Refs announced for 6 Nations

WEEK 1

Wales v England
Jérôme Garcès (FFR); Romain Poite (FFR) Mathieu Raynal (FFR) Simon McDowell (IRFU)

Italy v Ireland
Pascal Gauzere (FFR); Wayne Barnes (RFU) Stuart Berry (SARU) Graham Hughes (RFU)

France v Scotland
Nigel Owens (WRU); Glen Jackson (NZR) Mike Fraser (NZR) George Ayoub (ARU)

WEEK 2

England v Italy
John Lacey (IRFU); Pascal Gauzere (FFR) Mike Fraser (NZR) George Ayoub (ARU)

Ireland v France
Wayne Barnes (RFU); Nigel Owens (WRU) Stuart Berry (SARU) Graham Hughes (RFU)

Scotland v Wales
Glen Jackson (NZR); George Clancy (IRFU)    Dudley Phillips (IRFU) Simon McDowell (IRFU)


WEEK 3

Scotland v Italy
George Clancy (IRFU); Romain Poite (FFR) Leighton Hodges (WRU) Graham Hughes (RFU)

France v Wales
Jaco Peyper (SARU); JP Doyle (RFU) Marius Mitrea (FIR) Simon McDowell (IRFU)

Ireland v England
Craig Joubert (SARU); Jérôme Garcès (FFR) Mathieu Raynal (FFR) Shaun Veldsman (SARU)

WEEK 4

Wales v Ireland
Steve Walsh (ARU); Chirs Pollock (NZR) Federico Anselmi (UAR) Graham Hughes (RFU)

England v Scotland
Romain Poite (FFR); George Clancy (IRFU) Marius Mitrea (FIR) Ben Skeen (NZR)

Italy v France
JP Doyle (RFU); Wayne Barnes (RFU) Luke Pearce (RFU) Simon McDowell (IRFU)

WEEK 5

Italy v Wales
Chris Pollock (NZR); JP Doyle (RFU) Luke Pearce (RFU) Simon McDowell (IRFU)

Scotland v Ireland
Jérôme Garcès (FFR); Pascal Gauzere (FFR) Federico Anselmi (UAR) Graham Hughes (RFU)

England v France
Steve Walsh (ARU); John Lacey (IRFU) Leighton Hodges (WRU)

Thoughts, does that change anyone's predictions?
Cant say I'm thrilled about getting George Clownshoes Clancy...

Walsh for Eng v France might cause a few raised eyebrows, he loves to have an impact on the game. Shame it isn't against Wales actually!

Also is Wayne Barnes out of favor, only one game?

Wayne is only out of favour with Ireland.... so at least the one game he has doesn't inclu.......................



Wayne!!!!!!!! You.......... (fill in any part of Castro's comments you like) !!!

Clancy and Jackson, oh boy.

One is the fastest whistle in the North and the other the fastest whistle in the South.

Sounds like a Western, eh?

Joubert will suit Ireland to a tee.

Yes no George Clancy for Wales

Jerome for Wales v England that will be a low scoring game with little flow the kickers better be ready for a busy night.

Happy for Wales no Irish or English refs.

Happy with barnes and Walsh who I rate as the best of this lot. Peyper is ok while Owens has regressed recently. Hopefully Doyle will not help the Italians too much.

Biltong wrote:Clancy and Jackson, oh boy.

One is the fastest whistle in the North and the other the fastest whistle in the South.

Sounds like a Western, eh?

A western nobody asked for

glamorganalun wrote:Happy for Wales no Irish or English refs.

Only conditionally happy, glamor - as I'm sure Wales were hoping this year might have no refs at all! The IRB talked about it but I suppose like everything, the SH will get that experiment first

Not to bad I guess, not getting Barnes or clownshoes is always a bargain.

Ah man I thought we'd escaped Steve Walsh...but they kept it for the last game....against France....wonderful.

DeludedOptimistorjustDave wrote:Jerome for Wales v England that will be a low scoring game with little flow the kickers better be ready for a busy night.

More to the point, Wales will need to be prepared to scrummage and not just try to win penalties. It won't be a repeat of Cardiff two years ago.

Walsh for Eng v Fra is a bit of a lottery, but playing France is always a lottery and at least it's at home.

Refs are refs. Mistakes get made, each has their style. I would have thought Mitrea will be dissapointed only to be running the line. He is a ref who has come on greatly the last seson or two

NZ ref for Scotland / Wales might be interesting

I hope Poitre is on Melon's side for the scrums



Side of the pitch that is!

