Six Nations 2008

[Nuclear Spoon]

The first game's in a few hours, and nobody's made a thread yet!
This tournament holds promise to be very open, it seems, and I'll be interested to see how England's new boys cope.

[ynnekkenny]

come on IRELAND

although after the world cup display ireland put on it'll be lucky if they finish top 3.

[GorillaBearBear]

Close match just there, but damn exciting. I think Ireland deserved it in the end though. The played a sublime offensive game, good kicking, a little bit dodgy on the lineouts, but so were Italy, and they really made the most of their opportunities. Owen Redan is actually looking frighteningly good. Definitely deserved man of the match.

Italy were a little bit slipshod. Terrible kicking for the most part, and their rucking was poor. I personally thought they didn't make enough of their opportunities either (Ireland were at 14 men for 9 minutes before Italy made anything of it). Having said that though, around 50 minutes they fought back brilliantly, and although nothing came on them they deserve respect for that epic struggle for a try in injury time. All in all, a fantastic match and I only hope England and Wales in 20 minutes is as good as that was!

EDIT: Half time on the England Wales match and I personally think this is a fantastic game! Dead exciting and neither team is giving up. Although Wales are trailing by 10 points they could still take this back, and with occasional flashes of brilliance from their team they have everything to play for still. I must admit, the first 10 minutes were fairly lacklustre so I was settling into a fairly dull game, but when Strettle broke through early in the game I think it all changed. It was just a shame he had to go off so early, but I think he's gonna be big this tournament. Vainikolo's been doing sterling work on the left wing, a real asset - speed and strength in one nice package. On the Welsh side I think Hook as been performing fantastically, with good kicks. It's a shame Wales didn't manage to do more with their set-pieces really, especially seeing as they are losing so badly on strength - but I suppose you can't expect much else when you've got a squad like ours on the field - although I am happy with it because, you know, I'm supporting England.

All in all this is a fantastic game. Although England are definitely on top I don't think you can knock Wales (much), both teams have played some really top quality Rugby, and both have had some bad moments, admittedly Wales more than England. It feels like they've crammed the whole 80 minutes into the first half!

Edit 2: Apparently I spoke too soon on all of those points! England are completely losing the plot now, and some of these substitutions just don't make sense. Allowing 2 tries in as many minutes is really not something we should have been doing, and if we lose this I think we will have spoiled our chances of doing anything impressive for the rest of the tournament. Well done to Wales for turning the situation around.

Edit 3: Fuck Haskell for giving away all those penalties.

[Jay]

C'mon Wales!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALES!!

Jesus, my heart was in my throat for ages then...

Good game lads.

[AngryPaul]

I can always fall back on the fact that I'm part Welsh ¬_¬

[GorillaBearBear]

What's our next fixture? Maybe it will be Italy and we can pretend we're good again. Unless suddenly even Italy are better than us.

I am really having trouble comprehending what the hell happened in that second half. I will never understand why a team packed with brick shithouse forwards who proved in the first half that they win on power every time always seem to decide, at the first sign of any fight in the opposing side, turn it into a ridiculous kicking game. Not happy.

But yeah, well done to Wales, that was a fantastic comeback, and Hook deserves a lot of praise for his flawless game there. Brilliant player.

[Bacon Machine]

I'm actually shaking with anger.

Fucking woeful performance in the second half. Ashton should go if his half time talk was shit enough to make that happen. He must just told them to sit back and relax.

I, for the first time, said 'cu nt' in front of my dad. Haskell and Balshaw were the target.

[Nuclear Spoon]

That is quite possibly the worst capitulation I have ever seen.

[GorillaBearBear]

I don't think it was Ashton's fault, It was all down to the players. Some of them (Haskell) dragged the rest down. Like I say, I honestly didn't understand some of the substitutions. As soon as tindall went off we had our backbone taken out and just flapped down. It was really noticeable in the rucks. Still, some players put in a damn good performance and there were factors that can't really be blamed on anyone, like a lot of injuries.

I also don't understand why they didn't take Vainikolo off the wing and put him somewhere central earlier. It was hardly gonna do much good in the last two plays and when he did get the ball on the wing he did some good stuff with it.

[Cooldudebob]

In all fairness England played a brilliant game in the first half.
Wales did not get any better in the second half, England just got worse.
Very good game though and the Welsh team need a better prop, he looks like he is going to eat somebody :P

[GorillaBearBear]

I do think Wales played slightly better in the second half, but it wasn't as big a leap as England's drop. I thought the more off-the-cuff and unpredictable style they had in the second half really worked to their advantage. But yeah, it doesn't change the fact that if England hadn't dropped the ball Wales wouldn't have got that lead.

