Rugby Union

[rockershovel]

On 14/07/2021 at 10:46, Joseph_Pestell said:

France have currently got a young squad out on their tour of Australia.

 

Lost the first test through naivete, not kicking the ball out at 80 mins when they were leading.

 

But won yesterday, also a close match, Star player was full back Melvyn Jaminet who played last season in ProD2 at Perpignan. I think that he is only 19.

It's long past time that the system of A Internationals was revived. 

[88D]

7 hours ago, rockershovel said:

Regarding the 50/22 law change, I'd tend to be in favour of anything which led the game away from the flat, RL style defensive line - both as a players game, and as a spectator sport. That said, I'd rather think that it required a level of tactical nous and kicking accuracy from the hand, not generally available in the modern game, and certainly not in the Prem. Watch the England side; Ford understands tactical kicking for touch and to runners in open space, Farrel has no understanding and lacks accuracy from the hand,  preferring to simply boot it away. Ford has a distinct tendency not to find touch when he should do so, putting up catches for the opposing winger instead. Consistently successful sides, like NZ do none of these things. There is also a lack of ability among NH sides when it comes to short kicks over the defending line to the winger or centre - a well established tactical among SH sides. So my guess is that the new rule won't have much effect at NH club level and if the clubs don't do it, nor will the Internationsl

Sides

Agree totally. I’m not going to expand on that as my blood tends to boil on this matter. Must get a life.

[88D]

Surprised nobody’s mentioned the Lions win yet. I listened to it and saw C4 highlights. I don’t think we’ve seen the best of the SA team yet, so it will be interesting to see whether Gatland makes changes. The Lions’ performance was curate egg-like: superb individual performances mixed with meh performances. Gatland does not normally like tinkering with a side that has won, but he might have to! Your thoughts?

[tigerburnie]

I don't have sky sports anymore, rarely anything on it I wanted to watch, I'm glad they won, but have long since lost interest in the tour, tried watching the Olympics too, no fans seems to equal no atmosphere which ends up with rather average performances on the field of play. Not the participants fault, but it seems to highlight that it's all about tv companies and sponsors money at the moment, forget about a pandemic, we need to make money is the theme to me.

[rockershovel]

Daley didn't impress and I think there will be a couple of other changes. Right now my money is on a tight, 2-1 Lions series win ... but its close and I think if SA can win next time  then they will win the third 

[tigerburnie]

The Lions should win 3-0, they need to select a few different players to completely change their approach. I expect the Boks to come out fighting and pick a big slow side, I'd go for pace and run them off the park as they are clearly nowhere near match fit, both wings need changing and I'd change the full back as well, if Biggar is injured I'd start with Smith at 10. The pack if uninjured could start as before as they more than held their own in the set piece and in the loose, having Lawes at the back of the lineout paid off too.

[88D]

2 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

The Lions should win 3-0, they need to select a few different players to completely change their approach. I expect the Boks to come out fighting and pick a big slow side, I'd go for pace and run them off the park as they are clearly nowhere near match fit, both wings need changing and I'd change the full back as well, if Biggar is injured I'd start with Smith at 10. The pack if uninjured could start as before as they more than held their own in the set piece and in the loose, having Lawes at the back of the lineout paid off too.

I can’t see Gats ever changing his approach. The closest we got to a change in Wales during his tenure was when he was hospitalised in NZ and Howley took over for the season. To be fair to Gats, he realises that the Lions aren’t the Barbarians, so he keeps his game plan very simple and easy to follow. After all, the Lions don’t get a huge amount of time together to develop a more complex and free-ranging game. The next game will be much tougher: there’s a few dented egos in the SA team right now.

[tigerburnie]

His second test side is adequate, but hardly looks like setting the world on fire, the pack should be good enough, hope Biggar is fully fit, don't want to risk him if not, Farrell looks way off the pace and has done all season, apart from goal kicking he doesn't bring much to the side.

[rockershovel]

So, ultimately it came down to a single penalty, always a weak point for touring sides. Still and all, it was very close ... I'd hope the Queen has some suitable trinket for WG, because taking a touring side representing all the Home Nations and running the defending World Champions 2-1 by a 3 point margin, is surely a considerable feat under any circumstances

[rockershovel]

In a lot of ways, I thought it was RWC and 6N all over again. Boks had superior execution of a simple game plan. Refs wasted far too much time with TMO; its high time for some sort of restrictions on this, I think. Indiscipline at key moments from usual England suspects resulting in loss of momentum in attack, and kick able penalties when defending. Usual Welsh habit of persevering with kicks to the corner instead of taking three points; the first one may work, but if the second one doesn't then the third is pretty unlikely.  England FINALLY learnt not to do this in 2015, of course. Margins are very small at this level. 

Edited August 8, 2021 by rockershovel

[tigerburnie]

From a generally weak squad the result was predictable as Gatland has no idea if he can't beat the opposition up in the forwards, that was not going to happen with this Boks side, a one trick pony who was found wanting. That first half was as bad a show as I have seen in quite a while, poor from both sides, though to be fair the Bledisloe Cup match wasn't much better either.

