2024 Six Nations
- Thread starter molman
- Start date
The_Brown_Hornet
John Eales (66)
Pretty good weekend for his family
Italophile
Bill Watson (15)
Now we just have to get the Italian commentators to get his name right. They're generally pretty good with the non-Italian names, or at least they make a big effort. But Ly-nag leaves them with work to do.
Italophile
Bill Watson (15)
Probably Dewi Morris. Did the main commentator have an Irish accent? Mark Robson, usually a painful enough experience. But for cringe-making calls of England games nothing beats the BBC's radio coverage. They take bias to unbelievable levels.
Sword of Justice
Vay Wilson (31)
Surprised at the lack of discussion on this forum after the ultimate deciding games were so competitive.
The comp may never have been this competitive, even with Wales losing all of their games, three of those were by 3 points or less.
Ireland very deserving winners and the best team but I think they will feel the gap between them and the rest is closing, not increasing. They finished this tournament being hunted by a resurgent England who are clearly waking up from a slumber and then slugging it out against Scotland who would be disappointed with fourth and sort of remain where they have been the last five years, very competitive against anyone but not bringing much home.
France received a wake up call. It turns out you will notice losing the world’s best player and one of the best 10s. They still somehow finished second and I believe will be resurgent when Dupont returns. For their sake I hope they continue to build depth to support him. A strong France is so important to World Rugby.
The real story is Italy who are playing like a team that understands what their coach is saying. Spanish is a lot closer to Italian than New Zealandish I suppose. To any lay person in a non traditional rugby country seeing Italy compete lends so much credence in comparison to watching the era when Wales and England would duke out awful games with the occasional French success. Really excited for next year.
The comp may never have been this competitive, even with Wales losing all of their games, three of those were by 3 points or less.
Ireland very deserving winners and the best team but I think they will feel the gap between them and the rest is closing, not increasing. They finished this tournament being hunted by a resurgent England who are clearly waking up from a slumber and then slugging it out against Scotland who would be disappointed with fourth and sort of remain where they have been the last five years, very competitive against anyone but not bringing much home.
France received a wake up call. It turns out you will notice losing the world’s best player and one of the best 10s. They still somehow finished second and I believe will be resurgent when Dupont returns. For their sake I hope they continue to build depth to support him. A strong France is so important to World Rugby.
The real story is Italy who are playing like a team that understands what their coach is saying. Spanish is a lot closer to Italian than New Zealandish I suppose. To any lay person in a non traditional rugby country seeing Italy compete lends so much credence in comparison to watching the era when Wales and England would duke out awful games with the occasional French success. Really excited for next year.
Strewthcobber
Mark Ella (57)
I lasted about 5 mins on Sunday morning for England France. He is truly awful whoever he is.
Sounds like I missed a pretty good game too, but wasn't going to sit through him to get there
Rob42
John Solomon (38)
Great summary @Sword of Justice . There's been so much good watching this year. Some years it feels like the whole comp would come down to one game you could predict from months away, but this year has been so unpredictable. So much passion throughout.
Rob42
John Solomon (38)
I've only watched the highlights of the England-France game so far, but it sounded like he was just begging the English to close the game out after their late try. I assume it was him you could hear exulting in the background of the comm box as they scored.
Sword of Justice
Vay Wilson (31)
In the early stages of that match he stated “You’d have to say that England are ahead on points right now”. It was 3-0 to England at the time. Don’t believe he was being ironic.
The_Brown_Hornet
John Eales (66)
Agree on the commentators. The footy has been fantastic in this tournament though, especially from Italy.
Strewthcobber
Mark Ella (57)
So it does look like we are getting these guys on Stan for France v England
With Mr Morris being the unlistenable one
With Mr Morris being the unlistenable one
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Sword of Justice
Vay Wilson (31)
The colour commentator of that game literally cheered when England went over at one point. Just embarrassing.
molman
Peter Johnson (47)
Yes, life got a little hectic for me and I fell off updating this thread, but I really enjoyed the competition this year (even if I am sad Ireland stumbled achieving the grand slam).
Ireland are a well polished machine, but even they showed some fade as things went on and they still seem to have some frailties against the more physical teams. Scotland are always a fun watch, but their metrics show a team that needs a lot of polish, especially with the amount of penalties they're giving away. Wales are in a worrying spot with the loss of so much generational talent. They have some players who are giving it their all, but I'm not sure they have the depth or talent to be competitive with where they are at. England on the flipside has always had the depth (and arguably talent) but finally seem to have found some fire in the belly when it comes to the collision, coupled with some actual attacking structure and shape. France are in an odd place. I don't know what to make of them, but post RWC there seems to be some challenges going through that squad, especially san's Dupont. That said, when they do turn on, they can be a joy to watch. But the highlight of this years tournament has got to be Italy. The still have some attacking flair, but their defence and genuine graft is making me actually tune into their games. And considering this is after teams like NZ were putting 96 points on them just last year in the RWC - it's quite the turnaround.
Italophile
Bill Watson (15)
More a case of Crowley being a very prickly, very stubborn individual. His philosophy was attack, with defence, structure and game management never priorities. Quesada has made the necessary amendments and is unlocking the potential. Actually, Nick Mallett's influence shouldn't be overlooked. He was instrumental in the establishment of academies around the country - importantly, outside the traditional rugby stronghold in the north - during his time as head coach (before he succumbed to the parochial, byzantine world of Italian rugby politics). The young talent coming through has much to do with Mallett's vision.
molman
Peter Johnson (47)
There is some impressive talent coming through as seen in some of the U20 results. Some credit surely also must also go to people like Marco Bortolami and co. and even people like Giovanni Grespan as there is a pretty decent Benetton influence on the team and in the academy/U20 players coming through, not to mention in the main team.
Italophile
Bill Watson (15)
Absolutely true. Benetton are far and away the best, most professional club set up here. Always have been. Back in the day, as Treviso, they dominated club rugby, winning the comp something like 15 times so the heritage is there. Zebre, on the other hand, based in Parma, are an outfit created by the Italian Fed for the old Celtic league after a couple of failed attempts to develop teams based on clubs a la Treviso>Benetton. Zebre can have their good days but they will always be up against Benetton's heritage and professionalism.