The Rugby Thread

[E17yid]

So, the blatantly obvious has been confirmed, RW and LH miss the World Cup (and probably next years 6 nations as well)

Lot of people after Gatlands head for this, though I do t think any disharmony is going to help us so we might as well suck it up and get on with it.

On the plus side, Liam Williams is apparently fit though he has no match fitness. He'll get 50-60 mins against Uruguay then it's just a case of hoping he's firing on all cylinders against England.

In the immediate aftermath of the nightmare that was last Saturday I totally wrote us off. Now I give us a 15-20% chance of getting out of the group. Sadly, without Jonathan Davies, Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb our chances, naturally, deminish significantly. We haven't got the strength in depth England have but we still have some top class individuals. I'd love to see Tipiric get a run out but Gatland is as rigid as AVB and Poch. I mean, I have absolutely no idea why he's calling up Walker to replace halfpenny.

If it were up to me i'd make Phillips our first choice scrum half but Gatland will never do that as he'll see it as admitting he was wrong to cut him in the first place. Though, if Gareth Davies gets back to his form of a couple of years ago (before his injury) we might stand a chance against England.

 

[talkshowhost86]

So, the blatantly obvious has been confirmed, RW and LH miss the World Cup (and probably next years 6 nations as well)

Lot of people after Gatlands head for this, though I do t think any disharmony is going to help us so we might as well suck it up and get on with it.

On the plus side, Liam Williams is apparently fit though he has no match fitness. He'll get 50-60 mins against Uruguay then it's just a case of hoping he's firing on all cylinders against England.

In the immediate aftermath of the nightmare that was last Saturday I totally wrote us off. Now I give us a 15-20% chance of getting out of the group. Sadly, without Jonathan Davies, Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb our chances, naturally, deminish significantly. We haven't got the strength in depth England have but we still have some top class individuals. I'd love to see Tipiric get a run out but Gatland is as rigid as AVB and Poch. I mean, I have absolutely no idea why he's calling up Walker to replace halfpenny.

If it were up to me i'd make Phillips our first choice scrum half but Gatland will never do that as he'll see it as admitting he was wrong to cut him in the first place. Though, if Gareth Davies gets back to his form of a couple of years ago (before his injury) we might stand a chance against England.

Losing Webb is a real kick in the leeks for Wales certainly. Probably a much bigger loss than Halfpenny all things considered.

As you say though Williams is an excellent player (potential to be more dangerous than Halfpenny with ball in hand) and Phillips is no mug if Gatland is able to bury whatever hatchet he dug up in the first place.

It's certainly not the end for Wales' chances, although you do worry for them in the latter stages of games when Australia and, to a lesser extent, England have a bit more to bring on from the bench. But they've still got more than enough to get out of the group.

 

[mpickard2087]

England team vs. Fiji:

Marler, T. Youngs, Cole, Parling, Lawes, Wood, Robshaw, Morgan; B.Youngs, Ford, Barritt, Joseph, May, Watson, Brown
Subs: Webber, M.Vunipola, Brookes, Launchbury, B.Vunipola, Wigglesworth, Farrell, Burgess

No real surprises. Hopefully can keep showing our attacking threat. Forwards need to win what will be some brutal collisions at times I imagine. Hopefully Launchbury is back up to speed as the tournament goes on. Good forward options off the bench but the replacement backs are very much there to close the game out, if we were to get an injury in the back three early on then that might cause some problems.

 

[talkshowhost86]

England team vs. Fiji:

Marler, T. Youngs, Cole, Parling, Lawes, Wood, Robshaw, Morgan; B.Youngs, Ford, Barritt, Joseph, May, Watson, Brown
Subs: Webber, M.Vunipola, Brookes, Launchbury, B.Vunipola, Wigglesworth, Farrell, Burgess

No real surprises. Hopefully can keep showing our attacking threat. Forwards need to win what will be some brutal collisions at times I imagine. Hopefully Launchbury is back up to speed as the tournament goes on. Good forward options off the bench but the replacement backs are very much there to close the game out, if we were to get an injury in the back three early on then that might cause some problems.

As a Quins fan I'm disappointed not to see Danny Care in the squad. Youngs just about deserves to start, and I understand that Wigglesworth is there as someone to help close a game out, but I always like a scrum-half on the bench who can come on and make a difference rather than just being a safe pair of hands.

