Six Nations Army

[Ray de Galles]

Well, now Eggchaser is back we can start this up. Actually who was the other England rugby loyalist I used to fall out with at this time of the year?

Anyway, Peel excluded in order to play The Curse of Cooper and injury-prone, card-happy Phillips seems insane and I don't see how damaging to squad morale it would be to have a third scrum-half.

Needless to say, I am far less confident about Wales' ability to defend the Grand Slam than the pundits.

[EIM]

Six Nations Army

GIK?

[Ray de Galles]

Six Nations Army

No, I liked GIK. There was another one.

[pengedragon]

Six Nations Army

i see scotland doing us in the opener

[hobbes]

Six Nations Army

In the opener, you say? Sounds uncomfortable.

[Rabbitoh]

Six Nations Army

Not to mention unlikely.

[Brandenburger Toro]

Six Nations Army

Aye. A national diet of deep-fried heroin is showing its effects in recent years.

Don't know what we'll be like - I think it's a rebuilding year, the question is whether we'll do enough rebuilding to be properly competitive next year, or do it half-assed, try and compete this year and get guys in the Lions squad, not do either particualrly well, and still have loads of work to do and not enough experience in twelve months. I suspect the latter, but I have a great enough regard for Declan Kidney to think there's a more than fair chance it'll work out a whole lot better htan that.

[ooh aah]

Six Nations Army

Can't see anyone doing the GS this year, but I think Wales could get the triple crown. England and Ireland at home is do-able, and we should beat Scotland, and for that matter, Italy away. I'll be more than happy with that, given what happened the last time we defended the title. I suspect France won't be consistent enough for the Grand Slam but will score enough points to win the title.

O'Driscoll needs a big tournament I think, with the Lions tour coming up. And for that he needs O'Gara to do him a favour, and stop being so negative.

[Guest]

Six Nations Army

O'Driscoll is finished -- it's difficult to remember the last good game he had for Ireland.

I watched Leinster's game against Wasps last weekend and he was stumbling around the field like a blind man. The speed, the explosiveness and the drive are all gone.

[Eggchaser]

Six Nations Army

This one's tough to call.

England

Fucked on all fronts. An inexperienced manager who has amazingly retained the coaches who have presided over the last three years of total crap whilst the managers have taken the bullet (yes, that's John "pod" Wells, Mike "Noon is a defensive collosus" Ford and John "I can't understand how these Southern Hemisphere players kick it so far" Callard, plus whoever has overseen the fitness which has gone backwards since Reddin got the boot). I think their malign influence can best be sen in the way the players get progressivey worse in thought and deed the longer they are in the camp under their tender mercies. Add in the fact that the moronic EPS system hamstrings Johnson to this daft 5 changes business and even before you address the players it's an utter farcical mess.

We have no fixed fly half (Cipriani came back too soon and is only now starting to recover some of his confidence and form, Flood is now playing at 12 for Leicester, we've called up Andy Goode, for fuck's sake), conservatism rules the selection process and we have no tighthead props of quality in the team, nor a monster lock. We don't have an idea of who the best centres are and Cueto appears to be running in lead boots whenever I see him.

Ireland

Well placed on some fronts, but Kidney seems to be clinging to the older players, some of whom are on their last hurrahs or are shadows of their former selves. On form, O'Driscoll shouldn't play but will, D'Arcy is returned despite having had no rugby for ages and the Munster based pack, whilst going great guns in the HEC, appears to fall to bits in the crunch for Ireland, especially if the captaincy is laid on Paul O'Connell's shoulders.

Their scrum halves are nothing to write home about and if O'Gara gets injured they have little experienced backup. They have some good young players coming through, but will they get a chance?

Wales

Who knows? Peel must be regretting his move to Sale (like many others, subject to the selectorial whims of PSA) and given that I've seen Cooper on several occasions, I can't help but think they're cutting their noses off to spite their faces. Having to rely on the apparently ageless Martyn Williams must worry some, given that he's one injury away from the end and, in fairness, was getting the rough end of the stick last year until England had to bring Kay on to try and compete against him at the breakdown. Andy Powell has been posting good stuff, but his handling is still a bit off. In Williams and Halfpenny they have two of the most exciting wingers and they need to get them the ball.

