The Six Nations is almost upon us!

[Grannygrinder]

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Must be lovely having a national team that have actually played with each other once or twice before
Was an awesome performance by Wales and Ireland, Hugh Bennett had a massive game

I thought, for a first international as 'a squad', England did pretty well.
Scotland is never an easy place to go to at the best of times and on the back of the shambles that was the world cup England could easily have rolled over.

Who've we got next? France?

 

[Barneyballbags]

So, what are everyone's thoughts on this weekends games then?

Shall I start us off:

Italy vs England
It's an away game for England, and Italy are constantly improving. I still don't think they're quite there yet, although the current England team will need to play fairly well to be able to beat them. This Italy team beat France not so long ago, so there's plenty of room for another surprise result.

I'm going to give the game to England. I think that, if/when Italy start to fall behind, they'll get dirty and will concede penalties.

England by 13.

France vs Ireland
Ireland will be looking to rectify their recent defeat by Wales (yay!), and will be out for the win. France didn't play all that well against Italy (they didn't need to), so it would be interesting to see whether they up their game against Kidney's 15 or not. I'm hoping that they don't because an away win for Ireland is not only good for them (as my second favourite team!), but will also be good for Wales. However, if France play as well as they're capable of doing, then look out.

I'm going to go Ireland by 2 on this one.

Wales vs Scotland
Well, it's the first of Wales' three home games, and it's against a team who came so close the last time they were in Cardiff (why they didn't kick to touch after 80 minutes I'll never know)... They'll be out for revenge I'm sure, and you must never write off a team like Scotland. However, given Wales' current form and the fitness boost in the shape of Lydiate and Geth Jenkins, AND now that we've seen the kind of damage that 'little' George North can do to a defensive line, not to mention Jamie Roberts and Mike Phillips, I have to give the win to Wales.

Wales by 12.

 

[grahame]

7 week ban for Bradley Davies! One fewer option in the pack for Gatland and Wales.

So:

Wales backs vs Scotland pack: Scottish pack to deprive Wales of much ball, but Wales to score pretty much every time they get their hands on it. Easy victory for Wales, by a double figure margin.

Italy vs England: This is the shock result of the weekend, maybe of the tournament. Italy's new game plan made a very good France side look quite ordinary in the first half last week, and England were just ordinary against Scotland. Italy to win by 3 to 6 points.

France vs Ireland: Ireland to struggle here, France to hit top speed and win by 7 to 10 points.

 

[Barneyballbags]

Italy vs England: This is the shock result of the weekend, maybe of the tournament. Italy's new game plan made a very good France side look quite ordinary in the first half last week, and England were just ordinary against Scotland. Italy to win by 3 to 6 points.

Much as I'd love to see that happen (and believe me, I would), I just think that Italy are too poorly-disciplined when they're under a lot of pressure. I can see them conceding penalties galore.

I hope that they prove me wrong, and that I'm sat here on Monday morning writing about the shock result of the tournament

 

[rosstheboss]

Italy vs England: This is the shock result of the weekend, maybe of the tournament. Italy's new game plan made a very good France side look quite ordinary in the first half last week, and England were just ordinary against Scotland. Italy to win by 3 to 6 points.

Much as I'd love to see that happen (and believe me, I would), I just think that Italy are too poorly-disciplined when they're under a lot of pressure. I can see them conceding penalties galore.

I hope that they prove me wrong, and that I'm sat here on Monday morning writing about the shock result of the tournament

The one about Scotland putting 20 past Wales?

 

[Barneyballbags]

I hope that they prove me wrong, and that I'm sat here on Monday morning writing about the shock result of the tournament

The one about Scotland putting 20 past Wales?

Well, perhaps not 20, but they're definitely capable of putting a few past Wales... They almost did in 2010!

 

[rosstheboss]

Barney Ballbags - you'll like this...

From Jim Neilly's facebook N.Ire broadcaster.

Jim: 'I have just read this e-mail, which was sent to the IRB yesterday by a young Mr Matt Lander and personally, I think it's a thing of beauty.'

Hello IRB.

My name is Matt and I am 27 and a half years old. I enjoy walking my dog, walking my wife, reading the twilight books and watching rugby. I watch as much rugby as I can. Often I have to cover my eyes because I'm afraid someone will get hurt, but the adrenaline this fear gives me is half the reason I enjoy the game.

I am writing to you because I think you may have made a grave error. I was searching the interweb while I was at work (totally on a break) and I was looking at the French team for this Saturday's 6 nations fixture against Ireland. There was nothing strange about this, aside from the uncomfortable and shameful feeling that washes over me when the camera does a close up of Dimitri Szarzewski. Imagine my shock, then, when I noticed the referee for this game was Dave Pearson!!

This has led me to believe that you, IRB, are one of two things;

1 - You are just a group of normal guys who have made a common error - an oversight. You are so busy enjoying your luck, by living off a sport that you do not play, that you haven't even realised that Mr Pearson is still an accredited referee, and in charge of one of the biggest games of the championship. You probably assumed that by now Mr Pearson was officiating games of the correct standard for his ability - ideally the North Tyneside mixed tag under 9s.

