Oh! dear, not looking too good for Wales this year.
Couldn't fault them for effort, but lack of awareness cost them this one. At least that can be worked on.
France looking ominous however.
Big lack of experience cost Wales dearly, if we avoid the spoon made of tree stuff I'll be content, relatively. France looking ominous indeed. Ntamack's red card well deserved but unfortunately it only benefits the guys next week rather than Wales tonight.Originally Posted by unclealec
Ireland will have watched closely and will hope to be helped by France being tenderised next Saturday at Twickers as they will be in that tough arena.
Whatever, as always looking forwards to the whole shebang.
Wales was really poor. It doesn’t help that Welsh teams of yesteryears have set an amazingly high standard, and you can’t fault the engagement but the lack of discipline, individual skills and power were there for all to see.
France was massively favourite to win this match so we always knew the tries would be coming. The defence did a good job, as did the 6 substitutes (almost half the team) who came in at the beginning of the second half held their rank.
Stupid move from Ntamack, deserved red and he’ll be out more than just 1 game, if only because Galthie is going to be furious. Jalibert and Ramos are decent alternatives though.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Felt sorry for Wales tonight. Not only were France on great form, but even the bounce went against them.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
It was never going to be Ian, just hope it doesn't dent some of the younger players confidence irreversibly. France were able to play exhibition rugby at times, a joy to see them do that despite my obvious misgivings.
I know, I just hope England are on form.
Last edited by oldoakknives; 1st February 2025 at 00:54.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Well they'll 100% definitely do better than Wales' baked in 5th or 6th end of tournament placement without a shadow of a doubt. But beyond that I'm not so sure.
World class number 9 and 2 lightning quick wingers look formidable.
Interested to see if England have improved, after so many years of false dawns
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I saw Wales against the Sprinboks at the Principality in November, it was boys versus men. I do hope they get their confidence back, just difficult to see from yesterdays performance.
Scotland vs. Italy - not the best game I have ever watched, but square all round as I write, and Italy are showing a maturity that has oft been lacking. Their close work especially is much better than in days gone by.
Cracking match at the Aviva
England now getting a serious kicking from Ireland.
They looked okay for a wee while too.
Jim
Turned out better than it looked like it would once Ireland got going in the second half.
Ireland deserved that win though.
Agreed UA.
Scoreline makes it look closer than it was.
So that’s end of Round 1 with winners all as expected.
The story is wales’ zero score. Have they ever not scored in a Test match before?
Jim
27 years ago last time in 5/6 nations apparently
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Nah, still shyte!
France next week - oh dear
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Ta for that. I’m surprised.
Jim
Missed opportunity for England - Ireland rusty in the first half and England not pushing their advantage.
2nd half Ireland brought the intensity and England looked meek. I thought it was a 10 point game so to lose by 5 glosses over it.
New coach for England now surely? The most resources on the planet and we're basically only slightly better than Scotland. Arguably England's greatest ever coach (alongside Sir Clive) is stood doing punditry on ITV - he'd be worth a punt despite the tensions of the past.
Results in recent years don’t back up your assertions Ryan. Not by a long way. That chariot sailed many moons ago.
England are probably the second weakest team in 6N and not much better than the presumed weakest, Italy. They have been for about 4 or 5 years.
Fear factor for playing England has long gone, and for the top nations: Ireland, France is a banked win for them. A poor shadow of former-selves.
Jim
And yet the last 2 world cups they got to a final and then lost a semi final by a whisker.
England are the 3rd strongest team in the 6N, but given their resources they should be making much more progress than they have under Borthwick.
England will do better.
We’re talking 6N here Ryan not performances in other tourneys which include a knock out facility that the 6N doesn’t have.
England have ingloriously failed in the 6N over a good few years now and lesser sides, like Scotland, from that period have gone beyond them. The demise and failures of England as a rugby nation is not good for rugby. (Tremendous for non England fans I have to say 👍👍) But it’s true: look at the 6N finishing places for 5-6 years ago. They were really nowhere to be seen and the rugby they played, bloody awful.
Jim
We’ve disagreed previously on rugby Jim, and resolved our differences like proper rugger boys do. Given that, I’d hate to agree with you, but I can’t help agreeing with you.
England, at their peak, are absolutely unbeatable, but they are a long way from their peak. That said, I thought they played well against Ireland. England were the stronger team before the tea break, but gave ground too easily after biscuits, Ireland scored a couple of well-deserved tries, but England did something which they don’t often do, they rallied and pulled points back, rather than becoming victims to their own losers mentality.
I’m a proud supporter of the England team and really enjoyed the game despite the Irish win, a win they deserved, but one which England could well have denied them.
Other than that, what the heck was Caden Murley playing at? Sheesh, a man playing the wing at that level really should know what to do with a ball which has crossed the try line and is uncontested.
Certainly for one of them he had played the ball before it had gone over the line, so would have been an Ireland 5m scrum, so obviously trying to avoid that.
I just cant see it with England at the moment, they seem completely lost.
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Last edited by xxnick1975; 4th February 2025 at 22:39.
Hi DB (hope you’re safe and well?)
This is defo going in the diary: you and I agreeing on rugby 😂😂
Seriously, it’s not good to see England struggle either in a game or for consistency over a series. I can’t believe what I’m seeing in the space of 80mins. (PS The joy of continually beating a struggling team loses impact 🤪🤪)
The 6N NEEDS a good England in the same way it needs all of them to up their game to better compete with Southern Hemi teams. That’s the acid test. World rankings are interesting right now and tie in appropriately with 6N so don’t know where Ryan gets his assertion.
