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Post by paulgilb on Mar 14, 2009 18:03:41 GMT 1
Italy 15-20 Wales (ends England and Scotland's slim chances of winning).
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Post by paulgilb on Mar 14, 2009 23:29:22 GMT 1
Scotland 15-22 Ireland So it's Wales v Ireland for the Triple Crown.
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Post by paulgilb on Mar 15, 2009 19:48:19 GMT 1
England 34-10 France This means that France cannot win the tournament, and Wales will win if they beat Ireland by at least 13 points.
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on Mar 15, 2009 20:35:59 GMT 1
Still say Ireland.
Did before the first ball was kicked, and still do.
Should of had a punt at the bookies.
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Post by Panda on Mar 15, 2009 20:45:46 GMT 1
Fantastic display by England today, easily the best for a long time. France were very poor, though.
The future's starting to look bright for England. With better discipline, it could even have been them going for the grand slam next weekend.
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Post by paulgilb on Mar 15, 2009 22:14:05 GMT 1
England can still finish second overall - if they beat Scotland, Ireland beat Wales, and France don't win by too much.
Italy are virtually guaranteed the wooden spoon - to avoid it, they would need to beat France, hope that Scotland lose to England, and that the combined victory margin is at least 70 points.
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on Mar 15, 2009 22:15:43 GMT 1
One day Italy will surprise us all and actually win a match!
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Post by Panda on Mar 15, 2009 22:19:35 GMT 1
If Italy lose next weekend, it'll actually be the first time since 2005 that they've lost every match. They finished 4th 2 years ago after beating Scotland and Wales.
Italy's Six Nations record is played 49, won 6, drawn 1, lost 42.
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Post by Panda on Mar 15, 2009 22:27:29 GMT 1
As for next week, I fancy Wales to beat Ireland but Ireland to hang on to win the Championship.
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on Mar 15, 2009 22:28:51 GMT 1
That when they had Dominguez.
Italy have lost 86% of all six nation games they have played.
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Post by Panda on Mar 15, 2009 22:32:28 GMT 1
That when they had Dominguez. Italy have lost 86% of all six nation games they have played. Most of their wins tend to be against Scotland at home so maybe next year...
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on Mar 15, 2009 22:40:02 GMT 1
Yeh. It's going to take some time before they compete competitively for anywhere near the title. Even with Australian and New Zealand players.
They joined to help improve their standards, just I think they expected to be a little more competitive by this stage, after 7 or 8 years in the competition.
Wonder if any more countries will ever join. Romania have a rugby squad who compete at the world cups, and will are EU status. Never know, could be having matches out in Romania sometime.
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Post by Panda on Mar 15, 2009 22:50:53 GMT 1
Yeh. It's going to take some time before they compete competitively for anywhere near the title. Even with Australian and New Zealand players. They joined to help improve their standards, just I think they expected to be a little more competitive by this stage, after 7 or 8 years in the competition. Wonder if any more countries will ever join. Romania have a rugby squad who compete at the world cups, and will are EU status. Never know, could be having matches out in Romania sometime. Well it took France over 40 years to win the Five Nations... I can't see Romania joining the Six Nations anytime soon. Rugby's been in decline there for about 20 years. If the Five Nations had been expanded in the 80s, rather than the 90s, Romania probably would've got in ahead of Italy as they had a pretty good team. The reason for this was their Communist dictator, Nikolai Ceaucesku, was a massive rugby fan and ordered it to be played in every school. This meant Romania produced a few good players. During the 80s, they beat France, Wales and Scotland and narrowly lost to the All Blacks. Since Ceaucesku's execution in 1989, rugby is played a lot less in Romania and the team is now much weaker. If any European team was to join the Six Nations, it's more likely to be Georgia. Personally, I'd like to see the Six Nations become an 8-team European Championship, with 2 groups of 4 and a final between the 2 group winners. The bottom team in each group would be relegated and replaced by 2 teams from a qualifying tournament. Tradition will stop it ever happening, though.
