MichaelRobartes

France carving England up early here.

2 minutes ago, Maltshoveller said:

Joshua wont fight anybody who might beat him

He's lost three of his last five fights...

Another great signing. I think Willis is possibly England's best back row.

Really good signing. Always rated Marmion and think he should have more caps. Obviously not in Ireland contention now so a nice payday for him and a blow for Connacht.

Remember him coming on in a tight test against Australia on the wing and tackling everything that moved. 

5 wickets in almost 62 overs at 2.5 for the village spinner. Some effort.

That was unreal. Game of the championship so far.

O'Neills are a GAA supplier. I didn't know they'd started supplying football kits but their GAA stuff is quality. I have jerseys from almost 20 years ago which are still in great condition.

Don't mind them calling it soccer. As View from the Dolman says, we have our own football code. Soccer is an English term anyway, not an Americanism.

You could try The Ceili. They play Irish songs and are great fun. Nick is a big City fan as well.

https://www.facebook.com/theceilihouseband

Unbelievable half. One of the best I've seen.

That's disgraceful from Barnes. Red all day.

I can see why he's done it. I'm not sure Smith and Farrell work as a combination. The World Cup is soon and Farrell has won lots of games for England. Smith doesn't have the credit in the bank yet. If the World Cup was next year, I might struggle to see the case for benching Smith.

Again I didn't think they played that badly. They were poor defensively but they haven't had long with Sinfield. You'd expect that to improve. 

16 minutes ago, TonyTonyTony said:

Cheap shot. Pathetic really. 

Ah come on now.

England could easily have won that game but for some individual brilliance and a few missed tackles. They've a good coach and I think they'll be much better by the end of the tournament. I think they're potentially a really bad match up for us. Then again I thought today would be close so what do I know...

Wonder if Sir Clive will blame Eddie for that as well. 

We look good but haven't had to do much. Win collisions and you'll do alright. 

That said, terrible decision making from Wales in our 22. Biggar throwing an intercept, then not throwing a pass with an overlap and getting turned over. Morgan held up over the line. Could have easily scored 3 tries. Wales beeb unlucky with a couple of pens but brutal discipline giving us access to their 22. Pretty brainless from an experienced side.

Nice to see I was right to be worried about the scrum. I have no clue.

7 hours ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Here we go again...

Early train over to Cardiff on Saturday for Wales v Ireland. A contender for one of the biggest piss ups in world sport. Lots of Irish I know heading over from Knowle and Bris. Gonna be epic. 

Expectations for Cymru are low. Will take any result this year. Gatland has very much gone with experience so we'll see how that works out. Ken is a popular captain. 

Sensing Delilah is gonna get sang!! 

@MichaelRobartes win for you boys by 7 incoming? Agreed?

Have a great day mate. Jealous!

I'm really not sure. It feels like Gatland coming back has thrown everything up in the air a bit. On paper we should win, but Wales were never as bad as people said and are always dangerous at home. Leinster have had some problems in the scrum on the loosehead side. Porter has been getting on the wrong side of refs and James Ryan isn't a tighthead lock. Kelleher and Furlong missing may not help either. The scrum isn't necessarily that important but we'll see. I'll say we'll win by 10 but I wouldn't be completely surprised to get turned over by the same margin.

@Welcome To The Jungle I fancy France to win as well. It's set up for Ireland with France and England at home but I don't trust us in a World Cup year. I have no idea what to expect from England. I can't see Scotland finishing above Ireland. Italy are on a high from beating Wales, Aussie and Samoa last year (although they also lost to Georgia) and Benetton are playing brilliantly in the URC but the fixtures aren't kind to them this year.

By all accounts a great guy. Shame it didn't work out this season. I won't even hold being a former Basel stalwart against him. They could probably do with him at centre half now!

Merci Timm. Alles gute!

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/jan/16/rfu-did-not-block-eddie-jones-joining-australia-for-legal-moral-reasons-england?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

I think this is good from the RFU. Fair play to them. To be fair, if they didn't want Eddie coaching England anymore, they shouldn't be bothered about him coaching someone else.

The length of the contract surprised me a bit but if they were going to leave Rennie go it was perfect timing to get Eddie in.

Going to be really interesting with so many tier 1 sides changing their coach at short notice.

England and Aussie are on the easier side of the draw. Could meet in the QF if one slips up in their pool.

Borthwick confirmed as England coach. Kevin Sinfield defence coach.

More wickets for the village spinner. G'wan Jack!

On another note, I see that the pitch in Rawalpindi has been rated below average. One snippet from the match referee's statement caught my eye:

"The pitch hardly deteriorated during the course of the match."

Who'dda thunk it?

100 test wickets. G'wan Jack. 

Massively impressed by Antoine Frisch this season. He looks like the centre we've been looking for. Going to be an unbelievable player for Munster and Ireland if he carries on like this.