2019 6 Ns fixtures

1st Feb - Fra V Wales
2nd Feb - Ireland V Eng, Scot V Italy

9th Feb - Scot V Ire, Italy V Wales
10th Feb - Eng V France

23rd Feb - Fra V Scot, Wales V Eng
24th Feb - Italy V Ire

9th Mar - Scot V Wales, Eng V Italy
10th Mar - Ire V Fra

16th Mar - Italy V Fra, Wales V Ire, Eng V Scot

Small matter of beating Ireland first up for England before thrashing the Scots to bring up the Triple Crown and Grand Slam
Ireland away to Wales last up which will be fairly tasty as well. Should be a cracker!

Dont think I can ever remember Ireland playing England ever in the first match

Collapse2005 wrote:Dont think I can ever remember Ireland playing England ever in the first match

Last time 2000 (Twickenham).
Last time in Dublin 1995

Thats interesting. I dont remember those fixtures

2000 Game - http://stats.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/match/23721.html
1995 Game - http://stats.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/match/22881.html

Back then, despite being vastly different teams in each fixture, England had much stronger sides (both than the current England team and the opposition at the time)

1st February is a Friday.

LondonTiger wrote:2000 Game - http://stats.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/match/23721.html
1995 Game - http://stats.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/match/22881.html

Back then, despite being vastly different teams in each fixture, England had much stronger sides (both than the current England team and the opposition at the time)

Thanks. The 2000 result was terrible. Not that bad an Ireland team too. Was that ODriscolls debut?

I was speaking to a friend the other day and we were commenting how bored we are with the current fixture list - i.e. the same fixtures every two years, so for Wales it's all the blue teams at home, then all the blue teams away, then home, then away....... yawn.

Two questions:
1) How long have the fixtures been going on for in this way? Certainly as long as I can remember so is it time for a refresh?
2) Wouldn't it be nice to have a 'lucky dip', perhaps just once as a trial?! That would make for an exciting run up to the fixtures being announced. So rather than knowing exactly who we play 20 or 30 years in advance as we do now they could draw the games out of the hat. Perhaps do it in a way that someone doesn't get all home games, obviously. But do it so we have a bit of variety in the fixture list. For Wales, perhaps having England and Scotland at home in the same year would be nice. Or France and Ireland. Or just something different! If done early enough in the year it wouldn't affect booking hotels and flights too much.

Give me some variety!

Wales have 3 away games in a row ? Ouch

BOD had been capped 7 times during the summer tour in 99 and the RWC. This was his 6 Nations debut (though technically it was for everyone as it was the first 6Ns )

Some quality players in the Ireland team in 2010 - though many either at the start or the end of their careers. I would argue though that too many who would never get a sniff of the current squad though. Certainly if I look at most of the backs, Casey and the back row it does not look great. By the time they got to PAris and BOD's hat trick the team looks much stronger: http://en.espn.co.uk/statsguru/rugby/match/23745.html

Maggs and Drico would get in. Humphries would be in the squad. The forwards were much weaker than the current crop.

The Oracle wrote:I was speaking to a friend the other day and we were commenting how bored we are with the current fixture list - i.e. the same fixtures every two years, so for Wales it's all the blue teams at home, then all the blue teams away, then home, then away....... yawn.

Two questions:
1)  How long have the fixtures been going on for in this way?  Certainly as long as I can remember so is it time for a refresh?

Probably since the competition became the 5ns again, following France's suspension back in 1900 and something.

The Oracle wrote:I was speaking to a friend the other day and we were commenting how bored we are with the current fixture list - i.e. the same fixtures every two years, so for Wales it's all the blue teams at home, then all the blue teams away, then home, then away....... yawn.

Two questions:
1)  How long have the fixtures been going on for in this way?  Certainly as long as I can remember so is it time for a refresh?
2) Wouldn't it be nice to have a 'lucky dip', perhaps just once as a trial?!  That would make for an exciting run up to the fixtures being announced.  So rather than knowing exactly who we play 20 or 30 years in advance as we do now they could draw the games out of the hat.  Perhaps do it in a way that someone doesn't get all home games, obviously.  But do it so we have a bit of variety in the fixture list.  For Wales, perhaps having England and Scotland at home in the same year would be nice.  Or France and Ireland.  Or just something different!  If done early enough in the year it wouldn't affect booking hotels and flights too much.

Give me some variety!

Been that way forever. Certainly since the old 5 Nations. You used to get 2 home and 2 away, then they just tacked Italy in so you were on the same rotation, but Italy would be either your third home game or third away game.

Under your proposal I guess you'd have to take tournaments in 2s, so you would draw once for one year and then the next year would be the exact reverse, before doing a new draw for the next 2 tournaments.

I kind of get what you're saying, but you'll still be playing the same 5 times each year, at home every other year, with 2 home games on year and 3 the next. I'm not sure if it would be worth the hassle of a draw just for a tiny bit of a novelty factor.

England have "blue" years as well. In the early '00s, odd years were stronger for us, because France were the main contenders (and we had them at home in odd years), we could rack up points difference against Scotland and Italy at home and Ireland and Wales away weren't tough games. In 2000 we lost 1 to Scotland but won the Championship and 2002 we lost 1 to France and lost the Championship. In 2001 we lost 1 to Ireland and won the Championship and 2003 we got the Grand Slam.

