Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2023 9:43:17 GMT
Yes most games were hard fought and entertaining, but there weren't really any even slightly surprising results when you look back at it - except the margin of France's win over England. I can't help feeling that Scotland should have produced those surprises, so close against France and inexplicably off colour in the second half against Ireland. Real missed opportunity for a Championship, a Triple Crown and maybe even a Grand Slam. We won't have Russell and Hogg for much longer and it's hard to see us replacing those key players in critical positions with equal quality, so I fear we'll slip back next season. Thought England were impressive fronting up to Ireland the way they did after the thrashing against France, so fair play to them.
World Cup coming up, should be good, it would be nice to think that there could be some surprise results in that, and a bit of genuine jeopardy for the favourites.
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,425 
|
Post by WDB on Mar 20, 2023 13:21:55 GMT
I had a quiet Saturday for once, so got to watch most of two matches, which is more than I'd managed in any previous weekend. Good entertainment too, and hard to begrudge Ireland their triumph.
But I do wonder how long rugby can continue this way - or at all. Every scrum is now just a tedious preamble to a penalty for falling over too soon or standing up too soon, with the ball such an irrelevance that the referee no longer cares whether there's been a fair contest for it. And the head injury protocol feels like elaborate window-dressing. In football and cricket, significant head impacts are occasional and inadvertent, but in rugby (and boxing, of course) they're pretty much designed in. The consequences for previous generations of players are clear, but while the protocol may prevent a shocking on-field fatality, it's hard to see today's players not going the same way as their forebears. If footballers can suffer brain degradation from repeatedly heading a bag of air - as it seems they can - then how much worse must the regular shocks be in rugby?
|
|
|
|
Post by dixinormus on Mar 24, 2023 1:34:21 GMT
Worth having a tenner on France for the world cup?
All Blacks won’t get past the quarter finals.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2023 8:38:41 GMT
Gotta be France or Ireland, hasn't it? Scotland won't get out of the (unfair) group.
|
|
|
|
Post by dixinormus on Oct 15, 2023 3:52:17 GMT
Well my prediction above turned out wrong!
Didn’t think Wales would lose either..!
England to beat Fiji, and the Boks to upset the French are my other two predictions….
|
|
bpg
Full Member
Posts: 2,809
|
Post by bpg on Oct 15, 2023 20:09:54 GMT
I didn't realise Vince Neil from Mötley Crüe played #21 for South Africa.
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,425
|
Post by WDB on Oct 16, 2023 7:09:19 GMT
…so was that Pamela Anderson at scrum half?
Fantastic game against France. Haven’t watched much rugby because it’s tucked away on ITV and the catch-up player is too painful to use, but what I have seen has been properly entertaining.
Might SA now win two world cups in two weeks? The cricket team is looking strong too.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2023 8:04:36 GMT
Well I got one part right, the part about Scotland.
Sigh.
Thoroughly enjoyable games this weekend, even it it wasn't always the results I wanted.
I kind of feel like we've seen the two real semi finals already, and now the inevitable finalists get to play a warm up match each before the final.
Think SA will squeak the final.
|
|
|
|
Post by dixinormus on Oct 16, 2023 9:27:05 GMT
I think the Boks will win the final comfortably!
|
|
bpg
Full Member
Posts: 2,809
|
Post by bpg on Oct 21, 2023 17:34:15 GMT
Anyone watching tonight ?
I don't think it will be a positive outcome for England after watching SA v France last week.
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,425
|
Post by WDB on Oct 21, 2023 20:27:59 GMT
Doubt I’ll get permission but the rugby team can hardly come off worse than the cricketers.
|
|
bpg
Full Member
Posts: 2,809
|
Post by bpg on Oct 21, 2023 20:59:55 GMT
Much closer than I think anyone believed it would be, not a surprise in the end.
SA changed half their team to get the job done. Talking with my eldest lad before the game felt the only chance England had was to kick everything and they gave it a damned good go.
|
|
|
|
Post by EspadaIII on Oct 22, 2023 9:06:03 GMT
I'm not a rugby fan (I was forced to play it at grammar school and hated it) but I was disappointed by result, as from what I understand we were ahead for the whole game apart from the last three minutes? That is a shame.
There is this feeling that England should win every World Cup in every sport, but we such a small nation with not the best weather and state school funding for sport has been decimated, so why are we surprised when we don't win. I think that reaching quarter finals in football, rugby, cricket, netball and similar on a consistent basis is pretty good. Yes it's great to win but just getting to a final is impressive.
|
|
