Six Nations International Rugby

[rio]

Crooky - I'm surprised to see you not on the French getting 10; felt sure you'd have this as a 3pt game either way.

The only real drubbing of late was in 2001 when France were awful.

See your boyos are struggling at present - but hopefully still time for them to getback on track

If England beat France today - am going to lay them outright on the exchanges - last game in Dublin could be tasty.

Good Luck

Rio.

 

[crookycymru]

ENGLAND 25-17 FRANCE
ITALY 30-22 WALES

Ok I will get it out of the way. The three point loss I show today is easily the worst day of the whole season. My record is still a good 33-13, but this is a blow to the start of the Six Nations campaign. A lot is riding on the Ireland bet tomorrow. Should Ireland win and cover then, the outright bet is in a good position, while we would have scraped some of the loss from today back. If Ireland lose, then my back will be against the wall, but with 12 games left, I will still be confident of showing a profit.

Stick with me!

Now speaking as a Welshman, I am disgraced with the way my team played today. It was obvious that the Italians were hungrier, and for an Italian rugby team to show more pride than a Welsh rugby team is shocking. They were stuffed up front, and questions need to be asked. Welsh rugby is at it's lowest ebb. Apart from providing readers with a loss today, I am devestated with the Welsh performance. I had my father who was sat in the stands in Rome texting me during the match, saying he wanted to come home. That is the general feeling out there, and there will be 7000 pretty pissed off Welsh fans crawling the streets of Rome tonight.
Having said that I am taking my hat off to the Italians, who showed a real team effort today. They were playing for their lives out there, and credit also to coach John Kirwan who can quite rightly be very proud of what his men did today.

Rio, I am still satisfied that the England-France game was a no play today. I kept degenrates happy by tipping France, but the game went pretty much as I expected. Johnny Wilkinson proved to be the difference between both teams. His kicking was immaculate, and it could quite easily have been a 20 point victory for England. However, the French showed their class but despite outscoring the English on the try count, their lack of discipline nearly cost them the cover. As it was France crept home by a point or two, but France backers could never be confident during that game, and indeed at one point it looked like they were never going to cover.
I think I am right to question Bernard Laporte' decision to leave Thomas Castaignede out of the team. He certainly made a difference when he came on, and with his pace I feel he will be in the fifteen who face Scotland next week.

Apart from tomorrows game, it is on to next week. I am going to turn this around, and I will be cheering home the Irish tomorrow, and hope a few of you will be too!

Good Luck

 

[cameroncrazie]

No worries crooky. These days happen. We'll get some back tomorrow. The Red Lion was quite an experience. Boisterous English and French fans filled the place to the gills. I had a beer in my hand at 8AM (Eastern Standard Time) and an Irish Breakfast in my stomach by 8:30AM. The guy who owns the bar is English I think so maybe he named it with your Red Lion in mind. Not too many girls at the bar but that is to be expected on a Saturday morning. In the end not a profitable day but an enjoyable one nonetheless. Good luck tomorrow.

 

[crookycymru]

SCOTLAND 6-36 IRELAND

A great day to make up for the disappointment of losing yesterday. OK, it is still a losing weekend, but the way Ireland won leaves the outright bets in a great position.

Not too many teams go to Murrayfield and win by thirty points, and indeed many Southern Hemisphere teams have had to fight there in recent years. Dont be kidded into thinking that Scotland were poor, they gave everything today, but in every department, the Irish had the answer. They were able to hold out fierce Scottish pressure for minutes upon end, and the performance of fly half David Humphreys means first choice ten, Ronan O'Gara will probably have to be content with a place on the bench when he returns to fitness. Brian O'Driscoll easily displayed the form which has made him the best centre in the world, by a good margin. The thirty point win leaves Ireland top of the table, and the point difference could make a big difference later on in the tournament.

It is now on to next week, so check back in this same thread from Thursday onwards for picks.

 

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Nice call, crooky.

Let's go, Ireland.

-Chucky O'Goat

 

[crookycymru]

Chucky O'Goat

:lol:

Whenever I see your name, it always reminds me of the goat who leads out the Welsh military band in the rugby matches. Dont think is name is Chucky though!! :shrug:

Thanks for the comments, encouraging as always!

 

[ChuckyTheGoat]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/justthejob/takeitfromme/star_shenkin.shtml

Shenkin the Goat, 2nd cousin twice removed.

 

[crookycymru]

Updated Six Nations Odds

England 1 - 4

Ireland 4 - 1

France 7 - 1

Scotland 500 - 1

Wales 500 - 1

Italy 1000 - 1


More importantly Ireland are now rated as just a 5/1 shot to get the grand slam. Makes our 20/1 look huge.

 

[crookycymru]

All my future Six Nations bets will be posted in this thread. I am passing on all of this weekends games. The lines I set are very similar to what has come out, so I see little value.

England are expected to runaway with the fixture against Walesand they probably will. A complete mismatch in terms of the line ups, and I cannot believe Wales' decision to bring back Jonathan Humphreys as skipper. Not only does he gift penalties to the opposition but also cannot throw into the line out, which at the moment is Wales biggest problem. Wilkinson will probably socre big, but I pass on the handicap. I would think England will throw on a load of subs once the game is won, and this will not help handicap backers.

However, I will be hoping for a big Irish victory. They will beat the Italians tomorrow, but the margin of victory will tell us a lot about how good Italy really are.

Something worth noting is that the worlds greatest domestic rugby competiton started today. I got off to a winning start with the Highlanders (-6) this morning, and expect to make it a 100% weekend with the ACT Brumbies off scratch tomorrow morning. Lines are available at Olympic and SportsInteraction.

