6 Nations Banter
Discussion
Impossible to call. England probably the strongest squad, but dependent on a few key players. Ireland aging but talented. France under-powered due to odd selections of new coach. Wales likely to punch above their weight. Scotland likely to put up much sterner resistance than in recent years. Italy will be formidable up front but will miss Bortolami.
disco1 said:
Please don't injure yourselves by falling off chairs but Wales for the Grandslam I thinks!
If they can dispatch Enlgand on Saturday which they have a very good chance of doing they will get momentum but most importantly they will gain confidence which the Welsh game thrives on.
I don't believe that any team will win the Grand Slam this season - I think this will be the closest competition for years.If they can dispatch Enlgand on Saturday which they have a very good chance of doing they will get momentum but most importantly they will gain confidence which the Welsh game thrives on.
disco1 said:
Please don't injure yourselves by falling off chairs but Wales for the Grandslam I thinks!
If they can dispatch Enlgand on Saturday which they have a very good chance of doing they will get momentum but most importantly they will gain confidence which the Welsh game thrives on.
Wales are going to win away at Twickenham AND Croke Park. I don't think so, but if your that sure i'l take money off you.If they can dispatch Enlgand on Saturday which they have a very good chance of doing they will get momentum but most importantly they will gain confidence which the Welsh game thrives on.
I think it will be very close and the top two will finish with the same points.
Sat 2nd Feb 08 14:00 Ireland v Italy Croke Park Ireland
Sat 2nd Feb 08 16:30 England v Wales Twickenham ENGLAND
Sun 3rd Feb 08 15:00 Scotland v France Murrayfield FRANCE
Sat 9th Feb 08 14:00 Wales v Scotland Millennium Stadium WALES
Sat 9th Feb 08 17:00 France v Ireland Stade de France FRANCE
Sun 10th Feb 08 15:30 Italy v England Stadio Flaminio ENGLAND
Sat 23rd Feb 08 15:00 Wales v Italy Millennium Stadium WALES
Sat 23rd Feb 08 17:00 Ireland v Scotland Croke Park IRELAND
Sat 23rd Feb 08 21:00 France v England Stade de France FRANCE
Sat 8th Mar 08 13:15 Ireland v Wales Croke Park IRELAND
Sat 8th Mar 08 15:15 Scotland v England Murrayfield ENGLAND
Sun 9th Mar 08 16:00 France v Italy Stade de France FRANCE
Sat 15th Mar 08 14:00 Italy v Scotland Stadio Flaminio SCOTLAND
Sat 15th Mar 08 15:00 England v Ireland Twickenham ENGLAND
Sat 15th Mar 08 17:00 Wales v France Millennium Stadium WALES
England 8
France 8
Ireland 6
Wales 6
Scotland 2
Italy 0
Big rumour going around that Luke Narraway could start at 8 for Eng on Sat
Luke Narraway, uncapped and largely unknown away from Gloucester, is the shock choice to start for England at No.8 against Wales. Barring a last-minute change of heart, England boss Brian Ashton has opted to go outside his original Six Nations squad and pick the 24-year-old son of a Worcester butcher.
Injuries to Nick Easter, England's World Cup No.8, and Joe Worsley - plus the retirements of Lawrence Dallaglio and Martin Corry - left Ashton with no obvious alternative.
He hoped Easter would shake off the knee injury that has prevented him from playing in 2008, but when the Harlequin aggravated it again in training last week, Ashton turned to Narraway.
He added him to his squad on Friday and the following day went to Kingsholm to watch him make only his 25th Premiership start for the table-toppers against Wasps."
Luke Narraway, uncapped and largely unknown away from Gloucester, is the shock choice to start for England at No.8 against Wales. Barring a last-minute change of heart, England boss Brian Ashton has opted to go outside his original Six Nations squad and pick the 24-year-old son of a Worcester butcher.
Injuries to Nick Easter, England's World Cup No.8, and Joe Worsley - plus the retirements of Lawrence Dallaglio and Martin Corry - left Ashton with no obvious alternative.
