Six Nations 2017 (4th February - 18 March)

Soldato
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Interesting weekend coming up.

Wales and England wins will seal the championship for England.

Ireland and England win sets up two-way decider on the last weekend with bonus points playing a part.

Ireland and Scotland win sets us up for three-way Ire/Sco/Eng super saturday with Scotland playing Italy.....bonus points will be massive!
 
Soldato
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Well it's looking like Big Billy is going to start against Scotland, not sure how I feel about that but if the coaching team think he's fit enough they are making the right call, it will definitely cause Scotland to have to change their plans and keep their back row honest for 60-70 minutes he'll be on the field. I just hope it doesn't back fire. A back row of Itoje, Hasks and Big Billy is a monstrous slab of of man flesh :eek:
 
Soldato
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I was at the Falcons game over the weekend and he looked good to be fair. Falcons also could have done far better in that game by ho hey.
 
Soldato
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England Team for Staurday:
Brown; Nowell, Joseph, Farrell, Daly; Ford, Youngs; Marler, Hartley (captain), Cole, Launchbury, Lawes, Itoje, Haskell, Hughes.
Replacements:
George, M Vunipola, Sinckler, Wood, B Vunipola, Care, Te'o, Watson

Glad Billy is coming off the bench, he won't be fully match fit but will be able to make a massive impact (quite literally :p) with 20-30 minutes to go. That bench is monstrous, when the starting front row is beginning to tire we will be bringing on what is arguably a better front row :eek: and Care Te'o and Watson are all class acts to boost the back line. This might be another one won by the "finnishers".
 
Associate
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From a Scottish perspective, looking at the starting XV, I think we're quite evenly matched. Where things get a little hairy for us is that England don't seem to lose any quality when they bring on their bench. We'll put up a strong fight as long as we can keep scrums to a minimum, so it should be a close game.
 
Associate
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The other issue we face is our front 3 in the scrum. If there are a lot of scrums, Scotland are going to struggle big time...

However, if the game is light on scrums and we can get some territory, we have some talented backs!
 
Soldato
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Farrell a doubt after a knock in training, not good, not good at all even after his appalling performance against Italy. If he doesn't make the game I'll give the win to Scotland, Ford's temperament isn't right for high pressure place kicking at the moment and Daly is to innacurate.
 
Soldato
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Cracking game last night and actually one of those rare good games from Wayne Barnes, he's seems to a learnt in a week that knee on the ground completes the tackle and is no longer a maul, he also delivered a big brave call on the obstruction in the Irish maul to the line, a completely technically correct call as well.

Well done Wales, the team finally turned up and the back row smashed Ireland's much vaunted one and key players completed when the opportunities were there, something they haven't done so far this edition.
 
Soldato
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Another victory for Wales off the back of fast aggressive blitz defence. At least they managed to fashion some decent tries for a change. I think there are a lot of Welsh people unhappy with the result as it means they'll be stuck with Howley!

Part of me wants to see Scotland win so we set up an epic Super Saturday......but nah, Grand Slam please :)
 
Associate
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Strange game last night. Entertaining, but lacked quality which sums up this years 6 nations.
Wales played with a lot of passion and aggression as well as with a high degree of risk. Biggar had a bit of a nightmare with ball in hand and the Welsh backs really struggled under the high ball but a very blunt Irish attack couldn't make them pay for it.
I think it makes England's job of winning a Grand Slam that bit harder as the Irish team will have less distractions heading into the game next week and will be determined to put in a better performance than last night - similar in the way last nights Welsh performance was a reaction to their second half performance against Scotland.
 
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