Six Nations 2018

[Ructions]

epom said:

Looking forward to Ireland and Wales, could be a bruiser I'd say.

Wales are very rough.

[Ructions]

Ireland team: Rob Kearney; Keith Earls, Chris Farrell, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale; Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray; Cian Healy, Rory Best (captain), Andrew Porter; James Ryan, Devin Toner; Peter O'Mahony, Dan Leavy, CJ Stander.

Replacements: Seán Cronin, Jack McGrath, John Ryan, Quinn Roux, Jack Conan, Kieran Marmion, Joey Carbery, Fergus McFadden.

[LivingTheDream]

Ok - so round up of teams not mentioned so far.....

First up this weekend is Fra Vs Ita

France have a few changes after bad behavior

France team to face Italy:
15. Hugo Bonneval (Toulon)
14. Benjamin Fall (Montpellier)
13. Mathieu Bastareaud (Toulon)
12. Geoffrey Doumayrou (La Rochelle)
11. Rémy Grosso (Clermont)
10. Lionel Beauxis (Lyon)
9. Maxime Machenaud (Racing 92)
1. Jefferson Poirot (Bordeaux-Bègles)
2. Guilhem Guirado (Toulon)
3. Rabah Slimani (Clermont)
4. Paul Gabrillagues (Stade Français)
5. Sébastien Vahaamahina (Clermont)
6. Wenceslas Lauret (Racing 92)
7. Yacouba Camara (Montpellier)
8. Marco Tauleigne (Bordeaux-Bègles)

Replacements:
16. Adrien Pelissié (Bordeaux-Bègles)
17. Dany Priso (La Rochelle)
18. Cedate Gomes Sa (Racing 92)
19. Romain Taofifenua (Toulon)
20. Kélian Galletier (Montpellier)
21. Baptiste Couilloud (Lyon)
22. François Trinh-Duc (Toulon)
23. Gaël Fickou (Toulouse)

Italy have made 3 changes up front

Italy team to face Ireland

15. Matteo MINOZZI (Zebre Rugby Club, 5 caps)
14. Tommaso BENVENUTI (Benetton Rugby, 47 caps)
13. Tommaso BONI (Zebre Rugby Club, 10 caps)
12. Tommaso CASTELLO (Zebre Rugby Club, 7 caps)
11. Mattia BELLINI (Zebre Rugby Club, 10 caps)
10. Tommaso ALLAN (Benetton Rugby, 35 caps)
9. Marcello VIOLI (Zebre Rugby Club, 10 caps)

1. Andrea LOVOTTI (Zebre Rugby Club, 22 caps)
2. Leonardo GHIRALDINI (Stade Toulousain, 91 caps)
3. Simone FERRARI (Benetton Rugby, 10 caps)
4. Alessandro ZANNI (Benetton Rugby, 101 caps)
5. Dean BUDD (Benetton Rugby, 8 caps)
6. Sebastian NEGRI DA OLEGGIO (Benetton Rugby, 4 caps)
7. Maxime Mata MBANDA' (Zebre Rugby Club, 13 caps)
8. Sergio PARISSE (Stade Francais, 131 caps) captain

Replacements:
16. Luca BIGI (Benetton Rugby, 8 caps)
17. Nicola QUAGLIO (Benetton Rugby, 4 caps)
18. Tiziano PASQUALI (Benetton Rugby, 4 caps)
19. George Fabio BIAGI (Zebre Rugby Club, 20 caps)
20. Federico RUZZA (Benetton Rugby, 4 caps)
21. Edoardo GORI (Benetton Rugby, 67 caps)
22. Carlo CANNA (Zebre Rugby Club, 26 caps)
23. Jayden HAYWARD (Benetton Rugby, 5 caps)

[LivingTheDream]

Ire vs Wal teams have been posted - looking forward to this game, could be a real cracker

Later on Sat is Scot Vs Eng - may be a let down after the earlier game or could be a double header of great games - stock up on beer folks!!!

No changes for Scot

Scotland team to play England at BT Murrayfield on Saturday 24 February (kick-off 4.45pm)

15. Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors) – 57 caps
14. Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) – 41 caps
13. Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors) – 13 caps
12. Pete Horne (Glasgow Warriors) – 30 caps
11. Sean Maitland (Saracens) – 31 caps
10. Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors) – 34 caps
9. Greig Laidlaw (ASM Clermont Auvergne) – 60 caps

1. Gordon Reid (London Irish) – 29 caps
2. Stuart McInally (Edinburgh Rugby) – 14 caps
3. Simon Berghan (Edinburgh Rugby) – 6 caps
4. Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby) – 20 caps
5. Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 40 caps
6. John Barclay CAPTAIN (Scarlets) – 68 caps
7. Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby) – 17 caps
8. Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors) – 34 caps

Substitutes
16. Scott Lawson (Newcastle Falcons) – 47 caps
17. Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow Warriors) – 5 caps
18. Willem Nel (Edinburgh Rugby) – 19 caps
19. Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors) – 33 caps
20. David Denton (Worcester Warriors) – 36 caps
21. Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) – 13 caps
22. Nick Grigg (Glasgow Warriors) – 1 cap
23. Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh Rugby) – uncapped

Just Nathan Hughes in For Simmonds

England team to play Scotland:
15 Mike Brown (Harlequins 66 caps)
14 Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby 30 caps)
13 Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby 37 caps)
12 Owen Farrell (Saracens 55 caps)
11 Jonny May (Leicester Tigers 31 caps)
10 George Ford (Leicester Tigers 42 caps)
9 Danny Care (Harlequins 78 caps)

