Six Nations 2009\*British and Irish Lions*

Beginning this weekend:

England v Italy
Ireland v France
Scotland v Wales


If Wales are on form, the champ is theirs. If not, and Ireland put their resources to proper use, then it's ours. If neither, then it's just gotta be France.

I'm actually going to support Wales this year! Best attitude and most passion.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/01/2009 12:38PM by The Lopper.

England to win it, deluding their fans until they get beat by Canada in the Autumn internationals.

And I'll be cheering on Italy, just hope they get their back play sorted for once, and at least beat Scotland...

I will also be cheering on Wales, just the passion they showed against both the Aussies and All Blacks in the recent tests. Standing back to the hakkar WOO!

England vs Italy was an awful borefest. Italy's decision to have Bergamasco at scrum-half was....interesting!

Hoping Ireland can beat France. I like our backs now, it's a fresh look.

//Edit: Fantastic win for Ireland against France! Despite the fact that France were the more dangerous team, we got the tries when it mattered. The old problem of too much kicking is still there, but there was a passion that has been missing from Ireland for a long time. Jamie Heaslip was truly inspirational!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/2009 07:53PM by The Lopper.

England do currently top the table...

Wales didn't look overly impressive...the first round of matches has, if anything, made it more difficult to predict who will win this year's championship!

I think it'll be Wales, Ireland, France, in no particular order.

I thought we made a mess of a game that looked a comfortable win by half time. I don't know what it was, us taking our foot off the gas or Scotland massively upping their game. But, after Halfpenny scored, it should have been game over.

Hopefully Gatland will hammer it home that we were average at best and that we cannot afford to play like we did in the second half again. Especially with Ireland and France both looking dangerous.

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France look especially dangerous. It is great to see the French playing French rugby again, and wholly unexpected, as I had thought Lievremont was going the old kick-and-maul way like all the other nations....Sheer grit and determination (and luck) had Ireland beat them.

The France-Wales, Wales-Ireland games should be awesome. It's been a while since I've looked forward to Six Nations matches to this extent!

Another big weekend coming up, with the biggest match being Wales v England. We're favourites for this for once, alot has been said about the pressure on us, don't think we've has this kind of pressure since the heady days of JJ Williams and co in the 70's. As I was typing that, just found out that Shane Williams is out, bugger.

Before that though France host Scotland in the three o'clock kick off. Looking at both teams form, this should be an easy game for the French. If they can carry on playing as they did against the Irish, there shouldn't be any problems. But, Scotland looked a far better outfit last week against us when Max Evans was brought on. And with both brothers starting, should cause the French some problems.

Then the Irish have the easy task of beating the Italians. But it would be foolish to think that the Italians will be as poor as they were against England. Bergamasco goes back to flanker with Paul Griffen in at scrum half. As soon as Bergamasco was taken off, the Italians played far better against the English.

Predictions:

Welsh win, narrow with Halfpenny shining in the absence of Williams.
French win, with the Scots making a good effort but the pace of the French is just too much.
Ireland win, with the Irish demolishing the Italians. Heaslip and O'Dricsoll to battle it out for man of the match.

Now, let's see how wrong I am!

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could see we was gunna get beat by the welsh miles off. they getting back to there old ways of winning everything. and england rugby team is going through the phase that all english sport teams go through. win something then mess up for a couple of decades. lol

Didn't think any of the winners were overly impressive this weekend. Wales didn't look so dangerous without Williams, Ireland had an abysmal first half and were flattered by a scoreline that included two intercept tries. And France...what the hell happened to the French flair we saw last weekend?

Williams is back for the French match, but it's in Stade de France, I think it's going to be the deciding encounter. If France play like they did against us, I think they can beat Wales, and it's really thrown wide open. If the Welsh win, the Six Nations is theirs!

Do you guys happen to know whether there is any chance of watching the games on the net? Here in Germany, Rugby isn't overly popular so them f***ers at TV station DSF, who announced last year they would be showing 6 nations, decided not to - meaning we have no chance to watch.

You could go torrenting with UKNova, I know they have all the games currently been shown up and well seeded.

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Everyone knows that million-to-one chances happen 9 times out of 10; indeed, it's a common requirement in fairy tales. If the human didn't have to overcome huge odds, what would be the point? Terry Pratchett - The Science Of Discworld

GPGSL S5 Race driver for IED.

France v Wales = Awesome match. Some very impressive performances on either side, Dusautoir, Medard and Shanklin stood out. The championship has been thrown wide open, personally I see it as being between us and the French now, French pride is back, Wales will be deflated. A historic Grand Slam is there for Ireland!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2009 10:50AM by The Lopper.

Ireland v England - thrilling-looking scoreline; really turgid match. Don'tcha reckon?

Agreed

Rubidius Wrote:
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> Ireland v England - thrilling-looking scoreline;
> really turgid match. Don'tcha reckon?


An awful match apart from the last 3 minutes when it looked like England were gonna snatch it. (Although apparently the Scotland Italy match was the pits altogether,I missed it, was playing a match myself (Gaelic Football, not rugby )) Croker still can't do rugby (or soccer for that matter). At least O'Driscoll is back to his best, Tommy Bowe continues to impress, plus most importantly the Grand Slam is still on.

Expected to beat England comfortably. Didn't. Wales can still beat us. It's anybody's championship.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/2009 01:29AM by The Lopper.

Didn't want to be in that dressing room after the match looking at MJ's reactions to all those penalties...

The shots of him in the crowd were hilarious...man he's one big f****r!

Well, the Welsh team has been announced. Ten changes from the team that started against France. Possibly the biggest surprise comes with Ryan Jones being dropped to the bench.

Not sure what to think about this, we should beat Italy comfortably on paper anyways, but Rome has never been good to us. A completely new front row, which seems like a risk considering Italy possess a strong front row.

Why does there have to be a two week break? Frustrating! Maybe Henson and Hook need some time to top up their tans...

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