The Super-Super-Duper Rugby Union thread!

[PowerButchi]

Will my unwavering optimism actually pay off here for a change? It's worth resting Dr Roberts against Italy even if he passes a fitness test, I think.

 

It promises to be a very tense fortnight in Butch Towers.

[Up Chuck]

Lots of news! If I've missed any teams, feel free to add them.

 

France will be unchanged for England, Scotland have brought Nick De Luca in for injured Rory Lamont, Ireland have lost Paul O'Connell and Conor Murray for the tournament, Sam Warburton won't play against Italy.

 

So what does everyone make of that? Is Saint-Andr

[PowerButchi]

Hopefully Sam Our Captain's injury isn't going to keep him out for the France game and is a precautionary measure more than anything. I'd have probably rested Dr Roberts as well, as I've said previously. Good to see Justin Tipuric get another run out though. He's a real one for the future.

 

Great to see the Lions front row back together as well. That promises at the set-piece to be a fine battle with the solid Italian tight five.

[Up Chuck]

CHANGES!

 

France have dropped Parra and Trinh-Duc in favour of Dupuy and Beauxis. I thought Dupuy was great when he was at Tigers, but that half-back combo has been pretty key for France so far. Very interesting choice.

 

EDIT:

. One of the best dummies and breaks ever.

[Up Chuck]

Apologies for the double-post. England team's up with zero changes in the XV and just two on the bench;

 

15. Ben Foden (Northampton Saints)

14. Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints)

13. Manusamoa 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

[nate diggity]

19. Phil Dowson (London Wasps)

Hey, when'd that happen?

[Up Chuck]

It didn't, I typed that out on my phone cos I can't copy & paste on it and couldn't be arsed to go upstairs for my laptop, and I forgot who he played for.

 

While I'm here, it's the old rivalry renewed once more in the LV Cup semi-final tonight: Bath vs Tigers. Well up for it, even though Bath have a first team out and we're starting a couple of academy guys. But I'm glad we're sticking with the ethos of it being a development competition, yet developing that ethos at the same time - playing alongside mostly first-team guys, with a few of his academy buddies, against a strong Premiership side in a knockout match will be excellent experience for George Ford at fly-half. Ditto if we make it to the final and he has to be playmaker there as well.

[matbro1984]

Wales v Italy kicks off in an hour. I hope we give Italy a right tuning. That is all.

[Up Chuck]

Gonna be watching all 3 games as per usual. Expecting something interesting from all of them, too. Even if the first one just ends up being a Wales showoff, it'll be a fun watch. Incidentally, a big win would all but seal it for Wales - England could still draw level on 8 points if we beat France and Ireland and if France beat Wales, but the points difference will be pretty difficult for England to make up.

 

Bit of England news: David Strettle has some kind of sternum injury, so Charlie Sharples bypasses the bench and comes straight in at 11. Strettle's been great and I think we will miss him, but I like Sharples. Hopefully we'll spread it wide a bit and Farrell will put some cross-kicks over too.

[Rey_Piste]

Wales win was decent, something that the scoreline doesn't really show is how hard it was to get through Italy's defence. Hopefully we'll get a knackered out France next week, but it isn't going to be an easy win.

[matbro1984]

Thought Italy's defence was absolutely superb. Not such kind things to say about Mirco Bergamasco (reactionary bellend) and Parisse (penalty-milking bellend). Wales were stifled again for most of the match, much like the England match. Our tries came from breaching the tired Italian defence. I don't believe we can rely on the same tactic versus the French. I fear we've been found out. The ref didn't help much either - he was far too keen on whistling and interrupting the flow of the game.

 

Positives for Wales going into the Slam decider:

- Charteris is back and is brilliant

- Roberts doing something other than the crash ball

- Most key players are fit

- It's at home

 

Negatives

- Warburton only 50/50

- We still haven't learnt how to play the ref

- Our record against France isn't great, even at home.

 

(I'm sure Butch can help me pad out these lists)

 

As for the Scotland match, I wish Scotland were able to finish off the opportunities they create. They're due a good result for their hard work. Keith Earls is an utter cheating, diving cunt too.

[Up Chuck]

Holy fucking shit, we beat France in Paris.

 

What a performance. Croft and Cole, I thought, were our standout guys today. There were times when we lost our ice-cool no-penalties gimmick, but if we've made opportunities and not taken them in the past, this was the exact opposite. All our tries came from pretty much nothing. Tuilagi, Morgan and Croft all broke amazingly, and Foden did well to stick with Morgan to finish that one. Particularly chuffed for Tuilagi, it's always nice to see the talent he's displayed at Tigers carry over to the international stage. Also great was the fact that we held them out during the sin-bin period. That's the stuff that wins test matches.

 

France lost it as much as we won it, though. They didn't start playing til about 70 minutes in. Dupuy, as much as I like him, was pretty clueless. As I hoped, they didn't get the ball to Fofana enough for him to have the effect he'd had on previous games.

 

Wales' tournament. No question. France won't beat them playing like that, let alone affect the points difference enough for England to sneak through the back door. Still, three cracking games to look forward to.

 

Oh, sorry, one obligatory ref moan: if Sharples' deliberate knock-on was a yellow, why wasn't Fofana's?

[matbro1984]

The significance of that match cannot be overstated. It's working for England, it really is bloody working. I wanted to enjoy England having a patchy "rebuilding" season but already it's coming together. Lancaster is doing a fine job and dividends are already arriving. As a coach, he's clearly hunble and grounded and making great progress in undoing the World Cup damage. Turning over France at home is not a frequent occurrence. In fact... [obligatory Wales grand slam reference]Last time France were beaten at home in the six Nations was by Wales in 2008. [/obligatory Wales grand slam reference]

 

The only negative in that performance was Chris Ashton. He is a petulant fool. I'm amazed he's offered chance after chance by Lancaster; they guy's clearly a liability.

 

Oh, and one more thing: Alain Rolland got that yellow card decision very wrong. The state of refereeing in this tournament needs a review.

[Up Chuck]

Ashton's been quiet at best and idiotic and thuggish at worse for most of this season, club and country wise. I'd honestly start Sharples and Strettle against Ireland. Considering the stunning tournament Ashton had last year, he's gone off the boil big time. If you're gonna drop Flood and Youngs, Ashton's had as big a drop in form as them.

[Loki]

It'll be a crying shame if Lancaster doesn't get the gig. This is HIS team as much as anyone's. He's made the tough decisions to drop experienced players in favour of building a new team, and it's obviously worked in creating a good team spirit.

 

They kept going on about his lack of international experience - well, his team just beat a French team with 3 times as many caps, I'd say he's getting it the right way.