Six nations cup

[Manekineko]

I actually had no idea the tournament started: my dad accidentally stumbled upon Italy-Ireland while channel surfing... (Showing respect...)

Anyway, lucky me that DSF is airing the tournament and that we stumbled on the very first game. I have to say, either the Azzurri have improved significantly or the Irish still haven't recovered from World Cup fiasco. Italian defense looked solid and they would have been so close to victory if their "kicker" (what's-the-word for guy who kicks penalties and conversions) wasn't terrible and cost them 5 points... Anyway, I found myself cheering for Italians. Forza, Azzurri!

[aderechelsea]

(what's-the-word for guy who kicks penalties and conversions)

i think it's the fly-half that takes most of the kicks/

[Sakana]

England-Wales : 19-26

Really, really surprising !

Ireland-Italy : 16-11

Hard start for Green Men :-P

Tomorrow :

Scotland - France

How will play France ? I don't know... I think Scotland can win, because players and coach are news in French team.

In France, we call the guy who kicks penalties and conversions a "buteur" (er-... if I'm not wrong (Laughing...))

Maybe "Scorer" in english ? (Showing respect...)

[Sasanishiki]

The best description in English would be 'kicker'. Fly-half is a (particularly English) word for the number 10, but in NZ we use first five-eight as the term. Of course, any one can kick goals, so kicker is a better term than just using the position they (might) play.

Oh, and so happy for my Welsh boys!!

Edited February 2, 2008 by Sasanishiki

[Azumashida]

The Welsh have many players from the same team (the Ospreys) and it seems to have paid off. OTOH, France's very renewed lineup is very exciting because there's a lot of young talent there and ambitions to privilege flair over rigour, but it is also very risky to form a team with so many guys who have never played together... It is highly likely that Scotland's no-nonsense approach will prevail, though I hope to be wronged...

[Sakana]

Scotland-France : 6-27

I'm surprised, good start in the tournament !

;-)

[Mark Buckton]

Welsh were very good and deserved to win IMO. Italians weren't bad but had no real punch to break the Irish back line.

D'Arcy meanwhile - out of the Irish team for the rest of it now with a stress fracture of his arm or something deserved it the way he was slapping people in the chest with his upper arm/shoulder as opposed to going in properly!

[Manekineko]

Alas, DSF only showed a brief overview of the England-Wales game, so it was hard to judge the quality of either team's game. Wales did manage a splendid turn around, good for them!

Scots were really clumsy against the flying French team. The German commentator thought that the first French try was thanks to forward pass, but the other two were clearly and simply due to mistakes from the Scots. Hat off to the French, for an unexperienced team they were joy to watch! Scots also missed that very close chance for an honor-salvaging try near the end of the game... pity.

Oh, and that lady who shook the hands with the whole Scotland's team at the start of the game looked like royalty (she had Elisabeth's nose). Who was she, princess Anne?

Edited February 6, 2008 by Manekineko
touch down changed to try. :P

[Manekineko]

Who was she, princess Anne?

Yup, seems she was. Let's move on to last weekend's games.

Wales vs Scotland - DSF didn't even air a condensed overview, but I can't say the result surprised me. If things keep going this way, Scotland will sit at the bottom of the table instead of usual customers, Italians.

Ireland vs France - Woah, this was an exciting match. French were again flying for the first 60 minutes or so and deserved that win. The orange-shod Frenchmen were the most dangerous, scoring all French tries in the game...

Italy vs England - I expected to see Italy trashed (especially since they kept dropping balls all over), but never their surge near the end of the game. More's the pity they seemed to give up by kicking the ball out after the regular time has passed instead of going for one more try. :-)

[Mark Buckton]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_unio...lts/default.stm

Les Bleus - they must be today!

[Manekineko]

Well, it seems the final round matches will be quite exciting - although it will be very interesting to see if Wales can keep the favorite position in Croke Park on March 8th (ha! Women's day). Scots fan in me is hoping that Scots will manage to kick England's posterior in Murrayfield, but that's a very thin hope...

But last round! England takes on Ireland and Wales takes on Flying French... Very interesting!