Did anyone else find the commentators really annoying. More specifically the ranty one? He kept being really negative about things I don't think he should have been being negative about, and then could totally change his opinions in the space of a minute. You could tell that even the other commentator was getting annoyed at him and then eventually the ranty won got in a sulk and started sounding like a chastised lover. Intensely irritating.

[ynnekkenny]

my sum up of the day

ireland wandered to lackluster victory - need improvement
italy were unlucky - have improved since last year

england played a good 40 mins - had no answer in the 2nd half
wales played a better 40 mins - deserved the win after changing tactics

i'll aim to keep this up (work+holidays permitting)

Did anyone else find the commentators really annoying. More specifically the ranty one?

if you have freeview or sky you can always watch games with different commentary, just press the RED button

[Lucage]

\o/

That is all. :)

[WelshTerminator]

WooHoo! Come on Wales!

(I only just found this section of the forum hehe)

[Dingbat]

i didn't see the final result of our game today but i knew we were going to lose

and how?

before the game some moron dared to say "the scots might expect to win today"

[Nuclear Spoon]

France just dominated the game really.
Scotland had a couple of chances but wasted them.

[yellowmongoose]

England only play well 4 times every 4 years and it just so happens those 4 times coincide with the rugby world cup lol! Sorry couldn't resist.

In all seriousness, I was suprised Wales beat England especially when England were so far ahead at half time. Plus, Wales sucked at the world cup. Still don't want the same result as last year where England were the only team we beat.

[GorillaBearBear]

If we let Italy do a Wales to us this weekend head will roll.

Let this be a warning to you, Haskell!

[WelshTerminator]

Wahey Wales won again yesterday! We're actually playing good rugby this year.

[Nuclear Spoon]

If we let Italy do a Wales to us this weekend head will roll.

Let this be a warning to you, Haskell!

And they very nearly did...

[AngryPaul]

Watching England is fun.

For about 55 minutes. :trex:

[Dr Phil]

Vancolo is a beast and he is a fucking wing I wouldent like to be playing agenst him and with his try record for bradford bulls bene as it is wont be long till he scores.

[Jay]

Wales owned Italy earlier, woot woot. Stupid ref didn't help mind you.

[Wigpat]

The Wales v Italy match was pretty good. Even though Italy didn't score much they've improved their playing so much and kept on fighting. It was good to watch methinks and I'm thrilled we won :D

[Nuclear Spoon]

Fantastic defence from England to beat the French.
Two things though.

1. Why is Balshaw still in the squad?
2. Give the ball to Vainikolo more.

[GorillaBearBear]

The way you need to play with a guy like Vainikolo is too different from the way England have been playing for a few years. It's a shame because he's not being used to his full potential but also we can't change entirely and rely on one player! It took us long enough to stop relying on Johnny.

Anyway, a good match against france and although I think we got a bit lucky I still think we deserved it. Just.

[tom-the-ginger]

I try to follow England , but theres just too many bad results. Wales' game yesterday, pure class. 47-8 speaks for itself. Kudos to Italy for the first half, they were alright and made the most of Welsh cock-ups, but Wales grabbed the game by its vegetables in the second half.

[GorillaBearBear]

I actually though by the end of it they were just being cruel. Also, I'm not sure what game either team were playing, but it didn't look like rugby. In that match both teams were really scrappy. Some moments of brilliance, admittedly, but mostly it made me wonder how on earth Wales managed to get into a position for a Grand Slam.

[Nuclear Spoon]

Fantastic.

Just as I thought Balshaw was gone, Cipriani makes a twat of himself and gets chucked out.

:(

[AngryPaul]

I've heard he was dropping off tickets for a friend.

At a nightclub? At gone midnight?

FEWL

[WelshTerminator]

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44478000/jpg/_44478399_-3.jpg

'nuff said. :p

[Nuclear Spoon]

piss.

even this doesn't cheer me up: http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/2879/bbcsportwhatqx0.png

[AngryPaul]

Did I mentioned I'm part Welsh?

[basstard]

Wel, we won one match this year.

The most important one :D

[GorillaBearBear]

:(

[Jay]

Well done boys

[Nuclear Spoon]

As much as I hate to admit it, Wales have been the best side in the tournament this year and deserved it.

[ynnekkenny]

yep Wales totally deserved it this year and they dominated the second half against France.

[WelshTerminator]

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44495000/jpg/_44495211_winners_getty416.jpg

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!

[Cooldudebob]

WAAAAALES!!!!!!!
Fucking awesome match XD.
Mind you, i do think Steven Jones deserved man of the match. As soon as he came on the Welsh side got their arses into gear.