2015 RBS Six Nations General Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

aimee1

One scotland player suffered serious concussion today. He claimed after game they can win the world cup later this year :O

twinytwo

England

The saddest part of the 6 nations is how truly woeful France have become.

PSA have france playing "structured" rugby .. this should be considered a crime

vienne86

England

twinytwo wrote: »

The saddest part of the 6 nations is how truly woeful France have become.

PSA have france playing "structured" rugby .. this should be considered a crime

But they put up some fight yesterday. PSA might have done enough to keep his job until after the WC, which might suit Ireland just fine.

Stheno

vienne86 wrote: »

But they put up some fight yesterday. PSA might have done enough to keep his job until after the WC, which might suit Ireland just fine.

According to rog last week it'll be a cold day in he'll before PSA gets sacked before the world cup

Sanjuro

England

The French have never sacked a coach. They wont start with a French legend like PSA.

Swiwi.

Well done to the 62.97% of people who picked Ireland for the title. I was one of the 1.58% who went with Italy. Ah well, better luck next year in the tipping stakes...

Edit: and since I posted, someone has voted for Ireland. Ummm, the tournament finished yesterday...

iroced

France

vienne86 wrote: »

PSA might have done enough to keep his job until after the WC, which might suit Ireland just fine.

Stheno wrote: »

According to rog last week it'll be a cold day in he'll before PSA gets sacked before the world cup

Lads for the umpteenth time (:p) PSA will NEVER be sacked. Even if we had lost 100-0 at the week-end (well maybe he would have resigned then ). And he'll leave after the WC whatever we'll do in it. Raphaël Ibañez being the strong favourite to take over the job.

Following Fouroux glorious years (in the 80ies), French coaches followed WC 4 years cycles: Berbizier, Skrela, Laporte (who made 2 cycles ; the exception which proves the rule ), Lièvremont, PSA... And It's not looking like changing, at least for now. If Laporte gets FFR head we may see some revolutions but we're not there yet...

Big Nelly

England

Just wondering did BBC block out the full day like RTE 2 did? or they swap around channels??

I bet BT and Sky are falling over each other to buy the license rights now.....imagine the publicity if Sky had a day of rugby like that.....

Just to show how bad it was, after the Ireland v Scotland match the UPC box turned it self off because nobody had changed anything in such a long period, went into auto shut down

The TV tried it a few times as well

:-)

justsomebloke

thread closed as game has it's own thread. Big Nelly your question has been copied to http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057356098&page=23

irishbucsfan

England

justsomebloke wrote: »

thread closed as game has it's own thread. Big Nelly your question has been copied to http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057356098&page=23

I'm really confused....

Clearlier

England

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I'm really confused....

Think he meant to post that in the Ireland v Scotland build up thread which has just been closed.

.ak

Delicious.

http://balls.ie/rugby/the-metro-sums-up-the-feeling-of-a-nation-towards-scotland/

molloyjh

What a weekend. Planning on watching the last 2 games back again now this afternoon. Stand out moment of the weekend other than the rugby on show was the anthems during the England-France game. Was down in Castlebar with my dad and a few of his brothers. All day we had been singing all of the anthems pre-game (in as much as we could given we didn't know the words of anything other than Irelands Call and Flower of Scotland). After a rousing rendition of La Marseillaise the barman came over and said he had to mute the TV for the English anthem as the locals didn't want to have to listen to it (I think we were the only ones watching the rugby there down the back of the pub). So with the TV showing the English belting out God Save the Queen we all starting singing the tune from Eastenders. :pac:

total former

England

Italy have fallen to 15th in the world rankings, overtaken by Georgia and still behind Tonga, Fiji and Japan.

molloyjh

total former wrote: »

Italy have fallen to 15th in the world rankings, overtaken by Georgia and still behind Tonga, Fiji and Japan.

I'd say Brunel can't wait to get out of there.

bilston

England

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/six-nations/more-of-us-watched-englands-nailbiter-against-france-than-irelands-victory-in-murrayfield-31089438.html


These viewing figures are more evidence that a move to Pay TV would be a big mistake for the 6Ns. How many of us have found ourselves chatting rugby to "non rugby fans" over the last 48 hours? That would never be the case if the 6Ns was on Sky or BT.

Montroseee

England

How did Vunipola make player of the championship panel? The English bias is crazy, Joesph will probably take it.

errlloyd

England

Are there podcasts of radio coverage around. I'd love to watch the game but listen to Corcoran

Buer

Montroseee wrote: »

How did Vunipola make player of the championship panel? The English bias is crazy, Joesph will probably take it.

Vunipola had a fine tournament. He was central to the English attack time and time again making hard yards and presenting good ball. He was the best 8 in the tournament for me. Deceptively quick also, despite his bulk. Nobody was catching him when he made that 50m break against us.

