The Rugby Thread

[PeteC]

Here's the Super Rugby pool. Some of been sent email invitations based upon history with Superbru.


Join Hua Hin Forum Super Rugby Predictor league on @Superbru! You can find the pool here:

https://www.superbru.com/superrugby/pool.php?p=11982865

Code: eerylyra

[lindosfan1]

Thanks for invite, not clue who these teams are or how good they are. This one will be research with a lot of luck

[PeteC]

Have a look here for last season. It should play out in a similar fashion this season with perhaps a few surprises.

https://super.rugby/superrugby/fixtures ... per-rugby/

[PeteC]

Note: Dane Coles has finally recovered from a year off from injuries and is back with the Hurricanes, and the All Blacks.

Ma'a Nonu is back from France and on a 1 year contract with the Blues. He still has the potential to be explosive.

[PeteC]

We're up to six players now so good to go. The more the merrier so please sign up.

Here's the Super Rugby pool. Some of been sent email invitations based upon history with Superbru.


Join Hua Hin Forum Super Rugby Predictor league on @Superbru! You can find the pool here:

https://www.superbru.com/superrugby/pool.php?p=11982865

Code: eerylyra

[pharvey]

And so it begins........ The 2019 6 Nations kicks off this evening with Les Bleus playing host to God's Own in Paris

It's nigh on an impossibility that I'll be able to stream live here in the "Sunny Sahara", so hoping some kind soul will upload to Youtube for me to download and watch sometime over the weekend - and that goes for the other matches!! I shall ban myself from reading the online news and hope I don't receive any messages with the scorelines - though there's literally Bob Hope and no hope of that....

To the matches!!

France fielding a much changed team from their last 6N outing, and coming off a shock defeat to Fiji - they've also dropped man mountain Bastareaud in favour of 19 year old Romain Ntamack which is going to be interesting to say the least!! Wales on a bit of a roll for once with 9 wins on the bounce and despite a big hit in losing Halfpenny and Falatau to injury, field a near full strength side....
As to the French pack: -
From WOL - "Brunel has turned to bulk in an attempt to turn the tide for his team, fielding a 154st pack that is thought to be the heaviest in Test history. The average weight per player is a vol-au-vent or two shy of 19st, while the average height is 6ft 4in."
"That means it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try playing at a high tempo up front and test the mobility and athleticism of the 6ft 6in, 24st 6lb Uini Atonio, the 6ft 8in, 19st 12lb Sebastien Vahaamahina and the 6ft 7in, 21st 4lb Paul Willemse."

An Aside: I just can't believe Wayne "Add 20 minutes extra time" Barnes is reffing this match again after the 2017 farce.....

The Lillywhites vs The men in Green.... Hard one to call, but Ireland at home, having beaten the Blackness last season, they've got to be favourites for this one and the Championship (just hope Wales pip them to the latter ).

The Sweaties vs The Azzurri ..... Harsh on the Scots, but I honestly think this is ultimately going to be the bottom of the table clash. Scotland will have too much for Italy, but how will they fare afterwards?


Anyways, here's to a cracking weekend of rugby and best of luck (well not really) to all those taking part in the Prediction League!!

[PeteC]

I'll have to check more deeply later on but again I think this is another tournament that Setanta won't carry here in Asia due to televised rights. Perhaps Fox will have a few matches...unsure at the moment.

[PeteC]

If this is only what happened in the French leagues, what is the total number in all leagues? The answer may be very bad.

French rugby players' deaths raise concern over safety

Video story at link.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europ ... ver-safety

[Dannie Boy]

Great win for the Welsh last night having been 16-0 down at half time - where’s PHarvey?


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[PeteC]

Great win for the XXX last night having been xxx down at half time - where’s PHarvey?

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....see up 3 posts.

[Dannie Boy]

Great win for the XXX last night having been xxx down at half time - where’s PHarvey?

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....see up 3 posts.

Sorry Pete, there was so much flowery stuff I missed the fact that it was about Wales Vs France!!


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[dtaai-maai]

Great win for the Welsh last night having been 16-0 down at half time

Yes, Wales were definitely the least bad of the 2 teams... Allez les suicides!!!

[dtaai-maai]

Ireland 20-32 England

England were MAG-NIF-I-CENT!!!

[Big Boy]

Shame on you HHF 6 Nations 2019 players. Was I the only one who had faith in the red rose?

[pharvey]

Great win for the Welsh last night having been 16-0 down at half time - where’s PHarvey?
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Greetings from Zouerate! I actually managed to catch the full game through "catch-up" on iPlayer - seems the mobile network is man enough for the job at 3am (my heart not so much)!!
Wales are notoriously slow slow starters in the 6N and other tournaments,but Jesus that first half.... Ball handling errors galore, missed tackles, poor kicking, poor tactics - you name it.... 16-0 down.
Seems however that France caught the bug in the 3rd quarter - ditto Wales' first half..... Wales smack, bang back in the game and ultimately take the second half 24-3 and the game 24-19 overall. You certainly couldn't call it a great performance by Wales, but a "Round 1" win against France, away - I'll take it!

Ireland 20-32 England

England were MAG-NIF-I-CENT!!!

Didn't get to see the match, but having read the reports and comments, the English performance certainly appears ominous for the remaining nations - though God's Own will bring them back to earth!
Eddie the Antipodean just loves the sound of his own voice though doesn't he?

Shame on you HHF 6 Nations 2019 players. Was I the only one who had faith in the red rose?

Enjoy it whilst you can BB, enjoy it whilst you can......

As for Scotland vs Italy, again didn't get to see the match and relied on reports/comments by the usual suspects. One that seemed to sum things up being "..the home team got their Six Nations campaign off to a competent start against a limited Italian side".
If points difference becomes any part of the final table however, then the Scots may well rue the "chaotic" last 10 minutes and yellow card which ultimately allowed three Italian tries.

[EDIT] A rather telling comment from Scotland's Head Coach Gregor Townsend which puts things into perspective....

"It’s the first game of the tournament and we’re playing the No 2 team in the world on Saturday. We’re then going to a place where we’ve not won in 20 years, then playing the No 3 team in the world, then going to a place where we haven’t won since 1983."