The Rugby Thread

[Tooting Carmen]

What do you think about rabah Slimani the prop?
Everybody in France talk in good about him and how strong he is in the scrum. But I didn't really see him a lot during the game.
It's true he play a ungrateful role but is he really so good?

OK, but not that special.

[Argentano]

i watch jaguares today. Half time. It bored me to death

[Tacitus]

England 36-15 Italy. I think the scoreline makes the result look worse than it really was, since England scored three tries in the final 10 minutes. Prior to that Italy were only down by two and playing well.

Edit: I think it's hilarious that part of Italy's game plan was not to engage in the ruck, especially since in this same fixture last year they were very aggressive there, which had a similar effect on the English IIRC.

[Jehan]

Laporte, the new french president of rugby wants to make contracts with the rugbymen in the national team.
It means the players will sign a contract who will make them play only for the french national team 6 months a year.
It will be hard to make it accept by the clubs of top14. It will obviously lower the level of the championship.

That's sound like a desesperate decision. French team didn't made a result since the world cup in new zeland.

The system is already use in rugby VII and the result aren't really there for the moment.

[Tooting Carmen]

England 36-15 Italy. I think the scoreline makes the result look worse than it really was, since England scored three tries in the final 10 minutes. Prior to that Italy were only down by two and playing well.

Edit: I think it's hilarious that part of Italy's game plan was not to engage in the ruck, especially since in this same fixture last year they were very aggressive there, which had a similar effect on the English IIRC.

I was out during the match, but I did keep in touch with the score through the BBC website and was shocked. All the same, it was a very ugly and short-termist plan by Italy and they were eventually worked out. Basically, what they were saying is "we cannot tackle properly". Nevertheless, although they remain unbeaten I have actually been quite disappointed with England so far in the 6N - their wins against France and Wales were unconvincing and not really worthy of a team who say they want to usurp the All Blacks and then they face this nonsense from Italy. Given the excellence of their backline, I certainly won't rule out Scotland winning the Triple Crown now.

[Tooting Carmen]

EDIT

[Tooting Carmen]

Has anyone else been following the U20's Six Nations? I watched part of the Scotland-Wales match, and it was a fun try-scoring fest that would put the All Blacks to shame. 34-65 - a record victory for u20's Wales against u20's Scotland.

[Tacitus]

I was out during the match, but I did keep in touch with the score through the BBC website and was shocked. All the same, it was a very ugly and short-termist plan by Italy and they were eventually worked out. Basically, what they were saying is "we cannot tackle properly". Nevertheless, although they remain unbeaten I have actually been quite disappointed with England so far in the 6N - their wins against France and Wales were unconvincing and not really worthy of a team who say they want to usurp the All Blacks and then they face this nonsense from Italy. Given the excellence of their backline, I certainly won't rule out Scotland winning the Triple Crown now.

I think it was just as much a "psych out" move as anything else. Watching the match the English players were so confused that at one point in the first half one of their forwards approached the referee asking, "What exactly am I supposed to do?" To which the ref brilliantly replied, "I'm the referee, not the coach." They really couldn't cope with it at first. But beyond that, yeah, England have been poor given all of Eddie Jones's bluster. And credit to Italy too, they were moving forward in attack better than expected; Campagnaro's try was excellent and proves that he needs to be a fixture in the starting XV. If anything, Italy should have been up by more than five at the half were it not for Allan's two missed penalties (admittedly Italy's try in the first half was a bit fortuitous thanks to another poor kick).

As I said earlier, in the same fixture last year Italy went into the ruck extremely aggressively with the same goal in mind - to slow the English attack and rattle them. And like last year, both matches were very close up until the hour mark.

Has anyone else been following the U20's Six Nations? I watched part of the Scotland-Wales match, and it was a fun try-scoring fest that would put the All Blacks to shame. 34-65 - a record victory for u20's Wales against u20's Scotland.

I only caught a bit of Italy's matches against Ireland and England. Hopefully Licata (number 8), Trussardi (scrum-half), and Venditti (second row) all make the jump to the senior side sooner than later.

[Tooting Carmen]

I think it was just as much a "psych out" move as anything else. Watching the match the English players were so confused that at one point in the first half one of their forwards approached the referee asking, "What exactly am I supposed to do?" To which the ref brilliantly replied, "I'm the referee, not the coach." They really couldn't cope with it at first. But beyond that, yeah, England have been poor given all of Eddie Jones's bluster. And credit to Italy too, they were moving forward in attack better than expected; Campagnaro's try was excellent and proves that he needs to be a fixture in the starting XV. If anything, Italy should have been up by more than five at the half were it not for Allan's two missed penalties (admittedly Italy's try in the first half was a bit fortuitous thanks to another poor kick).

As I said earlier, in the same fixture last year Italy went into the ruck extremely aggressively with the same goal in mind - to slow the English attack and rattle them. And like last year, both matches were very close up until the hour mark.



I only caught a bit of Italy's matches against Ireland and England. Hopefully Licata (number 8), Trussardi (scrum-half), and Venditti (second row) all make the jump to the senior side sooner than later.

Although most Welsh fans and I are still perplexed by the stagnation-cum-decline of the team since 2014, it is good how all the teams (including Wales) are trying to play more attacking rugby rather than the penalty fests of earlier years, where entire matches effectively became Wilkinson (and later on Farrell) versus Halfpenny versus Laidlaw versus Sexton etc.

[Tooting Carmen]

As for Campagnaro, like Parisse he is a brilliant player in an otherwise struggling team, but he had been injured for ages so I think that's why he was initially only on the bench until yesterday.