Congratulations, Scotland! <:-P
=D> At long last, the bogey is broken. =D>
Yep, Scotland completely outplayed England and should have had a bigger margin of victory. France looked awesome against Italy and I fear Ireland will overwhelm Wales today.
well done Scotland, but they really should have scored more being so dominant.
Do the English players know the rules, or do they just think they don't apply to them?
Probably. ;)
Cheers - Phil.
Quote from: Raider4 link=topic=20548.msg319365#msg319365 date=1612696
Do the English players know the rules, or do they just think they don't apply to them?
/quote]
There was a match not so recently between England and I think Italy where English players were asking the referee how they combat some unusual but legal tactics. The reply was I'm a referee not a coach.
Quote from: jimduncanuk on 07 February 2021, 11:49:27 AM
There was a match not so recently between England and I think Italy where English players were asking the referee how they combat some unusual but legal tactics. The reply was I'm a referee not a coach.
"Do the English players know the rules, or do they just think they don't apply to them?"
The England players play in one of the most competitive leagues in the northern hemisphere (the other being the French league). The players are coached to squeeze every advantage they can and see how much leeway they can work. Not a huge fan of Wayne Barnes but it was noticeable how he was talking and warning the players when they were infringing rather than just pinging them.
A couple of early penalties and you can find that the referee begins assume things a little bit. Classic in this is the collapsing scrum after a front row change, there is the immediate presumption that the new guy is at fault; heck, I used to do this at junior level and I'm sure the techniques are more subtle as you go up the levels.
The circumstance in the Italy game was that when England attempted to set-up a ruck, the Italian players did not join it. Therefore, no ruck was formed and no off-side line existed, allowing the Italy players to roam around in England's backfield. A bit of an obscure point to expect players to realise but one of the coaches should have twigged and got a message down to the pitchside.
So, Wales are well on top until an Irishmen gets sent off, then Ireland suddenly come alive and dominate for the next ~40 minutes, before ultimately losing. 'Tis is a strange game.
Quote from: Raider4 on 07 February 2021, 07:17:54 PM
'Tis is a strange game.
Rugby - a game for hooligans, played by gentlemen with elliptical balls.
Football - a game for gentlemen, played by hooligans with spherical balls.
American Football - a game for majorettes, marching bands, beer stands and hot dog sellers where, during the intermissions, the crowd is briefly entertained by armoured behemoths.
:) :) :) :)
Rugby - a game for thugs played by gentlemen
Rugby League - a game for gentlemen played by thugs
Ducks for cover ;)
A well 'known' story in Wellington NZ, a Kiwi ended up player/coach for a rugby side in England and helped go from bottom of their competition to winning it
A major celebration was held at the local manor house to mark the victory and the Kiwi was asked where he learnt his rugby skills
He responded, the Wainuiomata Rugby League club
...
He was asked to leave
Quote from: DHautpol on 07 February 2021, 05:54:57 PM
"Do the English players know the rules, or do they just think they don't apply to them?"
The circumstance in the Italy game was that when England attempted to set-up a ruck, the Italian players did not join it. Therefore, no ruck was formed and no off-side line existed, allowing the Italy players to roam around in England's backfield. A bit of an obscure point to expect players to realise but one of the coaches should have twigged and got a message down to the pitchside.
The most amusing part of this though is that Haskell the player on the left of the clip plays for Wasps who earlier that same season were using exactly the same trick of not engaging the ruck to put off the opposition scrum half.
But I'd have to say that although Scotland did play fairly well, it wasn't exactly wonderful throughout and England just didn't seem to turn up mentally to the game and it wasn't just the Saracens players.
Quote from: Raider4 on 07 February 2021, 11:20:39 AM
Do the English players know the rules, or do they just think they don't apply to them?
So, the way to beat England is to just grind your way up to ~30 metres from the England try line and then wait for England to give away a penalty, and then 24-24 suddenly becomes 40-24 in no time at all.
They were giving away penalties further out than 30 metres.
I'm now getting very irritated by the idiot interviewer on the BBC who is desperately trying to get Owen Farrell and Eddie Jones to say something mean about the referee. They both shut her down pretty quickly.
I thought the same thing, Martyn !
Obviously delighted that Wales have won the triple crown......BUT.....Have to say that they seem to have had the 'rub of the green' in all three matches, so far.
England and Ireland seem to have come slightly 'off the boil'.
Scotland and France both seem to have improved quite significantly....(Scotland especially)...and Italy. Sorry, without wishing to sound mean, I don't know why they're still in the Six Nations tournament. :-\
Cheers - Phil
Quote from: Techno II on 28 February 2021, 07:56:07 AM
Italy. Sorry, without wishing to sound mean, I don't know why they're still in the Six Nations tournament. :-
Cheers - Phil
To keep the numbers even, same with Roumania
There was talk of replacing them with Romania, Argentina or Malta...
Quote from: mad lemmey on 28 February 2021, 09:00:10 AM
There was talk of replacing them with Romania . . .
A (fair) few years ago Romania were the 'next' European team, certainly stronger than Italy. Now it's Georgia.
I think Italy only got in because bi-yearly trips to Rome or Turin were more attractive to the travelling public . . . (and committee members & their wives).
