Six Nations. Dull as ditchwater.

Sillybilly

Is it just me? Used to love the six (five) nations. Glued to it on the box and went to several games. I can't watch it now. Long gone are the days of exciting running rugby with the odd exception and now it just seems to be loads of big blokes in scary Lycra crunching each other. The weather has been blamed this year. I don't remember too many tropical January to march periods! Is this a product Of professionalism? I also hate the continuous switching of camera angles and those painted adverts on the pitch. Migraine inducing. But, as I say, it might just be me.

iaitch

It seems to be all about kicking penalties nowadays.

LenGlover

There are no outstanding teams this year. Even Italy and Scotland have been competitive.

Hence margins are narrow and we are seeing the rugby equivalent of a tight 1-0 win where a goal is nicked and the bus parked.

As a young transitional England side develops it will become more expansive in style as it will need to if it has serious World Cup aspirations.

cafcfan

Actually, ditchwater seems quite exciting by comparison.

killerandflash

The players are so massive these days, that instead if tricky little backs jinking their way around the opposition, you have 30 giants on the pitch trying to smash their way through the opposition.

That is one of the joys of football, that someone as small and weedy as Messi can be the best player in the world.

Rizzo

I don't care how exciting the rugby has been, I'm just enjoying the fact that France have lost 3 and drawn 1 so far!

Ormiston_Addick

Good to see England win but seriously the Kiwis would rip us to shreds 9/10, so would the Jaapies more often than not, although the Aussies are very poor right now.

We still lack the spark and imagination to break down the best defences.

MrOneLung

The Jaapies ?

iainment

MrOneLung said:

The Jaapies ?

South Africans?

Ormiston_Addick

iainment said:

MrOneLung said:

The Jaapies ?

South Africans?

Yep.

Croydon

It was a very poor weekend of international rugby,but there has been some good stuff played over the tournament. Obviously nowhere near the speed or skill you'd see from a game in the southern hemisphere. The decider against Wales will be a cracker,maybe not for the quality of rugby but for the atmosphere an England hating welsh crowd can create and the fact our grand slam is on the line will make it all very tense.

Ormiston_Addick

Croydon said:

It was a very poor weekend of international rugby,but there has been some good stuff played over the tournament. Obviously nowhere near the speed or skill you'd see from a game in the southern hemisphere. The decider against Wales will be a cracker,maybe not for the quality of rugby but for the atmosphere an England hating welsh crowd can create and the fact our grand slam is on the line will make it all very tense.

That's the difference for me, the Kiwi teams in the Super Rugby competition just seem to be able to move the ball around so quickly, they are almost playing a different game at times to the one we play.

The Northern game is much more defence focused whereas the Kiwis love to run the ball and chance their arm, confident that if you score 20pts they will score 30pts.

They are rarely wrong either.

Croydon

Ormiston Addick said:

Croydon said:

It was a very poor weekend of international rugby,but there has been some good stuff played over the tournament. Obviously nowhere near the speed or skill you'd see from a game in the southern hemisphere. The decider against Wales will be a cracker,maybe not for the quality of rugby but for the atmosphere an England hating welsh crowd can create and the fact our grand slam is on the line will make it all very tense.

That's the difference for me, the Kiwi teams in the Super Rugby competition just seem to be able to move the ball around so quickly, they are almost playing a different game at times to the one we play.

The Northern game is much more defence focused whereas the Kiwis love to run the ball and chance their arm, confident that if you score 20pts they will score 30pts.

They are rarely wrong either.

I agree, this is the prime example of it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTMcNfs366c

The Kiwis love to counter attack and northern hemisphere sides spend most of their time kicking possession away,which is playing straight to their strengths

Super_horns

Its said the weather hasn't helped and as talked about before the players are so phyiscal its hard to have a free flowing passing style.

LenGlover

Another factor since the advent of professionalism is the improvement in defence generally. The formations are now similar to Rugby League which has always been a defensive game.

The Welsh assistant coach Shaun Edwards for example and England's former defensive coach, Phil Larder, both have "League" rather than "Union" backgrounds. Andy Farrell, who is now involved with the England setup, made his name in league too although subsequently becoming a Union international as well.

BlackForestReds

Ormiston Addick said:

Good to see England win but seriously the Kiwis would rip us to shreds 9/10, so would the Jaapies more often than not, although the Aussies are very poor right now.

We still lack the spark and imagination to break down the best defences.

Must have been a different lot of All Blacks that England beat last December...

Ormiston_Addick

BlackForestReds said:

Ormiston Addick said:

Good to see England win but seriously the Kiwis would rip us to shreds 9/10, so would the Jaapies more often than not, although the Aussies are very poor right now.

We still lack the spark and imagination to break down the best defences.

Must have been a different lot of All Blacks that England beat last December...

I said 9/10!

Would you back England against the Blacks in a WC match? Nor would I.

BlackForestReds

Not now I wouldn't, the current England team are very inexperienced and need a bit more depth in certain areas. Comparing England now to the current NZ team is a bit unfair.

