6Ns 2019

[Degz]

Still can't see a Grand Slam for Ireland or any one. Don't think France will be anything more than tough to break down but they'll probably finish 5th with one win.

Can see Ireland beating England, France, Italy and Scotland but losing to Wales.
Wales beating England, France, Ireland and Italy but losing to Scotland.
England beating France, Scotland and Italy but losing narrowly in Dublin and Cardiff.
Scotland to beat France, Italy and Wales but lose to Ireland and England.
France to only beat Italy.

Leaving 2 teams on 4 wins, 2 on 3 wins and France on 1. Bonus points. Wales to win the championship.

Not too far off my own thinking. The thing is, the Scotland Wales game is round 4; if Scotland win that and burst a Welsh Grand Slam charge, I'd back us to go over there and win. I worry that England first up is a recipe for disaster, especially since they have a largely fit squad to pick from (Farrell pending). We start so poorly, so regularly;
Poor at home in draw v Wales '16, V. Poor in Embra in loss in '17, Bang average in Paris last year and saved by Jonny 10 magic.


England will be well up for this; if we can sneak any type of a win then I'd back us for the championship, if not even another Slam.

[suisse]

Still can't see a Grand Slam for Ireland or any one. Don't think France will be anything more than tough to break down but they'll probably finish 5th with one win.

Can see Ireland beating England, France, Italy and Scotland but losing to Wales.
Wales beating England, France, Ireland and Italy but losing to Scotland.
England beating France, Scotland and Italy but losing narrowly in Dublin and Cardiff.
Scotland to beat France, Italy and Wales but lose to Ireland and England.
France to only beat Italy.

Leaving 2 teams on 4 wins, 2 on 3 wins and France on 1. Bonus points. Wales to win the championship.

not a bad shout. hope you are wrong though...I have tickets for the last game in cardiff.

The welsh haven't done well in european or challenge cup...or the pro14 for that matter....which means they will be mostly injury free and gatlands last 6 nations. Like I say, you could be right but I hope you are wrong....

Don't worry. I hope I'm wrong, too. (About Wales game only of course).

[suisse]

Still can't see a Grand Slam for Ireland or any one. Don't think France will be anything more than tough to break down but they'll probably finish 5th with one win.

Can see Ireland beating England, France, Italy and Scotland but losing to Wales.
Wales beating England, France, Ireland and Italy but losing to Scotland.
England beating France, Scotland and Italy but losing narrowly in Dublin and Cardiff.
Scotland to beat France, Italy and Wales but lose to Ireland and England.
France to only beat Italy.

Leaving 2 teams on 4 wins, 2 on 3 wins and France on 1. Bonus points. Wales to win the championship.

Not too far off my own thinking. The thing is, the Scotland Wales game is round 4; if Scotland win that and burst a Welsh Grand Slam charge, I'd back us to go over there and win. I worry that England first up is a recipe for disaster, especially since they have a largely fit squad to pick from (Farrell pending). We start so poorly, so regularly;
Poor at home in draw v Wales '16, V. Poor in Embra in loss in '17, Bang average in Paris last year and saved by Jonny 10 magic.


England will be well up for this; if we can sneak any type of a win then I'd back us for the championship, if not even another Slam.

Perhaps. But as we've seen with Ireland v England a lot, halting Grand Slam parade on home soil is a massive motivation and Wales will be well up for it. Gatland's last home competitive game.

[sunshiner1]

With Tuilagi and Vunipolos back England finally have line breakers again but are missing an out and out seven with Underhill gone. Not having Mercer in the squad to is a mistake imo. This will be won in the breakdown and with the likes of JVDF and POM getting turnovers I think we'll win it.

[TrapperChamonix]

With Tuilagi and Vunipolos back England finally have line breakers again but are missing an out and out seven with Underhill gone. Not having Mercer in the squad to is a mistake imo. This will be won in the breakdown and with the likes of JVDF and POM getting turnovers I think we'll win it.