Anyway, Borthwick can’t seem to get good out of very good players and appointing Itoje as captain seems strange. He’s no obvious leader of men. I digress!
Ta for reaching out - I’ll pick myself up from the scrum floor now.
Awrabest - c’mon ye Scots
Jim
What is going on with France's handling?!!?
Think they are trying too hard. Superb attack (apart from the final execution), but superb defence from England also. Which team will tire first?
Belting game this, Marcus Smith and the referee having a shocker else England could be out if sight.
Never expected that!!!
Fair play to England, great win. Awesome game.
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Shockingly bad first 20 mins, last 60 were for the ages. Great character from England, awesome crowd noise. England attacked like Viking Berserkrs in the last 20 mins and France couldn't deal with the intensity.
Just getting used to beating teams in blue shirts, I’d say ;)
Seriously, that was a good game and, again, England kept the faith to the final minute, but this time it paid off.
Having watched the Italy/Wales game and the England/France one, it was telling how many mistakes were made by both teams on penalty and conversion kicks. Not sure what that means, if anything, but it was interesting to note nonetheless. Having had my fair share of cold and wet games when I played, it’s always harder when the conditions are against you, but these are world class players rather than club level grubbers marking time until the bar opened, so I was surprised that I was seeing that issue.
Fair play to Borthwick for having the nuts to change the kicker - I’m a big Marcus Smith fan, but today wasn’t his day, and his kicking was just off.
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If you mean England out of sight with a big score not sure what game you watched Ryan, but whatever, a gutsy and well deserved win.
France lost it with repeated handling errors in the first quarter and would have been out of sight without those, but they didn't and weren't, so tough cheese to them. England won it fair and square, hung in there and never gave up. Kudos.
That was a very enjoyable game to watch.
I am glad to see Fin Baxter come back after the first scrum, he was dicked.
Chessum was very good when he came on. Glad to see him back.
Grinding out a win is good to see as an England fan. Not been able to do that for a long time.
Not sure where Wales go from here, they just seem to lack ideas when they have the ball and their bench weaken the starting 15. Lots of player past their prime but Taulupe Faletau still put in a shift, he can’t do it all though.
Scot v Ire will be another cracker hopefully
Nice to see some character from England for a change. Fin Smith looks to be the real deal.
Amazing to see the half backs finish the game too.
Best players, in the correct positions, on the pitch. Not that difficult it seems!
Get Furbank back in at 15 and you have a strong Saints flavour to it all which can only be good
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Nowhere under the current wru regime. A total and utter reset is required and unfortunately I can't see it happening with combined tribal and business interests prevailing and no end in sight.
Feel so sorry for lads currently playing, many should still be academy players but that was shelved as a cost cutting exercise years ago and they are the ones now paying the price while 'the board' enjoy their bonuses and expenses. I could rant on and on but am about to open a nice bottle of red, enjoy some music, and forget rugby until tomorrows game.
Agree with that. I don’t know how good Ryan’s football understanding is but rugby isn’t where his expertise lies.
It’s good to see England back in the fold after the bare bottom spanking they received when France last visited.
It’s also good to see a proper tit-for-tat after last year’s last-minute penalty.
That said, while the grit displayed by England was admirable, the skills displayed by both teams were not. The knock-on fest, Ramos’ mistakes… including the very last one, will mean the air will likely turn blue (appropriately) during the debrief.
I believe Italy is France’s next game. It will certainly show the mettle of this team.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Indeed, while I'll be extremely surprised to see Italy turn France over (in fact they may very well suffer a Les Bleus backlash after todays result), I think they'll give France a pretty stern test whatever the result.
My point was as follows;
Marcus Smith missed an easy penalty and an easy conversion - both from pretty much the same spot
The ref awarded a penalty that Ramos converted after England supposedly collapsed a scrum, however it was Atonio who collapsed the scrum.
France's 3rd try was scored after a forward pass.
France did pass up some very good opportunities in the 1st half - Dupont in particular.
Forward passes allowed now.
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Having a poor Wales team does nothing for World Rugby, it’s such a shame.
It’s a travesty that we in England look as if our union is running itself with some sort of competence when compared with the WRFU. And the RFU are a money grabbing shambles. This is the first year I have not bought England tickets. I used to go to every home game, but it just offer such poor value for money now. It’s not enjoyable.
Chatting to a Mate yesterday who runs a well known international touring side and Rugby charity, (so knows his onions) neither of us could come up with a solution for both England or Wales with the current management structure in place.
My club, a grass roots club in West London is struggling due to lack of players and over saturation of clubs in a small area. We struggle to get 2 sides out, the 2s are usually bulked by vets. That’s not sustainable.
A total reorganisation of the game is needed from the very bottom to the top in both Wales and England.
But I digress as I often do.
No, not at all, your points are all relevant to the discussion and make perfect sense.
Last edited by Ruggertech; 9th February 2025 at 05:02.
To digress slightly, did the yellow carded Welsh winger rejoin the game before the full 10 mins in the bin was up?
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I also noticed the the yellow card clock still had about 16 seconds left when Josh Adams returned to the field, perhaps we are seeing a different clock than the ref ?
Scotland get the National Anthem so right, letting the crowd be heard. I don't understand why England always have an opera singer at Twickenham. Spoils the atmosphere for me.
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Possibly because 'God Save the King' is a terrible and boring anthem whereas the other sides in the 6 Nations have anthems that stir the senses so England have to try anything to get some emotion into it.
England doesn’t have an anthem. It should.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Completely agree, it's a terrible anthem but made even more terrible with the opera singer.
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Yes, couldn't agree more.
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