collapse collapse

Please donate to help towards the costs of keeping this site going. Thank You.

Recent Topics

Villa Park Redevelopment by Sexual Ealing
[Today at 01:03:06 PM]


Chris Heck - President of Business Operations by Ducksworthy
[Today at 01:01:39 PM]


Other Games - 2023/24 by devilla
[Today at 01:00:58 PM]


Gordon Cowans by Flamingo Lane
[Today at 12:56:46 PM]


Happy Easter everyone - Wolves at home by dave.woodhall
[Today at 12:46:19 PM]


All aboard the shuttle bus. by dave.woodhall
[Today at 12:23:44 PM]


Champions League Contention by AV82EC
[Today at 12:09:23 PM]


FFP by thick_mike
[Today at 10:19:47 AM]

Recent Posts

Follow us on...

Author Topic: International Rugby  (Read 381892 times)

Offline cheltenhamlion

  • Member
  • Posts: 18734
  • Location: Pedmore, Stourbridge
Re: Six Nations 2016
« Reply #885 on: March 01, 2016, 07:09:36 PM »
Clifford for Robshaw, Kvesic  for Haskell is how I would do it. And drop Youngs to boot.

Offline paul_e

  • Member
  • Posts: 33280
  • Age: 44
  • GM : July, 2013
Re: Six Nations 2016
« Reply #886 on: March 01, 2016, 07:34:43 PM »
Clifford for Robshaw, Kvesic  for Haskell is how I would do it. And drop Youngs to boot.

The problem with dropping Youngs is that the only alternative is Care, neither are playing well enough to be in the squad, Simpson, Chudley and Robson are the 3 quality 9s in the league right now, Robson in particular has been electric for the last month.

Offline rob_bridge

  • Member
  • Posts: 8273
  • Age: 51
  • Location: Shirleyshire
Re: Six Nations 2016
« Reply #887 on: March 03, 2016, 11:28:23 AM »
Aside from first half of Wales v Ireland think it has been a poor tournament.

Scotland are the most entertaining team

Offline paul_e

  • Member
  • Posts: 33280
  • Age: 44
  • GM : July, 2013
Re: Six Nations 2016
« Reply #888 on: March 03, 2016, 12:20:51 PM »
Aside from first half of Wales v Ireland think it has been a poor tournament.

Scotland are the most entertaining team

It's going almost exactly as I suspected.

England look like a squad put together to play one way but being asked/trained to play a different game.
France look like a team where the stars of their domestic league are all foreign and they don't know where the spark will come from.
Ireland look like they've lost all the leaders in their squad.
Italy look like a side that's trying to do the right things but doesn't have the club structure to support it.
Scotland look like a team trying to play the right way but with players not quite able to believe they are good enough to do it.
Wales look like a team who are assembled to bully the opposition and kick points when they get chance and then hope that one of their crashes through the middle leads to a try.

Ireland have the most sympathy from me, losing O'Brien for the tournament when he's the only world class player they have left was a kick in a balls.  I'm not sure I agree with you on Scotland though, I understand what they're trying to do but I just don't think they have the quality (especially at 10, 12 and 13) to play the game they're trying to so it looks a bit like a waste of effort and I really don't see them doing much more than we've seen already.

Offline rob_bridge

  • Member
  • Posts: 8273
  • Age: 51
  • Location: Shirleyshire
Re: Six Nations 2016
« Reply #889 on: March 03, 2016, 02:30:10 PM »
Aside from first half of Wales v Ireland think it has been a poor tournament.

Scotland are the most entertaining team

It's going almost exactly as I suspected.

England look like a squad put together to play one way but being asked/trained to play a different game.
France look like a team where the stars of their domestic league are all foreign and they don't know where the spark will come from.
Ireland look like they've lost all the leaders in their squad.
Italy look like a side that's trying to do the right things but doesn't have the club structure to support it.
Scotland look like a team trying to play the right way but with players not quite able to believe they are good enough to do it.
Wales look like a team who are assembled to bully the opposition and kick points when they get chance and then hope that one of their crashes through the middle leads to a try.

