Six Nations

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**** it, this deserves it's own thread.

England team to play Scotland in the Calcutta Cup:

15 Iain Balshaw (Gloucester)
14 Josh Lewsey (Wasps)
13 Mike Tindall (Gloucester)
12 Andy Farrell (Saracens)
11 Jason Robinson (Sale)
10 JONNY WILKINSON(!!!)(Newcastle)
9 Harry Ellis (Leicester)
8 Martin Corry (Leicester)
7 Magnus Lund (Sale)
6 Joe Worsley (Wasps)
5 Danny Grewcock (Bath)
4 Louis Deacon (Leicester)
3 Phil Vickery (Wasps, capt)
2 George Chuter (Leicester)
1 Perry Freshwater (Perpignan/FRA)

That's not a bad looking team actually. The important ones are highlighted. Great to see some of those guys back in an England shirt like seeing Worsley and Vickers in the same pack again. Balshaw, Lewsey and Robinson back together causing sides headaches. And Farrell finally gets his chance! He'll do well, I'm certain. He's got the right mindset and mental strength. And WILKO back! I don't think he's even fit... let's see how long he lasts... Only downside is Cueto being injured, otherwise it would have been a really, really strong side. Looking forward to the game and the 6N's .

What do people reckon to the outcome of the Six Nations? It's got France written allover it to me, but I think England will be a close second. We've really come on leaps and bounds in our last few games I feel. We've been willing to throw the ball about, recycle it quickly and do some running. Still loads of room for improvement, I think this game against Scotland will show us just how much, but I think we'll do well this time .

 

I like the game much. it is still pure and true compared with that game with the round ball. No sissy boys(figo) or divers (robben). Who is going to win, I do not know but will cheer for old england. We dutch do have some clubs, and are getting better. perhaps in the year 2030 we can beat you.

 

Bah, English rugby must be in seriously desperate straits to:
a) call up Wilkinson based on the 5 minutes of rugby he's played in the last 3 years.
b) call up Andy Farrell but I guess they were forced to, given the huge pile of cash they've spent on luring him to the game in the first place
c) dig up that ballet dancing fossil Jason Robinson.

And the less said about Danny Grewcock, the better.

I predict England will lose to both Ireland and France but proclaim themselves to be serious World Cup contenders after crushing victories over Scotland and Italy.

Having said that, I have got my rugby predictions horribly wrong just about every year (other than Robinson being overrated - which has been correct 100% of the time) so maybe it will turn out exactly the opposite.

 

Where is that massive man mountain of a man Andrew Sheridan?

 

Andy Farrell will be fine, never fear. He's a natural born winner and has the right mental strength and attitude. He's an almost natural replacement for DOL, although in a position we desperately needed a good player.

Eh, it was either Robinson or Cohen. I'd definitely rather have Robinson! It's a shame Mark Cueto's injured really, otherwise neither would get a look in.

Wilko is a risk... the fact is though, we have no other good fly half's or reliable kickers! I doubt he'll last the 80, either injured or subb'd.

If you look at the team though... Vickers is a class player, Worsley's a class player, Balshaw's a class player, Lewsey's a class player, Lund's a classs player... ad we're still awaiting a few injured players to come back. I think we'll be OK, we're turning the corner I feel.

 

The World Champions are back!! What a performance by Wilkinson, like he's never been away!

How wrong you are Harbs.

 

Congrats England, nice second half.

 

On the contrary, you have proved me right again. It was Scotland! You have one win over Scotland and suddenly all those players are worldbeaters again. It's hilarious. It's the same in cricket and soccer. It's the ability of people like Robinson to easily exploit below par opposition that makes you all (and him) think they can do it against better teams (which he has proven repeatedly that he can't). Wilkinson was (and could well be again) class. Robinson has never been.

Let's have another look after you've played Ireland.

 

Wilkinson was ****ing brilliant all the time he was on the pitch. As was Harry Ellis at scrum half, easily slotting in to replace Dawson (much better, even). It was good to see the 'garbage' Robinson bag 2 tries against the 'rubbish' Scotland who won the Calcutta cup last year and are rapidly improving.

It will be interesting to see us against the likes of Ireland and France, but as I said earlier... I think we're turning the corner .

*cough* WORLD CUP FINAL TRY *cough* sorry... still got a bad chest from my flu .

