The Super-Super-Duper Rugby Union thread!

[PowerButchi]

I'm worried. I'm not going to say anything incendiary this week. I'm going to be a good boy, tidy my room and say my prayers before bed every night.

[Up Chuck]

Flood choked big time for Tigers yesterday. Proper bottled going for the match-winning drop goal, to the point where Geordan Murphy went "fuck this", shoved him out the way and did it himself. I'm thinking bench is Flood's best prospect against Wales - he was still fine with ball in hand, but his tactical kicking was well off.

 

Tuilagi, though, was an absolute fucking beast. Breaking tackles at will, being the cause of every meaningful attack Tigers put together... guy's incredible. Pace, power, skill and LINE BREAKING~! Y'know, line breaking, the thing that England did zero times against Scotland and about once against Italy.

 

For this weekend, I'd pick Farrell at 10. He's still unproven, but Hodgson's proven average, and we need better than that. Stick Barritt in at 12 - his defense has been quality so far and it'll do Farrell well to have a familiar guy outside him when the pressure's on. Tuilagi at 13, he's an asset we need to use. If he plays like he did yesterday, he'll draw tacklers and open up gaps for Ashton and Strettle.

 

I think Dickson at 9 is the best option, with Youngs and Flood both on the bench. Maybe Flood on for Barritt around 60-70 mins, moving Farrell to inside centre. I'd consider starting Parling or giving him at least half an hour, because he's excellent at nicking ball from opponents with a suspect lineout.

 

I fancy our chances more than I did this time last week. It's still gonna be our toughest game in ages but with Tuilagi on form, we're a threat to anyone's defense.

[matbro1984]

The question is will they move Farrell to 10 or will they stick with "experience" and Hodgson. Farrell I believe is the key to unlocking the game. Tuilagi at 13 would be a tremendous boost too. Ashton is only ever a threat when he is given quality ball. To date, that hasn't really happened.

 

As for Wales, look what happened last time we were favourites going into a big match. Enough said.

 

We've bottled 4 big matches year. South Africa, lost by a point, various missed kicks. France, despite the red card, we still had every chance to win and fucked it up thanks to missed kicks. Australia in the 3rd place playoff, ditto. The match against Australia in December is the worst of the bunch in which we were soundly beaten, and it was not a close match.

 

In conclusion - Missed kicks have repeatedly proved the difference between winning and losing for Wales, and since England have got an excellent kicker for the match I'm nervous. Player discipline is also a problem, since we tend to haemorrhage points if one of our players gets binned.

[PowerButchi]

Halfpenny as the designated place kicker should put paid to some of that (Smug Mode: I've been saying 1/2p should be our full time place kicker since early 2010), but our discipline has to be immaculate. We can't afford to have a man in the bin. Our lineout NEEDS to be sorted out as well as it's been an absolute disgrace. Huw Bennett's solid in the loose, but he's a liability when it comes to lineout time.

[Slapnut]

I'd say injuries are plaguing Wales more than anything at the moment, except lineouts which are an absolute disgrace. Warburton should be back by the weekend, and I don't think Ryan Jones' injury is anything too serious, but I can't see North's ankle holding up for Saturday which is a massive blow.

 

Halfpenny has shown he is more than capable as kicker so they should have no problem in that aspect.

[matbro1984]

Totally unconfirmed rumour: Bennett and Rees are out, Hibbard will be in.

 

Confirmed: North is back in training.

[Slapnut]

I heard Hibbard was called up a few days ago, along with Alun Wyn Jones. I'd say that's pretty much official.

[Up Chuck]

Butch has been praying:

 

15. Leigh Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues)

14. Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues)

13. Jonathan Davies (Scarlets)

12. Jamie Roberts (Cardiff Blues)

11. George North (Scarlets)

10. Rhys Priestland (Scarlets)

9. Michael Phillips (Bayonne)

1. Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues)

2. Ken Owens (Scarlets)

3. Adam Jones (Ospreys)

4. Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys)

5. Ian Evans (Ospreys)

6. Dan Lydiate (Newport Gwent Dragons)

7. Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues)

8. Toby Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons)

 

REPLACEMENTS:

16. Richard Hibbard (Ospreys)

17. Paul James (Ospreys)

18. Ryan Jones (Ospreys)

19. Justin Tipuric (Ospreys)

20. Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues)

21. James Hook (Perpignan)

22. Scott Williams (Scarlets)

 

Really hoping for more than just a couple of changes for England. Dickson and Morgan coming in as rumoured would be great, but Hodgson shouldn't be in the 22 and Tuilagi needs to start too. Lancaster's been talking about "impact from the bench" though. Lawes will apparently be on the bench instead of Parling, which is a shame, because I think Parling's shown more than Palmer has minute-for-minute. We'll see. I'll be watching on the big screen in Leicester city centre, so I might end up shitting myself in public.

 

 

Ireland team's up too:

15. Rob Kearney (Leinster)

14. Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)

13. Keith Earls (Munster)

12. Gordon D

[Slapnut]

Where's Lee Byrne been lately? Is he injured?

[PowerButchi]

No, he's shit.

