The Six Nations is really starting to get interesting now, with Round Three of the action looming. This just adds to the already packed rugby we have had with the start of the Super Rugby season, with ten massive games for your viewing pleasure.
IRELAND VS ITALY
The Italians have been competitive in both their matches this season, but they still don’t seem to have that killer instinct – as was evident against when they conceded a nine-point lead against England. Not much would have changed in the last fortnight and unless the Irish are very poor on the day there can only be one winner.
The most intriguing of all the individual showdowns will be at flyhalf – where the younger Jonathan Sexton (Ireland) will be able to rely on his experience of Test rugby (all 10 caps) against the ‘rookie’ Tobias Botes (Italy), who will make his first Test start, despite being a year older. They are also two very different players, the attacking flyhalf against a player with a more educated boot. Jamie Heaslip (Ireland) against Sergio Parisse (Italy) is always worth the entry fee.
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Gordon D’Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O’Brien, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O’Connell (captain), 4 Donncha O’Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Donnacha Ryan, 19 Peter O’Mahony, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Ronan O’Gara, 22 Fergus McFadden.
Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Giovanbattista Venditti, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Luke McLean, 10 Tobias Botes, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Michele Rizzo.
Replacements: 16 Tommaso D’Apice, 17 Fabio Staibano, 18 Antonio Pavanello, 19 Simone Favaro, 20 Fabio Semenzato, 21 Kris Burton, 22 Gonzalo Canale.
Date: Saturday, February 25
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Kick-off: 13.30 (13.30 GMT)
Expected weather: Overcast with patches of sunshine. High of 10°C and a low of 6°C.
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), David Changleng (Scotland)
TMO: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
ENGLAND VS WALES
A lot has been made of England’s ‘unbeaten’ run this season, but closer scrutiny will reveal that they beat the two worst teams in the competition and struggled to do so. Wales, however, have been far more impressive – just as they were in reaching the World Cup semifinals last year. In terms of skill and talent, Wales just look so much more capable.
By the nature of the game Owen Farrell (England) and Rhys Priestland (Wales) will be pivotal to their teams. They are two of the most talented playmakers in the Northern Hemisphere and it will be an exciting contest. The midfield battle will be just as crucial, as the English duo of Manusamoa Tuilagi and Brad Barritt will be up against two of the best in the business, Jonathan Davies and Jamie Roberts of Wales.
England: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 David Strettle, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (captain), 6 Tom Croft, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Mouritz Botha, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Rob Webber, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Courtney Lawes, 19 Phil Dowson, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Toby Flood, 22 Mike Brown.
Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Michael Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (captain), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Alun Wyn Jones, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Richard Hibbard, 17 Paul James, 18 Ryan Jones, 19 Justin Tipuric, 20 Lloyd Williams, 21 Stephen Jones, 22 Scott Williams.
Date: Saturday, February 25
Venue: Twickenham, London
Kick-off: 16.00 (16.00 GMT)
Expected weather: Cloudy with some morning rain, but progressively more sunny as the day wears on. High of 13°C and a low of 4°C.
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland), Pascal Gauzere (France)
TMO: Iain Ramage (Scotland)
SCOTLAND VS FRANCE
Scotland will be desperate to secure their first victory of the Six Nations when they take on a formidable French outfit in their clash at Murrayfield on Sunday. Scotland can win this one. They have done it before and were less fortunate than they needed be in their defeats at the hands of England and Wales, where their own lapses cost them dearly.
France, of course, are a powerhouse, just beaten finalists at the World Cup, but at Murrayfield on Sunday, Scotland could just win. It would be a shock to history if they did but surprises are the spice of sport. Of course, surprises are possible and even delightful, but we think that France will be just too skilled, too fast and too settled for Scotland and will win by 15 points or more.
They take up positions at opposite ends of the field but both Stuart Hogg and Maxime Médard are players who can break a game open, Médard with the advantage of so much excellence about the place and Hogg with his youthful exuberance. At scrumhalf there is an interesting contrast between calm, deliberate Dimitri Yachvili of France and all-action Mike Blair of Scotland. Then there is the battle of the locks – skilled Richie Grey and combative Jim Hamilton against combative Pascal Papé and novice Yoann Maestri.
Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Rory Lamont, 13 Sean Lamont, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Lee Jones, 10 Greig Laidlaw, 9 Mike Blair, 8 David Denton, 7 Ross Rennie, 6 John Barclay, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford (captain), 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Ed Kalman, 18 Alastair Kellock, 19 Richie Vernon, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Duncan Weir, 22 Nick De Luca.
France: 15 Maxime Médard, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Julien Malzieu, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Pascal Papé, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Jean-Baptiste Poux.
