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S this the worst 6N ever.......

Also doesn't help that two of the teams have such enduringly poor records with no GS, championship or even TC between them. Since the inception of the 6N back in 2000 to the start of this year's tournament Scotland have won just 19 and drawn 2 of 80 games (net points difference -744) and Italy had won just 12 with one draw (-1,408).

The exceeding dull England have a points differential of +961 and scored 232 tries, nearly 3 per game......Ireland 196, France 193, Wales 166, Scotland 97 and Italy 91.
 
Also doesn't help that two of the teams have such enduringly poor records with no GS, championship or even TC between them. Since the inception of the 6N back in 2000 to the start of this year's tournament Scotland have won just 19 and drawn 2 of 80 games (net points difference -744) and Italy had won just 12 with one draw (-1,408).

The exceeding dull England have a points differential of +961 and scored 232 tries, nearly 3 per game......Ireland 196, France 193, Wales 166, Scotland 97 and Italy 91.

Excellent post.

We are clearly not worthy of our place in the Six nations and should have ended our involvement on a high after winning the final Five nations back in 1999.

England have generally played scintillating rugby since 2000 and anyone who thinks otherwise needs to stick a pair of underpants on their head and pop two pencils up their nose.
 
If England win a Grand Slam, it will suddenly become a vintage year for the competition and the media will forget what they wrote weeks before the trophy was presented.:D
 
Not to take away anything from England potential grand slam in Eddies Jones first hit out (still a great achievement), but I wouldn't read too much into it. Ireland are pretty dejected having lost O'Connell and quite frankly not the same team they've been the last few years and Scotland and Italy are hardly giants of the game and France are really trying to bounce back from a dismal RWC and rebuilding.

Wales being the only other team that can pack a punch in the 6N's currently. Definitely the weakest I've seen the competition. None the less I'm really looking forward to England vs Wales.
 
Not to take away anything from England potential grand slam in Eddies Jones first hit out (still a great achievement), but I wouldn't read too much into it. Ireland are pretty dejected having lost O'Connell and quite frankly not the same team they've been the last few years and Scotland and Italy are hardly giants of the game and France are really trying to bounce back from a dismal RWC and rebuilding.

Wales being the only other team that can pack a punch in the 6N's currently. Definitely the weakest I've seen the competition. None the less I'm really looking forward to England vs Wales.
It's more Ireland's injuries than losing PO'C. We miss O'Connell in the scrum and line-out where he was always one of the best in the world but had we had Iain Henderson and Peter O'Mahoney we'd be vastly improved, it'd probably take Heaslip out of the side too and bring far greater carrying ability which is what we lack. His leadership is overstated, Ireland aren't crumbling in games it's the lack of ability that has let them down.

If England were to win it'd be a huge achievement, in both the last two seasons Ireland really only had one match that they could have lost and they lost the two of them. England are probably the same and Wales are as tough a prospect as they were last year.
 
dont get me wrong, i'll be happy if wales win it but it wont take away from the fact it has been a pretty poor spectacle so far. hopefully wales-england is a cracker and perks it up a bit, regardless of the result.
 
Whilst I haven't found much of the play scintillating, there has been some very good rugby played.
A lot of attritional stuff and set-piece moves but there have been occasional flashes of flair from some players that have entertained me and incidents that have been of interest.

However, what has made me grind my teeth in frustration has been the poor standard of officiating.
The use of the TMO could be a useful tool but its effectiveness seems to depend on the wording of the question asked of it.
Plus the insistence on scrums being perfect taking too long to reset, not managing game play properly or without any empathy for the game and worst of all, a lack of consistency.
 
, France are en route to a slam with an energetic bold team. Ireland NEED to at least put in a decent performance against England if we're to leave with any modicum of respect. Scotland and Italy is always a close contest, but I feel that both teams have improved a lot individually, and that this fixture might also be a bit more skillful and exciting whilst being as close as always

France has nothing to offer to the 6N other than T14 leftovers. Ask Guy Noves.
 
What's Englands schedule for the next 3 years? They should come tour the SH, doing Aussie, SA and NZ, one each year as well as combining a game or two with Argentina when they do SA. Infact this should be every NHs teams goal if they really want to improve and measure themselves appropriately.
 
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What's Englands schedule for the next 3 years? They should come tour the SH, doing Aussie, SA and NZ, one each year as well as combining a game or two with Argentina when they do SA. Infact this should be every NHs teams goal if they really want to improve and measure themselves appropriately.
2016 - Australia
Next year is probably Argentina due to Lions.

Usually we manage to get around enough.

Playing SH sides wasn't the problem last cycle.
 
What's Englands schedule for the next 3 years? They should come tour the SH, doing Aussie, SA and NZ, one each year as well as combining a game or two with Argentina when they do SA. Infact this should be every NHs teams goal if they really want to improve and measure themselves appropriately.

Australia - Argentina - South Africa.

If touring was the answer though, you'd have thought it would have happened by now.

The day to day standard in the domestic leagues and coaching is the real problem.
 
Not to take away anything from England potential grand slam in Eddies Jones first hit out (still a great achievement), but I wouldn't read too much into it. Ireland are pretty dejected having lost O'Connell and quite frankly not the same team they've been the last few years and Scotland and Italy are hardly giants of the game and France are really trying to bounce back from a dismal RWC and rebuilding.

