RBS 6 Nations - England vs Ireland - 17/03/2012 - 17:00

[Feicarsinn]

Twickenham, London (17/03/2012, 17:00)

 

[Peat]

England by 50.

 

[lynam1104]

Going to be very tight if england play like they did yesterday. I still think that Ireland are the better team ATM so i'm going with Ireland by around 7.

 

[Conal]

after yesterday i am not confident
and england are due a win against us

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

england are due a win against us

Ha, you fool.

This could be match of the tournament (which would be impressive) if England can keep their performances up to their current standard (unfortunately I have no worry Ireland will perform as we seem to perform at a consistent level only against England)

I think that, granted Early doesn't get consistently murdered by Tuilagi, Ireland will scrape it by about five.

 

[Teh Mite]

Snipers are already in the West London rafters waiting waiting for Earles. Specially air lifted from Dublin.

 

[monkeypigeon]

Snipers are already in the West London rafters waiting waiting for Earles. Specially air lifted from Dublin.

Why snipers? Thought Tualagi had the job...

 

[j'nuh]

Ashton out, Strettle in is the only first-team change I'd make. Also, Wood's fit now? In for Dowson.

Kearney has hit some incredible form = avoid kicking to him.

 

[Big Ewis]

There'll be some fields of Athenry singing in the crowd in Twick, some Kearney+Bowe magic and a nice victory at the hands of the English...It has been prophesied !

 

[Teh Mite]

Why snipers? Thought Tualagi had the job...

I figured Keith Gerrard had been shot on Saturday.

 

[gingergenius]

This one will be impossible to call. As an England fan, I would have taken 3/5 before the 6N started, but come to think of it, losing twice at Twickenham is not fun and losing to a decent but not amazing Irish team would also not be fun.

What an intriguing week we have ahead of us.

 

[slowprop]

At the start of this 6 Nations I honestly thought England would struggle to win any games at all especially as 3 were away. Still a long way to go but things are looking encouraging. If they cut the silly penalties out I think it will be a tight game. Could go either way.

Personally I'd like to see Lancaster get the job. He's done well and appears to have the buy in from the players. It's difficult to imagine that anyone else could have done better.

 

[Teh Mite]

Keeping Lancaster, dropping Andy Farrell and bringing in Mallett as a DOR appears to be a popular concensus.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Keeping Lancaster, dropping Andy Farrell and bringing in Mallett as a DOR appears to be a popular concensus.

Yes, yes and no. If I were English I'd give Lancaster my full backing. He's done well and should be rewarded for it. I'm very much against the idea of a director of rugby however. It creates a strange dynamic as to who is in charge, which can be nothing but detrimental to the team, as evidenced by Rob Andrew's constant meddling in the English set up over the past number of years and the performances that brought. Back Lancaster I say. He's a big boy and can manage a team on his own.

 

[j'nuh]

Early days to ask this but if Croft starts coming back to form, what would our best backrow be considering all these players: Croft, Haskell, Robshaw, Morgan, Waldrom, Armitage, Seymour, Wood?

 

[welshglory]

So much depth. Although straight away i would take Waldrom and Seymour out of the reckoning.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Yeah, I don't think Seymour or Waldrom will be in the England squad any time soon - Waldrom will drop out of the reckoning completely when Haskell returns, and Seymour's not there to start with. I don't think Armitage will be selected as long as he's in France.

It's going to be interesting to see what goes on when Haskell's back and everyone is fit.
You'd have:
6 = Croft vs Wood vs Robshaw vs Haskell
7 = Wood vs Robshaw vs Haskell
8 = Morgan vs Haskell
19 = All who aren't starting fighting it out.

You could make realistic cases for all of the players.

 

[Jockstap]

England in Twickenham sans O'Connell and BOD, with Tualagi running at Earls all day(shudder), against a scrum that destroyed the French in Paris, hmmm.

 

[racingmetrofan]

Dunno about this game - if England's pretty solid defense thus far is making it difficult for Sexton and co, i wouldn't be surprised if O'Gara won't come on and try and kick there way to victory. and I'm not so confident in our attack that we can consistently score more than 9-12 points a half.

We're in a better situation than the Irish though - 3/5 for England won't be too bad, but it'll be really bad for Kidney etc if their only wins come from Scotland and Itay.

Would like to win at home though! I imagine no changes bar Strettle for Ashton (fingers crossed!)

 

[Big Ewis]

So hey, how does it work exactly in the 6 nations again ?
If we beat Wales and England loses to Ireland: what happens in the final ranks of the tournament, who's 1st, 2nd...etc ?