Great win for England , so near to a Grand Slam too...with a bit of luck?France were execrable , no spirit, no hope , no interest!
Agreed Cate , reckon the English players are beginning to play for the shirt again. As for the French ...Hmmmm I'm speechless! Terrific individuals who continue to search ( beware mixed metaphor coming up ) for an inspired conductor with a coherent script. Good news to hear that Danny Cipriani is coming back to Europe to play for Sale Sharks...Makes the fly-half position more competitive!
Interesting game coming up...Edinburgh v Toulouse April 7th 1/4 final of the "H" Cup , venue Murrayfield..Divided loyalties on this one , so happy with whoever wins, let's hope for a great game!Fancy Toulouse will be too strong...Any other opinions?
They've had better days Fran! Need to find someone to replace Brian O'Driscoll, he can't go on forever! And O'Gara has nothing left, he doesn't want to be near the tackle zone...Nevertheless they did stretch Wales to the limit, and could ( should? ) have won it!
Understatement of the week, Fran! lol
Ireland were not at their best either!
Yup the Irish were comprehensively dismantled upfront, really missed O'Connel and of course the talismanic influence of Super hero ,O'Driscoll. D'arcy was a shadow of his former self , no confidence and Tommy Bowe failed to ignite...But imo, England played well and were worthy winners! Young Farrell is really looking classy and you can see all the rugby league breeding merging with the strategic thinking essential in union. What a prospect!
As for France, I hope every game to see them released form the coache's iron grip , playing with flair and panache . But But But Bauxis was one dimensional as usual and his clueless kicks were greedily gobbled up by the Welsh backs...A turgid affair with much time wasting ...Wales just about deserved their win. Think the law makers will have to deal with late game running the clock down..."Use it lor lose it" law is needed!
Swing low!
Au contraire (imo) David, I watched all the games and England were decidedly unlucky at the end of the Wales game, I didn't say they deserved to win a Grand Slam , I said with a bit of luck...Welsh opportunism has to be applauded for the kick and run try , but Strettle's last gasp "near miss" fell into the category of " giving the attacking side the benefit of the doubt" , but the ref didn't see it that way...No complaints from me tho'..I guess it depends on how you define vague terms such as " near " and "luck"? I think Wales did get lucky against Ireland, the last minute winning kick was awarded for a non-infringement , clear to all ( but the referee ) in the after match analysis...But hey, that's the swings and roundabouts of rugby! It offers us opportunity for endless pub debates and online discussions.
Don't recall ever seeing a pack destroyed quite so comprehensively at this level as the Irish were. Reminds me of the 74-0 thrashing I endured in a school match against some public school or other and played the day after the school dance when half the team were still half cut!
As for France -- why Beauxis? Am I wrong but was it only in the second half that he passed the ball for the first time instead of putting a boot to it? They need to sort out a half-back combination and stick with it and stop playing fly halves at full back, scrum halves at fly half, fly halves at scrum half, wingers as centres... But I am going to enjoy meeting my rugby-mad French friends!
Near to the championship they might have been. Near to a grand slam they were not. Good to see the England side playing with some flair unlike their recent predecessors. No doubt this will all change when the dummies at Twickers select a "world class coach". Now all we need is for the IRB to instruct refs to speed up the use of the ball from the back of the ruck.