition. That's kind of a reason for hope too because I think we do still have the players to make an excellent squad our problem is Kidney's transformation into rugby's Benitez.

I have a fairly set view on what's required for a team to be successful and I think we're falling short in a number of areas.

In the pack O'Callaghan isn't offering much apart from lots of penalties. His lineout skills are average, his ball carrying is poor. We've got other options who are performing better this season, right now Cullen should be taking over.

I'm a big fan of the traditional groundhog number 7, but they appear to be a dying breed in the modern game. Wallace for me is the furthest thing you could imagine from it but his selection could always be justified in the past on the basis of his excellent ball carrying which was something we traditionally lacked. Now we don't lack it, and Wallace's performance has dropped a few levels. Jennings needs to be given a chance at 7 for Ireland. We've got some headaches in the back row too, but in a good way because unless one of Ferris, Heaslip and O'Brien can do a passable impression of a no. 7 one of them will end up on the bench. The form player right now is O'Brien, so Ferris and Heaslip have a battle on their hands.

In the backline we have some issues too - O'Leary and Stringer need to be kept away from this team. O'Leary because he's pedestrian and a poor passer and Stringer because of his awful kicking game, poor passing (he's quick but inaccurate) and complete lack of ability to snipe.
Reddan is still the one for me but we need to look for other options too.

O'Gara should keep possession of the 10 jersey for now, he has outplayed Sexton this year. And he should not be substituted when we're four points up in a delicately balanced game. If we're losing fair enough but all Kidney did yesterday was hurt the teams momentum.

Our centres are a big problem - my view on centres is that you need a strong 12 who can straighten the line and take crash ball whenever needed and still make it over the gainline. We haven't got one. Your 13 needs to be a bit pacier with the ability to go outside his opposite number, a good short kicking game is needed too. O'Driscoll can't get outside any more, neither him or D'arcy are making yards which makes it more difficult for us to attack. I think they would actually be better if they switched positions but I think we have better options than D'arcy at 13. We need to make a big call here and shift O'Driscoll inside to 12, with either Tommy Bowe or Keith Earls playing 13. My preference would be for Earls simply because Bowe is excellent on the wing but Earls seems a bit lost out there sometimes.

Kearney should come back in at 15 when he's fit, so we'll still have plenty of options out wide.
 
Interesting point on the 7 situation. I've seen that many managers are opting for 2 destroyers at 6/7 these days.
 
I'd be with Mr. V on the scrum issue - crouch, touch, engage is enough. The pause just messes up timing a little bit and can put people of balance. Doc's suggestion would take the physicality out of it and would possibly make things worse because the back five forwards wouldn't really be bound up properly.

But I think the ref's need to learn about the little bit of strategy that packs employ in scrums, the different roles of the props etc. A loosehead's primary to task is to establish a tight bind to the hooker and a clean passage for the ball to pass through as well as enough daylight for the hooker to see the scrumhalf's put in. On your own ball a loosehead is a purely defensive position, even on opposition ball there is not a whole lot that the loosehead can do destructively to a scrum. He can push and that's about it. Penalties against looesheads for bringing down the scrum are usually wrong.

A tightheads goal is entirely different, he's trying to split the bind between the opposition hooker and loosehead. The two basic ways of doing it are by boring inside - risking a penalty for not driving straight - or by attempting to twist the loosehead's left arm/ shoulder inwards and downwards at risk of bringing the scrum down and usually a penalty for slipping the bind a bit.

It really isn't in a looseheads interest to try to bring a scrum down given his openness to injury from it, the reward is there for a tighthead to do it though.
 
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