Just looking briefly at the England squad and you could pick a team like below. I really dont understand why Paddy Power have us at a 9 point spread or 4:1 On.
I think this will be very close.

Mako V
George
Sinclair
Itoje
Kruis
Lawes
Curry
Billy V
Youngs
Farrell
May
Tuilagi
Slade
Ashton
Daly

[Lar]

With you TC.

Six Nations games are invariably closer than people imagine even when there is a strong favourite. The bookies make us strongish favourites but presumably this is on the back of (a) last year's championship; (b) beating New Zealand in the autumn; and (c) Irish sides performing better in Europe.

None of those are especially relevent to the particular qualities that the 23 who will be in each squad will bring to the game. I think this will be very close.

PS. I hope the bookies are right btw.

[MylesNaGapoleen]

With Tuilagi and Vunipolos back England finally have line breakers again but are missing an out and out seven with Underhill gone. Not having Mercer in the squad to is a mistake imo. This will be won in the breakdown and with the likes of JVDF and POM getting turnovers I think we'll win it.

underhill is a big loss....he got a lot of turnovers against us in bath away game.

watched saracens v glasgow at weekend....billy vunipola and etoje are back in form and are a big threat.

I think we should still have it but agree with TC, it will be closer than the bookies think.

[Lar]

Slight change of topic but its within the original thread title.

Which is more important for Joe Schmidt during this Six Nations?

(a) The Six Nations is the most established international tournament in the game and we should be focussed on winning it, if not targeting a second Slam, and doing that is the best preparation for the World Cup.
(b) The World Cup is all important and the 6 Nations this seasons should be sacrificed even if we are the holders. We should use the Six Naions to experiment and get the final permutations for players and the best back up players for the first choice starters right. If it turns out we are still in the running v Wales then well and good but its not a target.

I am sure it can be argued that something in the middle of the two is the right answer but in truth anything short of (a) is in fact (b) to a greater or lesser extent.

[ribs]

More money for winning 6 nations?

[Peg Leg]

More money for winning 6 nations?

Not sure if that's true with the latest sponsorship deal. Certainly less cost though.

[ronk]

Concentrate on the 6N. There's no huge need for drastic change or experimentation.

Lockdown mode would also be bad. Normal levels of agility please.

[Oldschool]

Concentrate on the 6N. There's no huge need for drastic change or experimentation.

Lockdown mode would also be bad. Normal levels of agility please.

+1 but Joe might be thinking "yo" because this coming RWC is his chance for immortality (universal not Irish).

[blockhead]

Indo article from Fanning on the health of the 6 nations.
https://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/ ... 52560.html

[Oldschool]

Indo article from Fanning on the health of the 6 nations.
https://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/ ... 52560.html

Worrying, that level of ineptitude.

[neill_m]

France: Maxime Medard; Damian Penaud, Wesley Fofana, Romain Ntamack, Yoann Huget; Camille Lopez, Morgan Parra; Jefferson Poirot, Guilhem Guirado (capt), Uini Atonio, Sebastien Vahaamahina, Paul Willemse, Wenceslas Lauret, Arthur Iturria, Louis Picamoles.

Replacements: Julien Marchand, Dany Priso, Demba Bamba, Felix Lambey, Gregory Alldritt, Baptiste Serin, Gael Fickou, Geoffrey Doumayrou.

Wales: Liam Williams (Saracens); George North (Ospreys), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Hadleigh Parkes (Scarlets), Josh Adams (Worcester); Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues), Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues); Rob Evans (Scarlets), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Tomas Francis (Exeter), Adam Beard (Ospreys), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys, captain), Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Ross Moriarty (Dragons).

Replacements: Elliot Dee (Dragons), Wyn Jones (Scarlets), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Cory Hill (Dragons), Aaron Wainwright (Dragons), Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Dan Biggar (Northampton), Owen Watkin (Ospreys).

[Lar]

Big call to debut Ntamack at 19. Surprised Serin is picked at 21 instead of either Machenaud or Dupont.

