Six Nations 2007

The Irish could be a great team but the mistakes we were making... The French are terrible at Line outs but instead of taking advantage of that we were making unforced errors.

Oh, they didn't, they just don't have the backs, but they certainly showed more enthusiasm, were stronger in the pack, and will be far more pleased than England with the result.

You never know, we could actually snaffle a win this year.

The thing is, how many times in the last decade have we heard this? And yet they still can't (regularly) beat countries like Scotland and Wales, they still get the wooden spoon, and they still have games like the one against France. Maybe at some point, a wonderful fly half and couple of superlative wingers will appear at just the right time, combine with a brilliant coach.... but it ain't likely I don't think.

No one deserves to win really, Ireland should of course but that's another matter!

Wales have had a rather staggering downwards trajectory performance wise over the past year. Was there a major change that I missed? Someone injured?

I'd argue that Italy have now got the potential to win this if they get a bit more weight. They definitely have one of the best coaches!

See also: France.

Well I know I haven't heard that a lot in the past decade. They were pretty much considered a joke or an easy win, but maybe I wasn't listening in the right places.

No one deserves to win really, Ireland France should of course but that's another matter! Fixed :D

Mmmh, i hope my tags work, this is a first for me :D

1. 2005 Grand Slam winning coach Mike Ruddock resigned half way through the last 6 nations. He was replaced (eventually) by the utter fuckwit that is Gareth Jenkins.

2. Jenkins has the tactical nous and coaching ability of a small plastic soap dish. He's managed to turn a hard-scrummaging yet mobile pack into a bunch of whey-faced fops. The Scots have got a barely international class front-row, yet at the first scrum of the game tight-head Adam Jones got lifted, the whole thing went backwards and we got pushed off our own ball. Criminal.

3. He hates Gavin Henson and won't pick him. Henson is probably the most talented player Wales has had in a decade. He can do stuff that other players can't, that we really need. e.g. time a pass, pass out of the tackle, kick long and accurately for position. But fuckwit Jenkins can't see past that fact that Gavin wears silver boots, has spiky hair, is shagging a celeb and isn't a coalminer.

4. Shane Williams is injured, so we have insanely decided to play Chris Cjekaj instead of a seasoned, tough tackler like Dai James. CC has been so far out of his depth in the first 2 games that it's been painful to watch. He had to go to fullback vs the Scots when Morgan went off injured - we had no adequate cover on the bench because GJ won't even give Henson a place in the 22.

5. GJ selects donkeys like Sidoli and Stephen Jones, when they are useless and way out of form respectively.

6. Never underestimate the Welsh capacity for infighting and self-destruction.

We can still recover and win a couple, but only if we :

a) switch James Hook to 10
b) bring in Cockbain at lock. We need a really nasty bastard in there.
c) get Shane Williams fit or pick Luscombe or James on if not. Drop CC.
d) Try a different hooker. The line-out problems appear to be down to TRT. Don't replace him with M.Rees, bring back Mefin Davies (hard, experienced) or go for someone with a bit of dog like Aled Gravelle.
e) Get a fucking game plan together.

Painful to pronounce too...

Nah, thanks for the info about Wales. I didn't realise that Henson was so valuable. I too am unfortunately quite like the coach as in I can't see past that fact that Gavin wears silver boots, has spiky hair, is shagging a celeb and isn't a coalminer. Well it's the spiky haird really and his weird orange-ness!

What are the odds of any of the changes being made do you think?

Boss forced a couple of things stupidly but I'm really hoping a bit of experience (or being shouted at for the next while) will sort him out :)

I expect after the next international that Grandstand will have a five minute highlights reel for you to "The Scientist" by Coldplay.