Rugby Union - Six Nations & Erc

England looking fantastic after that half. Expect the South Africans to come roaring back but at least we have made a game of it.

 

I watched the last ten minutes, I have literally no idea why SA were awarded the penalty thaf won them the match, and the commentators didn’t really explain.

Until these technicalities are made clearer (or just eliminated), it’s always going to be a sport for the specialist, not the general public.

 

As I understand it someone called Tarquin said something nasty about the rugger facilities at someone called Johannes’ private school. It was an awful slur and the referee has no choice but to dock house points from the naughty England boys.

 

Handre Pollard, what a class act. Think the SA team were trying too hard and the conditions compounded their mistakes. England got their tactics absolutely spot on but didn't look threatening enough to score tries and build a lead of at least 2 scores. SA always finish strongly with their excellent replacement forward power and just clawed back that 9 point lead. Tough on England but they'll take alot of heart from this tournament and didn't disgrace themselves but Farrell needs to keep a lid on his gob rather than needlessly mouthing off to the referee.

According to the bod doing the text commentary on The Guardian, the reason for the penalty explained below.

PENALTY! England 15 - 16 South Africa (Handre Pollard)
77 mins. Ellis Genge is penalised for dropping to his knees and then getting up and not driving straight. Pollard tees it up from 49 metres and bisects the posts perfectly.

WHAT. A. KICK.

 

Basically, in the scrum you have to drive straight, not at an angle, from the point and after the referee says Set.

 

If anyone is interested this Yankee Rugby College Team info describes some of the Rugby Basics pretty well if you have limited knowledge about the game. Forgive their Americaness, they mean well.

https://www.wsc.edu/info/20165/rugby_club/707/what_is_rugby/2

Rugby Player Positions
Rugby is made with 15 players per team: eight players in the tight scrum and seven players scattered all over the field called backs.

When wearing jerseys, the numbers on the player’s backs will determine where they are located on the field.

Rugby Scrum Players
Props: #1 and #3
They are normally the biggest two players on the team and are used for pushing the scrum. Since props are big, they are not the fastest of the players on the field but will use their size, weight, and strength to win the ball on a dead ball set piece called a scrum down. They also have a key role of upper body strength of keeping the scrum up and not having it collapse if it starts to fold over.

Hooker: #2
This person is normally a short person. The hooker puts their arms over the top of the props' shoulders and will be supported by the props' larger bodies. The hooker is like a offensive lineman center in football and hikes the ball back to the rugby quarterback. This is done by hooking the ball with the soft swinging motion of one of the feet as the team's eight-man scrum pack pushes forward to give the hooker more room to hook the ball.

Locks: #4 and #5
These players are the tallest two of the team. They are placed dead in the middle of the scrum pack, and you will not be able to see them at all during a scrum down. They use their tall bodies to use leverage when they use their long legs to drive the scrum forward and try to move the scrum 2 or 3 feet forward to win the ball. They really don’t push the scrum, they lock out their legs and extend their bodies to push the scrum forward 2 or 3 feet. When the ball goes out of bounds and there is an in-bounding throw to start the game again, since locks are the tallest two players, they are the ones the ball is tossed to most of the time. Locks are also called second rows since they are the only two in the second row of the set scrum piece.

Flankers: #6 and #7
These players are your tacklers of the team. They must run 100%, 100% of the time. They are used on defense to make sure the offensive back line has no time to plan any crafty set plays. They are your speed rusher/linebacker and must get to each offensive and defensive breakdown first. If they can outrun the other team's flankers, a high percentage of ball is won by these fearless wonders. Flankers run and tackle more than any person on the team.

The 8-Man: #8
The 8-man is on the very back end of the scrum down and in all purposes has the same responsibility as the flankers. The 8-man will most likely be bigger and a tad slower then the flankers. About 20% of the time, the 8-man will pick up the ball and run with it off of a set scrum down, catching the defensive backfield off guard on an 8-man pick-up and run with the ball. This is a very effective when you only have to go 1 to 6 yards for a score close to the goal line. Strong leg drive determines this play by plowing over two or three men just before scoring.

Rugby Backs
Rugby Quarterbacks: #9 and #10
The scrum half (#9) is normally very short and like a basketball point guard. The scrum half is the one who puts the ball into the scrum on a scrum down and tosses out the ball to the fly half (#10). The scrum half must have very good and quick hands and quick feet to run some #9 pick-up and runs. The fly half is the other quarterback of the team. They must have perfect hands to catch a very quick pass from the scrum half and then pass it quickly to the backfield before the defensive flankers quickly munch them. The fly half also is known for having the best kicking leg on the team and instead of passing the ball, they can kick the ball deep over aggressive defense and have the entire offensive team chase the loose ball for a score, as the defensive team must turn around and run the other way. You can’t touch a player if they do not have the ball, and thus, a good fly half can pass a ball perfectly to his backfield in a split second.

Centers: #12 and #13
These are the two running backs of the team. #12 is called the inside center and is a very hard and powerful runner on offense and loves to tackle. Inside centers are used for the short tough running game of rugby like a fullback in football. #13 is the outside center. Outside centers are normally faster and smaller then the punishing running of the inside center. Outside centers are the scoring machine of rugby when all is planned well and good passing is available. Outside centers are know for a bit of speed, but more for their judgement of when to run straight, turn the corner and also to look for pitchmen on their outside and inside as fast offensive and defensive support running crosses the field. When you see a good outside center, the wing normally scores due to the fact that he drew in two defensive players to tackle the outside center.

