International Rugby

[Jon Crofts]

Wales are bang average, Biggar was shockingly poor, nowt to worry about there. Italy should have run them closer.

Greg Laidlaw really made some friends today as well.

[paul_e]

I thought Biggar was ok, it was Davies at 9 that I blamed for how poor they were, far too willing to let the forwards crash ineffectively into line after line of Italian defence.

[paul_e]

kick off then, prediction is england by more than 2 converted tries.

and there's the first try, fucking brilliance by Daly.

[Steve67]

Wow! What a fantastic half by England.  Clearly done their homework by getting the ball in to the wide open spaces left in behind the French.

[paul_e]

The way to beat France was always going to be to tie them in and then go around the outside, with their pack and Basteraud they've just not got the mobility around the pitch so make things narrow for a couple of phases and you're always going to have space then with the sheer pace in the backline you'll score for fun.

[paul_e]

Dan Robson eventually gets his first England cap, about 2 years after he should've been given it.

[manic-road]

Nice to watch an England game knowing after just a few minutes gone they are going to win.

[paul_e]

I'm a bit gutted here, I said on my club whatsapp chat that this would be a 50 point game after the first 2 minutes but all the subs have broken the game up.

[taylorsworkrate]

Yep, battering the oppostion into such a lead was always going to see the intensity taken out of the last 20 minutes in fairness.

It has been two utterly dominant tactical masterclasses (in completely different ways) from England so far in this 6 nations. Ireland were very much flattered by the margin of victory in week 1.

From what i've seen of us and Wales so far, Wales would need to drastically improve and we would need to drastically regress for Wales to win.

[taylorsworkrate]

Although Wales usually play about 10% above themselves when they get a sight of the white shirt in Cardiff.

[Jon Crofts]

We seemed to run out of ideas and steam a bit in the last 20, hitting 50 would have been nice.

I had my ref link in today and listening to Nigel Owens was an absolute treat, a master class in how to let a game run, well played Sir, you’ll be sorely missed.

[paul_e]

Wales are a funny side, I look at their team on paper and watch them play and see nothing to concern me, but they're on a superb run of victories at the minute and seem to be able to squeeze out victories despite the obvious flaws.

[Villan For Life]

We seemed to run out of ideas and steam a bit in the last 20, hitting 50 would have been nice.

I had my ref link in today and listening to Nigel Owens was an absolute treat, a master class in how to let a game run, well played Sir, you’ll be sorely missed.

I thought he had a marvellous game today. A couple of decisions could have gone either way but he had the presence to deal with the players in such a way that even potentially contentious decisions were handled with skill and authority. A top referee.

[dave shelley]

We seemed to run out of ideas and steam a bit in the last 20, hitting 50 would have been nice.

I had my ref link in today and listening to Nigel Owens was an absolute treat, a master class in how to let a game run, well played Sir, you’ll be sorely missed.

We were out for lunch with Mrs S's siblings so I only got to see the second half in the hotel we were at.  It was disappointing to see that they had the volume off and so I couldn't hear the commentary but more disappointing that I couldn't hear what Nigel Owens was saying.  Nigel Owens has made me understand more about rugby than anyone and you are right Jon, he will be missed.

[Jon Crofts]

We seemed to run out of ideas and steam a bit in the last 20, hitting 50 would have been nice.

I had my ref link in today and listening to Nigel Owens was an absolute treat, a master class in how to let a game run, well played Sir, you’ll be sorely missed.

We were out for lunch with Mrs S's siblings so I only got to see the second half in the hotel we were at.  It was disappointing to see that they had the volume off and so I couldn't hear the commentary but more disappointing that I couldn't hear what Nigel Owens was saying.  Nigel Owens has made me understand more about rugby than anyone and you are right Jon, he will be missed.

Deep,in the second half the French number 1 was lying injured on the ground awaiting the medics, Owens went over to him and asked him ‘are you ok young man? ‘Oui monsieuer’ came the reply then Owens said ‘Ooh rainbow laces, I like that’

Throughout the game he was constantly telling players and officials what he wanted and encouraging them with little pep talks especially in gaps in play. Can’t think of another referee I’ve heard do that.