Natwest Six Nations 2018

chrism_scotland

chrism_scotland

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Well its finally here, the Six Nations 2018! As a Scot I'm buzzing looking forward to kick-off in Cardiff tomorrow!!

Six Nations TV Coverage 2018: BBC and ITV Matches
Round 1

Saturday 3rd February Wales v Scotland, 2.15pm – BBC
Saturday 3rd February France v Ireland, 4.45pm – BBC
Sunday 4th February Italy v England, 3.00pm – ITV

Round 2
Saturday 10th February, Ireland v Italy, 2.15pm – ITV
Saturday 10th February, England v Wales, 4.45pm – ITV
Sunday 11th February, Scotland v France, 3.00pm – BBC

Round 3
Friday 23nd February, France v Italy, 8.00pm – BBC
Saturday 23rd February, Ireland v Wales, 2.15pm – ITV
Sunday 24th February, Scotland v England, 4.45pm – BBC

Round 4
Saturday 10th March, Ireland v Scotland, Saturday 2.15pm – ITV
Saturday 10th March, France v England, Saturday 4.45pm – BBC
Sunday 11th March, Wales v Italy, Sunday 3.00pm – BBC

Round 5
Saturday 17th March, Italy v Scotland, Saturday 12.30pm – ITV
Saturday 17th March, England v Ireland, Saturday 2.45pm – ITV
Saturday 17th March, Wales v France, Saturday 5.00pm – BBC
 
Good to see it all televised :)

Good luck to all the teams, but especially England (y)
 
Paddington station this morning was full of blokes in kilts. It's funny how rugby fans are generally good natured and football fans often aren't.
 
StewartR said:
Paddington station this morning was full of blokes in kilts. It's funny how rugby fans are generally good natured and football fans often aren't.
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Exactly.

I always give my wife a shout so she can listen to the Welsh anthem and she was really pleased to hear her own anthem too.....Scotland.

Leigh Halfpenny kicking well today. A great game ..second half in progress 20-0 to Wales. I actually support Wales, same with football. Against England,neutral, I suppose. Where's Taulupe ..Toby .. Faletau.?
 
2 very different games so far. I was surprised by the Wales / Scotland match, I thought it would of been much closer based on the autumn internationals.

The Irish got themselves out of jail and I almost feel sorry for the French. I am guessing the game from Paris is going to raise the question of the use of head injury assessments and who makes the decisions..
 
France pulled another fast one re HIA, again. They deserved to lose just because of that.
 
I would have a rule that says if you are concerned enough to pull a player off for HIA, it's a minimum of 30 mins.

Thats long enough to deter the chess move HIA, but also long enough to give the medics long enough to assess a genuine one.
 
Norkie said:
I would have a rule that says if you are concerned enough to pull a player off for HIA, it's a minimum of 30 mins.

Thats long enough to deter the chess move HIA, but also long enough to give the medics long enough to assess a genuine one.
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I agree absolutely and I'm pleased with result because of that charade.
Otherwise, it was a great game to watch.
 
Must say though, disappointed with the Scotland performance.
 
Good afternoon for Chiefs today! Have to say that England looked a little ordinary before they changed gear in the second half.


And FWIW, the neurologists and surgeons who dealt with me 5 or so years ago gave each other knowing looks when I told them I had been a prop in my youth so any head injury should be taken seriously (IMO anyone taken off for an HIA should stay off for the rest of the game.)
 
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There was an interesting little quirk of the rules on display in the Italy/England game this afternoon, when Anthony Watson scored his second try.

Watson just managed to ground the ball in the corner before being bundled into touch by the Italian defender. But the Italian clearly didn't use any arms or hands in the 'tackle' - it was a straightforward shoulder charge. So if Watson hadn't managed to get the ball down, logically the ref would have had to award a penalty try for the illegal tackle. And that would have been worth a certain 7 points, whereas in practice Farrell missed a difficult conversion attempt and England came away with only 5.

Firtunately this didn't affect the match. But if it had happened with a try scored right at the end (eg France vs Wales last year) it could have been critical.
 
