Six Nations 2018

[Nalis]

Six Nations is back this Saturday, dont care what the anti rugby crowd say, its a great time of the sporting year.

 

There's always at least 2 decent games each weekend and some of the matches will be difficult to predict as always.

 

Unfortunately, each team have been hit hard with injuries which probably means England, who have the best squad, will win the whole thing again.

[stripeyfox]

22 minutes ago, Nalis said:

Six Nations is back this Saturday, dont care what the anti rugby crowd say, its a great time of the sporting year.

 

There's always at least 2 decent games each weekend and some of the matches will be difficult to predict as always.

 

Unfortunately, each team have been hit hard with injuries which probably means England, who have the best squad, will win the whole thing again.

Meh! It's a no from me I'm afraid.

 

I work with a bunch off egg chasers and I'm already bored of it!
 

[leicsmac]

Can't see beyond England for the title tbh, both Murrayfield and Paris might make for tricky one-offs though.

[urban.spaceman]

First time in about 5 years I can actually watch the England matches as they've been shifted from my usual Saturday work hours, so I'm looking forward to it this year!

[fuchsntf]

18 hours ago, Nalis said:

Six Nations is back this Saturday, dont care what the anti rugby crowd say, its a great time of the sporting year.

 

There's always at least 2 decent games each weekend and some of the matches will be difficult to predict as always.

 

Unfortunately, each team have been hit hard with injuries which probably means England, who have the best squad, will win the whole thing again.

England in the past,took many Major hits with injuries,but often ignored usually because

the top rugby journalists over the years have been bias  Welsh,Scott or Irish, point-scorers

[Finnegan]

England's to lose tbh. 

[Countryfox]

 Watch out for the jocks ....   my tartan half is twitching this year ...    

[Tielemans63]

I genuinely think the Irish will win it this time. England looked a bit disjointed in the autumn and the Irish have a tonne of good youngsters coming through. Think it'll come down to that last game and Ireland's pack will help them to a tight win at Twickers. For all their resources, England's back row especially isn't that strong.

[Nalis]

13 hours ago, Paddy. said:

I genuinely think the Irish will win it this time. England looked a bit disjointed in the autumn and the Irish have a tonne of good youngsters coming through. Think it'll come down to that last game and Ireland's pack will help them to a tight win at Twickers. For all their resources, England's back row especially isn't that strong.

 

Think our backs are defintely ones for the future, particularly the young Leinster players (of which Larmour is the pick of the bunch) and Jacob Stockdale from Ulster.

 

Hopefully with exciting backs coming through we'll change our style of play in the future. Personally, I cant stand the way we play with Sexton and Murray albeit effective but thats not going to change anytime soon.

[Nalis]

Wonder where this injured team would end up in the 6 Nations table if they were a fit team? I reckon around 2nd or 3rd.

 

http://www.rugbyworld.com/news/injur

ed-xv-88226

 

That back row  

[Nick]

I have a feeling that Ireland may take the title with England second. I'd have thought Wales might come third but I like the look of what is happening in France at the moment, especially the inclusion of their new 19 year old Jalibert who looks creatively lethal with ball in hand / at feet...

 

Heart says:

 

England

Ireland

Wales

France

Scotland

Italy

 

But I'm going tentatively with:

 

Ireland

England

France

Wales

Scotland

Italy 

[Lionator]

If Scotland are psychologically up for it, they will cause Wales big issues today and hosting England and France at Murrayfield, I'd say watch out for them. In Stuart Hogg and Finn Russell they have the two most dangerous backs in the Northern Hemisphere. 

[SpacedX]

43 minutes ago, Lionator said:

If Scotland are psychologically up for it, they will cause Wales big issues today and hosting England and France at Murrayfield, I'd say watch out for them. In Stuart Hogg and Finn Russell they have the two most dangerous backs in the Northern Hemisphere. 