I believe...Italy have only managed once, not to come 6th out of 6.
(I can't be ar*ed to look it up. ;) :P)
As Ian says...6 teams keeps the numbers even....But realistically, in the Northern Hemisphere, there are only the 'home nations' and France that are 'any good.'
Which, I suppose, is better than our friends "Down South"...They've only got three ! ;D ;D ;D
(But what a three !)
Cheers - Phil :).....(I'm in a grumpy mood....(There's a change. :D) ..my watch fell off somewhere during the Sunday shop...and has disappeared into the ether......More money to Amazon, unless I hear back from Tesco's 'toot sweet'.....Hey Ho....There's really much more important garbage for people to deal with at this current time.....But I genuinely feel naked without a timepiece on my wrist. ;))
Quote from: Techno II on 28 February 2021, 11:28:49 AM
I believe...Italy have only managed once, not to come 6th out of 6.
(I can't be ar*ed to look it up. ;) :P)
As Ian says...6 teams keeps the numbers even....But realistically, in the Northern Hemisphere, there are only the 'home nations' and France that are 'any good.'
Which, I suppose, is better than our friends "Down South"...They've only got three ! ;D ;D ;D
(But what a three !)
Cheers - Phil :).....(I'm in a grumpy mood....(There's a change. :D) ..my watch fell off somewhere during the Sunday shop...and has disappeared into the ether......More money to Amazon, unless I hear back from Tesco's 'toot sweet'.....Hey Ho....There's really much more important garbage for people to deal with at this current time.....But I genuinely feel naked without a timepiece on my wrist. ;))
Hence the saying "There's only eight teams, and we're four of 'em".
Quote from: Techno II on 28 February 2021, 11:28:49 AM
..But I genuinely feel naked without a timepiece on my wrist. ;)
Thought you have a ptroblem with the pendulem in your timepeice....afterall clockwork is far to complex for you Phil... ;)
Quote from: Techno II on 28 February 2021, 11:28:49 AM
Cheers - Phil :).....(I'm in a grumpy mood....(There's a change. :D) ..my watch fell off somewhere during the Sunday shop...and has disappeared into the ether......More money to Amazon, unless I hear back from Tesco's 'toot sweet'.....Hey Ho....There's really much more important garbage for people to deal with at this current time.....But I genuinely feel naked without a timepiece on my wrist. ;))
I haven't worn a watch for more than 20 years now, life is great without it. My work was often time related and was always behind schedule. I encouraged that to change and throughput increased. I can always find out the time if I really need to know.
Jim
Farrells' behaviour in the past negates some of the gravity a captain needs when ref makes mistakes like that first try. You ask for a word with the ref not start jabbering at him, no matter how righteous your case.
England's iffy form looks like a selection issue to me. When they start playing rugby they look strong. I'm not a terrific fan of Eddies though and think they would do well to employ someone who inspires players and encourages a more expanse game. box kick game is effective but a waste of a class back line for any team.
Quote from: jimduncanuk on 28 February 2021, 12:37:06 PM
I haven't worn a watch for more than 20 years now, life is great without it.
Jim
Good grief. (Nothing to do with your comment, my friend.)
Just trying to order a £20 replacement timepiece from the current evil empire.... I almost gave up the will to live......What do you mean ?...You don't recognise my profile/password.
Where's all the stuff I've bought from you in the last 10+years ?
New profile ? .....Oh.....I give up......Exactly the same profile/password as before....What's the point....Oh...SOME of my old purchases have now returned.
AHA !.....Took me ages to figure it out.....But I now know what was wrong.
Complete brain fade from yours truly.....yet again. X_X =)
Cheers - Phil.
Quote from: Techno II on 28 February 2021, 07:56:07 AM
Italy. Sorry, without wishing to sound mean, I don't know why they're still in the Six Nations tournament. :-
There was one year the RFU spat the dummy out over TV revenue and threatened to quit the tournament (5 nations) when no one backed down they officially left and Italy were invited in to replace them. Unsurprisingly with most international fixtures set up so far ahead, no one else would play with them so they came back into the tournament bringing it up to 6 nations.
The problem we've got though is that although Italy aren't quite up to the level for the 6 nations, the next highest ranked team (Georgia for about the last decade) can consistently be beaten by an Italian B team.
It's just really unfortunate that due to all of the management changes in Italy that they've never managed to gain a higher level of consistency like Argentina did when they joined the tri nations.
Quote from: Genom on 28 February 2021, 06:18:54 PM
There was one year the RFU spat the dummy out over TV revenue and threatened to quit the tournament (5 nations) when no one backed down they officially left and Italy were invited in to replace them. Unsurprisingly with most international fixtures set up so far ahead, no one else would play with them so they came back into the tournament bringing it up to 6 nations.
The problem we've got though is that although Italy aren't quite up to the level for the 6 nations, the next highest ranked team (Georgia for about the last decade) can consistently be beaten by an Italian B team.
It's just really unfortunate that due to all of the management changes in Italy that they've never managed to gain a higher level of consistency like Argentina did when they joined the tri nations.
And not finding 15 south-Africans / Kiwis / Polynesians to make up a team.