6N 2018
-
England (extended) squad to play Italy named with quite a few rookies in there, due to injury and suspensions. Given the problems we have with back rowers injury and suspension I'm not sure just what Armand at Exeter Chiefs has to do to get a look in. (Possible bias alert).
Tom DunnEdit:Gary Graham, sorry wrong rookie, is an interesting pick. He is qualified to play for Scotland too but Eddie has jumped in. Cue much Scottish frothing at the mouth (possibly justified).England squad to face Italy
Backs
Mike Brown (Harlequins), Nathan Earle (Saracens), Harry Mallinder (Northampton), Jonny May (Leicester Tigers), Denny Solomona (Sale Sharks), Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby), Danny Care (Harlequins), Owen Farrell (Saracens), George Ford (Leicester), Jonathan Joseph (Bath), Alex Lozowski (Saracens),Jack Nowell (Exeter), Henry Slade (Exeter), Ben Te'o (Worcester) Marcus Smith (Harlequins) **, Ben Youngs (Leicester)
Forwards
Gary Graham (Newcastle), Nick Isiekwe (Saracens), Maro Itoje (Saracens), George Kruis (Saracens), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Joe Launchbury (Wasps)Zach Mercer (Bath), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Sam Simmonds (Exeter), Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby), Lewis Boyce (Harlequins), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Tom Dunn (Bath), Jamie George (Saracens), Dylan Hartley (Northampton), Alec Hepburn (Exeter Chiefs), Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs)
** - Apprentice player
-
XV de France extended squad for the test against Ireland:
Hookers
Guilhem Guirado (RCT), Camille Chat (Racing 92), Christopher Tolofua (Saracens)Props
Jefferson Poirot (UBB), Eddy Ben Arous (Racing 92), Dany Priso (Stade Rochelais), Rabah Slimani (Clermont), Cedate Gomes Sa (Racing 92)Locks
Sébastien Vahaamahina (Clermont) Paul Gabrillagues (Stade Français), Arthur Iturria (Clermont), Félix Lambey (LOU)Loose forwards
Sekou Macalou (Stade Français), Kevin Gourdon (Stade Rochelais), Anthony Jelonch (Castres), Yacouba Camara (MHR), Wenceslas Lauret (Racing 92), Marco Tauleigne (UBB)Halfbacks
Morgan Parra (Clermont), Antoine Dupont (Stade Toulousain), Maxime Machenaud (Racing 92)First-five eighths
Matthieu Jalibert (UBB), Anthony Belleau (RCT)Midfielders
Geoffrey Doumayrou (Stade Rochelais), Henry Chavancy (Racing 92), Jonathan Danty (Stade Français), Rémi Lamerat (Clermont),Outside backs
Teddy Thomas (Racing 92), Virimi Vakatawa (Racing 92), Benjamin Fall (MHR), Nans Ducuing (UBB), Brice Dulin (Racing 92), Geoffrey Palis (Castres).
It will be interesting to see whether the new coaches can turn things around for France after the very disappointing results from November that led to Guy Noves getting sacked. I understand the change of guard was a bit messy, and this is not the most experienced coaching set-up. Jacques Brunel and his assistants Julien Bonnaire, Sébastien Bruno and Jean-Baptiste Élissalde have called up a few young players in Matthieu Jalibert, Anthony Belleau ou Anthony Jelonch, but have also re-called veteran Morgan Parra.
-
@catogrande no captain named?
-
@bones Apparently not it seems but Eddie has been fulsome in his support for Hartley recently so I would expect him to get the nod.
-
@catogrande Yeah - closest I could find was Eddie claiming back in November that Hartley was gonna be captain for 6N, despite any changes during those End-Of-Year-Tour/Autumn-Internationals/Spring-Tour/November-Tests.
-
@stargazer No Picamoles? Big call.
-
@catogrande Haven't seen myself, but a mate who follows top14 closely said he wasn't surprised at all, apparently Picamoles has been playing very poorly.
-
@sapetyvi I haven't seen that much of the T14 but I have seen him v Exeter in the European Cup. He was looking pretty good but only in fits and starts really. Mind you I think that mirrors the Montpellier game-plan itself. I'm not sure that he's made a good choice in going there. He remains a class player IMO.
