[Albionic]

He said he just didn't realise that time was up. In any case France needed to beat Scotland by 21 points to stop Wales winning the title so really it just cost France an international win, world ranking points...maybe cost his team-mates a win bonus.

but guaranteed him a place on what happened next

[Baggies]

Six Nations 2023 shaping up nicely. Ireland beat Wales last week in Cardiff and followed it up with a second comfortable victory against their main challengers France today. They go into the World Cup as only third favourites, but surely this time they finally go past the quarter finals. They are just so good and have beaten everyone in the last 2 years.

France are joint favourites to win their  home world cup, but struggled away in Rome last week and probably should have lost had Italy been more clinical in the final 5 minutes, while today they were outclassed by Ireland. They have 2 home games to come in the final 3 weekends so should recover, but it's not the best prep for a world cup they have targeted for years.

The nation who do seem to be challenging Ireland are Scotland. In Six Nations history, Scotland had only managed bonus point victories vs Italy in the last 23 years (4 tries get you a BP). In the first 2 weeks this year, they have BP victories vs England and Wales. The toughest 2 fixtures come next in France away and Ireland at home, but they are currently looking every inch the 5th best side in World Rugby.

As for the rest, Wales look in trouble, the writing has been on the cards for a while with problems domestically and 2 heavy losses in the opening two weeks doesn't bode well. Welsh fans will be looking nervously at their away tie vs Itsly, who could yet give them the wooden spoon.

England Italy face off tomorrow at Twickenham, England have been awful for a long time now and had the game been I'm Rome I would have feared the worst, but we should be too good for them at home. After tomorrow's game though, i' not expecting much. The game in Cardiff vs Wales might be the only way for us to come out of the tournament with much respect at all. A 5th place finish is an outside possibility.

[Adder]

I certainly agree that Wales are in trouble - 'in a hole' as Gatland says (he may well be wishing that he hadn't come back). Problem is Wales are in a place where the old guard are now well past their peak; there are some promising young players but most of them have less than 5 or 10 caps; it's not great in world cup year to have an almost complete lack of players anywhere near their prime.
Ireland - ruthlessly efficient and so difficult to play against...and with such strength in depth.
Scotland - talent throughout the team. In Van der Merwe, Hogg/Kinghorn and Huw Jones they have very dangerous runners who can cause havoc from anywhere (and Darcy Graham to come back at some point)...and Finn Russell to pull the strings.
France - they will be a bit shell shocked after today I think and the Scotland game will be a major test for both sides.
England - hard to say how they will develop in the lead up to the world cup. Obviously very early days for the coaching team. They should beat Italy and should also beat Wales then it's back to the big boys with Ireland and France last up.
Italy improving which is good to see and they'll certainly be eyeing up the Wales game again.

[Adder]

Another big six nations weekend is here.

Ireland should of course be far too strong for Italy even with a few changes.

France v Scotland on Sunday should be an interesting one. France will be smarting a bit from the mediocre performance against Italy followed by defeat in Ireland while Scotland should have plenty of confidence and carry a lot of danger in their backs.

England warm favourites against Wales. Welsh rugby is in turmoil. Certain compromises have been made partly to make sure that this game goes ahead. It may or may not have had a galvanising affect on Wales...but the bottom line is that Wales are struggling on the pitch with a mix of players who are either past their best or have very little experience. A total of 6 caps between Owen Williams playing at 10 and the two twenty year old centres illustrates the lack of a settled line-up. Hardly a murmur has been heard from the England camp in the build up and they are definite favourites today.

[Baggies]

Decent game in Rome, while Ireland always looked like they would win, you did get your hopes up at 24-20 that Italy might pull off the impossible. Ireland should win the slam now and might finally break their world cup curse, but Italy might finally be about to crack Union. I would rate their chances of a win in Rome vs Wales, it's just a shame they have been drawn in a world cup group with 2 of the best 4 teams in world rugby (and 2 of the worst who will be at the tournament - they look stranded as the 3rd place side with predictable results incoming).

Wales v England was a bit of a rare dud game for this year's tournament. Low quality, both sides look some way away from the top 3 in Europe. Farrell couldn't kick the proverbial cat and is possibly getting in to the team on legacy alone now - L'Equipe names Marcus Smith as the best fly half in Europe last year but because Farrell hasn't really got the pace to play at centre anymore, Smith has been turfed out in favour of him. Maybe it's just the old Andrews over Barnes conservative tendancy. I'd be shocked if we get another win this winter.

Wales are in trouble, at least in the short term. Long term they have Rees-Zammit, Grady, Hawkins and Tshiunza and could get back into contention in the next few years, but in the immediate future I'd look at that Italy game in Rome as a 50/50, while in the medium term the (on paper) "easy" group of Australia, Fiji and Georgia contains more danger than it should.

Scotland France tomorrow has the potential to be game of the tournament. Looking forward to it.

[Adder]

Yeah I'd make Italy slight favourites against Wales I'm afraid. They always seem to have a couple of tries in them and will certainly target the Wales game. Wales also have to decide what their best team is. Other good prospects for Wales are Dafydd Jenkins and Jac Morgan...could do with some young front row forwards emerging though.

