6 Nations 2021

[hugonaut]

That was a great game.

Great game! It had everything.

[Barry]

My understanding was that you can skip out of a tackle to the side but not try to jump over a tackler you're running straight at due to the danger of kneeing them in the head.

Nigel Owens on twitter saying it should have been a penalty

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[riocard911]

That was a great game.

Great game! It had everything.

Very entertaining. That flanker with the beard, who got subbed on for Scotland, was a bit of a penalty magnet......

[blockhead]

Not the first time she's been missing in action during a recent match.

Surely the first Eng try involved a knock-on by May I think. They didn't show a close up though, the 2nd had a clear as day forward pass, I could see it live. WTF is goin on with the TMO?
At least the ref pulled Maro for a penalty when he did his usual thing of kneeling on the opponent while contesting for the ball.
Great players get away with murder I suppose.

[Fan with smartphone]

That was a great game.

Great game! It had everything.

Very entertaining. That flanker with the beard, who got subbed on for Scotland, was a bit of a penalty magnet......

Finn Russel firing a pass straight to a defender then makes a tackle, survives clear out from Falateau and Halaholo to win a penalty just about sums it up. Then he so, so nearly opens up that welsh defence. It was bananas, but great. Wasn’t always perfect but styles make fights and this fight was just great watching.

[neiliog93]

Wales unbelievably lucky again.

Only partially true.
The one team you don't want to give a chance to is Wales.
They are never beaten and if they feel lucky then even Dirty Harry can look out.
They are also a confidence team, England and France are now going to have much tougher games against them as a result of today's game in particular.
I'd give them an even chance of winning the Championship now, points difference deciding it.

I think with bonus points points difference is much less likely to decide the championship.

[Ruckedtobits]

One aspect of our departed half-backs which hasn't come in for much comment is their contribution to the Irish defence over the past decade. Murray is equivalent to another back-row in this regard and although JGP is a technically good tackler on both sides, he lacks the physicality of CM. Although J10's upright tackling style has been criticised as being a major contributor to his injuries over the past 5 years in particular, the reality is he is an excellent defender who never concedes his line or space and frequently takes down charging centres & back-rows.

This is one of the two areas I expect to see France attack us today. Although it is not easy to target a scrum-half's defence, except from breakdowns, I do expect to see passes from out-half & first center, popped back inside to wingers or back rows running at the covering scrum half. Both JGP and Casey can expect to feel targeted this afternoon.

The second area which I expect to see France attack is through the middle of breakdowns. The discipline by the "pillars" at our breakdowns has been a little slipshod in recent matches and we have scrambled well to cover half-breaks. This is an aspect of French attacking which was successful against England and Wales last year and don't be surprised to see more of it today.

[enby]

Brutal day out there. The conditions are more Ross Byrne than Billy Burns, more Cooney than JGP. I think rugby should follow example of football and allow coaches to name their team on the day. It is a real pity that there won't be a crowd to make Lansdowne more inhospitable for Les Bleus.

Goal kicking will be particularly important in these conditions. Let's hope BB can get his share.

[Oldschool]

Good point on HB defence especially considering their opposite numbers, VDF is going to be busy plugging any holes in that area
Goal kicking.
Today's game is likely to be won by goal kicking, given the conditions, this is another real weakness in the selection.

[IanD]

Thought that one for Fagerson was harsh, he slowed down going into contact. Almost impossible now to clear out a jackler who has their head down..

Saw this on the BBC Website.

World Rugby, Law 9: Foul Play
20. Dangerous play in a ruck or maul.

a. A player must not charge into a ruck or maul. Charging includes any contact made without binding onto another player in the ruck or maul.

b. A player must not make contact with an opponent above the line of the shoulders


Fagerson - and POM last week - did not bind and hit him in the head. That's 2 from 2. Definite red card.

As an aside disappointed to see John Barclay claim it was not a red card after the match.

[IanD]

For today against France I think the management have made a mistake at 10. RB has plenty experience of playing and training with JGP and with both Centers. Ohh and one of the Wingers. And the Full Back too. He has also played in the Aviva alot too.

On such a mucky day weather wise I think knowledge of the ground and how the wind swirls could be very handy. I think kicking for touch will be crucial as sloppy kicks will be run back by France.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Despite being extremely similar I didn’t think that Fagerson’s incident was as bad as POM’s. POM caught Jones flush on the head (deliberately IMO) but Fagerson just about clipped him. It wasn’t even clear in every replay if he caught him head first or not.

Technically it is a red card but I don’t think it should be. I get that they want to reduce contact with the head but the laws don’t really reflect the reality of what you need to do to clear out a ruck and what happens in the vast majority of them. There’ll be loads of similar clearouts today but they won’t be punished because they connect below the head and it won’t be by design, it’ll mostly be luck.

For me it’s a bit of a joke that that is a red card offence but the one that destroyed Willis’ knee is legal.

[Ruckedtobits]

Just over 3 months ago this bunch beat us by 35-27 and we made a game of it, Stockdale, Sexton, Murray, O'Mahony, Doris & Ryan were in our Squad that day. Very unlikely we can afford to lose that list without a major impact.

[MylesNaGapoleen]

I think it was BOD who made the point on ITV just now that the murray/sextion partnership is very predictable now....the french probably don't know much about a burns/jpeg partnership.

in the same breath...if jpeg starts box kicking like murray..we'll know that is a coaching call rather than the players. jpeg prefers sniping around the edges for leinster, usually kicking only when in our 22 or if there's acres of space behind.

[Fan with smartphone]

Pity there is no crowd for billy burns to hear the roar of encouragement from the crowd. Would’ve been good for him.

[Leinsterimp]

Dupont offload looked very forward to me for their try

[LeinsterLeader]

Dupont offload looked very forward to me for their try

Me too! Surprised they didn't look at it.

In fairness it was really brave rugby and probably deserved the rub of the green.

Some good performances for Ireland again but just disjointed as a team. A lot of heart and effort but If the up and under doesn't work we don't seem to have anything else

[tingman]

France defense is good but boy we look short on ideas.

[munster#1]

Ireland tackling is brutal.

Costing us big time.

[wixfjord]

JGP's kicking has been excellent.

Lowe again getting shown up defensively though. Grim.