The Super-Super-Duper Rugby Union thread!

[Loki]

Owen Farrell looked good, really good for someone so young. In fact, considering how inexperienced the squad was, I thought they did well. It'll be an uphill struggle against either Wales or Ireland if they play like that though. Epic game.

[Up Chuck]

Farrell was solid for his international debut, yeah. Looking forward to see how he does with the first-choice squad around him, bearing in mind that'd take away the familiar faces of Hodgson and Barritt either side of him. I think he could gel really well with Tuilagi given time - I just wish Tuilagi had been fit for these first two games to give them time to settle in before the big challenge of Wales.

 

Speaking of Wales, Butch may not be alone in his Grand Slam hopes, as Shane Williams has named them as his favourites for the tournament in his Metro column today. He also shows off his journalistic chops by claiming separately that both Ireland and France will give Wales the hardest match.

 

Elsewhere, the RFU tweeted that Toby Flood and both the Dicksons took a full part in training today. I'm gonna guess at Flood replacing Turner-Hall on the bench, and maybe Lee Dickson getting a start. Lancaster apparently want to give some fringe guys a chance, so I'd think we might see Mike Brown at full-back, and perhaps a start for Geoff Parling too.

 

Also, as I just spotted when looking for the Williams article of the Metro site, Scots may be interested to know that Thom Evans has recovered from his broken neck and is now training to be a sprinter (article here). Targeting a place in the 2014 Commonwealth Games. What a fucking story! Guy's sure got some drive.

 

EDIT: Forgot the reason I even started the post. Bradley Davies has been officially cited... and so has Stephen Ferris!

 

EDIT 2: Seeing as this is still fairly high up the first page, I won't double-post with the words on the street that DAN PARKS HAS RETIRED FROM INTERNATIONAL RUGBY WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT. Trying to get a source, but Scottish Rugby's website seems to be having problems with the metric fuckton of traffic that's no doubt trying to smash down its virtual doors right now.

 

EDIT 3: http://www.scotlandrugbyteam.org/index.php...Itemid=9]Source. No idea how official that site is, because it's not loading properly (and even that took about 5 minutes).

 

EDIT 4: Source from a website that fucking works.

[mikey]

Backhanded compliments from their incompetent coach. "He's shit but he works so hard so I had to pick him."

[PowerButchi]

Hopefully Dan Parks retires from all forms of rugby and fucks off from the Blues as well.

 

Dan Parks is one of my least favourite players ever, one of the type of outside halves I cannot fucking bare. Pragmatic anti-rugby, and frankly I think he's been more responsible for Scotlands allergy to the try line over the past 5 years than anyone else by quite a margin. Terrible player.

[Up Chuck]

What's most interesting now is seeing what they do without him - will Laidlaw be unprepared due to their preparation probably revolving around Parks, or will they finally be able to play the kind of rugby everybody's saying they're capable of? Parks wasn't the only one fucking things up on Saturday, but Laidlaw's chip for the almost-try was probably the best thing they did all afternoon. This could be a big turning point for Scotland. Still don't fancy them against Wales, mind.

 

Elsewhere, England have released a bunch of guys to their clubs for the weekend, most notably Toby Flood. Probably going with a very similar backline to last week, although I'd bet there'll be at least 2 changes. Probably Brown in for Foden and Lee Dickson in for Youngs.

 

France have announced their team for the Ireland match, too. Four changes, all in the pack. Team's in spoiler tags for ease of skipping:

 

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

15. Maxime M

[PowerButchi]

Brad Davies has had a 7 weeker. The stupid twat was lucky to get that, I thought he'd get 12. He deserved 12 anyway.

[Up Chuck]

BBC's reporting that Gatland's threatened to fine anybody who busts out a tip tackle on top of whatever suspension they get too. Not surprising really when your team's one more incident away from getting a reputation (however unjustified that would be).

 

 

EDIT: Abiding by my self-imposed non-double-posting rule. England are completely unchanged for Italy, bench included. Bit of a surprise, but I'm glad Lancaster's showing some faith in his selections. The team he put out is capable of better than what they managed at Murrayfield. One thing I'd love to see is Brown getting more of a run-out, and preferably at full-back so we can extend the attacking-from-deep threat from that position over a full 80 minutes.