He hoped Easter would shake off the knee injury that has prevented him from playing in 2008, but when the Harlequin aggravated it again in training last week, Ashton turned to Narraway.
He added him to his squad on Friday and the following day went to Kingsholm to watch him make only his 25th Premiership start for the table-toppers against Wasps."
England..Meet your match:
15 Lee Byrne
14 Mark Jones
13 Sonny Parker
12 Gavin Henson
11 Shane Williams
10 James Hook
9 Mike Phillips
8 Ryan Jones
7 Martyn Williams
6 Jonathan Thomas
5 Alun Wyn Jones
4 Ian Gough
3 Adam Jones
2 Huw Bennett
1 Duncan Jones
13 Ospreys in the team, should mean pretty good understanding and no disjointedness which is the usual problem we face. Shanklin should feel pretty hard done by as he has been awesome for the Blues, he runs harder and faster than Parker but I guess Mr Gatland & Edwards want a tough rush defence A'la Wasps?
Possible questions over Byrne, he has never lived up to the potential and loses his brain in too many club matches. Saying this he seems to break many players pretty badly(usually Welsh team mates), again I guess this is what Gatland wants?
15 Lee Byrne
14 Mark Jones
13 Sonny Parker
12 Gavin Henson
11 Shane Williams
10 James Hook
9 Mike Phillips
8 Ryan Jones
7 Martyn Williams
6 Jonathan Thomas
5 Alun Wyn Jones
4 Ian Gough
3 Adam Jones
2 Huw Bennett
1 Duncan Jones
13 Ospreys in the team, should mean pretty good understanding and no disjointedness which is the usual problem we face. Shanklin should feel pretty hard done by as he has been awesome for the Blues, he runs harder and faster than Parker but I guess Mr Gatland & Edwards want a tough rush defence A'la Wasps?
Possible questions over Byrne, he has never lived up to the potential and loses his brain in too many club matches. Saying this he seems to break many players pretty badly(usually Welsh team mates), again I guess this is what Gatland wants?
disco1 said:
England..Meet your match:
15 Lee Byrne
14 Mark Jones
13 Sonny Parker
12 Gavin Henson
11 Shane Williams
10 James Hook
9 Mike Phillips
8 Ryan Jones
7 Martyn Williams
6 Jonathan Thomas
5 Alun Wyn Jones
4 Ian Gough
3 Adam Jones
2 Huw Bennett
1 Duncan Jones
13 Ospreys in the team, should mean pretty good understanding and no disjointedness which is the usual problem we face. Shanklin should feel pretty hard done by as he has been awesome for the Blues, he runs harder and faster than Parker but I guess Mr Gatland & Edwards want a tough rush defence A'la Wasps?
Possible questions over Byrne, he has never lived up to the potential and loses his brain in too many club matches. Saying this he seems to break many players pretty badly(usually Welsh team mates), again I guess this is what Gatland wants?
Rush defence is not the way to go in International rugby. Even SA ditched it for the WC.15 Lee Byrne
14 Mark Jones
13 Sonny Parker
12 Gavin Henson
11 Shane Williams
10 James Hook
9 Mike Phillips
8 Ryan Jones
7 Martyn Williams
6 Jonathan Thomas
5 Alun Wyn Jones
4 Ian Gough
3 Adam Jones
2 Huw Bennett
1 Duncan Jones
13 Ospreys in the team, should mean pretty good understanding and no disjointedness which is the usual problem we face. Shanklin should feel pretty hard done by as he has been awesome for the Blues, he runs harder and faster than Parker but I guess Mr Gatland & Edwards want a tough rush defence A'la Wasps?
Possible questions over Byrne, he has never lived up to the potential and loses his brain in too many club matches. Saying this he seems to break many players pretty badly(usually Welsh team mates), again I guess this is what Gatland wants?
