The Rugby Thread

[Irishnev]

They were sat at the table eating.

I opened a bottle of Cava (all we had) at HT.

So after my youngest was crying my Missus looked at me and said. Can you stop shouting. I said no

Tried explaining how often I’ve had to swallow thrashings from the English - so it means a lot, but suspect that’s for another day

Very proud of that second half. It’s a tournament that could have been very different for us.

Ha ha - my Mrs just doesn’t get the rivalry and the (ahem) rage it can induce. A nearly tournament for you - probably should have beaten us and could have beaten Wales.

You blooded a lot of players and that will stand to you longer term. For us.....the only way was down and the form of a number of our key players is worrying. A lot of decent teams at the WC but NZ the clear favs for me.

[Buzzo]

When Finn went under the sticks the foundations were rocking I roared so load.

We soooo badly needed that second half performance to restore some pride.

The WC throws up some interesting perspectives with every team arriving with tmreasons to be cheerful and reasons to be fearful.

I can’t stand Eddie Jones. Absolutely loathe the way he is in the press. Incapable of offering praise. He looked absolutely rattled second half though.

[Buzzo]

What did everyone make of Farrell tackle btw? That’s at least a yellow for me. He sized Darcy Graham up and went in no arms, no consideration of where the ball was.

[Buzzo]

Austin Healey and Matt Dawson think red. That was my initial thought, but then you factor in that it is Farrell

[ame]https://twitter.com/iamaustinhealey/status/1106986536317452294[/ame]

[Irishnev]

Austin Healey and Matt Dawson think red. That was my initial thought, but then you factor in that it is Farrell

https://twitter.com/iamaustinhealey/...86536317452294

I saw someone refer to him on twitter as the Fernandinho of rugby.....always gets away with it.

[Cormack74]

Austin Healey always goes for the sensational. When he's commentating on BT sport he often tries to second guess refereeing decisions, mostly wrongly.

I think in the autumn Farrell was lucky to get away with the shoulder charge on the Saffer. But today it was exactly as the ref / TMO called it - he originally started to put his arms out then turned away to protect himself. A yellow would have been harsh, a red utterly ridiculous.

[Buzzo]

Taken in isolation, I think he is lucky. You see him calculate the hit, he sizes up Graham’s then goes in with no attempt to wrap his arms.

He was lucky. I’ve seen reds for the same thing at least three times this season - Danny Ciproani for Gloucester and... I forget who playing in a game for Glasgow. They are difficult calls but with Farrell you feel it is habitual.

Ultimately, if I try and rip partisanship from the game, a draw is about right. We were ****e first half and England were clinical.

But for Scotland to have the heart to get to 38-31 from 31 down you have to feel we deserved the win. So much desire.

Finn Russell was unleashed second half. One of the best 40 mins you could see from a ten. His big looping pass leading to Graham’s second try. His interception try. His off loads. Incredible.

For England. I believe the issue begins with Eddie Jones. Hubris is a killer. And for sure they wrote Scotland off at HY and that Is inexcusable.

Farrell has been a massive issue in the collapses v. Wales and Scotland. Not sure captaincy suits him. And he should sack off the wanky huddles.

[Rigadon]

Congrats to Wales.

If you're top then there's not much anyone can say other than well done for scoring the same number of tournament tries as Italy

Ireland really didn't show up - shame really that it wasn't more of a contest but in fairness to them they had the shortest turnaround which couldn't have helped.

We’ll take it. And big congrats to England for drawing at home against Scotland.

[Rigadon]

Warren Gatland, in his 50th and final Six Nations match in charge, becomes the first coach in Five or Six Nations history to win three Slams.

Gatland has won 43 Six Nations matches, 13 more than anyone else.

Won 86% of his games. Awesome!

Also undefeated as Lions coach. Spot on with squad and team selections (only possible criticism - he should have selected more Welsh players).

[Rigadon]

[Buzzo]

Well done to the Welsh. And to the first Scotland team to hold on to the Calcutta Cup after a match at Twickenham in 36 years.

[ame]https://twitter.com/scotlandteam/status/1106998982469959681[/ame]

[Cormack74]

We’ll take it. And big congrats to England for drawing at home against Scotland.

Wales have been very good and I've said so. But they aren't go to win the WC without scoring tries.

Momentum gathered for them when France threw away their lead in game 1 but if that hadn't happened I suspect they might only have had an average season.

England v Scotland showed the value of that yesterday: all England and when they eased up a bit they couldn't get it back and it was all with Scotland. If the likes of NZ get a lead they aren't going to let it go and Wales aren't going to suddenly out (try) score them.

[Cormack74]

Taken in isolation, I think he is lucky. You see him calculate the hit, he sizes up Graham’s then goes in with no attempt to wrap his arms.

He was lucky. I’ve seen reds for the same thing at least three times this season - Danny Ciproani for Gloucester and... I forget who playing in a game for Glasgow. They are difficult calls but with Farrell you feel it is habitual.

Ultimately, if I try and rip partisanship from the game, a draw is about right. We were ****e first half and England were clinical.

But for Scotland to have the heart to get to 38-31 from 31 down you have to feel we deserved the win. So much desire.

Finn Russell was unleashed second half. One of the best 40 mins you could see from a ten. His big looping pass leading to Graham’s second try. His interception try. His off loads. Incredible.

For England. I believe the issue begins with Eddie Jones. Hubris is a killer. And for sure they wrote Scotland off at HY and that Is inexcusable.

Farrell has been a massive issue in the collapses v. Wales and Scotland. Not sure captaincy suits him. And he should sack off the wanky huddles.

You see I think taken in isolation the decision was the right one. If you look at previous games then in that case you might say there's a pattern and Farrell was lucky.

Don't forget there was initially no on field penalty so the referee and his two assistants (both International refs) thought it was ok. It was only after we had about 9 replays most of them slowed down which makes things look worse that a decision was made to penalise him at all.

Also the point of having the TMO is principally to deal with things that are clear and obvious which the ref' might have missed. The fact that we are having this discussion (and the fact that only a penalty was given) suggests it wasn't clear and obvious. Well not unless you just think I'm being partisan for the sake of it and (although I've now way of proving it) if I genuinely thought it was a sending off I would say so.

But as I said at the top; on past form the ref' might have taken Farrell's previous into account and judged it differently.

[Cormack74]

For England. I believe the issue begins with Eddie Jones. Hubris is a killer. And for sure they wrote Scotland off at HY and that Is inexcusable.

Farrell has been a massive issue in the collapses v. Wales and Scotland. Not sure captaincy suits him. And he should sack off the wanky huddles.

Don't know if it's hubris but they clearly eased up because they thought the game was won: unforgivable at this level as you say.

I didn't see the end of match stats but after an hour they had missed 25% of their tackles; you wouldn't see that in an Under 9's game. By contrast v Ireland their gain line hits were off the charts whereas I barely saw one yesterday.

I should imagine that come the WC yesterday's shambles is going to give their opponents massive self belief that England could crumble at any point which is going to potentially make their games much harder even against perceived inferior opposition.

[Rigadon]

Wales won the Grand Slam without really getting out of second gear. All relatively comfortable. Bit of a strange 6N.

Be interesting to see the reaction (from all six nations) over the next 6 months.