The official KUMB Rugby Union Thread

[hammerdivone]

I'm pretty sure I saw several Popes, and lots of Marios :lol:

[Glory Hunter]

Ha ha, it looked like a decent costume.

I'm sure I saw him blessing Mario and Co after their human pyramid collapsed (but my beer addled brain may have just made that up).

[woodford]

Ha ha, it looked like a decent costume.

I'm sure I saw him blessing Mario and Co after their human pyramid collapsed (but my beer addled brain may have just made that up).

no you got that right, did you stay for the Holy Father revealing his Welsh top underneath the pope gear?

[Glory Hunter]

No, I missed that. If memory serves, it was right by a snarled up junction, and I was just concentrating on getting across the road without losing all my mates.

Funnily enough I met a couple of Welsh guys who'd just come along for the ride - I might start badgering my Welsh mates to sort a trip for next year.

I was also encouraged by the view in the ground. I'd been to the Olimpico before the last round of refurbishments and the view was terrible, this time I felt I had a very good view of the action. It's allayed my fears about the OS to a certain extent.

[ironstu]

Elliot Daly in the matchday 23, great to see!

Big games this weekend.

[woodford]

yep cant wait

[bunk]

Looking forward to this weekend, I'm actually glad it's an early kick off at West Ham for once so no massive rush to get away from Upton Park. Feeling quite confident of getting a result, it's the Welsh match that I'm dreading.

[ironstu]

Looking forward to this weekend, I'm actually glad it's an early kick off at West Ham for once so no massive rush to get away from Upton Park. Feeling quite confident of getting a result, it's the Welsh match that I'm dreading.

Works out perfectly. What with Super Ruby starting on Friday morning as well, don't quite know what to do with myself!

I feel confident of beating Ireland and Wales at Twickenham, it's France in Paris on the last day that has heartbreaker written all over it!

[3times]

Youngs starts ahead of care, don't get it. Youngs is not even the second best 9

[sendô]

That's a weird one. Not sure what Care has done wrong really.

[ironstu]

Care hasn't done anything wrong, he'll still play a big part off the bench. Youngs is a stronger kicking option at 9 which I think will suit the way we are going to play against Ireland, very much a horses for courses selection rather than Care having done anything wrong.

Strong team, I expect us to strangle the life out of them and win by 5-10.

[3times]

Youngs may have a slightly better kicking game but around the loose he is so much slower its a joke. A lot of the time he will take a step before passing and has no where near the vision that Care has got.

Maybe Jones has been swayed by the fact that Youngs got MOM (somehow voted around half time!!) against Italy :shock:

[ironstu]

I agree he is slower around the base in terms of generating quick ball but he doesn't lack vision. He has a great eye for a break and the reason his kicking game is so strong is because of his vision, he knows exactly when and where to kick due to his awareness of where the wingers and fullback are.

With regard to the step that he takes before passing, a lot of the top scrum halves I've played with have done the same thing, the reason being is that they are taught to do so to fix the first two defenders. As a forward attacking close to the breakdown the step that the scrum half takes with the ball allows that forward to carry knowing that those defenders are fixed. We've often had problems with the fly-halves not appreciating the step, understandably so, but as a forward it is helpful, something which I'm sure has been ingrained in to him at Leicester!

The MOM was ridiculous though :lol:

[simon hammer]

Youngs and Care are both fantastic scrum half's, and I am happy to see either of them start.

We should beat Ireland, and I am pretty sure we'll beat Wales at HQ...France away though...hmmm.

[simon hammer]

England 21-10 Ireland.

Dull first half, better second.

Play like that against wales though and we'll get hammered.

[sendô]

Same old discipline problems for England. We should be grateful Ireland arent the team they were a few years back.

Still, we look a lot bettr than we did at the World Cup, if against lesser teams. Need to be at our best against the Taffs though or they will destroy us. Id still makethem favourites for the title at this point.

[Eggchaser]

Same old discipline problems for England. .....

I don't entirely agree with that, the refereeing was appalling.
How often do you see a TJ come on to the pitch to tell the referee that he'd missed a knock a few phases back, as Nigel Owens did yesterday?
Ireland were consistently slowing the ball down and conceded only two fewer penalties than England. Poite never even appeared to consider a card for them though, why?

Haskell deserved his yellow card for a poor tackle, but I'm not even convinced Care's offence was a penalty let alone a yellow card.

England had plenty of possession and dominated the game for long periods when it was 15 v 15.
Their main issue is the mistakes they're making, however, I'm happier that they are trying to be more expansive and getting into the position to make those mistakes. If England can cut out some of those errors in attack and that will come, they will look a lot better.

From what I saw on Friday night, admittedly only 20 odd minutes, Wales didn't play well and France bar a five minute spell were poor.
Having said that I still make Wales slight favourites mainly due to their defence.

[bristolhammerfc]

Just a quick nod to Bristol who made the championship playoffs today.

Really unfair promotion system but everyones in the same boat.

[sendô]

Fair comment, Owens running onto the pitch to tell the ref he had ****ed up was a tad embarrassing for him.

[ironstu]

Just a quick nod to Bristol who made the championship playoffs today.

Really unfair promotion system but everyones in the same boat.

Hats off to Bristol. With the playing resources that they have at their disposal, it would be a travesty if they didn't go up!