Six Nations 2014

[mxyzptlk]

Ignore anything Stephen Jones says in relation to Ireland, he gets close to breaking the racism laws when he discusses Ireland, makes me smile thinking how annoyed he must have been by Ireland winning the championship, the man is a fecking langer.

It was Clive Woodward and Lewis Moody on the BBC not giving Ireland a chance after the Italy-England game, it was Stephen Jones in the Sunday Times, it was Jeff Probyn on Full Contact saying France gave it away and nearly just saying Ireland didn't deserve it because, according to him, Ireland plateaued while England improved. If you look for it, you find that belligerence all over in the British press, and not just in snarky blog posts.

But Brian Moore brought Jeff Probyn up short, and it was kind of fun because they kept coming back to the point over the three hours of the show, and Moore wouldn't let Probyn get away with saying Ireland didn't deserve it. Moore also pointed out France were gifted that try when Szarzewski dropped the ball in front of the post -- which made Probyn question what the definition of a knock-on was. It got to the point where Probyn said 'I say France gave it away, you say Ireland took it' and Moore said 'I fail to see the difference.'

I didn't start noticing this until the BBC Forum show after the games in the third round, after England beat Ireland. Ireland became an afterthought at that point on that show. Same for ScrumV in Wales. Granted, the Welsh had more to think about with their own game, but Ireland was an afterthought and the talk of champions inevitably turned to England with France and outside chance. It was weird, almost as if Ireland weren't in the tournament.

But I've heard plenty of good things from other Brits -- it's not some odd endemic knee-jerk anti-Irish reaction. It just seems to be there with some in the press who have a vested interest in England being unbeatable, even when they are.

 

[the plastic paddy]

It was Clive Woodward and Lewis Moody on the BBC not giving Ireland a chance after the Italy-England game, it was Stephen Jones in the Sunday Times, it was Jeff Probyn on Full Contact saying France gave it away and nearly just saying Ireland didn't deserve it because, according to him, Ireland plateaued while England improved. If you look for it, you find that belligerence all over in the British press, and not just in snarky blog posts.

But Brian Moore brought Jeff Probyn up short, and it was kind of fun because they kept coming back to the point over the three hours of the show, and Moore wouldn't let Probyn get away with saying Ireland didn't deserve it. Moore also pointed out France were gifted that try when Szarzewski dropped the ball in front of the post -- which made Probyn question what the definition of a knock-on was. It got to the point where Probyn said 'I say France gave it away, you say Ireland took it' and Moore said 'I fail to see the difference.'

I didn't start noticing this until the BBC Forum show after the games in the third round, after England beat Ireland. Ireland became an afterthought at that point on that show. Same for ScrumV in Wales. Granted, the Welsh had more to think about with their own game, but Ireland was an afterthought and the talk of champions inevitably turned to England with France and outside chance. It was weird, almost as if Ireland weren't in the tournament.

But I've heard plenty of good things from other Brits -- it's not some odd endemic knee-jerk anti-Irish reaction. It just seems to be there with some in the press who have a vested interest in England being unbeatable, even when they are.

The interesting thing is that Lancaster doesn't buy into any of the increasingly jingoistic press reaction. He is a very good coach whose decency and modesty has worked its way into the team. England have issues, their scrum is the worst in the NH and, believe it or not I think the Aussies might really target it if Corbesiero does not make it back before the RWC, they certainly should.

 

[USARugger]

Their scrum won't get truly exposed if they keep getting muppets like Poite playing "scrum lottery" every fucking test match. Credit to Rowntree on that one.

 

[JSRF10]

England seem to benefit from the perception that they have a strong scrum, referees don't seem to be as keen to punish them as they would if say Ireland or Australia were getting pushed back in similar fashion

 

[the plastic paddy]

England seem to benefit from the perception that they have a strong scrum, referees don't seem to be as keen to punish them as they would if say Ireland or Australia were getting pushed back in similar fashion

Poite was a fucking idiot against Wales but apart from that game and the farce on the Murrayfield ploughed field the English scrum struggled like hell against France, Ireland and the Italians until they replaced their tight head with a loose head. Rowntree is an absolute spoofer as we have seen on successive Lions tours. The other thing is that with the new regulations the scrum is not as significant as it was and is also a hell of a lot more tiring for the props so the experts tell me. Ireland are in a pretty good place, McGrath contested the last couple of scrums in Paris with a broken fucking collar bone if you please so I think we can excuse any struggles!!??!! Moore had a tough time against Debaty but that will stand to him and Archer has been in great form. Add in Furlong, Fitzpatrick, Killer, Cronin etc and the Irish scrum is in a great place.

 

[Wales Fan]

Think the Welsh scrum would've fared better against the English too had Paul James started. When he came on we pushed them back quite comfortably in the 1st scrum, but then replaced Adam with the non-scrummaging Rhodri Jones which negated any dominance we may have seen.
Been impressed by the Irish scrum & depth, looking good for the future with you guys.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[Bardon]

Mike Brown was, IMO deservedly, named player of this years 6Ns.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/rugby-union/26685700