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on Mar 15, 2009 22:58:55 GMT 1
Could be done.
Spain and Portugal both have "rugby" teams. Ok, not too special, but neither was /is Italy's!
They play better 7's rugby.
7's rugby IMO is more enjoyable to watch.
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Post by Panda on Mar 15, 2009 23:00:42 GMT 1
Could be done. Spain and Portugal both have "rugby" teams. Ok, not too special, but neither was /is Italy's! They play better 7's rugby. 7's rugby IMO is more enjoyable to watch. Russia are getting pretty good, too. Georgia and Russia are currently leading the European World Cup qualifying tournament, ahead of Portugal, Romania, Spain and Germany.
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Post by Panda on Mar 16, 2009 17:21:51 GMT 1
For what it's worth these are the European teams that appear on the IRB's latest world rankings list:
4. Ireland 5. Wales 7. England 8. France 9. Scotland 12. Italy 14. Georgia 17. Russia 18. Romania 21. Portugal 23. Spain 26. Germany 28. Belgium 31. Ukraine 32. Poland 36. Czech Republic 37. Moldova 41. Netherlands 42. Lithuania 43. Sweden 45. Croatia 52. Switzerland 54. Malta 55. Latvia 59. Slovenia 64. Hungary 67. Serbia 72. Andorra 73. Denmark 81. Norway 87. Monaco 88. Bosnia 90. Austria 92. Bulgaria 94. Luxembourg 95. Finland
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Thor
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Post by Thor on Mar 17, 2009 13:25:08 GMT 1
Yeh. It's going to take some time before they compete competitively for anywhere near the title. Even with Australian and New Zealand players. They joined to help improve their standards, just I think they expected to be a little more competitive by this stage, after 7 or 8 years in the competition. Wonder if any more countries will ever join. Romania have a rugby squad who compete at the world cups, and will are EU status. Never know, could be having matches out in Romania sometime. Well it took France over 40 years to win the Five Nations... I can't see Romania joining the Six Nations anytime soon. Rugby's been in decline there for about 20 years. If the Five Nations had been expanded in the 80s, rather than the 90s, Romania probably would've got in ahead of Italy as they had a pretty good team. The reason for this was their Communist dictator, Nikolai Ceaucesku, was a massive rugby fan and ordered it to be played in every school. This meant Romania produced a few good players. During the 80s, they beat France, Wales and Scotland and narrowly lost to the All Blacks. Since Ceaucesku's execution in 1989, rugby is played a lot less in Romania and the team is now much weaker. If any European team was to join the Six Nations, it's more likely to be Georgia. Personally, I'd like to see the Six Nations become an 8-team European Championship, with 2 groups of 4 and a final between the 2 group winners. The bottom team in each group would be relegated and replaced by 2 teams from a qualifying tournament. Tradition will stop it ever happening, though. That idea sounds appalling. Sorry The only change i'd welcome is for the other European teams to form another league of 6 or 8 and every year the winner or that could replace whoever came last in the Six Nations. That way new countries get a chance and we don't lose the current format of the Six Nations
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Mar 21, 2009 12:24:43 GMT 1
As for next week, I fancy Wales to beat Ireland but Ireland to hang on to win the Championship. Didn't see any of the rugby last week, undecided as to whether Wales will win today, reckon it will be a close match regardless, definitely don't see them winning by more than 10 pts. Hope im proved wrong though with Wales effectively being my 2nd team Don't actually think it would look too good if Ireland lost and still won the title. As for England, obv they'll beat Scotland convincingly.
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Post by Panda on Mar 21, 2009 12:38:24 GMT 1
As for England, obv they'll beat Scotland convincingly. Don't say that! Yes, they were great against France but when was the last time England managed to string 2 performances like that together? It would be a big surprise if Scotland won but this England team is still more than capable of beating itself...
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