-
Ireland 6N squad for first two rounds announced by our Joe:
FORWARDS (20)
Hookers
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) c 106 caps; Sean Cronin (St Mary's College/Leinster) 56 caps; Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 3 capWide Lads
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 73 caps; Jack McGrath (St Mary's College/Leinster) 42 caps; Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 22 caps; Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 19 caps; Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 3 caps; John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 11 capsTall Lads
Ultan Dillane (Corinthians/Connacht) 11 caps; Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 34 caps; Quinn Roux (Galwegians/Connacht) 3 caps; James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 4 caps; Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 53 capsBulky Lads
Dan Leavy (UCD/Leinster) 4 caps; Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 5 caps; Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Leinster) 18 caps; Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 42 caps; CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 18 caps; Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 9 capsBACKS (16)
Fancy Dans
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 78 caps; Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster) 6 caps; Jacob Stockdale (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 4 caps; Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 62 caps
Jordan Larmour (St Mary's College/Leinster)*; Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 32 capsThe Mids
Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 2 caps; Chris Farrell (Young Munster/Munster) 2 caps; Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 31 caps; Rory Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) 3 capsQueens & Prima Donnas
Johnny Sexton (St Mary's College/Leinster) 68 caps; Ian Keatley (Young Munster/Munster) 7 caps; Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Leinster) 6 capsSmall but perfectly formed Loudmouths
Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht) 18 caps; Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster) 6 caps; Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 59 caps -
@pot-hale Payne injured?
-
@pot-hale Payne injured?
Has been since Lions tour. Headaches. Hasn't played since. He's 32, central contract up in June. Not looking good.
Heaslip also out since last 6N.
O'Brien had minor hip operation last week. Might feature later rounds.
Ringrose also injured but might feature in later rounds.
Niall Scannell also injured otherwise would have been ahead of Herring
Surprised Roux got in ahead of Treadwell.
Rory Scannell preferred ahead of McCloskey which is a good thing imho
Pity that John Cooney, Ulster 9, didn't get a chance to show his wares. Has been in fine form for Ulster and made fans forget about Pienaar.If the above can get all get through their European final pool games this weekend and emerge unscathed, then Schmidt & Co will be pretty happy with their lot.
-
@catogrande said in 6N 2018:
England (extended) squad to play Italy named with quite a few rookies in there, due to injury and suspensions. Given the problems we have with back rowers injury and suspension I'm not sure just what Armand at Exeter Chiefs has to do to get a look in. (Possible bias alert).
Tom DunnEdit:Gary Graham, sorry wrong rookie, is an interesting pick. He is qualified to play for Scotland too but Eddie has jumped in. Cue much Scottish frothing at the mouth (possibly justified).England squad to face Italy
Backs
Mike Brown (Harlequins), Nathan Earle (Saracens), Harry Mallinder (Northampton), Jonny May (Leicester Tigers), Denny Solomona (Sale Sharks), Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby), Danny Care (Harlequins), Owen Farrell (Saracens), George Ford (Leicester), Jonathan Joseph (Bath), Alex Lozowski (Saracens),Jack Nowell (Exeter), Henry Slade (Exeter), Ben Te'o (Worcester) Marcus Smith (Harlequins) **, Ben Youngs (Leicester)
Forwards
Gary Graham (Newcastle), Nick Isiekwe (Saracens), Maro Itoje (Saracens), George Kruis (Saracens), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Joe Launchbury (Wasps)Zach Mercer (Bath), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Sam Simmonds (Exeter), Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby), Lewis Boyce (Harlequins), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Tom Dunn (Bath), Jamie George (Saracens), Dylan Hartley (Northampton), Alec Hepburn (Exeter Chiefs), Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs)
** - Apprentice player
Gary Grahams dad is George Graham who played for Scotland in the late 90s as a mobile ball playing prop who I assume based on this wasn't much of a scrummager.
-
I'm actually looking forward to this. The 6N is now the world's pre-eminent annual rugby competition. I hope the rugby on display lives up to that billing.
Surely a two horse race?
-
@mariner4life Should be four competitive teams this year? France will remain a joke. Hope they get beaten by Italy too.
-
I expect the Scots to spoil, but fall short. I don't actually think much of Wales, but they do seem to lift for this comp so maybe?
