6 Nations 2019 Build Up thread

penybont exile

Amprodude wrote: »

Scotland have been eaten alive in Twickenham since 1983. Won't change at the weekend. England be hoping we do them a favour against Wales. I hope England win it. Wales haven't been a nice team going back in history. 1972 themselves and Scotland failed to turn up in the 5 nations denying a grand slam for Ireland. In 1989 they were very scrappy against the Irish team at home and were throwing punches in the wholegame and 2009 they did there very best to mess up our slam in a nasty way. England as much as everyone hates them turned up in 1972 and supported us when we were making a bid for the world Cup. Our good friends in Wales didn't back us up. Hope Ireland do England a favour Saturday. England have been the best team this year.

Suggest if any team was going to win the GS in 1972 ..... it would not have been Ireland.

That statement ..... 'denied us a GS' is kind of an urban myth .........

Amprodude

penybont exile wrote: »

Suggest if any team was going to win the GS in 1972 ..... it would not have been Ireland.

That statement ..... 'denied us a GS' is kind of an urban myth .........

We will never know now because both Scotland and Wales didn't turn up to tell the tale.

penybont exile

Amprodude wrote: »

We will never know now because both Scotland and Wales didn't turn up to tell the tale.

..... that is more like it

nice_guy80

Amprodude wrote: »

Wales up to their dirty tricks again going against protocol to close the roof in the principality stadium. Ireland should make a big deal about this. Really hope Ireland spoil the party and hand England the title.

And they'll over-water the pitch again

penybont exile

The roof is not a huge issue for me ..... but I agree with Gatland when he says that it should be Wales' call ......

Maybe the away team should have the call on whether they want to do the meet the president red carpet nonsense that goes on at the Aviva prior to every game ......

The Lost Sheep

penybont exile wrote: »

The roof is not a huge issue for me ..... but I agree with Gatland when he says that it should be Wales' call ......

Maybe the away team should have the call on whether they want to do the meet the president red carpet nonsense that goes on at the Aviva prior to every game ......

I dont think Wales should have call. Think away team should make decision as they dont use venue all the time and red carpet "nonsense" is at a lot more than games in Aviva

penybont exile

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

I dont think Wales should have call. Think away team should make decision as they dont use venue all the time and red carpet "nonsense" is at a lot more than games in Aviva

.... only in Scotland if my memory serves me ..... nowhere else.

Home advantage is just that ....a test against NZ in Dunedin is indoors these days.

Amprodude

penybont exile wrote: »

.... only in Scotland if my memory serves me ..... nowhere else.

Home advantage is just that ....a test against NZ in Dunedin is indoors these days.

Game shouldn't be played under Welsh terms.

Amprodude

penybont exile wrote: »

..... that is more like it

The English turned up and would have been more hated than that of the Scots and Welsh. Hopefully England win the 6 nations. A fine team playing super rugby and really should have beaten Wales.

fryup

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

how come england always get last bite of the cherry? their match is always last in the championship

*correct me if i'm wrong

Wheres Me Jumper?

Amprodude wrote: »

The English turned up and would have been more hated than that of the Scots and Welsh. Hopefully England win the 6 nations. A fine team playing super rugby and really should have beaten Wales.

on yer bike matey!:D

but in fairness England do have a powerful team, but imo lack experience in key areas. no doubt they will be a force to be reckoned with in the near future.
i would say they may win it next year, or most likely 2021.

The Lost Sheep

fryup wrote: »

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

how come england always get last bite of the cherry? their match is always last in the championship

*correct me if i'm wrong

4 of last 5 but was france with last game regularly before them and Wales before them. Just happens in phases i think

OldRio

penybont exile wrote: »

Maybe the away team should have the call on whether they want to do the meet the president red carpet nonsense that goes on at the Aviva prior to every game ......

I suppose the days of common courtesy is beyond some.

tototoe

The roof doesn't matter, nor should it. If we are dependent on the roof being open or shut, it's all the one.

It's just fodder for the ever increasingly tedious Irish media.

troyzer

tototoe wrote: »

The roof doesn't matter, nor should it. If we are dependent on the roof being open or shut, it's all the one.

It's just fodder for the ever increasingly tedious Irish media.

It's more the Welsh media.

tototoe

troyzer wrote: »

It's more the Welsh media.

Our lot are up there.

It shouldn't even be a discussion . We are either good enough to beat Wales or we are not.

