The Rugby Thread

[pharvey]

A what party??? You know you're getting old when you start coming across terms you've never heard of before...

Have to admit, in these days of "Transgender", "Gender-neutral" , "Genderqueer" etc., my first reaction was it was some type of "coming out" party... Must admit, I did have to look it up as well......

[dtaai-maai]

I see Italy's half-back pairing are 19* and 20 respectively - that will be interesting to see!

*19-yr-old Welsh scrum half Stephen Varney

[dtaai-maai]

I'm not quite sure what the point of the socially distanced pre-match line up is...

[pharvey]

*19-yr-old Welsh scrum half Stephen Varney

He's chosen his place. To be fair, he has very strong Italian links - would be around 10th choice for the No. 9 Shirt in Wales though....

Dire match from Rome, Italy absolutely dreadful aside from some very few moments. France didn't really do much - they didn't have to....

In no way biasing either side or making any difference to the result, but good God - the missed forward passes, the blatant feeding of the scrum and lineouts thrown not straight....... An absolute joke today!!

[pharvey]

I'm not quite sure what the point of the socially distanced pre-match line up is...

Well Itoje's not sticking to it when it comes to the offside line....

[pharvey]

Superb from Scotland - massive performances all-round, but hats off to Hogg and Gray, on another level.

Farrell and Eddie Jones not happy men........

England very lucky to get away with 11 - 6 quite frankly.

Hats off to Scotland - please take it down a couple of levels before meeting Wales!!!

[dtaai-maai]

Superb from Scotland - massive performances all-round, but hats off to Hogg and Gray, on another level.

England very lucky to get away with 11 - 6 quite frankly.

My words exactly. England started badly and got worse. There was some inconsistent refereeing (in my somewhat one-sided view), but by and large England were definitely masters of their own downfall, gifting penalties left, right and centre and seemingly unable to hang on to the ball. As always, Farrell resorted to kicking it when in doubt, often wrongly. May had a nightmare, the other backs might as well not have been there. Itoje tried to win it on his own, but...

Having said all of that, the major reason for England's humiliating failure (the game should have been sewn up long before the end, probably by half time) was an outstanding performance by Scotland.

(pharvey, you have no idea how gritted my teeth are...).

I'm watching Shakespeare in Love in an attempt to lighten my mood. Amazon Prime have just delivered a heater, which is helping...

[lindosfan1]

Scotland were superb, they were disciplined and controlled. England in the first 30 minutes gave away penalties all over the pitch, the worst I have seen them play in years.

[dtaai-maai]

Wales 21-16 Ireland

Great game to watch. A shame Ireland had a man (rightly) sent off early on, but they played out of their skins for the rest of the first half, had most of the possession and territory, and went in with a half-time lead. That was extremely unlikely to last unless Wales made a complete pig's ear of it. They tried to, right at the end of a dramatic final few minutes, but Billy Burns got too greedy with his touch kick.

So Wales got their win without covering themselves in glory, but I'm sure they'll take it happily! If I'm honest, I'd have quite liked Ireland to sneak it at the end; it's bloody hard work when you're a man down in rugby, and they played out of their skins. Good hard rugby all the way.

[pharvey]

It all started with seeing Wayne Barnes whistle in hand on the halfway line..... Collective thoughts amngst Welsh supporters of 95 minute matches, bizarre frontrow substitutions, his dislike of leeks, Welsh Rarebit and then the "dire decisions". .... None of which actually really materialised - although there were still some indiferent decisions and WTF moments (what the hell was he doing asking Wales who the "receiver" was on 3 separate occasions at the lineout)? This is one I'd really like to know the answer to (and I'm not saying this was against Wales - I'd truly like to know)

@ DM - Well, pretty much agree with all you've said aside from wanting Ireland to "sneak it" - Good God, even Superbru have insisted that I've bet on an Ireland win - Have never bet against Wales in my life. A letter from somebody's lawyer (I can't afford one) will follow!!