-
@mariner4life said in 6N 2018:
I expect the Scots to spoil, but fall short. I don't actually think much of Wales, but they do seem to lift for this comp so maybe?
Scots were talking themselves up on the fb group I was a member of. I say 'was' because I made an off colour joke that offended a bunch of them, refused to apologise and got banned. Scottish rugby fans are quite literally a bunch of PC butthurt snowflakes.
God Bless TSF and all you fluffybunnies on here who share my non PC offensive attitude.
-
@mariner4life said in 6N 2018:
I expect the Scots to spoil, but fall short. I don't actually think much of Wales, but they do seem to lift for this comp so maybe?
Scots were talking themselves up on the fb group I was a member of. I say 'was' because I made an off colour joke that offended a bunch of them, refused to apologise and got banned. Scottish rugby fans are quite literally a bunch of PC butthurt snowflakes.
God Bless TSF and all you fluffybunnies on here who share my non PC offensive attitude.
Tell us the joke?
-
@mariner4life said in 6N 2018:
I expect the Scots to spoil, but fall short. I don't actually think much of Wales, but they do seem to lift for this comp so maybe?
Scots were talking themselves up on the fb group I was a member of. I say 'was' because I made an off colour joke that offended a bunch of them, refused to apologise and got banned. Scottish rugby fans are quite literally a bunch of PC butthurt snowflakes.
God Bless TSF and all you fluffybunnies on here who share my non PC offensive attitude.
Tell us the joke?
Everyone was getting all up in arms about Basteraud being homophobic ( i think he has been suspended ? ) and I mentioned gay blokes are great at shopping, interior decorating etc.
An admin emailed me saying he'd had multiple complaints about my bigoted comments.
Definitely the kind of piston wristed gibbons who woulda been outraged at that restaurant in chch.
-
-
-
@mariner4life said in 6N 2018:
I'm actually looking forward to this. The 6N is now the world's pre-eminent annual rugby competition. I hope the rugby on display lives up to that billing.
Surely a two horse race?
nothing says pre-eminent like Gareth Anscombe and Hadleigh Parkes
-
@kiwimurph said in 6N 2018:
@mariner4life said in 6N 2018:
I'm actually looking forward to this. The 6N is now the world's pre-eminent annual rugby competition. I hope the rugby on display lives up to that billing.
Surely a two horse race?
nothing says pre-eminent like Gareth Anscombe and Hadleigh Parkes
Ouch. A tinge of the Angostura?
-
-
@rocky-rockbottom Parkes played for the Canes too (and did next to nothing for Canes and Blues). I think it's more of a case of Parkes suiting the Northern Hemisphere style of play than being a 'world class midfielder'. Super Rugby played by NZ teams is very fast paced and suits athletically gifted players - Hadleigh Parkes doesn't exactly fit that category. If you put Parkes in an NZ Super Rugby midfield this season I wouldn't expect 'world class'.
-
@kiwimurph given with his express pace, he played on the wing for the Blues....
My best memories of him is his play when Northland thrashed Manawatu 77-5 in 2010 haha
-
@taniwharugby said in 6N 2018:
@kiwimurph given with his express pace, he played on the wing for the Blues....
My best memories of him is his play when Northland thrashed Manawatu 77-5 in 2010 haha
Pretty sure I was at that game, wonderful day out at Okara.
-
Is French rugby run by Jacques Clouseau?
-
Six Nations starting this weekend.
Italy play England in the Sun afternoon match
France play Ireland in second match on Sat
Wales play Scotland first up on Sat in the match of the round.All the preview talk has been look at how many injuries we have. Hopefully that dies away once match squads are announced on Thursday.
England start as favorites and get to sit in the pretty seat as they watch to see whether one or even two of their possible rivals get knocked out of contention for a Grand Slam and possibly the Championship. Wales are slow starters but a win against the fancied Scots would put them in fine fettle for a trip to Twickenham. Ireland started slow last year against Scotland and paid the price. Lose to the French in Paris ( a regular enough occurrence) and they’ll be turning up with nothing but a brave face at Twickenham four rounds later.
Two or even three away wins this weekend would set the Championship up nicely.
-
@pot-hale said in 6N 2018:
Six Nations starting this weekend.
