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Reply 440

Ethereal

lol. Never fear, it will be either NZ or Aus. I don't think anyone else can touch them. Maybe France at a push ...

Reply 441

bikerx23

I hope NZ wins it myself, since the style of rugby they play make it very deserving - I spotted a few minutes of them absolutely thumping france yesterday and it was extremely impressive.

As said - I dont think Australia are that good at the moment - their performance against Wales wasn't too impressive, and they weren't realistically capable of dominating against Italy yesterday either - I have a feeling Ireland will beat them quite convincingly, especially after the strength of their performance yesterday (If Ireland play that well in the 6 nations then they are almost assured a grand slam!) and hence could be the second best team in world rugby at the moment - now an Ireland V. NZ final would be something worth watching!

Reply 442

Ethereal

I want NZ to win as well. As much as my heart calls "England", realistically NZ were the best team in the world last time and deserved to win then and have since improved. To me, it says a lot when NZ have an off day and don't perform anywhere near their best and can still mullar England through the floor.

Reply 443

dragon_1706

Ethereal

I'd be happy if NZ won too, though Wales is obviously my first choice. The fact that they have such strength in depth bodes very well and I do love the way they play (if you forget some of the dodgy tactics).

Reply 444

bikerx23

I'm not convinced they were better than England last world cup - we had convincingly beaten them in their own back yard prior to the world cup, and sadly we didn't get a chance to watch the same England team play NZ afterwards.
But, certainly NZ has deserved to win the world cup more times than they have, so it would be good to see their ability quantified in such a way.

I personally dont know what to do with England at the moment - The discipline within the front five is ridiculously poor, and realistically none of them are playing at a test standard.
I would keep the back three since they do seem a good combination of running and rucking flankers, but put corry back at 8 for the scrummaging work - admittedly some of sandersons running and support work was superb though, he just doesn't have experience of playing that role, which had the effect of compromising any possesion we had.

As far as backs are concerned - we have an awesome back three - Personally I would go with Lewsey, Cueto and Cohen when all fit, but we've also been shown to have top notch replacements in Balshaw and Sackey, and we also have the other potential subs such as Van Gisbergen and Voyce. Cohen was imperious in that game - he ran so so well with the ball, although admittedly he did lose it a couple of times, and the gas on balshaw and sackey - wow!
Other back stuff I dont really know - I think Noon played better than he is getting credit for and definitely deserves his place - a couple of tactically poor decisions were pointed out and accredited to him, but they could equally have been accredited to anyone in the back line (e.g., the passing it along the line without drawing players incident - you cant say that is purely Noons fault as Dewi Morris did...).

Who knows what to do with hodgson....

Reply 445

Ethereal

I don't rate Balshaw as a full back. He's a bit of a pansey under the Garryowens

Reply 446

bikerx23

No - I think he'd be better placed as a reserve wing myself, since then he has the same ability to counter-attack. But then also having him on the bench as someone capable of fulfilling both roles is very useful - if he finds his old form again then it could make a huge impact on Englands game.

Good to see that he does what the crowd tells him and runs the ball too :wink:

Reply 447

Ethereal

a fire in the sky

Would that be because he has no game awareness of his own? :p:

Reply 448

bikerx23

Ethereal

Would that be because he has no game awareness of his own? :p:

hehe...possibly - I've heard he doesn't have the best rugby brain, but then when he has the ability to run to plans so well and so fast, and also know how to beat his man with such ability, then thats not the worst thing in the world - I personally think he's very capable though.

And - I think the back three should counter for England a lot more rather than kicking, or atleast countering and lofting, since often they try and kick from a poor angle and it isn't beneficial.

Reply 449

Ethereal

From what I've heard about yesterday's game, I don't think our pack are up to dealing with the necessary hunt and hammer involved in up and unders

Reply 450

bikerx23

I dont know - as said, our back row certainly are, but the front five were virtually invisible. In comparison, Gethin Jenkins is always around for such events (best prop in the world, in my opinion), and the Argentine hooker, despite being 33-odd was extremely mobile too.

Actually - chuter wasn't so bad - we definitely involved more than the rest of the front five, so not quite fair to brand him identically.

Reply 451

Ethereal

I started the day off by sulking that it was on sky, and ended the day by sulking that we lost. Did a lot of sulking yesterday!

Reply 452

bikerx23

Fortunately I went into college and watched it...then I did a lot of sulking because everyone else I know can afford tickets for such things!

Reply 453

Ethereal

Lol! When I move to London I should think being so close to Twickers, Lords and the Oval is going to be quite expensive for me.

Reply 454

bikerx23

Yes...I'm planning to either be in London or NZ, and hence I would also have to increase my entertainment budgets, to say the least.

I'm still trying to culture some contacts so I can get 6 nations tickets though...

Reply 455

Ethereal

can't you buy them on ticketmaster?

Reply 456

bikerx23

pfft! not likely - 6 nations tickets are like gold dust!

Reply 457

Alasdair

a fire in the sky

I'm particularly annoyed - my Dad's a VP for SAS (the company whose logo pops up every time there's a statistic), but the bloody sponsorship deal apparently didn't include any Tickets! Pah!

Reply 458

Ethereal

alasdair_R

I'm particularly annoyed - my Dad's a VP for SAS (the company whose logo pops up every time there's a statistic), but the bloody sponsorship deal apparently didn't include any Tickets! Pah!