15 Balsahw (god help us)
14 Sackey
13 Tindall
12 Flood
11 Strettle
10 Wilko
9 Gomers
8 Luke Narraway
7 Moody
6 Haskell
5 Borthwick
4 Shaw
3 Vickery
2 Regan
1 Sheridan
Replacements: L Mears (Bath), M Stevens (Bath), B Kay (Leicester), T Rees (Wasps), R Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks), D Cipriani (Wasps), L Vainikolo (Gloucester).
Thats one hell of a pack. The front row and 2nd row is awsome in terms of power and experience. No back step to be taken there and some good lineout options. Wales will seriously struggle in the scrum. Moody paying better than ever , Haskell untested but serious potential and very dynamic. Narraway is in because of injuries, but the guy is quick and carries, tackles well.
Sorry, but that pack will dominate their Welsh opponents.
Backs - Scrum Half, Fly Half and Wings are fine, look strong in that department. Flood, yeah he's talented but im not convinced and Tindall will do a good job in defence and will give added experience and leadership.
Love the bench. Big, strong powerful pack grind Wales down for 6o mins and then on comes Stevens, Rees and Vainikolo -
Wales will cause Eng problems but they will not get enough ball to win this game. I see Eng by 15
disco1 said:
We beat you last year with a weaker team, I predict same result, we'll run you ragged! I also forsee a J.Hook man of the match award.
a) When was the last time Wales won at Twickenham?b) Last year you won by 9 points in a game where our back row consisted entirely of un-tested rookie players one of which had never played 8 before (Rees, Lund and Haskell) Pretty important part of the game the backrow.
c) We also had an un-tested rookie at 10 in Flood, which again, im sure you'll agree is a pretty important position
d) Mike Catt who was playing well went off injured to be replaced by, yep, you guesses it an un-tested rookie playing out of position in Geraghty
e) Payne played in the front row for gods sake (not sure he had played for Eng at this stage) and Corry was played out of position in the 2nd row.
f) You were at home
It you reverse the sitution above and have England at home, with a strong team out and Wales visiting with un-tested, younger players, then you don't get a 9 point difference, you get a scoreline of England 62 - Wales 5 (57 point difference)
Oh and your team being made up of nearly all Ospreys players. Well Glouc beat the Ospreys at home and England are a far far better and much stronger unit than Glouc and England are also playing at home.
If you' like to make a wager, i'll take you money happily
Edited by stimmers on Tuesday 29th January 14:43
Since the 6N banter seems to have moved here from the other thread, I'll import some of my post from there if nobody minds.
In terms of how this 6N is going to pan out, it's a tough, tough one to call. Italy have a new coach and Wales have a new coach and a new coaching team. France also have a new coach in Lievremont who seems to have had some kind of brain fart and dumped most of the previous French squad. Whether that turns out to be a disaster or a stroke of genius remains to be seen, but Stephen Jones in the Sunday Times reckons they'll finish joint bottom with Italy! Ireland were truly abismal in the World Cup, but their regions are doing very well indeed the the HEC, so who knows how they'll do in this tournament. Finally Scotland, who I reckon could be one of the teams to watch. They had a very solid world cup and have some grit in the pack with Hines and White, for example, and some real quality at scrum half and in the back 3.
Moving swiftly onto the only team that really matters...
I'm extremely surprised that Gatland has gone and picked Parker ahead of Shanklin. His thinking can only be that Parker is the better option defensively (cos he sure as hell isn't anywhere close to Shanks in attack) and that Gatland plans to employ a rush defence as per the Ospreys (there are an unprecedented 13 Ospreys in the starting 15!).
Full team:
15 Lee Byrne
14 Mark Jones
13 Sonny Parker
12 Gavin Henson
11 Shane Williams
10 James Hook
9 Mike Phillips
8 Ryan Jones
7 Martyn Williams
6 Jonathan Thomas
5 Alun Wyn Jones
4 Ian Gough
3 Adam Jones
2 Huw Bennett
1 Duncan Jones
Replacements: M Rees (Llanelli Scarlets), G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), I Evans (Ospreys), A Popham (Llanelli Scarlets), G Cooper (Gloucester), S Jones (Llanelli Scarlets), T Shanklin (Cardiff Blues).
