Well gentlemen - the Highlanders go down in the House of Pain to the Brumbies on tour in a very strange game. The home team rushed to 19-0 in the first twenty minutes which kinda had me weeping into my beer given possession and territory was 80% to the visitors. My kids took their jerseys off and hid them under the lounge.

And then Stirlo fired up and there was clockwork and genius and nasty, nasty contact and I wept some more. Plainly he has recovered from the bashing Jamie Roberts meted out to him in November.

But then the kiwis found their composure and fought back to a one point lead that was only shattered in the last minute by the first and only drop goal Christian Lealiifano has ever kicked in his life.

The kids tried to put their jerseys back on and I almost forbade them for being such bad supporters but I was weeping so heavily by this stage that I couldn't see where they had gone.

A good start with a 33-30 win and a bonus point.

Maffj, did Mrs j take you to the pub for Valentine's Day to watch the footy? She sounds like a real catch.

Johnp, we've survived the 45 degree temperatures ... unfortunately a great many people did not survive the horrendous bushfires.

S14 game of the round - Brumbies v Crusaders ... I have tickets and am looking fwd to some serious fun at my home ground.

First three games of the round? ... Hurricanes v Highlanders = v. v. ordinary. Do not watch under any circumstance. Waratahs v Chiefs = forgetable. Do not watch except to see "clown rugby" by NSW which brings its own joys. Force v Cheetahs = a v. entertaining game w/ super scrapy passages but a touch of biff and a few yellow cards. By far the best game of the round to date. Look for the beautifully constructed drop goal by Giteau, which I reckon made the win - but Force didn't really manufacture the points that they deserved given the card advantage.

Tomorrow? Qld v Cape Town = obvious death to Qld. Other South African games are hard to call.

Now on 6N - obviously Wales are gonna take France and any normal form guide would back Ireland against England. Scotland v Italy? ... I',m at a loss.

At some stage Johnp and Mattf we need to get a online tipping effort going ... needs to be next season given the rounds that have gone through in both comps.

I can see all 3 6N games going either way (heresy to maffj!) - France won't want to ship a 2nd loss, let alone a 3rd, England are due a performance, and Scotland/Italy is never predictable.

I've never been a betting man, but I'd be keen to run a tMG Forum fantasy league. Maybe mike'll submit a team!

I'll try to keep an eye on the Crusaders visit.

Unfortunately I haven't had a proper chance to cast my eye over the French this season yet, but I'd like to think that Ireland are our only real threat this year.

I think Scotland have got just enough class to take Italy, and as for the English, hopefully Ireland will keep their foot on the gas for the full 80 to set up a final day Grand Slam decider.

---

"You know it is, it really is."

Well it seems I was wrong. I've had a few beers and am a bit tired and emotional, but fair play to France - they picked it up in the 2nd half and maintained their intensity, and to be honest we just lost our way and made too many errors.

Wouldn't like to pick it now...

---

"You know it is, it really is."

is canadian rugby different than scottish rugby?

---

~i'm gonna kill all the judges~

What a weekend! The wrong Wales showed up in Rome, an unrecognisable England in TW1, not to mention Scotland almost spoiling the party.

I wonder if Stuart Dickinson reffed the Ireland game if the result would have been different. Penalise a toenail over the offside line, but turn a blind eye to 'flat' passes. Kaplan was the opposite.

Unsurprisingly, local talk radio is all about next Saturday. Ol' Jack Kyle was even roused from his slumber for an 8a.m. chat with Newstalk...

Unlikely it'll be a repeat of the 6-3 victory in '48, and I'm hopeful we'll avoid the draw that cost us a slam in '51.

Wrong Wales indeed. No-one did themselves any favours there really.

Good strong team named for Saturday, but whether it's enough for a 13 point turnaround I don't know. I think Shanklin and Henson is a good centre partnership, although it's a shame for Jamie Roberts who's been solid all championship.

I've got everything crossed and am hoping that the extra effort put in by the majority of the Irish against Scotland, and the fact that we're at home, will just edge it for us. Edge it by 13 point obviously...