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:I hope Poitre is on Melon's side for the scrums



Side of the pitch that is!

Personally I hope Melon is on the side of the pitch as in on the bench.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Ah man I thought we'd escaped Steve Walsh...but they kept it for the last game....against France....wonderful.

Given the match beforehand that final game may well be a dead rubber

bedfordwelsh wrote:

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:I hope Poitre is on Melon's side for the scrums



Side of the pitch that is!

Personally I hope Melon is on the side of the pitch as in on the bench.

Yes Smith looks a good young prospect - will he be fit for the 6Ns?

bedfordwelsh wrote:

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:I hope Poitre is on Melon's side for the scrums



Side of the pitch that is!

Personally I hope Melon is on the side of the pitch as in on the bench.

He's still quite clearly our best LH, unless you watched Wales' autumn series sat underneath a rock.

Poite gave a very bad account of himself when he reffed England vs Wales 2014. He allowed the crowd to ref the scrums for him because he doesn't have a clue what he's doing. I thought Melon was on the end of a lot of ridiculous calls ultimately leading to his sin-bin.

The Saint wrote:

bedfordwelsh wrote:

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:I hope Poitre is on Melon's side for the scrums



Side of the pitch that is!

Personally I hope Melon is on the side of the pitch as in on the bench.

He's still quite clearly our best LH, unless you watched Wales' autumn series sat underneath a rock.

Poite gave a very bad account of himself when he reffed England vs Wales 2014. He allowed the crowd to ref the scrums for him because he doesn't have a clue what he's doing. I thought Melon was on the end of a lot of ridiculous calls ultimately leading to his sin-bin.

Didn't Gethin also get a yellow in the French game from a different ref?

At the MS.

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:

The Saint wrote:

bedfordwelsh wrote:

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:I hope Poitre is on Melon's side for the scrums



Side of the pitch that is!

Personally I hope Melon is on the side of the pitch as in on the bench.

He's still quite clearly our best LH, unless you watched Wales' autumn series sat underneath a rock.

Poite gave a very bad account of himself when he reffed England vs Wales 2014. He allowed the crowd to ref the scrums for him because he doesn't have a clue what he's doing. I thought Melon was on the end of a lot of ridiculous calls ultimately leading to his sin-bin.

Didn't Gethin also get a yellow in the French game from a different ref?

At the MS.

thaat the one where Jenkins was boring in at an angle all game and kept getting pinged for it?

Image2 by TandemJeremy, on Flickr

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:

The Saint wrote:

bedfordwelsh wrote:

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:I hope Poitre is on Melon's side for the scrums



Side of the pitch that is!

Personally I hope Melon is on the side of the pitch as in on the bench.

He's still quite clearly our best LH, unless you watched Wales' autumn series sat underneath a rock.

Poite gave a very bad account of himself when he reffed England vs Wales 2014. He allowed the crowd to ref the scrums for him because he doesn't have a clue what he's doing. I thought Melon was on the end of a lot of ridiculous calls ultimately leading to his sin-bin.

Didn't Gethin also get a yellow in the French game from a different ref?

At the MS.

Yes. The prop on either side was binned. That's consistency, and it was much better handled than Poite. Not sure why you bring it up though as I don't think it really had a bearing on our following game.

BTW, I seem to remember us winning that game based on a dominant forward performance and superior defence (like it was for the tournament win in 2013). Yet when we come on here, all we see is accusation of Wales cheating and spending 80 minutes offside. In fact, win or lose, we hear it after every Wales game .

TJ wrote:

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:

The Saint wrote:

bedfordwelsh wrote:

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:I hope Poitre is on Melon's side for the scrums



Side of the pitch that is!

Personally I hope Melon is on the side of the pitch as in on the bench.

He's still quite clearly our best LH, unless you watched Wales' autumn series sat underneath a rock.

Poite gave a very bad account of himself when he reffed England vs Wales 2014. He allowed the crowd to ref the scrums for him because he doesn't have a clue what he's doing. I thought Melon was on the end of a lot of ridiculous calls ultimately leading to his sin-bin.

Didn't Gethin also get a yellow in the French game from a different ref?

At the MS.

thaat the one where Jenkins was boring in at an angle all game and kept getting pinged for it?

Image2 by TandemJeremy, on Flickr

No, we're talking about the France game now from the previous weeks. And it seems that image shows a player in white (No.3) turning in.