Italy play England in the Sun afternoon match
France play Ireland in second match on Sat
Wales play Scotland first up on Sat in the match of the round.All the preview talk has been look at how many injuries we have. Hopefully that dies away once match squads are announced on Thursday.
England start as favorites and get to sit in the pretty seat as they watch to see whether one or even two of their possible rivals get knocked out of contention for a Grand Slam and possibly the Championship. Wales are slow starters but a win against the fancied Scots would put them in fine fettle for a trip to Twickenham. Ireland started slow last year against Scotland and paid the price. Lose to the French in Paris ( a regular enough occurrence) and they’ll be turning up with nothing but a brave face at Twickenham four rounds later.
Two or even three away wins this weekend would set the Championship up nicely.
Scots are talking it up and are pretty confident which is a sure sign everyone's money should be on Wales.
-
Ireland team to play France in Paris. Ringrose injured puts Aki in and vdF wins the gong to replace injured SOB. Young James Ryan edges Toner to the bench.
Stockdale, Ryan and Aki in their 6N bows.
15 Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 78 caps
14 Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 62 caps
13 Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 31 caps
12 Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 2 caps
11 Jacob Stockdale (Belfast quins/Ulster) 4 caps
10 Johnny Sexton (St Mary's College/Leinster) 68 caps
9 Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 59 caps
1 Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 73 caps
2 Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) 106 caps (captain)
3 Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 19 caps
4 Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 34 caps
5 James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 4 caps
6 Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 42 caps
7 Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 9 caps
8 CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 18 capsReplacements
16. Sean Cronin (St Mary's College/Leinster) 56 caps
17. Jack McGrath (St Mary's College/Leinster) 42 caps
18. John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 11 caps
19. Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 53 caps
20. Dan Leavy (UCD/Leinster) 4 caps
21. Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster) 6 caps
22. Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Leinster) 6 caps
23. Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 32 caps -
@pot-hale there you go with that weird numbering again...;)
1 Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 73 caps
2 Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) 106 caps (captain)
3 Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 19 caps
4 Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 34 caps
5 James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 4 caps
6 Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 42 caps
7 Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 9 caps
8 CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 18 caps
9 Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 59 caps
10 Johnny Sexton (St Mary's College/Leinster) 68 caps
11 Jacob Stockdale (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 4 caps
12 Bundee O'Aki (Galwegians/Connacht/Chiefs/Counties Manukau) 2 caps
13 Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 31 caps
14 Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 62 caps
15 Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 78 capsReplacements
16 Sean Cronin (St Mary's College/Leinster) 56 caps
17 Jack McGrath (St Mary's College/Leinster) 42 caps
18 John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 11 caps
19 Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 53 caps
20 Dan Leavy (UCD/Leinster) 4 caps
21 Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster) 6 caps
22 Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Leinster) 6 caps
23 Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 32 caps -
BTW the kilted ones named their team yesterday
-
Gordon Reid (London Irish) – 27 caps
-
Stuart McInally (Edinburgh Rugby) – 12 caps
-
Jon Welsh (Newcastle Falcons) – 11 caps
-
Ben Toolis (Edinburgh Rugby) – 7 caps
-
Jonny Gray VICE CAPTAIN (Glasgow Warriors) – 38 caps
-
John Barclay CAPTAIN (Scarlets) – 66 caps
-
Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby) – 15 caps
-
Cornell du Preez (Edinburgh Rugby) – 5 caps
-
Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) – 11 caps
-
Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors) – 32 caps
-
Byron McGuigan (Sale Sharks) – 2 caps
-
Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors) – 11 caps
-
Chris Harris (Newcastle Falcons) – 1 cap
-
Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) – 39 caps
-
Stuart Hogg VICE CAPTAIN (Glasgow Warriors) – 55 caps
-
Scott Lawson (Newcastle Falcons) – 46 caps
-
Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow Warriors) – 3 caps
-
Murray McCallum (Edinburgh Rugby) – uncapped
-
Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby) – 18 caps
-
Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors) – 32 caps
-
Greig Laidlaw (ASM Clermont Auvergne) – 58 caps
-
Pete Horne (Glasgow Warriors) – 28 caps
-
Sean Maitland (Saracens) – 29 caps
-
-
-
@pot-hale
Strong side PH, though I can never quite understand how Earls has got that many caps. Elusive runner but to me, too many fallabilities?