[88D]

On 08/08/2021 at 09:42, rockershovel said:

In a lot of ways, I thought it was RWC and 6N all over again. Boks had superior execution of a simple game plan. Refs wasted far too much time with TMO; its high time for some sort of restrictions on this, I think. Indiscipline at key moments from usual England suspects resulting in loss of momentum in attack, and kick able penalties when defending. Usual Welsh habit of persevering with kicks to the corner instead of taking three points; the first one may work, but if the second one doesn't then the third is pretty unlikely.  England FINALLY learnt not to do this in 2015, of course. Margins are very small at this level. 

The Welsh habit of kicking to the corner , I think, is a Gatland tactic. He generally has a ploy following, eg the 15 man drive against NZ a few years ago. But what really annoys me is the slavish persistence in it when there are easy points available from the kicks. If I were captain in this match(guffaw, guffaw), I would have disobeyed orders and behaved as a ‘see what’s in front of you’ captain. I think AWJ made some bad decisions there.

on a general front, this was not a strong Lions team/squad, so 2-1 defeat could have been worse. As a rugby spectacle, it was generally pathetic; and I probably haven’t got enough years in me to see a resurrection of a much more free-flowing style. It’s getting boring.

[rockershovel]

6 hours ago, 88D said:

The Welsh habit of kicking to the corner , I think, is a Gatland tactic. He generally has a ploy following, eg the 15 man drive against NZ a few years ago. But what really annoys me is the slavish persistence in it when there are easy points available from the kicks. If I were captain in this match(guffaw, guffaw), I would have disobeyed orders and behaved as a ‘see what’s in front of you’ captain. I think AWJ made some bad decisions there.

on a general front, this was not a strong Lions team/squad, so 2-1 defeat could have been worse. As a rugby spectacle, it was generally pathetic; and I probably haven’t got enough years in me to see a resurrection of a much more free-flowing style. It’s getting boring.

 It wasn't the greatest series I've seen, but to beat the defending World Champions and lose the series 2-1 by a single penalty... 

[tigerburnie]

I don't mind a muddy slug fest of 9 man rugby, when the conditions dictate, play what's in front of you is something that seems to have been coached out of players these days, it's all rather predictable with a lot of teams. Lets hope the up coming new season will see a better show of it, trouble is the laws have been changed so much, the game is barely a contest anymore, it's just big hits most of the time. Proper scrummaging with the ball going down the middle and hookers actually living up to their title, at the moment they could get done under the trades description act.

[tigerburnie]

Pre season friendlies have begun, not too far to the new season beginning, that's assuming the covid doesn't strike again, I have a feeling it will. Leicester just had a weeks training in Jersey and rounded off the week with a game against the islands Championship side, not too many first team players in the Tigers side, but made for interesting watching.

[tigerburnie]

Well the new season didn't quite kick off as I had hoped in the National leagues, where my old club went to Redruth and got a beating, not heard the blow by blow account yet. I was actually at the club house for my brothers funeral wake and chatted with the clubs president and manager(old playing chums of mine) and they have high hopes for the coming season, with more sponsorships in place they look to try for promotion this year.

[tigerburnie]

Leicester Tigers managed to throw away their last pre season friendly game against the Scarlets, not really the preparation we want for the visit of Exeter a week tomorrow.

[tigerburnie]

Well that was a nice surprise Leicester Tigers gave Exeter a good old fashioned thrashing, long my that continue, have to say it was a bit of a surprise, perfect start to the new season.

[Dave Hunt]

Here's hoping TB!

 

Dave

[tigerburnie]

Big win away at Gloucester for the Tigers tonight, not many are going to win there, happy with the result even if we did our level best to give it away.

[tigerburnie]

Some surprising results this past weekend, looking at the table(I know it's only after two games), but who would have had Exeter and Bristol at the bottom with no wins? My old side Leicester Lions had a very good win in National 2 South beating Esher, who were equal top after 3 games.

Saracens visit Tigers this coming weekend and the Lions travel over the channel to Guernsey, both tough fixtures for sure.

[tigerburnie]

What a superb injury time win for the Tigers, beating Saracens to stay top of the league, only three games gone but a nice start after the few seasons we have had losing badly, happy Tiger.

[Dave Hunt]

 

Dave

[88D]

12 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

What a superb injury time win for the Tigers, beating Saracens to stay top of the league, only three games gone but a nice start after the few seasons we have had losing badly, happy Tiger.

Not sure you deserved to win that match, Sarries looked very Sarries. But your crowd certainly helped push the Tigers over the line.

[tigerburnie]

2 minutes ago, 88D said:

Not sure you deserved to win that match, Sarries looked very Sarries. But your crowd certainly helped push the Tigers over the line.

The team that score the most points legitimately deserve the victors spoils, that is what the sport is all about, it's not boxing where you get points accumulated during the game for doing well, it's like running, first past the winning line deserve the medal. The game ends when the ref blows the whistle, not at half time, Tigers never gave up, they fought their way over the try line, Saracens were deemed to have illegally collapsed the maul, so the result was inevitable, even Saracens know they if they break the laws of the game there are consequences.