Six Nations: who's looking good for the title?

[Dioltach]

After the first week of Six Nations rugby, who look like they might take the title?

Wales looked very poor: nice handling skills, a strong pack, but overall they seemed to lack penetration and only once came close to the Irish try line.
Ireland, conversely, were very solid in defence and looked very impressive going forward. O'Gara took some time to settle down, but when he did, he controlled the Irish attack beautifully. If he can carry that form over to the rest of the tournament, Ireland might just live up to expectations.

I didn't see the other matches, but by all accounts England performed better than expected. Was it all Wilko, or has the whole team been rejuvenated by Andy Robinson's departure?

How did France look? Will they manage to impose themselves on the stronger teams like they did on Italy? Will they beat Ireland next weekend?

 

[delericho]

I only watched the Scotland/England match. While I was gutted at the result, I couldn't begrudge England the win - they were the better team. However, they are too dependent on Wilkinson. Without him, the match would have been much closer, although England would probably have just edged it.

My gut feeling is that I did not watch the eventual winners.

(My only other reflection on the match was that the band that played "Flower of Scotland" were awful. It's not meant to be a dirge. They were significantly better with "God Save the Queen". I'm leaning towards the view that visiting teams in international fixtures should be allowed to bring their own band.)

 

[Dioltach]

Any predictions for this weekend? Personally, I reckon England will beat Italy, and Ireland will beat France. Scotland v Wales could go either way, but I'm leaning toward the Scots.

 

[amethal]

Any predictions for this weekend? Personally, I reckon England will beat Italy, and Ireland will beat France. Scotland v Wales could go either way, but I'm leaning toward the Scots.

That's pretty much how I see it going, unfortunately.

I still fancy Ireland for the grand slam, but they weren't that impressive against Wales.

I thought the whole England team played pretty well. It was amazing watching Farrell run it out of defence practically from his own try line.

 

[delericho]

My guess would be three home wins this week: England to beat Italy, Ireland to beat France, and Scotland to beat Wales.

I would be shocked if Italy were to upset England, but I wouldn't be terribly surprised if either of the other two games go the other way.

 

[Sidekick]

Last weekend? The english were good, but not THAT good. Wilko played well, Robinson was just in the right place and the right time. The one person who truly stood out for me was Harry Ellis. England now seem to have a half-back worth a damn.

Not good (if you're not an english supporter).

Ireland did well but that game was prety touch and go for a long time. Wales will improve and get better. These two teams are my favourite Northern Hemisphere teams.

This coming weekend?

Yeah the Poms will beat the Italians.

Ireland v France? Hmm that's a toughy, I guess after the spanking the French got at the hands of my might ABs they'll be looking to take down some worthy adversaries.

That game will depend on the French - if they turn to to play and really go for it it'll be a close one. If they have one of their poor performances then Ireland will beat them by 7 or more.

One thing I did notice was the constant off-loading in the tackle. Now I know everyone is trying to get faster ball, and yes when it works it works quite well. But the players need to know when to offload in the tackle and when to go to ground. I saw both Wales and Ireland f-up a tryscoring opportunity when they tried to OLitT and fail miserably. One was from O'Driscoll which i thought was very uncharacteristic.

They need to tighten this up or come World Cup the Aussie & the ABs will punish them if they make mistakes like that...

Oh and best thing? The super 14 is back up and running again. So I can watch two games of rugby a day - noe in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Sorted

<heads out to get crisps for the weekends rugby>

 

[Dioltach]

One thing I did notice was the constant off-loading in the tackle. Now I know everyone is trying to get faster ball, and yes when it works it works quite well. But the players need to know when to offload in the tackle and when to go to ground. I saw both Wales and Ireland f-up a tryscoring opportunity when they tried to OLitT and fail miserably. One was from O'Driscoll which i thought was very uncharacteristic.

They need to tighten this up or come World Cup the Aussie & the ABs will punish them if they make mistakes like that...

What was very noticeable in the Autumn Internationals was that the All Blacks always had support runners close to the ball carrier, ready to catch the offload no matter where it went. I think that the NH teams took notice, and are trying to imitate that, because if they can get it right, it will make them that much more competitive. It will take a lot of practice, I'm afraid, but I'm looking forward to seeing it happen.

 

[death tribble]

England need a true test. Ireland and France will provide that test, particularly Ireland. Wales because they lost I am putting out of the equation. If they had won or it was closer then again that would be the true test for England as well.
Mind you it is nice to see that an England side can do something right which is what we can get from the Rugby and Cricket teams (during my lifetime). Something I can't say about the football team.

 

[Sidekick]

What was very noticeable in the Autumn Internationals was that the All Blacks always had support runners close to the ball carrier, ready to catch the offload no matter where it went. I think that the NH teams took notice, and are trying to imitate that, because if they can get it right, it will make them that much more competitive. It will take a lot of practice, I'm afraid, but I'm looking forward to seeing it happen.

Yeah I totoally agree, they are trying to get that down in time for the WC.

Hopefully (from my PoV) they don't quite get it working as well as the ABs

For this tournament I've decided to support the Irish. They're slick, skillful, have the best centre in the world in O'Driscoll and most importantly - they're not the english*



*I'll qualify that with a note that I only don't like the english rugby team, the cricket team is good (damn you to hell and back!!) and the football team get my support too. Just not the rubgy team for some reason. I'm not really too sure what it is either. I just don't like them...

 

[delericho]

England need a true test. Ireland and France will provide that test, particularly Ireland. Wales because they lost I am putting out of the equation. If they had won or it was closer then again that would be the true test for England as well.

I don't know about that. England have just come off a losing streak, and were not totally dominant in the Scotland match despite the eventual scoreline, especially in the first half. So, depending on where the Wales match occurs, it may be more of a test than you seem to think.

Mind you it is nice to see that an England side can do something right which is what we can get from the Rugby and Cricket teams (during my lifetime). Something I can't say about the football team.

With both the rugby and the cricket teams they had one great accomplishment that was widely hailed as "the start of a new era of dominance". In both cases, the team then proceeded to rest on their laurels for too long, and slipped back into mediocrity. The football team is also in a big slump right now. That will change over time.

There are two problems I see with English sports generally. The first is that the teams tend to be far too dependent on a few really good players, such that if they don't perform then the whole team fails. With the football it's Rooney (and Beckham until recently), with the rugby it's Wilkinson, and with the cricket it's Flintoff. There's no denying they're really good players... but you can't build a team from one man.

The second problem is that the English media seem determined to talk up the chances of your teams to absurd heights, such that it almost feels like you go in having won the competition already. Then, when the team fails to do so, the disappointment is all the more crushing. I can't help but feel that a more realistic appraisal of your chances would benefit the fans and players both, and might well improve performances by virtue of removing such absurd levels of expectation.

(One of the really good things about supporting Scotland is that we go into most of these things as the underdog. Therefore, when we lose, it's no big deal because we half expected it anyway. But when we pull off a win - such as when our footballers beat France last year - it's party time!)