 

It was just great to see Robinson and Wilkinson playing again, brought all the good memories back. Sorry Harbs but I don't know how on earth you can call Robinson "garbage" and a "bally dancer", he rips teams apart with his pace as we saw today. I wasn't excited about the Six Nations at all after what happend last year but hopefully we can get back on track and can build some form before the WC.

Your on.

 

Oooh! He ran 15 steps to finish off a move set up by England's dominant forward pack. What a star.

I don't he is complete garbage, he's just massively overrated in England because he sometimes dazzles weaker teams by dancing on the spot for a few seconds before taking off.

England may have turned a corner, but I just think we should wait to see how they play against better teams first. You're not going to be playing Scotland in the World Cup final.

 

There are no 'weak' teams in the Six Nations in this day and age. Even Italy are rapidly improving. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see us against Ireland, Wales and France. It's good to see us playing the ball around and recycling it quickly though, no? The backline played really well yesterday, as did our centres... although it wasn't hard for Farrell and Tindall to dominate their centre pairing...

Everybody played well and once we settled and get confidence, there were few errors (we'll scratch Scotland's first try!)

We still have massive room for improvement. We're really aiming for 2nd in the 6N as the winner will be one of Ireland or France. Teams aiming for 2nd in the 6N as a good result have little chance of retaining the WC! What we're pleased to see in England though is IMPROVEMENT. We went over a year and over a dozen matches with no improvement in our game at all, we got tonked each game. That's no good for an England national side. I don't mind not being the worlds best side anymore (and we were, no doubt) providing we're striving to constantly improve and we're getting that now.

How good was Wilko though! The lad hasn't played a test match since the WC final and has played 40 minutes of professional rugby in 12 weeks. Then he comes straight into the starting line-up, barely 80% fit and puts in a dominant display like that. His dead-eye accuracy, immense tackling (for a fly half!) and great distribution has really been missed. What has been missed most though is his general presence. He lifts the side. Daniel Carter is probably better, but Wilko was the first guy to come in and be the complete player. And did you see some of the kicks he nailed the only surprise was that he missed one or two!

[ February 04, 2007, 12:48: Message edited by: Barmy Army ]

 

The difference is that when Wilko plays well you feel like your going to win. If thats how I feel I imagine thats how the players feel, it's not a one man team just that Wilko like Barmy said has the ability to inspire players. The better he played the more our confidence grew and we started to really power home in the second half, a trait we had when Wilko used to play. And after Scotlands first try we didnt let our heads go down and start to make silly errors, which we would have done last year. It will be a step up playing Ireland and France but I can't help but feel much more confident now Wilko is back, I think well beat Ireland but France will be a much tougher test but again I think we have every chance to win both those games.

EDIT: I just checked and we play France at Twickenham.

 

The other thing is that it makes captaincy really easy. When you've got a guy who can rely on to nail penalties from anywhere 90% of the time, it makes decisions so much easier. No kicking to touch to go for the try. Just take the points! It really keeps the scoreboard ticking over nicely, which is what we used to be brilliant at. We can more or less get outplayed in other areas of the pitch, but just keep taking 3 points after 3 points and find ourselves winning. This is Vickers "Penalty ref? Ah good. Here you are Jonny". No 'Hm.. shall I go for the try here?' just give him the ball and take the points. Easy. When you've got Hodgson at fly half, you can't rely on him like that, he's a bottler and you don't trust him to score at all.

Ireland will probably be tougher to beat than France to be honest. They're playing really well lately.

 

i was quite disappointed by the Wales - Ireland match on sunday, thought the ref needed a good hard slap

 

Wilkinson did play well and that's seriously encouraging for England as he is crucial, although anybody who takes a drop goal in the first half of an international game should be shot and the game immediately awarded to the opposition. Drop goals should be reserved for when you have no other option (like to break a deadlock in the final minutes). During most of the game, you should be looking to score tries.

Looking forward to how the rest of the Six Nations pans out. England sport may be on the up this week!

 

Points are points . I remember we had this chucked at us a few years ago when we went around beating everybody.

 

Yes people used to say that and if you have the best kicker in the world you'd be stupid not to let him do what he does best. Anyway looking foward to tommorows games, predictions lads?

 

England were crap just then. Just been to the pub to watch it, but can't afford to stay out! That was a worrying display. That was the same lack of ambition and rubbish execution that plagued us last year. That kind of game is exactly why you take the points off Wilko's boots whenever you can, 5 from 6 today and the one he missed was bloody difficult.

 

France Ireland. what can I say. Sneaky, just sneaky, but well executed.