[Prestwick]

No this is Rugby League. The Tri Nations. Why exactly Great Briton decided to spam I have no idea.

Anyway, I have no idea why Hamilton went to Scotland. Maybe it was because he saw just how Tait, Lund, Farrell and a whole host of other English hopes have been handled by Andy Robinson and the RFU (i.e. handled and then dumped bluntly).

If I was Hamilton and I saw just how well Frank Hadden man manages his men, I'd go to Scotland too. Hands down. I don't care how nice Rob Andrews is, I'd still go to Frank Hadden.

Wales 29 Australia 29

I was really annoyed at this because I seriously thought Wales were favorites running into this match. Australia pulled away with ease in the first 15 minutes but then towards the end of the first half Wales just suddenly clicked and took complete and utter control and scored two really awesome tries.

Then suddenly they fell apart again in the second half and Australia scored another couple of tries but Wales managed to even it at the end.

After the final whistle blew, we all know that Australia are nowhere near matching the All Blacks. Also know that Wales still have a bit to go before they reach their Grand Slam best.

Personally I think that if Wales took on the All Blacks just after they won the Six Nations grand slam, they would have beaten them. Mike Ruddock and the Wales of 2005 were unbeatable. Period. It was only the injury of half of Wale's side that crippled them that year.

[danikyvor]

Wales played extremely well in 2005. This year was just a shame! I think it was more of the office politics that dragged the team down, on top of the injuries. There's a lot of crap going on behind those doors....I hope they get sorted out this season!

(Sorted out, but we still beat them I mean ha ha!)

[danikyvor]

Here's an article on today's match:

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/ru ... 1638372006

[danikyvor]

Here's another article on Hadden and the team selection

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/ru ... 1639242006

Mike Blair having a QUIET season and Dan Parks having the boot??? Are these people watching the same players??!!

[GreatBriton]

England 20 - 41 New Zealand

Although the winning margin flatters New Zealand. It's fair to say that the umpire - who, needless to say, was a Frenchman - made some pretty disgusting decisions, most of which went against England.

New Zealand went 3-0 ahead from a penalty after about 3 minutes, but in the 7th minute or so England scored a try which would have put them ahead. Although mysteriously the referee said that it WASN'T a try even though the reply on the big screen, which he must have seen a hundred times, showed that it should DEFINITELY have been a try.

New Zealand should be lucky that they won by 21 points and that it wasn't much toghter, as it would have been if the referee wasn't biased.

[danikyvor]

Uhm.

1)There's no umpire in Rugby, as I'm sure you well know.

2)The try was impossible to rule, and it was the TV refs that ruled that, not the game ref. I think it was fairly called as two All Blacks were under him and you couldn't see if the ball was on the ground.

3) 'Should be so lucky', They won, they're the far better team, and I'd like to see an English fly half, or any northern hemisphere fly half for that matter, kick goals from the mid way line.

[Prestwick]

That try was a try. All that put the TV ref off was the fact that an AB arm was vaugely under Noon. Some camera angles showed Noon grounding the ball, others showed that he didn't.

It was up to the interpretation of the TV ref at the time. That one opted on the side of caution and ruled a 5 meter scrum, others would have been more aggressive and given it because there was reasonable evidence that the ball was grounded.

As for fly halfs. We don't have them but, HELLO, Gavin Henson?! He makes kicking monster kicks from impossible angles his specialty! And his perception and awareness is second to none!

At the end of the day, the AB's are at the very top of their game. Simple as that. You give them an inch in the form of a wayward pass or a missed tackle and they take a 1,000 miles. Period.

However, England were so much better than they were at the beginning of the summer. The Allen/Noon center partnership was very good, Paul Sackey was a demon at no.14 (especially after he was knocked head over heels and STILL KEPT GOING!), Shaun Perry is slowly building the case for worlds best scrum half and the England front row is once again firing on all cylinders.

The AB were always going to win this, it was more a question of seeing how many questions England would pose of the AB. The fact that they didn't *really* run away with the game shows that when they come up against far more capable opposition in a few weeks at the Stade Francaise, they'll need to seriously step up a gear.

Damian Traille is far better a fly half than Charlie Hodgeson. The French are far more brutal, claustrophobic and painful a side to side step than even South Africa and yet they also have the pace, agility and flair to match even the best of AB's.

