The Rugby Thread

[Irishnev]

I thought it was going to be the first Calcutta cup match at Murrayfield I’d missed since 2017.

Got a call from my brother in law at midday to ask if we wanted to go to watch the game. He takes an exec box at Murrayfield. What a day. Only tough part was having to Sophie’s choice a decision on which of my sons went with me as my wife wasn’t bothered.

Being able to walk inside and watch bits of the game next to free bar is pretty sweet. 5 course meal. Champagne reception. Ex players popping in.

And then beating the English

We’ve a really robust record against them now only 2 defeats in 10 years. Pre match I really didn’t know what to expect. There were a few England supporters in the box and equally they seemed unsure. Atmosphere was immense tho and Finn was on fire. The one thing I do love about rugby is win or lose you typically chat to opposing supporters post match and being able to handle that is all part of the game. The England supporters I spoke to were really sound.

We just need other country’s to also wear white now I think….

It ended up being a fairly comfortable afternoon which was unexpected. I always think England don’t pick their best team - or the one I’d consider to be the best team. But we turned up big time.

Going corporate has probably ruined going to any live sport event for me now, but what can you do.

Watched the Ireland game pre match and Italy are ****ing good now. One forward pass away from what would have been a massive upset. That said they are so good that there is equally no shame in just squeaking past them. Their scrum dominance was mental. That scrum when Furlong popped out

https://twitter.com/itvrugby/status/2022699569100853558

Furlong just came on as well and you could see that stung, tbh after that we matched them comfortably in the scrum. We are without probably 4 props who’d start ahead of the two that played and Furlong has been injured for ages

Sending the bulk of a Lions squad is coming home to roost for Ireland and Leinster now

[Buzzo]

Bring a Scottish fan must be infuriating, you know what you can do but only rarely do you deliver. I thought England would be far too strong and ye do that, maybe it’ll carry into the rest of the games. A triple Crown becomes a real possibility now

You just never know with us I’ve still pretty much zero expectations of the tournament. But you need to enjoy the big wins and yesterday was pretty sweet.

[Buzzo]

I thought it was going to be the first Calcutta cup match at Murrayfield I’d missed since 2017.

Got a call from my brother in law at midday to ask if we wanted to go to watch the game. He takes an exec box at Murrayfield. What a day. Only tough part was having to Sophie’s choice a decision on which of my sons went with me as my wife wasn’t bothered.

Being able to walk inside and watch bits of the game next to free bar is pretty sweet. 5 course meal. Champagne reception. Ex players popping in.

And then beating the English

We’ve a really robust record against them now only 2 defeats in 10 years. Pre match I really didn’t know what to expect. There were a few England supporters in the box and equally they seemed unsure. Atmosphere was immense tho and Finn was on fire. The one thing I do love about rugby is win or lose you typically chat to opposing supporters post match and being able to handle that is all part of the game. The England supporters I spoke to were really sound.

We just need other country’s to also wear white now I think….

It ended up being a fairly comfortable afternoon which was unexpected. I always think England don’t pick their best team - or the one I’d consider to be the best team. But we turned up big time.

Going corporate has probably ruined going to any live sport event for me now, but what can you do.

Watched the Ireland game pre match and Italy are ****ing good now. One forward pass away from what would have been a massive upset. That said they are so good that there is equally no shame in just squeaking past them. Their scrum dominance was mental. That scrum when Furlong popped out

[ame]https://twitter.com/itvrugby/status/2022699569100853558[/ame]

[Irishnev]

Bring a Scottish fan must be infuriating, you know what you can do but only rarely do you deliver. I thought England would be far too strong and ye do that, maybe it’ll carry into the rest of the games. A triple Crown becomes a real possibility now

[Sus]

Glad the Irish won today, but Italy were the better team in that first half. Quite the second half improvement from the boys in green

Man, I was thinking of you this afternoon Buzzo - what a great result. Was a bit worried for you in the second half until that last try, which took the wind out of englands sails

The Irish at the pub I was at celebrated that try like it was an Irish boy scoring

[Irishnev]

Hard fought win and maybe not fully deserved tbh, Italy are a very different side which is great to see. It’s easy to patronize them when they are putting it up to others but they have some really too players. They beat up our scrum, we’re good in the lineout and dangerous in broken play. Add that to their physicality and passion and you have a serious side.

People wanted to kick Italy out a few seasons ago but they are there on merit now. They u-20s are v good also

[Buzzo]

I’m mainly distracting myself from our performance by focusing on them. But they look miles off it. 3, maybe 4 at a push top players, the rest look a long way short of test match level.

I’m not sure that restructuring the Welsh teams makes a difference. They relied on their golden generation for too long without bringing a next gen through.

I’ve a ln England supporting mate who absolutely lives beating them and he said it was so easy he couldn’t really take any pleasure from it.

[Sus]

That first half was pretty ugly. Where do the Welsh go from here?

Rugby doesn’t have that many countries, we need the Welsh to be stronger

[Buzzo]

48-7

Demolition.

[Buzzo]

Wales attacking pen on England 5m. Tap and go. Forget to tap. Scrum to England.

[Buzzo]

That 4th try…



That’s like an OG from Wales. Woeful.

[Buzzo]

Wales are going to get absolutely hammered here. 10=0 down and down to 13 after 17 mins.

[Buzzo]

You really lacked a bit of personality with the back I thought. Hansen and Keenan, I even thought Lowe who despite me not really rating has real nuisance value and a huge boot. Going all in with Leinster when they’ve not been at their best and some of the other provinces have had players in form seems high risk.

Our issue is all coach now I think. The players are there.

Our U20’s has a convincing win over Italy.

Townsends selections didn’t work out at all. Particularly hooker. Both were abysmal.

5-3 split on the becmnch was a dud with Hastings not even getting used. He’s lost his way. I’d be a jockey if he’s not gone at the end of the Tournament and then Franck Smith comes in for the summer.

[Irishnev]

6 Nations is back with a bang and the old powers will domintae. I am reading about Ieland's demise since Thursday. Ireland won back to back u-20s (possibly both grand slams) 3/4 years ago.

We bet France in a titanic clash and 8 of that sde were in the swuad vs Ireland includng Jegou & BB. Only two of the the Irish side have been capped, one started vs France (Prendergast) and most are not playing provincial rugby still. There in lies the problem..... we have 4 sides and most of those lads are from Leinster where they can't get a sniff and they rot.

[Buzzo]

We lost that game before it started raining. The two early scores saw Italy home. We competed well last 30 but the game was gone.

Our lineout was beyond atrocious, scrum not much better.

Townsend out for me. The conditions didn’t help but it’s the same old story every year.