In the mid '00s we were fairly rubbish and didn't compete at the top end of the tournament. We had Ireland beating us home and away most years, Scotland beating us at Murrayfield in 06 and 08, Wales beating us in Cardiff in 05 and 07 - although we had a surprisingly good record against France and managed to beat Italy every year.

But then by the late '00s early '10s it started to flip. Ireland and Wales had surpassed France, Scotland were struggling and therefore getting Ireland and Wales at home and 4 points in Scotland and Italy was a good base. 2012 we lost to Wales at home, 2014 we lost to France away and just missed out on the Championship by PD and 2016 we got our second Grand Slam. In 2013, 2015 and 2017, despite our 3 home games we dropped a game each year away to Wales and Ireland twice, and on the first two occasions lost by more than a score and missed out on the Championship on PD.

2018 appears to have flipped again because Scotland have finally got their act together and are very strong at home, France are no longer completely sabotaging themselves and now look somewhat competent and Ireland have taken a big step forward. 2019 is looking like it could be more positive for England with 3 home games and a trip to Cardiff - where we have a good recent record. I'd be surprised and disappointed if we only won 2 again, and would say 4 wins would be more likely than 2.

My point is, although the fixtures are the same the opposition aren't, so each year brings something slightly different, without having to mix up the fixtures.

then again to spice things up and help European rugby I would add 2 more European teams (Romania, Georgia, Spain or whoever qualifies) to make a total of 8. 2 pools of 4 with semis and final. Like Davis cup you rotate home and away with each team whenever you do play.

Poopie WE COULD BE 0/3 !!!!!!!

There is a degree of randomness to the fixtures but there is and always has been repetition.

It's this repetition that many don't like and in fact can have a huge bearing on the outcome of the tournament.

For example, the first two rounds next year are the exact opposite of the last two rounds this year. Scotland played the final two games away to Ireland then Italy this year while next year we play the first two games at home against Italy and then Ireland. It's like a mirror image! (this image is the same for every team next year.

The part I don't like is one year you are at home twice, the following you are at home three times. Now statistically speaking you've a better chance of winning if you have three home games. It's also important to think about who is playing who when. For example, we've got Italy at home next year, theoretically a big win here (with a bonus point) should set us up nicely for the start of the competition. If we get a big win over them, then we've got Ireland the week after again at home where if we beat them again like we did in 2017, then we're on two wins from two and we go to Paris with a bit of momentum.

Conversely, England could lose to Ireland in Dublin on the first weekend and have the wind knocked out of their sails early doors.

Personally I'd love to have a new set up where unfortunately Italy are dropped from the competition and all teams play each other home and away. To help with burnout, drop a game in the AIs and play the new 5ns in 3 blocks (play two games, week off, play two games, week off, play final two games)

Nah, not home and away for me. Keep this nice quirk of the 6 nations. Keep it different (than other tournaments). Too many attempts to make everything the same as everything else. It's nice to be different. Also, if we go home an away we'll find that, like in the club Euro comps, teams might start to target home wins and try to pick up a point away or even rest players for away games. With Home OR Away it's full on and you try to win EVERY game.

Just my opinion of course!

6N 2019 thread already???


Giv's a break! I'm getting a little queasy now on over-feeding at the 6N trough.

So going on the proverbial Home and Away banana skin of ye olden days maxim

That's a win, loss, win, win, loss for us next season?

Three wins. Might get us 2rd. I'll take that. There's more important things happening that year And right now, there are some fairly big dates pinned in for the remainder of this year too!

F**k off, 2019. Wait your turn.

Fook sake, do we have to win the slam in Cardiff again?

nice to see scotland get an easy game to finish with - not a bad schedule in all

Rodgers.. ...as an Englishman I have been present for both your last 2 slams. Cardiff was a Welsh mates stag do! I must be a lucky omen for the men in green. Feel free to buy me a ticket if you want?

rodders wrote:Fook sake, do we have to win the slam in Cardiff again?

Don't worry. Mike Phillips has retired.

hugehandoff wrote:Rodgers.. ...as an Englishman I have been present for both your last 2 slams. Cardiff was a Welsh mates stag do! I must be a lucky omen for the men in green. Feel free to buy me a ticket if you want?

Now I must tell Joe that so that he can work out a strategy of when to use you (ie. which game) The IRFU will get back to you in due course

2019 6ns?

Christ i do not even want to think about that yet.


It is not because England came 5th this year. No, i do not want to think about next year until i know, who will be in the team squad for next year.

How many of your players that played this year will be in your team/squad for next year?

majesticimperialman wrote:2019 6ns?

Christ i do not even want to think about that yet.


It is not because England came 5th this year. No, i do not want to think about next year until i know, who will be in the team squad for next year.

How many of your players that played this year will be in your team/squad for next year?

Difficult to know.

Fitness is one thing; and if most players in the mix are fit then I see of course Sexton, Murray, Furlong, Kearney, Best, Bundee and Stander there without question - the rest are up in the air and will be based on Schmidt's thoughts going into the WC period.
Form is another thing; and nobody but nobody knows who is going to be in the right kind of form come next year.