Last Day of this year's Six Nations Rugby Union Contest

So today is the last day and what a contest it has been so far. In a few minutes we have the Scotland v Italy game from Edinburgh. The former must win to prevent a whitewash and dare one say it but the next worse team, whoever that could be would have two wins more. The only thing is Scotland's favour is that Italy do not play well when away from their home ground.

The next game in today's schedule is Ireland v England. England are going for the grand slam and therefore win all their games. Ireland need to regain some pride after last week's defeat to Wales. This game is probably the most important one of the three as it will either confirm England's progress towards the World Cup that will take place in New Zealand starting in September, or re-invigorate the planning being made for the same reason by Ireland. An Ireland defeat would bring back concerns about the playing and backroom staff and the impact it would have on expectations at the World Cup.

The final game, which could be the one to watch for absolute excitement, especially for the neutral is France v Wales from Paris. France have made changes and commentators are all concerned that this is coach Livremont's Last Stand due to his public comments made following last week's defeat by one point to Italy (the first time France have lost to Italy) and the rammifications from that event could be catastrophic again given preparations for the World Cup. Wales remain an unpredictable force. But this game is usually so full of open play rugby that the result could turn either way. However, if the French play it tight then it will come down to kicks and there would be a bias to the home side then. Let's hope for a high scoring game and from a personal viewpoint a win for Wales.

Incidentally, should England lose badly and Wales win well then it is possible that Wales could win the Championship on points difference. This is very doubtful but you never know what can happen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Google Maps and Spying

I have a statement to make. I use Google maps and the roadmap images to see what houses and areas look like. I also believe that certain members of my family use the same facility to effectively spy on me. The reason that I believe this is that until recently a member of this branch of the family sent occasional correspondence by post to us. However, recently Google has updated their images in this area, they are now showing images taken either in 2012 or 2013 and not 2008 or 2009 as was previously there. Funnily enough there is a vehicle on the driveway at the front of the house. It is not ours, and even somebody who knew us could tell that because the vehicle is not one that we would have, it just would not be one that we would have. The fact is I know whose vehicle it is and can therefore tell on which day of the week this picture was taken, even though I cannot tell on what date it was taken. Therefore, we are not receiving correspondence from this branch of the family (we do not g
Read more

Is the United Kingdom Leaving the European Union - Two Years On

I really do not write that much it seems. This is mainly a therapeutic pleasure, given the humdrum of one's working livelihood (dare I say it). And yet it was interesting that my director said upon the result of the vote that we would have to work harder, because that has not happened, and I would even say that individuals are using methods to look as if they are doing more whilst doing less. There is a loss of control of what you can do, the influence of technology in doing what you do; analysis being almost automated (but that has always been the case - I read a financial report written by someone I used to know at a company where I used to work and it was written in the same way that it was over 20 years ago and that to most people is incomprehensible). So just over two years ago I wrote a short piece about what I thought Brexit as it is commonly referred to meant. Looking back at it I still think it was a reasoned effort although the unrushed move to invoke Article 50 was soo
Read more

Why You Cannot Trust Football or Soccer to be Fair for Children - A Personal Perspective

Formalities are. I am a parent of a madly loving football daughter, or soccer to those who are not aware that this is the original football. Most children move up with their teams as they grow older, and the size of teams and the size of pitches evolves. This is supposed to ensure that the game encourages skills but also a competitive environment to build on the training sessions that also take place weekly during the season. Teams are put into divisions or sections as they now call them, and between September and December each team should play the other in the league on one occasion to fulfil the league fixture list. Additionally, there were three cup games in a so-called group stage, against teams in the higher or lower section, and I guess that this was also used to see the relative strength of one division against another. She is currently at an age where playing alongside the boys is fine, and that continues until she turns 12 or 13. In general the league is well run, results and
Read more