Six Nations 2015

PU6HY

If the game is in open play and you kick it into touch, the ball goes to the opposition to throw it in.
If you have been given a penalty, you can kick it into touch and then also get the advantage of the throw in too.

mentasm

Not when it's still in the scrum. He picked it out of the front row's feet and it wasn't even hooked! There have been many comments on it including those from a number of sporting journalists. The taken back in was still an incorrect call, however marginal.

BT Bob

I see "Watland" has announced his team for the Scotland game.

WALES TEAM

Leigh Halfpenny (Toulon), Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), Jonathan Davies (ASM Clermont Auvergne), Jamie Roberts (Racing Metro), Liam Williams (Scarlets), Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Webb (Ospreys), Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Richard Hibbard (Gloucester), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Dan Lydiate (Ospreys), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues, CAPT), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).

Replacements: Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Paul James (Bath Rugby), Aaron Jarvis (Ospreys), Luke Charteris (Racing Metro), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Mike Phillips (Racing Metro), Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Scott Williams (Scarlets).

Only change from the England game is Liam Williams comes in for the "rested" George North, with Scott Williams coming into the replacements.

BT Bob

England good for the win today, I thought. Joseph & Robshaw both outstanding.

It's disappointing to see England appear to have crept into following the Irish tactic of using the dreaded choke tackle as their first option.

I did think Mr. Lacey was very generous towards Dan Cole who seemed to be binding on the arm in most scrums.

Ireland v England is looking like it's going be a decider!!

Dony

Great battling win for Ireland. Sexton clearly not at his best and quite a few mistakes from both the Irish and French.
Hopefully that's our sloppy game out of the way.

gibbsy

Good win for England, Josephs has certainly cemented his name to the 13 shirt, well deserved man of the match.

Ireland v France was a fascinating contest. I do feel that Pape should have seen a straight red, wouldn't mind betting he'll be cited.

mentasm

England were certainly good for the win, but it was still a frustratingly slow, clumsy start and there are a number of errors to cut out if they want to challenge the better teams.

On the positive side I thought that the front row had another good game. I'm a Corbisiero fan, but Marler has come on a lot and will take some shifting. I thought the whole pack played well to be honest. Cole looked strong in the set-piece, you'd never think we were on our fourth/fifth choice second row, the back row looked strong... Vunipola actually carried over the gain line this week and Robshaw was everywhere.

I thought the back line performed well across the board, with the possible exception of May. He still crabs too much and botched at least one scoring chance that he could have made if he just backed his pace. Joseph was the absolute star of course, even playing out of position, and I have to concede that Twelvetrees had a good game (and I can't stand him). Watson continued to impress as well.

The subs made a good impact, and the look on the coaches faces when Cipriani started and finished a try within fifty seconds of being on the pitch was a picture. Brooks looked the part when he came on, both in the tight and loose, and Youngs made a decent dent (and for once he threw in straight).

Scotland were very unlucky today. They had the best of the rugby, only let down by their finishing and some highly dubious refereeing decisions. If I were in the England camp I'd be wary of them this year.

gibbsy

Good game, marred by some dreadful decisions by the officials. Scotland gave penalty after penalty away under pressure in their own 22. Blair Cowan tackled from a blatant offside position when the Welsh player would almost certainly have scored under the posts. Penalty was given but that should have been a yellow card and the possibility of a penalty try. That decision allowed defenders of both sides to slow down the ball even in the red zone and know they could get away with it.

Russell was lucky to stay on the field, I've seen ref's giving a straight red for that offence. It wasn't malicious just very badly timed, the yellow was fair. Jon Davies' was not so straight forward, eyes on the ball and a clever nudge from another Scottish player made it look worse than it was. Fair competition in my eyes.

Webb was lucky not to have got pinged for a high tackle that almost certainly foiled a Scottish try. But the Scots were lying all over the ball, bring back proper rucking.

Even though he's Welsh, I would have loved to see Nigel Owen as the ref. Better empathy for the game and would have penalised both sides with yellow at the breakdown early on and then the game might have flowed better.

Dony

He's been rightly cited. Looks like Heaslip will miss the rest of the tournament with a broken vertebrae.
BBC Sport - Six Nations 2015: France lock Pape cited for alleged kneeing

gibbsy

Pape deserves severe punishment. At least with a punch Heaslip would have had a chance to defend himself. Cowardly.