Cheese Wagstaff

England

molloyjh wrote: »

After a rousing rendition of La Marseillaise the barman came over and said he had to mute the TV for the English anthem as the locals didn't want to have to listen to it.

You're not serious? Build a bridge lads...

molloyjh

Cheese Wagstaff wrote: »

You're not serious? Build a bridge lads...

Yeah, I don't get the problem with it but it did lead to an funny couple of minutes as a result.

Ludikrus

molloyjh wrote: »

Yeah, I don't get the problem with it but it did lead to an funny couple of minutes as a result.

What was the name of the bar?

molloyjh

Ludikrus wrote: »

What was the name of the bar?

I honestly have no idea. It had a local darts championship on Friday night with a pool table and TV down the back if that's any help...

EDIT: Actually thinking about it now I may have been making an assumption on the reasons for the muting of the sound. It could be that they were watching something else and wanted the sound down the front of the bar for that. The barman did just apologise and indicate towards the others in the bar. That said the sound went off for GSTQ and back on again once it ended.

rrpc

England

Ian Ritchie hasn't been mincing his words about England not winning the championship:

"I think we would have expected to have won the title by now, so this is not acceptable at all,” he said. “Let us be clear: things were entirely within our control, but we didn’t do what we should have done.“We did not take our chances and were not clever enough at certain times to deserve to win. There’s no point bleating about it: Ireland deserved their win because of what they did over the five matches. We did not do enough.”


“If you go back through history, we should as a country have won more in terms of Grand Slams and championships,” he remarked. “Have we missed some of our current targets? Yes. Targets are not the be all and end all and I believe the underlying situation is positive, but we’re not happy with another second place.”

I suppose he's right. With their playing pool and money, it really should only be England and France fighting it out each year.

Buer

I wonder is there a bit of pressure ramping up on Lancaster at this point? Has he taken the side as far as he can? I would think the minimum expectation for them in autumn is a semi final. If they fail in that, I can see the RFU considering their options. Runner up 4 years in a row isn't what they're looking for. As disliked as he was, even Johnson managed to win a 6N title.

efb

England

I miss the 6 Nations

Rightwing

Buer wrote: »

I wonder is there a bit of pressure ramping up on Lancaster at this point? Has he taken the side as far as he can? I would think the minimum expectation for them in autumn is a semi final. If they fail in that, I can see the RFU considering their options. Runner up 4 years in a row isn't what they're looking for. As disliked as he was, even Johnson managed to win a 6N title.

Doubt it. contract extended to 2020. Has been a little unlucky, but there is definitely weaknesses in this team. World cup is what it's all about this year.

England

Player pool does matter for sure, but realistically the bottleneck at the top limits this a lot and from there it comes down to your top 20 - 30 players and their conditioning.

It so happens that we have a solid squad of 30 or so players who are well conditioned and excellently coached.

Given how Irish teams have faired in pro12 and European rugby it's not hard to see at all why we've been more successful than England of late as the upper tier of our playing pool perform at or better than theirs.

molloyjh

Buer wrote: »

I wonder is there a bit of pressure ramping up on Lancaster at this point?

There undoubtedly is. They last won the 6 Nations in 2011 and since then under Lancaster have been runners-up 4 times from 4. There is no way that Ritchie is talking about anything other than Lancasters record and while he hasn't written him off it's a very public warning that they need to start winning or he's gone IMO.

Buer

Rightwing wrote: »

Doubt it. contract extended to 2020. Has been a little unlucky, but there is definitely weaknesses in this team. World cup is what it's all about this year.

EOS signed a 5 contract extension before the RWC. He didn't come close to seeing it out. If things go stale and England don't hit their targets (which Ritchie states they're failing to do) then I'm sure the situation will be reviewed. The comments from Lancaster's boss aren't exactly a glowing endorsement of this season.

thomond2006

It's 3 years in a row that England have lost the title on points difference. They have won 4 matches every year since Lancaster took over, 16/20 in all.

molloyjh

Buer wrote: »

EOS signed a 5 contract extension before the RWC. He didn't come close to seeing it out. If things go stale and England don't hit their targets (which Ritchie states they're failing to do) then I'm sure the situation will be reviewed. The comments from Lancaster's boss aren't exactly a glowing endorsement of this season.

Anyone else think it's poor form from Ritchie? I mean have the conversation with Lancaster behind the scenes of course, but coming out to make such a strong statement in the press I think is really harsh. If they aren't happy with him then sack him, otherwise don't drop him in it like that.