I suspect they may top the table, but not with a Grand Slam.

Scotland

Things are looking much better for the Scots' regional sides with what, compared to recent campaigns, has been a good season in the HEC. They have a lot of talented young players but again, will Hadden use them? His continued favouring of Parks at fly half maddens a lot of Scottish fans who would prefer someone like Godman to be given a good lash. Lamont is fit at last and his class will aid them greatly. Their pack also looks solid, with a decent tight five and the usual excellent back row.

Paterson is a problem - is he shoehorned in for his boot or do they finally acknowledge that there are better players and look elsewhere. One area they never have problems is at scrum half.

France

Lievremont continues his madcap selection with only one fly half in the entire squad, ignoring the likes of Trinh-Duc (who looked excellent when I saw him recently). In Picamoles and Vermuelen, they have two great contrasting no 8s but they have called up Chabal at lock, an odd choice given that he has not been playing with any great gusto for Sale this season.

Their backs always contain some great players but it remains to be seen whether they can unleash them properly or whether Traille's massive boot is again wheeled out like some siege gun to blast away the opposition as he did for Biarritz against the softcocks of Gloucester.

Italy

Their pack must be drooling about the likely composition of England's pack for the opener and if they are going to beat us, this might be the time. As ever, we all wonder about their backs but with the Masi experiment at fly half being dumped they need to rely on their kickers a bit better. They have some genuinely quality players - Parisse, the Bergomascos, their whole front row (and subs) but Bortolami has looked disinterested of late.

I suspect they may frighten a few peolpe and overturn one or two of the teams.

Unbiased and no doubt utterly wrong predictions

1 Wales (no Grand Slam) - 4 wins
2= Ireland - 3 wins
2= France - 3 wins
2 = England - 3 wins (prompting a "Nothing wrong, we're two matches away from clicking" load of shite from the management)
5= Scotland - 2 wins
5= Italy - 2 wins

But there you go.

[Duncan Gardner]

Six Nations Army

17 wins? Surely there are only 15 games?

[Eggchaser]

Six Nations Army

I'd forgotten about the maths pedantry of OTF members.

[Ray de Galles]

Six Nations Army

Did we lose GIK and Marsupialman in the switchover then? The latter wasn't the one I fell out with, I checked and it was Eggchaser, a strange mood befalls him at 6N time.

[Eggchaser]

Six Nations Army

I believe it's known in the media as "old rivalries rekindled and old friendships renewed". I do hereby solemnly promise to keep my hatred of Max Boyce reserved for elsewhere.

I note BOD's been given the captaincy of Ireland. Well, until his body gives way again, poor chap. A shadow of the player he once was.

I also note that apparently it's Corry, not White, who is alleged to have gouged. I'm very disappointed in that. We all know White's a thug, but Cprry's acknowledged to be a really decent chap and I'd hate to have him remembered for a shitty thing like that rather than all the other stuff he did.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Six Nations Army

I'd forgotten about the maths pedantry of OTF members.

Your 4-3-3-3 prediction for the "top 4" could actually come off, as long as Scotland and Italy between them only win 1 game. Maybe you were just a little generous in thinking either of those teams will win 3 games between them against any of the others.

If you actually think they're both going to get spooned, then the 4-3-3-3 for the top 4 scenario still works.

BTW, when is the 6 Nations going to adopt bonus points instead of sticking to overall "points difference" to decide the title, if it does - as it could, this year - end up with three teams all on 4 wins, or 4 on 3 each? Every other tournament in major Rugby Union around the globe now, from the World Cup to the Heineken Cup to the Tri-Nations to the club game, uses the bonus point system, which seems to be doing the trick in rewarding the balance between attacking and defensive play. Why does the 6 Nations stick to "points difference"?

