What will be the best 6 Nations match of 2012?

First topic message reminder :

It was a class World Cup and I reckon it'll be a mad 6 nations with teams taking that world cup rivalry a step further.

In the world cup Ireland lost to Wales, England lost to France, Wales lost to France, Scotland lost to England and Italy lost to Ireland.

On top of that factor in the usual 6 nations stakes - calcutta cup, le crunch, triple crown, wooden spoons, grandslam deciders and the amazing trips to Paris, Dublin, London, Edinburgh, Rome and Cardiff.

What you reckon will be best match.

From an Irish view I'm delighted we get to take on Wales first though england v ireland on Paddys Day will be excellent too.

mystiroakey wrote:england shouldnt have a problem, its not a big game to any of us english. the big ones are all the others in comparsion- its realloy that simple

Neither should France last year, or Scotland and Wales the times before. The tournament will only have grown up when Italy beat England and Ireland.

or you could just explain why you feel a game against the 6n's holders and the worst team in the 6n's by some distance is a 'must watch game' other than it could cause a shock.

facepalm, facepalm, facepalm

Glas a du wrote:

or you could just explain why you feel a game against the 6n's holders and the worst team in the 6n's by some distance is a 'must watch game' other than it could cause a shock.

facepalm, facepalm, facepalm

so you highlighted some text- would you like to answer it

because to any person that has common sense we may as well think the big games are allways the unevenly mathced games. lets watch NZ v portugal over SA v AUS incase we get a shock! lol

Glas a du wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:england shouldnt have a problem, its not a big game to any of us english. the big ones are all the others in comparsion- its realloy that simple

Neither should France last year, or Scotland and Wales the times before. The tournament will only have grown up when Italy beat England and Ireland.

i dont understand what your point is- our big games are the other 4, the italy game isnt going to be the toughest tes- if we loose it- we loose it- but its our easiest game!! its that simple

glaus its as if you want ireland and england to join the losers club for the 6n's to grow up!!

no pal its about italy becoming a better rugby side that will increase the 6n's quality, not the others losing by underperforming. if italy can beat england at home- there is no reason why they cant take the odd away win.

THE 6N'S will GROW UP WHEN ITALY CAN BEAT A TOP NATION AWAY FROM HOME!!! get it

so if you want a shock result as being the pinnacle match of a 6N's

look at wales v italy or france v italy!! thats the bigger shock, and the real measure that italy are becoming a better side.

slartibartfast wrote:
Wales v France - gs decider

NZ V Portugal - little chance of a shock

Italy v England - as unshocking a shock as a shock can be whilst retaining some shock value, see?

Why are you getting so cranky Mysteriokey?

Last year in the 6 Nations Italy v France stood out as a great day. From a non Irish point of view its the game that stands out clearest in my mind.

I believe Italy have a chance of beating England. If thats the case I think it will be exciting.

However, this is only one type of enjoyment. I also listed several other games that would be good too.

im going to the Wales V France game, cant wait, if it ends up as a Grand Slam decider i think i'd be like a 5 year old waking up on christmas day

i find all the matches interesting in their own way, Italy will be very intresting to watch especially at home as they will now have a stadium to compete with the other nations and the Italians are always very passionate and help to inspire their team on

I fear the only team to prevent a France Grandslam is Wales. If they can kick more intelligently this time. Will be a humdinger!

I want England to have an emphasis on how they play the game not not on results, to have one eye on the future so to speak. Unfortunately this will not happen

Am off to Twickers this 6 Nations with usual group of friends so thats always good few days anyway, hopefully result will go our way and of course always love the Scotland game with them invading Cardiff or the weekend.

Do tickets for the Sco-Eng game go on sale closer to the match date? I know some are available now but it doesn't seem like many

Yoda wrote:I fear the only team to prevent a France Grandslam is Wales.

England rugby fan wrote:

Yoda wrote:I fear the only team to prevent a France Grandslam is Wales.

it's not often I agree with this bloke, but this time he's got it right, I wish people would stop bigging up Wales when they couldn't deliver where it mattered in the World cup, good sides are ones that win through adversity and deliver the result, when it came down to it Wales didn't have it and there's no way they're even joint favourites for the 6N, let alone favourites, 4th beckons again.

I reckon they might just get their tails up if we can win in Dublin. If not then you're right 4th it is. And that is a big IF

The 6 Nations is such a unique event/fomat that its always hrd to predict who will win it.

Yes certain teams will be favoured more than others but how many times over the years have we seen the so called faves lose one game in a wet windy Murrayfield etc.

Who honestly expected Italy to beat France last year etc .

red_stag wrote:Why are you getting so cranky Mysteriokey?

Last year in the 6 Nations Italy v France stood out as a great day. From a non Irish point of view its the game that stands out clearest in my mind.

I believe Italy have a chance of beating England. If thats the case I think it will be exciting.

However, this is only one type of enjoyment. I also listed several other games that would be good too.

personally id say its 50/50

50 percent chance of england battering italy.

50 percent chance of italy v england being an ugly hard fought win by england or italy(of which 80% england would get over the line)

either way not sure that an england demolition would be up there for a neautral, or an ugly battle either. I am english and i will be the first to admit when teams try and kill the game against us(as scotland so successfully acheive) the rugby games are boring and annoying as hell and never a specatcle or showcase for rugby.

so i take it the game is up there for you because you want to see if italy can beat england- thats fine i suppose- what ever floats your boat. However i dont look at other teams games in that way and i dont understand that mentality at all. Id rather watch a wales v france or a ireland v wales(considering both will be grudge matches after the WC) over a horrid stiffled game of rugby which includes italy and an established team.

Using your stats mysti Italy would win 10% of the games. Can't see that happening for a while yet.