Clearlier

England

molloyjh wrote: »

Anyone else think it's poor form from Ritchie? I mean have the conversation with Lancaster behind the scenes of course, but coming out to make such a strong statement in the press I think is really harsh. If they aren't happy with him then sack him, otherwise don't drop him in it like that.

I completely agree. Aside from whether or not the criticism was merited it's a curious thing to say in public. I was very surprised to hear it being reported yesterday.

Yeah_Right

Italy

molloyjh wrote: »

There undoubtedly is. They last won the 6 Nations in 2011 and since then under Lancaster have been runners-up 4 times from 4. There is no way that Ritchie is talking about anything other than Lancasters record and while he hasn't written him off it's a very public warning that they need to start winning or he's gone IMO.

I agree that the pressure is on Lancaster. If they fail to make the final at the RWC, I could see him getting the axe.

Buer

thomond2006 wrote: »

It's 3 years in a row that England have lost the title on points difference. They have won 4 matches every year since Lancaster took over, 16/20 in all.

Indeed which is a pretty decent record. My query is whether Lancaster has brought the squad as far as he can and does he know how to bring them to the next level? There seems to be a real issue with getting past that hump. He has rebuilt the squad and they have gelled but he appears to still tinker with it heavily year on year in an effort to bring success.

For example, the team that started the final game of last season's 6N (Italy) and the first game of the autumn internationals (NZ) had 6 changes in the starting line up. The team that started that game against NZ and the team that started the final game of this season's 6N had 9 changes. That's a massive number of changes to be making to a team in a relatively short period of time.

The success of the likes of England 12 years ago and Wales/Ireland in the last decade has largely centred around a settled team. Even allowing for the injuries suffered, I'm not sure Lancaster is wholly confident in a number of his players.

thomond2006

molloyjh wrote: »

Anyone else think it's poor form from Ritchie? I mean have the conversation with Lancaster behind the scenes of course, but coming out to make such a strong statement in the press I think is really harsh. If they aren't happy with him then sack him, otherwise don't drop him in it like that.

It's not exactly diplomatic. I can't imagine we would like to see anyone from the IRFU say similar regarding Schmidt or any Irish coach.

I've no doubt Lancaster and co's long term deal has a break clause should the team underperform at the World Cup. There's massive pressure on them and yet it wouldn't be a major shock if they exited at the group stages.

matthew8

England

England have to start winning but the last 2 years it's been a bit unfortunate. There is no excuse for 2012 and 2013 but last year they were a last minute French try from absolutely nowhere from a grand slam. This year the only game they under performed in was Ireland, to win 4 out of 5 and finish second having to play your 2 toughest fixtures away is an achievement. The problem is they just look a bit limited. They never really got into it at home to SA/NZ in Autumn or away to Ireland this year and it's a big concern that they can't seem to raise their game all that much.

Rightwing

Buer wrote: »

EOS signed a 5 contract extension before the RWC. He didn't come close to seeing it out. If things go stale and England don't hit their targets (which Ritchie states they're failing to do) then I'm sure the situation will be reviewed. The comments from Lancaster's boss aren't exactly a glowing endorsement of this season.

They are taken out of context. It's a bit of a freak sequence to lose the championship on points for a few years running.

If they flop in the World cup then he'll come under pressure to deliver. If they win the world cup it'll be Sir Lancaster. Simple as.

thomond2006

matthew8 wrote: »

England have to start winning but the last 2 years it's been a bit unfortunate. There is no excuse for 2012 and 2013 but last year they were a last minute French try from absolutely nowhere from a grand slam. This year the only game they under performed in was Ireland, to win 4 out of 5 and finish second having to play your 2 toughest fixtures away is an achievement. The problem is they just look a bit limited. They never really got into it at home to SA/NZ in Autumn or away to Ireland this year and it's a big concern that they can't seem to raise their game all that much.

Tbh 2012 was a major success given Lancaster introduced a completely new team from scratch. Given how the previous RWC had gone, there was little expectation of them. They only lost to Wales at Twickenham in the last few minutes to a brilliant individual try from Scott Williams. A Grand Slam that year would have been a phenomenal achievement.

Buer

Rightwing wrote: »

They are taken out of context. It's a bit of a freak sequence to lose the championship on points for a few years running.

If they flop in the World cup then he'll come under pressure to deliver. If they win the world cup it'll be Sir Lancaster. Simple as.

Do you have the context?

It's bad luck to lose if on points difference for a couple of years running. For it to happen 4 years in a row, it's something more. There's an issue there. Can they get past it? Of course....but will they?

It's a very similar situation to how Ireland failed to win the 6N a decade ago. We won 4/5 in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007. History remembers EOS as someone that was a great coach but could not get his team over the line. Lancaster is developing into similar.

