Wales will be a lot better this year, though they are still some way off the Grand Slam team of two years ago. People are writing off England, but I like the back line Ashton has picked alot, I have them down as my surprise package of this Six Nations.

It really will be a four horse race I feel, but I'm just not too confident about Ireland. Thier team, player for player, is incredible, as strong as I can ever remember. But historically, at all sports, Ireland make the worst favourites ever. Can never seem to do it when they're expected to.

My bet is on Scotland. I was at the game when scotland beat england last year. Fantantic result.

Hope we will do much better this time.

England are putting out a strong squad with young and also older experienced players, so i hope they do well for mr ashtons sake as he has taken a bit of a ris and i dont think the sqad have had time to gel. i fancy ireland to win or maybe france. i think who ever wins, it will give them a boost for the world cup.

Hey Ziggy us sasanacs are gonna whoop your [Beep]

COME ON ENGLAND

hmmm was this close from betting heavily on england to win; Grand Slam, Triple Crown and Tournament ... i did this for one reason .. the ODDS we too good to be ignored plus do somewhat feel eng could win triple crown even become tournament winner ... but decided not to do it in da end COZ (touch wood) if they do win, i win all that money and could lead me to become a gambling addict .. nah, decide against the potential risk ...

i 2nd drodz on wot he say about the eng selections, a gud mix of young and old players where the elders could make a gud role model and influence the young guns .. stack them up ready for their forthcoming international matches b4 the elders retired ...

gutted not to see toby flood being picked but then worked out summat .. AAH wilko ahead of Flood to "teach" him how to play etc and another plus for flood is that wilko is in the same club team so could influence him EVEN more ... thus become as gud as wilko !!

gutted not to see Rees in the wing backs (one of the best flankers i've seen as he's very much an out and out attacking flanker whose got a good tally of tries for wasps this seasoon) ... even corry being selected ahead of him makes it more misery for me but then again, EXPERIENCE and INFLUENCES .. hmmm now not to gutted about Rees as he is now on the bench replacing Lewis MOOOOODY !!!

surprise team of the 6nations would be england ... believe they SHOULD finish in the top 3 ... yes will be a 4/5 horse race (not sure about whether i should consider wales) ...

wales DO have a gud team, one massive key player i wish was english is "captain" james hook !! he's young and already up there where rooney is in the football world !! anyway i doubt wales'd perform as well this season due to a massive list of injuries in key players ..

yaaay going to Twickenham ... and already bag of nerves along with excitement coz the eng line up is really making me wonder plus ashton as a coach is BAAAM hot stuff (forget his record with Ireland !!)

even England Saxons (reserves) are looky good and gleaming .. nice looky pack .. i mean .. any of the players in the saxons are in for a chance to the senior team if they perform well tmw !! hmmm BAM England on fire, in terms of players availability and choices .. spoil for choice .. let's us be the New Zealand paaaaart 2 by having 2 or 3 good teams !!!

I'm really looking forward to Andy Farrel's debut in international rugby union...I will be interested to see how his skills from league will change to suit union.

Saxon's game last night was fantastic, to think thats are second team. If we keep this up world cup 2007 here we come :thumbup:
i think Strettle 14 had a great game think he's one to watch for the future and brown 15 also had a great game. not sure if perry deserved man of the match even though he did have a hard game and always seemed to be part of the action.
Looks like the under 21s had a storming game as well against scotland 31-5
Rob its right what you say we are kucky we have a good choice of quality up and coming players plus the oldies. i think this says alot about the commitment we give to the development of our younger players. its a pity football dont take a leaf out of the Rugby union book rather than spending all their cash on buying over seas players.

Two words: Harry Ellis.

Amazing to see Wilko performing again for England at Twickers, like he's never been away, if not a more mature performance.

But lets not seem blinkered: the Harry Ellis performance was instrumental - a true number nine who has surely cemented his place in an England shirt. His darting runs and exact distribution was the foundation of every attack.

What do you think?

baaah

yeh i 2nd that vealehill on harry ellis performance with all his runs and approach to the game ... does SOMEWHAT reminded me of Matt Dawson ...

What a GLOOOOOORIOUS day today had been ... was in twickenham sitting in the lower east stand between the 10 yards and 22 yards line ... view was unbelievable, and was nice to see wilko scoring the try on my side od the pitch !!

just realised summat ... we performed superb today ... even tho it wasn't our STRONGEST nor FULL team (1st team) ... here's a list of players that are hampered with injuries ...

