The Rugby Thread

[Rigadon]

Played like Scotland circa 2014 I’ll give you that

You’ll see the ball in the air a lot in the Ireland England game.

Martyn Williams just made a good point - Scotland, England and Ireland aren’t going to be too worried about that performance. Both teams need to play better. Having said that, it should be a good 6 Nations but can’t see beyond Ireland as Champions.

[Buzzo]

Martyn Williams just made a good point - Scotland, England and Ireland aren’t going to be too worried about that performance. Both teams need to play better. Having said that, it should be a good 6 Nations but can’t see beyond Ireland as Champions.

Wales played poorly in the first half, but nowhere near as poorly as the French in the Second half..! Playing badly and winning is a good habit to have. So it was a good win, Italy away so Wales could be on for a cracker v the English in Cardiff looking at 3 from three.

[Red_Polo]

One of the worst Wales performances I've seen in a long time.

Good job they absolutely gifted us one and North made a beast intercept for another.

[Cormack74]

Because it’s Dublin I think we’ll win by <7 points but I wouldn’t be surprised if they win.

I think 7 points is about right.

England have been dogged by 2 issues the past few years: massively slow starts and conceding large numbers of penalties. Unless they manage to cure both they won't win IMO.

[ChesterDave]

Clear knock on in the build up but never mind

[Irishnev]

As I expected- v physical and England pumped and up for the fight. Henshaw struggling at full back and we are under big pressure now.

[RichC]

French ref covered himself in glory there

[Irishnev]

French ref covered himself in glory there

Shocker BUT England well deserving of the lead and what looks like the eventual win.

Made Ireland look as average as I’ve seen for a long time, trip to Scotland next week looks daunting

[Zapater]

That was brilliant.

[RichC]

Not many will go there and get that sort of result, best we’ve played in a long time tbh gave the Irish little time or space to get going.

See if we can keep that level of play up or not over the course of the tournament

[Irishnev]

That was brilliant.

For who

A kick in the arse helps every once in a while and brings us crashing back to earth. People here getting miles ahead of themselves but a fully fit England playing at that level can beat anyone. Our supposed strength in depth exposed as we are bare at full back and Henshaw struggled.

A few tight calls from the ref went against us but that wouldn’t have mattered but England deserved it. They brought a level of physicality I expected but we couldn’t match them.

Murrayfield looks v tough for us next week.

The funny thing is I’m not disappointed as we need to build for the World Cup and this helps build character. I was more disappointed vs Leicester.

[Cormack74]

Well that was a surprise: not necessarily that England played well (although I can't recall them being on it from the start for some considerable time) but that Ireland didn't.

And especially given how well Ireland have acquitted themselves in pressure games against the likes of the All Blacks in recent times.

Jonny Wilkinson made a valid point on TV in that both sides protected the ball really well - there were relatively few turnovers and I see that as one of Ireland's great strengths. Turnover ball is generally the hardest to defend against.

I'd disagree about the tight calls though Nev' I though Ireland got some good ones: the yellow card should have been penalty only - the "offence" was a timing issue of about 1/1000 of a second and even Brian O'Driscoll said he'd have been disappointed if Mako Vunipola's try had been chalked off if it had been scored at the other end.

One stat that I was unaware of: Ireland have lost the last 20 games in which they were more than a point behind at half-time. If Schmidt has something to work on it's probably that.

[Irishnev]

Well that was a surprise: not necessarily that England played well (although I can't recall them being on it from the start for some considerable time) but that Ireland didn't.

And especially given how well Ireland have acquitted themselves in pressure games against the likes of the All Blacks in recent times.

Jonny Wilkinson made a valid point on TV in that both sides protected the ball really well - there were relatively few turnovers and I see that as one of Ireland's great strengths. Turnover ball is generally the hardest to defend against.

I'd disagree about the tight calls though Nev' I though Ireland got some good ones: the yellow card should have been penalty only - the "offence" was a timing issue of about 1/1000 of a second and even Brian O'Driscoll said he'd have been disappointed if Mako Vunipola's try had been chalked off if it had been scored at the other end.

One stat that I was unaware of: Ireland have lost the last 20 games in which they were more than a point behind at half-time. If Schmidt has something to work on it's probably that.

'The tight calls - yellow May have been slightly harsh but Itoje should have had a yellow straight afterwards. When the game was in the balance Slade's first try shouldn't have stood - pass may have been forward but he was def ahead of the ball. Irish tv (of course) showed another angle.

Regardless of these England deserved to win and they did.

[Zapater]

For who

Was referring to Slade's interception, not the game. Don't have a horse in the race, but if I were a bit biased in 6N rugby, it'd be towards France.

'The tight calls - yellow May have been slightly harsh but Itoje should have had a yellow straight afterwards. When the game was in the balance Slade's first try shouldn't have stood - pass may have been forward but he was def ahead of the ball. Irish tv (of course) showed another angle.

Regardless of these England deserved to win and they did.

Was a bit odd that the ref didn't check the pass again. Was impossible to see if he was behind the kick or not due to the angle he was given. Didn't see the other angle, but given what he had, he made the correct call.

[Cormack74]

'The tight calls - yellow May have been slightly harsh but Itoje should have had a yellow straight afterwards. When the game was in the balance Slade's first try shouldn't have stood - pass may have been forward but he was def ahead of the ball. Irish tv (of course) showed another angle.

Regardless of these England deserved to win and they did.

I think the Slade try was 50:50, first angle on UK TV he appeared slightly ahead the second pretty much level. Don't forget the wording is "clear and obvious" and it did get reviewed by the TMO to be fair.

The Itoje one, Connor Murray should have been penalised for obstruction 2 seconds previously but ignoring that, Itoje gets higher in the air than Earls; it's hardly his fault that he's a bigger bloke and Earls comes off worse. If there had been no collision then actually Itoje had a better chance of catching the ball that Earls did.

Anyway mate we're not going to agree (even though I'm a qualified ref' so clearly right ). The good thing was that one or two tight calls either way didn't decide the game which is always incredibly frustrating when 2 teams are evenly matched for 80 minutes only for things to be decided on a marginal law interpretation.