The Rugby Site

[socksy]

Another All Black great Ritchie McCaw has announced retirement from all Rugby with immediate effect to take up a career as a Helicopter Pilot. He can say he went out on a high by winning the World Cup.

[maaka]

make that, my winning two world cups back to back as captain.....probably never be done again.

[socksy]

Sad - Rugby 'giant' Jonah died with virtually no money.

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/news/all ... li=AAaeUIW

[socksy]

Almost that time again =D>

2016 Six Nations fixtures

Saturday 6th February 2016

France v Italy at Stade de France, Paris 2:25pm (GMT)
Scotland v England at BT Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh 4:50pm

Sunday 7th February 2016

Ireland v Wales at Aviva Stadium, Dublin 3:00pm

Saturday 13th February 2016

France v Ireland at Stade de France, Paris 2:25pm (GMT)
Wales v Scotland at Principality Stadium, Cardiff 4:50pm

Sunday 14th February 2016

Italy v England at Stadio Olimpico, Rome 2:00pm (GMT)

Friday 26th February 2016

Wales v France at Principality Stadium, Cardiff 8:05pm

Saturday 27th February 2016

Italy v Scotland at Stadio Olimpico, Rome 2:25pm (GMT)
England v Ireland at Twickenham Stadium, London 4:50pm

Saturday 12th March 2016

Ireland v Italy at Aviva Stadium, Dublin 1:30pm
England v Wales at Twickenham Stadium, London 4:00pm

Sunday 13th March 2016

Scotland v France at BT Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh 3:00pm

Saturday 19th March 2016

Wales v Italy at Principality Stadium, Cardiff 2:30pm
Ireland v Scotland at Aviva Stadium, Dublin 5:00pm
France v England at Stade de France, Paris 8:00pm (GMT)

[GT93]

There's a rather tall and heavy (132 kg) Manc lock playing club rugby in Auckland:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/7819 ... rgest-lock

You'd need to tackle low to bring this bloke down ...

[socksy]

Semi's of Rugby Union today. These make a mockery of Football Play offs as this is how the table finished.

Saracen's 80 points
Exeter 74 points
Wasps 72 points
Leicester 65 points.

This means that Leicester can be the title winners if they win two games having finished 15 points behind the top side. Laughable.


AVIVA PREMIERSHIP

Newly crowned European Champions Saracens v Leicester 1230 GMT BT Sport 1

Exeter v Wasps 3.15 pm GMT BT Sport 1



PRO 12

Connacht (IRE) v Glasgow (SCO) 1830 GMT Sky Sports 1 and BBC 2 Scotland. (winners will meet Leinster who beat Ulster last night 30-18)

[socksy]

Semi's of Rugby Union today. These make a mockery of Football Play offs as this is how the table finished.

Saracen's 80 points
Exeter 74 points
Wasps 72 points
Leicester 65 points.

This means that Leicester can be the title winners if they win two games having finished 15 points behind the top side. Laughable.


AVIVA PREMIERSHIP

Newly crowned European Champions Saracens v Leicester 1230 GMT BT Sport 1

Exeter v Wasps 3.15 pm GMT BT Sport 1



PRO 12

Connacht (IRE) v Glasgow (SCO) 1830 GMT Sky Sports 1 and BBC 2 Scotland. (winners will meet Leinster who beat Ulster last night 30-18)

[socksy]

Saturday 21st May 2016

AVIVA PREMIERSHIP semi finals

Saracens 44 Leicester17

Exeter 34 Wasps 23

GUINNESS PRO12 SEMI FINAL

Connacht 16 Glasgow Warriors 11


Scotland snatched a dramatic first ever World Sevens Series title with a last-gasp victory over South Africa in the London Sevens final at Twickenham. =D>

The Scots trailed 26-15 with 30 seconds left but Edinburgh wing Dougie Fife scored twice - the second in added time - to clinch a thrilling 27-26 win.

Scotland upset England 17-0 in the quarter-finals before beating USA 24-17 in the semis to reach a first final.

[tataw]

Good to see another country, especially from the "spiritual" home of the 7's, winning a tournament. The competition is now wide open with many countries on their day capable of winning a tournament. The gold medal at the Olympics is not a forgone conclusion and will be very interesting.