1) Mark Cuerto
2) Ben Cohen
3) Andy Sheridan
4) Iain Balshaw
5) Steve Borthwick
6) Steve Thompson
7) Charlie Hodgson (not at all my favey player, one of my most hated player !!)
8.) Jamie Noon (some may not agree)
9) Anthony Allen (some may not agree but i love him as a player despite some of his bad release of the ball back in the autumn international but remmy he's young and still learny, 'can only get better via mistakes')
10) Lewis Moody

and MAAANY more .. would love to put down the rest of potential players we could have use in today's game but all either out with injuries or just recovered from injuries but lack match fitness/practice ...

also we still have ryan lamb, olly barkley, chris jones etc .. would love to waffle on about MANY more players, once again .. playing in the saxons ... seriously when thinky all about this makes me so BUZZING .. looking forward to the next few years of england international rugby ... looking at the list of "absent players" makes me realise there's no doubt we could match New Zealand by having more than 1 first team squad anytime, anyday !!

and drodz, yeh i totally agree with u on the england saxon performance last night, i watched it myself and was utterly amazed with how we performed .. dont normally watch the saxons but because of the players that are playing in the saxons lure me into watching them plus having brian ashton as head coach, with his reputation of creating exciting rugby makes me tick too ... gotta say was rather disappointed with shane gerahty altho remmy the medias are all on him and there are high expections for what he could contribute for the future england team ... so he's young and bound to be pressurised from all the media and stuffs like that ... need time to learn how to deal with those hypes ...

however lets not get too over excited after today's game ... let just wait till we face ireland and france b4 we could say many more positive things about england .. it's only brian's 1st international match as a head coach of england ....

enuff from me for now

COME ON ENGLAND !!!

After watching todays match wales-Ireland i think its been the best weekend of rugby for a long time. i am not getting complacent, but i do feel really possitive about england.
Hats off to Harry Ellis when he's on form he is the best No 9 going he can be a good play maker and i feel he proved this on saturday. it will be interesting to see ashtons selection for next week to seee if any of the saxons have earned a place.

Rob, i see you managed to get to see them again lucky you :sad: dont know where you get the money from? saying that i have managed to secure tickets so see tigers v argentina next sunday cost me £80 for the tickets though, for the family. then ive got to think about meal out, tigers shop and petrol, it will probably be the only rugby outing this year :sad:
But at least there is plenty of tv coverage for the next two months :P

drodz; as for ur comments on whether ashton will pick up some players from saxons, i'm pretty much in doubt he'd do just that .. he's been saying after the y'day's game ... he will stick to the current squads with making a FEW changes, MAYBE .. he just want the squad to shell and be stabilised/established ahead of the world cup .. to ensure that the midfield players gain gud understanding with eachother .. BUT yes i hell hope he will pick some players from the saxons .. well like who ?! since what we have in the seniors are gud, going well, only need that extra practice for their next 2 big matches after the italians, IRELAND and FRANCE ... even the WELSHES !!
i mean watching today's match i was dumb founded, also gutted only coz wales lost, on how well the welshes manage to perform against the favourite without their key wingers: shane williams and mark jones,also lets not forget they miss out on gareth thomas and tom shanklin ... even bret cockbaine, and some other forward players ...

drodz, have been going to twickenham an awful lotta times, since i was about 10 - 12 ... been to most of england world cup matches whenever they play in twickenham etc .. buying the tickets .. well me pappy got them and shared them with me .. free of charge (!) heh .. he's got tix for the french game but not gonna go because he's only got 2 so will let him take his mate ...

Well played Ireland. Stringer is looking more and more like a liability though, especially with contests against Ellis, Mignoni and Cussiter, who all look in great form, coming up. But if he's what's needed to get the best out of O'Gara then I suppose you don't have much choice but to play him.




1 France 1 1 0 0 39 3 2
2 England 1 1 0 0 42 20 2
3 Ireland 1 1 0 0 19 9 2
4 Wales 1 0 0 1 9 19 0
5 Scotland 1 0 0 1 20 42 0
6 Italy 1 0 0 1 3 39 0

sigh!!

but stringer didnt looked as good as peel whom would have picked up man of the match award had wales beaten ireland ... even alun wyn-jones could take it too ..

look forward to see eng vs wales ... to see who's best scrum half for this 6 nations, between Ellis vs Peel ... Peel "outplayed" Ellis last year so let's hope for it to be the other way around (!)

gotta admit am pretty waring of wales, when they will have their fullest and strongest team together !!

Hope England will win the game tomorrow, looking forward to seeing Easter playing!