French put up a decent fight against English (who played much much more exciting game than in Worlds), but English were simply too good. French started playing under pressure which lead to more fouls, and the game got a bit slower and less interesting. Scots were a misery to look at - too slow in attack, too slow in defence, too slow... Italians managed to shine for a while, and were then expectedly overwhelmed (but again DSF didn't show that whole game - what do they have against Wales?)

[Mark Buckton]

March 8th (ha! Women's day).

When is Men's day pray tell?

Scots fan in me is hoping that Scots will manage to kick England's posterior in Murrayfield, but that's a very thin hope...

thought you were backing Italy this time?

Scots were a misery to look at - too slow in attack, too slow in defence, too slow

It's not hard to tell the difference between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine - who said that?!

... Italians managed to shine for a while, and were then

called to stand for the national anthems prior to kick-off

Edited February 24, 2008 by Mark Buckton

[Mark Buckton]

guess the whole of France has been hit by some Internet outage recently. Ou est Elenrian et al? Where are you chaps?

[Manekineko]

When is Men's day pray tell?

First Saturday of November, of course. :-)

thought you were backing Italy this time?

Surely I can back 2 or 3 teams at the same time? :-) Makes it hard when they play each other, but hey.

It's not hard to tell the difference between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine - who said that?!

I don't know. Who said that? And what did he or she mean by that? (Holiday feeling...)

[Mark Buckton]

When is Men's day pray tell?

First Saturday of November, of course. :-)

International Men's Day is an international holiday, celebrated on the first Saturday of November. It was suggested by Mikhail Gorbachev and was supported by the United Nations in Vienna, and other organisations[1]. The tradition began in 1999, probably by analogy to International Women's Day. Recognition and support of the day is limited;

International Women's Day (IWD) is marked on March 8 every year. It is a major day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women.

'nuff said! :-)

It's not hard to tell the difference between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine - who said that?!

I don't know. Who said that? And what did he or she mean by that? (Holiday feeling...)

don't recall - that was my Q - have read it in a book of quotes though - have it at work so will have a look.

Edited February 26, 2008 by Manekineko
quote fixing

[Sakana]

I watched the match on internet last saturday... And it's obvious England was better than France. And they did the same thing that in WC'07 : they have beaten french playing like french. In WC, France played with many long shots, England did the same and won. In this 6 Nations, France played with more speed than usual and not many long shots. England did the same and won. When a team is playing the same way as us, we have many problems. But I'm happy to see that we have young players who are already at the good level for those matches. (In a state of confusion...)

And Wales is impressive. (Laughing...)

[Manekineko]

Wow, Scots managed to beat the English today! Granted, it was a muddy and messy game without a single try, and they had torrential rain (and rainbows, too) and enthusiastic crowds as backup... Still, I didn't dare rejoice until the last minute. I guess the rain did just enough to slow English to Scottish pace. ;-) Well, now that English are "sent homewards tae think again" all is right with the Scots - they could even lose in Rome, they'd be forgiven... (Neener, neener...)

DSF yet again boycotted the Welsh game, giving just a brief overview. They look good... I'm cheering them for the cup, now that they've won Triple Crown.

[Itachi]

When is Men's day pray tell?

First Saturday of November, of course. :-)

International Men's Day is an international holiday, celebrated on the first Saturday of November. It was suggested by Mikhail Gorbachev and was supported by the United Nations in Vienna, and other organisations[1]. The tradition began in 1999, probably by analogy to International Women's Day. Recognition and support of the day is limited;

International Women's Day (IWD) is marked on March 8 every year. It is a major day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women.

It's a bit late now but I found out about another 'Man's Day' on February 23rd.

Perhaps some of our forum members from Russia or Russian influenced/occupied territories will be able to confirm if this observance ever receives much attention. I tipped off my brother who married into a family with some Russian heritage but he enjoyed no special benefits from bringing the day to his wife's attention.

Here is the link but I'm clipping in the text anyway. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defender_of_the_Fatherland_Day

Defender of the Fatherland Day (Russian: День защитника Отечества / Dyen' zashchitnika Otechestva) is a holiday observed in Russia and many former Soviet republics. It is celebrated on February 23.