It's an okay looking team. I remain unconvinced by our scrum, and I think it remains to be seen how the backs will perform against top quality opposition.

It's just a shame because at one point it looked like we might have an invincible 4 and 5 pair in Lawes and Launchbury, a dynamic number 8 in Vunipola, and a potentially very exciting centre pairing in Tuilagi and Burgess.

Just doesn't quite seem to have come together and I definitely don't think it's a team capable of winning the competition.

 

[mpickard2087]

As a Quins fan I'm disappointed not to see Danny Care in the squad. Youngs just about deserves to start, and I understand that Wigglesworth is there as someone to help close a game out, but I always like a scrum-half on the bench who can come on and make a difference rather than just being a safe pair of hands.

It's an okay looking team. I remain unconvinced by our scrum, and I think it remains to be seen how the backs will perform against top quality opposition.

It's just a shame because at one point it looked like we might have an invincible 4 and 5 pair in Lawes and Launchbury, a dynamic number 8 in Vunipola, and a potentially very exciting centre pairing in Tuilagi and Burgess.

Just doesn't quite seem to have come together and I definitely don't think it's a team capable of winning the competition.

If Youngs is going fine then just leave him on I'd say. Wigglesworth wont run but has the best pass and management of the game at the ruck by some distance though, and the best kicking game. I don't think that's a bad option. Youngs and Care are both potential headless chickens.

Our scrum does need to improve, if we have a solid platform in the set piece (which is a worry, based on the games so far) then I think we have a chance against any team. If it struggles then we may not make it out of the group...

As for individuals I'm not that worried. Billy vs. Morgan has always been a close battle and whoever is in better form, at the moment its Morgan and he's a more rounded rugby player in any case. Tuilagi and Burgess would have been a disastrous centre pairing (at this time and for the RWC) in my opinion so I don't think that's any loss. Burgess still needs to be babysat and told where he should be, and Tuilagi is much the same and cannot run the defence. For all the people they would run through they would leak as many back in defence.

 

[talkshowhost86]

If Youngs is going fine then just leave him on I'd say. Wigglesworth wont run but has the best pass and management of the game at the ruck by some distance though, and the best kicking game. I don't think that's a bad option. Youngs and Care are both potential headless chickens.

Our scrum does need to improve, if we have a solid platform in the set piece (which is a worry, based on the games so far) then I think we have a chance against any team. If it struggles then we may not make it out of the group...

As for individuals I'm not that worried. Billy vs. Morgan has always been a close battle and whoever is in better form, at the moment its Morgan and he's a more rounded rugby player in any case. Tuilagi and Burgess would have been a disastrous centre pairing (at this time and for the RWC) in my opinion so I don't think that's any loss. Burgess still needs to be babysat and told where he should be, and Tuilagi is much the same and cannot run the defence. For all the people they would run through they would leak as many back in defence.

True about Tuilagi and Burgess, but I more meant the potential of those two if they'd actually developed in the last year or so. As it is I don't think Burgess deserves to be in the squad and Tuilagi is clearly just a bit of a tool.

But whereas that partnership looked like it could have the potential to be world beating, whilst Barritt and JJ are both good players, I don't think they are a world-cup winning partnership.

Similarly, I again agree that Morgan is now the better option than Vunipola, it looked for a while that Billy could be a much more dynamic player, perhaps at the level required against the big boys.

I can't really see how the scrum is going to improve in the short time between now and the Wales/Australia games. The daft thing is it should be good. Marler has hugely improved in the scrum, and at his best Cole was excellent. But for whatever reason it doesn't seem to be working.

At least with Parling we should be okay in the line-out, although let's hope Youngs keeps his throwing together.

 

[mpickard2087]

True about Tuilagi and Burgess, but I more meant the potential of those two if they'd actually developed in the last year or so. As it is I don't think Burgess deserves to be in the squad and Tuilagi is clearly just a bit of a tool.

But whereas that partnership looked like it could have the potential to be world beating, whilst Barritt and JJ are both good players, I don't think they are a world-cup winning partnership.

Similarly, I again agree that Morgan is now the better option than Vunipola, it looked for a while that Billy could be a much more dynamic player, perhaps at the level required against the big boys.

I can't really see how the scrum is going to improve in the short time between now and the Wales/Australia games. The daft thing is it should be good. Marler has hugely improved in the scrum, and at his best Cole was excellent. But for whatever reason it doesn't seem to be working.

