Wales v Scotland

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

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:lol:

 

[Prestwick]

:lol:

Meanwhile a completely and utterly impartial person states "Byrne did not milk that trip for all its worth!"

 

[lucky_number_7]

i only managed to catch the end of this match but it i had heard that the scots were 10 ahead with 10 to go...i enter the clubhouse scots winning by three i turn around to the bar to get a drink for a minute its all square next play the welsh open the scots up completly and williams in under the post the welsh just all of a sudden trunred the match on its head

im dissappointed for the scots but i reckon there is 2 wins in this year for them yet i reckon they could do tha damage on ireland or englnd and then the poor old italians

 

[Ozzay]

I'm glad Gatland seemed to correct the problems quicker than he usually would.

After Powell took that ridicilious quick lineout he was off, now hes out of the shuad all together
Bye Bye Cooper.

 

[dullonien]

Well I don't think Powell will be missed in the slightest. It now opens the door for a much more balanced backrow with either Jon Thomas or Warberton at 6. I was very impressed with Warberton's impact off the bench on Sat, really got stuck in, noticed him hitting rucks and carried the ball much better than Powell did in the match. I'd be tempted to select him at 6, but Jon Thomas was good there and Bradley Davies was very good when he came on aswell. Tough selection for gatland imo.

Ken Owens has been drafted into the squad at last, so now we'll hopefully see him on the bench for the French game (asking a bit much for him to start).

No call-up for Peel yet, but considering how rushing Mathew Rees and Gethin Jenkins back from injury has backfired horribly, I think Peel should be given a little more time to make sure he's fully fit (same goes for Phillips when he's back). Rees has shown to be perfectly capable at this level, so give him the start he deserves.

Slightly more confident for the game v France now that we're bound to see a much better starting lineup that those against England and Scotland.

 

[GJ#1]

Good to see Owens get a call up, still hoping that Williams is fit, but it is unlikely.

Hopefully Delve will get the call up as we need a good option at 6, although JT has been impressive there.

 

[dullonien]

We need another 8 in the squad. If Ryan Jones get's injured, there is no-one else capable of covering 8 to the same standard, Jon Thomas and Warberton could cover off the bench, but not starting a game. Delve would be the ideal replacement, so I agree 100% GJ#1 that he should be called into the squad now to give him time to gel if he's needed.

 

[Will]

The more often I view it the more I'm annoyed by Lee Byrne's "dive". Admit it, that's one even Steven Gerrard would be proud of... Keep your leg out to make contact, go down as if shot by a sniper.... Textbook stuff.

Not that I'm bitter or anything you understand...

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

He milks it slightly, but he would have scored a winning try if he hadn't been tripped, so why would he rather have a draw?

You should have been in the Millenium Stadium as Shane scored. If the roof was on, it would have been blown clean off.

 

[Bluemoon]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (dullonien @ Feb 15 2010, 04:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Well I don't think Powell will be missed in the slightest. It now opens the door for a much more balanced backrow with either Jon Thomas or Warberton at 6. I was very impressed with Warberton's impact off the bench on Sat, really got stuck in, noticed him hitting rucks and carried the ball much better than Powell did in the match. I'd be tempted to select him at 6, but Jon Thomas was good there and Bradley Davies was very good when he came on aswell. Tough selection for gatland imo.

Ken Owens has been drafted into the squad at last, so now we'll hopefully see him on the bench for the French game (asking a bit much for him to start).

No call-up for Peel yet, but considering how rushing Mathew Rees and Gethin Jenkins back from injury has backfired horribly, I think Peel should be given a little more time to make sure he's fully fit (same goes for Phillips when he's back). Rees has shown to be perfectly capable at this level, so give him the start he deserves.

Slightly more confident for the game v France now that we're bound to see a much better starting lineup that those against England and Scotland.[/b]

Completely agree with this. Powell just isnt making that 5/10 yards that puts us on the front foot. Also, I think Martyn Williams was compeltely taken out of the game on Saturday and didnt have the physicallity to match Scotland and it showed.

When Bradely Davies, Warburton and JT were on - along with the faster distribution from Rees we really stepped up a gear. Although Im pretty sure Gatland will ignore this and Cooper et al will still all be on the field against France.

 

[SSE]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Bluemoon @ Feb 16 2010, 12:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (dullonien @ Feb 15 2010, 04:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well I don't think Powell will be missed in the slightest. It now opens the door for a much more balanced backrow with either Jon Thomas or Warberton at 6. I was very impressed with Warberton's impact off the bench on Sat, really got stuck in, noticed him hitting rucks and carried the ball much better than Powell did in the match. I'd be tempted to select him at 6, but Jon Thomas was good there and Bradley Davies was very good when he came on aswell. Tough selection for gatland imo.

Ken Owens has been drafted into the squad at last, so now we'll hopefully see him on the bench for the French game (asking a bit much for him to start).

No call-up for Peel yet, but considering how rushing Mathew Rees and Gethin Jenkins back from injury has backfired horribly, I think Peel should be given a little more time to make sure he's fully fit (same goes for Phillips when he's back). Rees has shown to be perfectly capable at this level, so give him the start he deserves.

Slightly more confident for the game v France now that we're bound to see a much better starting lineup that those against England and Scotland.[/b]

Completely agree with this. Powell just isnt making that 5/10 yards that puts us on the front foot. Also, I think Martyn Williams was compeltely taken out of the game on Saturday and didnt have the physicallity to match Scotland and it showed.