[Laighin Break]

France: Maxime Medard; Damian Penaud, Wesley Fofana, Romain Ntamack, Yoann Huget; Camille Lopez, Morgan Parra; Jefferson Poirot, Guilhem Guirado (capt), Uini Atonio, Sebastien Vahaamahina, Paul Willemse, Wenceslas Lauret, Arthur Iturria, Louis Picamoles.

Replacements: Julien Marchand, Dany Priso, Demba Bamba, Felix Lambey, Gregory Alldritt, Baptiste Serin, Gael Fickou, Geoffrey Doumayrou.

Wales: Liam Williams (Saracens); George North (Ospreys), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Hadleigh Parkes (Scarlets), Josh Adams (Worcester); Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues), Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues); Rob Evans (Scarlets), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Tomas Francis (Exeter), Adam Beard (Ospreys), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys, captain), Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Ross Moriarty (Dragons).

Replacements: Elliot Dee (Dragons), Wyn Jones (Scarlets), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Cory Hill (Dragons), Aaron Wainwright (Dragons), Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Dan Biggar (Northampton), Owen Watkin (Ospreys).

No gametime for Dupont yet, surprised with that.
Is it just me or does anyone else think that Anscombe is a very average, and overhyped, player. I'd be very happy if he starts against Ireland.

[neill_m]

Scotland 23

1. Allan Dell (Edinburgh) - 17 caps 2. Stuart McInally VICE-CAPTAIN (Edinburgh) - 22 caps 3. Willem Nel (Edinburgh) - 26 caps 4. Ben Toolis (Edinburgh) - 14 caps 5. Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh) - 28 caps 6. Sam Skinner (Exeter Chiefs) - 3 caps 7. Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh) - 6 caps 8. Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors) - 41 caps 9. Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN (Clermont Auvergne) - 66 caps 10. Finn Russell (Racing 92) - 40 caps 11. Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh) - 7 caps 12. Sam Johnson (Glasgow Warriors) - uncapped 13. Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors) - 19 caps 14. Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) - 46 caps 15. Stuart Hogg VICE-CAPTAIN (Glasgow Warriors) - 65 caps

16. Jake Kerr (Leicester Tigers) - uncapped 17. Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow Warriors) - 11 caps 18. Simon Berghan (Edinburgh) - 14 caps 19. Gary Graham (Newcastle Falcons) - uncapped 20. Josh Strauss (Sale Sharks) - 17 caps 21. Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) - 19 caps 22. Adam Hastings (Glasgow Warriors) - 7 caps 23. Chris Harris (Newcastle Falcons) - 6 caps

[R-Dog]

Scotland 23

1. Allan Dell (Edinburgh) - 17 caps 2. Stuart McInally VICE-CAPTAIN (Edinburgh) - 22 caps 3. Willem Nel (Edinburgh) - 26 caps 4. Ben Toolis (Edinburgh) - 14 caps 5. Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh) - 28 caps 6. Sam Skinner (Exeter Chiefs) - 3 caps 7. Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh) - 6 caps 8. Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors) - 41 caps 9. Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN (Clermont Auvergne) - 66 caps 10. Finn Russell (Racing 92) - 40 caps 11. Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh) - 7 caps 12. Sam Johnson (Glasgow Warriors) - uncapped 13. Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors) - 19 caps 14. Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) - 46 caps 15. Stuart Hogg VICE-CAPTAIN (Glasgow Warriors) - 65 caps

16. Jake Kerr (Leicester Tigers) - uncapped 17. Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow Warriors) - 11 caps 18. Simon Berghan (Edinburgh) - 14 caps 19. Gary Graham (Newcastle Falcons) - uncapped 20. Josh Strauss (Sale Sharks) - 17 caps 21. Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) - 19 caps 22. Adam Hastings (Glasgow Warriors) - 7 caps 23. Chris Harris (Newcastle Falcons) - 6 caps

Wonder if Laidlaw and Russell will be called back to France during the off weeks? huge disadvantage if so.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Not sure if any of the injured backrowers will be back next week but I'd fancy us against Scotland if they aren't, I usually get a bit worried that they'll make a mess of our breakdown.