Ireland were superb, Wales far from it From my side (apologies in advance, as I'm a smidgeon pi$$ed off) : -

* Big problems again in the lineout, more worrying for me was believing this problem would be sorted after Ken Owens return from injury.... not so - Wales need to address this and quickly. Scotland and Gray in particular will muller us next weekend in this department. What's going wrong?
* Pivac and Co. were brought in to give Wales the attacking drive that Llanelli Scarlets showed when Pivac and Jones were there and who brought the PRO 14 Title to the region. Nothing of this has been shown to date, well, ZERO idea - a 14 man Ireland made more "line breaks" than we did FFS!!
* Some poor defence, although this has been improved with Gethin Jenkins being there - but, he's a bl**dy prop!! Don't get me wrong, superb player in his day, superb forwards coach, but can he truly run a (backs) defensive line? Bring in Roberts - not as a replacement, not as a player (although top of his game at the moment), but as an addition to the coaching set up. He was "The General" in the Welsh backline defence under Shaun Edwards - experience we do not/cannot lose!
* Pivac has said he was going for a "fresh look", to bring in new players, to look to the future and the 2023 Rugby World Cup and yet he picks the most experienced team in Welsh history.....

We had (some) positives.... North back to his best, the frontrow (Wyn Jones MOTM especially) with Navidi having an incredible game considering he's been out for 2 months+ with injury

Wales travel to Scotland next weekend and have masses of work to do if they are not to be swept aside completely by Scotland.

[dtaai-maai]

(what the hell was he doing asking Wales who the "receiver" was on 3 separate occasions at the lineout)? This is one I'd really like to know the answer to (and I'm not saying this was against Wales - I'd truly like to know)

I missed that - truly bizarre...

[pharvey]

(what the hell was he doing asking Wales who the "receiver" was on 3 separate occasions at the lineout)? This is one I'd really like to know the answer to (and I'm not saying this was against Wales - I'd truly like to know)

I missed that - truly bizarre...

Look on BBC iPlayer... Thankfully I remembered roughly where it was in the match rather than having to watch through a mass of dire Welsh play....

The "Receiver" bit (one of) happens @ +/- 1hr 59 mins of the show (56+ Minutes of match) - I've still no idea on this one...

On +/- 1hr 58, there's another one..... The Irish stole the lineout, and cleared beyond the 22. Barnes however says it was taken "Against the Head" and brought the lineout back into the 22 and in a far better position for Wales. I've never seen this before and don't understand the ruling. Another one I'd love to know what was happening.....

My feelings against Barnes are more sarcastic than anything, although he has tended to screw over sides I both love and support Today however, some strange comments/decisions....

[dtaai-maai]

On +/- 1hr 58, there's another one..... The Irish stole the lineout, and cleared beyond the 22. Barnes however says it was taken "Against the Head" and brought the lineout back into the 22 and in a far better position for Wales. I've never seen this before and don't understand the ruling. Another one I'd love to know what was happening.....

I do recall that one. I thought he was saying that the ball had been taken back into the 22 and therefore couldn't be kicked out on the full.

[pharvey]

I do recall that one. I thought he was saying that the ball had been taken back into the 22 and therefore couldn't be kicked out on the full.

No - the lineout was inside the Irish 22 (previous play shouldn't be considered). Ireland won it (against the head), and cleared. The ball went straight into touch, but as the rules state - this is not a problem. A strange decision TBO. Barnes actually mentioned "against the head" - Why? I really am lost on this one and it was to Wales' advantage!!

Ask or man Nige (Owens).......

[dtaai-maai]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/55971987

Scottish Rugby backs players who did not kneel

When the England players took the knee, some of their Scottish counterparts saw them doing it and were taken aback. None of them were expecting it. It might have been the one time all day that England took them by surprise.

Chris Harris and Ali Price appeared to be the first to spot it. Immediately, they took the knee. Cameron Redpath was standing next to Harris - Redpath took the knee. Jonny Gray was standing next to Price - Gray took the knee. Most of the other Scottish players had no idea any of this was going on. From their vantage point in the team line, they could not see who was doing what.

Not taking the knee was not a political statement or a snub to the Black Lives Matter movement or even, as Scottish Rugby suggested, a reflection of the players expressing a personal choice of how to illustrate their opposition to racism. It was a piece of slapstick before one of the greatest, and in many cases, the greatest day of their rugby lives.

The storm over 'kneegate' has bemused every one of them.

Yep, a non-issue IMO.