Agree. Scotland are no longer the game spoilers of old, they demolished Australia in the Autumn tests and ran the All Blacks very close in the last game. In addition to now having a much stronger pack, what Scotland have traditionally lacked is pace - which they now have in abundance. Absolutely - the back division is replete with talent which is why I'd like to see Townsend opt with Price (over the experience of Laidlaw), who is all about speed and service, as the orchestrator to their up-tempo game.

[leicsmac]

Honestly think that England having home advantage against the Irish at Twickenham will make the difference in the final match. When was the last time England lost a 6N game there?

[Finnegan]

I ****ing love my Scarlets. 

[Finnegan]

That drop goal is disgusting. 

[Countryfox]

4 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

I ****ing love my Scarlets. 

 

Lucky ...

[leicsmac]

Hell of a finish that. Dunno how Sexton pulled that one out the fire.

[Jimmy]

well Ben Youngs season is over, looks like an ACL injury

[Nalis]

Scotland were playing quite high risk rugby, it didnt work and Wales capitalised so fair play to them as some of the Welsh tries were pleasing on the eye.

 

Thought we deserved to win against France overall but Sexton rescued us again. Credit to the French defence at the end.

 

Pretty unforgiving start for Italy, they'll do well to win a single game. Hard to tell how England are doing from today's match alone, looking forward to finding out when they play Wales next week.

[Finnegan]

No alarms and no surprises in the first week really, big three all win as you'd expect. Scotch bubble immediately burst as you'd expect, Italy hold on to about the sixtieth minutes then collapse as you'd expect and Sexton puts the team on his back... as you'd expect. 

 

We'll know a lot more next week. 

 

I imagine England by 7-10, Scotland by 10-12, Ireland by 25+.

 

Ireland and England to sit on 9 each split by points difference depending on how many Ireland score vs Italy. 

 

Loving the Southern Hemisphere bants from Gats and Jones so far. Gats calmly saying he thought we'd stick twenty odd on the Scotch and Jones claiming England will be mid table also rans.

Edited 5 February 2018 by Finnegan

[Clever Fox]

That France vs Ireland game has to be one of the best games in the last decade. The Commitment, Pace and Physicality from both sides was immense.

Some of the Hits were earth shattering. Is it just me noticing this or has it been that tough for a while. It makes some of the Premiership players look like wimps the way they go down from a modest tackle.

 

Assuming injuries don't derail the Irish then I think it will come down to the final game against England.

[Nalis]

10 hours ago, Clever Fox said:

That France vs Ireland game has to be one of the best games in the last decade. The Commitment, Pace and Physicality from both sides was immense.

Some of the Hits were earth shattering. Is it just me noticing this or has it been that tough for a while. It makes some of the Premiership players look like wimps the way they go down from a modest tackle.

 

Assuming injuries don't derail the Irish then I think it will come down to the final game against England.

I might be biased but I agree that it wasnt the boring game everyone made it out to be. Sometimes its a better spectacle to watch a decent team against a good defence rather than matches against awful defences, such as Scotland's last weekend or Italy's in general, were the winning team scores a hatful of tries with little response.

[Clever Fox]

10 hours ago, Nalis said:

I might be biased but I agree that it wasnt the boring game everyone made it out to be. Sometimes its a better spectacle to watch a decent team against a good defence rather than matches against awful defences, such as Scotland's last weekend or Italy's in general, were the winning team scores a hatful of tries with little response.

Yes, The  level of concentration from both sides I thought was immense. I wouldn't call myself an expert on Rugby despite watching it for 50 years.

But I thought both Teams deserved great credit. I still don't think you can recover in 7 days from those tackles and bruising Scrums.

Ireland were nearly caught out by Italy last year and Scotland beat them. So it's still a challenge for them to get to the last game undefeated.

[Clever Fox]

On 2/3/2018 at 18:49, Finnegan said:

That drop goal is disgusting. 

As good as the drop Goal was, The pass out to the right wing was pure genius. It turned the French and help gain further ground, While giving the irish forwards a chance to regroup and get a small breather.

A great finish to the game.