Final Thoughts

[Dai Perk]

A very exciting Super Saturday, despite the dead rubber...

Lasting impressions:

• Wales look good. REALLY good. Any of this talk about their only beating lesser teams and/or only rising to the level of competition, can now be banished. They laid the smack down on both sides of the ball, and are well-deserved grand slam champs.
• Scotland has to feel a little better, if only for getting so close despite the endless litany or injured players... Gotta assume this will be an emotional boost for the RWC.
• England looked good until they got their collective finger stuck - they're gonna have some soul-searching to do, but I doubt they should really be too worried.
• Ireland, and the Irish media, are now free to take a collective **** for the next five months while they ponder and debate and rue the differences between the Autumn team that downed the Kiwis and the team that just crapped themselves in Cardiff.
• Oh yeah, at some point, Italy and France, but particularly Italy, should decide if they're interested in learning how to play this sport.

Impressed by the overall competition - my first Six Nations - but disappointed ultimately that the Scots couldn't bring more to the table. The fact that Peter O'Mahoney got player of the match after cheap-shotting Stu Hogg into oblivion makes it feel good to watch them get destroyed by the Welsh.

Anyway, back to Prem, Pro14, And Super Rugby!

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

It was a decent edition, but Ireland, Scotland, France and Italy were all way below their optimum performance level due to various issues. If they had all brought their 'A' game it could have been an incredibly interesting tournament.

I'm also a bit concerned that in tight, meaningful games (excluding Ire vs Eng) there was a dearth of tries. The Twickenham fiesta is not representative of where the sport is just now, but is what I'd like to see a bit more of. Way more tries in the Rugby championship (where admittedly defences are looser) and playing conditions are drier).

Overall I'll give it 7/10

 

[Dai Perk]

It was my first 6N, so I can't really compare it to anything else, but I agree it seemed like very little scoring (excepting the last game)... Can't tell if that's because offences were sputtering, or if defenses are just so elite that it becomes incredibly difficult. It felt like the French, against Ireland, should have given up two or three times as many points, Ireland spent all DAY knocking on the door...

In positive (kinda) news for Scotland, I just heard on Egg Chasers that this is the first time in history a team has scored six tries against England at Twickenham, so they can put that little stat in the Calcutta Cup for the trip home.

 

[The Seeker]

A very exciting Super Saturday, despite the dead rubber...

Lasting impressions:

• Wales look good. REALLY good. Any of this talk about their only beating lesser teams and/or only rising to the level of competition, can now be banished. They laid the smack down on both sides of the ball, and are well-deserved grand slam champs.
• Scotland has to feel a little better, if only for getting so close despite the endless litany or injured players... Gotta assume this will be an emotional boost for the RWC.
• England looked good until they got their collective finger stuck - they're gonna have some soul-searching to do, but I doubt they should really be too worried.
• Ireland, and the Irish media, are now free to take a collective **** for the next five months while they ponder and debate and rue the differences between the Autumn team that downed the Kiwis and the team that just crapped themselves in Cardiff.
• Oh yeah, at some point, Italy and France, but particularly Italy, should decide if they're interested in learning how to play this sport.

Impressed by the overall competition - my first Six Nations - but disappointed ultimately that the Scots couldn't bring more to the table. The fact that Peter O'Mahoney got player of the match after cheap-shotting Stu Hogg into oblivion makes it feel good to watch them get destroyed by the Welsh.

Anyway, back to Prem, Pro14, And Super Rugby!

I'm happiest when Pro14, SupeRugby and MLR are all in play at the same time. And that'll be in February, and I can't wait.

 

[Dai Perk]

I'm happiest when Pro14, SupeRugby and MLR are all in play at the same time. And that'll be in February, and I can't wait.

Right? Yeah, Super Rugby starts the same weekend as Six Nations, I'm going to have plenty of rugby to watch this winter... Did you notice the weird schedule thing, by the way? Despite the Pro14, the Prem, MLR, and Super Rugby all starting at wildly different times of year, all four of those leagues are having their finals on the same weekend in June. Bizarre!

