6 Nations 2019 Build Up thread

aloooof wrote: »

AND a last minute try we conceded to Italy, when keeping the ball in play and trying to score another ourselves. Little did we know at the time how crucial that would end up being...

Denis Leamy quick tap. He was trying to do the right thing and extend the lead. Fine margins..

thomond2006 wrote: »

Poirot (Bordeaux-Begles)
Priso (La Rochelle)

Guirado (Toulon)
Bourgarit (La Rochelle)

Marchand (Toulouse)
Atonio (La Rochelle)

Bamba (Brive)
Aldegheri (Toulouse)

Lambey (Lyon)
Vahaamahina (Clermont)
Iturria (Clermont)
Willemse (Monpellier)

Leroux (Racing 92)
Lauret (Racing 92)
Y. Camara (Montpellier)
Alldritt (La Rochelle)
Picamoles (Montpellier)

Parra (Clermont)
Dupont (Toulouse)
Serin (Bordeaux-Begles)
Lopez (Clermont)
Belleau (Toulon)

Fofana (Clermont)
Bastareaud (Toulon)
Doumayrou (La Rochelle)
Ntamack (Toulouse)
Fickou (Paris)
Huget (Toulouse)
Penaud (Clermont)
Mrd (Toulouse)
Ramos (Toulouse)

Willemse, Alldritt, Ntamack, Ramos and Aldegheri are the new caps if selected.

So much talent on paper, that will ultimately come to nothing.

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

SoupyNorman wrote: »

Love 6N so much, gives purpose to the bitterly cold early Spring and by the end of the tournament the clocks soon go forward heralding in the Summers beginnings.

Its usually what gets me through the dark months, and it does have a great hit rate to provide some super games.

But a bit of a different vibe this year from an Ireland perspective at least. Wales and England especially will be gung ho to win it. But for us, not so much. Its just not so much of a biggie, in a World Cup year, where the most positive outcome is squad development and no long term injuries.
So very interested to see what combinations Joe experiments with and how the team is developing. But in the sense that they are important warm up games, similar, and even to a lesser extent given their greater distance from the WC , to the warm up games in the summer.
So it lacks the magic anticipation of daring to dream we could win the thing or do a grand slam. Those dreams are already focused on the Autumn.

Ireland to win the Six Nations but Wales to win the Triple Crown.

It'll finish like this:

Ireland.
Wales.
England.
Scotland.
France.
Italy.

aloooof wrote: »

That day was set up brilliantly by Wales hammering Italy. Ireland first, and then England had to go after that points differential if I remember correctly.

I was so angry with Italy for that second half. I had to get up and go for a walk for the last ten minutes or so, pure capitulation.

Dubinusa wrote: »

I think England will be tough. They looked better during Nov.
The young players coming in are very good.
Should be a great competition.

Opening games are always the tetchy and very hard to call.

Home advantage and tails up after an epic 2018 should see us through but I think it’s going to be a tough day at the office.

troyzer wrote: »

Ireland to win the Six Nations but Wales to win the Triple Crown.

It'll finish like this:

Ireland.
Wales.
England.
Scotland.
France.
Italy.

I think Ireland will have to beat Wales because I don't really see them losing to anyone else this year...maybe England..

troyzer wrote: »

I think they'll trip up somewhere.

I think it’s a necessity.

We need teams to exploit vulnerabilities as after a pretty epic 2018 there is a rather large target on our backs. Teams that do show up any weakness in our squad will be doing us a great service for our WC preparations.

I can see us taking the Championship this year but I don’t see the Slam but I wouldn’t mind too much.

Sam Underhill officially ruled out of 6 Nations, out for 3 months after surgery.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jan/11/sam-underhill-miss-six-nations-england-ankle-surgery

stephen_n wrote: »

Big blow for Engerland after finally finding a proper openside.

Tom Curry for Sale, another precocious talent at 20yrs old, will get a chance to come in and make a statement before the World Cup.

England were very close to beating the All Blacks last Nov and will be a tough game for us. There out to get us

Wales in Cardiff is very daunting and Joe has never won a championship game over there and this is his last chance.

Scotland of course beat us the last time we played them in Murrayfield and of course our world cup group opponents. Will be a tough game

France are so unpredictable and always seem too bring there A game against us. Sextons magic got us over the line last year in a freak turn of events

Italy should be no problem for us been need too keep concentration

Can't wait for it too start, hard too believe the GS was a year ago

sydthebeat wrote: »

he didnt trust underhill either... sam only got his chance due to an injury crisis to the players eddie would pick. Eddie didnt unearth him as a gem at all, underhill has been available and worth his spot for the last two seasons at least.

curry is decent but not as strong as underhill on the ground or in the tight... better line out option though

I wasn’t suggesting he did, which is exactly why I don’t think he will play Curry unless he has no other choice.

Scottish Jodi wrote: »

I am really looking forward to this year's tournament .

I am a Scot living in Ireland so Scotland are who I am supporting but my pick this year is Ireland who I tip to win the world cup.

We had a good summer, apart from the USA loss and a good autumn where we ran South Africa very close. The Wales game was our only bad performance but I blame the clubs for not releasing our top players lol.

I expect us to beat Italy and possibly France and am hopeful of regaining the Calcutta Cup by winning at Twickenham for the first time in a very long time. Wales and Ireland away will be tough but we are close to their level.

I predict we will end 3rd,behind Ireland and Wales .

Flights & accom booked in Edinburgh, but no tickets ! Any thoughts on how to get my hands on 2 ?

Just worked it out myself:

Currently we're 1.37 points behind. A win over England is worth between 0.21 and 0.31 points.

A win over Scotland is worth between 0.37 and 0.55 points.

Italy and France aren't worth any ranking points at all because they're ranked so low.

So the max we could take into Wales would be 0.89. We'd need 0.49 points in that case to take first.

A blowout win over Wales is worth 1.36 and a normal win is worth 0.91 points at least.

The amount of points a game is worth within those bands depends on the margin of victory and can also change depending on what's happening in the rest of the Six Nations.

So basically, there's no mathematical way to take first before Cardiff. But any sort of ****ty wins along the way will seal it.

I have no idea if it's possible to take first if we don't win a grand slam. I don't think it is. New Zealand can get a maximum of 0.43 points from the RC and that's if they blowout Australia away from home. They get nothing for home wins over Australia or South Africa. I don't think the warm ups count for anything.

Podge_irl wrote: »

Warm ups count the same as any test match for ranking points.

Really?

In that case, it seems likely that New Zealand will still be number one going into the World Cup.