Shame about Lewis Moody's injury. To be honest, I think Moody's days of being a starting regular for England may be over. Under Andy Robinson, when England were down in the dumpos and needed someone to put their hand up Moody never did that. I w1as not much of a surprise that he was dropped for the last game of the autumn against South Africa. I think Moody gives to many penalties away in the contact area and I don't think he's much of a ball carrier. He is good at charging down punts and chasing kickoffs.

Boring!

The U21's was a fantastic match last night i think the future of british rugby is looking promising. it is a shame about moody :sad: Vealehill i dont totally agree with what you say about him but then again i am a tigers supporter so am biast :P

Hey Jericho I can't remember anyone asking you for your opinion. If you are bord with it why don't you start your own WWE thread :P

If Scotland lose again, then I will stop watching it.

Im not really into Union as much as i perfer watching League rugby but i wish england well thou :thumbup:

Drodz..

Let me put u rite - "jericho" is NOT a WWE fan as u state - In fact he fcuking hates it :lol:

His surname is actaully Jernejcic but frends of ours just started calling him Jericho - Capice?

Drodz what happened to freedom of speech? If i want to say it boring or something i shall do and thanks EniGmA for explaining to drodz how the name Jericho came about! See ya later at the green pub! Oh by the way what happened to your beloved St Helens?!?

gutted that rees didnt get picked ahead of Easter but never mind ... only brian knows best as he see them train and see what they could do for the team ...

iain balshaw, oh dear injured as soon as he recovered .. should have kept olly morgan on and have balshaw on the bench instead to build up his match fitness (!)

what did ye all think of eng vs ita game ??

i thought it was DREADFUL !! ashamed the italians claimed their first try of 6 nations campaign against us PLUS on our own backyard (!) not a great show even when we got ireland in a fortnight (!!!) i'll be bag of nerves when watching them play at Croke Park !!

as for the scots vs wales .. shocked to see scots win as expected wales to do better ...

tomorrow's ireland vs france game shall be interesting ... it'll be "the decider" i would say !!

enigma .. yaaay st helens lost but shall speak for myself as wigan lost too !!

LOL @ Spursgizmo!

Yer well Saints cana have it there way all time lol anyhoos wat was final score of the Eng - Ita match then?

Was watching most of the Scotland game n it wasnt all intresting actaully..

Not one try or near attempt lol Oh tell a lie i think Paterson the kicker of scotland had the most clear cut opputunity to score one but he was denied by a sentasional tackle by one welsh guy who i forget the name of!

think we thrashed them 20-7 (!) .. dad expected a high score b4 kick off but nope didnt go the way we expected them to .. altho i had a slight feeling it will be a tough game ... even after we whupped scots ... and guess wot ?! their ITA Scrum half was man of the match ...

as for staints .. we expected them to whup harlequins easily since they arent that "wow" team and even worst is that it happened on HOME SOIL !!!!

Hmm suprising result for England - Either England not play at all well or Italy just improving all time but as i say i didnt watch it so i cana really say owt can i

Aye i knw it was disappointing result for Saints especially at Knowsley Road! :wall:

Forget about England for a min...

Very pleased for Scotland, they are improving much better than last week. So hopefully they can sort out the attacking in time for the next game..

Great match. If Ireland had won, grand slam would have been a near certainty I believe. With France winning, and having to go to Twickenham, it's fairly open, even if France are favourites.

well done to scots ... wasn't it even funny to see chris paterson missing a open try by 1mm !? lmao

wanna to say that ireland are OFFICIALLY the worst favourite by losing to France ... oooooh it was sweet to see the late fight back from france .. the irishes really thought they had it when O'Gara kicked in the penalty taking them 17-13 till that BEAUTIFUL last minute try to COMPLETELY silence the IRISHES !! MINT !! really made my day !!

hope ashton been watching the game and plan his game ahead for 2wks time ... really hope we will Choke them at Croke Park but doubtful ...

yeah, remmy ireland without O'Driscoll today, if he is fit in 2 weeks time, england will be worry about him.

i dont like frenchies, they did play well, they brought Betsen and Harq-something back. clever tactics!!

yeh i already notice that irish are a 1 man team, big time (!!)

dont like frenchies nor irelish but glad to see france win PLUS to see them recalling Seb 'Neanderthal' Chabal ... have always admire him as a player for Sales ... they way he charged and play his game !! mint but was unfortunate to see him go this early !!