 

[The Seeker]

Right? Yeah, Super Rugby starts the same weekend as Six Nations, I'm going to have plenty of rugby to watch this winter... Did you notice the weird schedule thing, by the way? Despite the Pro14, the Prem, MLR, and Super Rugby all starting at wildly different times of year, all four of those leagues are having their finals on the same weekend in June. Bizarre!

Bizarre is right, I don't get it either. Were both somewhat new to this message board and are still getting familiar with all the International play that's mixed in with the professional league seasons.

 

[Dai Perk]

Last year, I was utterly flummoxed by the Euro Cups, 6N schedule, and so forth, but this time, I find the quirkiness really cool... It's also cool that you end up with 5 trophies between 3 leagues - Pro14, Prem, Top 14, Challenge Cup, and Heineken Cup, and the 6N on top of it all. Things are heating up!

 

[The Seeker]

Last year, I was utterly flummoxed by the Euro Cups, 6N schedule, and so forth, but this time, I find the quirkiness really cool... It's also cool that you end up with 5 trophies between 3 leagues - Pro14, Prem, Top 14, Challenge Cup, and Heineken Cup, and the 6N on top of it all. Things are heating up!

You're ahead of me because I'm still trying to figure it all out. Right now I'm concentrating on Pro14, SuperRugby, MLR and the USA Eagles. Thanks for the information. In the future I'll try harder to follow along with the inter-league play like you have.

 

[Dai Perk]

Right now I'm concentrating on Pro14, SuperRugby, MLR and the USA Eagles.

What Eagles action is there? Aren't we kinda in limbo at the moment?

And yeah, I'm watching Pro14 and the Prem, but I haven't a clue how one would watch the French league. I ended up coughing up the dough for the RWC Gold Package, so that includes the European Cups and the Six Nations as well. I think MLR are still working out how we can stream their games, I'm really hoping it isn't FloRugby, it's expensive and, I'm told, kinda crappy.

 

[The Seeker]

What Eagles action is there? Aren't we kinda in limbo at the moment?

And yeah, I'm watching Pro14 and the Prem, but I haven't a clue how one would watch the French league. I ended up coughing up the dough for the RWC Gold Package, so that includes the European Cups and the Six Nations as well. I think MLR are still working out how we can stream their games, I'm really hoping it isn't FloRugby, it's expensive and, I'm told, kinda crappy.

USA 7s resumes on Jan. 24th. 7s is a lot of fun, and 2020 is a big year. HSBC 7s Series followed by Summer Olympics 7s. Exciting times for 7s.

https://www.usa.rugby/2020/01/usa-mens-sevens-hamilton-2020-roster-preview/

 

[The Seeker]

What Eagles action is there? Aren't we kinda in limbo at the moment?

And yeah, I'm watching Pro14 and the Prem, but I haven't a clue how one would watch the French league. I ended up coughing up the dough for the RWC Gold Package, so that includes the European Cups and the Six Nations as well. I think MLR are still working out how we can stream their games, I'm really hoping it isn't FloRugby, it's expensive and, I'm told, kinda crappy.

Oops! I forgot to respond to the second half of your comment. I was hoping MLR would be back on ESPN+ again, it's inexpensive and they do a really good job. I do not like FloRugby, yes...it's crappy. I did notice that some of the MLR matches will be on CBSsportsnetwork again, so that's cool. Not enough of them, but it's better than none. https://www.majorleague.rugby/schedules/

I just posed the ESPN+ question on the San Diego Legion Facebook page and someone mentioned that ESPN+ didn't always give advance notice last season. I don't remember if they did or not, so let's hope they'll still be an outlet for MLR. I'll be checking their schedule every week.

*This is my 500th post, I've graduated from the Academy and am now a Bench Player. I'll be happy with a solid 20 minutes playing time.

 

[Dai Perk]

*This is my 500th post, I've graduated from the Academy and am now a Bench Player

I'd been wondering how that works!