The Rugby Thread

[pharvey]

Well, Round 3 is upon us!!

God's Own travel to Paris with hopes of smacking French @rses, the Sweaties host the Pasta Munchers and Satan's Squad head to the Emerald Isle to pack down with the Paddies........ a great weekend of rugby ahead!!

Most will likely be seeing the match in Dublin as the Championship decider, but I'm still going for a Welsh victory in Paris, the Paddies to prevail in Dublin and a 3-way tie when all's said and done (separated on points for/against).

Points of (possible) interest....: -

George North will become the youngest player EVER to reach 50 International caps this weekend at the ripe old age of 22 - making his debut as an 18 year old against SA.

Talk of a late change to the Frog Squad in the 24 year old Samoan born prop Uini Atonio....... coming in at 6' 6" (1.98 m) and 24 stone (153 Kg/336 lbs)........ A PROP WTF


Good luck to all, apart from those easterly adjacent to Wales obviously.....

For those who haven't made their picks on Suberbru, there's still time - just.

[dtaai-maai]

Most will likely be seeing the match in Dublin as the Championship decider, but I'm still going for a Welsh victory in Paris, the Paddies to prevail in Dublin...:

Oh pharvey, pharvey <sigh>, you're really not taking this competition seriously, are you?

George North will become the youngest player EVER to reach 50 International caps this weekend at the ripe old age of 22

George North is only 22??? He seems to have been around forever!

:cheers

[pharvey]

Oh pharvey, pharvey <sigh>, you're really not taking this competition seriously, are you?

Ooooohhh believe me..... We are still in a state of mourning after the defeat by Satan's XV and are now after blood (well personally I'm after a couple of pints, but that's just me).

We SHALL PREVAIL in Paris, Beelzibub's Boys will be downed in Dublin and we shall pound the Paddies in Cardiff....... "Gypsy" Pete predicts!!

[richard]

Well your ladies aren't leading the way are they?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/31628800

[pharvey]

Nope - not a good result, but then again - they did send the Lillywhites packing, as did the under 20's!!

On the Under 20's, it's actually been some great rugby - a pity it's not widely televised.



[EDIT] Please don't bet on Wales today Richard........ we're looking for a win!!

[richard]

Haven't

England by 5
France by 5
Scotland by 10

Now let's see if that's put the mockers on it all

Come on Italy, Wales and Ireland

[dtaai-maai]

^^How disturbing, that's quite close to my own pick...

[PeteC]

As a reminder, Setanta Sports TRUE channel 669. Rugby 24/7. See their Facebook page below for "Try of the Month" competition and results.. Pete

http://www.setanta.com/asia/

https://www.facebook.com/setantasportsasia

[pharvey]

Haven't

England by 5
France by 5
Scotland by 10

Now let's see if that's put the mockers on it all

Come on Italy, Wales and Ireland

Going well so far Richard

WAAAAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.................

That title decider in Cardiff is looking good hey DM?

Bottoms to Beelzebub!!

[richard]

Half asleep today. Watched 'em both and was thoroughly enthralled last night/this morning.

Good to watch and I reckon it could have gone either way particularly with the the Scotland game.

I'm cussing myself on two counts. For my votes and for posting it on the forum

Perhaps I'll be lucky/unlucky tonight

[dtaai-maai]

Prediction Competition results to one side ( ), I have to say I wasn't enthralled by either game.

The Italians would have won the game quite comfortably if they had a halfway decent goalkicker. The Scots shot themselves in both feet, particularly in the last few minutes.
Having said that, it's good to see the Italians making solid progress - let's hope a couple more European nations can emulate them.

As for the Welch (sic ), I thought they played as well as they needed to without being particularly impressive. The game was strewn with errors, and the French seem to have forgotten how to play French rugby - at least until they went 11 points down in the 65th minute. The better team won, but 'better' was very much a relative term.

Wales' main asset is the reliable kicking of Halfpenny.

As a sideline, it was astonishing to note that the French tv panel chose a French player as man of the match!

Looking forward to the Grand Slam decider tonight!!

EDIT: What I'd really like to see tonight is reliable goalkicking from both sides, and the game won by the team playing the most effective, penetrative and creative running game by both backs and forwards combined. What I dread is that it will become bogged down in collapsing scrums and decided on lottery penalties.

[pharvey]

I actually enjoyed both games (with the exception of some of the refereeing.. as usual) but can certainly agree with a lot of your comments DM.

In Paris, Wales did enough and deserved to win - BUT, quite frankly it was ugly rugby and as you say strewn with errors.... We just don't seem to have the player(s) with that "spark" at the moment - or maybe it's just the tactics? Samson Lee gave the pack a boost and Gethin Jenkins back to his best around the park certainly helped us. However, with the amount of possession we had, it should have been game, set and match by half-time (although Les Bleus' goal kicking was also abysmal).

Italy - deserved winners and one look at Sergio Parisse's face at the final whistle showed exactly how much it meant. Fair play to them, but Scotland will bounce back in 2 week's time and scalp Satan's XV at "Twickers" (Lah-de-dah)....

God's Own of course shall continue their march towards the title by pounding the Paddies......

Richard - as a hint, bet on England and Ireland next week....

[oakdale160]

God save the Q, is the BRITISH national anthem
England need to get its own.
GSTQ is hard to sing and sounds so sad after the anthems of all the other 5, esp France and Wales.

[dtaai-maai]

^^Good idea - Swing Low gets my vote...

My worst fears came true in the Ireland v England game.
Clearly an Irish chef slipped something into the English breakfast, because that was a bizarrely poor performance, at least until it was too late.
Another error-strewn game, but unfortunately most of the errors were by the team in white.
Once again the better team won, and once again, better was very much a relative term.

I'm now in the unenviable position of having to cheer on the Welch against the paddies - assuming, of course, that England can beat France...

A disastrous sporting weekend for me - England thrashed again at cricket, Spurs lost the League Cup final, all the wrong teams won in the premiership, and now this.
I'm retiring hurt for a few days to lick my wounds...

[arcadianagain]

[quote="dtaai-maai"]^^Good idea - Swing Low gets my vote...

Do you do all the actions that come with the song DM?