The Six Nations 2009

[Marshal Murat]

I thought he was talking about the Iroquois. What this?

European Rugby Union Tournament between the national teams of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, and Italy.

Six Nations

[Marshal Murat]

My picks for Round 2

Saturday, 14th.

France v Scotland, Stade de France
15:00 GMT, 16:00 local

While the Scots put up a show for Wales, they still lost to the reigning champs. They haven't got Murray or Hines back, and they don't look so strong this year. Another spirited fight that will result in a FRENCH victory

Wales v England, Millennium Stadium
17:30 GMT, 17:30 local

The Welsh have shown the consistency, skill, ability, talent, speed, and all around awesomeness that is required to be 6 Nations champions (again). England, while better than they used to be, aren't all the way to the top, and will give up an away game to the Dragon. WALES

Sunday, 15th.
Italy v Ireland, Rome
14:30 GMT, 15:30 local

Ireland's punching bag. IRELAND. The Italians have figured out, as BQ pointed out, that Bergamasco isn't suited for scrum-half. I don't particularly trust the Italians, so I'm giving the Irish an away win.

[PBI]

What on Earth is this thread doing all the way down on the second page?

Anyway, the weekend's action; I thought England did pretty well, and ran a Wales side who looked a little lost in attack without Shane Williams pretty close, but in the end they gave away too many penalties and it cost them. Not sure if this was a deliberate tactic to break up the Welsh rhythm or if it was just poor discipline, but in the end it resulted in Wales racking up points from penalties faster than England could score tries.

Ireland-Italy wasn't exactly inspiring, but in the brief phases when Ireland were able to get some momentum going they looked very impressive. The possible championship decider between Wales and Ireland on the last day should be a real treat.

France-Scotland was a bit of a farce IMHO. I may not know all that much about rugby, but one of the things I do know is that you aren't supposed to drop the ball every time it is passed to you, and you certainly aren't supposed to run the ball back over your own try line and then drop it with an opposition player right behind you, which I seem to recall a French player doing and being very lucky not to give away a try. In the end though France dropped the ball slightly fewer times than Scotland and therefore won, but if they play like that against Wales they will get slaughtered.

I'm looking forward to weekend after next, Wales-France should be a fantastic game and Ireland have a big test against England, should hopefully be a bit better to watch than this weekend.

[Marshal Murat]

As I understand it, Scotland almost (ALMOST) got the try on the France because they kicked it in. Besides, I think France got lucky with a forward pass try that they shouldn't have gotten.

Cha-ching.