Well England lost the plot !!!

Based on this weekend's performances, I don't see England winning any more games this year. We were dire, to say the least.
Hate to say it, but I can't see anyone beating the French to be honest. Wales - Scotland was almost farcical; the ref restarted the match after time was up and why oh why didn't Blair hoof the ball straight into touch from the restart?
Irish were just outplayed.

Actual results:
Wales by 7
France by 13
England by 5

That's why we're not the experts

Unfortunately didn't see much of any of the matches, though tuned in to see Scotland beating up the Welsh (early in the game) so was pleasantly surprised... clearly I missed the last 5 minutes!

France clearly put Ireland to the sword. Few moments I saw were a dominant French defence locking the Irish out and throwing them back. The Irish looked devoid of ideas and inspiration - I took that as a sign of French dominance. (Very) Worrying from an English perspective.

England match - failed to set the VCR - so only saw the last 20 minutes. Painful. I thought the score was 0-14 and then I realised that actually it was 9-14 just as they took it to 12-14. Even as the clock wound down I wondered if we had done enough with the drop goal

Ho hum. England need to really get their act together if the promissing start last weekend is actually to result in anything this time round...

apparently the ref had cautioned him that a "hoof out" would result in a penalty scrum to Wales ....

I is a weeping .....

Fair enough, but I'm still at a loss as to why the match was restarted after the equalizing penalty. Time was up AFAIK.
Also, why go for the short restart? Surely try and get it as close to the corner as possible, no?
I'm not normally a huge fan of the Scots (blame Gavin Hastings and his anti-English rants for that), but they played pretty well and deserved to win.

On a side note, I see Golf buggy-inspired celebrations are not going out of fashion

That is correct though. Straight out on a restart is a penalty scrum to the opposition. You can't stop the game on an infringement, you have to stop it "clean".

There were 12 seconds left when the game restarted and as you can't stop the match in play it had to continue. Wales kept the ball in play and went on to score a try!

It was a fantastic end to the game, but I did feel terribly bad for all the Scots in the pub. Must have been heart breaking

I don't think so. Maybe 12 seconds to go when the pen went over, but it was definitely red by the time the Scots restarted. Check out this:
FF to about 8:14. The clock has run down before the restart.

Andy Powell arrested and therefore dropped from Welsh squad.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugb...sh/8515528.stm

Berk.

There was time left after the penalty therefore there had to be a restart; the ref would have informed both captains.

Putting the restart out on the full deliberately is a penalty (restart out on the full = scrum on halfway awarded to receiving side); either way the match must be restarted and cannot end until the next dead ball

re: not dropping long on the restart, the Scots said they wanted a chance to regain & win a penalty although how likely was that with 13 men on the pitch?? Wales cross-kicking with the next dead ball bringing the final whistle took a pair! paid off in spades though
Scot now to battle for the spoon with the eyeties, 2 losses & 3 key players crocked (looks like Evans is going to pull through ok)

Flannery of Ireland cited for his assault on the French winger winning his first cap and will be taking about 3 months gardening leave. that & a few injuries will weaken Ireland for Twickers on 27.2

However England the biggest disappointment, how the biggest & richest union in the world can continue to look so nearly clueless is beyond me. When they kept the ball in hand they made inroads but persisted in punting it to hand with no chasers (and when Moody did chase he took the Italian 15 out in the air and should have been binned)
Captain Bother kept calling long throws when Hartley couldn't hit a barn door and had underthrown about 5 on the trot. I despair

We should have won last year @ Croker; however Sexton to come in @ 10 for Ireland to open it up and if we go into our robotic shell I can well imagine an Ireland victory

France as enigmatic as ever. pole-axed by the All Brags in Nov but 2 solid 6n matches, squeezed the life out of Ireland


roll on round 3!


ps, the Lion is a good venue, many fewer 'ooray 'arries thaan at the Twist.....

CHF 12.80 for a can of Boddingtons though?!

don't think I've ever seen a can in there......

anyway I stick to the Guinness, which is about 8 Stutz, usually 2 in each half.

also like the high ceilings in the Lion (helps disperse the smoke - but that won't be a problem after 1stMay!)

The smoking is the main reason I won't be joining anyone in the pubs this time round. Last time I watched the rugby in the twist, I ended up with streaming sinus's which lead to a cold (a common reaction for me to smoking).

However I did watch every game at home in HD with more than a few tins

Agreed on the Lion, if you get there early enough you can get a front row seat and never have to get off your backside for food or drinks

You should all come down to Paddy Reilly's in Fribourg for smokefree rugby

Isn't any thread safe from the smoking debate?

OK, after a week wasted, 6N action back on this w/end - predictions?

Mine:
Wales - France: France by 12 pts
Italy - Scotland: Scotalnd by 3 pts
England - Ireland: England by 3 pts

France by 10
Scotland by 15
Ireland by 10 (kills me to say this, but can't see it any other way. Please prove me wrong chaps)

I put Ireland to win, then changed my mind - I have a sneaky suspicion (or is that hope) that we might fluke it thereby resulting in more mediocrity for English rugby (cue change from short term hope to long term despair).