2 - You are a twisted, sadistic group of former people, who have decided that Irish rugby is evil and must be punished for yet to be named crimes against humanity. You have set up shop in Dublin as to get an insider's view on how best to bring down the IRFU.

This leads us to the offender in chief, Mr Pearson.

I have never met someone before who has selective sight. In fact, I'm not sure if it is an officially recognised medical condition. When I have finished with this email, I'll contact some people I know in medical research to check it out. You never know, we may have discovered something here. "Why did you walk into that lamppost? are you ok?" "I'm fine, it happens all the time. I've got Pearsons". That is a conversation you could potentially hear in the next few years. But I digress.

Did you see the Clermont Auvergne vs Ulster game in the final pool stage of the Heineken cup? I did. At the time I was confused, as I was under the impression that tackling someone who did not have the ball, was not part of a ruck, and indeed was on the defending team was some sort of offence. Selective sight Pearson disagreed, and Ulster's home quarter final was kaput.

But apparently shafting a province was merely an appetizer in Pearson's meal of inadequacy. The main course was saved for Lansdowne road on Sunday. Bradley Davies assault on Donncha Ryan happened right in front of Mr Pearson. This must have put him in quite the pickle. He obviously didn't have selective sight as a viable option this time. I can only imagine the sweat running down his brow as he approached Wayne Barnes, and the sheer relief he felt when Barnes said he didn't see anything. This was Pearson's opportunity. He could downplay the incident, and make sure Wales finished the game with a full compliment of players. It should be noted that this does not exonerate Barnes, who should have treated Pearson's recommendation for a yellow card the way I treat my nephew's recommendation of angel delight for dinner - laughter and pity. Quite how anyone can have the testicular fortitude to recommend a yellow card for something that qualifies as Actual Bodily Harm is actually impressive. You may need to provide him with a wheelbarrow for his massive balls to keep up with play come Saturday.

I am curious as to how Pearson can complete this trilogy of heartbreak, as he is doubtless keen to do. How can he top last Sunday? Is he going to trip Tommy Bowe? Stab Sean O'Brien at half time? Pepper spray Paul O'Connell during the coin toss?

I look forward in anticipation of your response and the naming of a new referee for Saturday post haste.

Yours faithfully,

Matt Lander

 

[Barneyballbags]

That's brilliant!!!

 

[Archemist]

terrific e-mail.

As another welsh ex-pat the best part of the team right now is that ability to improvise from 1 to 15.

Combined with absolute fitness, self-belief and a southern hemi' ruthless determination to play till the 90th minute(!)

i can't think of a bad game, to watch, for several years now.

Lomu was a phenomenom but i never saw him flip a pass out the back of his hand like little george n.


wales, england (sadly) and france this weekend.

 

[Barneyballbags]

Sooooo..:

Italy vs England
England won by 4 in Italy. Hardly convincing. Especially as Italy (and Scotland the week before) are regarded as the "easiest" teams in the tournament.... Granted, the conditions in Italy were pretty poor, but England showed no real flair, and if it wasn't for Hodgson's second charge-down try, they could well have lost the game. But, England are a young side, with very little experience of playing together. Perhaps they'll get better as the tournament progresses - they'll certainly need to..

France vs Ireland
The match that never was..... Why they couldn't have assessed the conditions a few days earlier, looked at the weather forecast and made a decision then, I'll never know (and neither will the tens of thousands of Irish and French fans who turned up to watch it). There's talk of them postponing the match until June... JUNE!!! What an absolute farce.

Wales vs Scotland
And so Scotland came to Cardiff on Sunday. As usual, every bar within about a 5 mile radius was packed with fans, there were tens of thousands of people out on the streets, and I saw 4 policemen - all of whom were directing traffic (and people) - There was no trouble, no arrests and a brilliant, electric atmosphere - Take note Wendyball!!

The roof of the stadium was closed and renditions of "Flower of Scotland", "Delilah", "Hymns and Arias" and "Sosban Fach" boomed around the ground hours before kick-off. Scottish fans were confident of a win and quite rightly so. Just minutes before kick-off, it was announced that Sam Warburton hadn't passed a last-minute medical, and so would be taking no part in the match. Add that to the current Welsh injuries, and things weren't looking quite as rosy as they could have been.

The anthems played, and sounded the best that I've ever heard them. I think all 73,500 people were belting out both anthems at the tops of their voices! Smashing

I took a couple of videos:

Flower of Scotland
Mae Hen Wlad fy Nhadau

The first half was pretty dire. One penalty a piece and both sides went in at half time level at 3-3. George North came off with an ankle injury which hopefully isn't too serious... We need him to smash some holes in the English Chariot in 2 weeks time..!

God only knows what Gatland and Edwards said at half time, but in the second half, Wales were on fire! 3 tries in 14 minutes (I think) and they never looked back. Scotland went down to 13 men, and Wales were ruthless in their punishment.

27-13 to Wales, and a clear message sent to the England Team who we face on the 25th... We'll take that Triple Crown, thanks very much

PS - I make absolutely no apologies for my Welsh bias! I'd fully expect any English, Irish, Scottish, French or Italian fan to do the same!!