TEAMS FOR SATURDAY:
Wales: Lee Byrne; Mark Jones, Tom Shanklin, Gavin Henson, Shane Williams; Stephen Jones, Mike Phillips; Gethin Jenkins, Matthew Rees, Adam Jones, Ian Gough, Alun-Wyn Jones, Ryan Jones (capt), Martyn Williams, Andy Powell.
Replacements: Huw Bennett, John Yapp, Luke Charteris, Dafydd Jones, Warren Fury, James Hook, Jamie Roberts.

Ireland: Rob Kearney; Tommy Bowe, Brian O'Driscoll (capt), Gordon D'Arcy, Luke Fitzgerald; Ronan O'Gara, Tomas O'Leary; Marcus Horan, Jerry Flannery, John Hayes, Donncha O'Callaghan, Paul O'Connell (capt), Stephen) Ferris, David Wallace, Jamie Heaslip.
Replacements: Rory Best, Tom Court, M O'Driscoll, Denis Leamy, Peter Stringer, Paul Wallace, Geordan Murphy.

---

"You know it is, it really is."

Watching this at every opportunity this morning:

[www.youtube.com]

Congrats - I always maintained if it wasn't us it should be you lot, although with us finishing fourth (FOURTH!?!?!?!?) in the end I've felt better.

Can't believe Jones made the schoolboy error of kicking to touch after the ball was passed into his 22 giving you the field position to drop that winning goal. Just have to keep reminding myself that there were NOT 3 better teams than us this year...

---

"You know it is, it really is."

Yeah, a good day for Ireland. (Not only the Grand Slam, but Bernard Dunne became WBA Super-Bantamweight world champion with a KO in the 11th, having been down twice in the 5th.)

maffj - joint 2nd sounds better than 4th! Will Martin Johnson claim a good 6N because they came 2nd?

Gatland came in for some stick over last week's comments - O'Connell even comparing him to Mourinho!

The sport radio talk shows were interesting last night. Many questioned why Henson didn't take the final kick, some suggested Jones missed it on purpose (!), but all were pretty scathing about Wayne Barnes and a penalty count of 15-5 favouring the home team.

What happened to the Welsh line-out?!

Lions selection time should be interesting.

sigh, if only england couldve played like they did first 60 min of the french match for the rest of the 6 nations. thats been the story since 2004 though. way too inconsistant.

---

[kidsteel.bandcamp.com]

btw that was a great last game ireland and wales. last 5 minutes were crazy.

---

[kidsteel.bandcamp.com]

My friends, I have been absent. A combo of business (work), weariness (life) and embarrassment (being a Brumbies supporter).

Congrats to Ireland for their 6N effort and Johnp - didn't you tell me on this thread that O'Driscoll was yesterday's man? Word to him for his Player of the Series - or is this just a gong? Congrats too to Wales (heads up Maffj).

Southern hemisphere is a bit turgid at the moment. NSW are the top Australian team and they have been playing an ordinary if not consistent game - my lot have been hot and cold and manufactured some stupid losses on a bloody ordinary run. NZ are hard to pick as a group though Waikato are full steam. And South Africa have divided into the competition leaders and the competition also-rans.

But the big talk is still on the status of the ELVs after the IRB meeting last week. The local press is now in open warfare about it. The other issue is the expansion of the S14 to a 15 or 16 or ... SA is insisting on another franchise, other talk is about a combined Pacific Islands or another Australian team (maybe based in Melbourne). I'm unsure where the depth to the competition is going to come from regardless.

Kayem Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Congrats to Ireland for their 6N effort and Johnp
> - didn't you tell me on this thread that
> O'Driscoll was yesterday's man? Word to him for
> his Player of the Series - or is this just a gong?
> Congrats too to Wales (heads up Maffj).

I take it all back!

Irl. vs. Aus two weeks from Sunday, then Fiji, then the big one (no offense Aussies)...

Ireland vs. South Africa - 6 Nations champions vs. Tri-Nations champions/World Cup holders (+ gougers of Luke Fitzgerald)

It's that time of year again, and for once I think there's no clear favourite this year.

I'm convinced that the winner of the England v Wales match this afternoon will stand a great chance, with winnable games to follow for both teams. Ireland could potentially do it back-to-back too, but France are also really strong and as the BBC point out, they've won the last 3 6Ns that followed Lions tours...

I'd love the whole thing to be settled by 5pm on March 30th since I've got my tickets for the Wales v Italy match and am doubtful whether we'll find a space in a Cardiff city centre pub to watch the two games that follow.

