• Welcome, guest!

    This is a forum devoted to discussion of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
    Why not sign up and contribute? Registered members get a fully ad-free experience!

The Rugby Thread

I don't think I've ever seen such an inept display of kicking from a professional before.
 
Need to get a gif of Lawes handing off Jamie Roberts :)

Was a good game, Wales still need to be more creative but I can see why they are playing tight with all blacks coming up.
 
Wales started well but after about 10 minutes they fell away.

England won 27-13 and if Ford had converted what he should have it would have been 39-13 and that kind of performance should be worrying for Wales.

Plusses for England were Launchberry, Harrison and Clifford. Minuses were Ford's kicking and Young's patchy performance.
 
England won a pretty pointless game, 27-13 probably flattered Wales a bit and England were far to powerful in the second half.
However it was nothing game which will have no real bearing on both sides going forward.
 
It wasn't a nothing game, even for Wales.

Players needed to play rugby before going on tours and some of them had not played for weeks. Others are getting used to the International scene and the pressures of playing for their countries.

Don't forget as well that this was a ranking game and counts towards 2019 RWC.
 
It wasn't a nothing game, even for Wales.

Players needed to play rugby before going on tours and some of them had not played for weeks. Others are getting used to the International scene and the pressures of playing for their countries.

Don't forget as well that this was a ranking game and counts towards 2019 RWC.

I'd say play less fierce rivals especially if it enhances chances of injuries, plus the summer tour is perfect opportunity to gain experience. The summer tours are not the be all and end all.
 
I can't believe people can't see how important this game was for both sides.

A good contest like this knocks the rust off the players, stretches the legs of the runners and flexes everyone's rugby muscles before going on difficult tours.

The two Unions decided some time ago that this would be the best preparation for both squads rather than play against easier opposition such as the Barbarians.

For England, it will be good to play a team like Australia as there is no viable opposition in the NH at the moment. We need to be able to play better sides in order to continue our improvement and bed in those newer players.
 
It was obviously important. But a bitter Welshman lost so will obviously play it down
 
In the grand scheme of things nothing was riding on the game. It is a warm-up for your tour of Australia, and for our tour of New Zealand. And of course with us being the supposed top two Northern hemisphere sides it should have been a good warm-up for both. But it really was nothing more than that.

Do I like losing to England at rugby, ever? No, of course I don't and that is why there was bragging rights importance to it. There are no friendlies between us and quite rightly so. However to call me bitter? Fucking hell. Unbelievable.
 
IRB World Rankings:

1. New Zealand 96.10
2. Australia 89.33
3. South Africa 87.66
4. England 84.60
5. Argentina 82.59
6. Wales 82.48
7. Ireland 80.33
8. France 78.37
9. Scotland 78.33
10. Japan 77.05

Wales have slipped below Argentina after that 'nothing' game.
 
Got to be the lowest France have been for many years. Rightly so too, they're awful.
 
IRB World Rankings:

1. New Zealand 96.10
2. Australia 89.33
3. South Africa 87.66
4. England 84.60
5. Argentina 82.59
6. Wales 82.48
7. Ireland 80.33
8. France 78.37
9. Scotland 78.33
10. Japan 77.05

Wales have slipped below Argentina after that 'nothing' game.

World cup semi finalists Argentina.

It was still an absolute nothing game, no matter how you try and paint it.
 
Argentina are a really good team these days, have benefited a lot from playing competitive internationals regularly.
 
Hope Donegal Wolf has survived

Just about, just about...

Was agreat weekend, pleasure to be there for a special occasion, talking to Connacht fans before hand and they were all there in hope rather then expectation, fearing that the fairytale would come to an end, either Leinster's greater experience or a fear of freezing on the big day would ruin it for them.

As it was Leinster were never at the races, could sense a whole change of atmosphere in the stadium after about 15mins when it became apparent that Leinster simply couldn't cope with the speed and width of Connacht's play, usually when an underdog wins its through grinding it out from set plays, a shitty day or mistakes by the favourites, it was an eye opener to see a side running the ball and spreading it wide from their own 22, a refreshing brand of rugby, infact talking of Argentina it was similar to the way they play.

Any other year a 250-1 shot winning the league would be the story of the season as it is, it is a mini-Leicster story.

Hopefully for them they can keep Lam and the squad together, he has done an exceptional job
 
It wasn't a nothing game, even for Wales.

Players needed to play rugby before going on tours and some of them had not played for weeks. Others are getting used to the International scene and the pressures of playing for their countries.

Don't forget as well that this was a ranking game and counts towards 2019 RWC.

I agree what you are saying, although I do agree with Paddy to a certain extent as well, the one thing we dont want is some international tests to go the way of football and become meaningless friendlies if sides play each other too often.

The bigger question is what the fuck are teams from the NH doing arranging 3 series tests in the SH this year (I know its for the cash), they have been on the go from June last year and some players will have played between warm-ups, world cup, 6N and this series up to 17 internationals in 12 months, whilst the SH sides had a handy rest after the world cup for 3 months.

England should have the resources and spread of players to cope but I do fear for Ireland and Wales over the next few weeks.
 
Back
Top