Six Nations 2017
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There was a quote way back from the 93 Lions tour from some ex All Black saying if only he had a pair of hands Ben Clarke would have been the worlds best loosie.. He was one of my most "how is this guy not amazing?" players.
He was also cited when Mike Brewer got drafted into an AB tour as the coach (Mains) was worried if he played Liam Barry, Ben Clarke would destroy him.
Tim Rodber would be an excellent lock in the modern game.
@gollum He never came across as particularly bright, rugby bright I mean. He sort of reminded me of a cartoon I saw years ago relating to basketball. There was this huge great 8 feet tall guy holding the ball in one hand just above the net and the coach was saying "Now remember what I said? Now you let go".
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@gollum He never came across as particularly bright, rugby bright I mean. He sort of reminded me of a cartoon I saw years ago relating to basketball. There was this huge great 8 feet tall guy holding the ball in one hand just above the net and the coach was saying "Now remember what I said? Now you let go".
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@gollum He never came across as particularly bright, rugby bright I mean. He sort of reminded me of a cartoon I saw years ago relating to basketball. There was this huge great 8 feet tall guy holding the ball in one hand just above the net and the coach was saying "Now remember what I said? Now you let go".
@Catogrande said in Six Nations 2017:
@gollum He never came across as particularly bright, rugby bright I mean. He sort of reminded me of a cartoon I saw years ago relating to basketball. There was this huge great 8 feet tall guy holding the ball in one hand just above the net and the coach was saying "Now remember what I said? Now you let go".
No, not a rennaissance man, I think. I met him at the City 7s in 94? 95? Nice enough guy, I suppose, but never going to set the world a light with witty repartee and badinage. Then again, he was pretty much player of the '93 series, as I recall, and pocketed a stack of moolah when he moved from Bath to Richmond, and went on to become a money broker when he retired, so I doubt he cares a tinker's cuss for my opinion. Plus if I registered on his consciousness at all during the 7s it would have been as a speed bump for Steve Ojomoh. I suspect that with satellite technology you could probably still make out an imprint of my mangled body on the turf at The Old Deer Park, round about the halfway line...
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I always rated the back row of Richards, Winterbottom, and Teague/Skinner. Had a good balance to it, and Winterbottom wasn't the biggest open-side going around either
@Kiwidom Richard Hill was outstanding, the 'quiet achiever' of the RWC winning English side.
I was living in the UK around that period so got to see a lot more of him play, he was the rock of his teams.
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I always rated the back row of Richards, Winterbottom, and Teague/Skinner. Had a good balance to it, and Winterbottom wasn't the biggest open-side going around either
@Kiwidom If you look at the heralded English back rows you will invariably see balance. The Richards, Winterbottom, Teague era, the Hill, Back, Dallaglio era. But since then we have had a series of big munters. All good players in their own right, but where is the balance?
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Some interesting comments re: England here. It seems like there is conflicting schools of thought. Big is best, but they were outsized and outpowered on the weekend.
And expansive play, when they continuously kicked the ball away on the weekend. Like, over and over. Are they getting caught in two minds? Despite their very impressive 12 months (and it has been impressive) is there still a divide between Eddie's way and the England way?
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@Kiwidom If you look at the heralded English back rows you will invariably see balance. The Richards, Winterbottom, Teague era, the Hill, Back, Dallaglio era. But since then we have had a series of big munters. All good players in their own right, but where is the balance?
@Catogrande woked last June where you just threw weight at the breakdown, and the Wallabies could do fuck all about it
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Some interesting comments re: England here. It seems like there is conflicting schools of thought. Big is best, but they were outsized and outpowered on the weekend.
And expansive play, when they continuously kicked the ball away on the weekend. Like, over and over. Are they getting caught in two minds? Despite their very impressive 12 months (and it has been impressive) is there still a divide between Eddie's way and the England way?
@mariner4life take a while to get rid of the more natural instincts about how they play the game.
Even under Lancaster they looked like they wanted to play an expansive game, but when they struggled to execute so always fell back to the tried and tested.