Replacements: 16 William Servat, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Lionel Nallet, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 Lionel Beauxis, 22 Maxime Mermoz.
Date: Sunday, 26 February 2012
Kick-off: 15.00 (15.00 GMT)
Venue: Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Possible weather conditions: Foggy but fine with a high of 12°, dropping to 6°
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: Alain Rolland (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
TMO: Geoff Warren (England)
Thanks must go to Rugby365 for the information.
Tweet
Ireland, Wales and France. At least my SB is top notch in this competition
Ireland by 9
Wales by 2
France by 3
@JarsonX (Comment 2) :
Ireland 12
Wales 6
France 13
@KSA Shark © (Comment 3) : Wrong, but close 😉
Italy has a crap flyhalf.
@lostfish (Comment 5) : As I say that he doesn’t miss the penalty this time.
Forza Italia! 😎
Try Parisse
Score?
So many tough choices to make this afternoon, Stormers game at 15:00, Englandshire/ Wales at 16:00, Cheetahs/ Lions at 17:00 and Glasgow game at 18:00.
Eish, tough choices.
Not so tough for Ireland though, try for Ireland
It is 15-10 to Ireland with the conversion to come
So it is 17-10 @ HT
“English duo of Manusamoa Tuilagi and Brad Barrit”. Ha ha ha, priceless
@LordHope (Comment 10) : Great stuff
@LordHope (Comment 9) : I’m so chuffed that the rugby actually started now…..
Shocking kick for Botes
@Franshark (Comment 13) : Always love it when the seasons overlap, rugby on pretty much every morning and afternoon.
Silly me! I can watch the Six Nations on the TV, Superugby on tablet and stream the Glasgow game via BBC Alba.
Technology is awesome. 😆
Sexton PK
Ireland 20 – 10 Italy
49 min
@LordHope (Comment 15) : 😯 good greef, that’ll be something…..
@Franshark (Comment 17) : He he, wait until there is Sevens and football on the same day, then I would ‘borrow’ my brothers TV and a PC monitor to use two DSTV channels and run two streams.
I’ll admit I had a hard time keeping up though. 😆
@LordHope (Comment 15) : I told my wife just the other ray that I wanna put in a 2nd tv above the one we have now so I can watch 2 games, or even rugby and cricket at the same time…… they say no answer is also an answer
@LordHope (Comment 18) : do you know how much data it takes to watch a streamed game?
PK for the Oirish.
23-10 now
Sexton PK
Ireland 23 – 10 Italy
58 min
@Franshark (Comment 20) : It depends on the quality of the stream, the most accurate stat I can give is that I watched an hour of Sevens using 3G on Sky Go and it used up about 350 MB of data.
2nd try for Bowe
@JarsonX (Comment 4) : Until that try now I was in with a margin point. 🙂
Sexton coverts
Ireland 30 – 10 Italy
62 min
@lostfish (Comment 5) : As I just mention to a Brit friend of mine. Why do you think he got shipped off? 😆
not because he scored twice now, but I really like the way Tommy Bowe plays…..
@KSA Shark © (Comment 25) : Go Italy! 😈
@JarsonX (Comment 29) : Yeah please!!!!!!!!!! I need them to score a converted try to get my margin sorted.
GO you bloody bunch of pasta eaters!!!!!!
Ireland by 13
Wales by 8
France by 18
12 minutes of scrum so far 😥
a Italy try would be awesome 😛
@KSA Shark © (Comment 30) : Actually an UNconverted try will do me well.
That’ll give me a MP but not Jarson. 😛
So? And?
FULL TIME
Ireland 42 – 10 Italy
@KSA Shark © (Comment 36) : Shit 🙁
@KSA Shark © (Comment 36) : thanks for the final score…. 😯
@KSA Shark © (Comment 27) : He couldn’t even crack a Currie Cup team here…
@Gaff (Comment 11) : I don’t quite know how they can even call that an “English” team. They should rather call it the United Nations.
2 unbeaten sides and Steve Walsh (that great English friend) is refereeing.
Wales by a good margin
@lostfish (Comment 39) : Zackely!!! 🙂
England survive by the skin of their teeth.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 43) : ???
@JarsonX (Comment 44) : Wales almost scored twice in a matter of 30sec.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 45) : Ah! For a moment I thought England have won 😳
10min
0-0 in Wales favour. 😉
@KSA Shark © (Comment 47) : 😛
@JarsonX (Comment 46) : I hope Wales gives the United Nations a thrashing.
17min
England minus 0 – plus 0 Wales
Wales must have about 80+ % territory.