The Saint wrote:
BTW, I seem to remember us winning that game based on a dominant forward performance and superior defence

How come yis all remember winning by being 'dominant' and 'superior'? God, the show-offness of winners would put you right off them. I'd like to see some of you try winning with inferior dominance all over the park! Now that's winning with style.

SecretFly wrote:

The Saint wrote:
BTW, I seem to remember us winning that game based on a dominant forward performance and superior defence

How come yis all remember winning by being 'dominant' and 'superior'?  God, the show-offness of winners would put you right off them.  I'd like to see some of you try winning with inferior dominance all over the park!  Now that's winning with style.

You can win scrums and let in tries, yet still win. In most 6 Nations tournaments over the last few years our scrum dominance and superior defence has been consistent. That's a lot of cheating and offsides to get away with.

...oh I forgot me...

Meh, there'll always be someone who'll be unhappy with any ref that's picked. All refs make mistakes, very rarely will that influence the result of the game though, although we all like to think differently at the time.

I just hope that the weather and conditions of the pitches allow for some better rugby then in the last few years.

The Saint wrote:

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:

The Saint wrote:

bedfordwelsh wrote:

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:I hope Poitre is on Melon's side for the scrums



Side of the pitch that is!

Personally I hope Melon is on the side of the pitch as in on the bench.

He's still quite clearly our best LH, unless you watched Wales' autumn series sat underneath a rock.

Poite gave a very bad account of himself when he reffed England vs Wales 2014. He allowed the crowd to ref the scrums for him because he doesn't have a clue what he's doing. I thought Melon was on the end of a lot of ridiculous calls ultimately leading to his sin-bin.

Didn't Gethin also get a yellow in the French game from a different ref?

At the MS.

Yes. The prop on either side was binned. That's consistency, and it was much better handled than Poite. Not sure why you bring it up though as I don't think it really had a bearing on our following game.

BTW, I seem to remember us winning that game based on a dominant forward performance and superior defence (like it was for the tournament win in 2013). Yet when we come on here, all we see is accusation of Wales cheating and spending 80 minutes offside. In fact, win or lose, we hear it after every Wales game .

Ah yes, I remember it well...

It all depends on what you're looking for in a scrum and a ref. In the 2013 game, in every scrum where you could see Adam Jones's bind, it was illegal. Not by a little bit, mind, but right on the hem of the sleeve, meaning he could pull straight down on Marler's arm, break his bind and win a penalty. Which Mr Walsh obligingly gave, and continued to give once Mako was on the field. To me, that was a refereeing performance of staggering awfulness because Walsh repeatedly failed to see an obvious first offence, repeatedly refused to listen to the captain's request that he look at it, and didn't even instruct his ARs to check.

In the 2014 game, Poite was clear to both sides at the early scrums that he wanted to see straight binds and body angles. When he didn't see that, he issued a penalty. When he saw one player repeatedly making the same infringement, he warned him (audibly - it was clearly picked up by reflink) and then, when it didn't improve, followed with the sanction set out by law. That's good game management. Binning both props is an admission that you don't know what's going on.

The key question is whether he was technically correct and Gethin was at fault. Several things suggest to me that he was: while it's possible that Wilson was the root cause of Gethin's wonky body angle, it seems unlikely to me that he was. For one thing, as a TH angling in doesn't get you any mechanical advantage - it's one reason why Looseheads bore in in the first place (cf Vickery getting pinged against Mtwarira in the Lions tour). Isn't the TH tactic usually to try to separate the LH and hooker? Secondly, that means it's only worth doing if you're pretty certain of getting a pen before you go down yourself and give one away - it's a high risk strategy. Thirdly, the loosehead has an option not to bore in. If the TH is giving you his shoulder to work on, isn't it more effective to try to drive straight and force him to fold in?

Add to that that Gatland's packs have more of a reputation for milking penalties than Rowntrees, and that the ref in a previous game had had a problem with the Welsh front row, and the balance of probability seems to me to point one way.

And now you are anti welsh as well Pourfour. You know the slightest hint that anything is wrong in a welsh team means you are a hater don't you? Of course saint Gethin was wrongly blamed. He walks on water don't you know!

Oh, here we go, the Welsh are not allowed an opinion again, only every other nation is allowed to have a go at a ref, if we have a go we are winging again, this is starting to boil my pee on here.

