[The Phantom]

This years 6 Nations is less than a week away, so here's a thread to post all news, views, pre and post match talk.

[Crocker]

Here's how I think it will finish this year

1. France
2. Ireland
3. England
4. Wales
5. Italy
6. Scotland

[PeaceSells]

Ireland to win the Grand Slam for sure, even after our terrible WC!

[The Phantom]

Opening weekend of the 6 nations is always a good occasion. The big game of the weekend will be at Twickenham when England take on The Ospreys, errr I mean Wales. There’s been some controversy here about Gatlands inclusion of so many Osprey players, but really apart from 2 of them I haven’t got any complaints.

Jamie Roberts is too inexperienced to start at full back, Shanklin I think should partner Henson in the centre. For me Sonny Parker, more times than not, goes missing in the big games. With Peel and Stephen Jones both struggling with injuries in recent weeks, Hook and Phillips were obvious choices. Hook hasn’t been on top form this year, but hopefully he’ll find his form again for the championship.

Up front the only person id’ have had in would be Gethin Jenkins instead of Adam Jones. But Gethin can cover both the loose and tight head positions, so to have him on the bench is not such a bad thing, if we’re looking at the bigger picture.

The Welsh team are going to surprise a lot of people this year. I finally think we’ve got that edge which will enable us to finish off matches in the right manner. We’ll also have a structured game plan from the off set. I felt under Mike Ruddock and Gareth Jenkins that wasn’t set in place, and it seemed far too off the cuff, and reactionary, instead of us setting down some solid foundations from the very beginning, and putting others on the back foot. Gatland has been talking a very good game since he’s been here in Wales, and now it’s time for the talking to stop, and start showing us what he’s all about. Performances are the major goal of this season. Gatland has only had 10 days with the players before this game, so it’s a big ask for them to go to Twickenham and win, but if we can go there and give it a real go, then that’s all that can be asked. Next season, is the time you’ll see the real Wales under Warren Gatland.

My Predictions for this weekend:

Ireland 29 – 12 Italy
England 19 – 17 Ospreys
Scotland 9 – 27 France

And for the record here's how I think the season will finish:

1. France
2. Ireland
3. Wales
4. England
5. Scotland
6. Italy

[The Phantom]

We Won!!! Wooooooooo!!!

A brilliant result for us on Saturday, even though our performance was shocking for large parts of the game. We missed too many tackles in the first half, and the amount of turnovers we conceded was frightening. England should have buried us in the first half, but thankfully they didn’t. Part of this, in my opinion, was the lack of ……. I remember halfway through the first half, England were dominating possession and territory, yet after about 2 or 3 phases Johnny Wilkinson dropped into the pocket and took 3 points via a drop goal. Now if your going to dominate a team like that, then why don’t you kill them off when you can? 3 points here and 3 points there are not going to win you test matches all the time. When the opportunity comes to take 5pts, then they should be taken.

At half time I sensed we were still in it. I have seen many a game turn around with only a 10 point difference between teams. However I couldn’t possibly have predicted what was to come. As soon as we started to gain some possession and territory, England cracked, it was unbelievable and joyous (from my point of view anyway!) to watch.

What impressed me the most though, was come the final whistle, there were no over the top celebrations. They knew they’d won without playing well, and the mentality of “as long as we beat the English” has seemed to have been cast aside. The players were keeping their feet on the ground, and were focused on next weeks match with Scotland. It’s going to be a nightmare to find a ticket for that match now!! Grrr.

Ohh and how close was I with those predictions!

[The Phantom]

Ah, another weekend of 6 Nations Action… I love it. For those wondering (probably no one) I did manage to get my hands on some tickets for the Wales vs. Scotland match tomorrow... I can’t wait!!

We’ve made 3 changes for tomorrows match, and I’m pleased with each of them. Shanklin should have started against England, and he had a good impact when he came onto the pitch on Saturday. Jamie Roberts makes his debut on the wing. I’m so pleased for the guy, he’s worked very hard to get where he is, and really deserves his chance. Long gone are the days when I was playing with him in the school side!! Were as Shane Williams gives us the glorious dancing and jinking, Roberts will provide the powerful running and ball carrying on the other wing.

