Finnegan Posted 6 January 2012 Posted 6 January 2012 Well, finally my favourite time of the year is drawing in and in a month's time we'll be kicking off. Fixtures for the first weekend as follows: France v Italy Scotland v England Ireland v Wales Have to say I'm in no way happy about starting in Dublin, very tough fixture and short of Paris is probably the game I'd want least on opening weekend. Doubly so given the way we dumped them out of the WC, they'll have a point to prove. I'd tip Ireland to do us by more than seven, though I'll desperately be hoping that's not the case and I think we'll have a brilliant footing for the tournament if we win. France - Italy should be an absolute formality. The French should have revenge burning in their hearts, I would not want to be an Italian on the fourth. That said, it's a new challenge for Saint-André and there'll be curious eyes waiting to see what he can come up with, what sort of France side we'll see. Should he achieve a degree of solidarity and togetherness in the France camp then the WC finalists will be hot favourites for the Championship. Finally, England also face a stern opening test and one they'd have wanted to avoid. Scotland always turn it up to eleven when the Auld Enemy rock up to Murrayfield and this'll be no different. Nobody wants to get off to a losing start and after a disastrous World Cup campaign full of on, and off, field calamity England's interim coaches have a Goliath task at hand to pull the English together. However, typically defiant in the face of adversity the English will be no walk over for any side and are ranked as third favourites by Ladbrokes, ahead of the Irish. The first of the squads are starting to come in with no place for Danny Care in the England camp, while Leicester stars Tuilangi and Flood look set to miss out through injury. Meanwhile, Scotland stir up controversy by selecting Wales U20 international Steven Shingler, an act challenged by the WRU who claim the London Irish utility back is only eligible for Wales following his appearance against France in an 'A' match last year. Swansea-born Shingler, who in November stated his ambitions for Welsh selection and spoke of his 'home' with family in Wales, seems keen to make his Six Nations début - regardless of who for - speaking with pride of his Scottish roots, he stated: "I would be massively proud to play for Scotland," he said. "My upbringing from my mother means I've always known about Scotland. "I've got my gran, auntie, two uncles and two cousins in Langholm and, other than the past year, I've been up 15 years on the bounce to see them around the time of the Common Riding and I've competed in the Games as well." Make your bloody mind up, Stevie.
Darkon84 Posted 6 January 2012 Posted 6 January 2012 Should be a blinder this year! Probably the toughest and most hotly contested for years, what with the Ireland-Wales rematch, England looking to show they arent just a bunch of posers, and France with a big point to prove too. Really cant wait Being half Irish, my heart gets torn at times like this between England and Ireland, and when they play, I just want to see a ruddy good game of eggball. Hate to say it Finners, but Im tempted to put some cash on Wales this year. youll be hurt by the lack of a certain flying winger, one of the true greats of the modern era, but I see enough quality in the team, plus some excellent prospects coming through! May the best team win!
The Doctor Posted 6 January 2012 Posted 6 January 2012 Steven clearly knows his stuff. Can't argue with that for an opening game, only one I'd prefer is Italy at home for a near guaranteed winning start. Still got a better chance than against Ireland, France or Wales though. Italy will get the wooden spoon as per usual, but I fancy Wales to knick the title ahead of France, they'll certainly want a bit of pay-back after the way the WC went. I think if we can get the win at Murrayfield in the opening game then we'll just edge in front of England.
Finnegan Posted 6 January 2012 Author Posted 6 January 2012 Should be a blinder this year! Probably the toughest and most hotly contested for years, what with the Ireland-Wales rematch, England looking to show they arent just a bunch of posers, and France with a big point to prove too. Really cant wait Being half Irish, my heart gets torn at times like this between England and Ireland, and when they play, I just want to see a ruddy good game of eggball. Hate to say it Finners, but Im tempted to put some cash on Wales this year. youll be hurt by the lack of a certain flying winger, one of the true greats of the modern era, but I see enough quality in the team, plus some excellent prospects coming through! May the best team win! Steven clearly knows his stuff. Can't argue with that for an opening game, only one I'd prefer is Italy at home for a near guaranteed winning start. Still got a better chance than against Ireland, France or Wales though. Italy will get the wooden spoon as per usual, but I fancy Wales to knick the title ahead of France, they'll certainly want a bit of pay-back after the way the WC went. I think if we can get the win at Murrayfield in the opening game then we'll just edge in front of England. I don't really share your optimism and I really, really hope that the Welsh public remain patient with this group of players.You're right, we will miss Shane, but there's a fantastic new dawn coming through and I'm very, very excited about the prospect of what could really be a 'golden generation' for us in the next four to five years. But I can see us peaking around 2015, for now I think we need to be realistic and keep our feet on the ground, try not to rush these lads into storming the Championship. They were praised for their courage and their, frankly, almost naivety during the World Cup but I think if we start mounting undue pressure on them too soon then we may end up shattering that best of their traits. I really can't look much beyond France overall unless Saint-André somehow turns out to be even more of a disaster than Lievremont.
