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So dakka, the Six Nations starts this weekend.... Who you got to win it? Will there be any huge upsets or surprises?

Really hoping for Scotland to win the Calcutta Cup this Saturday, but it's at Twickenham,
Hopefully we can finish above Italy and whichever of the other four stumbles a bit this year.
Should be close this year, my moneys on Ireland to win it , but not a grand slam

 Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:
Really hoping for Scotland to win the Calcutta Cup this Saturday, but it's at Twickenham,
Hopefully we can finish above Italy and whichever of the other four stumbles a bit this year.
Should be close this year, my moneys on Ireland to win it , but not a grand slam

I read that the last time Scotland won at Twickenham, Aston Villa were european champions! That is a mark of shame!

Glad somebody started this thread. My money is on France. With Saint-Andre, they'll have that consistency they seem to have lost the last few years.

Wow. I may be uncultured, but I have never heard of this before. I was wondering why the Six Nations were running a tournament, personally.

 pretre wrote:
Wow. I may be uncultured, but I have never heard of this before. I was wondering why the Six Nations were running a tournament, personally.

What has happened to the American education system?

The six nations is an annual Rugby Union tournament consisting of France, England, Italy, Ireland (total unity in rugby) Wales and Scotland.

Scotland are the dominant nation, having won the last 10 tournaments by record margins

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:

What has happened to the American education system?

The six nations is an annual Rugby Union tournament consisting of France, England, Italy, Ireland (total unity in rugby) Wales and Scotland.

Scotland are the dominant nation, having won the last 10 tournaments by record margins

Rugby... That's like football, but less interesting, right? /ducks

Just kidding.

I was referring to this, however, which is what I think of when I think of Six Nations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois_Confederacy

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:

Scotland are the dominant nation, having won the last 10 tournaments by record margins

The painful joy

 pretre wrote:

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:

What has happened to the American education system?

The six nations is an annual Rugby Union tournament consisting of France, England, Italy, Ireland (total unity in rugby) Wales and Scotland.

Scotland are the dominant nation, having won the last 10 tournaments by record margins

Rugby... That's like football, but less interesting, right? /ducks

Just kidding.

I was referring to this, however, which is what I think of when I think of Six Nations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois_Confederacy

Interesting article. Most of them prefered the British to the Americans. I like them already!

Back OT - some good opening fixtures. Wales -Ireland is always tense, and England Scotland will either be a cracker or a damp squib. There is never an in-between.

I have scotland-england set on DVR, I have my own first match in birmingham (AL, USA) the same day...

I saw that apparently Wales is the defending champs atm, and are loading with experienced players, but i think the victor in Twickenham this weekend may be my overall choice for the tourney... I mean, the English side is only replacing two guys from the starting roster from the one that beat NZ, and those are due to injury, so we'll see if they really want to win I suppose.

Obviously I'd be insane too suggest anything other than an England Grand Slam

Seriously though? I think that England will start by monstering the Scots and then Peter out to a dismal 3rd. Italy could prove to be a surprise package. They are improving year after year, the French? Well, they will either destroy all in Thier path or fail dramatically. The Irish are a good solid side but not very interesting to watch, and the welsh... Oh the Welsh. I think it'll be Thier year again. Don't know why, but I've put my £10 down on them to win the tournament..

 sarpedons-right-hand wrote:
Obviously I'd be insane too suggest anything other than an England Grand Slam

Seriously though? I think that England will start by monstering the Scots and then Peter out to a dismal 3rd. Italy could prove to be a surprise package. They are improving year after year, the French? Well, they will either destroy all in Thier path or fail dramatically. The Irish are a good solid side but not very interesting to watch, and the welsh... Oh the Welsh. I think it'll be Thier year again. Don't know why, but I've put my £10 down on them to win the tournament..

The Irish play some fo the best rugby, along with France, when they hit their A game they are unstoppable,

Italy are hit and miss as well but their game is still of a lower level,
And I don't trust the Welsh after that Cardiff game dirty it was

 Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:

 sarpedons-right-hand wrote:
Obviously I'd be insane too suggest anything other than an England Grand Slam

Seriously though? I think that England will start by monstering the Scots and then Peter out to a dismal 3rd. Italy could prove to be a surprise package. They are improving year after year, the French? Well, they will either destroy all in Thier path or fail dramatically. The Irish are a good solid side but not very interesting to watch, and the welsh... Oh the Welsh. I think it'll be Thier year again. Don't know why, but I've put my £10 down on them to win the tournament..

