6 Nations 2010

[angrymammal]

Ireland 29 - 11 Italy: Frustrating performance by Ireland who, to my eye, were capable of putting up another 20-30 points on the board in the second half but just didn't deliver. Italy looked poor, wooden spoon poor.

England 30 - 17 Wales: Generally poor display by the Welsh. England deserved the win but were gifted a generous winning margin by Wyn-Jones stupid trip and Stephen Jones gifting an interception try.

[Doc Martin]

Spot on AM

Jones sin binning turned the game, that and the strange decision to give Hook kicking duties before Jones stepped in. Seventeen points and a potential further six points lost. C'est la guerre

That said, I'll say what all good coaches say. That one's history let's prepare for the next one.

[Claude Balls]

Wales were bloody rubbish yesterday. They gave the England team so many gifts the ball may as well have had a bow on it!

And, I strained my vocal cords hurling abuse at the tv screen!

[Soulman]

Wales were bloody rubbish yesterday. They gave the England team so many gifts the ball may as well have had a bow on it!

And, I strained my vocal cords hurling abuse at the tv screen!

I agree that the sin bin helped England a lot....but don't tell anyone else eh.

[angrymammal]

(Nearly forgot this one)

Scotland 9 - 18 France: From what I saw Scotland have promise and looked to me like they were making progress but in small increments. Scotland are difficult to score against and France managed it twice, they look dangerous to me.

[angrymammal]

I'm inclined to agree with this comment on Wilko

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/fe ... re-england

[angrymammal]

Don't normally think much of Stuart Barnes but I don't have much argument with his team of the first weekend:

Team of the week
1 Cian Healey - Cemented his reputation by burying Castrogiovanni’s.

2 Dylan Hartley – A dynamic England front row forward – oh, hallelujah

3 Nicholas Mas – Only on the field for fifty odd minutes but that was fifty too many for Scotland’s scrum

4 Lionel Nallet – Tired, old cliché, 'war horse’ but here’s a man who earns it.

5 Paul O’ Connell – Controlled the air at restarts and line outs

6 James Haskell – Powerful in support and rewarded with two tries

7 Martyn Williams – He reads the game like a book. Brainy, brave, brilliant

8 Imanol Harinordoquy – Is he the best No 8 in the world? Is this question rhetorical?

9 Morgan Parra – The latest in the line of Petit Generals

10 Ronan O’ Gara – Immaculate kicking from hand and ground and smooth distribution

11 Sean Lamont – Would have been sensational in the blue of France

12 Gordon D’Arcy – The best of a mediocre set of inside centre performances; bustling

13 James Hook – O’ Driscoll was good but Hook did his stuff against proper opponents

14 Vincent Clerc – Replaced Rougerie and relished the chance to prove a point to the selectors

15 Clermont Poitreneud – Near to his insouciant best as he counter attacked with complete disdain for defenders

[GJ21]

I would have put Danny Care in place of Parra, thought it was his best game yet for England.

[paulatko]

Will be interesting if as expected Flutey is fit, what happens to Toby Flood, since he had a pretty good match. Back to the bench or try and accommodate him still? Italy is a different animal after all....

[angrymammal]

Wales 31 - 24 Scotland: The last 10-20 mins of this match alone make up for last week's drudgery. The Scots had it won, the Welsh were struggling to put together anything constructive. Then it all went wierd, the ref reached for yellow and then red cards leaving just 13 Scots on the field and the Welsh punished them. The most infuriating part is that Scotland could probably have avoided the loss if they had kicked the ball out at that last restart. Dan Parks was the hero for scotland for about 70 mins, as much as I dislike Shane Williams his energy contribution was massive.

[angrymammal]

I wonder if Flannery might be sited for that afterwards?

[angrymammal]

Half time France 17 - 3 Ireland:

Ireland haven't executed well and gifted a lead to the French with two shocking examples of indiscipline. Add in the replacement of Rob Kearney and the lads in geen have quite a mountain to climb.

[angrymammal]

60 mins
France 24 - 3 Ireland: Game Over, France are too strong and clinical, Ireland lack the composure even when they get their hands on the ball. I'm gutted

[angrymammal]

Full time
France 33 - 10 Ireland: Comprehensive win. Can't type too gutted.

[angrymammal]

If I read many more breakdowns of yesterday's match I'll just depress myself. My take is that France were superb and look to be very dangerous indeed, but the deficiencies of the Irish allowed them to blossom.

A few individuals showed flashes of what they're capable of; Heaslip, Ferris, BOD, Darcy, Bowe, POC had the lineout sussed. The all around performance was lacking.

Ireland lost the psychological battle around the 20 min point as was evident in the indiscretions by Healy and Flannery. Kearney's loss can't be understated, there were no outside back available on the bench so Darcy moved out wide to make room for Wallace while Earls tried to fill Kearney's boots (That's an unenviable task for a lad on his first 6N start). The midfield was always going to be crucial yesterday, and we felt the absence of Trimble, Fitzgerald or even Horgan FFS!. I haven't seen Wallace do much to give me confidence in him at all, certainly not yesterday. The midfield clash was the focus in the media all week,it was always going to be crucial but no amount of BOD's genius can make up for the selection/availability problems.

France gained momentum, we were on the back foot and the basics collapsed. ROG can be a big game player, he wasn't yesterday and I think Sexton should have been given a run earlier.. Distribution from the breakdown improved greatly when Reddan came on for O'leary.

I've got real worries about how we come back from this.