Bert Posted 7 January 2012 Posted 7 January 2012 Nice easy start for England against the worst team in the tournament.
The Doctor Posted 7 January 2012 Posted 7 January 2012 Nice easy start for England against the worst team in the tournament. - The Italians must be so hurt you've forgot about them there.
Finnegan Posted 7 January 2012 Author Posted 7 January 2012 - The Italians must be so hurt you've forgot about them there. To be fair, you've got us in Cardiff and Italy in the Olimpico. If you can't get anything out of England at Murrayfield you really could be looking at a wooden spoon and a white wash.
Narborough_fox Posted 7 January 2012 Posted 7 January 2012 Looking forward to our annual Wooden spoon dogfight between ourselves and the Italians. Can see us finishing bottom this year, changing period for Scottish rugby without Paterson.
Bert Posted 8 January 2012 Posted 8 January 2012 - The Italians must be so hurt you've forgot about them there. I'd not forgot about them.
Finnegan Posted 8 January 2012 Author Posted 8 January 2012 Northern Hemisphere S'alright, chap, we're well aware you're jealous. BOOOOOOOOORING LIKE CRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICKET.
Alexikokopops Posted 8 January 2012 Posted 8 January 2012 LIKE CRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICKET. I do enjoy international Rugby Union. The order still goes like this though: International cricket > club football > county cricket/International football > International rugby union I haven't decided where F1 fits into this yet
Finnegan Posted 8 January 2012 Author Posted 8 January 2012 Nice easy one to start us off. WUM. To be honest, you'd be better off if it was in Cardiff.
Finnegan Posted 21 January 2012 Author Posted 21 January 2012 Ah ****. I'm a little bit baffled by the constant Gavin Henson obsession. I do think he should be considered to have a Wales future but at least let the guy play a few games at club level before you start dragging him in to everything. He needs fitness desperately. In other news, the IRB have backed Wales' claim that Steven Shingler is declared for Wales and England captaincy hopeful Tom Woods will miss the start of the 6N with injury. Furthermore, Ireland, Italy and Wales have now joined France, Scotland and England in declaring their initial squads which can be found here.
Finnegan Posted 30 January 2012 Author Posted 30 January 2012 Interesting news for Tigers' fans. Star turn Thomas Waldrom is called up from England Saxons to the senior squad to play against Scotland. Waldrom scored in Saxons' 23 - 17 warm-up win over Wolfhounds this weekend and impressed along with Banahan (God help you.) Former international and BBC commentator John Beattie (father of Johnnie) is confident of a Scotland win on opening day and whilst I think the English could really be ones to watch if all goes well, his optimism may be justified as England have a difficult recent history at Murrayfield. Meanwhile, Ireland are 1/2 favourites to pip Wales in Dublin and the BBC's Scrum V found it hard to disagree. The promise of a brave World Cup campaign seems to have faded away into the disappointment of another Six Nations facing serial injury set backs and it'll take huge strength of character to overturn the Irish at home. Current outright odds from SkyBet: France: 13/8 Wales: 11/4 England: 4/1 Ireland: 9/2 Scotland: 20/1 Italy: 200/1
Finnegan Posted 30 January 2012 Author Posted 30 January 2012 Yeah, I don't really know a Tigers' fan with a bad word to say about him. He munched us up when we met in the Heineken Cup previously, very impressed. Little bit surprised it's taken him so long to get a call up and that he had to go via Saxons.
Darkon84 Posted 30 January 2012 Posted 30 January 2012 Yeah, I don't really know a Tigers' fan with a bad word to say about him. He munched us up when we met in the Heineken Cup previously, very impressed. Little bit surprised it's taken him so long to get a call up and that he had to go via Saxons. Youre not the only one thats surprised its taken so long. He is our best performer week in, week out, regularly gets man of the match (even from Stuart 'pud' Barnes on occasion which must mean hes doing something right!). His carrying is second to none and I'm chuffed he's got the call up. I just hope he gets an opportunity to shine and gets used in the correct way
Finnegan Posted 2 February 2012 Author Posted 2 February 2012 For those of you interested in stats, here's a great little article. Good read.
Darkon84 Posted 2 February 2012 Posted 2 February 2012 For those of you interested in stats, here's a great little article. Good read. Can't really take too much from the article, but its still a decent and interesting read. As he states in the article, i's more about pub banter and being able to throw some facts in your friends faces. I can hear the excuses already being practised
Finnegan Posted 2 February 2012 Author Posted 2 February 2012 I agree and I don't. Yes, it's largely just a bit of fun and shouldnt be used to forecast outcomes, but at the same time it does actually out the boot into English rugby a little. When you consider the investment and the talent pool, the returns are incredibly disappointing - especially since the world cup win where you've largely done sod all. That's coming up to ten years of being 'in transition.'
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