Six Nations 2019 . . .

Rugby is back on Friday night as the 2019 Six Nations tournament kicks off with France vs Wales.

I'm really hoping Wales can improve on last year's 2nd place finish but they'll have a tough job beating Ireland who have become the dominant force in the Northern Hemisphere and are worthy favourites.

If it comes down to the last game where Ireland have to travel to the Millenium Stadium then I definitely give Wales a chance but I fear it might all be done and dusted by then because Ireland are so consistent and Wales normally have at least one shocker in the tournament.

My heart says Wales all the way but my head says Ireland to win it again with England and Wales fighting it out for 2nd.

By the way, if anyone is interested, there is a Six Nations Fantasy game at Superbru and they also have a score Prediction game.

There is also a good Six Nations Fantasy game at Rugby Magazine who will also be running a Super Rugby game later on but please note one important difference, the Super Rugby game will have a salary cap whereas the Six Nations game has no salary cap and the only restriction is having no more than 5 players in your squad from any one nation.

If you are playing the Six Nations game at Rugby Magazine then join a pool called "Ruckers Forum" and don't forget the first deadline is Friday evening, not Saturday.  

Yes, France are a very unpredictable team but I'm almost discounting them this year because their squad looks a bit weak, especially the outside backs.

I believe Teddy Thomas is injured which explains why he's not there but I have no idea why Virimi Vakatawa and Benjamin Fall haven't even made the squad. Seems very strange to me and instead of those exciting young wingers they have the same old plodders in Yoann Huget and Maxime Medard.

They will also miss lock Yoann Maestri and prop Rabah Slimani. Maestri is injured but I don't know why Slimani missed out. They also look a bit weak at flank and they'll need Louis Picamoles to be at his explosive best to be a factor. Picamoles was pretty ordinary in last year's 6N.

PING MAAIK! I need the pool codes for the Ruckersforum prediction game.

Rooi, It's only us in the pool. Maaik also started a pool.

Kearney was really bad in defence in his last outing for Leinster against the mighty Dragons. Not a good sign for a player whose main strength is his defence.  Kearney try scoring has become almost non existent for Ireland. The official line is that he ran out of time to recover from a quad injury but his long history of injuries may have caught up with him.  Schmidt can be ruthless when he wants to be.

Henshaw played for Connacht at FB and if the FB experiment proves successful it will give Schmidt more flexibility with his final squad for the RWC.

As I said ... don't write England off.

This has certainly thrown the cat among the pigeons.

Ireland ... everyone's favourite to challenge for the WC ... were just thrashed ... on home soil. 

They stayed with the Poms for awhile but lost their composure and folded under the pressure.

Their mighty roar turned into a whimper.

I hope England can build on this. It would be great to see them take the 6 Nations trophy ... and then go on to do the same at this year's WC.

Go England!!

WTH? So that's why Moz calls you Turncoat?  I'll be damned...CC a closset Pom supporter.

PS, well done England.

No Draad ... try to keep up ... Moffie filled in my application to become a Toadie ... like you ... a chief pecker attendant ... and then when I declined his constant pleas ... he went off pouting, like a 3 year old that was denied a lollipop.

Next thing I knew he was sticking his tongue out at me, calling me "TurnCoat".

Also ... let me make it perfectly clear to you, CPA (Chief Pecker Attendant) ... I will NEVER cheer for any South African sports team that selects a second rate darkie over a talented white boy ... it's racist ... in other words, supporting the team would be the same as condoning these unacceptable racist policies.

We on the same page now ... ??

Oh and another thing ... Moffie is an American ... he fled the land ages ago ... and now he pretends to be a supporter of the Bok ... but ... if you simply read his posts, you'll notice that he has nothing favourable to say about the Bok ... not their players ... management ... or ... coaching staff ... in fact, his criticism of them is worse than mine.

So ... he's as much of a turncoat as I. The only difference is that he doesn't have the balls to say it out loud.

You ke ep those lips puckered, Draad.

