6 Nations Thread

Fantastic result for England and for Eddie Jones. The Australian tour will be a pointer to how good this England team can become over the next 4 years.

 

Congrats England - a great result after the disappointment of the WC. Amazed that they haven't won the GS since 2003 though!

 

Well done England. Winners of the Second Division trophy in World Rugby but I suppose you can only beat what is in front of you. Good to see a plethora of tries but it seems all France can do is hoof the ball to put points on the board. As someone said, it will be interesting to see England against Australia. My own feeling is that England have improved over the winter, Scotland as well. Ireland are in transition, Wales are at about the same level as they were in the WC, while France are stuck in a desperate trough of mediocrity and think the route to victory is to beat up the opposion in the scrum. Would NZ really put a 23 stone forward on the pitch? Nah. They want fast running players.

 

Shame on you, Ides. Was waiting for someone to pull a downer after we beat 5 teams to win the grand slam. You win the trophy To talk a victory like this down is like saying the winner of the French League shouldn't get too excited because they haven't won the EPL. This will do wonders for confidence and experience...the side is young and should get better.

 

As Brian Moore said last night "A Grand Slam is never easy. You have to win 5 games in a short time and everything is against you ...."
Well done England. I think we have a chance down under !

 

The time to get really excited is when England can outscore Oz, South Africa and NZ in terms of tries and points. The potential is there, as it was in the World Cup against Australia but that evening Oz were just superb. It is good that England are going to Australia where they can really test themselves, as against the likes of Italy it is no match at all. Wonder if the Rugby Authorities could somehow have a tournament where the winner of the 6N can participate in the SH tournament?

 

Can't see them going for that....would be like the All Blacks asking to take part in an enlarged Six Nations.

 

Grand slams take a lot of winning, especially since the 5 nations became 6. That's why they don't happen all that often. Quite an acheivement for the red rose following a disappointing WC.

 

The only thing that really frustrated and annoyed me, about England's performance, last night, was the regularity with which we conceded penalties, within "easy" kicking range.
The better teams will accept them AND add a few tries of their own, so it is something they need to work on.
I don't know enough about the game to know if the penalties were as a result of poor techniques or poor discipline, but I'm sure the governor knows.

 

Exactly right. The England front row, Dan Cole in particular, were targeted as an easy source of kickable penalties. I believe that was the reason Mako Vunipola was taken off at half time as well, but it didn't stop the rot. The French even brought on a 23 stone prop for the last 20 minutes just to help the England scrum collapse. This will have been noticed by Eddie Jones and his forwards coaches and they'll be working on it between now and the Australia tour, so I would expect improvements in this area. The England game is based on the set piece, and while we seem to have cracked the line out, with the excellence of Kruiz and Itoje stealing loads of possession, the scrum is still a work in progress.

 

I understand most Rugby Union rules, but the fine details of what can be a penalty is a bit of a mystery. The commentators were talking a bit about French cynicism, so they were presumably 'earning' a penalty. However can't complain if they are using the rules...the opposition is allowed to play to their own strengths....up to us to counteract them.