The Rugby Thread

[pharvey]

Fingers crossed!

Nah.....

Yeah....

Best game of the day by far, and the perfect result!

"Yeah", fair play to the Lillywhites - congrats on the title, though sad to see it decided on points margin. That said, I don't think Les Bleus will be too upset, the management will certainly look at it as a work in progress, and rightly so.

And yes again, the France vs Ireland game was certainly the stand out game of the day - zero competition, but a very good game nonetheless!

France looking very good, but as has been mentioned before, their indiscipline still letting them down. A lot of young players in the squad and they will only improve IMHO - hosts of the 2023 RWC, they could take some beating!! Having had to drop out of the Lions Supporter's tour next year, I'm aiming to be there!

As an aside and some useless information, 2023 will also be the bicentenary of a football match at "Rugby School" where a young William Webb Ellis decided to pick up the ball and run with it in hand - thus inventing the "Rugby style of play"..... Rumour has it he was a Welsh exchange student

[pharvey]

I'm sure some great matches coming up - unfortunately not with Wales unless collective @rses are not put in gear!!

Really looking forward to seeing how Georgia do - the reason I believe there should be a promotion to/demotion from the 6 Nations, they truly deserve their chance.

I certainly don't want to see an end to the 6 Nations Tournament, which aside from the Rugby World Cup is the best in the world. That said, an "extended" European/Northern Hemisphere Tournament would be wonderful to see - perhaps every 4 years, in between RWC's.....

Anywho, to the point!! A HHF Prediction League has been set up for the forthcoming "Autumn Nations Tournament"

Players of previous tournaments should have received an invitation by Email, however if not and also for those interested in joining, you can do so by using the following details: -

Join HHF - Autumn Nations, the Autumn Nations Cup league on @Superbru! You can find the pool here:

https://www.superbru.com/autumnnationsc ... p=12282846

or by downloading the Superbru app and searching for the pool with code:

jigssobs

GO FOR IT & ENJOY!!

[lindosfan1]

Thanks for setting it up first matches 13 of November could be interesting. Who can beat the English

[PeteC]

As an FYI, below are the final standings for the L-O-N-G Six Nations tournament that started on February 1 and ended on November 1,

phpsVLiAHPM.jpg (31.07 KiB) Viewed 331 times

[Big Boy]

So who was Rucku Moke?

[PeteC]

I don't know, maybe one of Pharvey's friends?

[Big Boy]

Was he/she there all season? Seems to have appeared from nowhere (or have I been concentrating much lower down the league?

[PeteC]

Was he/she there all season? Seems to have appeared from nowhere (or have I been concentrating much lower down the league?

Look back to page 153. The person seems to have been there from the beginning. Pharvey's pool so I can't check the persons registration details.

[Big Boy]

Must have been so far above me that I didn't notice

[pharvey]

RE: Rucku Moke - Was a member of another forum (Rucku) many moons ago and has played a in number of HHF leagues in the past, though not a forum member. Think I'll have to ban him along with Dai_L or at least dock some points!!

Good start to the Autumn Nations League - up to 7 (including Rucku and likely Dai_L, so deductions could be a consideration ).....

[PeteC]

Regardless of my picks, I would really like to see Italy win at least one. Don't say they'll beat Fiji, Fiji is a tough team but currently a few have Covid so no idea how many top players they'll be able to field. How Italy keeps motivated I'll never know, unless they're paid very well. Good luck to them.

[pharvey]

^ Italy certainly had their moments against England as they did against others, but they need to do this for the full 80 minutes.....

When talking motivation, I always felt for Sergio Parisse who would have walked into any number of top teams - will certainly be missed.

[dtaai-maai]

Regardless of my picks, I would really like to see Italy win at least one. Don't say they'll beat Fiji, Fiji is a tough team but currently a few have Covid so no idea how many top players they'll be able to field. How Italy keeps motivated I'll never know, unless they're paid very well. Good luck to them.

Yes, the better the 'fringe' national teams get, the better for the game as a whole. Italy and Georgia are probably the closest in Europe (not to mention Wales of course! ); further afield, Canada, USA, Uruguay, one or two of the Pacific Island nations.

Don't I remember some talk of Portugal making up a "7 Nations" a few years ago, or am I becoming delusional? It's not that long since Argentina and Japan would have struggled to get a game against a major nation, as they just weren't good enough. For a while it looked like Scotland were sliding down to 'fringe' status - good to see them improving.

Look how much Argentina improved once they started playing the Southern Hemisphere top dogs on a regular basis. Let's hope Japan can do the same soon.

[dtaai-maai]

When talking motivation, I always felt for Sergio Parisse who would have walked into any number of top teams - will certainly be missed.

Mind you, his replacement Jake Polledri looks pretty handy. Of course, he's about as Italian as I am, but that hardly matters these days.

[pharvey]

Well, the Autumn Nations Cup kicks off in a little over a week with games being played Friday through Sunday. Wales head to Ireland on Friday the 13th - doesn't exactly bode well for trying to end a run of 5 straight losses!! I shall however always bet with the heart rather than the head where Wales is concerned....

"HHF - Autumn Nations" now up to 10

Fixtures for Round 1

Friday 13/11/20 Aviva Stadium Dublin, KO 19:00 GMT (Televised (UK) - Ch4/S4C/Amazon)

Ireland vs Wales

Saturday 14/11/20 TBC, KO 12:45 GMT (Televised - Amazon)

Italy vs Scotland

Saturday 14/11/20 Twickenham, London KO 15:00 GMT (Televised - Amazon)

England vs Georgia

Sunday 15/11/20 TBC, KO 15:00 GMT (Televised - Amazon)

France vs Fiji

More info on tournament schedule @ https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rug ... s-19219981

A very interesting point to note and one for those interested in watching matches is that regarding Amazon Prime. There is a 1 month free trial available which would cover all matches - certainly worth a try (possibly with VPN) : -

"TV rights for the tournament are largely held by online streaming service Amazon Prime Video for the first time, while Channel Four have three matches and will also show evening highlights throughout the tournament. S4C will show all the Wales games with Welsh language commentary.

Signing up to Prime will be the only way fans can catch every single minute of action though. It's a big change for many and has sparked some real debate among fans.

Prime members will be able to catch 14 live games as part of their membership, while new members can sign up for £7.99 a month.

If you've not had a free month-long Amazon Prime trial before, you can actually sign up for one before the tournament starts and get all the games for free if you then cancel your membership after that first month."

More info @ https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rug ... h-18916139

For me, I'm already an Amazon Prime member and find it incredible value for money (as it stands). But that said, I'm UK based and benefit from the free delivery of many items sold on Amazon (which I use frequently). For those not benefitting from the shopping/delivery side, but able to access, I still think the £7.99 fee is well worth it for the sports/entertainment.