International Rugby

[PaulWinch again]

Manu might not be a 12, but Jones sees him as one so I reckon we'll see him there.

[DaveD]

I suppose Itoje's risk is mitigated to a degree by playing alongside his clubmate Kruis.

[nigel]

Apparently Ireland have big injury problems, so, won't be at full strength.
This might be behind selection of Itoje.
As mentioned, he'll be alongside his team mate which will help.
Looking forward to this game

[DaveD]

Was at a do with Conor O'Shea tonight. He's very impressive by the way. He reckons Ireland have picked a team to do a specific job - very physical in the backs. But he tipped England to win anyway.

[PaulWinch again]

This period of France being a really poor side much be unprecedented. They've been rubbish for an age.

[Dante Lavelli]

This period of France being a really poor side much be unprecedented. They've been rubbish for an age.

They remind me of villa.  They look like a load of individuals and without a collective identity.

[DaveD]

As Casteneigede was saying at half-time, the French league not only doesn't support the national team, it actively undermines it. Very similar to English football.

[lovejoy]

..and English rugby. The Celtic nations have no meaningful league programme. They play Champions Cup and Internationals and the rest of it is warm up matches.

[PaulWinch again]

Not really. The England team could benefit from more centralised control of the clubs, but the England national team still takes ultimate priority which isn't like the football team.

[lovejoy]

Our players play more meaningful club matches than the Celts. They get more tired, injuries etc.

[PaulWinch again]

Yes but I'd say France's main issue, like the English Premier League in football, is French players not getting the opportunity.

[paul_e]

Yeah, the English league is doing a stellar job of unearthing talent right now, our record in the Junior World Cup in recent years is evidence of that and even just watching a couple of games you'll see a handful of younger players who have huge amounts of quality.  As I've said a few times right now our first 23 is decent (in all honesty we should have got the semi-final of the world cup) but once you start going to the 'depth' squad like the saxons and the U20s we get stronger and stronger.  That's down to the league.  Every team playing 30+ genuinely competitive matches every season, combined with the international windows and the greater need to rest players has meant that having younger players they can rely on has become a necessity and most clubs have done a great job of bringing through 2-3 young players pretty much every season for the last 5-6 years.  It all started in about 1999 when Woodward and the RFU started to encourage the development of much stronger academies in the fairly recently professional clubs.

[paul_e]

shoved a few quid on scotland leading at half time and italy winning, these penalties are frustrating me.

[paul_e]

Piss poor from Cole in the scrum again to concede 3

[PaulWinch again]

So many penalties.