The Irish play some fo the best rugby, along with France, when they hit their A game they are unstoppable,

Italy are hit and miss as well but their game is still of a lower level,
And I don't trust the Welsh after that Cardiff game dirty it was

Well, I suppose the Welsh, in some instances have a pretty decent advantage with their wingers, but that English pack is fething scary! Sadly, I havent watched much French rugby (all the youtube videos I have found thus far, have been commentated in french, or in whichever form of spanish is spoken in Argentina), so I cant comment on how good or not they are. A co-worker of mine really digs one of the French locks, since he is insanely huge (with some skill to back up the size)

Despite England's win over the All Blacks, it looks like France for the grand slam with England, Wales and Ireland fighting it out in the middle. Scotland and Italy will be having their usual contest for the wooden spoon. Much as I'd love England to win it, I think that the All Blacks win may have been a bit of a fluke (and I say this as an England fan). Wales is the team that may go either way, they were terrible in the autumn internationals, but do have a quality team. Can't wait for it to start tomorrow.

grrr

I imagine Scotland will get a beasting at Twickenham and then go back to their usual throwing away matches etc etc.

Anything is possible really, we could see a great Tournament for England, or they could crash and burn, France, Same thing, the rest i couldn't really say where they'll end up but you can never really tell.

According to my rugby app, ireland has beaten wales today...since i am recording england and scotland, i'll not be checking again today (as when i get to watch it tomorrow, i dont want to know the outcome)

yeah the Irish won out 30-22, but they lead 30-3 after about 45 mins, the two sinbins and the Welsh trying to engage beast mode really made for a good finish.

But they won in they end so I'm a step closer to winning a bet

France will win with Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland, Italy that order.

Wales are pretty strong aren't they? I'd think Ireland and Wales should be wapped.

Italy have beaten France today and were very impressive in doing so. Things are already getting interesting. Ireland-England next week could be a title decider.

Just got done watching the England Scotland match.. for me, that was an excellent match. I cant wait to see the match that BBC America has next weekend


From all the recaps I've seen, Ireland came out terribly in the second half, so I think that if they play like that against England next weekend, it'll end poorly unlike against Wales.

I can Safely Say its Scotland for the wooden spoon, Italy as a team have been consistently improving mainly in terms of Consistency and skill. I was egging them on to Win against France and what impressed me was not that they simply got in the lead, but the fact they were able to, after falling behind, get back in front and stay there.

 kamakazepanda wrote:
I can Safely Say its Scotland for the wooden spoon, Italy as a team have been consistently improving mainly in terms of Consistency and skill. I was egging them on to Win against France and what impressed me was not that they simply got in the lead, but the fact they were able to, after falling behind, get back in front and stay there.

I can still see Scotland winning a very close, and god awful game, settled on penalties 9-6 or something like that. Then again, it'll probably be a ten try thriller!

England-Ireland should be good.

Not going to mention my country's performance against Ireland

England looked like a good team, very pacy and nice seeing the old up the jumper England has gone bye bye with Lancaster at the helm.

France vs Italy was the best game of the lot though, and not just cause i had money on Italy winning.

England looked good :-) France were not as good as they could have been, but Italy played well to beat them. Not quite sure what happened to Ireland in the second half, but maybe it was just Wales waking up and playing like they meant it. The less said about Scotland the better, but they may have dibs on last place already, We'll probably know after next weekend. Ireland vs. England next weekend should be the title decider.

grrr

 grrrfranky wrote:
England looked good :-) France were not as good as they could have been, but Italy played well to beat them. Not quite sure what happened to Ireland in the second half, but maybe it was just Wales waking up and playing like they meant it. The less said about Scotland the better, but they may have dibs on last place already, We'll probably know after next weekend. Ireland vs. England next weekend should be the title decider.

grrr

I actually thought the scots looked OK, at least during the first half.... the second half just got horribly ugly for them, thats for sure. I thought england came out with about the same fire as they did against NZ in december, so that to me, will make them tough to beat. Definitely wish i got the game against ireland this weekend, but i think i only get france/wales :(

Fair point about scotland, they weren't terrible. Unfortunately, even Italy are looking pretty good, so I'm not sure they'll win a game. Oh well, I'll be glued to my tv again come saturday.

grrr

 grrrfranky wrote:
Fair point about scotland, they weren't terrible. Unfortunately, even Italy are looking pretty good, so I'm not sure they'll win a game. Oh well, I'll be glued to my tv again come saturday.

grrr

Again, BBC America is showing a game on saturday...unfortunately, again I have to record it to watch later, due to playing a match (hopefully the other team will be able to show up as last week we didnt get the game in because my team couldnt make it through nashville)

I just wish that the game I get was the one on sunday, as I am much more interested in watching england/ireland than I am wales/france.

And another weekend of hopefully high quality rugby is upon us.

Obviously im going to be biased and say wales for the win over France, nothing more than the blind welsh optimism that will end by making it hurt when they play like headless chickens.

I think Italy will edge Scotland on the back of last weeks win, and that their starting to have the confidence to run the ball.

And Ireland to win at home given England will struggle to get much/any clean ball with an irish pack that are great at slowing down a ruck. It'll be interesting to see if the running rugby England i'm enjoying watching will will go back into their old ways when up against it in a hostile environment.

Well 27-3 so far couldn't be further from what i expected.

Scotland certainly putting on a great game.

Well that was unexpected. Maybe Scotland's tendency to get thrashed at every opportunity will held at bay for a while.