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@Kiwidom If you look at the heralded English back rows you will invariably see balance. The Richards, Winterbottom, Teague era, the Hill, Back, Dallaglio era. But since then we have had a series of big munters. All good players in their own right, but where is the balance?
@Catogrande said in Six Nations 2017:
@Kiwidom If you look at the heralded English back rows you will invariably see balance. The Richards, Winterbottom, Teague era, the Hill, Back, Dallaglio era. But since then we have had a series of big munters. All good players in their own right, but where is the balance?
Pfft. Jeffrey/Calder/White LAUGHED at their efforts back in the glory days of 1990.
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@mariner4life take a while to get rid of the more natural instincts about how they play the game.
Even under Lancaster they looked like they wanted to play an expansive game, but when they struggled to execute so always fell back to the tried and tested.
@taniwharugby said in Six Nations 2017:
@mariner4life take a while to get rid of the more natural instincts about how they play the game.
Even under Lancaster they looked like they wanted to play an expansive game, but when they struggled to execute so always fell back to the tried and tested.
Which comes back to how they play the majority of their rugby and how you play as a kid growing up through the game.
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@Catogrande woked last June where you just threw weight at the breakdown, and the Wallabies could do fuck all about it
@mariner4life said in Six Nations 2017:
@Catogrande woked last June where you just threw weight at the breakdown, and the Wallabies could do fuck all about it
Point.
And how did it go in the World Cup?
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Pretty much as expected, with some question marks over how fit Wood and Haskell are in the bench. May have been tempted to start with the latter even if he only lasted a half.
Nice to see Nowell back involved.
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Pretty much as expected, with some question marks over how fit Wood and Haskell are in the bench. May have been tempted to start with the latter even if he only lasted a half.
Nice to see Nowell back involved.
@Margin_Walker said in Six Nations 2017:
Pretty much as expected, with some question marks over how fit Wood and Haskell are in the bench. May have been tempted to start with the latter even if he only lasted a half.
Nice to see Nowell back involved.
Not sure if the Hughes injury concern was a smokescreen or if he is also not fully fit. For all the talk of depth there must be a big temptation to play some guys who aren't 100%
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@Margin_Walker said in Six Nations 2017:
Pretty much as expected, with some question marks over how fit Wood and Haskell are in the bench. May have been tempted to start with the latter even if he only lasted a half.
Nice to see Nowell back involved.
Not sure if the Hughes injury concern was a smokescreen or if he is also not fully fit. For all the talk of depth there must be a big temptation to play some guys who aren't 100%
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Well I just hope it works out better than the last time we played in Cardiff with a makeshift back row...
@Margin_Walker said in Six Nations 2017:
Well I just hope it works out better than the last time we played in Cardiff with a makeshift back row...
It will. You've all been 'painting pictures' apparently, different pictures with different paint, but you've painted them yourselves.
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Wales:
15: Leigh Halfpenny (RC Toulon)
14: George North (Northampton)
13: Jonathan Davies (Scarlets)
12: Scott Williams (Scarlets)
11: Liam Williams (Scarlets)10: Dan Biggar (Ospreys)
9: Rhys Webb (Ospreys)1: Rob Evans (Scarlets)
2: Ken Owens (Scarlets)
3: Tomas Francis (Exeter)
4: Jake Ball (Scarlets)
5: Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys, capt)
6: Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues)
7: Justin Tipuric (Ospreys)
8: Ross Moriarty (Gloucester)Reserves:
16: Scott Baldwin (Ospreys)
17: Nicky Smith (Ospreys)
18: Samson Lee (Scarlets)
19: Cory Hill (Newport Gwent Dragons)
20: Taulupe Faletau (Bath)
21: Gareth Davies (Scarlets)
22: Sam Davies (Ospreys)
23: Jamie Roberts (Harlequins) -
Wales' chances exponentially increased when they didn't elect Cuthbert. Or so every comment from Welsh fans would have you believe.