It's a pretty strong bench, but I guess that's what you get when you don't put your best players in the starting 15.
I reckon the plan might be to scare the beejesus out of the English front row with the hairbears
In terms of how this 6N is going to pan out, it's a tough, tough one to call. Italy have a new coach and Wales have a new coach and a new coaching team. France also have a new coach in Lievremont who seems to have had some kind of brain fart and dumped most of the previous French squad. Whether that turns out to be a disaster or a stroke of genius remains to be seen, but Stephen Jones in the Sunday Times reckons they'll finish joint bottom with Italy! Ireland were truly abismal in the World Cup, but their regions are doing very well indeed the the HEC, so who knows how they'll do in this tournament. Finally Scotland, who I reckon could be one of the teams to watch. They had a very solid world cup and have some grit in the pack with Hines and White, for example, and some real quality at scrum half and in the back 3.
Moving swiftly onto the only team that really matters...
I'm extremely surprised that Gatland has gone and picked Parker ahead of Shanklin. His thinking can only be that Parker is the better option defensively (cos he sure as hell isn't anywhere close to Shanks in attack) and that Gatland plans to employ a rush defence as per the Ospreys (there are an unprecedented 13 Ospreys in the starting 15!).
Full team:
15 Lee Byrne
14 Mark Jones
13 Sonny Parker
12 Gavin Henson
11 Shane Williams
10 James Hook
9 Mike Phillips
8 Ryan Jones
7 Martyn Williams
6 Jonathan Thomas
5 Alun Wyn Jones
4 Ian Gough
3 Adam Jones
2 Huw Bennett
1 Duncan Jones
Replacements: M Rees (Llanelli Scarlets), G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), I Evans (Ospreys), A Popham (Llanelli Scarlets), G Cooper (Gloucester), S Jones (Llanelli Scarlets), T Shanklin (Cardiff Blues).
It's a pretty strong bench, but I guess that's what you get when you don't put your best players in the starting 15.
I reckon the plan might be to scare the beejesus out of the English front row with the hairbears
Edited by TheGreatSoprendo on Tuesday 29th January 17:33
disco1 said:
Please don't injure yourselves by falling off chairs but Wales for the Grandslam I thinks!
If they can dispatch Enlgand on Saturday which they have a very good chance of doing they will get momentum but most importantly they will gain confidence which the Welsh game thrives on.
If we beat England on Saturday, then we'd have to beat Ireland away and Italy,Scotland and France at home for a Grand Slam. If this Welsh team is good enough to beat England at Twickenham then that looks do-able.If they can dispatch Enlgand on Saturday which they have a very good chance of doing they will get momentum but most importantly they will gain confidence which the Welsh game thrives on.
However, that if is a very big if. Very big indeed...
I can't wait for Saturday, but I'll be more than a little worried about our performance. Gatland has got something up his sleeve but I'm clueless as to what it might be. We *need* a good start to this 6 Nations if we are going to maintain momentum. Based on World Cup performances, I think Scotland will impress, Ireland will disappoint (hope so, as I'll be flying over to Dublin for the 4 days). England will probably take the win on points over France though. Expect a good performance from Italy too. They just keep improving.
Ok, kinda name dropping here but without actually dropping the name, if you see what i mean. One of my best mates is playing on Sat for England and i've swapped a few texts with him today. Just good old banter but loved this text he sent me today.
'there seems to be more ospreys in the welsh side than welsh in the ospreys side'
'there seems to be more ospreys in the welsh side than welsh in the ospreys side'
Edited by stimmers on Tuesday 29th January 18:38
BigMansZetec said:
The problem for England is, if they lose (which won't happen), people will say they lost to a club team, which is more or less right!