Overall I wasn’t too impressed with Scotland against France. Yes they were on the end of some bad luck for 2 of the tries, but they just didn’t seem to function well as a team. Patterson is back, and with him in the team Wales need to be very disciplined. With his goal kicking prowess, any penalties given away within kicking distance will probably end up being turned into 3 points.

Although I foresee a tough game, I’m expecting the Welsh boys to put in a far better performance than last week, and I hope Scotland don’t turn up again!!

Game of the weekend has to be the clash between France and Ireland. Frances young guns looked okay in their win over Scotland, but they weren’t too impressive. They’ll probably grow together as a team throughout the tournament (Yikes we have them in the final game!). Rougerie and Skrela are back for France, and they’ll have big impacts on the game. Ireland meanwhile looked quite good during the opening 20mins of their game against Italy. I loved how the three-quarters were playing, and their opening try was brilliant. But after D’Arcy went off, Ireland seemed to lose their edge. If Ireland can’t hold it together for 60mins then I can see the French blitzing them, and heaping more pressure on Eddie O’Sullivan.

Last, and not least England need a big performance and a morale boosting win over Italy in Rome. Apart from 20mins of craziness at Twickenham England should have been going into this game with a victory behind them. Johnny Wilkinson is truly in his last chance saloon, as Danny Cipriani is breathing down his neck for a starting place in the England side. Vainikolo will probably score a couple of tires in this match and then I can see the media going way over the top – saying he’s Englands version of Lomu. All the Italian winger opposite him needs to remember if he is attacking and Vainikolo is charging towards him is that he needs to duck just like Mark Jones did!! Truly comical. England should win without much of a struggle after the initial first 20mins.

Predictions:

Wales 32 – 14 Scotland
France 42 – 12 Ireland
Italy 9 – 36 England

[pastie]

Wow, Your prediction for our match was actually only sligtly out (because as you know we won 30-15)
If I'm being honest though I was slightly dissapointed in the match, while we played well and we are a developing team who is 2 for 2 as Ryan Jones said I think that replacing Phillips with Peel wasn't a good decision as I feel that Peel should've started this match and they have an altering basis with scrum-half untill we finally can decide which one is better.

Anyway, Well Done Wales! Thank you Warren Gatland, Keep up the Good Work

Pastie Out (my first post btw!)

[PeaceSells]

I really thought Ireland were gona beat France in the second half! Another year, another failed attempt at a Grand Slam.

[The Phantom]

A few pictures form Saturdays match (Wales vs. Scotland) I’ll post some thoughts later.

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[The Phantom]

Super Saturday tomorrow… all 6 nations will be in action.

Ireland need to show the form they had in the final 20mins of their game against France when they play Scotland this weekend. If they turn up playing like that, then they should blitz the Scots. Scotland didn’t even look like scoring a try against Wales two weeks ago. Their too reliant on the boot of Chris Patterson. The Scots need to show more passion and creativity if they are to come out of this game with anything positive to talk about.

Wales haven’t beaten Italy for the last two season, so obviously we go into this game cautiously. However we have a stronger belief in ourselves this time around, and anything less than a convincing win will not do. Italy proved to be tough nuts to crack 2 weeks ago against England, but as well as Italy played, England were just as poor (in the second half). Wales’ problem is their inability to make the most of their chances. We had a lot of chances to score tries against Scotland 2 weeks ago, but we failed to score the majority of the time. Stephen Jones and Dwayne Peel will be Wales’ danger men. The recalled Scarlets duo have a point to prove after being left out of the last 2 matches – and I’m sure they will prove their point.

England have been very poor during this tournament. The French haven’t been sublime, but they usually get better as they tournament goes on. France had a scare in the last match when Ireland came back at them, they won’t make the same mistake of switching off this weekend. France to win.

Predictions:
Ireland 27 – 12 Scotland
Wales 46 – 7 Italy
France 34 – 17 England