[Eggchaser]

Six Nations Army

Because of tradition/Northern Hemisphere stick in the mud conservatism (delete as appropriate to age, hemisphere and feelings on the matter).

It's probably to do with the fact that no one wants to rob a Grand Slam winner of a title by another team getting bonus points, which could conceivably happen, if being very, very unlikely.

Shaun Edwards' thoughts on this matter are not known, but since he has decided that it would be in the bests interests of the GP to have a humungous play-off involving the top 10 teams, I think we know his thoughts on the matter. Coincidentally, Wasps are unlikely to finish in the playoff places this season.

Oh, and the England "A" team has been picked for the Portugal match on Friday

England Saxons (spit)

15. Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby)*
14. Tom Varndell (Leicester Tigers)*
13. Dominic Waldouck (London Wasps)
12. Adam Powell (Saracens)
11. Noah Cato (Saracens)

10. Ed Barnes (Bristol Rugby)
9. Harry Ellis (Leicester Tigers)*

1. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)
2. Rob Webber (London Wasps)
3. Dave Wilson (Newcastle Falcons)
4. Jordan Crane (Leicester Tigers)*
5. George Skivington (London Wasps)
6. Kearnan Myall (Leeds Carnegie)
7. Andy Saull (Saracens)
8. Phil Dowson (Newcastle Falcons, captain)

Replacements

16. Joe Ward (London Wasps)
17. Nathan Catt (Bath Rugby)
18. Tom Mercey (Saracens)
19. Jon Fisher (London Irish)
20. Joe Simpson (London Wasps)
21. Alex Goode (Saracens)
22. Matt Smith (Leicester Tigers)

Odd looking team, but then there are several clubs not contributing due to having GP matches that weekend. Otherwise, I'd expect to see Robshaw, JTH, Skinner and Guest in there for starters.

Still some weird picks - Crane at lock? OK, he's a fucking donkey at 8, but he is no more a lock than I am. Centres look a decent combo.

[Eggchaser]

Six Nations Army

And here is Johnson's frankly appalling selection for Italy.

England

15 Delon Armitage (London Irish) - Fine
14 Paul Sackey (London Wasps) - Ok, but needs to prove something
13 Mike Tindall (Gloucester Rugby) - Fuck's sake
12 Riki Flutey (London Wasps) - Last chance/first chance saloon, I suspect, given how little ball he saw in the AIs
11 Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks) - Solid. Whoo-hoo.

10 Andy Goode (Brive) - JOHNSON HAS LOST HIS FUCKING MIND. BRAINLESS AND BACKWARD DECISION. FUCKING SHITE.
9 Danny Care (Harlequins) - Fine

1 Andrew Sheridan (Sale Sharks) - On form, shouldn't be there. But he's probably the man right now
2 Lee Mears (Bath Rugby) - FUCKING MIDGET, WILL YOU FUCK OFF? JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!
3 Phil Vickery (London Wasps) - See Sheridan, but form seems to have perked up a bit.
4 Steve Borthwick (Saracens, captain) - Sigh.
5 Nick Kennedy (London Irish) - Fine.
6 James Haskell (London Wasps) - If they've managed to transplant a brain to match his ego, he'll have a massive game
7 Steffon Armitage* (London Irish) - Well, he's earned his chance, let him have a lash.
8 Nick Easter (Harlequins) - Fine.

Replacements

16 Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints) - SHOULD BE FUCKING STARTING.
17 Julian White (Leicester Tigers) - Shows the paucity of our propping resources that this ancient monster is being wheeled out, even on the bench. He'll be an amazing impact prop, running hard in the loose.
18 Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers) - Presumably back row/lock cover. He is turning into Chris Jones before our eyes.
19 Joe Worsley (London Wasps) - Ye Gods. I am beginning to lose the will to live.
20 Ben Foden (Northampton Saints) - Big chance
21 Shane Geraghty (London Irish) - He'd better come on at some point
22 Mathew Tait (Sale Sharks) - Definitely needs to cement a place at Sale

Back subs good, Hartley the only forward sub I'd have on my bench. Pack is fucking dodgy. Fly half is beyond comprehension. Wells and Johnson are just filthy Leicester bastards. Goode. Jesus H. Christ save us all.

