Rugby union?

Soldato
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20 Dec 2004
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Aye, can't accuse anyone on the pitch of not being up for it!

England looking that little better so far. Not vintage stuff but a proper brutal test match.
 
Soldato
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As I said all along a 1 dimensional game plan that fluked a couple of games now reality bites, still not good enough, still a team of mostly club players and not enough class. There is a lack of spine once key players can't play. I actually struggle to see England getting out of the group stage again in Japan after promising so much.

I also see Wales doing the GS which is an appalling statement of the state of European Rugby because they are the dullest most unimaginative team I've seen since the 10 man rugby of England in 2003.
 
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Soldato
Joined
20 Dec 2004
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Pretty grim game. The only bright side really is that is the last time we'll see Gatlandball in this fixture, maybe NH rugby can move on and become more competitive (and entertaining). Two fiercely intense defences just battered the hell out of each other for 80 minutes. There were plenty of gaps opening up, but neither team had the vision to exploit it.

Last try just confirms for me that Daly should not be at full back. He is an absolute liability under the high ball. Put him on the wing or center if you must include him.

I'm hopeful Ireland will do over Wales and England will take the win on bonus points.
 
Caporegime
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I actually struggle to see England getting out of the group stage again in Japan after promising so much.

Nothing like a bit of overreaction!

Last try just confirms for me that Daly should not be at full back. He is an absolute liability under the high ball. Put him on the wing or center if you must include him.

He's been great under the high ball and excellent at full back so far. This is a classic case of someone judging his entire game and ability from one incident where he doesn't catch the ball. Even if he'd caught it, we were losing by a score.
 

Sui

Sui

Soldato
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24 Sep 2005
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Brighton
I don't follow much Rugby, just watch the international stuff sometimes, the BBC commentary this time round I've found so much worse than ITV's offering, they're just miserable as anything.
 
Soldato
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He's been great under the high ball and excellent at full back so far. This is a classic case of someone judging his entire game and ability from one incident where he doesn't catch the ball. Even if he'd caught it, we were losing by a score.

He's ok under an uncontested high ball, but if he ever has to compete for it, he loses out, because he doesn't have the commitment and cojones of a proper full back.

Brown would have been much more suited to today's match, he wouldn't get bullied, his counter-attacking is better in the tight, and his kicking game is better.

Save Daly for the games that are going to be full of broken open field running where he can contribute something useful.
 
Associate
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11 Mar 2010
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Cardiff
I don't think England need to panic too much to be honest - they're still a very good team and controlled the game for large periods.
They beat Ireland in Dublin just a couple of weeks ago which is no mean feat.

Completely disagree with the comments on Daily, he's a class player and one not so great game doesn't mean an awful lot. I certainly wouldn't knee jerk replace him with Mike Brown.

I thought Eddie Jones got out coached by Gatland today. The tactics to pick and go worked really well, Wales made lots of meters while avoiding England's big hitting rush defense.
The finish by Josh Adams at the end was top drawer.

Tournament is still wide open, an away game to Scotland and Ireland in Cardiff are by no means foregone conclusions!

The year ending in 9 hoodoo continues for another 10 years!

  • 15 January 1949 National Stadium, Cardiff 9–3 Wales
  • 17 January 1959 National Stadium, Cardiff 5–0 Wales
  • 12 April 1969 National Stadium, Cardiff 30–9 Wales
  • 17 March 1979 National Stadium, Cardiff 27–3 Wales
  • 18 March 1989 National Stadium, Cardiff 12–9 Wales
  • 11 April 1999 Wembley Stadium, London 32–31 Wales
  • 14 February 2009 Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 23–15 Wales
  • 23 February 2019 Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 21-13 Wales
 

Deleted member 651465

D

Deleted member 651465

I always take the mrs to the six nations (her birthday is early March) so this year I nabbed us tickets from the local rugby club against England.

Atmosphere was off the chart... we watched the France game in a pub and the number of people around was insane. Just getting across town was pandemonium... queues to get in to bars as long as the high street :eek:

Anyway, we made our way over to the stadium about an hour before kick off and you could feel the tension in the air. At one stage I thought I was going to have a stroke from the stress and both teams came out firing which was epic.

Weird ticket allocation though... despite rugby traditionally having mixed supporters, we seemed to be the only 2 Welsh people within about 6 rows. Lots of English supporters around us giving it the big one for 60 minutes.

Turned around at the final whistle and the annoying bloke behind us that had been giving running commentary (along with an entire row of fans) had disappeared :D

Need to make sure that we don’t underestimate Scotland or Ireland now. Despite winning all 3 games I still don’t think we’ve played 80 minutes of decent rugby. Seems to be we play average for 40, good but sloppy for 20 then great for the final 20. I thought we’d ran out of luck last night, but we just about did it.

Fair play to the guys next to us that shook our hands after the game. Great respect.
 
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