Six Nations - 2024

[littlebabyjesus]

Is it too early to call for Wales to be relegated to give a team like Romania a chance to play in the 6 Nations?

My questioning Italy's place has aged well.

I don't think there should be straight relegation, but there should be a play-off between the wooden spoonists and the winners of Tier 2. Which recently has been Georgia mostly. It won't happen because money.

ETA:

It's tough on Georgia. They've made every Tier 2 final since 2000. They've won 15 of the last 17 finals including all of the last seven.

 

[flypanam]

Looking forward to the next one now. Time to archive or delete this old thread. Thanks!

It certainly hasn’t been as an enjoyable thread without the Welsh posters posting as much.

 

[Monte]

My questioning Italy's place has aged well.

I don't think there should be straight relegation, but there should be a play-off between the wooden spoonists and the winners of Tier 2. Which recently has been Georgia mostly. It won't happen because money.

ETA:

It's tough on Georgia. They've made every Tier 2 final since 2000. They've won 15 of the last 17 finals including all of the last seven.

Bring in Portugal and Romania.
Split into two groups of four with the top two in each group going through to two knockout rounds.
Each team still only plays a maximum of five games and we get the drama of a semi-final and final.
Romania and Portugal benefit from the money and a higher standard of opposition.

 

[two sheds]

Wales v Scotland today

BBC Sport - Women's Six Nations Rugby, 2024, Wales v Scotland

Live women’s rugby union action as Wales and Scotland get their 2024 campaigns underway.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[fucthest8]

Wales v Scotland today

BBC Sport - Women's Six Nations Rugby, 2024, Wales v Scotland

Live women’s rugby union action as Wales and Scotland get their 2024 campaigns underway.

www.bbc.co.uk

Unless Scotland have experienced some sort of recent renaissance (i.e since WXV) that I've missed, got to fancy Wales for this.*

Similarly for France v Ireland, likely France, although Ireland 7s have been doing ok, haven't been keeping an eye on whether any of that talent translates to 15s.

So will be watching both games with interest, time to do some more background reading, been a bit slack keeping up lately.

*E2A but maybe not by much, given Wales finishes bottom of WXV1 and Scotland top of WXV2

 

[two sheds]

Italy v England tomorrow 14:45 BBC 2, can't see the Ireland v France match though.

Plus live Gallagher match on itv1 14:30 today

 

[fucthest8]

Italy v England tomorrow 14:45 BBC 2, can't see the Ireland v France match though.

Plus live Gallagher match on itv1 14:30 today

Whole tourney is on BBC, iPlayer app is shit for finding things though

 

[fucthest8]

Ah two sheds just realised that's what's going on, you're looking at the two games which are on live TV - BBC2 - but all the other games are on iPlayer

 

[two sheds]

ahhhh ta I didn't realize they did that

 

[fucthest8]

Oh Marine Menager, what a lovely line, great try.

Ireland much improved though

 

[fucthest8]

Finally the try that Ireland deserve, great work

However followed by the worst clearance kick from the restart

 

[two sheds]

Will watch it later (never realized that iPlayer also did live stuff ), watching Saracens v Harlequins at the moment really good game it's like watching an England match. And a stunningly good try in there.

 

[fucthest8]

Yeah, you have to look for it though, as it's not on any channel. Go to Categories -> Sport and there it is

 

[fucthest8]

Well, well, Scotland looking way more confident this year, some excellent breaks - and some poor Welsh defence - but no disguising Scotland the better side so far!

 

[two sheds]

Anyone watching? Abby Dow is good.

 

[fucthest8]

Just me and you as usual

I really feel like there's a bit of something missing with England at the mo, cannot out my finger in it. Last week was oddly lackluster, despite the scoreline. Some really bad basic errors this week as well.

They were very lucky to get that try after Packer played the Welsh No 9.

 

[mx wcfc]

Just back from football and watching now. Only 24-3?

 

[mx wcfc]

Anyone watching? Abby Dow is good.

Kildunne's not too bad either.

 

[fucthest8]

Not giving when you have a player outside you and you've drawn the defense.

Butchering a FOUR woman overlap.

Really poor.

 

[two sheds]

Kildunne's not too bad either.

and Packer

 

[two sheds]

And bloody hell Kildunne

 

[two sheds]

Interesting to see the ref in Wales v England apply the new guidance on maximum five seconds after being told to get it out of the maul. Also hookers with one foot forward at the scrum bind, decidedly sensible.

Was looking for Emily Scarratt but hadn't realized been out with serious neck injury for a long time but just started playing again.

 

[two sheds]

Scotland v England second half starts in 10 minutes - first half England with some impressive handling particularly in atrocious conditions.

 

[nightowl]

England win 46-0 after being reduced to 14. Something needs to be done about this so-called competition. Year after year after year it's the same. That's nothing against England's professionalism or the efforts of the other teams BTW, but without meaningful competition any sporting tournament becomes stagnant.

 

[Elpenor]

Yes must admit the lack of competition for some matches is a reason for my disengagement. The other teams are beginning to move to professional contracts for their players but it could take a decade to flow through

However there is a growing fan base and RWC 2025 is in England and the stadiums chosen are bigger ones than last time

 

[nightowl]

But can the Six Nations afford to leave it a decade before the others catch up? Fans are going to get seriously fed up with the whole thing. England beat Scotland by a half century last time out (I think) and some pundits were talking it up this time as potentially a 'stern test' yet little has changed. This is the second game in this championship that England have won more than comfortably with 14 players.

 

[fucthest8]

Yeah, the gap between NZ, England and currently it seems literally everyone else is pretty stark. Not sure what's going on with France right now either, made a real meal out of last week's game with Scotland.

Wales seemed to be building something at the end of last year, but have hit some sort of weird slide since the opening game against Scotland. Ireland on the other hand are building on their sevens success and are improving every game (well, kinda, made a hash of the Italy game).

I quite like the idea of the WXV competition as a way of bringing up standards, but at the moment we are still several years out from that bearing fruit.

 

[two sheds]

I take the point but England (and women's rugby generally) has improved hugely over the last few years. England has made most improvement but I'd have thought the other Five Nations will follow suit soon as more money enters the game (and they become full time?).

 

[nightowl]

But it's going to still take some time to catch up. This will be the 7th (?) year in a row England have dominated the whole thing. Will the TV fans have turned off by the time they finally don't?

 

[mx wcfc]

But it's going to still take some time to catch up. This will be the 7th (?) year in a row England have dominated the whole thing. Will the TV fans have turned off by the time they finally don't?

The England games have been a bit of a procession, but I've enjoyed watching the other matches too. France looked pretty good today. I expect England will find them a lot tougher to beat, particularly as we don't seem to be able to keep 15 players on the pitch, whoever we're playing.