All about the 2008 RBS SIX NATIONS

[MOCKBA]

Heard that the 6N trophy was lined on the inside with gold because the champagne was corroding then silver structure! Wonder what the Garibaldi trophy is made of ...doubt that it's cast with noble metals

[pier12345]

Brilliant Wales!!

thats all i have to say

[billingham]

Italy, after the first 20 minutes, played a storming match. Good defence, physical aggression, and tackle-as-if-it-was-the-last-match-of-your-bleedin'-lives. The change came when Masi crashed on D'Arcy. Too bad for Gordon that he got injured, I really love him as a player. Unfortunately, we don't have any good tactical kicker, and it was through tactical kicks that we got to lose. Also Reddan outsped Travagli throughout the match. My MVP would be shared by Reddan and Bergamasco (who tackled like a man possessed). Ireland probably too sure of themselves in the first quarter. Squandering three tries and punting a kickable penalty to touch (and losing the lineout afterwards).

England Wales....whoa. England had the better in the set-piece, at the breakdown, and physically. BUT they didn't translate this into points. Not enough points, at least. In the second half Wales fixed their problems in the rucks, did a GREAT job on tactical kicking (like Argentina did to France on the RWC opener: kick it, let it on the field, test their fullback and wings and put pressure as hell) and put pressure. They have a lousy tight five, but their back row with Popham Williams and Jones is some great stuff. So, kick on them, put the highest pressure possible, and make them piss the ball. And England pissed it, and Wales scored the tries. And then protected the ball and kept it near til the end. My MVP would go to Hook, for the points and for his tactical kicking, but it would be nice to share it to the whole Welsh team, for their heart, for they believed they could make it, and for they came victorious out of Twickers. Now let's watch out for them.

[billingham]

Ei gwrol ryfelwyr, gwladgarwyr tra mâd

[pier12345]

Stade Fancy v Ireland

"The definition of insanity is doing th ... ish rugby.

FOUND ON THE MUNSTER FANS WEBSITE!

IN ANY CASE....
i will we could just convince EDDIE to now put in the man mountain Tony Buckley from Munster at loosehead.then we have a fairly savage front row...



Marcus Horan.,.a great player..but nowadays just too small for a loosehead ... had a very hard time agaisnt Castro last week..although the Irish Scrum held very very well

I think if the Irish Forwards get stuck into the French..we can win in Paris.

Italy v Ladies

Italy-England..this will be interesting...if Italy do an English on the English...i.e grind them down in the forwards....the game is there for the taking..BUT you have to take your points when they come..there will be a lot of penalties here, specially at the breakdown....and you must put the penalties over..
if you do that i think you have a very good chance to win

Ospreys V - Scotland

I simply dont believe Scotland as as bad as the result showed last week...and i dint think Wales are as good as their result showed

Scotland have clearly the superior pack...and if they keep it tight they have a very good chance of winning.

[MOCKBA]

I also don't think the Scots are as bad as the last week's result might suggest. Still predict a Welsh victory however it might be a tight affair. Frankly although tipped by many as a very competitive side I would have never expected the French to be so impressive, talking about having depth in you squad! The English are shaking because of 3/4 injuries seems to me like the Franch have an endless (well almost) pool of talent...will the luxury of abbundance cost them? (like it did with the kiwis at the RWC)...don't think so for me they are hot favourites to win the trophy! Italy has never had such good chance to beat the English, i would call it 60/40 in favour of the man in white...should we fail to prevail this time around I think we might be waiting for a real long time for another chance like this!
As always...FORZA AZZURRI...give them hell!!!

[billingham]

England should "easily" win using Jonny Boot's tactical kick. Phisically we're both good sides, but we have a woeful back triangle when it comes to covering, especially full-back Bortolussi. England shall try to attack between the outside center and the winger, or to overcome the defence with kicks. Italy will be stronger around the pack and Masi will be a good phisical challenge for Wilkinson. They're both good players at bashing and tackling, but Masi won't kick any ball: that means we are short of an attacking option. The attacking option Ireland used to beat us, and the attacking option that is easy to exploit by a team who can field Wilko. We should be very strong up front, and without Sheridan and Vickery England will be quite concerned with the front-row battle. We'll probably give the English a hard time scrumwise, but will have to tackle a lot with backs and loose forwards. England is an excellent attacking team, if they play as they played in the first half against Wales, we're a very defensive side, who will probably get many penalties. The problem is, we don't have anyone to safely rely on when it comes to slotting them through the posts. That is a vital problem, as I predict that the match will be played more on penalties than on tries.

In Italy there's the general impression that this is our big do-or-die chance to beat England, though it remains very difficult. We've had two very good performances against the English at the last two Six Nations, and last year we were THAT close to making history. Let's see what we can do. Hopefully it will be a good ignorant match (the ones I prefer the most) and there won't be many points dividing the teams at the final whistle.