Buer

Wheres Me Jumper? wrote: »

but in fairness England do have a powerful team, but imo lack experience in key areas.

They do? They've a healthy amount of experience throughout their team from what I see. Least capped player in their back line is Henry Slade with 21. Two vastly experienced halfbacks and locks with healthy experience at hooker and No. 8 for the spine of their side.

The forwards are a little less experienced at test level tomorrow but that is partly due to injuries and someone like Moon that is starting due to those injuries have been around for years at club level.

Tom Curry is the only guy I look at who is very inexperienced overall in top tier rugby and he hasn't been found wanting at all.

Podge_irl

tototoe wrote: »

Our lot are up there.

It shouldn't even be a discussion . We are either good enough to beat Wales or we are not.

Nope, this is an utterly facile line of argument. Sport at the highest levels is about tiny increments of improvement. Wales closing the roof but heavily watering the pitch is no different to demanding the roof be open.

Ultimately if Wales constructed a stadium with a fixed closed roof I imagine it wouldn't be an issue. But they do not get to pick and choose when to have it open or closed based on their and their opponents strengths.

NabyLadistheman

I wonder will the Italians beat the French

aloooof

Suarezistheman wrote: »

I wonder will the Italians beat the French

Drico said if the Italians play like they did against, he'd expect them to beat the French. Would love to see it for Conor O'Shea's benefit.

joseywhales

Rule:"Away team has final decision over whether the roof is open or closed"

Away team: ok will have it open please
Home team: "This is a disgrace why do they get to choose, we have to stop this, typical that the away team want it open"
Away team: "????"

If Home team did not like the rule why do they wait until just before a game to complain about it, there is another 10 months in the year to change the rule?

lalababa

Buer wrote: »

No, they're not poor. The point is that they were guys who were regularly scoffed at by punters previously in their careers. Gatland has made them into the players that they are. Hadleigh Parkes was a journeyman nobody in NZ. Josh Navidi was seen as an average Pro14 flanker up to his mid-twenties for the Blues. Tomos Williams isn't even a certain starter for Cardiff still but started the 6N opener in Paris.

Gatland has made these players what they are and gets them to perform to a higher level than they have ever reached or shown the ability to reach.

Other top nations have players who aren't widely classified as top level but not near to the same level as Wales. In Ireland nearly all of our frst choice players are proven performers who have performed at a high level consistently for their province in top level club games for a sustained period with only a couple of exceptions.

Am and was a great fan of Navidi. Could not understand why he was so late comming into the international set up? He was at least 2 years playing great rugby(like MOTM stuff) before even being invited into the Welsh camp??
Maybe there was a wealth of players in his position?

Zzippy

The roof thing is pure Gatland. Create a kerfuffle over something to distract attention from the game itself, take pressure off his players. He's a master of manipulating the media. All the pressure should be on Wales, a grand slam on the line, but instead he's focussed the media attention on Joe Schmidt, made him out to be a curmudgeon spoiling good rugby, responsible for getting the fans soaked (so the atmosphere will be even more hostile) and given his players a psychological boost - more motivation to beat the feckin Irish. Genius...

Jump_In_Jack

penybont exile wrote: »

The roof is not a huge issue for me ..... but I agree with Gatland when he says that it should be Wales' call ......

Maybe the away team should have the call on whether they want to do the meet the president red carpet nonsense that goes on at the Aviva prior to every game ......

If the other team wants it closed can’t Wales refuse to close it?
Isn’t it by default to be played without a closed roof as that’s the norm for the sport unless both parties agree to have it closed?

Dickie10

gatland pulled another masterstroke , every one on hear ranting about the roof open or closed on the eve of the game, ireland are crazy to want the roof closed. the place will be some cauldron of welsh support now, imagine the noise

Wheres Me Jumper?

Zzippy wrote: »

The roof thing is pure Gatland. Create a kerfuffle over something to distract attention from the game itself, take pressure off his players. He's a master of manipulating the media. All the pressure should be on Wales, a grand slam on the line, but instead he's focussed the media attention on Joe Schmidt, made him out to be a curmudgeon spoiling good rugby, responsible for getting the fans soaked (so the atmosphere will be even more hostile) and given his players a psychological boost - more motivation to beat the feckin Irish. Genius...

quite a lot of managers do play these games when they know their side is inferior, and under intense pressure.

fortunately the game will be decided over 80 mins on a rectangular field, not in newspaper articles/tv interviews.