The holiday marks the date in 1918 during the Russian Civil War when the first mass draft into the Red Army occurred in Petrograd and Moscow. It was originally known as Red Army Day (Russian: День Красной Армии / Dyen' Krasnoy Armii). In 1949, it was renamed Soviet Army and Navy Day (Russian: День Советской Армии и Военно-Морского флота / Dyen' Sovyetskoy Armii i Voyenno-Morskogo flota). Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the holiday was given its current name.

As the name suggests, the holiday celebrates the soldiers of the Russian military, but it has also more recently come to include the celebration of men as a whole, and to act as a counterpart of International Women's Day on March 8. The holiday is celebrated with parades and processions in honor of veterans, and women also give small gifts to the Russian men in their lives, especially a boyfriend or husband. Consequently, in colloquial usage, the holiday is often referred to as Men's Day (Russian: День Мужчин/Dyen' Muzhchin). In part due to the large Russian population in St. Louis, Missouri, there has been a movement in this area to bring International Men's Day to the United States.

In Tajikistan, the holiday is known as Tajik National Army Day (Tajik: Рӯзи Артиши Миллӣ Тоҷик).

[Mark Buckton]

grim loss for England that but Scotland did well by all accounts (I missed it as it began at midnight)

Wales Ireland was a good game - began a couple of hours earlier than the one at ..down / Scotland. The Irish only had one MO - kicking their way forward. They came close to a touchdown once but never again. Wales on the other hand should really have won by another 10/15 points and were really avoiding line outs - playing some great running ruigby until the last pass let them down a few times - and only had themselves to blame for the slose scoreline as they lost 2 men to the sin bin in the course of the game.

Think it is the first time they have won in Ireland since 2000?

Hooke (Wales) was good in the time he was on and Jones (one of 6!) was fantastic. Driscoll and Wallace were largely spectators for Ireland but O Gara had a decent game.

[Manekineko]

Wow, Italy-France was really a watchable and dynamic game. Granted, it helped that both sides made some mistakes (Azzurri in particular were dropping balls all the time)... Some lovely tries, very strong Italian scrum and quite evenly matched teams for the larger part of the game. Alas, Italians again lost their breath before the game ended, but they fought with heart throughout. Nice one.

[Kaiomitsuki]

Next saturday Wales vs. France at the Millenium Stadium... Wales will play for the Grand Slam : they just need a win... and France will play for the Six Nation Cup : a win with 19 points or more than Wales

Who is your favorite ?

[Bealzbob]

I think France will win the game. But not by enough to win the championship.

[Manekineko]

I might have had an opinion if I could have watched at least a single Wales game. But I couldn't so I don't. (Clapping wildly...)

[Manekineko]

Wow, nice end to the tournament.

Scotland-Italy, the "last place game", was actually quite watchable, fast (relatively speaking) and open. It got quite exciting in the second half (DSF didn't show the first 20 minutes of the first half, which I guess were quite exciting too...), and my only gripe is that Italians decided to win it with a drop-kick instead of trying for a try. They are quite good at steamrolling Scots, too, and may have got it and left Scots sitting at the bottom of rankings. But at least this way everyone was happy: Italians won in front of home crowd, and Scots avoided ignominy of last place.

DSF didn't show England-Ireland, but judging from the result it was a slaughter. (Neener, neener...)

Wales-France started pretty slowly (again, DSF din't show first 25 minutes, so I can't really tell), but had some stellar moments later on. Two very fast teams, but Welsh also had solid defence that French lacked. In the end Welsh deservedly won the Grand Slam, in Cardiff no less. Second time in four tournaments, too!

[Sasanishiki]

YES! I'm very happy indeed. Now I just have to try to find a replay of the match to watch. Proudly wearing my jersey today to savour the Welsh success. It helps to heal some of the disappointment against Fiji in the World Cup. I believe Warren Gatland looked ecstatic. I think he once again is proving that he is a fantastic coach for Northern Hemisphere teams.

The Irish have their national (global) celebration on the 17th, but today the valleys are rejoicing.