Addickted

Ah, the skill and finesse of the All Blacks. The pure speed and agility of the small backs like..... Jona Luma

Danny Addick

BlackForestReds said:

Not now I wouldn't, the current England team are very inexperienced and need a bit more depth in certain areas. Comparing England now to the current NZ team is a bit unfair.

This

dickplumb

Didn't we beat the all Blacks at Twickenham or did I imagine that?

Ormiston_Addick

dickplumb said:

Didn't we beat the all Blacks at Twickenham or did I imagine that?

Yes, in their last game of their very long season when we were fresh as daisies - I would not bet on a repeat performance.

In the last 30 years only during that 2000-2003 period have we ever produced a team that could really match it with NZ and consistently beat them.

This current England team might get close to those standards one day, I hope they do but the real question is how NZ, with such a tiny population, can produce such a consistently brilliant side?

Croydon

Ormiston Addick said:

dickplumb said:

Didn't we beat the all Blacks at Twickenham or did I imagine that?

Yes, in their last game of their very long season when we were fresh as daisies - I would not bet on a repeat performance.

In the last 30 years only during that 2000-2003 period have we ever produced a team that could really match it with NZ and consistently beat them.

This current England team might get close to those standards one day, I hope they do but the real question is how NZ, with such a tiny population, can produce such a consistently brilliant side?

It's the schools' elitism approach compared to our school's sport for everyone mentality. They play their school matches in front of huge crowds,and the top schools pay the money for top coaches. Look at any YouTube video of NZ schools rugby and it is an unreal standard for people who are 18yo. Also it is their number 1 sport,kids in the park play rugby,not football

cafcfan

Apart from the occassional dabble at cricket, it's not just NZ's No. 1 sport - it's their only sport. We, on the other hand, prefer to be vaguely competent at everything with just the hint of excellence cropping up unexpectedly every now and again.
Saying NZ dominate rugby as if it's some great achievement is a bit like saying we dominate the World Pea-shooting Championship. It's just that no one else really puts the effort into taking part.

Ormiston_Addick

cafcfan said:

Apart from the occassional dabble at cricket, it's not just NZ's No. 1 sport - it's their only sport. We, on the other hand, prefer to be vaguely competent at everything with just the hint of excellence cropping up unexpectedly every now and again.
Saying NZ dominate rugby as if it's some great achievement is a bit like saying we dominate the World Pea-shooting Championship. It's just that no one else really puts the effort into taking part.

Pathetic, ever heard of the Springboks, Wallabies? Rugby is more popular than football in most parts of France.

thai malaysia addick

cafcfan said:

We, on the other hand, prefer to be vaguely competent at everything with just the hint of excellence cropping up unexpectedly every now and again.

I think that's a bit harsh, to be honest. The Olympics showed we are right up there in a range of sports. Our cricket team is as strong as it has been for many years. Arguably, the weak link is football.

Man_About_Town

Rugby is the number one sport in NZ and probably in Wales and SA........it's number ? In England and it's only in the past couple of decades thatvthe 'old school tie' has been overcome. We are usually competitive against the Kiwis, but overall they are just better than us.

cafcfan

Ormiston Addick said:

cafcfan said:

Apart from the occassional dabble at cricket, it's not just NZ's No. 1 sport - it's their only sport. We, on the other hand, prefer to be vaguely competent at everything with just the hint of excellence cropping up unexpectedly every now and again.
Saying NZ dominate rugby as if it's some great achievement is a bit like saying we dominate the World Pea-shooting Championship. It's just that no one else really puts the effort into taking part.

Pathetic, ever heard of the Springboks, Wallabies? Rugby is more popular than football in most parts of France.

There, you've just proved my point. It's such a marginal sport, that to be hailed as world-beaters you need to beat, umm, two other teams!

killerandflash

thai malaysia addick said:

cafcfan said:

We, on the other hand, prefer to be vaguely competent at everything with just the hint of excellence cropping up unexpectedly every now and again.

I think that's a bit harsh, to be honest. The Olympics showed we are right up there in a range of sports. Our cricket team is as strong as it has been for many years. Arguably, the weak link is football.

Well we're consistently ranked Top 10 in the FIFA rankings, which is probably our level, football being the most widely played sport on the planet, winning anything is always going to be incredibly hard.

Rizzo

killerandflash said:

thai malaysia addick said:

cafcfan said:

We, on the other hand, prefer to be vaguely competent at everything with just the hint of excellence cropping up unexpectedly every now and again.

I think that's a bit harsh, to be honest. The Olympics showed we are right up there in a range of sports. Our cricket team is as strong as it has been for many years. Arguably, the weak link is football.

Well we're consistently ranked Top 10 in the FIFA rankings, which is probably our level, football being the most widely played sport on the planet, winning anything is always going to be incredibly hard.

And it's not like there's a huge variety in World Cup winners in football. Since the war there have been 16 World Cups and only 8 different winners. Taking into account the difference in popularity between Football and Rugby, is that really all that different to the Rugby situation of 2-3 top teams + the rest?