I think England is the best team bay far to be honest
I did at the start of the tournament as well. But this weekend's matches showed the French in their form again and England a little shaky against Wales. If Wales had made their first two kicks, who knows. England should have smashed them by 15+ and were lucky to be up by four late. They gave the Welsh way too many opportunities, but Wales bungled many of them. No way in hell they beat the French if they give up as many opportunities. And we all know England is good for a boatload of infractions and at least one binning.
+400 for a French Slam looks awfully tasty.
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Quote Originally Posted by Ace77:
I think England is the best team bay far to be honest
I did at the start of the tournament as well. But this weekend's matches showed the French in their form again and England a little shaky against Wales. If Wales had made their first two kicks, who knows. England should have smashed them by 15+ and were lucky to be up by four late. They gave the Welsh way too many opportunities, but Wales bungled many of them. No way in hell they beat the French if they give up as many opportunities. And we all know England is good for a boatload of infractions and at least one binning.
England took there foot off the gas,scoreline flattered Wales imo
I see England beating France comfortably
Hmmm.....I need to look into this more. Haha....
France's defense is suspect nowadays, but that last Scottish try was a gift. 31-14 was a more likely end score. The Scottish pack is very good these days and France ran through it like a knife. This may be obvious to say, but England relies on their scrum to set their attack and I don't see France giving them much in this area.
I've got a few days to think about this.
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Quote Originally Posted by Ace77:
England took there foot off the gas,scoreline flattered Wales imo
I see England beating France comfortably
Hmmm.....I need to look into this more. Haha....
France's defense is suspect nowadays, but that last Scottish try was a gift. 31-14 was a more likely end score. The Scottish pack is very good these days and France ran through it like a knife. This may be obvious to say, but England relies on their scrum to set their attack and I don't see France giving them much in this area.
England surged to a 23-9 lead and then got lazy IMO which allowed Wales to get back into it before England woke up again and spent the final 10 minutes in Wales half
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England surged to a 23-9 lead and then got lazy IMO which allowed Wales to get back into it before England woke up again and spent the final 10 minutes in Wales half
England surged to a 23-9 lead and then got lazy IMO which allowed Wales to get back into it before England woke up again and spent the final 10 minutes in Wales half
Ah, gotcha.
I just don't think Wales is that good anymore.
Basically think the only thing stopping France from the Grand Slam is the England game. And +400 ML for France there is solid.
???
Still have time to think about it...
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Quote Originally Posted by Ace77:
England surged to a 23-9 lead and then got lazy IMO which allowed Wales to get back into it before England woke up again and spent the final 10 minutes in Wales half
Ah, gotcha.
I just don't think Wales is that good anymore.
Basically think the only thing stopping France from the Grand Slam is the England game. And +400 ML for France there is solid.
Well, the first that that stands out to me is YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME...........FRANCE -2??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Either I am dreaming or the injury-riddled Irish, who should have lost to Italy just a few days ago, are only getting two against the 2010 Grand Slam winners?
????????????????????????????
Yeah, they are in Dublin. Still, this line makes no sense to me, especially if Stringer and Reddan still start the bench and O'Leary gets the call again.
Somebody tell me I am dreaming here?
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Round Two Handicaps:
England -22 vs. Italy
Scotland -3 vs. Wales
Ireland +2 vs. France
----------------------
Well, the first that that stands out to me is YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME...........FRANCE -2??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Either I am dreaming or the injury-riddled Irish, who should have lost to Italy just a few days ago, are only getting two against the 2010 Grand Slam winners?
????????????????????????????
Yeah, they are in Dublin. Still, this line makes no sense to me, especially if Stringer and Reddan still start the bench and O'Leary gets the call again.
France: 15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Aurélien
Rougerie, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9
Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry
Dusautoir (c), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2
William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo. Replacements: 16 Guilhem
Guirado, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Jerome Thion, 19 Sébastien Chabal, 20
Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Yannick Jauzion, 22 Vincent Clerc.
Date: Sunday, February 13 Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin Kick-off: 15.00 GMT Referee: Dave Pearson
---
Look at that starting XV. Lievremont decided not to mess drastically with a winning side, stunning everyone. He might, just might, have turned a corner in his selection process.
Waiting for Kidney's starting XV. If O'Leary is in there, it's night-night Ireland.
Pearson on the whistle also favors France as he hasn't been kind to the Irish in the past. Kidney has filed a formal complaint about the referring to the IRB already and will be looking for a better call this Sunday. Hahaha...
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France: 15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Aurélien
Rougerie, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9
Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry
Dusautoir (c), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2
William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo. Replacements: 16 Guilhem
Guirado, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Jerome Thion, 19 Sébastien Chabal, 20
Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Yannick Jauzion, 22 Vincent Clerc.
Date: Sunday, February 13 Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin Kick-off: 15.00 GMT Referee: Dave Pearson
---
Look at that starting XV. Lievremont decided not to mess drastically with a winning side, stunning everyone. He might, just might, have turned a corner in his selection process.
Waiting for Kidney's starting XV. If O'Leary is in there, it's night-night Ireland.
Pearson on the whistle also favors France as he hasn't been kind to the Irish in the past. Kidney has filed a formal complaint about the referring to the IRB already and will be looking for a better call this Sunday. Hahaha...
Just remember, it's VERY difficult to win away from home in this competition regardless of the opposition.
Much harder for sure.
That being said, I can't see the Irish beating the French on Sunday. The Irish have too many injuries, especially in the backline which will need to fire to beat the French, and the French have a slight-to-moderate advantage up front.
I can't see how the Irish can be tipped for this weekend.
