off topic the Boxrec official rugby thread.

Coconut · Post by **Coconut** » 14 Mar 2006, 12:52

stujones wrote:Phillipe Sella another great centre of the last 20 years.

I would actually agree with the call up of Mike Catt, I wouldn't mind seeing Austin Wiggy Healey involved somewhere - he's lost a yard, but is still a class player anywhere from 9 - 15.

Never trust a Welshman who tells you to pick Healey

Well, Robbo's blood-letting seems quite dramatic but in reality all that's happened to his shit, out-of-form players is they're now the people who he'll turn to if things aren't looking good after an hour against the Irish. If these lads are bad enough to be dropped surely there's a call for bringing new lads in to replace them altogether. We've got old school types in Grewcock, Dallaglio, Tindall, Dawson, Thompson, White on the bench. With the exception of Dallaglio, NONE of these guys are game-breakers.

Perry really wasn't worth a look at 9 against a good back row but in oppo to the most rpedictable scrum half in the world? No room for a back who could potentially create something? Walder? OK, at least he's new, but S-D, Erinle or Varndell offer way more from the bench than a 'steadying influence'. When the fck do you want a 'steadying influence from the bench? When you're 10 points down and need something to spark your attack? When you're 20 points up and have players evidently doing OK? When the match is a couple of points in the balance and you want to disrupt your patterns as little as possible? I just don't see it.

I do like Abbott in there, although Voyce looked toilet when he came on on Saturday. Very pleased Pop-Up Pirate is benched, and looking forward to seeing John Hayes get some more Frequent Flyer points courtesy of Sheridan.

But whilst this looks to be a radical selection, the benching of this raft of known steadies is a safety net that practically is of no use whatsoever.

J · Post by J » 14 Mar 2006, 12:59

England team to play Ireland in the Six Nations Championship at Twickenham on Saturday:

T Voyce (Wasps); M Cueto (Sale), J Noon (Newcastle), S Abbott (Wasps), B Cohen (Northampton); A Goode (Leicester), H Ellis (Leicester); A Sheridan (Sale), L Mears (Bath), M Stevens (Bath), S Borthwick (Bath), S Shaw (Wasps), J Worsley (Wasps), L Moody (Leicester), M Corry (Leicester, capt).

Replacements: S Thompson (Northampton), J White (Leicester), D Grewcock (Bath), L Dallaglio (Wasps), M Dawson (Wasps), D Walder (Newcastle), M Tindall (Gloucester)
*************************************************************
Coconut I agree this is the last straw.

I half hope we lose and we get rid of this bafoon.

time for a change of players and coaches the guy had his chance to bring the best players in and ignored it.

in short he is staid, inflexible and boring.
And while he is coach we will not make steps forward.

sorry I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt but this is ridiculous, so he drops lewsey for noon getting in his way, why not play lewseyt with abbot they have been doing it all year at wasps.

the mans an idiot.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 14 Mar 2006, 13:08

Very radical selection, the bench looks slow, very surprised not to see Lewsey on the Bench - where is the cover for the wings/full back.

states · Post by **states** » 14 Mar 2006, 13:19

I'm not sure I'd say it was a radical selection. More a poor selection. There's no rhyme or reason to it, as Coconut says. How the fornicate Cohen remains whilst Lewsey goes is just one mystery. Ah, I'm just going to give up trying to guess why Robinson does what he does. It hurts my head thinking about it.

Coconut · Post by **Coconut** » 15 Mar 2006, 09:50

Well, the Welsh play like turnips for three games so they think dropping Charvis will solve all their problems...

Damn, they need some more players. In fact, they need to sort out their whole structure. The most unimaginative selection of the weekend (even France dropped someone...) and I think Wales are in for a proper kicking.

Sad to see in a way. Very proud Englishman but with a good few Taff mates and, whilst I enjoy beating them one-on-one, seeing such a great rugby name with such passionate fans reduced to tatters.

TheRiverCityHippy · Post by **TheRiverCityHippy** » 15 Mar 2006, 14:34

Coconut wrote:Sad to see in a way. Very proud Englishman but with a good few Taff mates and, whilst I enjoy beating them one-on-one, seeing such a great rugby name with such passionate fans reduced to tatters.

yeah, the welsh may be stuck in the teddy boy era in terms of fashion but you`d need a heart of stone not to feel emotional when they sing their anthem.
i remember watching a collage on the bbc years ago where they played the anthem with clips of barry john and phil bennet et al on it and pithead wheels and valleys fading in and out, not to mention those great commentators like cliff morgan and bill mclaren adding their own atmospheric stamp to the action. it was stirring stuff and everytime i hear the anthem i think of that collage.

nickd · Post by **nickd** » 15 Mar 2006, 15:05

Popham is in, that has to be good he has been playing like a demon for the Scarlets. I'd have liked to have seen Watkins moved to outside centre with Henson inside that could be a good pairing for the future IMO. Luscombe is nothing short of attrocious. We are having a terrible year, lets hope this coaching situation gets sorted out sooner rather than later. We have had some shitty luck with injuries this year, but I suppose that balances itself out after last year where lady luck was well and truly on our side.

J · Post by J » 17 Mar 2006, 06:07

Not too important but a good game to Watch final of the rugby 7's on shortly get near a tv if you can

England V new Z 4 gold.

lvlarc · Post by **lvlarc** » 17 Mar 2006, 06:11

Can't believe you beat Fiji after that start

I could watch this all day, so fast, intense. Great stuff

Lenny · Post by **Lenny** » 17 Mar 2006, 07:33

Matthew Tait has looked excellent in the 7's, looks to have bulked up a lot and is still only 20. Has serious pace, a good step and can pass out of the tackle. Reckon he should use players graduating through the 7's like NZ do. Lund, Vandell and Tait should all be in serious contention for starting places in the 15 side.

nickd · Post by **nickd** » 17 Mar 2006, 07:38

I'll never forget Henson picking Tait up carrying him and slamming him on the ground. He has looked pretty good in the 7's fair play, not sure if he's ready for the full side just yet.

