English clean sweep in the cup for only the third time ever

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/european-rugby/11280706/English-clean-sweep-bodes-well-for-Stuart-Lancaster.html

In fact even in the Challenge Cup it was only our Exile friends that let us down.

Looking back the key victories were Leicester,Bath,Quins & Wasps & some outstanding displays in the front rows.
Can they back it up this coming weekend though?

Bath and Wasps should record back to back wins.

Quins and Tigers to suffer a backlash.

LondonTiger wrote:Bath and Wasps should record back to back wins.

Quins and Tigers to suffer a backlash.

Unfortunately i agree with this

Telegraph cannot even make the difference between Steffon Armitage and Bastareaud!

whocares wrote:Telegraph cannot even make the difference between Steffon Armitage and Bastareaud!

Sky commentators have had that problem in the past too.

Swings and roundabouts - The Prem teams had generally a bad start to the European competition, and in this round they did particularly well. I dont think that we can draw any long term conclusions about the relative strength of the leagues from 1 rounds performance.
Only really when we are in the knockouts can you start to make observations.

There were some great results this weekend - but they all need to be backed up with repeat performances.
Tigers and Quins to play away too. They are big asks.

propdavid_london wrote:Swings and roundabouts - The Prem teams had generally a bad start to the European competition, and in this round they did particularly well.  I dont think that we can draw any long term conclusions about the relative strength of the leagues from 1 rounds performance.  
Only really when we are in the knockouts can you start to make observations.  

There were some great results this weekend - but they all need to be backed up with repeat performances.  
Tigers and Quins to play away too.  They are big asks.

I'm not sure anyone was drawing any conclusions from it. We have a massive ask next round

I have noticed poor form from pro 12 teams at the weekend, could it be possible they got disrupted by the AIs? At the end of the day they are more affected than any other union.

VinceWLB wrote:I have noticed poor form from pro 12 teams at the weekend, could it be possible they got disrupted by the AIs? At the end of the day they are more affected than any other union.

Well the Irish/Scots didn't have to play a 4th International so in theory they should have been fresher than the Welsh and English players.

It was a good weekend, that is all

VinceWLB wrote:I have noticed poor form from pro 12 teams at the weekend, could it be possible they got disrupted by the AIs? At the end of the day they are more affected than any other union.

Not true though as only the Welsh played out of the Pro12 Countries and England themselves had a 4th AI this year. There were some good wins for the Aviva sides on the weekend noteably Quins and Tigers, though and I guess it sign of times etc but a few seasons back Tigers winning at home in Europe against anybody, whilst not a gimme would have been seen as a safe bet.

VinceWLB wrote:I have noticed poor form from pro 12 teams at the weekend, could it be possible they got disrupted by the AIs? At the end of the day they are more affected than any other union.

Well Bath, Wasps and Tigers beat French teams. Saracens beat an English team. Saints beat Treviso.

The only one you could really claim any impact from the AI is Quins, and that's all MOC's fault.

EDIT: Sorry didn't read your post properly. Not many of the PRO12 results are that shocking. Munster lost to one of the best teams in Europe. Ospreys drew. Leinster mentioned above. That's about it.

VinceWLB wrote:I have noticed poor form from pro 12 teams at the weekend, could it be possible they got disrupted by the AIs? At the end of the day they are more affected than any other union.

Vince you are right, Alun Wyn Jones in a post match press conference said our players had one and a half training sessions after returning from TW, how can you compete with teams like Racing Metro who have a wage bill of over twice ours, and can have Internationals replacing Internationals, we did remarkably well to get that result, and when our backs coach was asked will we have any of our injured players back for the return, it was no, I dread to think what will happen in the return on Saturday.

wayne wrote:

VinceWLB wrote:I have noticed poor form from pro 12 teams at the weekend, could it be possible they got disrupted by the AIs? At the end of the day they are more affected than any other union.

Vince you are right, Alun Wyn Jones in a post match press conference said our players had one and a half training sessions after returning from TW, how can you compete with teams like Racing Metro who have a wage bill of over twice ours, and can have Internationals replacing Internationals, we did remarkably well to get that result, and when our backs coach was asked will we have any of our injured players back for the return, it was no, I dread to think what will happen in the return on Saturday.  

This happened with the old format as well which goes to prove that the WRU don't give a flying feck about the Regions all they are interested in is the corporate money the MS generates. People will say that the 4th game outside the window produces money for the Regions but it also means the Regions get very little time with their players leading inot an imporatnt European weekend.

Ditch the 4th game I say and have said it for a long while.

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:

VinceWLB wrote:I have noticed poor form from pro 12 teams at the weekend, could it be possible they got disrupted by the AIs? At the end of the day they are more affected than any other union.

Well the Irish/Scots didn't have to play a 4th International so in theory they should have been fresher than the Welsh and English players.

The flip side is that a lot of non-national qualified were pretty rusty, having sat doing very little for a while, as was obvious from Glasgow's urine poor display against Toulouse.

The 4th international feics over the Welsh regions every year. The Irish don't have that excuse. Leinster and Munster just weren't good enough.

I've detected an upturn in the quality of the Premiership sides for a while now. Slow but noticeable.

No doubt about it... it was a bloody good week for the English sides. Smiles all round, and why not. They played the rugby, they won their games and deserve the good feelings that come with it. It's what rugby is all about.

Despite this weekend's results only Saints can be reasonably confident of going through.

Bath still have to go to Toulouse, and Glasgow at the Rec isn't a gimme. Sarries have to go to Clermont, and Munster are never out of it until it's not possible to qualify.

Quins have to go to Dublin and Castres,  where they will need a tbp win having let Leinster escape the Stoop with a lbp.

Tigers have trips to Toulon and Belfast. Wasps must win each game with at least two bp wins imo.

Sale are out.

Hey don't forget our young side beat the mighty Stade France as well!!

Some of our young kids put in huge performances....