Wings: #11 and #14
These are the fastest two players on the team and they have only one responsibility when getting the ball. RUN FAST! Since there is no outside defensive threat, the wing will use the space on the outside to go on very long runs. Wings will also do long runs when chasing down a 40 yard kicks and try to out run the defensive players as they turn around and chase after the ball when it is rolling on the ground with the first man their regaining offensive possession.

Fullback: #15
Fullbacks in football and rugby could not be more different. Fullbacks have several responsibilities. Rugby fullbacks are used more as a punt-returner when balls are kicked deep over the backfield. Fullbacks on the other side of the coin must have a good leg to kick balls deep when there is no running room. Fullbacks normally get the ball with no offensive pitchmen close by and will have to take on two or three defenders running at them full speed and must quickly decide if there is an option to kick and chase or attempt to try to run to the outside and outrun the defensive threat. Defensively a fullback is the last resort on open field tackling and must be a good one-on-one tackler. Good offensive planning will have the fullback insert into the offensive backline to give an overload of offensive options.

 

Finally! An explanation of rugby I understand. I now also see why my son (a fearless tackler) played inside centre for his school.

 

A friend of mine who played rugby at a very good level said the same about the scrum but also said Koch for South Africa was at a 30 degree angle for every scrum after 60 mins. He said the ref was atrocious and cost us the game

 

England needed to carry more of an attacking threat to win the game.

If Pollard had started and kicked every penalty rather than going for the corner then the result would never have been in doubt.

If he had played against Ireland then they would have won that game too.

A good, accurate placekicker is worth their weight in Gold or in Krugerrands in this case.

 

And I now understand why I’ve never been remotely interested in rugby !

 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/24484267/tom-curry-bongi-mbonambi-racist-rugby-world-cup/

His line-out throwing seemed to disintegrate after this point too.

 

Well there’s no need for that!

 

Why do extremely dislikable teams keep undeservedly winning tournaments?

Argentina and South Africa. The Aussies retaining the ashes.

Sickening.

 

Good to see those 'loveable' scamps from Exeter cementing their reputation as the Scummers of rugby.

Ugo Monye: Former England player alleges 'blatant racism' after Exeter Chiefs game

And before you swallow the Exeter 'explanation' of a lone idiot it's worth reading what really upset/angered upset Ugo:

 

I’ve never been a great fan of rugby, but I remember well JPR playing in the 70s. He really was a great player who completely changed the role of the full-back in that sport.

 

2 legends in virtually one day Der Kaiser and JPR. Arguably the most iconic Rugby Player, regarding looks, attitude, and playing style of the 1970s. He was also not bad at cricket, won Junior Wimbledon, continued to play Rugby in his 50s, and was an orthopaedic surgeon to boot (excuse the pun) amongst many other things. RIP you utter beaut.

 

A tank of a player, literally bulldozed players aside. Had the pleasure of watching London Welsh a few times in the 70's....had some big stars playing for them then

 

Well, that was a non-event thanks to that idiot French Lock. Lucky to get away with just a yellow for the first Challenge, he makes an even worse one not long after getting back on. Beyond stupid. Can't see anyone stopping Ireland now.

As sure as night follows day there is chaos in Welsh Rugby. Hastily arranged pay deals last year indicative of the general malaise. Issues with the culture at the WRU, general incompetence and lack of vision abound, chaos in the regions, a rushed and faltering eligibility rule that has meant the brightest of prospects has chosen to play for England, so he can continue his medical studies, the mercurial, when fit, LRZ choosing to chance his arm and his skeleton to American Throwball, Patchell going to NZ (3 caps short of the (arbitrary cap limit), and an injury list as long as the Coastal Path. The positives are that Gatland is in charge and he knows how to build teams and keep expectations realistic from such a low base. Whether there is enough talent coming through, remember there is no regional representation outside of the South, despite numerous proposals being discussed and rejected ad nauseum. Wales is a small country and can't ignore huge swathes of the country. The other big positive is that expectations for the 6N are really low, so any victory or decent performance will be seen as a plus.

 

What a shambles of a first half. Scotland dominant without breaking sweat. Wales hopeless an the line out, aimless kicking game, fumbling the ball at crucial times, and slicing straightforward placement kicks to touch. Special mention to Josh Adams, not the brightest of people, but to throw/kick the ball into the crowd to prevent a kick lineout and to expect the officials to not notice is a special kind of braindeadedness. Result, a very kickable penalty. If Shaun Edwards had still been with Wales the hairdrier whould've gone beyond 11 to 13.

 

Wow. Talk about a game of 2 halves. Tomos Williams on and his first act is to mis-kick and Scotland race to a 0-27 lead. Then Wales, ditch the abject kicking game and start moving the ball, with purpose and width with the Welsh replacement scrum-half, the chief instigator. Elliot Dee comes on as hooker and the lineout starts functioning. Unrelenting Welsh pressure results in penalty, after, after penalty on Scotland. 4 tries for Wales, 2 yellow cards cards for Scotland and we enter the final 10 mins with Wales just 1 point behind. Alas, despite much effort they can't quite get the break or the penalty in the Scottish half to sneak past the Scots. Scotland win but if you look at the 2 teams body language at full-time then it's hard to see which team was victorious. Watching Willem Defoe wouldn't have known what to make of it. Oh yeah, take a bow Aaron Wainwright for a barnstorming 2nd half. A great lesson for the Welsh youngsters about how to play (second half) and how not to play (first half). I know it was a defeat but it could have been so much worse.

Barring injuries I think we know the starting XV against England next week.