Any insight would be appreciated.
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Quote Originally Posted by rod_steel:
Just remember, it's VERY difficult to win away from home in this competition regardless of the opposition.
Much harder for sure.
That being said, I can't see the Irish beating the French on Sunday. The Irish have too many injuries, especially in the backline which will need to fire to beat the French, and the French have a slight-to-moderate advantage up front.
I can't see how the Irish can be tipped for this weekend.
It's very easy to get blinded by the talent of the French team, need to look at it more closely but I suspect by kick off this line will move past 3 so any early value with the French may have disappeared.
A lot will depend on who Ireland are able to field. Looks like Heaslip and Trimble will be back. Also not that impressed with the midfield pairing of the French of Traille and Rougerie, neither really have much creativity with ball in hand which makes it hard for Huget and Medard on the wings. Therefore both D'Arcy and BOD should be able to shut them pretty easily IMO.
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It's very easy to get blinded by the talent of the French team, need to look at it more closely but I suspect by kick off this line will move past 3 so any early value with the French may have disappeared.
A lot will depend on who Ireland are able to field. Looks like Heaslip and Trimble will be back. Also not that impressed with the midfield pairing of the French of Traille and Rougerie, neither really have much creativity with ball in hand which makes it hard for Huget and Medard on the wings. Therefore both D'Arcy and BOD should be able to shut them pretty easily IMO.
With the overrated Hook starting at 10 the Jocks looking very appealing to me even as favs. Gatland is on his last legs and will be sacked after the tournament IMO
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Quote Originally Posted by Ace77:
Wales and Scotland is a very interesting game
With the overrated Hook starting at 10 the Jocks looking very appealing to me even as favs. Gatland is on his last legs and will be sacked after the tournament IMO
I did at the start of the tournament as well. But this weekend's matches showed the French in their form again and England a little shaky against Wales. If Wales had made their first two kicks, who knows. England should have smashed them by 15+ and were lucky to be up by four late. They gave the Welsh way too many opportunities, but Wales bungled many of them. No way in hell they beat the French if they give up as many opportunities. And we all know England is good for a boatload of infractions and at least one binning.
+400 for a French Slam looks awfully tasty.
I was on Wales against the Poms last weekend and after 15min I was regretting backing them. There was nothing shaky about the Poms performance and the end scoreline flattered to deceive.
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Quote Originally Posted by HeadOverHeart:
I did at the start of the tournament as well. But this weekend's matches showed the French in their form again and England a little shaky against Wales. If Wales had made their first two kicks, who knows. England should have smashed them by 15+ and were lucky to be up by four late. They gave the Welsh way too many opportunities, but Wales bungled many of them. No way in hell they beat the French if they give up as many opportunities. And we all know England is good for a boatload of infractions and at least one binning.
+400 for a French Slam looks awfully tasty.
I was on Wales against the Poms last weekend and after 15min I was regretting backing them. There was nothing shaky about the Poms performance and the end scoreline flattered to deceive.
With the overrated Hook starting at 10 the Jocks looking veryappealing to me even as favs. Gatland is on his last legs and will be sacked after the tournament IMO
Was just about to write "Im thinking of doing the unthinkable and backing Scotland as favs"
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Quote Originally Posted by rod_steel:
With the overrated Hook starting at 10 the Jocks looking veryappealing to me even as favs. Gatland is on his last legs and will be sacked after the tournament IMO
Was just about to write "Im thinking of doing the unthinkable and backing Scotland as favs"
With the overrated Hook starting at 10 the Jocks looking very appealing to me even as favs. Gatland is on his last legs and will be sacked after the tournament IMO
Funny thing is, I was talking with my Irish friend today and when we talking about what we thought the results would be this weekend, we both said, Scotland to beat Wales and Gatland sacked. And then I see this and I just had to chuckle. What's the odds on Gatland not surviving more than a week after the tournament or even getting sacked during? Hahaha...
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Quote Originally Posted by rod_steel:
With the overrated Hook starting at 10 the Jocks looking very appealing to me even as favs. Gatland is on his last legs and will be sacked after the tournament IMO
Funny thing is, I was talking with my Irish friend today and when we talking about what we thought the results would be this weekend, we both said, Scotland to beat Wales and Gatland sacked. And then I see this and I just had to chuckle. What's the odds on Gatland not surviving more than a week after the tournament or even getting sacked during? Hahaha...
I was on Wales against the Poms last weekend and after 15min I was regretting backing them. There was nothing shaky about the Poms performance and the end scoreline flattered to deceive.
Before the tournament started, I loved the English. Thought they were the class of the 6N. They might still be, but I wasn't sure about the French after the autumn tests and their horrid draw. I have warmed up considerably on the French and dimmed somewhat on the English. I really thought they should have polished off Wales by 15+.
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Quote Originally Posted by rod_steel:
I was on Wales against the Poms last weekend and after 15min I was regretting backing them. There was nothing shaky about the Poms performance and the end scoreline flattered to deceive.
Before the tournament started, I loved the English. Thought they were the class of the 6N. They might still be, but I wasn't sure about the French after the autumn tests and their horrid draw. I have warmed up considerably on the French and dimmed somewhat on the English. I really thought they should have polished off Wales by 15+.
The Irish-French game this weekend smells awfully like the Welsh-English game last week to me. Home dog which has seen better days pass them by by a year or two getting three points. Their opponent much stronger in most areas.
Smells exactly the same.
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The Irish-French game this weekend smells awfully like the Welsh-English game last week to me. Home dog which has seen better days pass them by by a year or two getting three points. Their opponent much stronger in most areas.
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