Ireland have the most sympathy from me, losing O'Brien for the tournament when he's the only world class player they have left was a kick in a balls.  I'm not sure I agree with you on Scotland though, I understand what they're trying to do but I just don't think they have the quality (especially at 10, 12 and 13) to play the game they're trying to so it looks a bit like a waste of effort and I really don't see them doing much more than we've seen already.

Yes I have sympathy with Ireland. Players like O'Connell (for Ireland) come along every 40 years. He was seriously that good.

With Scotland I meant they are trying to play a form of rugby even without the talent or depth.

Your other assessments are spot on and reason why Wales, who certainly have the best match day squad in terms of quality, do so utterly average against Southern Hemisphere Nations.

They remind of England in the early to mid 90's. Effective, mainly boring and are capable of more adventure.


Offline paul_e

  • Member
  • Posts: 33280
  • Age: 44
  • GM : July, 2013
Re: Six Nations 2016
« Reply #890 on: March 03, 2016, 03:42:51 PM »
I agree on Scotland, I think it's commendable, I just don't agree that they're the most entertaining team but that's largely because I get so frustrated by basic handling errors that it puts me off and I can't concentrate on what they're actually trying to do.  The worst thing is I think they have a decent pack for the game they want to play and a good set of outside backs but Finn Russell is easily the worst 10 in the tournament and their centres aren't much better either.  On top of that I think Laidlaw is a barely acceptable 9 who keeps his spot on the strength of his kicking which adds yet another reason that Russell needs to be replaced.

Online nigel

  • Member
  • Posts: 5325
Re: Six Nations 2016
« Reply #891 on: March 03, 2016, 09:25:21 PM »
I agree on Scotland, I think it's commendable, I just don't agree that they're the most entertaining team but that's largely because I get so frustrated by basic handling errors that it puts me off and I can't concentrate on what they're actually trying to do.  The worst thing is I think they have a decent pack for the game they want to play and a good set of outside backs but Finn Russell is easily the worst 10 in the tournament and their centres aren't much better either.  On top of that I think Laidlaw is a barely acceptable 9 who keeps his spot on the strength of his kicking which adds yet another reason that Russell needs to be replaced.

Was saying this to my mate, that if Scotland had a Gregor Townsend at 10 I think they'd be a threat.
I think Laidlaw's a decent 9 given whats outside him. It would be interesting to see him with a good 10 outside.

Offline cdbearsfan

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 61464
  • Location: Yardley Massive
  • I still hate Bono.
  • GM : 03.02.2025
Re: Six Nations 2016
« Reply #892 on: March 06, 2016, 05:38:36 PM »
Annoying that the rugby never seems to be on when I have the telly to myself and Villa aren't playing.

Online Villa in Denmark

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 11936
  • Age: 1024
  • Location: Lost
  • On a road to nowhere
  • GM : 07.09.2024
Re: Six Nations 2016
« Reply #893 on: March 06, 2016, 10:29:24 PM »
Annoying that the rugby never seems to be on when I have the telly to myself and Villa aren't playing.

Could be worse.  Viasat have the rights to the 6 nations and the World Cup over here.

The world cup final coverage ended up being the last 30 minutes live followed by a complete re-run of the game as they'd decided to show PSG v Barcelona ladies handball instead.
The 6 nations matches have so far been the Friday evening game re-run at about midnight, no coverage of the Saturday game and the Sunday game at about 2am on Monday morning.

Apart from this weekend where everything is either Tennis from Indian Wells, Boxing or serious pant wetting over Kevin Magnussen returning to F1.

Offline paul_e

  • Member
  • Posts: 33280
  • Age: 44
  • GM : July, 2013
Re: Six Nations 2016
« Reply #894 on: March 07, 2016, 06:58:31 AM »
Annoying that the rugby never seems to be on when I have the telly to myself and Villa aren't playing.

