Stranger Fruit

Six Nations rugby begins

Posted by John Lynch on February 2, 2008
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The Six Nations Championship began today, with Ireland trying to recover from a disappointing World Cup showing last year. A 16-11 defeat of Italy is a win, but not a very convincing one. On the other hand, Wales defeating England 26-19 at Twickenham is always good news.

Remaining fixtures for the Irish are:

  • France (2/7) at Stade de France
  • Scotland (2/23) at Croke Park
  • Wales (3/8) at Croke Park
  • England (3/15) at Twickenham

Any readers in Europe manage to see the game (or for that matter the Welsh victory)? Any comments?

I resisted making comments about rugby being infinitely better than American “football”. Put it down to it being Superbowl weekend. I’m feeling charitable. :)

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Comments

  1. #1 Iain George
    February 2, 2008

    Always good that we lose eh?

    Saw both games. England threw it away against a Welsh team that were dismal in the first half and only marginally better in the second. England were good at points in the first and unspeakably awful for nearly all of the second half.

    Ireland were not good either. Italy played reasonably well, not a good game overall.

    If England can play like they did for parts of the first half they could still be ok. Didn’t see Ireland produce much that any solid outfit would be worried about.

  2. #2 John Lynch
    February 2, 2008

    Iain,

    Thanks for the comment. I miss watching rugby here.

    The Irish team certainly are having problems – they seem to have imploded after last year’s Six Nations showing.

    And the comment re England’s loss was, of course, meant in good humor.

  3. #3 Chris Rowan
    February 3, 2008

    There are advantages to being in South Africa, it seems – the lack of Six Nations coverage means I am unable to throw things at the TV as England (presumably) play abject rugby…

  4. #4 csrster
    February 3, 2008

    I didn’t manage to get any p2p coverage working, but I was also a little too busy to spend much time working at it. Supposedly there’s an Italian service that might work …

  5. #5 Iain George
    February 3, 2008

    Taken in the spirit intended, don’t worry.

    In a similar vein I hope the French get a good stuffing from the Scots, but that won’t happen. Will be watching it this afternoon.

  6. #6 R N B
    February 6, 2008

    Generally I think that balls should be round. However this weekend there was a fairly significant match involving an oval ball.

    I live and work in a new england town. And although not especially fervent, to some extent I am a patriot. Our team has been arguably the best in the world within the last few years. According to all pre-match predictions, we should have won comfortably.

    But the opposition were giants. They were looking doomed at the interval but fought back brilliantly. When the final score was touched down after the long play it was thoroughly deserved, despite the wails from the locals around here. Well done to the underdogs. You merited the win and I was delighted with the result.

    That was the view from a very English blog.