[Mikkyk]

I'm glad Albion won today because England aren't bringing any joy!

That's one of the worst halves I've seen in a long time. Off the top of my head I'm going to go with worst since Cardiff 2013 second half.

[Baggies]

A record loss at Twickenham. We can safely be ruled out of winning the World Cup this year and I fear for what Ireland will do to us at the Aviva.

[Baggies]

The final day of the tournament. Fully expect 3 home walk overs.

Scotland will face an Italy side who have fought hard this year but look set to come away from the tournament without a win once again. At some point Italy are going to need to start picking up wins to see off the threat of South Africa who are lurking, looking to take their place. They are already below Georgia in the world rankings, personally I think there is an argument for an 8 team tournament with promotion and relegation but I'm uneasy with us damaging the Rugby Championship down south. I wouldn't rule Italy out, they could have beaten France and Ireland so Scotland aren't in the clear, but as the 5th best side in the world I expect Scotland will have too much.

France face Wales in one of their final home games before their home world cup. For those with a passing interest who havent seen Dupont play yet, the scrum half is probably the best player in the world right now - he might turn out to be the greatest scrum half of the pro era.

Finally it's Ireland v England. The stars have aligned for Ireland. It's St Patrick's weekend, they have given us a thumping at Cheltenham all week and now they are ser to thrash their favourite opponent in Dublin to win only their 4th grand slam - their first home grand slam victory in years. Can an England side who suffered record defeat to France last time out stop the world number 1's? Not likely, although I doubt Ireland will win by a record margin this time.

Farrell is back at fly half with exciting 20 year old winger Henry Arundell set to start.

[Baggies]

England fighting, but behind at half time vs Ireland. They may have had a chance second half, had it not been for the increasingly dog s*** rules around tackles they are bringing in resulting in a red card for Steward. I understand the need for increased safety, but if flinching at the point of impact results in a red card then the game probably needs to consider becoming a touch rugby hybrid instead.

[Baggies]

Gutsy performance. With 13 men vs 15 at the end vs the best side in the world they nearly managed to get a try that would have closed the final score to only a few points.

A game wrecked by the interpretation of a new-ish law.

Ireland will go into the World Cup as one of only 4 sides who can win the thing and will surely now get to the semi finals or better for the first time.

As for England, Borthwick has a lot of work to do, but he couldnt have asked for an easier path to the world cup semi finals next time out, with all of Argentina, Japan, Wales/Australia (our potential opponents) being below us in the world rankings. Thanks to the draw having been made 3 years ago, the top 5 sides in the world make up one half of the draw, while the 6-10th place sides are all in the other half.

I'd like to see us build around Smith, but I'd be shocked if you don't see veterans Farrell and Tuilagi being the key players in their final ever world cups while Borthwick goes for a more dour, attritional, back to basics approach while we re group as only the 6th - 8th best side in the world.

[Baggies]

Worth saying again, Ireland won their 3rd Grand Slam in the last 20 tournaments today. They joined France who also have 3 Grand slams in the last 20 editions and both are behind Wales who have the 4 in the last 20.

France population - 67 million
Ireland population - 7 million
Wales population - 3 million

England have 56 million people and only 1 grand slam in the last 20 years.

We can claim its because we focus more on Football and also have Cricket, but France have World titles in football and handball and have been runners up in basketball, Wales have a last 4 finish in the Euros while Rugby in Ireland is arguably behind Soccer, Gaelic football and Hurling for participation and public support.

England (mens) rotten team sport record never gets easier to look at. Thank god for the Cricketers recent success.

[Albionic]

Worth saying again, Ireland won their 3rd Grand Slam in the last 20 tournaments today. They joined France who also have 3 Grand slams in the last 20 editions and both are behind Wales who have the 4 in the last 20.

France population - 67 million
Ireland population - 7 million
Wales population - 3 million

England have 56 million people and only 1 grand slam in the last 20 years.

We can claim its because we focus more on Football and also have Cricket, but France have World titles in football and handball and have been runners up in basketball, Wales have a last 4 finish in the Euros while Rugby in Ireland is arguably behind Soccer, Gaelic football and Hurling for participation and public support.

England (mens) rotten team sport record never gets easier to look at. Thank god for the Cricketers recent success.

If only we could ask those northern types to stop playing their "league" version, we might compete at ruggers !

The working class have made a decent fist of fussball as well of late, co-incidently since Gareth started wearing a westcote, good egg Gareth, a good strong pair of gaiters and some tweed under garments and Jules rimet will be ours!

Your point re cricket is well made, however one must consider its only the "modern, trashy shortened versions" where we have progressed, lets see how we get on with the antipodeans before we laud the chaps at the MCC please.

We still hold the "real" tennis, polo and croquet championships so all is not awry, good on the fellows from Harrow and Eton I say ! 

We could of course bring back hunting with hounds for the olympics of course !  Cheerio chaps orf for a libation now !