Wales being the only other team that can pack a punch in the 6N's currently. Definitely the weakest I've seen the competition. None the less I'm really looking forward to England vs Wales.

@DevaluedCompetition
 
I just don't get the tactics of a lot of the NH teams. Very conservative, with a lot of kicking. Which I get when it's raining and the opposition back 3 have got butter fingers, but to continually give away decent ball on a dry day when the back 3 are making decent yards on the return - just seems nonsensical. And to continually do it during a game. I think last year or 2014, Scotland kept on doing these stupid box kicks to the Italian winger who kept on making the gain line. He also enabled the team to score a 70m try, returning a box kick. You would think Scotland would have changed tactics after the try, but no. They continued in the vain hope that he'd drop the ball, which he didn't. It just seemed such an amateurish tactic, something you wouldn't even see your local pub XV do. NZ will play conservatively from time to time, they'll box kick, but they will ensure it's a positive move, they'll defend well and make ground and get a turnover/penalty. If it doesn't work, they'll switch to plan b or c. I think a team like England with the players they've got, could really thrive if they played a more open game. Obviously switching to 10 man rugby when the need arises. But when they do try and play expansive rugby, they tend to look a bit awkward, like it's a foreign concept to them. One game springs to mind, during the world cup, they'd already lost to Wales, down against Australia, they got a turnover in their 22 and the Australian backs were all over the shop, perfect time to counter attack, ball comes back to the 10 and gets hoofed out.Australia back on the attack... what a complete waste of possession. You see a team like NZ running it from their 22, it's not because they have a cavalier attitude or highly superior players, they are playing rugby for what it is, a numbers game. They have greater numbers than the defence, so they run it. I wonder how many times England train in counter-attack vs actually employing it in a game.
 
I just don't get the tactics of a lot of the NH teams. Very conservative, with a lot of kicking. Which I get when it's raining and the opposition back 3 have got butter fingers, but to continually give away decent ball on a dry day when the back 3 are making decent yards on the return - just seems nonsensical. And to continually do it during a game. I think last year or 2014, Scotland kept on doing these stupid box kicks to the Italian winger who kept on making the gain line. He also enabled the team to score a 70m try, returning a box kick. You would think Scotland would have changed tactics after the try, but no. They continued in the vain hope that he'd drop the ball, which he didn't. It just seemed such an amateurish tactic, something you wouldn't even see your local pub XV do. NZ will play conservatively from time to time, they'll box kick, but they will ensure it's a positive move, they'll defend well and make ground and get a turnover/penalty. If it doesn't work, they'll switch to plan b or c. I think a team like England with the players they've got, could really thrive if they played a more open game. Obviously switching to 10 man rugby when the need arises. But when they do try and play expansive rugby, they tend to look a bit awkward, like it's a foreign concept to them. One game springs to mind, during the world cup, they'd already lost to Wales, down against Australia, they got a turnover in their 22 and the Australian backs were all over the shop, perfect time to counter attack, ball comes back to the 10 and gets hoofed out.Australia back on the attack... what a complete waste of possession. You see a team like NZ running it from their 22, it's not because they have a cavalier attitude or highly superior players, they are playing rugby for what it is, a numbers game. They have greater numbers than the defence, so they run it. I wonder how many times England train in counter-attack vs actually employing it in a game.

Do you watch much NH rugby ? Because England have been playing quite attacking rugby for a few years now . Admittedly the World Cup went badly but the team was under too much pressure and Lancaster just hadn't prepared them for it . I think he didn't know what to expect to be honest . Last 6N we scored 18 tries in 5 games
 
Each year this question gets asked and each year it is correct to ask it as each year is worse than the last

The game of rugby, I do not know or really care about SH rugby as do not follow it for logistical reasons, has changed for the worse so much since the good old days - even if Wales did win everything then!

The desire to have Manu back to provide the backs, to quote Jones, with the bulk and battering ram ability, that is similar to Billy V in the forwards, sums up the differences!

Rugby used to be a game for all people of different sizes but now it is solely about size and strength and individual skill becomes secondary!

Someone has posted about the "Welsh backs lying too deep so they can be ready for the next defensive move". There you have in a nutshell why the rugby league influence is leading the game backwards and making it boring!

Yes, there are the odd flashes of genius but a fire can have the odd flame before it goes out..........

Overly pessimistic, perhaps but the 6n is a borefest kept alive solely by nationalism!!!
 
Do you watch much NH rugby ? Because England have been playing quite attacking rugby for a few years now . Admittedly the World Cup went badly but the team was under too much pressure and Lancaster just hadn't prepared them for it . I think he didn't know what to expect to be honest . Last 6N we scored 18 tries in 5 games

Not a whole lot. It depends on the year as every year the rights to televise it change, this year we don't have it live for free.. I think England has a lot of potential, they just need to play smarter rugby if they want to compete with the SH teams.
 
Overly pessimistic, perhaps but the 6n is a borefest kept alive solely by nationalism!!!

that is definitely true, i was at the wales v france game and it was great to watch as a supporter, as it always is, however i can certainly see how a neutral would find it boring
 

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