Good Luck

 

[british bulldog]

Good start Crooky with the Highlanders.

Good luck with the Brumbies this morning.

I will see how you guys all go with the Super 12's as you suggested I should do due to not being around last year.

Great start anyway, and I hope for you that you continue with the same results from this action as you have done with the Heinekin Cup. Great Work.

---------------------------------------------------------------
editted

By the way Crooky, just curious. Is your signiture "Cymru am Byth"

COME ON WALES in English

 

[kickserv]

Good luck guys

 

[crookycymru]

Cymru Am Byth=Wales Forever!!

Good luck on your handicap Derek, but I hope my Welsh boys stick it right up your asses later today!!

Slim chance of it happening, but I will be there singing my heart out as usual.

Brumbies cover to make it a good weekend (See Super 12 thread!)

 

[royalfan]

Great call on the Brumbies!!! Much appreciated.

 

[kickserv]

yep great call on Brumbies

 

[crookycymru]

Italy 13-37 Ireland
Wales 9-26 England
France 38-3 Scotland

A interesting weekends test rugby. Ireland must be happy in beating the Italians, although nearly twenty enforced errors will give them cause for concern. They cannot make those errors against England or France without getting punished, but a victory none the less, and our grand slam bet is still on course.

Let me pay a little tribute to my Welsh boys. They have taken a battering all week from the Welsh public and media, and justifiably so, but they restored a little pride yesterday with a battling display against England. I never thought Wales were going to win during the match, but they gave England a real test match, and it was good to watch. If I were a Englishman and thank god I am not, I would refrain from calling the English poor. They took a hammering in their front five, yet still came away with a victory. I will not accept claims that England were poor. We all know how much they rely on Johnny Wilkinson. Take that guy out of their team and they will be half the side. The English were walking around puffing and panting, and they knew they had been in a game there, so to call them poor is a little disrespectful to the Welsh players who gave everything. From a Welsh point of view, they have to take this performance to Murrayfield in a fortnights time. They would have beaten the Italians on this performance, and should beat Scotland playing at this level.

Finally, France wrapped up a victory against Scotland today. Again they had their fair share of possession, but are too poor to convert it into points.

The Ireland outright bets are still in a good position, while my decision to stay away from this weekends handicaps was justified. Every man and his dog were betting England on the hanidcap, although I saw no value in this bet myself, while the Italy-Ireland spread was nearly spot on. France cover easily today, but it was hard to predict that Scotland would be so lacklustre again.

Back in the week with Super 12 rugby, while Six Nations continues in a fortnights time

 

[crookycymru]

Updated Six Nations Odds:

England 1 - 4

Ireland 4 - 1

France 8 - 1


Ireland cut into 9/2 to win the Grand Slam. Interesting to note that leading rugby website PlanetRugby conducted a online poll asking who are in the best shape to win the Grand Slam. 58% vote in favour of Ireland while 35% vote in favour of England who are rated just a 1/3 shot by bookmakers to win this years Grand Slam.

 

[crookycymru]

CURRENT 2003 SIX NATIONS STANDINGS (After Two Rounds)

Team P W D L F A Diff PTS
Ireland 2 2 0 0 73 19 54 4
England 2 2 0 0 51 26 25 4
France 2 1 0 1 55 28 27 2
Italy 2 1 0 1 43 59 -16 2
Wales 2 0 0 2 31 56 -25 0
Scotland 2 0 0 2 9 74 -65 0

 

[kickserv]

I still say if Canada was in there they'd win it all:canada1 :canada1 :yup :slomo

 

[crookycymru]

Kickserv,

Sorry to disappoint you, but you would be nowhere near the top. You have actually brought up a good point, I wonder where Canada would figure. In the past you would probably have beaten the Italians, but you would quite comfortably finish bottom in this tournament I am afraid. :shrug:

BTW I just e-mailed you......that is it in this thread for about a week! Matches start again a week Saturday.

Good Luck

 

[crookycymru]

A couple of reasons for the early post. Firstly I see a lot of value in this play, and secondly I will be heading up to Scotland on Thursday, but will find a PC to post the plays.

Scotland vs Wales, 16:00 GMT, Murrayfield, Edinburgh, Scotland)

Possibly the battle of the dreaded Wooden Spoon. Both are winless after their first two games, and neither team has come close to winning. Wales put in a much improved performance last week against England, but still never looked like winning, while the Scots travelled to Paris and were duly stuffed by the French.
I am very surprised to see Scotland six points favourites for this game. I would be equally surprised if a better line came out than the one offered by Paddy Power at the moment, so now is the time to jump on. I will be adding more plays on this game in due course.

Niether team has named their line up, but I expect Wales to make some changes. Last weeks line up was more a reaction to their dreadful performance against Italy, and players needed to be punished. The boys that came in done their country proud, but a different line up is needed against the Scots.
In my opinion, Wales are a better test match rugby nation than Scotland and this will be proved next weekend. Scotland have squandered countless possession in their previous two matches, which shows what little talent they really have. Wales have far too much pace behind the scrum for the Scots to be able to break down the Welsh, while Scotland are hardly a physical presence up front these days. Injuries are not going Scotlands way, while Wales have no major injury concerns, and indeed can recall the services of fly half Stephen Jones this week, whose kicking could prove crucial.

This line must be snapped up. A repeat performance by the Welsh will be enough, as would it have been against the Italians. Expect Wales to be singing come Saturday night, and the Irish, or their bookmakers at least to be crying all the way to the bank.

2 Point Win Wales (+6) at 10/11 with Paddy Power