Eeewwww, lovely camera work. Zoom in on the player as he blows his nose on the pitch… ruined my chocolate snack.
WALSH?????????????
Wales have a scrum 10m out push the UN 7m and then he blows for a PK to Wales. Why not let them carry on pushing? (Unless there was an infringement by Wales that I missed)
@lostfish (Comment 51) :
😳
@lostfish (Comment 49) : A margin of 2 will also work 😈
Possession
Wales 72 – 28 UN
Territory (not as much as I thought)
Wales 64 -36 UN
@KSA Shark © (Comment 52) : I was scratching my head at that decision. The French commentators weren’t sure either.
@JarsonX (Comment 54) : Haha, I am just watching the 6 Nations, I don’t have time to do the 6 Nations Superbru too.
UN 3 – 0 Wales
24min
@lostfish (Comment 56) : And he didn’t explain why he blew it up either???????
UN 3 – 3 Wales
27min
@KSA Shark © (Comment 59) : It is Walsh and he has been known to hit the bottle…
What a tackle on Farrell
How long does Walsh wait while England hold onto the ball?
Sorry got sidetracked reading this 😯
http://thechive.com/2012/02/23/girl-tattoos-boyfriend-of-1-week-on-her-arm-a-facebook-thread-ensues-12-photos/
@lostfish (Comment 61) : 😈
Half Time
UN 9 – 6 Wales
@KSA Shark © (Comment 64) : That will be my half time reading
@KSA Shark © (Comment 66) : 😕
Farrell Junior has been none too shabby so far.
And England almost get another chargedown try but Wales defend well, illegally so and they get a PK and Wales get a Yellow.
UN 12 – 6 Wales
46min
@KSA Shark © (Comment 70) : Not good 🙁 Come on you prehistoric lizzards!!
Wales held onto the ball for a good 5min of that YC period by recycling it for 22 phases.
Now England have it
Wales PK just outside the English 22.
PK Over
UN 12 – 9 Wales
53min
@LordHope (Comment 69) : He has also been on the receiving end of a few big tackles.
YC comes back on and Wales actually scored 3 and conceded 0 during the YC period.
C’mon WALES!!!!!!!!!!
60min
UN 12 – 9 Wales
Go Wales!!
Wales LO 10m from UN line
Stevens holds onto the ball like it’s a bag of coke and he get’s penalised.
71min
UN 12 – 12 Wales
What are England’s forwards doing hanging out on the wing?
WALES TRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@lostfish (Comment 81) : They’ll be asking themselves that now as well.
Conversion over
UN 12 – 19 Wales
76min
xD xD xD
Poor England, losing rugby to Wales and Doncaster to Scotland in the space of 3 days. xD
79min
and the UN have a LO 5m from the Welsh line
England over 2m from the touchline going to the TMO
This is more difficult than the Stormers last try to decide.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 87) : doesn’t look like there was any downward pressure
Inconclusive NO try!!
GIRUY English!!! 😈
hahaha, England had already lined up the kick.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 90) : Yes! Another margin point for me 😎
FULL TIME
England 12 – 19 Wales
@lostfish (Comment 89) : Just For future reference, the laws specifically state that downward pressure is not required.
@LordHope (Comment 95) : Sorry I should’ve said that he didn’t ground the ball.
@lostfish (Comment 96) : Aye, just hate the whole “There has to be downward pressure” line that commenataors spout out.
I thought the try would be awarded, England have had unbelievable luck in this tournament. Alas, Laidlaw’s non-awarded try against them has been balanced out for England.
Now hopefully it balances out our side against France tomorrow. 🙂
@LordHope (Comment 97) : I support Les Bleus
Je’ deteste Les Bleus 😈
@LordHope (Comment 99) : Hahahaha, my hubbie is French, my daughter is half French and I live in France…
@lostfish (Comment 100) : “and I live in France…” 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆
@lostfish (Comment 100) : and my name is Frans 😆
Go France!
Booyah!
Hogg try in the corner
7-0 Scotland
13 minutes gone
Fofana try for France, converted by Parra
Ecosse 10 – 7 France
Nasty ankle injury to Blair
Penalty Parra
Ecosse 10 – 10 France
Go Le Cock!
Argh, injuries and only two international level props are screwing us over.
I genuinely think I’ve seen better props than Cross playing for Kloof High School second team.
Penalty Parra and he misses
Ecosse 10 – 10 France
Half time
@LordHope (Comment 110) : Crikey, that’s harsh. Kloof is really really really crap. Even BJ Botha had to go to another high school just to get a look in with Natal rugby.
@JarsonX (Comment 109) : les coqs
@lostfish (Comment 112) : And hopefully they will remain so. 😈
TMC FTW!