Could be worse.  Viasat have the rights to the 6 nations and the World Cup over here.

The world cup final coverage ended up being the last 30 minutes live followed by a complete re-run of the game as they'd decided to show PSG v Barcelona ladies handball instead.
The 6 nations matches have so far been the Friday evening game re-run at about midnight, no coverage of the Saturday game and the Sunday game at about 2am on Monday morning.

Apart from this weekend where everything is either Tennis from Indian Wells, Boxing or serious pant wetting over Kevin Magnussen returning to F1.

I remember similar problems in Norway, even if they covered the rugby it was, as you say, a few minutes here and there where it didn't interrupt their other programming.

Online Dante Lavelli

  • Member
  • Posts: 9550
  • GM : 25.05.2023
Re: Six Nations 2016
« Reply #895 on: March 07, 2016, 01:18:17 PM »
Slightly off topic but BT Sport's coverage is generally excellent of club rugby nowadays.  Often three or four matches and decent analysis programmes too. 
I also enjoy the amount of European football that they show.  It's almost as if I can completely ignore the Premier League now and pretend it is not happening.

Offline paul_e

  • Member
  • Posts: 33280
  • Age: 44
  • GM : July, 2013
Re: Six Nations 2016
« Reply #896 on: March 07, 2016, 03:41:54 PM »
Slightly off topic but BT Sport's coverage is generally excellent of club rugby nowadays.  Often three or four matches and decent analysis programmes too. 
I also enjoy the amount of European football that they show.  It's almost as if I can completely ignore the Premier League now and pretend it is not happening.

I agree, slightly too much 'tigers' focus in the make up of the commentary team and the Welsh bird is annoying is fuck but other than that I think they do a really good job.  I like the 3 commentators idea as well because they have, generally, proper insight from forwards and backs perspective and then a 'real' commentator to hold it together.  Flatman, Monye and Dallaglio in particular are excellent at giving real insight into what's going on and I love the fact that they often disagree, rugby, like cricket, has commentary that's leagues ahead of football.

The other thing I love about the rugby is that they own their own footage so you get this - Link - which is fantastic if you've missed a game or 2.

Offline paul_e

  • Member
  • Posts: 33280
  • Age: 44
  • GM : July, 2013
Re: Six Nations 2016
« Reply #897 on: March 07, 2016, 03:45:05 PM »
Annoying that the rugby never seems to be on when I have the telly to myself and Villa aren't playing.

Do you try to watch the club game?  English club rugby is truly brilliant right now, there are 4-5 teams that are great to watch, I recommend Wasps and Worcester to anyone who likes a more flowing game (Worcester are the scots of the league, trying to do everything the right way but just not quite good enough to pull it off) and then Bath, Exeter, Gloucester and Saints are all capable of looking excellent when thy hit form.

Offline Rotterdam

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 4371
  • GM : 06.03.2025
Re: Six Nations 2016
« Reply #898 on: March 07, 2016, 07:50:59 PM »
I had a cracking Year 7 rugby lesson today. Having been teaching for 20+ years and personally only played three competitive games of egg chase in my life, I really enjoy teaching it. The kids were great; rucks, mauls, tap pens and no scrums. Brill.

Online nigel

  • Member
  • Posts: 5325
Re: Six Nations 2016
« Reply #899 on: March 07, 2016, 08:30:44 PM »
Annoying that the rugby never seems to be on when I have the telly to myself and Villa aren't playing.

Do you try to watch the club game?  English club rugby is truly brilliant right now, there are 4-5 teams that are great to watch, I recommend Wasps and Worcester to anyone who likes a more flowing game (Worcester are the scots of the league, trying to do everything the right way but just not quite good enough to pull it off) and then Bath, Exeter, Gloucester and Saints are all capable of looking excellent when thy hit form.

Thinking of getting a season ticket to either Wasps or Worcester next season and pick my Villa games.

 


SimplePortal 2.3.6 © 2008-2014, SimplePortal