Refs will always have a view on an incident and who he thinks is at fault naturally. All we want to see is a decent chance to remedy it. I think the issue in that 1 particular game is that the ref had a bit of a hissy fit and got fed up and stopped explaining. Pinging a scrum consistently if you believe that is fair enough but refusing to speak to the captain about why because you're annoyed is just not very professional.

Make consistent fair decisions and explain why. We'll still disagree now and again and argue about it but at least we know why.

LordDowlais wrote:Oh, here we go, the Welsh are not allowed an opinion again, only every other nation is allowed to have a go at a ref, if we have a go we are winging again, this is starting to boil my pee on here.

You are allowed to have an opinion and express it, and so does everyone else. And the biggy is that these opinions are allowed to be different. It's called 'debate'

Well tell that to TJ then.

LordDowlais wrote:Well tell that to TJ then.

point taken

What goes on on here with some of the welsh fans is laughable. We are not allowed to make any comment that could be construed as critical of anything welsh without being labelled anti welsh.

Look - my teams ( scotland and Edinburgh) often are laughing stocks. I just have to take that. Some of the welsh fans are fine, some take things far too personally and cry "anti welsh / haterz at the slightest opportunity. This will get you laughed at.

I get personal attacks on this continuously and its downright wearing to the point I have had to block some welsh posters because of their continual aggressive personal attacks for no reason at all. I have challenged these posters to show a single "anti welsh" post I have ever made and of course they were unable to do so because I am not anti welsh. I am anti posters who make laughable defense of the indefensible.

Jenkins was rightly pinged and then yellow carded for boring in in that game. Every neutral could see it. Poorfour outlined it well. My post was to mock the few posters who cry "anti welsh" all the time.

I like the welsh, I want to see the team do well.

However defend the indefensible and throw around continual accusations of " welsh haters" and you will be mocked.

lostinwales wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:Oh, here we go, the Welsh are not allowed an opinion again, only every other nation is allowed to have a go at a ref, if we have a go we are winging again, this is starting to boil my pee on here.

You are allowed to have an opinion and express it, and so does everyone else. And the biggy is that these opinions are allowed to be different. It's called 'debate'

I quite agree. Its just wearing to be told you hate the welsh for having a neutrals opinion that is different.

When this match was discussed I had some nasty vitriol thrown my way for daring to critise Jenkins for boring in.

TJ, it has unfolded on this very thread, yet you are so blinkered to it you do not notice it, Poorfour has had a bitch about Walsh, but that is ok, Saint has had a go about Poite and he is winging, then you come on here and make the comment like the one above, what is the difference between Saint having a go about Poite and Poorfour having a go about Walsh ? I will answer for you, one member is Welsh, the other isn't.

and there we go - despite giving the reason for my mocking post - I am labelled anbti welsh again.

My post was simply to mock those who throw around the tag "welsh haters" the saint is dreadful for this. When this game was originally discussed ( the one with Jenkins boring in) I was subject to a sustained personal attack from a couple of the welsh posters for daring to say what Poorfour did above.

So here is the challenge - show me a single "anti welsh" post I have ever made. You will not find one because I do not hate the welsh. I dislike cheating and I dislike hysterical overreacting posters. I made similar comments about Leicester on a club thread. I was called out for it. thats debate. The difference I was not labelled racist.

Now go on. Find me a single post that shows I hate the Welsh. Just one. You have my whole posting history to look thru.

LordDowlais wrote:TJ, it has unfolded on this very thread, yet you are so blinkered to it you do not notice it, Poorfour has had a bitch about Walsh, but that is ok,  Saint has had a go about Poite and he is winging, then you come on here and make the comment like the one above, what is the difference between Saint having a go about Poite and Poorfour having a go about Walsh ? I will answer for you, one member is Welsh, the other isn't.

Where did I say the saint was whinging?  Please quote my post saying this. And there again is the completely false accusation. Open your other eye. Its nothing to do with nationality.

It was more to do with this:-

TJ wrote:And now you are anti welsh as well Pourfour. You know the slightest hint that anything is wrong in a welsh team means you are a hater don't you? Of course saint Gethin was wrongly blamed. He walks on water don't you know!.

Yup - thats mocking some welsh posters for their willingness to label anything that could be construed as criticism of a Welsh team as "welsh hating" and a comment on the treatment I got from some welsh posters for making similar comments to poorfour in the past.

Its about being able to see the difference between criticisms of players, teams and posters and "welsh hating"

to be called "welsh hating" is an accusation of being racist and is offensive.