They might win the RWC. They have the talent available but they need to put in consistent performances finally. There's no room for slipping up for one game out of five in the RWC, especially when you have two other top tier nations in your pool.

He will be under big pressure going into the RWC, not only if he flops. If you're the host country and are hotly tipped for the tournament (second favourites) then the pressure is already bubbling along nicely.

Rightwing

Buer wrote: »

Do you have the context?

It's bad luck to lose if on points difference for a couple of years running. For it to happen 4 years in a row, it's something more. There's an issue there. Can they get past it? Of course....but will they?

It's a very similar situation to how Ireland failed to win the 6N a decade ago. We won 4/5 in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007. History remembers EOS as someone that was a great coach but could not get his team over the line. Lancaster is developing into similar.

They might win the RWC. They have the talent available but they need to put in consistent performances finally. There's no room for slipping up for one game out of five in the RWC, especially when you have two other top tier nations in your pool.

He will be under big pressure going into the RWC, not only if he flops. If you're the host country and are hotly tipped for the tournament (second favourites) then the pressure is already bubbling along nicely.

I know what you are saying, but I don't think winning the 6N on points difference this year would have done Eng. They ought to have put the Scots away and that was it done. They are certainly good enough to win it, but they aren't good enough to win the GS. This is the difficulty.

I also don't think they are good enough to win the W Cup. Maybe a final appearance with luck.

The context I believe is, Eng expect to win championships and GS. Losing the way they did was minimal

rrpc

England

Rightwing wrote: »

I know what you are saying, but I don't think winning the 6N on points difference this year would have done Eng. They ought to have put the Scots away and that was it done. They are certainly good enough to win it, but they aren't good enough to win the GS. This is the difficulty.

I also don't think they are good enough to win the W Cup. Maybe a final appearance with luck.

The context I believe is, Eng expect to win championships and GS. Losing the way they did was minimal

I think that the problem may be that they haven't had much luck with teams above or near them in the rankings. Since last summer they were beaten four times by BNZ, once by SA and then this year by us. There's also the matter of an embarrassing defeat to the BaBas

They got two out of four in November but that's a lot of defeats in one year. In the same period where we had ten wins in a row, they suffered six defeats.

Bridge93

England

rrpc wrote: »

I think that the problem may be that they haven't had much luck with teams above or near them in the rankings. Since last summer they were beaten four times by BNZ, once by SA and then this year by us. There's also the matter of an embarrassing defeat to the BaBas

They got two out of four in November but that's a lot of defeats in one year. In the same period where we had ten wins in a row, they suffered six defeats.

At the same time though if we had played the ABs 4 times we would have four defeats most likely and we lost to them last year if you move the timeframe back a few months.
The SA result is our only result that stands out over theirs as they should've been thumped by them.

Buer

To do a little bit of analysis, England have a 61.5% winning record under Lancaster. In games at home, that jumps to 71.4%.

Against the Tri-Nation sides, his winning percentage is 21.4% with Australia accounting for two of those wins, both in Twickenham. (3 wins from 14 games).

rrpc

England

Bridge93 wrote: »

At the same time though if we had played the ABs 4 times we would have four defeats most likely and we lost to them last year if you move the timeframe back a few months.
The SA result is our only result that stands out over theirs as they should've been thumped by them.

To be fair though, the match against the ABs was Joe's third match in charge. Lancaster has been in charge a good deal longer relatively speaking.

They were also beaten by France in the last game of the 6N.

awec

I missed the last two weeks of this tournament. Anyone know where I can see proper highlights? I don't mean the official 6 nations ones with no commentary and that are like 30 seconds long.

.ak

awec wrote: »

I missed the last two weeks of this tournament. Anyone know where I can see proper highlights? I don't mean the official 6 nations ones with no commentary and that are like 30 seconds long.

Round 4 didn't happen and we won the championship, just incase you were wondering.

Pudsy33

England

awec wrote: »

I missed the last two weeks of this tournament. Anyone know where I can see proper highlights? I don't mean the official 6 nations ones with no commentary and that are like 30 seconds long.

Against the head on the rte player has highlights from all three games. The whole matches are available too.

CatFromHue

awec wrote: »

I missed the last two weeks of this tournament. Anyone know where I can see proper highlights? I don't mean the official 6 nations ones with no commentary and that are like 30 seconds long.

RugbyDump usually have a highlights vid of each game that's around 10mins long

Podge_irl

Rightwing wrote: »

The context I believe is, Eng expect to win championships and GS. Losing the way they did was minimal

Absolute trollop. Ritchie would have come out with nothing of the sort if England had won the championship and everyone would be rather happy with their day's work. They might have some lingering regrets but that's it.

Not everyone is as obsessed with the grandslam as you seem to be.