Hey Jericho hope I didn't offend you, I was only teasing to get you back for the boring comment :P "i knew you were only teasing as was my reply" I fealt I had to stick up for the beautiful game :wink:
I understand your comment of boring now I know you are from the dark side (rugby League) I have tried to get in to watching League before but the game is too fast for me and my pacemaker kept packing up

I was disapointed with this weekends games, have not got round to watching Ireland V France yet as I was busy watching Leicester Tigers get trounced by Argentina yesterday :sad: Will watch it some time today "thank god for sky+"
What a diiference a week makes.

drodz; since yer a leicester tigers fan .. expect u to know a lot about ur team especially the players .... one of the players, hooker named james buckland .. used to play against him when i was younger for about 8 seasons (2 games per season) .. i was with marlow facing his old team aylesbury ... yeh he's a gud player but a dirty booger !!

Drodz

I will going to sixways to watch Leicester play Worcester this saturday, should be good game!!

Yeh Buckland is a good hooker but don't get many outings because we have Chuter and Hickie. if i remmy right i think he played in the england u21s a while back. as for being a dirty B aint all hookers :wink: .
Rob have you Heard owt about the Tiger96 v Bath 96 Pilkinton cup Grudge match on 18/03/ 07 at welford road?

james buckland .. if he made it then wonder where i would be had i not got those incurable shoulders injuries ?!?! that wot made me bitter as a lemon everytime i see a player like him playing for a big club like tigers .. there's one more i know whose play for northampton staints and he played in the same team as james buckland at aylesbury also northampton academy b4 buckland departs for leicester ... anyway this other player, he's a scrum half and his name is Johnny Howard ... only 2 so far i've spotted playing against in my teenage life !! GRRRRR

however about the leicester vs bath game .. been a bath supporter since the age of around 10 or so ...

yes i can recall we had the pilkinton cup now know as the anglo-welsh cup ... and yes i can remmy what a match it was .. obv in that period, in the 90's it was all about bath and leicester tigers dominating the english rugby ... but do i remmy the game/battle clearly .. nope i was a pot head around that time !!



before i forget this later; as u were saying earlier about buckland's position being highly competitive due to tigers having Chuter and Hickie ... can't you remmy earlier this season buckland was moved back to blindside flanker for one of the game i cannae remmy which but at the time thats when i spotted him .. this obv show he's a "verstaile" (spelling unsure, trying to say "varie") player ...

chuter's coming to an age so would mean he'll (buckland) eventually be competing against Hickie for hooker position ... one thing we need to be aware of .. pat howard is leaving this summer so we'll never know how the new boss will manage the team ... will be interesting seeing who tigers will bring in, to continue howard's good work ...

one thing we need to be aware of .. pat howard is leaving this summer so we'll never know how the new boss will manage the team

Thanks for reminding me :cray:

Rob what I was trying to say was that they are having a benifit match on 18/03/07 Tiger97 squad v bath 97 squad. a rematch of the pilkinton cup game. some of the old names like jonno, deano,backy wellsy underwood, de glanville, ojomo,dawe, redman,catt ect. Should be an interesting game, interesting to see how you play rugby with a zimmer frame

My rugby claims to fame are I went to school with Darren Grewcock of tiger and england fame, i done by Dean Richards for riding a bike with no lights when i was 14. he was a police man in my home town of hinckley, Sam Vesty used to play on the same school team as my nephew and graham roundtree lives round the corner from my sister. not much i'm afariad but there you go

whoops a daisy about that particular match ye've mentioned up there .. hmmm hmmm really am tempted and drat wish i knew all about it ... would be great to see some golden oldies playing again !! hmmmm but they are playing at welford road and in 5 days time .. GRRRR wish i could go had the venue be nearer to me than miles away !!

ye one lucky bugger about all that story u've said, interesting for sure ... yeh aware about deano being a copper, found out from this book i got ..

and this GREAT england rugby book i'd HUGELY recommend u to buy from any book shop that sell it ... it was a xmas gift from sophieeeee's brother and seriously love the book to bit so if i love it then without a doubt u'll love it too .. here's the name of the book and serial number;

"The Official England Rugby Miscellany" ...

ISBN : 1-90532-612-2

trust me it's a WOOOOORTHY buy this book !! dont be afraid, it's only a tenner !!

oh yeah got another thing to share u with ... when jack rowell was a head coach of england in the 90's, as u would knw, the england team came training on my team's rugby pitch before playing one of their games in the 5 nations competition .. was in awe to see the likes of carling, underwood, etc (u knw the names so not gonna go on)

Thanks for the advice on the book, just checked it out on amazon £6.59 I might tie it in with the RFU 2007 year book and get free postage :thumbup:

cool will check that book out then !!