When Bradely Davies, Warburton and JT were on - along with the faster distribution from Rees we really stepped up a gear. Although Im pretty sure Gatland will ignore this and Cooper et al will still all be on the field against France.
[/b][/quote]

I completely agree with you about Davies, Warburton et al.

I can't see how Gatland will persevere with Cooper though. He was poor against England, but (though I disagreed with it) I could see why Gatland gave him one more opportunity on saturday.

However, if there was any thought of sticking by him, he wouldn't have been hauled off at half time after another poor performance.

 

[Will]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DuncTheDoodle @ Feb 16 2010, 11:26 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

He milks it slightly, but he would have scored a winning try if he hadn't been tripped, so why would he rather have a draw?[/b]

Milks it slightly???

And there was no guarentee that Byrne would have scored a match winning try. He wouldn't/couldn't have known the positioning of all the defensive Scots and whether he would have been first to the ball. By "milking" it as he did he's likely to win the penalty (which may or may not have been kicked) and maybe have the Scottish player sin binned. By running for the ball he might have lost out completely. It was cynical and it was very much typical of any professional football game you might see. One of the main reasons why I have fallen out of love with football over the past few years.

On that note, did anyone else see Borthwick making a card gesture towards the referee against Italy on Sunday in an attempt to have an Italian player sin binned? Very footballesque. Very poor form.

 

[RC]

I'm with Will on this one.
It's the one and only aspect to Lee Byrne's game that i dont like: the fact that he acts like a footballer.
Byrne has always and will always dive. He gives my mates who enjoy football that tiny little hair to grasp onto and continue to tug at whenever i have a go at footballers diving.
He may have ended up scoring the try, but if he was definitely going to score then a penalty try would have been awarded.
That stray foot of Godman would barely have tripped up a 6 year old, let alone Byrne and for Jamie Roberts to back him up is preposterous.

 

[Meh]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Will @ Feb 16 2010, 09:28 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

The more often I view it the more I'm annoyed by Lee Byrne's "dive". Admit it, that's one even Steven Gerrard would be proud of... Keep your leg out to make contact, go down as if shot by a sniper.... Textbook stuff.

Not that I'm bitter or anything you understand...[/b]

Gerrard and Byrne are both examples of "making the most of it".

There's no doubt there was contact and he was hardly doing a Drogba was he?

 

[dullonien]

I'm not so sure about that. You just have to look how effective an ankle tap is to see how easily someone can loose their balance when one of their ankles is knocked.

Agree with RC about Lee Byrne in general though. He does some sly things that annoy me. He does and always had milked these things. He's also guilty of small cheap shots off the ball (something Mite or Pres have always complained about). He should cut these things out of his game, because he's one of the best fullbacks in the world (in the top 3), so doesn't need to do these stupid little things.

Still don't think he took a dive though. If he did, it was the best timed and most authentic one I've ever witnessed (football included).

 

[gingergenius]

I really would like post match citings and lengthy bans given for play acting. It's crept into both Union and League in the last couple of years, and it seems Byrne, Armitage and Monye are the main exponents. In my opinion, it's as bad as what Flannery did.

There's acceptable cheating that's part of the game which involves intentionally playing the game against the rules (handling in the ruck etc.) and there's unacceptable cheating which has nothing to do with rugby (diving, gouging etc.). Let's get rid of it before our game becomes the farcical mess that is football.

 

[dullonien]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gingergenius @ Feb 16 2010, 05:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I really would like post match citings and lengthy bans given for play acting. It's crept into both Union and League in the last couple of years, and it seems Byrne, Armitage and Monye are the main exponents. In my opinion, it's as bad as what Flannery did.[/b]

Ok, that's slightly over the top. Flannery did something which could have resulted in serious injury. Whilst I agree that diving and ranting at the ref etc. are not welcome in our sport, they should come with no more punishments than panlty's, yellow cards and possibly a fine in some situations.

 

[GJ#1]

Problem is you got to prove Byrne dived on purpose and Im afraid you can't!

 

[gingergenius]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (dullonien @ Feb 16 2010, 05:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gingergenius @ Feb 16 2010, 05:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I really would like post match citings and lengthy bans given for play acting. It's crept into both Union and League in the last couple of years, and it seems Byrne, Armitage and Monye are the main exponents. In my opinion, it's as bad as what Flannery did.[/b]

Ok, that's slightly over the top. Flannery did something which could have resulted in serious injury. Whilst I agree that diving and ranting at the ref etc. are not welcome in our sport, they should come with no more punishments than panlty's, yellow cards and possibly a fine in some situations.
[/b][/quote]

No.

This must really be cracked down on hard. And because the nature of diving is to decieve the ref, good divers will get away with it, so penalties and yellows are not good enough. This is football's answer to the problem, and football's answer doesn't work.

If divers, actors and so on were cited consistently and banned, it would be out of the game within weeks.

 

[dullonien]

Penalties and yellow cards aren't enough to deal with it in football because neither have much of an impact on a game. In rugby however, giving away a penalty is much more serious, as it gives the opposition a good field position (not 3 points, as no-one would be foolish enough to dive in their own half). Yellow card's are much, much more serious in rugby,due to the fact yellow cards result in 10minutes off the field. This is enough imo to deter people. Look how much yellow cards have cost teams in this years 6 nations. Football could to worse than follow the example rugby has shown with the sin-bin system, it would clear up a number of issues in the game, not least this diving malarkey.

Just because there is no respect shown towards the referee in any way in football, doesn't mean rugby will follow suit. The laws are in place already to deal with such issues, especially when the referees in rugby take no kind of disrespect aimed at them.