1 Mako Vunipola (Saracens 46 caps)
2 Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints 91 caps)
3 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers 79 caps)
4 Joe Launchbury (Wasps 49 caps)
5 Maro Itoje (Saracens 16 caps)
6 Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints 63 caps)
7 Chris Robshaw (Harlequins 61 caps)
8 Nathan Hughes (Wasps 12 caps)

Replacements
16 Jamie George (Saracens 22 caps)
17 Joe Marler (Harlequins 53 caps)
18 Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs 7 caps)
19 George Kruis (Saracens 23 caps)
20 Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby 5 caps)
21 Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens 28 caps)
22 Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors 10 caps)
23 Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs 25 caps)

[MYOB]

Ructions said:

Ireland team: Rob Kearney; Keith Earls, Chris Farrell, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale; Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray; Cian Healy, Rory Best (captain), Andrew Porter; James Ryan, Devin Toner; Peter O'Mahony, Dan Leavy, CJ Stander.

Replacements: Seán Cronin, Jack McGrath, John Ryan, Quinn Roux, Jack Conan, Kieran Marmion, Joey Carbery, Fergus McFadden.

This selection is making me a little nervous, given that Wales have some injured players returning.

[warch]

Wales are still in this, although Ireland are arguably the most intimidating NH side in recent years. Should be a corking game.

Scotland still have plenty to play for, no true Scotsman would ever pass up the opportunity to stuff the English, especially at Murrayfield. I think Scotland need to keep their cool and not make mistakes, they often choke this fixture due to the sheer magnitude of the occasion getting to them. Realistically I think England are just too strong for them at the moment, but it shouldn't be an easy game for them.

[epom]

MYOB said:

Ructions said:

Ireland team: Rob Kearney; Keith Earls, Chris Farrell, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale; Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray; Cian Healy, Rory Best (captain), Andrew Porter; James Ryan, Devin Toner; Peter O'Mahony, Dan Leavy, CJ Stander.

Replacements: Seán Cronin, Jack McGrath, John Ryan, Quinn Roux, Jack Conan, Kieran Marmion, Joey Carbery, Fergus McFadden.

This selection is making me a little nervous, given that Wales have some injured players returning.

Agreed, far from our (Ireland's) strongest team.

[DocJock]

Great to see Willem Nel and Nathan Hughes back in the match squads for Saturday.

[Leins]

epom said:

Agreed, far from our (Ireland's) strongest team.

Can't for the life of me work out why Quinn Roux is there on the bench

Also would have probably thrown Ringrose into the mix, even though he's only just back from injury. Henshaw is a big loss, and I worry about the centres this weekend. Hopefully Farrell and Aki will gel quickly. I've always liked McFadden, but he's not the answer these days, nor is Earls if there's a plan to move him to 13 during the game

As usual, I don't see what Kearney is offering anymore either, other than a few penalties for the opposition. Much better available for this level now, even leaving aside the Zebo argument

Looking forward to Carbery getting more game time though, and Porter is a talent that will only get stronger and compete with Furlong at TH longer term I believe

[PhilboSE]

warch said:

Scotland still have plenty to play for, no true Scotsman would ever pass up the opportunity to stuff the English, especially at Murrayfield

Been a very long time since the last "stuffing" though. 32 years in fact (33-6 in 1986). The other 4 Scotland victories since then have been by a margin of 6 points, which doesn't really count as a stuffing.

The teams aren't essentially very different from last year, 40 point margin to England. We can take quite a few off that for home advantage this time around. I expect Scotland will be very fast and competitive at the breakdown, but they'll be hung out by the defensive rush and all the space being lost. 20 point margin to England I reckon.

[Derek Smith]

PhilboSE said:

warch said:

Scotland still have plenty to play for, no true Scotsman would ever pass up the opportunity to stuff the English, especially at Murrayfield

Been a very long time since the last "stuffing" though. 32 years in fact (33-6 in 1986). The other 4 Scotland victories since then have been by a margin of 6 points, which doesn't really count as a stuffing.

The teams aren't essentially very different from last year, 40 point margin to England. We can take quite a few off that for home advantage this time around. I expect Scotland will be very fast and competitive at the breakdown, but they'll be hung out by the defensive rush and all the space being lost. 20 point margin to England I reckon.

It seems odd to me that Scotland play their best rugby against a team they are, the odds tell us, unlikely to beat, but when facing lesser nations (that's all the other four teams) they often fold.

[snake_oil]

Surprised the stadium isn't packed out, shame.

[snake_oil]

No try.

[Derek Smith]

Then again it might be.

[Ian Lancs]

This game reminds me how irritating Jiffy is as a commentator.

[Derek Smith]

A quarter of the way through. Not classic rugby. There are a lot of mistakes being made.

However some good play by the Italians at times.

The French are playing like the French. They'll hopefully turn it on in a while.

[Derek Smith]

Ian Lancs said:

This game reminds me how irritating Jiffy is as a commentator.

Indeed.

[Welshbeef]

Looser than a hookers fanny.

[snake_oil]

Ire v Wal U20S is on the other hand, a corker. S4C with English commentary.

9 tries so far and still half hour to go!

[Ian Lancs]

Lovely Italy try - pity its too little too late