Vealhill good look for tomorrow, I will be watching it on TV, so dont forget to give me a wave, will you be the one in the blue and yellow rugby shirt? You have a good home record this year up to now and you beat us at home last season so it is looking like it will be a good battle. "tip" 12.30 to 1.30 £1 off a pint in the 19s bar so get there early :wink:

anyone of u have jelly legs over ireland vs england game ??

am SOOOO bag of nerves .. just hope we'll perform ...

wot are ur thoughts on england next game ??

England gonna do it... Ireland will be too focused on Wilko which I am sure Ashton knows that!

It will be a close game for sure!

O'Driscoll is back :eek: but looks like Stringer ain't gonna make it :thumbup:.
Looking at the Irish line up we are gonna have one hell of a battle on our hands. I think it could go either way its gonna be the best game of the tourney or we are all gonna fall into a coma watching it.

Shame to hear that Thomo is now ruled out for the world cup as well, lets hope Chuter can up his game. Not sure how many more games Wilko has left in him for this tourney maybe should give him a rest after this one and give Flood a bit more experience, as we may need him for the world cup as replacement when Wilko gets nobbled by the all blacks "dirty boys".

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DAZZLING ROBINSON IS OUT !!!!!! sustained a neck injury in training !!

Prime example of what i was saying;. Who can we use to replace him? looking at speed, vision and ability, we ait got no one to match. :eek:

went to sixways last saturday, it was scrappy game. the ref was very poorly.

tomorrow i will going to gloucester to watch Gloucester Vs Warriors game. if they lost they will go down. i am looking forward to it! (local derby game and England vs Ireland game after)

Come on England! if wee Stringer play, would love see Corry tackle him so hard!

yeh totally agree last weeks game was a bit lame. did not see you wave, unless you were the bloke in the welford the tiger suit
Good luck for tomorrow should be a tight game though. we too have a local derby game against saints hopefully we will give them a pasting which will give you a bit of a helping hand :wink:

unfortunately i'm working tomorrow of all days :eek: tigers on sky at 1pm, france on bbc at 3 and england at 5. my dream day sitting with 20 cans of stella would have been gratious :sad:
fingers crossed i can get my meetings over by 2 and back home for the france game at 3. thank god for sky plus i will then watch the tigers game after england :thumbup:

think i will need my pace maker for the england game, shame that robbo is out but if he had of played ireland would of taken him out in the first ten mins "dirty boys" interesting to see strettle start though, he has had an interesting journey in the last 12 months, lets hope he comes up with the goods. if you look back at previous posts on this thread i said i rated him. do you think mr ashton visits D4L and takes our advice :wink: if so we should get the grand slam this year

Rob if you had jelly legs on weds you must be in a wheelchair now . i'm sure the lads will do us proud, if we forget the big names, we have still got a good squad out there that can kick [Beep].

COME ON ENGLAND

lol ... lemme just correct a lil error ye made on rugby matches kick off times ... italy scots game is around 1.30 .. then eng ire game kick off around 5.30 THEN last of all .. fra wal game kick off is at .... not that early but miles later than u said ... 8.30, yes in the evening (!)

fra do sometimes play their games late, did happen b4 .. why?? well dont ask, just them frenchies !! so guess yer in for a chance to watch the french game !!

anyways best make a move and watch the 2nd half of world club challenge game, exciting match for sure and on sky sports 1 incase ye wonder .. saints vs broncos, rooty for broncos as am a fan of them plus a fan of saints all time biggest rivals - WARRIORS !!!

not such a grand performance by eng, we played as if we got vaseline rubbed on our hands !! had it not been for our stupid errors and stupidly conceding penalties .. the irish would b down and out ....

defensively we were solid, creativity we were grand ... it's only to do with stupid fouls, totally un-necessary fouls such as corry tackling a player in the air from the line out, lund tackling a player when he was in the air to catch the ball etc and slippering hands that coz us the win !!

we were thrashed all cos the luck shone on the irishes but eng !!

but otherwise can't wait for our next 2 matches where i hope we will perform than under perform !!

Safe to say, I was the happiest man alive yesterday after the match! Followed up by an excellent night out!

Spursgizmo, luck had nothing to do with the match yesterday. I thought we were equal in many ways but experience gave us the edge as we had managed to create chances and capitalised on them. Also we worked as a team throughout the match. If the english squad had more experience collectively then it would be a real test for they wouldn't afford to make mistakes or concede fouls.

Bring on the world cup! :-D