rugby hedz

Momentum. Confidence.

Few players returning from injury as well. Back line looks very good.

Grand slam is on.

Also George Martin added to England squad to replace Jack Willis.

Absolute slab of a man.

Won't get a cap though.

Tbf this championship has a shyt Wales team limping to a grand slam written all over it.

Can’t see Wales beating France, even with a man advantage

wot JB said

we might even sneak a win against them if farrell gets damaged in training and someone decent gets picked instead

Has farrell ever been damaged in training?

He's absolutely nails. Remember that head shot in the USA game, shrugged it off.

Please don’t let Wales get a slam.

Wales are poor.

England and France will beat them.

Hopefully the donkey that is AW-J will the retire, before he messes up any chance that the Lions may have in the summer.

wales are shite, but decent back 3

The Dombrandator and Sam Simmonds might as well tell everyone what they think about the evil little weasel that is Eddie Jones.

They have nothing to lose, and will get the undying respect of the 98% of the English rugby community that despise the bloke.

It is genuinely an obscene joke that Puffing Billy, Fatty Daly and Feckwit Farrell are still even in the squad, let alone guaranteed starters.

Eddie isn't even allowed to pick them if he wanted.

For some england have agreed these ridiculous squad rules, as well as ridiculous bubble rules, both of which the other teams don't have.

Although they may explain the problems the French are having.

Hard to see Wales winning those first two games against 15 men. A bit of momentum can do wonders and Wales would fancy their chances in a packed Millennium Stadium, particularly against this England side at the moment.

But I would still make England fairly comfortable favourites on Saturday. Even with more confidence and a few players back, Wales have a lot of bang average (at best) players at international level. Better options in midfield and a 6 who can jackal desperately needed to be fit.

Saturday week...

Wales is not shite. It is very good 15 v 14.

So when Farrell is sent off for being a [insert here] , for he is an [insert here], then Wales win.

Yeah cheers MH that’s what I meant. Weeks haven’t blended into each other quite that much yet.

As England fans would you rather face Hardy/Sheedy or Davies/Biggar at half-backs?

Aviator he would have to physically enter somebody to actually get sent off. Ref will have to find somebody else

Too many split infinitives for me mate, I am out Clive.

Nb - not sure who I would rather face but given the welsh back three has to be Adams, Williams and LRZ, biggar has to play the 80 otherwise there is no decent kicker.

I would have previously said with confidence that Pivac will agree - his selections are typically negative and Davies/Biggar is the safe bet, especially without Halfpenny kicking goals and against England.

But he did hook that pair before 50 minutes on Saturday even without Halfpenny, and it changed the game (helped in no small part by the red card). Although Sheedy missed two bread and butter kicks in a really tight game.

What everyone said, rugby pundits really are dross. All their analysis is based on the result, they can't understand that there is an element of chaos (albeit less than football).

The player ratings are a joke. In any game where they are level at 79 minutes, whichever team snatches the penalty or dropgoal, all their players get 7-8. The other team all get 5-6.

Think that's a bit unfair Spurious.

There is two camps. You got Jiffy and Woodward who get rolled out at 6 nations because people who don't watch rugby much know them. They ask things like 'does Lowe kick much' and 'ive never seen Lawrence play'.

Then there are rugby nauses who clearly do a lot of research and know their onions. Generally found in BT sport and in various podcasts.

Fair enough. But even the good ones seem to have the achilles heel I mentioned.

I suppose it is because to know that much about it you usually have to have played the game at a high level - but elite sportsmen are notoriously determinist - if you're the kind of person who can lose a game and say, oh well, we just got unlucky, then you probably won't be driven enough to succeed at the highest level.

Wales are terrible and have scraped wins against teams who are a man down. Scotland with 15 would have blown them away. Ireland would have won but they’re also struggling at the moment.

It's a results game ;).

I'm not welsh but I imagine they are pretty happy right now. Pivac does not look on the verge of being sacked anymore.

Can't say the same for Father Farrell

Farrell's interview after the France game... it was just like watching Owen. There didn't seem to be much between the ears. I'm sure that's not the reality but...

Think Farrell is a great coach but not necessarily a good head coach. He seems well liked by a lot of players though - particularly the Lions.

He may be another example of people who are brilliant coaches but not necessarily got what it takes to be head coaches. I'd throw Shaun Edwards, Stuart Lancaster etc in that category as well.

I would not say daddy Farrell is a great international coach based on results. He was no. 2 at England, flopped. Latterly Joe Schmitts no.2 at Ireland, flopped. Now no.1 at Ireland, flopping.

what does an A Farrell coached team look like say compared to Shaun Edwards? What does Farrell actually bring? His only mitigating circumstance is that the standard of Irish players is not very good.

Lions looked pretty good.

I'm going to put the Lions more down to Gatland than Farrell.

Lions + Gatland + Farrell = joint series in NZ, fantastic achievement (albeit Poite is owed a large glass of wine for it)

Ireland + Schmitt + Farrell = bag of crap at world cup

England + Lancaster + Farrell = bag of crap at world cup

Ireland + Farrell + Mike Catt etc. = declining bag of crap

Wales + Gatland + whoever = massive overachievers

Wales - Gatland + Welsh Prop's face you love to hit = lucky

Maybe it's the head coach that has more impact than the attack/defence coach?

Mike Catt doesn't seem to be a good coach though. Everything he touches turns to rubbish.

I think the successful head coaches/managers are very good analysts of the game. Eddie Jones even sometimes comes across as cerebral. I bet Gregor Townsend is a pretty smart guy. I'm not sure Gatland was super smart but he had a very clear idea of what he wanted his teams to do. Rassie Erasmus is a hell of a smart guy.

Farrell doesn't rank with the above.

I agree. Farrell appears to trade on reputation and pashun, no actual skill as a head coach.

Andy Robinson a very good example of excellent No 2 but poor head Honcho.

2 guys that always seem to swan from job-to-job without any critique are Dean Ryan and Conor O'Shea.

COS especially has perfected the art of starting each new role with a shiny new 5-year strategic plan and then slipping away somewhere new before he's been found out as a bit of an empty vessel...