I'll accept that was a snidey dig. It was not "welsh hating" It was a dig at the attitudes of a couple of Welsh posters. Big difference.

LordDowlais wrote:TJ, it has unfolded on this very thread, yet you are so blinkered to it you do not notice it, Poorfour has had a bitch about Walsh, but that is ok,  Saint has had a go about Poite and he is winging, then you come on here and make the comment like the one above, what is the difference between Saint having a go about Poite and Poorfour having a go about Walsh ? I will answer for you, one member is Welsh, the other isn't.

What I would say is that pourfour wrote a well reasoned article with solid evidence about what happened last year. Saint didnt.

TJ wrote:Yup - thats mocking some welsh posters for their willingness to label anything that could be construed as criticism of a Welsh team as "welsh hating" and a comment on the treatment I got from some welsh posters for making similar comments to poorfour in the past.  

Its about being able to see the difference between criticisms of players, teams and posters and "welsh hating"

to be called "welsh hating" is an accusation of being racist and is offensive.

I'll accept that was a snidey dig.  It was not "welsh hating"  It was a dig at the attitudes of a couple of Welsh posters.  Big difference.

The only person who used the word hate was you TJ. Look, I am pointing out what has been going on on here for ages now, the Welsh supporters on here complain about a ref, we are whinging, anybody else does it, they have a point, I do read other threads on here and the Scottish banter thread is full of bitching about referees, the English fans on here have bitched about Walsh ever since the game two years ago, are they told to stop whinging and get over it ? No, they are not, they are still being told they have a point. I might as well keep harping on about the last world cup and Warburton getting sent off, or would I just be whinging if I did ?

We all complain about referees on this forum, all of us, and thats OK, everybody has a right to say what they like, it makes a debate a debate, but we are either ALL WHINGING, or we all have a point to a certain degree, it just seems on here that it is always the Welsh that are talking bull and everyone else's opinions are valid, more than one person on this thread has complained about the ref, only one nationality has had a snide comment back, and this happens all the time, yes us Welsh complain about the ref, quite a lot might I add, but so does everybody blydi else.

lostinwales wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:TJ, it has unfolded on this very thread, yet you are so blinkered to it you do not notice it, Poorfour has had a bitch about Walsh, but that is ok,  Saint has had a go about Poite and he is winging, then you come on here and make the comment like the one above, what is the difference between Saint having a go about Poite and Poorfour having a go about Walsh ? I will answer for you, one member is Welsh, the other isn't.

What I would say is that pourfour wrote a well reasoned article with solid evidence about what happened last year. Saint didnt.

Exactly. Thank you lost.

LordDowlais - thats not what I do. I approach every nationality the same on this. I have gopt stickof otehr nationalities for saying "stop whinging" including from some scots the difference no one bar a couple of welsh posters have called me racist. Its also not just about the reffing. I got called a welsh hater for criticising a welsh player in exactly the same way as Poorfour did.

I have been reading through this thread, Saint has not said anything untoward, OK, his responses are not as long as anybody else's but they are just as valid, look this is not just about this thread, I find myself having to explain things and trawl the internet for facts just because I feel I have to on this forum, it was the same on another thread about Ulster and the Scarlets, they were all laying into Liam Williams, yes I know he is no angel, but when I pointed out that most of his foul play was against Ulster, and then researched any other incidents with Ulster, put these facts to them, I was almost tarred and feathered. So why should I have to accept that being Welsh means that I must accuse everyone else of being a Welsh hater, just because my facts do not in everybody else's opinion stand up to their facts ?

OK, I will say this, the englsih fans on here, who keep on about Steve Walsh's performance at Cardiff in 2012 are all whingers, and if they tell me otherwise, I will accuse them of accusing me of being an English "hater". Hows that ?

lostinwales wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:Oh, here we go, the Welsh are not allowed an opinion again, only every other nation is allowed to have a go at a ref, if we have a go we are winging again, this is starting to boil my pee on here.

You are allowed to have an opinion and express it, and so does everyone else. And the biggy is that these opinions are allowed to be different. It's called 'debate'

I disagree.

SecretFly wrote:

lostinwales wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:Oh, here we go, the Welsh are not allowed an opinion again, only every other nation is allowed to have a go at a ref, if we have a go we are winging again, this is starting to boil my pee on here.

You are allowed to have an opinion and express it, and so does everyone else. And the biggy is that these opinions are allowed to be different. It's called 'debate'

I disagree.  

You would