CC

I am one of the members who thought that England had no chance against Ireland - but then we have to wonder about the history of Eddie Jones as a coach,   Remember how he taught the Springboks  in 2007 how to play backline rugby and how he caught the Springboks out badly in the 2015 WC when coaching Japan.   

I think what Jones did was to study the Irish game plan intensively and came up with two issues to be addressed, namely -

*   their box kicking game; and

*   their extensive usage of inside passes.

The expert box kicker is Murray - quite ordinary in other aspects of play.   When Murray did not play against the AB's in November the age maniac changed his previous comments as to the Irish winning the game to the AB's winning.   You know what happened in that game.

Be it as it may - the English made sure the box kicking efforts are neutralized and the same with the inside passes.   Those two issues took the sting out of the Irish attacking game plan.   Well done England and Edie Jones.

Well Mike ... yes ... I think you've summed it up quite nicely.

Eddie is a professional and as is expected of a professional, he prepares properly ... not only to exploit the opposition's weaknesses ... but also to neutralize their strengths and turn it against them.

The opponent goes into the match feeling confident ... which soon turns to dismay because what was working no longer does. Their game plan is suddenly in disarray ... which means that they longer trust it and find themselves improvising. Gone is their composure and their structure.

The man was born to coach rugby.

Japan beat South Africa because Eddie totally out thought Meyer. The difference between these two coaches can be likened to Moffie taking on Mike Tyson.

Someone is going to get a hiding ... and as you know, Meyer was made into  right tottie that day.

"in fact, his criticism of them is worse than mine."

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaha

LMFAO !!

Says the resident homophobic  racist...... 

Rooinek

I think it took a while for the changes he made in the playing style to show positive results,   Initially he put up with what he inherited and the results were not really what he wanted,   He then had to implement player changes and get the team operational according to his own model.   

I think the game on Saturday showed that Jones is making progress and that progress made England a very dangerous side this year.   The first signs  of revival came against NZ in November - a game where refereeing error gave the match to the AB's.

I would not believe the press when it comes to  their agendas.   I think that the story about Jones being on the verge of being replaced in fact was media speculation - noting else. 

Rooinek

How many team changes did Jones had to make and is the English team now plays the same game they did in 2015.   The situation in 2015 was bad - England did not even make the quarterfinals of the WC.   They were playing the same style of rugby played under Meyer and they flopped badly.

OK they won the 6-Nations in 2016 - already an improvement on what happened in the WC - but where were the teams that made it through to the last 8 in the WC.   I think that Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France made it through to the last 8 (quarterfinals).   The fact is all four  the latter teams lost in the quarterfinals.   Only Scotland and Wales were competitive - the other two teams were beaten badly.   England won all the matches beat two of the weak teams easily - but was not all that good against Wales and even Scotland.   My contention is that the weakened situation as indicated in the 2015 WC meant that the competition was weak in the 2016 6-Nations.   Fact is even against weakish opponents England scored only 13 tries - as against 17 scored by Wales and 15 by Ireland. 

The 2017 6-Nations was again an indication that even though England won the series there wins against especially France (3 points) and Wales (5 points) were marginal and they lost against Ireland.  England in 2017 scored 16 tries and in two games won by a large  margin (Scotland and  Italy) England scored 12 tries - in the other 3 games they manage to score only 4 tries,    

I would not make that a glorious enhancement of performance by England in 2016 and 2017 under Jones and a collapse last year was on the cards.   The fact is Jones had to rebuild the team and get a game plan in place that would change the kick and charge game played by England in those three years.    The whole approach to the game had to be changed,    In 2016 and 2017 only in three tests against Italy (2) and  Scotland  (1) did England score  more tries than they did against Ireland on Saturday.   Thy never scored 4 tries against any of the other teams in the series.   

I think the need to change England into a more formidable and less predictable game took time and team changes and strategy showed for the first time against the AB's last year and again on Saturday.   I think Jones changed the team and strategy for the better and I do think they would show improvement in all matches played this year,  Aside from that CC is right - there was  a huge improvement in the game plan of England on Saturday.

Eddie Jones is a class act.

Is there a better coach anywhere?

Who?