Some of the teams, such as the All Blacks and the Wallabies, by bringing in their so-called 15 a side stars thought they would overrun the opposition. However, Sonny Bill Williams hasn't had the impact that everyone in NZ thought he would and Quade Cooper has been dropped from the Ozzie side. I cannot see Jarryd Hayne adapting to the 7's game in such a short period of time plus it would be a travesty to an established member of the Fijian side losing his place to Hayne after they have been playing for a year or more in the side. I think he will return to league.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/ar ... d=11643586

[socksy]

This weekend matches

SATURDAY 28 MAY 2016

AVIVA PREMIERSHIP FINAL 15:00 GMT at Twickenham
Saracens v Exeter


GUINNESS PRO 12 FINAL 17:30 GMT Kick off: at BT Murrayfield

Connacht v Leinster

[tataw]

Sounds like he has lost his marbles.........

http://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/36534662

Some tasty matchups again this weekend. The England v OZ match in Melbourne should be a cracker.

Wales will probably be counting the days to their flight back home (especially when their 2nd XV was trashed by the Chiefs who were without 8 first team players).

Ireland had a magnificent first up win but might find the 'Boks a different proposition this time round

[stattointhailand]

Has there been no Rugby played in the last 10 days (last post on this thread) :-"

[GT93]

Just the Boris and Dave show.

[reddevil]

Some great rugby played

[reddevil]

What great day yesterday for England Rugby with the white wash of the Aussies and then the England under 20s crowned as World Champions

[stattointhailand]

Ahhh, thank you reddevil, that would explain why there has been so little Aussie posting here and so much on the Brexit thread :-"

[GT93]

The European 2016 Championship Finals France thread is also currently very popular with downunder posters.

A shame wash this week?

[kulsungkham]

All Blacks beat Wallabies 42-8 in Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship opener.

After the recent whitewash by England the Wallabies were pretty much annihilated by All Blacks at ANZ Stadium. Are the ABs unbeatable no of course not but I think that not enough credit has been given to the ABs coaching team in the analysis that I have seen so far. It seemed to me to be the first sighting of a new era and iteration of All Blacks rugby, the first time I have seen genuinely new tactics since 2012 (as opposed to refining or improving).

The offloading game now looks like a matter of policy rather than opportunism and the ABs ability to flood supporting players into the right channels, with perfect timing, take the offload and make ground meant that the defence was rarely able to set. Tackles would draw in 3-4 players each time rather than 1-2. This played havoc with the forwards defense and kept the backs constantly back-pedalling. It was this that allowed the backs - Barrett in particular to find those gaps on the outside so easily. In fact, just his presence at first receiver, with his vision and pace was enough to keep the Aussies second-guessing themselves and making poor defensive reads.

Yep, the Aussies didn't play at their best, but constantly being put on the back foot both physically as well as mentally meant that they were in panic mode for most of the game - i.e. in large part it was the ABs that made them look as bad as they did.

Steve Hansen and co. take a bow!

[karonsteve]

Thanks Kulsongkham for an insightful and concise report.
I would also add that having half backs and centres who can zip a 20 or 30 yard pass accurately whilst on the run also contribute significantly to stretching a defence.
As you say the bar has been raised by the All Blacks yet again giving Eddie Jones new pretenders and all international coaches an awful lot to think about.
Do the northern hemisphere teams play catch up on playing Super Rugby offloading or change how they tackle or both?
Will the Saracens "Wolf Pack" game of set piece dominance and not giving an inch let alone a sniff of the ball prevail?
With the Boks unconvincing win over Argentina it really is hard to see anyone in the Rugby Championship giving the All Blacks a testing game but one lives in hope.

[tataw]

It is a worry when Cheika selects Giteau and Genia for the test when they hadn't played any competitive rugby for several months. Doesn't inspire other players vying for those positions with much confidence. Ozzie rugby is in the doldrums at present and the future doesn't look bright with a lack of players and funds and a trashing will not encourage younger players to take up the sport.

England under Eddie Jones have been a revitalised team and has an impressive forward pack especially Itoje an the lads that won the under 20 WC to come through. If Jones can instill in them a sense of flair and panache then they will foot it with the All Blacks. Next years Lions tour could be interesting but they have set themselves a hard task by playing all the "Super" franchises as well as 3 tests.

Springbok rugby is going through a transitional period with the emphasis being on an equal number of white and black/coloured players. Until the black players have a large pool of players to choose from and they reach international standard then the Springboks could struggle for a few years.

I think England will win the 6 Nations as Wales have been struggling with injuries (and possibly need a new coach to refresh their ideas?) and with Schmidt and Cotter leaving Ireland and Scotland which will interrupt their plans. As for the French - as unpredictable as the wind.