Lenny · Post by **Lenny** » 17 Mar 2006, 07:49

Maybe, yes he was thrown in too soon and came up against an on form Henson (best game he's ever had?) but i'd love England to try developing players in the international side instead of flogging the same old dead horses.

J · Post by J » 17 Mar 2006, 07:52

Lenny Albert wrote:Maybe, yes he was thrown in too soon and came up against an on form Henson (best game he's ever had?) but i'd love England to try developing players in the international side instead of flogging the same old dead horses.

i agree and its the only great game henson has had at international level.

bloke is so overated at thsi stage of his career its untrue..

mikey h · Post by **mikey h** » 17 Mar 2006, 08:33

Nz won gold, don't know the score tho,

Got back from a weeks holiday in France on Wednesday, Went to a bar to watch the game, had high expectations, sung the national anthem and everything and then watched in horror as England put on one of there worst performances in my memory and France didn't play that well either. Good banter between the English lads and all the french in the bar, they threw toilet rolls at us every time they scored, which did make the occasion half decent.

Predictions for this weekend

France 35 - 12 Wales

England 21 - 17 Ireland

Scotland 20 - 15 Italy

Coconut · Post by **Coconut** » 17 Mar 2006, 10:07

J wrote: i agree and its the only great game henson has had at international level.

bloke is so overated at thsi stage of his career its untrue..

The lad's got talent, but that's it. He needs to sack Denis Compton's hairdresser as well. All very well 'fronting up' against an 18-year-old but he just hasn't looked above average since then.

I'd slot his missus, mind.

Mikey, I agree, the French are an underrated set of banterers, especially if you have a pop at the old lingo. Great set of lads when they want to be.

Lenny · Post by **Lenny** » 17 Mar 2006, 10:24

yeah have had some good banter with the french in the past. to be honest the only fans at Twickenham who there hasn't been good banter with is the south africans.

Anyway, sack the management and put me and Ashton in charge!!!

15. Lewsey
14. Varndell
13. Tait
12. Abbott
11. Cueto
10. Hodgson (Wilkinson)
9. Perry
8. Forrester
7. Lund
6. Moody
5. Jones
4. Borthwick capt.
3. Stevens
2. Thompson
1. Sheriden

16. Mears 17. Freshwater(Vickery) 18. Brown 19. Worsley(Sanderson) 20. Richards 21. Barkley 22. JSD

Coconut · Post by **Coconut** » 17 Mar 2006, 10:55

Pack's a bit lightweight but I like where you're going.

Living in SW London and playing rugby with a bunch of Jaapies (and having married into a family of them) I can categorically say that Saffers are the biggest bunch of humourless arseholes when it comes to banter, with a few honourable exceptions (Desmond Tutu's a barrel of laughs with a few Pernods inside him). As soon as you start to show the slightest sign of intelligence (which, comparatively, means demonstrating the ability to walk upright) and they're after you with all kinds of nastiness.

I had a great time watching a France-SA game in Putney a few years back, wearing a French shirt and pretending to be French. Those boys take themselves far too seriously.

Lenny · Post by **Lenny** » 17 Mar 2006, 11:03

Ok, stick Grewcock back in the 2nd row then and sitck Jones on the bench.

Just think we have the players for a really expansive game.

Was at the 53-3 game when Jonny got taken out with a late tackle injuring him and getting the Saffer sent off. Some of the things they were coming out with were pretty bad and the closest i've ever seen to a fight breaking out.

Now the Irish, they are some good fans to hang around at the end of the game to have a drink with, never enjoyed losing so much!!

nickd · Post by **nickd** » 17 Mar 2006, 11:35

J wrote:
Lenny Albert wrote:Maybe, yes he was thrown in too soon and came up against an on form Henson (best game he's ever had?) but i'd love England to try developing players in the international side instead of flogging the same old dead horses.
i agree and its the only great game henson has had at international level.

bloke is so overated at thsi stage of his career its untrue..

I agree he is overrated, but he's still good enough to be playing inside centre for Wales. He's just not this big world star he's portrayed to be.

lvlarc · Post by **lvlarc** » 18 Mar 2006, 13:18

Quality game that was. C'mon Ireland 34 points you can do it!

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 18 Mar 2006, 13:36

Jesus,

I missed the Wales vs South Africa plate final in the Commonwealth Games.

Sounds like the Greatest comeback ever - Wales were 20 points down with three minutes to go and won.

lvlarc · Post by **lvlarc** » 18 Mar 2006, 13:55

Yeh I was watching the rugby 7's all day too but didn't catch it.

Caught the highlights though, great stuff.

states · Post by **states** » 18 Mar 2006, 16:12

Well, the six nations is over for another year. Scotland can be happy with their campaign, any time they beat England and France in the same year has to be a success, especially given the depth they had to pick themselves up from. France, despite winning the thing, looked crap at times. Italy progressed, but results still don't really show it. Ireland have the triple crown, but never caught fire. And Wales and England are a shambles. Wales, however, have valid excuses: They probably overachieved last year, they were riddled with injuries, and then of course, Ruddock left. England were just poor, especially after starting so well. I really don't know what direction they're meant to be taking under Robinson.

Overall, the standard was pretty poor. No lack of heart, but how many games did you watch and think 'yes, that's a top class team'? None, I'd wager. Every game was seemingly full of errors.