6 Nations 2006

[NV05]

So who's it going to be this year?

My prediction is a French grand slam, England in 2nd place, Ireland in joint 3rd place with Wales (maybe the Irish pushing ahead on points?), Scotland in 5th with their only victory being against Italy and Italy in last place, with nul points.

[Denzil]

England seem to be the only team in the world not building for the 2007 World Cup. Andy Robinson seems to be digging a hole for himself IMHO. If the old stagers can produce a reasonable 6 nations (ie at least 2nd) all will look rosy - yet France, NZ and SA are way ahead at the moment and getting better with young players. If they fail, Robinson will look stupid for having picked them as he will have less time to create a younger team before the World Cup.

Wales' lack of depth in some positions could be exposed but all the new backs picked for Saturday can play the ball, some are just a bit dodgy in defence. Key will be whether the Wales lineout functions. The other big factor will be the ref Honiss who isn't afraid to card.

[NV05]

If you're talking about bringing Dallalgio back, I agree with you, he's not part of the new generation of England rugby and wouldn't fit in. The Corry/Dallalgio thing just will not work. He's a trophy player who's past his best and bringing him in, for example, at flanker, will mean that someone who will play there at the World Cup in France won't get their opportunity to practice being in the England set up. After Dallalgio coming back, I think that Robinson has picked the best possible team. It is quite hard being the coach at this cruicial time as you have to choose whether or not to field the best possible team and win the 6 Nations, or experiment with new combinations which will gain experience from this 6 Nations, the autumn internationals and 2007's 6 Nations.

I can't see Wales retaining the trophy at all. Ireland and France will be too rampant and England can't settle for anything else than victory over Wales.

And then there's Scotland and Italy

[Fozzer]

France to take gold, Italy with the wooden spoon, and the rest can squabble in the middle, with England likely to take 2nd place.

Id like to see England take a cue from the French and play with the flair that I think is possible. Any team who gave the All Blacks such a run for their money should have the confidence to play expansively. I hope this is the case, I dont want to see all our points in the France-England game coming from the boot of Olly Berkely! I reckon thats probably our best chance of beating them - unfortunately I dont think thats what we'll do.

[NV05]

47-13!

what a result! So many mistakes though! Ben Cohen you absolute fool! Why must you always kick it!

A result like this is a good way to start off the grand slam campaign for England. I'm really looking forward to the France game (and err, the others).

[Denzil]

Well done to England. Shame about Lewsey, although Voyce deserves a chance. I thought it was certain yellow for M Williams - despite what some others say. We have lost Cooper (shoulder) now as well - if we lose Peel, S Jones or G Thomas we will be really up sh!t creek. I think we did well to hang on as long as we did given England's forward dominance, and we deserved to lose heavily by the end but I don't think the final scoreline was fair to us.

The refereeing in the Ireland - Italy game was an absolute disgrace - you have a TV ref so fecking use it. And how BOD isn't sighted is beyond me - but the TV sponsors don't want to lose one of the stars and one of his relatives is involved in the citing process so . . . Having watched him regularly in the Celtic league and his behaviour after the Umaga 'spear-tackle' I have absolutely no time for the petulant little tw@.

[NV05]

Agreed about the ref in the Italy game. Still, hope Italy get at least one win. I think Wales will see off Scotland on Sunday by a small margin. England will beat Italy in Rome and France will see off Ireland.

[omlette]

Yeah I agree with the ref thing, but to be fair it was his first international, he was probs a bit shell-shocked. And also from where he was standing it probably looked like a definitve try, and despite the obvious fact that he should've used the 4th official, it's the head ref (the one on the pitch) that gets the final say. If in doubt, ask for help, just learn to trust your judgement and not get over-reliant on video refs (bcos that just pisses me off whe they do it for every single try, even the blatantly obvious ones).

B.O'D should've probs been given a first warning there and then re:stamping, but the ref didn't even notice. I'm honestly amazed he got off, cos much as I love him he was behaving bang out of order.

Scotland to win (i hope) but it'll b v.tough. Us to beat italy (obs) and unfortunately france will probs whoop ireland's asses cos I don't think they've taken lightly to being beaten, they'll want to avenge the scotland match.

Despite being English I love the Irish team, they have some great talent and it's annoying cos they're capable of better but they really have been playing like a bunch of fannies lately (in the autumn tests).

[NV05]

Looks like there's only one team capable of winning the Grand Slam now......