The Rugby Thread

[Donegal Wolf]

Ireland's title, and Wales have a decent chance of second.

Nice to see Eddie Jones being forced to apologise for calling one "scummy" and the other "a shit little place"

Storm in a teacup, somebody had it in their backpocket since July to release it at an appropriate time.

Thankfully means that hopefully we will all be spared his prematch shite for once.

 

[Dinowolf]

Unbelievably unprofessional comments by Jones. Absolutely shameful behaviour and worthy of sanction of some sort.

I think a little humility won't come amiss, and the same with the players.

Naturally I hope England beat Ireland, but if we don't it will serve them right for not moving on from last year and making no progress whatsoever.

 

[Dinowolf]

Eddie Jones makes 7 changes for the game against Ireland.

What's important is that a change in method and attitude is absolutely necessary otherwise England will lose again.

15 Anthony Watson, 14 Jonny May, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Ben Te'o, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Dylan Hartley, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 George Kruis, 6 Chris Robshaw, 7 James Haskell, 8 Sam Simmonds

Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 Don Armand, 21 Danny Care, 22 George Ford, 23 Mike Brown.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Not sure about wholesale changes. You haven't become a bad side overnight.

 

[Dinowolf]

Not sure about wholesale changes. You haven't become a bad side overnight.

Our demise has not been overnight, it's been going on a lot longer than that, and Jones hasn't seemingly done anything about it.

Have you seen our games in this 6N? We have been slow, lacking intensity, no apparent game plan, poor at the breakdown, confusion on the pitch whether to kick or not and playing people out of position.

Eddie Jones says we are only 2-3% off and all teams have bad games, but I feel England's problems are deeper than this.

I hope I'm wrong, but we'll see what happens against Ireland at Twickenham.

 

[Donegal Wolf]

Our demise has not been overnight, it's been going on a lot longer than that, and Jones hasn't seemingly done anything about it.

Have you seen our games in this 6N? We have been slow, lacking intensity, no apparent game plan, poor at the breakdown, confusion on the pitch whether to kick or not and playing people out of position.

Eddie Jones says we are only 2-3% off and all teams have bad games, but I feel England's problems are deeper than this.

I hope I'm wrong, but we'll see what happens against Ireland at Twickenham.

Rumours are that Jones has been beasting them over the last 8 weeks to improve fitness for next years world cup, if that's the case then that would explain the tiredness and lethargy in the past few matches, short term pain for a long term gain, how successful a strategy that would be who knows, and seems to go against the grain of modern fitness and conditioning.
Surprised by his team choice, our weakness is defending out wide, especially when the ball is transferred across the pitch as fast as possible and that has been shown up to one extent or the other in all the 6N games this year, Jones has gone against that by dropping one of his best distributors in Ford, but maybe he has seen something else to go at Ireland.

Had written this game off as a loss at the start of the tournament but more confident the closer we get to it by England's problems, saying that home advantage is huge and motivation to get their revenge for last year in Dublin when the shoe was on the other foot, along with that Ireland are already in bonus territory with winning the 6N and just as importantly blooding a batch of young players successfully so maybe the intensity might drop a tiny bit. It will be close but I can still see England winning this by 3pts or so.

 

[Banjo]

The grand slam is Ireland's for the taking. I was there in Cardiff in 2009 when they won their last one, which was their first in over 50 years I think. They almost choked that year and have often struggled to rise to the occasion in key games - it's incredible that they've not won the GS since then really given how settled their team is. Away v England is always a tough game, but Ireland really should be winning this one. The fact England have had to call on James Haskell yet again due to a complete dearth of talent at openside is laughable. England have by far and away the most registered professional rugby union players in the world, yet can't seem to find one decent openside. Bizarre.

 

[Dinowolf]

Lucky, lucky Scotland

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Lucky, lucky Scotland

Agreed. Italy can feel very hard done to.

 

[Alan]

I tried watching the England v. Ireland match but I have to say I couldn't get over the feeling that there were way too many players on the field (is it a pitch in rugby?) at one time.

I quite enjoy watching Sevens, even if I barely know what the fuck is happening.

 

[Tony Towner]

I tried watching the England v. Ireland match but I have to say I couldn't get over the feeling that there were way too many players on the field (is it a pitch in rugby?) at one time.

I quite enjoy watching Sevens, even if I barely know what the $#@! is happening.

You may prefer Rugby League then Alan, quicker paced and less players

 

[Dinowolf]

Well done Ireland. Worthy 2018 6 Nations Grand Slam Champions.

 

[Dinowolf]

Dylan Hartley will miss the rest of the domestic season and the tour to South Africa in the summer, with concussion.

Time for a new captain, Mr. Jones.

 

[Dinowolf]

Kruis to miss South Africa Tour with an ankle problem that needs surgery.

 

[Dinowolf]

England face Barbarians in a warm-up game at Twickenham on May 27 before heading to South Africa, with all three internationals live on Sky Sports Action.

The Springboks host England in Johannesburg on June 9 before heading to Bloemfontein (June 16) and Cape Town (June 23).

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

England should win that 3-0

The Boks are very poor at the moment by their standards.

 

[Dinowolf]

Paul Gustard to leave the England coaching set-up to join Harlequins.

 

[Donegal Wolf]

Leicester have announced scrum half Ben Youngs has withdrawn from the British and Irish Lions squad for family reasons

http://www.premiershiprugby.com/news/ben-youngs-withdraws-from-lions-squad-for-family-reasons/

Looks like a happy ending for the Youngs family

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-u...s-phenomenal-brother-tom-wife-goes-remission/

 

[Dinowolf]

Terrific entertainment at Twickers on Sunday.

Even though England lost 45-63, I enjoyed every minute and I think the players did too as most had smiles on their faces.

 

[Paul]

Agreed, end to end stuff and a classic display by Ashton but for Gods sake, just put the ball down !!!