Well, it'll be starting soon, any followers on here?

Should be interesting. Based on the recent All Blacks Grand Slam tour, I can't see Wales doing as well as last year and it looks like it will be back to being a two horse race between a rejuvenated England and an unpredictable France. I predict:

1. France
2. England
3. Ireland
4. Wales
5. Italy
6. Scotland (to lose every game)

It's got to be between England and France. I think France to win it, as their centres are about 10 times better than ours. If it's a bad day for running rugby and comes down to a battle of the forwards, England have the better forwards. We could do with a replacement for Tindall an all, he's been hopeless for ages. I'd be tempted to play Olly Barkley or somebody more inventive like that against the Welsh and the French and give useless Tindall the boot.

Looking forward to it.

I'm looking forward to it England are playing better but don't have the girls (threequarters, I used to be openside flanker) to win it, so I think HB has it about right

I'm going France as well, then England and Wales.

Lol has been called back as is on the bench. We're sticking with Tindall *sigh* and Noon in the centre (the Welsh will be drooling the prospect of that).

I'm a bit annoyed that Tom Varndell and Olly Smith have been dropped and a bit suprised that van Gisbergen isn't even in the squad, I don't know if he's injured or what.

At least Ben Cohen and Mark Cueto are scoring well at the minute so at least we have some tries in us if we play with confidence and don't just play through the forwards all game.

The first games are this weekend by the way, the pick of the bunch, a crunch match between England and Wales. Going to be a close one!

But Barmy with Tindall and Noon the ball won't get often enough to Cohen and Cueto :bang: it's annoying and I don't understand van Gisbergen either

When are you going to realise that Ben Cohen is a very average winger (almost as bad as Jason Robinson)? And the England / Wales game won't be close - England should crush them.

Cohen's got a decent try scoring record, he's shít hot when he's on form. Not as good as Mark Cueto mind.
Why should we crush Wales (the reigning 6N champions)?

Because England are back on track, given their recent good showings against the Wallabies and the All Blacks, whereas Wales have been rubbish - thrashed by the All Blacks and almost losing to Fiji!

Form means very little when Wales play England.
Don't you worry, it will be close.

I wouldn't say we're back on track yet anyway. We've just, sort of, sorted our defensive problems out and our forward pack is beginning to dominate again. We're still a couple of good player short of retaining the WC.

Great game so far, really entertaining!

15-10 at half time. Wonderfully poised.

EDIT -

Wow, shows what I know. Bit of a statement there today. Although the injuries the Welsh have took their toll.
Still plenty of room for improvement in the backs. But that was an embarassing display of forward power today. At one point, the English forwards drove the play 30 metres, I thought they were going all the way to the try line!

Bring on the Frogs, we'll dominate them physically as well, it's just a question of whether or not we can keep up with their running. If we play to ours strengths it'll be England though.

[ February 04, 2006, 18:20: Message edited by: Barmy Army ]

What a cracking that game was yesterday have spent the time since the finish celebrating with several lagers. The french will be harder but bring them on if we play like that.

Scots beat France :lol:

6N is coming home :) .

What are you serious?

Yeah Scotland won 20-16 I think it was, bloody deserved it too. France really weren't at the races. No Jauzion = no invention.

Ah, the beauty of sport. Even when you think you could bet the house on a result, you can still be surprised. England must be shoe-ins to win now.

France 43 - 31 Ireland

Brilliant game this! France complete dominated the first half, it looked like a 3 figure score might be on the cards, the Paddy's were all other the place. Then, second half, Brian O'Driscoll started to look like his old self and pulled a few strings, digging ireland back into it. 4 tries later, Ireland were well in with a chance to get something out of as France had really got to pot. But they just held on for the win.
France were crap up front all game and their defense is shocking. Really tasty going forward though. I fancy England to roll them over if we keep the game tight.

Italy 15 - 31 - England

The Italians improve with every game! They made it really hard work for England all game. Up front, their really, really tough and their defense is solid as a rock. They tackle like bulldogs and it was like our boys were running into brick walls at times. We had most of the game but were finding it really tough to break them down. In the end, we had a bit too much for them, but it was really a tough game.

Wales and Scotland to come.

This year's tournament is all over the place. In other rugby news, the Super 14 just started down here. Crazy stuff - rugby starting so early; the cricket is still going! The Blues got thrashed though. Stupid Blues.

Wales VS Scotland was shaping up to be a great game. Then Murray was sent off, a bit unfairly if you ask me. Thats going to break up a decent game now. Typical powderpuff southern hemisphere refereeing.

Really open game, Wales are getting the most of it as it stands, 7-3.

And there's a try, Gareth Thomas, 12-3, Stephen Jones should nail the conv.

rugby an other nice sport that I like to watch, and the dutch suck in. England have the eyes of the crititcs on them. By the way who won or is it still going?

Got a few games to go yet. Next games are next weekend.

Amazing - England lost to Scotland! Wish I'd bet some money on that at the start of the season. And in even more shocking news, Danny Grewcock got sent off! Can't believe it, that guy is usually so level headed. Not. What a nutcase he is.

The competition is wide open now though.

We were crap, but fair play to Scotland, they fully deserved the win.

Cohen was crap again. I would say that it's about time we dropped him, but I can't see as it would make any difference. We could have a fully fit Jonah Lomu in his prime out wide and still play through the middle. Poor old Mark Cueto must be pulling his hair out.

So much for my predictions. England first, Scotland last..... Glad I'm not a betting man, or I'd be losing the lot. By the way, Cohen has always been crap.

:toofar:

Man I'm ashamed to be English after that rubbish performance

Oh dear, so much for the resurgence of English rugby.... thrashed by France this week.

Well if you keep giving the ball away, you're going to lose and let's face it they were crap today.

Pfft, I'm not talking about it :p .

That's the worst England performance I've seen in years. Even worse than Scotland last match. Abysmal and clueless!

Shock horror, once again, England was unable to find the try-line. I'd love to see some stats on how few tries England has scored over the last few years. They must have scored less tries than just about any other major team.

Well today has been fairly predictable Robinson loses his job, NOT, useless Ben Cohen is dropped, NOT, van Gisbergen comes in at fullback, NOT. This is so frustrating we're going to lose to Ireland at home for the first time in ages and the coach thinks he's doing ok. Crap I'd say let's just hand the World Cup to New Zealand but I'm expecting them to choke again as well.

/me goes to kick something hard

Crap I'd say let's just hand the World Cup to New Zealand but I'm expecting them to choke again as well. Yeah, we'd end up dropping it on the floor and breaking it or something. The All Blacks are doomed to never hold the World Cup again. Maybe some huge outsider will win the next one (like Ireland).

England 24 - 28 Ireland

Daylight robbery, absolute daylight robbery.

Hmmm, England are far and away the worst ever World Champions! They must have lost more games than they won since becoming World Champs.