French have their tales up, any confidence gained by the Scots will have been diminshed and they revert back to the in the shell mode which has kept us from being independent for 100 years. 🙁
@LordHope (Comment 114) : Scotland couldn’t survive independance…
Penalty Parra
Ecosse 10 – France 13
@lostfish (Comment 115) : Do tell?
But maybe that would o against the ‘no politics’ policy rightly implemented.
@LordHope (Comment 114) : The Scots have heart and they try but they always seem to butcher great moves. They get all the way to the tryline and butcher it at the end.
How much time left?
Lee Jones try after Barclay steal
15-13 to Scotland
55 minutes
@LordHope (Comment 117) : Not too much but they don’t seem to have the ability to control their own affairs. Although I suppose that would be delving into politics 😉
@lostfish (Comment 121) : Aye, that is what I am saying.
For all the outward appearances of the Scots, the nation as a whole has a massive confidence problem. Stems from years of being told we wouldn’t survive from UK governments amongst other things, but anyways.
Try converted
Medard try for France.
And French convert
20-17 to France
60 min
Converted
Ecosse 17 – 20 France
@LordHope (Comment 122) : It’s a pity because with all that oil Scotland could have been one of the wealthiest countries in Europe.
Scotland have a decent chance now Beauxis is on the field
Drop goal Beauxis
Ecosse 17 – 23 France
Got France by 3.
@lostfish (Comment 127) : @lostfish (Comment 128) : 😈
@JarsonX (Comment 130) : there are better flyhalves than him in France… we even have one playing for the Sharks.
@lostfish (Comment 131) : Its funny, ‘he sucks’ but there are 3 more points on the board. 😆
I don’t have this on TV 🙁
and a streaker runs across the field
French win a penalty for the Scots engaging early in the scrum and then opt for another scrum, stupid Frogs give away a penalty for early engagement… muppits
How long has the game been on?
@KSA Shark © (Comment 136) : About 80 mins 😉
@JarsonX (Comment 132) : I guess you could compare him to Morne Steyn. Good at one thing but not a lot else.
@JarsonX (Comment 137) : Oh 😆
So was Scotland 17 – 23 France the full time score?
@JarsonX (Comment 137) : Was that Beauxis that missed the penalty? I wasn’t watching, the little beast was abusing the dog.
FT
France 23-17 Scotland
Game over
Ecosse 17 – 23 France
@LordHope (Comment 141) : The game was played in Scotland. 😉
@lostfish (Comment 140) : Not watching, sorry. @KSA Shark © (Comment 139) : Yip, and I’m still at 100% and I get another margin point 😎
@KSA Shark © (Comment 143) : Meh, we know who the home side is, I put the winning side first cause that is the position they came in the game. 😛
No MP for me. 🙁
@LordHope (Comment 145) : Home side is always first… just like in tennis the player who has service is first. It’s the little things 😉
@lostfish (Comment 147) : LIKE!!
After round 3:
1 JarsonX 14.50
2 BLOU BLOU BUL 14.00
3 pokkel 13.00
4 berroos 12.50
5 MB1810 12.50
6 I am Legend 12.50
7 Whindy 12.50
8 jase 12.50
9 franshark 12.50
10 Puma 12.33
@lostfish (Comment 140) : Yup. That was him.
@Ben (Comment 150) : Thanks. He is a one trick pony.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 148) : It’s pedantic I know but if there is no order then the wheels fall off the bus.
@lostfish (Comment 147) : Yeah I ken, just a little foible of mine that I prefer to go uncorrected.
Just realised, I got a margin point in 7 of the 8 games played so far 😎
@JarsonX (Comment 154) : show off
@JarsonX (Comment 149) : good going Jar, at least I,m still around…
@lostfish (Comment 155) : I need a trophy too 😈 @Franshark (Comment 156) : Thanks, I’m trying. 😛 Only 2 rounds remaining so anything can happen.
@lostfish (Comment 155) : Don’t worry i did the same a few years ago only to be pipped at the post on the final weekend of the Six nations.
maybe we’ll be lucky enough for the same to happen to Jarson. 😈
@KSA Shark © (Comment 158) : 😈
@JarsonX (Comment 149) : I’m also on 12.33, just losing out on a top 10 through TDM
With the SR going full steam, we tent to forget that there is 6 nations going on, and today England is playing France. A few months from now the books play this England team.
After 20 min, England is leading 14 – 3
I think Barritt is really doing well for England
These England commentators are worse than those of SS, they even sitting and arguing about their own opinions on live TV
HALF TIME
France 9 – 14 England