At least with Parling we should be okay in the line-out, although let's hope Youngs keeps his throwing together.

I am worried about the scrum. I think its partly a) Cole in bad form. b) Tom Youngs cant hook the ball properly (he's admitted this himself) and so puts pressure on us and c) we have quite lightweight locks in Lawes/Parling which means we don't have as much power at the heart of the shove. But we seem to have prioritised securing line out ball so that is the trade off. I'm surprised that Jamie George isn't in the 23 because I actually think despite being the least experienced he is the best option we have in the 2 shirt. Likewise I think Attwood should have been in the squad and on the bench to literally provide a bit of bulk and beef up the second row.

 

[talkshowhost86]

I am worried about the scrum. I think its partly a) Cole in bad form. b) Tom Youngs cant hook the ball properly (he's admitted this himself) and so puts pressure on us and c) we have quite lightweight locks in Lawes/Parling which means we don't have as much power at the heart of the shove. But we seem to have prioritised securing line out ball so that is the trade off. I'm surprised that Jamie George isn't in the 23 because I actually think despite being the least experienced he is the best option we have in the 2 shirt. Likewise I think Attwood should have been in the squad and on the bench to literally provide a bit of bulk and beef up the second row.

Can't say I've seen a lot of George, but I was certainly surprised Attwood wasn't involved.

As you say though we've obviously decided we need to secure the lineout....perhaps because we aren't confident of securing the scrum.

 

[FMA]

I'm surprised Webber has made the bench ahead of George. The former struggled to displace Webber at Bath last season and the latter was instrumental in Sarries' success ahead of Schalk Brits. Tom Youngs has a lot to offer from the bench, but as a starter I'm not convinced.

 

[E17yid]

So, with Wales out of the picture, pretty much, where do you slags see England finishing, top or second?

I'd be looking to give Folau some dodgy lasagne

 

[mpickard2087]

I think Wales still have a chance.

 

[talkshowhost86]

So, with Wales out of the picture, pretty much, where do you slags see England finishing, top or second?

I'd be looking to give Falou some dodgy lasagne

Wouldn't rule yourselves out of it just yet, but at the same time if I were you I'd be keeping yourself fit as you may need to be called up soon the way the Welsh are dropping like flies.

As for the Aussies I really don't know. They beat South Africa and New Zealand which looked like good results, but it was a weakened NZ team (I think) and South Africa have had a shocking year.

I think I'd back them to beat us at the moment, but we shall see. Home advantage might do the job, but that doesn't normally faze the Wallabies to be fair.

 

[E17yid]

Wouldn't rule yourselves out of it just yet, but at the same time if I were you I'd be keeping yourself fit as you may need to be called up soon the way the Welsh are dropping like flies.

As for the Aussies I really don't know. They beat South Africa and New Zealand which looked like good results, but it was a weakened NZ team (I think) and South Africa have had a shocking year.

I think I'd back them to beat us at the moment, but we shall see. Home advantage might do the job, but that doesn't normally faze the Wallabies to be fair.

Mate, I'm better than Priestland.

 

[E17yid]

I think Wales still have a chance.

Oh yeah we have a chance, it's just a small one.

We've gone from being joint second favourites (more or less) to a long shot/outside chance. I reckon no more than 20% and that's being generous.

 

[riggi]

After going to SA and having every man and his dog try and talk to me about "rugga", ive decided to give I ago.

Who shall I support?

 

[E17yid]

After going to SA and having every man and his dog try and talk to me about "rugga", ive decided to give I ago.

Who shall I support?

Wales, obviously. Our captain is a massive yid

 

[riggi]

Wales, obviously. Our captain is a massive yid

Im thinking Namibia.

 

[talkshowhost86]

After going to SA and having every man and his dog try and talk to me about "rugga", ive decided to give I ago.

Who shall I support?

You are gay...obviously

 

[Barmy_in_Palmy]

Holy fuck talk about a rugby overload, it's as if no other sports exist, can't wait till it's over and we've won it, just so we can move onto something else.

 

[teok]

Holy fuck talk about a rugby overload, it's as if no other sports exist, can't wait till it's over and we've won it, just so we can move onto something else.

edit - Oh I didn't realise you were an aussie.

You are un ironically saying this on a football message board. A sport which dominates the media coverage 24/7 no matter what season or tournament is currently on?