The 6 Nations Thread

France played well and England once they fell behind i thought EJ just reverted back to 10 man rugby as he didn't want to give away anything ahead of the WC, and tbf you cant blame him for that, England could win nothing on Saturday night apart from bragging rights Jones and crew will be focusing the next time they are in Paris it will be for something a bit more worthwhile.

Well folks, that’s a wrap for another year. France get their first Championship in 12 years and it’s well deserved, they are a formidable side with a home World Cup to look forward to next year. Ireland best of the rest and these two sides are the only Northern Hemisphere hope for the RWC as things stand.

Until next time…….

And Italy have just done a Leeds!!! What a wonderful last minute try to humble the Taffies in their own back yard. Forza Italia!

Right then, now it's back to the second most important thing over the weekend. The Scots will be a tough challenge, but we are at home so I expect us to come through the task with flying colours and then it's time to unfurl the flag of St George and cheer on Engerland as they put the French to the sword!

Never experienced back to back Carlsberg weekends, but this is definately going in the right direction!😂

True Glory and its great that CM has a challenger for the 9 jersey, although i think CM is now over that hill and unfortunately his days are numbered and come WC Gibson Park will have that jersey nailed on especially if Leinster continue to dominate on the Club scene.

However for me if anything should happen Sexton we are a completely different team without him, for the worse with no replacement of equal standing unlike the days of tony ward/ollie campbell or the battle when Humphreys/ROG were both vying for one spot or when ROG and Sexton were at it 2009-2013. For me that's the weak point of this Irish team, not the pack our out-half.

As for Saturday I honestly think the ref had his mind made up early on in the contest that "if" the scrum got messy it was Ireland's fault and hence the huge penalty count against us. Yes we were at fault and did struggle at times but on more than one occasion you could clearly see the English player go down first but yet it was a penalty to England, and on at least two if not three other occasions you could see that England were wheeling the scrum but the ref still penalized Ireland. I suppose his way of reducing the impact of the red card that he had no option to dish out so early in the game.

I did think that we would have difficulty in finding a suitable eventual replacement for Conor Murray, however Gibson Park has certainly stepped up and possibly has given us an improved version!!

My only hope is that once again we are not peaking too soon and then end up with another disaster of a World Cup!

I dont know about the french being the best side in the tournament if im honest.

Wales were unlucky and were well in it, ireland ran the french very close and i would argue we were unlucky not to win in Paris. England down to 14 against Ireland made life extremely difficult and only for the last 15 mins it was nip and tuck 15-15 coming into the final quarter. So i give england a great chance over there although the french havent won a GS since 2010 i think so they wont want to lose this game now that they are within touching distance and i will eddie jones be 100% balls out committed and show his hand before the world cup next year?

I like the english out half, good temperment, good at keeping his pack going forward, very good running lines, i think he can put it up to the french and ask them serious questions. The height of the ball with some of his garryowens on Saturday was outstanding and gave the english wingers a more than a 50-50 chance to contest the jump.

Great to get the victory, but jeez was that hard work. England played great with 14 men, I think half time came at the right time for us. In the end, the last 10 minutes was always going to be tough for England with a man down and provided Ireland executed their plays, a win was more than probable, but definately not guaranteed.

On for us against the Scots and then we will be whole heartedly behind the flag of St George for England's trip, to probably the best side in the tournament.

You got your wish Bully - you got the 4 try win.

Feels empty - total waste of an afternoon, looking forward to a great game and a great contest - instead we get that.

The red was a red. Can't complain about the ref, but there's no denying it handed you the game.

So....

All the hype and build up. All the anticipation.

All over in just 1 minute.

May as well mail this one if we have to play 79 minutes with 14 men

In the mean time I have a sneaky double on Ireland and Norwich this weekend..... 😖

£5 bet returns £5.15

England will triumph against your over confident boys in green Bully.

Dunkirk spirit will prevail, we're not letting you escape - this is our semi final before glory in Paris next week.

Well just for one day I'm going to forget the trials and tribulations of being a Leeds fan and concentrate on the Boys in Green continuing their march to the Triple Crown by bringing up the bacon at Twickers today. I think the Grand Slam is deserved by the French, who have been the better side this tournament. COYBIG!!!!!

Ye could let us win on the 12th and still have that fantastic event in Paris on the 19th, all of us irish lads would be saxons for the day i could guarantee you that

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Watch this space Bully - I have money against your lot with a green minded mate of mine, but given we struggled to put the Welsh away after you got the BP against them at the start you have the advantage.

If we were to beat you, it would make the final match in Paris a fantastic event.

Any chance soopa ye guys will roll over to keep our triple crown hopes alive on the 12th?

Just asking like😉

Well Soopa one bit of good news after yesterdays war of the roses washout

Paddy Power have England as raging hot favourites and the handicap is 14 points, surly ye wont lose to the taffs on the hallowed turf of twickers on Saturday!!! Money for old rope 😉

I know many of the celtic nations would be delighted if it actually did end up like that🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

At least England have avoided the wooden spoon Soopa😉

Or alternatively you could say its all over bar the shouting

France have beaten Ireland

Ireland have beaten Wales

Wales have beaten Scotland

And Scotland have beaten England

with everyone beating Italy

so final table will be

France

Ireland

Wales

Scotland

England

Italy

But somehow i doubt it 😉

It's shaping up to be the most competitive 6N (apart from Italy) just as anticipated.

Scotland > England

Wales > Scotland

Ireland > Wales

France > Ireland

So on that basis it's France's to lose, but they are the most fragile of all the countries historically and can get beat by anyone. Roll on round 3