6 Nations

[Matt Mackenzie]

As with Aronian in the Candidates, the Irish *should* win.

Again, let's see if they do though - France always seem to have at least one decent performance in them even during bad years (and yes, 2014 is pretty bad)

[Paul McKeown]

Piffwibble (and, for avoidance of doubt, bo££ocks)

[Paul McKeown]

David, but you are speaking as an Ingerlunder. Irish supporters tend to be rather more modest about their expectations for their team. If we turn out a decent team without any obvious tossers (advice there to Wales...), then we're already pleased. A rousing anthem or two is about the height of our hopes. Winning? We'll celebrate after we have won, not before, please refer to earlier discussion regarding Ingerlunders!

[Paul McKeown]

Dirty C*nt Farrell up to his usual. Should have been carded. Some day his dirty play will cost England.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Well done Ireland

[Mick Norris]

Well done Ireland

Absolutely, well deserved for BOD in particular

I hope Paul is happy

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Maybe he is in Paris right now??

[David Robertson]

Dirty C*nt Farrell up to his usual. Should have been carded

Farrell is angelic compared with that nutter, Cian Healy. But then, a skull of Wicklow granite containing the wits of a potato is never going to be strong on sporting courtesies. (That's Cian Healy, by the way, not Paul McKeown)

Best Game of the 6 Nations

1) England - Ireland
2) France - Ireland
3) Ireland - Wales
4) England - Wales

Best XV

1) England
2) Ireland
3) Wales

Best Player of the 6 Nations

1) Mike Brown (England)
2) Rob Carney (Ireland)
3) Courtney Lawes (England)
4) Rory Best (Ireland)

Player Most Deserving...

BOD

[Paul McKeown]

Well done Ireland

Yes, despite stage fright!

Absolutely, well deserved for BOD in particular

I hope Paul is happy

Yes, yes, thanks.

Maybe he is in Paris right now??

No, Fulham, annoyed a bunch of Chelsea fanatics, sadly.

Had a bit of a crap rugby watching day, had this prior engagement in Fulham and needed to have the mane shorn, too. Philomena was a bit annoyed, as usually I scare the dog by bellowing at the TV whilst she demands I fill her glass whilst watching the 6 Nations. So, queue at the barbers, late to Paddington, stopped at the Shanakee in Ealing as otherwise would have missed the anthems, then mad dash at half time to Paddington, late for Fulham. Got moderately pissed. Tomorrow going to get immoderately so, after having invited friends around for a (very) long lunch.

As I said, the Irish (even the Black Ulster Protestants, of which Philomena tells me I'm a particular bad examplar) celebrate after they have won. Never before.

Now to bed. Tomorrow's going to be a long one. And Monday longer.

[Paul McKeown]

Oh, and before I go to bed, agree broadly with David Robertson regarding his rankings, not sure about Cian Healey. But then a) I didn't see everything and b) I'm biased!

[Paul McKeown]

Having rewatched the game (i.e. tortured everyone else with my abuse of the remote control), I suppose DR means the clash of heads with Louis Picamole in the ruck during France's 14th phase just outside the Irish whitewash about 61:40 into the game. I can't see, though, how that compares with Owen Farrell, though. Farrell just seems to do something completely mindless in every game. What Farrell did five minutes from time against Italy makes no sense whatsoever; England were leagues in front, there was no contest between the teams. Cian Healey played offside in a ruck in a desperate defensive position and bonced Picamole in the process, but without malicious intent.

As for my player of the game, that would have to be Mattieu Bastereaud. What is the French for human cannonball?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Having rewatched the game (i.e. tortured everyone else with my abuse of the remote control), I suppose DR means the clash of heads with Louis Picamole in the ruck during France's 14th phase just outside the Irish whitewash about 61:40 into the game. I can't see, though, how that compares with Owen Farrell, though. Farrell just seems to do something completely mindless in every game. What Farrell did five minutes from time against Italy makes no sense whatsoever; England were leagues in front, there was no contest between the teams. Cian Healey played offside in a ruck in a desperate defensive position and bonced Picamole in the process, but without malicious intent.

As for my player of the game, that would have to be Mattieu Bastereaud. What is the French for human cannonball?

Bastereaud was awesome. What I can't get over is how the French threw away that winning position they had. And just before that, Ireland had five minutes to keep the ball, they did a wonderful job of that, and then with about 2.5 minutes left it all went haywire. They (Ireland) conceded a penalty, and the French guy (Tales?) managed to mess up his kick and instead of kicking it to touch for an attacking line-out, it dropped short and someone (Kearney?) caught it and then messed up himself. He kicked it back to the middle of the pitch, and the French managed to regain possession and that set up the final push that led to the forward pass when a try was nailed on, the scrum that Ireland managed to avoid conceding a penalty on, then the final knock-on and the celebrations began. Nerves from everyone it seems. If England has been ahead on points difference, the two points Ireland won by might not have been enough! But congratulations to Ireland for a magnificent championship win.

