R B S 6 Nations Rugby: Round 2

[ChillDoubt]

OK peeps, after a topsy-turvy weekend to start we move onto round 2 of the 6 Nations matches.
It's Calcutta Cup weekend too, though that game is overhadowed somewhat by what will be a bruiser and possible Champions decider at Lansdowne Road.
In recent years there's been no love lost in the Wales v Ireland fixture, with several controversial incidents.
Add to that the spice over BOD's Lions Test omission, along with the IRU being one of Gatland's former employers and you have the added bit of needle.

My heart says Wales, though I've more than a little trepidation at Prietland getting the 10 jersey again and with Ireland being at home I'm fearful, particularly as the talismanic Paul O'Connell is back in the side, they always play better when he takes the field.

Moving on to Scotland, they've made a couple of changes and are without the desperately unlucky Sean Maitland, one of their better players. Surprised that Kelly Brown is dropped, particularly when in the role of captain! Form obviously says England, though Murrayfield has been a proverbial banana skin for them throughout the years and as ever, the Scots will make it difficult for them but I expect England to grind it out before cutting loose in the last 20 minutes.

France have a home fixture for the second weekend in a row and whilst Italy were more than a match for Wales for the majority of the game last weekend I feel they'll struggle at the Stade de France against a resurgent and rampant France, no doubt bouyed after the nail-biter against the Rosbif's.

Predictions:

Ireland 17 Wales 20
Scotland 13 England 25
France 28 Italy 13

Over to you, DTC and Sqad.

[ChillDoubt]

clivebeca,
Yes, sadly, we are getting closer to RL type scrums. Yesterday in particular there seemed to be just as much time wasted at scrum time with collapses as there invariably was last season.
Barnes is usually very good but the amount of feeding that was overlooked yesterday was shocking.
Unless refs begin to penalise it ruthlessly (I make a point before every game of speaking to the props specifically and what I expect by way of binding etc) the only solution will be to do away with scrums entirely and have a 'bounce-ball' restart a la Aussie Rules!

[ChillDoubt]

As I type, there are 23 minutes gone at the Stade and there is no score.
France appear to have used the extra days rest to have a lie-in and don't appear to have woken up yet!
Won't be long before the crowd start getting on their backs.....

[ChillDoubt]

After 26 minutes France finally convert their 3rd penalty to take the lead, but Italy are more than equal to them at the moment.

[ChillDoubt]

Italy restore parity immediately with a penalty.
Jiffy rightly stating that the French infringer should have been yellow carded, given the field position.

[ellsman]

3-3 Fra v Ita. I'm surprised to be enjoying this match.

....While I agree with you both., Gawd save us from any more tinkering with Scrum rules.

[Sqad]

Chilli....our little threesome seems to have fallen apart as there has been little input from DTC.

The sooner we get to Rugby League scrums, the better....scrums are a mess and how one knows who to penalise on collapse is just a estimated best guess, which is unsatisfactory.

One often sees a collapsed scrum 5 yards from the opposition try line and the attacking side is penalised. Why would you collapse a scrum 5 yards from your opponents try line?

[DTCwordfan]

sorry chill - had a contretemps with a pothole on Friday night and lost a lot of yesterday getting it sorted out - Looks like just the 5 points to you...so what was it with the Welsh, were you fast asleep or did the Irish snuff out the threat. As to England Scotland, felt that the English always had two gears in hand - the Scots some talent but if I was coach, I would be passing dictionaries around the team for them to understand the definitions of team, connectivity and synergy. It underpinned my call for a 2nd Six or Seven Nations division, the winner of the 2nd Div to play the wooden spoonists..... 2nd Div to include Spain, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Germany and perhaps either Benelux or Scandinavia.

need to check Sqad's predictions.

[Sqad]

DTC...there you are....how is the cheek/jaw?

[DTCwordfan]

Sqad, It's still there, a little more dilation and sensitivity but not annoyingly so.....need to try the non-sugar lemon drops!

[DTCwordfan]

6 more points to you, Sqad, so far......

[DTCwordfan]

Looks like the Itais are being stuffed now!

[DTCwordfan]

and now we have the red cards flying!

[Zacs-Master]

I can see the red card for the French player. No need for such action when you're 27 points up

[ChillDoubt]

Sorry to hear about your mechanical troubles DTC.
As the saying goes, if it's got breasts or wheels, it's gonna cause you trouble.....
I'll leave you to do the necessary with the scores etc, I'm still in bewilderment after yesterday.
That was the most dire performance in my living memory.

I agree Zacs, the red for the Frenchman was well deserved. Unfortunately, the laws regarding retaliation are harsh and one can understand the Italian's reaction when someone is giving you the Glasgow kiss not once but twice. If you're gonna retaliate, make sure it's worth your while! (not that I condone such behaviour as a referee of course...)

[ChillDoubt]

Full time, 30-10 in favour of the home side. Unfortunately the Italians were blown away in the first 10 minutes of the second half and they never recovered.
To be fair though, they never took a backward step either.

[jno]

if Italy had played like that last week Wales would have been thrashed, but I suppose both were a bit rusty first time out. Overall Italy probably deserved to be closer.