Anyway, here's to the next 6 weeks, and may the best team win (if Wales don't).

---

"You know it is, it really is."

maffj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's that time of year again, and for once I think
> there's no clear favourite this year.
>
> I'm convinced that the winner of the England v
> Wales match this afternoon will stand a great
> chance, with winnable games to follow for both
> teams. Ireland could potentially do it
> back-to-back too, but France are also really
> strong and as the BBC point out, they've won the
> last 3 6Ns that followed Lions tours...
>
> I'd love the whole thing to be settled by 5pm on
> March 30th since I've got my tickets for the Wales
> v Italy match and am doubtful whether we'll find a
> space in a Cardiff city centre pub to watch the
> two games that follow.
>
> Anyway, here's to the next 6 weeks, and may the
> best team win (if Wales don't).

No better man, maffj.

Gotta fancy France this year, with Ireland away to them and England, who could click.

Reckon it'll come down to points difference, maybe with a three-way tie at the top.

Either way, let's all hope for a bit of flair and an end to the garryowenitis.

Just watching a tribute to Bil McLaren on BBC1 vefore the Ireland v Italy game kicks off - my memories of watching Wales win just about everything in the 70s are all soundtracked by the late great man. Watching clips of Phil Bennett, JPR, Gareth Edwards etc.

Also, just seen Scott Gibbs dancing through the English defence too. I'm in the mood now!

---

"You know it is, it really is."

oh dear alun wyn jones. oh dear.

off to root for scotland in a bit! it'd be lovely to see the french upset this afternoon!

Quote
pers0na
oh dear alun wyn jones. oh dear.

Absolutely. Whether we'd have held them out in those ten minutes we'll never know (I'm not convinced we would have - much as it kills me to say it, England were probably that little bit better on the day), but to do something that stupid takes a special kind of idiot and judging from Gatland's reaction he might even have to suck it up and fight hard for his place next week. We can only hope the front row is back up to full strength and the discipline is that bit better...

As for the other games, I think if Ireland had faced Italy in a couple of weeks they might have run in 100+ points, Italy were that bad in the first half, and from what I saw today France were impressive against a sprited Scotland display and based on that showing are doubtless favourites now.

---

"You know it is, it really is."

Glad France won as I wouldn't want to play them off a defeat to Scotland.

Two yellow cards seemed to change the weekend - the AWJones one and the one for the Italian centre for a non-existent spear tackle on BOD. Ireland looked really rusty and seemed to lose interest in the 2nd half (as I did).

Still as open as it was before Saturday, I'd say.

wales v scotland wow wow wow! that was some magnificent ending to a game! what a blinder! england weren't particularly impressive today and the italians gave em a good game. but glad they got the points. shame about the french beating ireland though. looking forward to next weekend.

Quote
pers0na
wales v scotland wow wow wow! that was some magnificent ending to a game! what a blinder! england weren't particularly impressive today and the italians gave em a good game. but glad they got the points. shame about the french beating ireland though. looking forward to next weekend.

Gotta feel for Scotland. Irish ref had a bit of a 'mare. Was Godman's even a yellow? Forward pass for the winning try. (Sorry maffj.) The less said about Paris, the better. I don't go with the consensus that France were mighty. Ireland had 29 errors in the game (not to mention Cian Healy's idiocy and Flannery's Chopper Harris-worthy moment that would have had him carded if Healy wasn't already off), a total that would have left us vulnerable to Italy. A great team would have put 60+ on us. France could yet be beaten by Wales or England. Still reckon a three-way tie is on the cards. Looking forward to Twicken and Ham next week.

Would you believe I missed it? Too busy with the family at Blackpool Pleasure Beach on Saturday afternoon! Caught up with it on the Sky+ and I think it's a good job I did or I'd have been unable to speak by the end.

Didn't see enough of the other games to comment unfortunately.

One thing I must say though - if I thought AWJ was a knob last week, he isn't a patch on Andy Powell.

---

"You know it is, it really is."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2010 04:37PM by maffj.

Quote
maffj
One thing I must say though - if I thought AWJ was a knob last week, he isn't a patch on Andy Powell.

The original, official "explanation" was gas. Apparently Powell had an early night, woke early and fancied a breakfast roll, so hopped in the buggy to the local services. When stopped by the grippers, he was still "slightly" over the limit.