RUGBY , NATIONS 2016

la gran siete

A Scottish win today would tie things nicely ensuring its England championship, but I want the Grand Slam.I still would like Scotland to win because I feel they have enough quality to beat the French a and, in any case, its about time they put a few decent results together.
England have made great progress over 4 matches but to me they are still very much work in progress as they lost at least 3 tries in the first half  and then nearly gave the match away (AGAIN!) in the last 20 minutes.
Credit to Wales for the comeback but they should have been buried out of sight by the 60th minute

la gran siete

Well done Scotland , genuinely pleased for them.The match against Ireland next week promises to be very tasty. Hopefully it means that by the time of the Lions tour in 2017 there will be several new faces reflecting a good balance between all four home nations.

nheather

I would like to add my thanks to the Welsh and Scottish teams for handing the competition to England.

I thought they hated England  but clearly I misjudged them - thanks a lot guys.

Cheers,

Nigel

John

@gibbsy conspicuous by his absence

gibbsy

Didn't think there was any interest here for the Six Nations this year, been very quiet. Worse first half display by Wales for a long time. In fairness England stiffled Wales. Wales got into gear too late in the game, oh for it to have been five minutes longer. England are building a very good team and have a world class second row in the making, outstanding man of the match award.

England have to be careful of a wounded France if they want the Slam. History shows that the English have a tendancy to throw away the Slam on the last weekend.

la gran siete

Complacency has always been the English disease , fact made obvious  whilst watching Rugby Tonight on BT sport and listening Dallaglio and Austin Healey's  comments.I wish they would shut up. Having said that i think EJ will ensure minds are very much concentrated .France are a danger without a doubt but it sickens me to see how rugby has developed over there.They used to be such a joy to watch but now they seem to play like robots on steroids

la gran siete

One thing both Lee and Gatland were right Marler's indiscretion were no more than banter,but I loved EJ comment re the WRU"They don't know if they're Arthur or Martha"


Read more: Jones hits back at Wales over Joe Marler's 'gipsy boy' slur
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BT Bob

Sorry, but I think you're wrong - in every way. Rugby's a tough-enough game as it is, without this kind of thing creeping in.

Can you imagine the fallout if anyone has used the "n" word to Itoje??

Marler's admitted he said it, and admitted he hit Evans - and got away with that as well!
The incident was nothing to do with Marler - he waded in and shoved Lee as he said it. It was totally unacceptable, and the Six Nations bottled it (as they did with his forearm on Evans and Brown's reckless kicking of Murray in the face previously).. World Rugby have asked for an explanation of why 6N made the decision they did, and may still take action against Marler.

la gran siete

Not quite the same and that was shown by the fact Lee was not offended and Gatland clearly saw the incident as nothing to get worked up about .Marler showed his contrition at half time .It was heat of  the battle comment,a bit like calling someone an idiot.Time to move on

BT Bob

"In the heat of battle" is, in my view, NOT an excuse.

The whole of a game of rugby takes place "in the heat of battle".

Tom Evans broke his neck "in the heat of battle" (thankfully, he's made, pretty-much, a full recovery).
Owen Williams was paralysed "in the heat of battle" (sadly, he will never walk again).

These were accidents, that could happen to any player.

Gavin Quinnell lost an eye "in the heat of battle" - a result of a deliberate act - not acceptable, even in "the heat of battle" - even resulted in a police investigation.

Some people - thankfully a minority - have questioned whether “gypsy boy” is a racist slur.

Well, it’s not actually a matter of opinion, it’s a matter of law.

Under the Race Relations Act, gypsies and travellers are recognised as ethnic minorities who have the right to protection from discrimination.

Not acceptable "in the heat of battle".

The WRU quickly distanced itself from Gatland's comments - advocating settling it using "fists and stuff" hardly constitutes an acceptable response, IMO.