Six Nations 2024

[KrisW]

Standout performance of the series surely goes to Italy. Two wins, and one draw, and that was down to the width of the upright. The fall of the table hides just how good a series they had: only Ireland beat them comprehensively.

Ireland get a "met expectations". They started incredibly, but they came back from the break a bit out of sorts, and really shouldn't have lost to England - but credit to England, that was their best performance of the five, by a long way. Whatever Farrell says publicly, I think they'll be disappointed to have so narrowly missed an unprecedented back-to-back Grand Slam: after the first three matches, you felt they were aiming for a maximum points finish too...

Scotland were something of a disappointment: before the series, the Irish media had them and France as the major obstacles facing Ireland, but they (both) just didn't live up to it.

England underperformed. They had one good performance, against Ireland, aged the rest was messy. There's something not right there: Owen Farrell withdrawing from selection is a symptom of a bigger issue I think. Despite what some of the posh boys say, they missed his ability to score points from play.

France were France. Brilliant and appalling, often in the same game. Second place flatters them - it was only luck that stopped Italy taking them.

I don't know what good point you can take from Wales's series except that it's over now. There's a huge amount of work to do. Gatland did the right thing in offering to resign. Abi Tierney did the right thing by not accepting that offer. From here things can only get better..

 

[DuncanF]

England underperformed. They had one good performance, against Ireland, aged the rest was messy. There's something not right there: Owen Farrell withdrawing from selection is a symptom of a bigger issue I think.

I think the key issue for England is that the new blitz defence approach is still misfiring at times. Last night was a perfect example. The "attack" defence disrupted the French all over the park and led to spillages, confusion and turnovers. But the "defence" defence was porous. Get the two working well and things look brighter.

 

[Bart]

I'm Welsh and we used to say "You can't beat Wales at rugby - you can only score more points than them...."

But watching the current team is a sad affair. They're dreadful.

To be sure they are not consistently up to the standard of the other 6N teams, though 2 of the score lines were very close. They are relatively young and inexperienced but can only get better and I’m sure nobody recognises the ‘dreadfulness‘ more than the players and coaches themselves and they will do all they can to rectify it. In the meantime we need to scrap the 25 cap rule and breed a few large units who can consistently break the gain line.
On the plus side the national anthem was the best I have heard it sung for a long time - good omen!

 

[Woodface]

The daft rule of only picking those playing in England should be ended. I can’t believe it’s not been challenged as a restraint of trade.

Farrell is the best kicker we have, playing in France will give home some respite from the spotlight; we are just hurting ourselves.

 

[KrisW]

The daft rule of only picking those playing in England should be ended. I can’t believe it’s not been challenged as a restraint of trade.

Farrell is the best kicker we have, playing in France will give home some respite from the spotlight; we are just hurting ourselves.

There's no legal basis for or against England's policy, especially as the national team is not a paid job for a player.

It's a stupid idea though, a copy of the unwritten rule NZ had for a long while where players who moved abroad were dropped from selection. They at least had a geographical argument behind this policy, but it was binned when they realised that all it was doing was depriving the selectors of players with experience of playing against the members of NZ's international opponents. And worse, with residency qualification, it meant that all those would-be All Blacks spurned by their home association started to line out against the All Blacks for other nations.

 

[Woodface]

There's no legal basis for or against England's policy, especially as the national team is not a paid job for a player.

It's a stupid idea though, a copy of the unwritten rule NZ had for a long while where players who moved abroad were dropped from selection. They at least had a geographical argument behind this policy, but it was binned when they realised that all it was doing was depriving the selectors of players with experience of playing against the members of NZ's international opponents. And worse, with residency qualification, it meant that all those would-be All Blacks spurned by their home association started to line out against the All Blacks for other nations.

It’s all a little murky as the RFU seems to control league teams in terms of salary cap etc. I assumed England players are paid to play for their country?

Either way it’s a daft rule, I don’t think the other nations are as strict. I am not a massive rugby fan, only dip in & out of it; didn’t go for the right school etc.

 

[KrisW]

I did go to the right school, sort-of (ordinary "state" school, not fee-paying, but one with a long tradition of rugby-playing) but I hated the school and by extension the game until my wife got me interested in it. I still mostly dip in and out, though.

My understanding is that, like in football, all national sides are sort-of "amateur": you might get expenses and there might be a share of some bonus money if you win, but it's not a pretty match payment, and compared to the players' regular salaries it's small beer.

 

[DuncanF]

I did go to the right school, sort-of (ordinary "state" school, not fee-paying, but one with a long tradition of rugby-playing) but I hated the school and by extension the game until my wife got me interested in it. I still mostly dip in and out, though.

My understanding is that, like in football, all national sides are sort-of "amateur": you might get expenses and there might be a share of some bonus money if you win, but it's not a pretty match payment, and compared to the players' regular salaries it's small beer.

Match fees are north of £25K. The highest of all teams. Add in championship/RWC win bounses and it's a chunk when core players could turn out 12 times a year.