What a match

From the Guardian a couple of weeks ago
"

Six Nations on road to perdition unless chastening Celtic wake-up call is heeded​

Robert Kitson
Championship risks becoming a two-tier affair as Ireland, Wales and Scotland all lose on the opening weekend" I wonder what he'll write on Monday
 
"The Empire is crumbling, before our very eyes! Next we'll lose at the cricket to some of those native wallahs, by Jove!!" Ford had a shocker yesterday and the Twickenham crowd are one tough audience.
 
We have now jumped two to third, ahead of England in 5th and France in 4th, in the Rugby world rankings. This shows that the world rankings are a bit of a farce as France are way better than us.
 
Plus me and three hundred thousand others I suppose [[EDIT} about both your comments, I tuned in more in hope than anything else, but what a performance. I know Jamison Gibson-Park got a deserved motm award, but the straight runners in mid-field and on the wings decimated what England thought was a defence. Stuart McCloskey ran (literally) him a close second, when having spent most of the match steamrolling guys in attack, he put in try-saving tackle against an English speedster and had the cop-on and energy to judo-throw him into touch. To say Nick Timoney was a more than adequate replacement for van Der Flier is to to do him an injustice, he had a superb 30 or so minutes. The best of the forwards were back to their pre-LIons form I thought. A shame we've added James Lowe to our long injury-list, but wasn't Tommy O'Brien magnificent under the high ball and running?

I've watched the high-light reels and reviewers across a number of channels and recorded them to watch again and read the match-reports and reviews. I have to say Dalagglio and Stuart Barnes in the Sunday Times were grudging in their praise - the experts of the back-handed compliment - with Barnes doing principally an ochón, ochón for Pollock, a load of them I think.

I was in the old Landsdowne Road in 1972 when we played England for the 2nd time that year and felt a warm glow of appreciation for the two nations as rugby-playing pals and neighbours. I'm have to report that I felt none of that on Saturday. :)
 
I agree with all of that but;

I was in the old Landsdowne Road in 1972 when we played England for the 2nd time that year and felt a warm glow of appreciation for the two nations as rugby-playing pals and neighbours. I'm have to report that I felt none of that on Saturday. :)
That was before I was born :D
 
It was a great game to watch, not specifically for the end result, but the way the team played - it was fantastic to see the winger ( Baloucoune ) , centre ( McCloskey ) running from midfield to stop those tries. Then at times , Gibson-Park was tackling and taking down players from the English pack, usually on a one v one - it was great to see.
Must say though, that England were poor again, very poor. I thought it was over confidence when they lost to Scotland and coughed up 30 points, but then to be ruderless against us - they are in a poor place. Italy will be looking to add a win against them !
What did people think of the athmosphere ? It was great to hear the Irish fans singing - just wish that atmosphere could be evident in the home games !
 
The bookies seem to have it pretty much an even money bet, tight at a +/- 5 point margin.

I got a 4-page letter on Monday from King Charles’s Social Welfare & Pensions Department informing me that from 19/4/2026 my Pension will increase by €0.66/week, after currency conversions, bank-charges, etc. We’ll go mad, me and the mutt, an extra Goldgrain /Rich Tea bickie with coffee during the match!! We won't be enriching the bookies.:)
 
According to some of the Scottish...'.we 'are there for the taking.....that just might shift the odds in favour of us Irish...
Exactly the sort of comment we need to pep 'us' up...
 
That above message was cryptic for Scotland are there for the taking .....and so it proved .
What a win. What a triple crown win. And who knows perhaps the 'ould enemy ' will do us a favor...
 
Please spare a thought for those of us who have zero interest in this. (On the plus side, the roads and shops this afternoon were dead quiet around my way, which is in the South Dublin rugby heartland!)
 
Well England gave a good account of themselves but it just wasn't to be.
France are deserving winners of the championship.... Ireland are deserving Triple Crown winners. Italy gave a very good account of themselves this year. Scotland had a great championship....
Wales got a win at last...and did something that Scotland and England couldn't do.....they beat Italy...
Almost everyone is happy today for one reason or another....
 
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God I came close to forgiving The Brits for Skibereen.

 
All England had to do was to keep possession for those last few seconds then boot the ball into row "Z" to end the match and make us champions. Having allowed Bielle-Biarrey to run riot with 4 tries, and still managing to heroically claw themselves back to single-point lead, am I right in thinking it was Pollock the Pillock who infringed at the ruck to give France the penalty? I didn't hear the ref call a number and skimming the media I can't see a culprit named explicitly. Whoever it was, they should never play for Ireland England again! :) Nail-biting stuff though. Well played Ireland, well done France, on balance deserving champions, but not my first choice.

Please spare a thought for those of us who have zero interest in this.
No, never! :) And with a user-name like yours, and no interest in rugby, why weren't you doing your shopping on DNS? :D
 
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