If Wales stand any chance (which they do), they must get AT LEAST 50% of the ball, which will be tricky, and put pace on the game. They have to move Eng around the park and go through the phases. It takes a highly skilled team to be able to go through 10-12 phases in a row and consistantly do it (it was the best part of the England 01-03 team). If Wales can do that and secure go forward ball, they could easily win this game. However i don't think this Wales pack are nearly good enough to be able to do that.When your playing at home, have the ability to out muscle the opposition pack and put pressure on them come the set plays, which will test Wales discipline, have a guy like Wilkinson who can kick the goals and kick the % - it makes it very difficult for the opposition and they end up living off scraps.
Bit worried about how poor Regans throwing was for Bristol vs Wuss last week.
So, in today's news, Loopy Lievremont has made his selection with just 6 players from the World Cup squad making the 15:
C Heymans (Toulouse); J Malzieu (Clermont-Auvergne), F Fritz (Toulouse), D Traille (Biarritz), V Clerc (Toulouse); F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), J-B Elissalde (Toulouse); L Faure (Sale), W Servat (Toulouse), J Brugnaut (Dax), L Nallet (Castres, capt), L Jacquet (Clermont-Auvergne), F Ouedraogo (Montpellier), T Dusautoir (Toulouse), E Vermeulen (Clermont-Auvergne).
Replacements: N Mas (Perpignan), D Szarzewski (Stade Francais), A Mela (Albi), J Bonnaire (Clermont-Auvergne), M Parra (Bourgoin), D Skrela (Stade Francais), A Rougerie (Clermont-Auvergne).
And Scotland has surprised everyone by dropping Chris Patterson to the bench (am I correct in thinking he has the best kicking percentage in world rugby at the moment?)
R Lamont (Sale Sharks); N Walker (Ospreys), N De Luca (Edinburgh), A Henderson (Glasgow Warriors), S Webster (Edinburgh); D Parks (Glasgow Warriors), M Blair (Edinburgh); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), R Ford (Edinburgh), E Murray (Northampton Saints), N Hines (Perpignan), J Hamilton (Leicester Tigers), J White (Sale Sharks, captain), J Barclay (Glasgow Warriors), D Callam (Edinburgh).
Replacements: F Thomson (Glasgow Warriors), G Kerr (Edinburgh), S MacLeod (Llanelli Scarlets), K Brown (Glasgow Warriors), C Cusiter (Perpignan), C Paterson (Gloucester), H Southwell (Edinburgh)
C Heymans (Toulouse); J Malzieu (Clermont-Auvergne), F Fritz (Toulouse), D Traille (Biarritz), V Clerc (Toulouse); F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), J-B Elissalde (Toulouse); L Faure (Sale), W Servat (Toulouse), J Brugnaut (Dax), L Nallet (Castres, capt), L Jacquet (Clermont-Auvergne), F Ouedraogo (Montpellier), T Dusautoir (Toulouse), E Vermeulen (Clermont-Auvergne).
Replacements: N Mas (Perpignan), D Szarzewski (Stade Francais), A Mela (Albi), J Bonnaire (Clermont-Auvergne), M Parra (Bourgoin), D Skrela (Stade Francais), A Rougerie (Clermont-Auvergne).
And Scotland has surprised everyone by dropping Chris Patterson to the bench (am I correct in thinking he has the best kicking percentage in world rugby at the moment?)
R Lamont (Sale Sharks); N Walker (Ospreys), N De Luca (Edinburgh), A Henderson (Glasgow Warriors), S Webster (Edinburgh); D Parks (Glasgow Warriors), M Blair (Edinburgh); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), R Ford (Edinburgh), E Murray (Northampton Saints), N Hines (Perpignan), J Hamilton (Leicester Tigers), J White (Sale Sharks, captain), J Barclay (Glasgow Warriors), D Callam (Edinburgh).
Replacements: F Thomson (Glasgow Warriors), G Kerr (Edinburgh), S MacLeod (Llanelli Scarlets), K Brown (Glasgow Warriors), C Cusiter (Perpignan), C Paterson (Gloucester), H Southwell (Edinburgh)
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