[Up Chuck]

Scotland for France, with Stuart Hogg getting a deserved start:

 

15. Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors)

 

14. Rory Lamont (Glasgow Warriors)

 

13. Sean Lamont (Scarlets)

 

12. Graeme Morrison (Glasgow Warriors)

 

11. Lee Jones (Edinburgh Rugby)

 

10. Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby)

 

9. Mike Blair (Edinburgh Rugby)

 

1. Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh Rugby)

 

2. Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby)

 

3. Geoff Cross (Edinburgh Rugby)

 

4. Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors)

 

5. Jim Hamilton (Gloucester)

 

6. John Barclay (Glasgow Warriors)

 

7. Ross Rennie (Edinburgh Rugby)

 

8. David Denton (Edinburgh Rugby)

 

Replacements:

 

16. Scott Lawson (Gloucester)

 

17. Ed Kalman (Glasgow Warriors)

 

18. Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors)

 

19. Richie Vernon (Sale Sharks)

 

20. Chris Cusiter (Glasgow Warriors)

 

21. Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors)

 

22. Nick De Luca (Edinburgh Rugby)

[matbro1984]

You've got to feel sorry for Ryan Jones. For the shifts he's put in and still only end up on the bench must be heartbreaking.

 

Still though, that's pretty much a full strength team Wales are putting out.

 

Brian Moore wrote a good piece about Wales right now, which I can't be arsed to find but the gist of it is: if we are ever going to be truly good, we have to beat England on Saturday. A loss or a draw would be a huge failure and a massive setback.

 

Wales, as I mentioned, have bottled 4 big matches. The problem with these losses is that many of the public, and pundits alike, seem satisfied with merely playing attractive rugby and performing well, rather than being cutthroat and winning the tight games. The average Welsh fan justifies it as follows:

 

- South Africa in the World Cup. We lost, but it's only by a point and we played so well. Against South Africa and all. I mean, they're southern hemisphere and everything. It's fine though, we still got out of the group.

- France. We lost, but only by a point, plus we only had 14 men, the ref robbed us

- Australia. We only lost by 3 points. And, y'know, it's Australia. But we played well and finished 4th. That's still OK, right?

- Australia again. Yes but that's an Autumn test that doesn't count.

 

We need to actually start winning the big matches and not merely seeking solace in good performances. We did just that in Ireland. Halfpenny opting to kick the penalty was ballsy and it paid off. We should do England at Twickenham. If we don't, it'll be one of the worst defeats we've ever suffered because we finally find ourselves in a position where we (and everyone else) expects us to win, we've got a talented squad who are capable of doing a job against a comparatively untested England side who haven't hit their stride yet.

 

On-topic tangent: I'm missing the 4FW show in Swindon on Saturday night because I couldn't bring myself to watch the game in deepest Mordor. (And knowing how depressed I'd be if we lost, I'd be in no mood for anything other than sulking. Hence not tempting fate by making arrangements anyway)

[PowerButchi]

Here's the article.

 

Six Nations 2012: Wales need to prove they can live with favourites tag by beating England comfortably

Jonathan Webb is a good bloke and an even better orthopaedic surgeon. He was a decent England full-back in his day, but when it came down to it Webby wasn

[matbro1984]

BBC2 Wales (sky 991 I believe)

Scrum V Classics - England v Wales 1976

 

Begins at 7pm tonight!

 

A chance for me to warm up for the weekend and believe it can be done...

[Up Chuck]

Great article, that.

 

Anyway, England team's up, and the big news is that charge-down Charlie has slashed his finger open and had stitches, only for it to swell up to the point where he can't hold a ball. This means the midfield I was dreaming of has become reality~!

 

15. Ben Foden (Northampton Saints)

14. Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints)

13. Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers)

12. Brad Barritt (Saracens)

11. David Strettle (Saracens)

10. Owen Farrell (Saracens)

9. Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints)

1. Alex Corbisiero (London Irish)

2. Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)

3. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)

4. Mouritz Botha (Saracens)

5. Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers)

6. Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers)

7. Chris Robshaw (Harlequins)

8. Ben Morgan (Scarlets)

 

Replacements

16. Rob Webber (London Wasps)

17. Matt Stevens (Saracens)

18. Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)

19. Phil Dowson (Northampton Saints)

20. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)

21. Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers)

22. Mike Brown (Harlequins)

 

Okay, so Foden and Ashton being the two experienced heads in the backs isn't ideal, but it's better than any alternative I can think of. I could see Parling having a full 80 no matter where Lawes goes in the scrum when he comes on, as Parling will either be behind a familiar prop or in front of a familiar flanker. Parling and Croft could terrorise that line out if the Welsh haven't tightened it up, too.

 

Really pleased to see Dickson and Morgan getting the expected starts, too. But it's all about that 10-12-13 for me. Barritt's a great distributor, and that'll be much more effective from 12. Tuilagi will be able to feed off that and beef up England's pathetic line-breaking stats. They'll be good in defense, too - Barritt's been our best defender so far and is very well-organised, while Tuilagi offers a big-impact tackle and isn't afraid to get involved at the breakdown.

 

I'm chuffed to bits with this. This is the best team we could've put out. This could legitimately be the game of the tournament now.