Which team looks like they can push on and perform well in the World Cup? Are England the only real northern hemisphere contenders, or can Wales or France regroup? Are Ireland's ageing squad too old now? I suppose the results against the southern hemisphere teams will give some clues.

[David Robertson]

I suppose DR means the clash of heads with Louis Picamole in the ruck during France's 14th phase just outside the Irish whitewash about 61:40 into the game. Farrell just seems to do something completely mindless in every game. Cian Healey played offside in a ruck, bonced Picamole in the process, but without malicious intent

It wasn't "a clash of heads". It was Healy's head nutting Picamole's with malicious intent. He launched himself head first at Picamole, nearly knocking him out and forcing him off shortly afterwards. Healy has good quality nutter form. Last season he was cited, then banned for three games, for stamping on Dan Cole. Keen to show this wasn't a one-off, Healy was then cited for cannibalism early into the Lions tour. He was let off that one by the citing commission despite the evidence: teeth marks on the Aussie's arm were presumably caused by a passing albatross.

Good prop. But a nutter. Farrell isn't in the same league.

[David Robertson]

Which team looks like they can push on and perform well in the World Cup? Are England the only real northern hemisphere contenders, or can Wales or France regroup? Are Ireland's ageing squad too old now? I suppose the results against the southern hemisphere teams will give some clues.

England looked really good in every game this year. You can tell from the roar of the stockbrokers & hedge fund managers who make up the crowd at Twickenham. You can tell from the roar from my armchair too. For once, England looked like a team at ease with ball in hand whereas, hitherto in recent seasons, they've looked a muscle-bound, slow-witted embarrassment whenever they tried to play running rugby. Ireland also looked good with ball in hand; some good runners there. This made the England-Ireland game a real beauty: intense, skillful, and fast-paced.

Why the gap between these two XVs and the rest? Look no further than great half-back combinations and attacking full-backs. Neither Wales nor France could match this. Of course, Wales have the superb Halfpenny; but no in-form half-backs. Indeed, had Halfpenny been injured one match earlier, England would be 6 Nations champions. Never mind that though: England should have been Grand Slam champions - a missed opportunity.

Up front, the Irish scrum is a joy to behold: a Rolls-Royce unit, especially in the maul. A great back row too. But the clock ticks on POC and Best. And the Irish will miss BOD enormously. The back 3 look good, but Darcy doesn't convince. Rebuilding needed all over that XV. Unlike England who appear to have rebuilt already, and with bricks to spare. Worth remembering that England played Wales with untried wings and barely tested centres - all first choices being injured. Yet they ran Wales ragged, including their Lions centres.

Wales? Hard to know. When put to the test, in what was effectively a Lions trial last year, they thrashed England convincingly. But many have observed that the Welsh looked knackered this season. Some of their pack look busted; and their half-backs, poor. Not willing to write them off after one sub-par season. But the signs aren't good.

France? Pitiful, by their own high standards. The rubbish they served up v. Scotland was the worst I've ever seen. And they only played with something approaching competence v. Ireland after sustained ridicule all week from the French media (two players stormed out of TV interviews!). Two seasons now, and no signs of improvement. None.

[Alex Holowczak]

In a bid to take this thread into the philosophical...

Why are the current Six Nations protected? No matter how well/badly they may do, they will seemingly always be the Six Nations.

There is a European Nations Cup held every year, Division 1A of which is basically the second tier to the Six Nations. Georgia won for the second year in a row yesterday. Based on the results of the last two editions of this, Georgia and Romania qualified in first and second place, with Russia going into a playoff against the winner of Germany (probably, Moldova possibly) v Netherlands for the third European qualifying spot. Russia will be strong favourites to win that playoff.

Anyway. Is there any good reason why, every two years, the team that finishes 1st in the preceding two years of Division 1A shouldn't get promoted into the Six Nations, with the team that finishes last over the preceding two editions of the Six Nations getting relegated into the European Nations Cup?

Over the 2013/4 Six Nations, the table would be: England 16, Wales 14, Ireland 11, France 9, Scotland 6, Italy 4. Therefore, Italy would get relegated, and Georgia would be promoted for two years in their place. With Italy ranked 14 and Georgia 16 by the IRB, this isn't going to bring in a team that's going to get thumped by 50 points every time.

While in philosophical mode, should the Six Nations change to the bonus point scoring system used in seemingly every other major international rugby tournament in the world, rather than the current system of 2 points for a win? It wouldn't have mattered this year, because Ireland and England would have tied on 18 points, and France and Wales would have tied on 13 points, but perhaps it would influence the players to play more attacking rugby in earlier rounds, and teams would play for the extra bonus point for 4 tries being scored?