Six Nations Quality

There have been some quite exciting/tense games, but a general lack of quality in my opinion. None of the higher ranked teams have produced anything substantially decent amongst themselves.

I can't see the big 3 SH sides being particularly worried about what might turn up on the summer tours.

I think the 6 teams in the rournament are more evenly matched than ever, and that's reflected in that fact that the better teams are not drubbing the lesser teams. It's fine if we're all getting better together, but what we don't want is us all getting worse together (the best teams reduced to the level of the lower teams), or meeting in the middle (lower teams improving, better teams worsening). I think we are all improving though.

Defences are dominating games.Our games consequently tend to be for officianados.
I would love to see some flair/creativity but I will make do with great tackling!
Charge downs and interceptions is a bit sad ,really.

I think that there has been a general mix of excellent defensive play, some luck and some excellent attacking play to be honest.

I believe that Ireland and Wales summer tours may yeild some rewards/

After watching the first 2 rounds of the super 15 there aren't NH teams worried about the tours either.

The Reds (reigning champs) game was one of the lowest quality club games I've ever seen, aside from goal kicking of Harris both teams looked like pub teams!

Here we go... My skills better than yours etc.

The thing is, the format of the 6n means that every game is a tuff nervous affair

We see the same in the final stages of the world cup when the highly skilled free flowing SH teams clam up

Tuff

Street tuff!

I think that the standard of rugby is definitely higher this year than in many previous years. No easy games.

France, Ireland and Wales look very even, the other three are pretty tough to beat too.

As ever, the breakdown remains a contentious area with teams either sealing off the ball by going off their feet or stepping beyond the tackle and generally obstructing off the ball. There have been less collapsed scrums and lineouts have been keenly contested but the endless RL phase game means defences dominate and ' interpreting ' the refs has become probably even more key.

thebluesmancometh wrote:After watching the first 2 rounds of the super 15 there aren't NH teams worried about the tours either.

The Reds (reigning champs) game was one of the lowest quality club games I've ever seen, aside from goal kicking of Harris both teams looked like pub teams!

Wow, no rushing to judgement there, eh?

We hear this from the NH posters every year, and yet nothing really seams to change either.

maestegmafia wrote:I think that the standard of rugby is definitely higher this year than in many previous years. No easy games.

France, Ireland and Wales look very even, the other three are pretty tough to beat too.

Defence wise I would agree with you. However attack wise not.

England can't put a string of passes together without making errors, thus far they scored tries from chargedowns.

Scotland has been improving, they have some young stars in their forwards, Hogg looks great but collectively they are still struggling to maintain patience in the build up of a try.

Italy has been able to stay in touch with their forwards, but otherwise do not have the pace to set anything alight.

Ireland shows promise with individual brillaince but also lack patience.

France scored some good tries, but not from building pressure, mostly from mistakes and opportunities created by the opponent, their pace in the back saw them through against socltand and Italy.

Wales is the only team looking good on attack.

It seems that few of the teams have a solid grasp on what is required now at the breakdown, either technically or legally. Hence the games are becoming like arm wrestles between weaklings. The SH teams will have the advantage of playing the entire S15 with this years new set of interpretations, with only a handful of games where the stakes are so high our lads will be at their traditional disadvantage when we face them in the tour games. It's almost like the IRB refs department is headed up by a Kiwi.