[nate diggity]

I think Lee Dickson could be really good for England, especially against a side like Italy, but I think it's good that England are unchanged. Nobody really did anything to deserve not getting another go, although I think there's a few who definitely won't cut it at international level.

[Up Chuck]

Who d'you reckon won't cut it? I agree with you about Dickson and I hope he gets a decent run-out (as much as I like Youngs and dislike the culture of always subbing at least one of the half-backs).

 

EDIT: Ireland team up here. Sorry if that's a mobile page. France have had to make a change - Yachvilli's out with a back injury, so Parra comes in for him. BBC now had Parra listed in the starting lineup and on the bench, so I've no idea who's replacing him, but ex-Leicester Tiger Julien Dupuy has been called up as cover.

[PowerButchi]

Wales Top Team:

 

Leigh Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues); Alex Cuthbert (Blues), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Jamie Roberts (Blues), George North (Scarlets), Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Mike Phillips (Bayonne); Gethin Jenkins (Blues), Huw Bennett (Ospreys), Adam Jones (Ospreys), Ryan Jones (Ospreys), Ian Evans (Ospreys), Dan Lydiate (Newport Gwent Dragons), Sam Warburton (Blues, capt), Toby Faletau (Dragons).

 

Replacements: Ken Owens (Scarlets), Paul James (Ospreys), Lou Reed (Scarlets), Andy Powell (Sale Sharks), Lloyd Williams (Blues), James Hook (Perpignan), Scott Williams (Scarlets).

 

Gill's been unlucky to to keep his place, but I didn't see a fit Gethin not being picked. With Ryan Jones moving into the 2nd row and Huw Bennett not being able to throw a ball I reckon our lineout will take another hammering, but I don't think Scotland will have any answers for our massive, and massively talented, backs. It's great to see Dan Lydiate back as well to reform the wonderful World Cup Back Row. Tipuric's been unlucky not to get a place on the bench though, especially after filling in for Sam Warburton with maturity last week.

[Up Chuck]

Gotta say, with that beast of a back row and the in-form backs, I wouldn't be shocked to see Wales top of the table after this weekend (points difference being the first separator). I reckon England'll be the only team to pick up an away win this week, but if Ireland can edge it against France, England/Wales could pretty much decide the tournament.

 

Anyway, getting ahead of myself. France/Ireland is definitely the one to watch this weekend, for me. And, of course, I'll be out at a Valentine's meal.

[IrishDave]

I like how Steven Ferris was not only cleared, it was also ruled that he shouldn't have been yellow-carded in the first place, and it shouldn't have been a penalty either, which you can imagine is a lot of fucking comfort for us at this stage.

 

And since I haven't weighed in on it at all yet, Bradley Davies is a prick, and someone needs to sit Sexton down and tell him to stop kicking the ball away against faster teams. He's becoming O'Gara faster than you can say "We need more new kickers".

[matbro1984]

I like how Steven Ferris was not only cleared, it was also ruled that he shouldn't have been yellow-carded in the first place, and it shouldn't have been a penalty either, which you can imagine is a lot of fucking comfort for us at this stage.

 

Not upholding the citing is not the same as saying it wasn't worth a yellow card. I've seen the quote in the press, and I think that is some masterful Irish artistic licence.

 

Re-read it for yourself - http://m.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/20....html?via=sport

 

"...the disciplinary panel itself felt that the decision to award a penalty was incorrect and we also felt that it was a fair and legitimate tackle by Stephen"

said by Mick Kearney. It's not quoting the committee's statement at all.

 

So either

 

1. Kearney's been spouting his own interpretation of the ruling as fact. (Likely)

2. Someone's given him an opinion off the record*, and this has been re-told as fact

 

* - Probably in the same way you comfort a child by telling them their rabbit has gone to heaven.

 

Either way, asserting it wasn't a yellow is absolute guff. If you're going to criticise carding during the match, then at least pick on Bradley Davies deserving a red. That much we'll all agree on.

[nate diggity]

Who d'you reckon won't cut it?

Dowson's great at club level but I don't see him prospering for England. He should have been given a chance a few years ago. Pretty much the same for Strettle (who has been given half chances, not helped by injuries). I don't see much in Botha. Also, we've got plenty of 'good' props, but none that make me think they're gonna nail down spots in the team.

[Loki]

Can someone more up to date tell me, is Tindall not in England's squad because he's still suspended over all that nonsense last year? Or is he just out of favour, or retired?