Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

[Antepli Ejderha]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

Italy 10 Ireland 49 with just under ten minutes to go. Something needs to be done to help Italy out.

George North ruled out of the match an hour before kick off. Not the biggest surprise.

[ad hoc]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

Bit of a shock for Romania in that "6 lesser nations" tournament. Lost to Germany

[Antepli Ejderha]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

That is a shock, did you watch it?

Italy 10 Ireland 63, nine converted tries.

[ursus arctos]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

Germany-Romania replay here.

Other ERC matches at the same site.

Spain beat Russia 16-6 in Madrid

[Antepli Ejderha]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

Wales 13 England 8

A very good match so far. I'm not sure how Wales are in front but I've got no complaints.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

Itoje is wearing 6 but packing down at 5 in the scrum. Not been noticed by the commentators yet. Is this another Eddie Jones bluff?

[Antepli Ejderha]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

Why do we still pick Cuthbert?
Why?

His confidence is shot. Howley to blame for this not the player.

England lead by 5 with 3 minutes left.

[longeared]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

Enjoyed that.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

Vicarious Thrillseeker wrote: Happy to see changes in the front row. I'm more concerned about the last 20, when England will have brought on Te'o and Haskell and we're struggling to last the pace.

I fucking told you.

[Ray de Galles]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

Haskell and Te'o did fuck all though. Two big rancid sides of meat that we dealt with.

Care and George did more to effect the result but we had that game in the bag until Jonathan Davies' inept, brainless kick straight down England's throat when touch was the glaringly obvious option.

To blame Cuthbert for that winning try, as AE is appearing to, is ridiculous as well. It was Foxy's fault, I cannot fathom why we didn't allow Biggar to get in the pocket and take the kick, as a left-footer JD was always in the wrong position to take it. Even allowing for that it was crap execution though.

Good game of fine margins but you can't hand this England team chances like that.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

I'm not blaming Cuthbert but he could have done better, he showed Daly the outside and was too high in the tackle. His positioning for England's first try was also not great, he should have been tighter to the ruck and in a lower body position.

However, I'll again say the same thing, he shouldn't have been picked by Howley because he's got no self confidence left and unless he's handled correctly we could end up destroying him as a player.

Biggar was the player trying to cover, he looked fucked trying to get across, perhaps he should have been replaced by Sam Davies.

Finally Moriarty was having a stormer and was taken off way too early and Roberts did not have any real impact.

[Ray de Galles]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

Absolutely frantic, breathless opening few minutes in Paris.

France have their garish red, white and blue change shirts (which I don't actually mind) made even more busy by a big France 2023 logo and their poppy equivalent (which we discussed last year) on the sleeve.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

France 13 Scotland 5 after 32 minutes, it's a very entertaining match so far.

Gael Fickou is only 22. I can't believe that, he's been around for years.

[Ray de Galles]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

Both teams have completely lost their momentum immediately following their tries. There hasn't been any settling down of the game at all, it's good stuff.

[Ray de Galles]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

What a try! Fantastic offload and quick thinking with the kick rewarded with a lucky bounce.

[longeared]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

Superb try followed by a superbly rubbish conversion.

[Ray de Galles]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

A Don Fox of a conversion though, hope it isn't crucial.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

longeared wrote: Superb try followed by a superbly rubbish conversion.

An international player missing in front of the posts is one thing, blasting it under the bar is another.

Finn Russell then overcooks a kick off and France win the penalty from the subsequent scrum.

France don't outscore opponents in the second half.

16 each after 50 minutes.

[Ray de Galles]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

There was a good reason he fluffed the kick, the ball flopped in the tee as he went to kick and was horizontal to the ground.

What I can't work out was why he seemed so rushed, he was well within a minute of the try being awarded and I didn't see the ref signal for him to hurry up.

I think some delay with the tee getting to him might have just freaked him out.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

Didn't spot the flop Harry.

Scotland have a third player undergoing an HIA.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

Ten to go and France lead by 3. It's still too close to call.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

France have a penalty with five to go. Can't understand why that didn't go into the corner.

They kick it and lead by 6.

[Ray de Galles]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

Well, that was chaos all the way through, wasn't it? There was one passage of play late in where possession was ripped away three times in a row. Hugely enjoyable game though.

[Ray de Galles]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

Ray de Galles wrote:

What I can't work out was why he seemed so rushed, he was well within a minute of the try being awarded and I didn't see the ref signal for him to hurry up.

Ah, on the video of the kick you can hear a voice shouting "Take it!" and it's probably the Saffer tones of ref Pyper. Though theories abound that it might have been Aussie/Scot Nathan Hines (who had brought the tee on) as Scotland's bench were worried about a possible review of the try which taking the conversion would rule out.

[Ray de Galles]

Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand - Rugby 2017

It seems it was indeed Hines.