The Scotland performance was an utter embarrassment, was not expecting us to be so bad - never recovered from the mistakes that cost 2 tries early on and then just seemed to lack ideas despite having most of the play for the rest of the first half.

I suspect there will be a fair few team changes ahead of the France game next weekend, including Greig Laidlaw back in, hopefully we're better, the tickets weren't cheap!
 
StewartR said:
There was an interesting little quirk of the rules on display in the Italy/England game this afternoon, when Anthony Watson scored his second try.

Watson just managed to ground the ball in the corner before being bundled into touch by the Italian defender. But the Italian clearly didn't use any arms or hands in the 'tackle' - it was a straightforward shoulder charge. So if Watson hadn't managed to get the ball down, logically the ref would have had to award a penalty try for the illegal tackle. And that would have been worth a certain 7 points, whereas in practice Farrell missed a difficult conversion attempt and England came away with only 5.

Firtunately this didn't affect the match. But if it had happened with a try scored right at the end (eg France vs Wales last year) it could have been critical.
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Also, as they said on the commentary, that would have been a sin bin offence. Lucky Watson showed such great skill/poor tactics :)
 
Gaz J said:
France pulled another fast one re HIA, again. They deserved to lose just because of that.
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"Owens said the official matchday doctor advised a HIA was needed and stuck with the call, having also sought clarification from the fourth official."

Yeah, damn those pesky French....
 
keef32 said:
"Owens said the official matchday doctor advised a HIA was needed and stuck with the call, having also sought clarification from the fourth official."

Yeah, damn those pesky French....
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I just read it was the Drs who called for HIA, apparently Le Frogs didnt and sought no tactical advantage..................

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/42936200
 
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StewartR said:
There was an interesting little quirk of the rules on display in the Italy/England game this afternoon, when Anthony Watson scored his second try.

Watson just managed to ground the ball in the corner before being bundled into touch by the Italian defender. But the Italian clearly didn't use any arms or hands in the 'tackle' - it was a straightforward shoulder charge. So if Watson hadn't managed to get the ball down, logically the ref would have had to award a penalty try for the illegal tackle. And that would have been worth a certain 7 points, whereas in practice Farrell missed a difficult conversion attempt and England came away with only 5.

Firtunately this didn't affect the match. But if it had happened with a try scored right at the end (eg France vs Wales last year) it could have been critical.
Click to expand...

Interesting. In League, that would've been a penalty in front of the sticks in addition to the try.
 
StewartR said:
There was an interesting little quirk of the rules on display in the Italy/England game this afternoon, when Anthony Watson scored his second try.

Watson just managed to ground the ball in the corner before being bundled into touch by the Italian defender. But the Italian clearly didn't use any arms or hands in the 'tackle' - it was a straightforward shoulder charge. So if Watson hadn't managed to get the ball down, logically the ref would have had to award a penalty try for the illegal tackle. And that would have been worth a certain 7 points, whereas in practice Farrell missed a difficult conversion attempt and England came away with only 5.

Firtunately this didn't affect the match. But if it had happened with a try scored right at the end (eg France vs Wales last year) it could have been critical.
Click to expand...

And the Italian player would have been sin binned, or so the commentators said at the time.
 
MatBin said:
I just read it was the Drs who called for HIA, apparently Le Frogs didnt and sought no tactical advantage..................
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Well, they would say that, wouldn't they?

That page you linked to has a prominent image of Antoine Dupont pointing to his head as he limps off down the tunnel. I wonder why he would have been doing that?

frahia.jpg
 
Marc said:
Interesting. In League, that would've been a penalty in front of the sticks in addition to the try.
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Well, even in Union I think it should have been a penalty try. I think what should have happened was:
  • the ref spots the foul
  • he allows play on to see whether England gain an advantage
  • Watson touches the ball down in the corner
  • the ref decides that is no advantage compared to a penalty try (because the penalty try would be easier to convert)
  • he calls play back, awards the foul and a penalty try, and sends the defender to the sin bin
  • Farrell kicks the easy conversion and England get 7 points instead of 5
 
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Fortunately in Rugby it seems that players/coaches adopt a more relaxed attitude and what goes round comes round. I HATE the way football constantly argues was it/wasnt it, lets see it in slo-mo, pull it to pieces etc, it's happened and like life deal with it, move on, get over it, maybe next time you'll get the break over the other team.
 
