dracupg

16:00 kick off ... is that 03:00EST? Not sure I will be staying up for that. Is is repeated anywhere?

Ceri

We’re young, you are old. It’s the future that matters. So instead of looking back at last 6 nations try looking at recent games – the world cup, not bad against England (we were leading in the first half – and also out tried them) .. not bad against N.Zealand too –four tries .. and not bad for a team the media wrote off.
Like I said the future should be interesting.. now all we need is a Welsh coach (which looks likely)

Ceri

not to my knowledge - no
I'll be sitting up to listen to it, like I did last year - hubby was in bed moaning it was too loud ..lol . and to turn the noise down

bondipom

England are so old that they can last 100 minutes of intense rugby and still pull out the points that matter. I would say the experience of that team was an edge rather than a hindrance.

I thought the idea was to build a team for the World Cup rather than blood them in during the world cup. The players you have mentioned (Jonny and Jason) are young.

Badge

Ceri, which part of 2001-2003 did you not understand? :-)

Yes bp, in fact I was not referring to the World Cup at all which is a 'knockout' competition, not a try fest, where funny things happen (the beauty of them) ie. France knocking out NZ in 1999, Aussie knocking out NZ a few months ago. Often results ARE ground out, you have to be as good on defence as on attack. Try counts were low in the later stages, they always are. Noone wants to spill the ball. The Aus-France final in 1999 was not a try fest, and indeed SA beat NZ by a drop goal in 1995.

Ceri, you can't keep up!! ;-) But I do appreciate your rugby passion nonetheless, and your points are noted...;-)

Clive Woodward deliberately did not rebuild for 2003 and got the result he wanted.

I think the England win was a good result for the Northern Hemisphere and Celtic supporters should take alot from it - it would have been a bad day for rugby up north had NZ or Aussie won it. It would have meant another 4 years of 'your're not quite there yet'.

BM

RichS

Yet another misrepresentation put about by the anti English Rugby media.

The average age of the 'young' Welsh side this weekend will be 27.
The average age of the 'old' English side will be 27 and a half.

Its all of course relative.

We watched the young Welsh side run out of steam and blow up against the very very old English side in the World Cup. surely if age is supposed to be a factor you'd expect the younger side to come on stringer in the latter stages?

Ceri

we'll have to wait and see then It should be very interesting without Jonny.

I have the greatest respect for Robinson.. I do think he is one of the best players you have. I went to see the Welsh, england quarter here in Brisbane - the only English player for me that really stuck out for me was Robinson - he can't half move , and actually looks better in real life than on the box - very quick and nimble

Jonny - I personally do not think will make old bones, he's very injury prone - He's one big target.

cheers

Ceri

That's because a few of them have retired - you're captain has gone too (this year) hasn't he

Badge

now you're getting it. Nothing better than a woman in to her footy.

Jase I feel is not as quick as he seems as he is quite small. He is fast over 40m, but tightens up over longer distances. However he is certainly elusive and always beats his first man which is why he may prove to be good at centre as he can break the line. Can the support be there, though?

I have a similar style to Jase, (low centre of gravity, leg strength)and find now I am 31 that I am nowhere as fast over the distance, but can still outswerve and turn on the pace over short bursts to confuse defenders - which gets harder as you fet older. Jase is not that young himself.

BM

melaniee

what has happened to him??

Ceri

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/3467973.stm

Do you want to send him a get well soon card too ?

cheers

melaniee

Neil Jenkins anyday! No, I just want to rub it in to my husband-he he he!

Ceri

Are you still building ?

I didn't get to listen to the match - I stayed up and listened to the Irish French match first (which incidentally - the beeb kept switching to the football and horse racing that was on at the same time- so it spoilt the match, and I gave up) .. so I decided to watch the tele to wait for the Welsh Scottish match (which started at 2 am here QLD time) .. had a few beers while waiting - and promptly fell asleep - so I missed the game. Woke up at 4am on the settee - to realise I missed the game! I couldn't stay awake..lol

Anyway it sounded like a good game from the reports - we play Ireland next - fingers crossed

Incidentally I searched on NZ sky tv - and the kiwi's get the six nations on tv - the B*stards!!! How can I hack into sky NZ - is there any way I can I pick it up here in Brisbane?

cheers

P.S that will teach you (scotland) for having an Aussie coach

Badge

Ceri,

what channel was the Wales/Scottish game on then in QLD??

I stayed up too, then realised that the Eng game was on Sunday not Saturday - shocking. Jase scored a couple (hat trick) of tries.

Badge

RichS

Yes,

Just the 7 tries to the old non-try scoring England team at the weekend.

I think the facts need to be faced that England are in fact likely to become a much stronger team in the short term (the next 10 years) than they are now. The professional era has led to a wider influx of players coming to the game, not any more restricted to chaps who went to the right school. the frightening side is not the England first XV, but the u19, u18 etc.
Of course the game evolves all the time and our players will need to be as adaptable as the southern hemisphere sides have traditionally been.
England as a benchmark shouldn't be lost on the other sides in the 6 nations though. They will get the benefits from Englands improvements too. Not too many of them need encouraging to give their best against England.
As for Wales - sure they might have looked OK in a World Cup, but they looked OK losing games. They have too much infighting and bickering and their build up was always with an undercurrent of sniping at the coach, not least from Jonathon Davies - someone I thought better of than that.
Ireland and France look capable of making up a very strong triumvirate of Norhtern hemisphere sides.
Italy - who knows?
Scotland - if it wasn't Scotland it'd be funny. The fact that it is Scotland makes it much more amusing than merely funny.

Another point - England ahve for the last 5-6 years arranged to play Australia twice a year. Sure these games aren't that important in themselves. However these games have caused the myth of Southern hemisphere invincibility to be removed from our players eyes. When we play Australia now we believe we will win.