I'm looking forward to Les Bleus vs the ABs

[danikyvor]

$1:

As for fly halfs. We don't have them but, HELLO, Gavin Henson?! He makes kicking monster kicks from impossible angles his specialty! And his perception and awareness is second to none!

Sorry Prestwick, we'll have to agree to disagree here. Henson is not having a great season so far this year. I admit, I don't really follow the welsh teams, and when I do, it's for the Heineken Cup or for the Nationals, but from what I've seen of the Ospreys this year, Henson's been a bit sporadic.

[Prestwick]

It was him being banned for six months that ruined his rythmn. He only came back to international duty at the Six nations just gone.

In the Australia game on Saturday he was awesome, was the main component of the first Shane Williams try and helped guide his understudy and fellow Ospreys man James Hook to make a very impressive debut.

He's coming back to his previous and excellent form.

[danikyvor]

I missed the Welsh v Australia, but I was impressed to learn this morning that they managed to draw at 29! That's quite a feat!!

Was that game on tv, because the only rugby I've seen advertised all weekend was today's game with the AB.

[Prestwick]

It was on BBC 1!

Essentially Wales reeled from a very tough first twenty minutes but then suddenly, everything clicked, and and it was as if Ruddock's heroes of 2005 had suddenly appeared out of thin air. And boy did they run the Aussies ragged.

Then in the last 20 minutes Australia put serious pressure on and pipped ahead. It was James Hook (who doesn't even have a permanent place on the Ospreys starting 15) who controlled the game with maturity beyond his years and kicked the penalty which tied it for them.

[Hester]

Thanks for the heads up d, I had forgotten to check on the games. I haven't seen any rugby (on Canadian TV) in over a year so I'm feeling really left out. But both results today are awesome!! Well done to Wales and NZ!

For GB and Prestwick: (From Planet-Rugby)
Twickenham's refurbished South Stand endured a baptism of fire as New Zealand recorded a handsome 41-20 victory over England on Sunday, with Dan Carter bagging 26 points as the holders of the RWC fell to their heaviest home defeat of all time. But England believe they were 'robbed' by a disallowed try.

Moment of the match: We'll opt for the disallowed try - the 'whys' and 'what ifs' will be ringing around pubs for days to come.

Here's hoping Argentina, Italy (yeah, right) win next weekend. The France/NZ and Ireland/SA games looks the pic of the lot.

[Prestwick]

I think Planet Rugby consistently flatter the All Blacks. One thing that came out of that game and that was that the All Blacks are fallible.

France will be far more punishing and I bet they'll have been watching the game with immense interest.

I think England will beat SA at least once out of their two games. Argentina are good, but until they get consistent, year in, year out international test matches, they'll still be at an disadvantage experience wise.

Heres to the USA/Canada/Argentina Super 14 to solve such problems!

[Prestwick]

dimoreien dimoreien:

Here's another article on Hadden and the team selection

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/ru ... 1639242006

Mike Blair having a QUIET season and Dan Parks having the boot??? Are these people watching the same players??!!

Yeah I didn't see this. There really has to be another fly half out there who is better than Dan Parks and is Scottish. The guy was Matt William's pal and was only brought in by Williams because he said not so discreetly that he couldn't find any real Scots to do the job.

The more I think about it, the more I realise Matt Williams is a total dick.

Anyway, I just realised Wales will be playing New Zealand too! I think France are going to surprise and pip New Zealand, just like in the 2003 world cup.

Edit: Just in. Referees head Paddy O'Brien agrees Noon try was a try, will rebuke Jutge for not following procedure.

[Prestwick]

HUGE amount of matches on tomorrow! 3 on BBC (with one more availible on S4C in Wales), and one on Sky!

BBC:England vs Argentina

BBC:Wales vs Pacific Islanders

Planet Rugby: Scotland vs Romania

Planet Rugby: Ireland vs South Africa

Planet Rugby: France vs New Zealand

Planet Rugby: Australia vs Italy

For some reason the BBC dosen't have match previews for the last three so I had to sponge them off of Planet Rugby. Enjoy!

Edit: I think CKA needs a Rugby section in the sports forums. We are by far the most active thread out of all the "alternative" sports here.