MatBin said:
Fortunately in Rugby it seems that players/coaches adopt a more relaxed attitude and what goes round comes round. I HATE the way football constantly argues was it/wasnt it, lets see it in slo-mo, pull it to pieces etc, it's happened and like life deal with it, move on, get over it, maybe next time you'll get the break over the other team.
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Couldn't agree more. But there are two key elements to this: (1) in rugby the ref gets more of the big decisions right, because of the TMO; and (2) rugby players don't argue with the ref's decisions. Both of these are problems with football.

In fact it's just football, isn't it. I don't think there's another sport where players can get away with challenging the ref's authority like they do in football.
 
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StewartR said:
Couldn't agree more. But there are two key elements to this: (1) in rugby the ref gets more of the big decisions right, because of the TMO; and (2) rugby players don't argue with the ref's decisions. Both of these are problems with football.

In fact it's just football, isn't it. I don't think there's another sport where players can get away with challenging the ref's authority like they do in football.
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The TMO and taking time out to be as sure as possible you have the correct decision is what really made me start watching Rugby a few years ago, that plus the players' discipline and respect, including applauding each other off at the end of the game, the coach's discipline in terms of not slagging off the ref etc and the fact you rarely get a duff game (at International level at least, something Football needs to learn).
Actually I watch very little football these days, total turn-off.
 
StewartR said:
Well, even in Union I think it should have been a penalty try. I think what should have happened was:
  • the ref spots the foul
  • he allows play on to see whether England gain an advantage
  • Watson touches the ball down in the corner
  • the ref decides that is no advantage compared to a penalty try (because the penalty try would be easier to convert)
  • he calls play back, awards the foul and a penalty try, and sends the defender to the sin bin
  • Farrell kicks the easy conversion and England get 7 points instead of 5
Click to expand...

Conversions are no longer taken when a penalty try is awarded. The minimum the ref should have done IMHO was to award the try AND sin bin the offending player.
 
mex said:
Conversions are no longer taken when a penalty try is awarded.
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Oh, right. I didn't know, but I checked and apparently that's one of the experimental rules that came in last year. So yes, I agree.
 
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mex said:
Conversions are no longer taken when a penalty try is awarded. The minimum the ref should have done IMHO was to award the try AND sin bin the offending player.
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Dont the rules say, penalty try and sin bin but no conversion, what he did was allow the try and England the possibilty of getting a conversion too but not sin bin the Italian. To be fair in that particular match sending off the Italian wouldnt have made much difference and potentially spoilt the game? In another situation, say against the All Blacks, sin bin would have been more appropriate?
 
MatBin said:
To be fair in that particular match sending off the Italian wouldnt have made much difference and potentially spoilt the game? In another situation, say against the All Blacks, sin bin would have been more appropriate?
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Its just as appropriate.. and should have been binned for it.
 
MatBin said:
Dont the rules say, penalty try and sin bin but no conversion, what he did was allow the try and England the possibilty of getting a conversion too but not sin bin the Italian. To be fair in that particular match sending off the Italian wouldnt have made much difference and potentially spoilt the game? In another situation, say against the All Blacks, sin bin would have been more appropriate?
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Don’t agree sorry, regardless of the opposition rules is rules( laws btw in rugby union not rules[emoji67]‍[emoji310]). As I said “ IMHO” a yellow would have been a more appropriate action by the ref. The outcome of the game was never in question .
 
MatBin said:
The TMO and taking time out to be as sure as possible you have the correct decision is what really made me start watching Rugby a few years ago....
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Absolutely. It amazes me that there are so many football fans who are against video reviews, not just because it breaks up the flow of the game (where I think they do have a good point), but because they consider that bad decisions, debate and disagreement are integral to enjoyment of the game.