With all due respect, this is Italy we're playing. This is as conservative and cautious a selection as any made under Dimwit Robinson. The selection of the likes of Worsley and Goode is just laughably poor. Neither of them managed to nail down a starting position when in their prime, there are far more promising youngsters out there, but we've just shit our fucking pants and as usual, picked the old bastards to "see us through". None of White, Goode, Worsley and probably Tindall have much gas left in them internationally, but it's the same old story. Pick the familiar, if failed faces, because they have experience, rather than giving youth a try, then when the old faces get too old or fail you suddenly have nothing in reserve but a bunch of 25/26 years olds with about 5 caps off the bench each. Fucking joke.

[Ray de Galles]

Six Nations Army

What does the asterisk next to Steffon Armitage denote?

[Guest]

Six Nations Army

Why is Tindall still being allowed to play for England? The prick has just been done for drunken driving for the second time.

[Eggchaser]

Six Nations Army

Armitage the fatter - asterisk is an uncapped player.

Tindall - a good question, and one which has been asked to deafening silence.

If Brian Smith, England's attack coach who made London Irish such an attractive force in the lastv few years, had anything to do with the selection of Andy Foode at 10 I'd be surprised. Stinks of a Wells/Ford safety first selection, which is the sort of selection that leads to defensive colossus Noon being picked for his ball carrying power (shite when you look at it) and his supposed defensive skills (he missed more tackles than anyone else in the AIs) over the likes of Tait.

[Brandenburger Toro]

Six Nations Army

Shh, he's one of Our Betters now. It's a disgrace that he even still has to pay tax, let alone drive his own car.

[Duncan Gardner]

Six Nations Army

vennegoor strokes wrote:

Why is Tindall still being allowed to play for England? The prick has just been done for drunken driving for the second time

As a non RU fan, does look a bit odd given the long cocaine ban for that South African guy. Then again, Tindall's missus is 11th in line to be our next head of state.

[Brandenburger Toro]

Six Nations Army

Ireland: R Kearney; T Bowe, B O'Driscoll, capt, P Wallace, L Fitzgerald; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell, S Ferris, D Wallace, J Heaslip.

Replacements: R Best, T Court, M O'Kelly, D Leamy, P Stringer, G D'Arcy, G Murphy.

Hmm. Wallace in the centre is brave and - in the absence of Keith Earls - probably right. Otherwise, that's a great backline, O'Driscoll's lack of form notwithstanding.

Up front, I'm not sure. I don't like playing without a seven, and I'd have Leamy ahead of whichever of Ferris and Wallace Shane Jennings didn't displace.

Glad to see Flannery first choice again - but John Hayes? Still? Fairly shocking that Tony Buckley and Cian Healy aren't even on the bench - we have got to bring props along, and bloody quick about it. Horan is no sprightly youngster either.

[Eggchaser]

Six Nations Army

Well, Mike Ross of Quins is once again packing down at 3 for the "A" team. Never mind he's a ferocious scrummager, tackler and does some decent carrying, he's overlooked because he's not quick around the park, I suspect. He's certainly a fuck sight better at tighthead than Hayes.

Still, Ireland's loss is Quins' gain.

Wallace at 12 is the right choice - he's started to look decent there for Ireland, except Fitzgerald should probably be in the centres, or Bowe, only one of them will have to wait until O'Driscoll's hamstring goes again.

[Fausto]

Six Nations Army

Anyone see the choices made by the team of experts in The Observer on Sunday? One of them picked Tindall for the Lions.
Then again a few months ago another had Cipriani for fly half.
At the moment I can't see any of the English squad being first choice for the Lions. Which is incredible when it was only a few years ago there was talk of England and France outgrowing the 6N.