Dickie10

wales are defintly not the inferior team tomorrow remember which team got tanked by england and which team beat them??

Amprodude

Suarezistheman wrote: »

I wonder will the Italians beat the French

No

Akrasia

Wheres Me Jumper? wrote: »

quite a lot of managers do play these games when they know their side is inferior, and under intense pressure.

fortunately the game will be decided over 80 mins on a rectangular field, not in newspaper articles/tv interviews.

Actually, Gatland has had the lines on the pitch re-drawn. It'll actually be a Parallelogram

Amprodude

I'd like to see Gatland being put to the sword by schmidt once again.

Wheres Me Jumper?

Dickie10 wrote: »

wales are defintly not the inferior team tomorrow remember which team got tanked by england and which team beat them??

"we beat them, and they beat the other, so therefore we will beat the other also"

sport doesn't work like that. although as a 10 year old i used to think it did.:)

penybont exile

OldRio wrote: »

I suppose the days of common courtesy is beyond some.

Well obviously a significant percentage of the Irish fans who are still in the bars when MD struts his stuff should take note ....

UnknownSpecies

Dickie10 wrote: »

wales are defintly not the inferior team tomorrow remember which team got tanked by england and which team beat them??

And which team are the current Grand Slam holders? Neither team is inferior to the other at the moment. Both capable of a result

The Rape of Lucretia

UnknownSpecies wrote: »

And which team are the current Grand Slam holders?

So the team was good last year ?

OldRio

penybont exile wrote: »

Well obviously a significant percentage of the Irish fans who are still in the bars when MD struts his stuff should take note ....

I do agree but my remark was aimed at your post, as you know. Whataboutery is so tiresome.

UnknownSpecies

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

So the team was good last year ?

The team is still good. My point was that Wales beating England doesn't automatically make them superior to Ireland. As if that one game trumps the credentials this team has.

sydthebeat

UnknownSpecies wrote: »

The team is still good. My point was that Wales beating England doesn't automatically make them superior to Ireland. As if that one game trumps the credentials this team has.

We'll know in 6 hours who the better team is....

Amprodude

sydthebeat wrote: »

We'll know in 6 hours who the better team is....

Could be a draw?

ClanofLams

Suarezistheman wrote: »

I wonder will the Italians beat the French

They have a decent chance. Think they will beat the ten point spread at least

I'm going with a narrow Italian win.

Ireland to win by more than a score (10+) with Wales flattering the scoreline later on.

England to beat Scotland so badly that Townsend will find himself answering tough questions in the post match presser.

Eod100

Italy have stretched out to 11/4, worth a punt but I'd be surprised if it happened tbh

Mr_Man2121

Italy to win

Ireland to win by 7 points or less

Scotland to win with a last minute drop goal

Eod100

Zzippy wrote: »

The roof thing is pure Gatland. Create a kerfuffle over something to distract attention from the game itself, take pressure off his players. He's a master of manipulating the media. All the pressure should be on Wales, a grand slam on the line, but instead he's focussed the media attention on Joe Schmidt, made him out to be a curmudgeon spoiling good rugby, responsible for getting the fans soaked (so the atmosphere will be even more hostile) and given his players a psychological boost - more motivation to beat the feckin Irish. Genius...

Won't the players feel pressure is on them irrespective of focus on the roof though?

Zzippy

Eod100 wrote: »

Won't the players feel pressure is on them irrespective of focus on the roof though?

Yes but if all the media focus for 2 days is on the roof it reduces the focus on them. Small margins...

kuang1

Zzippy wrote: »

Yes but if all the media focus for 2 days is on the roof it reduces the focus on them. Small margins...

This is exactly it. I thought we'd be hearing those 2 words "grand slam" a hell of a lot more than we have.

Well done to Gatland for that.

sydthebeat

Mr_Man2121 wrote: »

Italy to win

Ireland to win by 7 points or less

Scotland to win with a last minute drop goal

Slap an ACCA on that !!

RugbyLover123

I’ve never seen a worse defender then the Italian 11.

crisco10

RugbyLover123 wrote: »

I’ve never seen a worse defender then the Italian 11.

Shocking. He never wanted to mark the French winger. He was dying to step in on medard.

mangobob

Fupping hell. Thats brutal luck. Brilliant from Italy all the same.

Ha. Rare to see a try actually denied by the posts.