I've long been impressed with the NFL, who pioneered video replays. I remember an incredible example from 5 years ago when a Dallas Cowboys wide receiver made an unbelievable acrobatic touchdown catch on the very last play to win the game against the New York Giants. But the video review determined that his fingertips came down out of bounds - I managed to track down the video and made a screen grab - so that was that. Dallas had thought for about a minute that they had won the game, then it turned out they had lost. No fuss, no complaints. I just can't imagine that happening in football.

upload_2018-2-5_16-4-28.png

(Of course the NFL has problems of its own, highlighted by two controversial touchdowns during the Superbowl when the commentators were saying they didn't even know what counts as a catch these days. But that's a different story.)
 
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MatBin said:
Dont the rules say, penalty try and sin bin but no conversion, what he did was allow the try and England the possibilty of getting a conversion too...
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Not quite. The rules currently say that a penalty try does not get a conversion attempt, but it is worth 7 points anyway. Effectively it's a guaranteed conversion.

MatBin said:
To be fair in that particular match sending off the Italian wouldnt have made much difference and potentially spoilt the game? In another situation, say against the All Blacks, sin bin would have been more appropriate?
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No. The rules of the game have to be applied even-handedly regardless of who is playing. That's fundamental.
 
BBR said:
So what do we think will happen at Twickenham at the weekend?

Was Wales so good they made Scotland look poor or was Scotland so bad they made Wales look good?
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Scotland had too much pressure to be this amazing team people were building them up to be after the autumns.

Think England will win by 3-5 points against Wales, (personally think more if Farrell is dropped off kicking duties.)

France vs Scotland will be the game next weekend for the neutrals I think
 
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MatBin said:
Dont the rules say, penalty try and sin bin but no conversion, what he did was allow the try and England the possibilty of getting a conversion too but not sin bin the Italian. To be fair in that particular match sending off the Italian wouldnt have made much difference and potentially spoilt the game? In another situation, say against the All Blacks, sin bin would have been more appropriate?
Click to expand...

Srsly, you can't not sin bin a player because their team is getting beaten.......
 
BBR said:
So what do we think will happen at Twickenham at the weekend?

Was Wales so good they made Scotland look poor or was Scotland so bad they made Wales look good?
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England should be too strong for us, home advantage too ( IIRC. I said the same at RWC 2015;)) and lets not forget Scott Gibbs' try in 1999 at Wembley, or Scott Williams 2012 (" Scott who?" LOL) who knows ??

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uolsoW3PjnA


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFgfGlbkrII

Who ever wins, I just hope it will be a thriller.


Scotland had their best part of the game in the first 8 minutes, after that they looked ordinary, but lets not take it away from Wales, probably one of their best starts to a 5 or 6N championship for years, even the tighthead, Samson Lee was throwing the ball along the line at speed!! I will bet my bottom dollar that the other nations coaches are looking closely at the post-match videos and redrawing their plans.
 
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Thanks all for clearing things up, I was only asking :)
Matt
 
mex said:
Who ever wins, I just hope it will be a thriller.
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That, right there is the difference between rugby and football. Many rugby fans would rather see their side lose in a thrilling game than win in a dull one.

It used to be fun when any team could push Italy all over the place - but it's a lot more fun now they actually have a chance.
 
Absolutely, I just thoroughly enjoy watching Argentina play, aren't some of them are part timers! Doctors and professional people?
 
BBR said:
So what do we think will happen at Twickenham at the weekend?

Was Wales so good they made Scotland look poor or was Scotland so bad they made Wales look good?
Click to expand...

I think it was that Scotland were awful more than Wales being brilliant... but we’ll see, there were spells in that Italy game that England didn’t look great but did their usual in the last 20 minutes and raced away, they might not get that luxury against Wales.

As for Scotland, I’m going this weekend - god only hope it can’t be as bad as last weekend!

Norkie said:
Absolutely, I just thoroughly enjoy watching Argentina play, aren't some of them are part timers! Doctors and professional people?
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Perhaps before but I think now they’re a full professional team these days.
 
Anyone with score predictions for this weekends games?

England 15 Wales 21 :exit:

Ireland 50 Italy 7

Scotland 18 France 9
 
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