6 NATIONS STANDARD

I have noticed a lot of people saying how bad every team except England are playing.
we hear -
Wales are a awful team and their performances are terrible.
Ireland is not playing anything like they can and they are on a road to the bottom.
France are playing awful.
Scotland are the worst team ever.
Italy are always awful.

Now people keep saying this including English fans. So if everybody is playing that bad then England cannot be playing that well at the moment if they are just scraping victories.

The standard in this 6 Nations has been below abysmal and England clearly are just the best of a very terrible set of teams at the moment.
Congratulations to England so far and if they win the Grand Slam then they will deserve it but i don't think we can truly believe that a England team that can just scrape past a couple of awful teams at the moment and thrash Italy (Italy did not play like they did against the Irish,Welsh and the French today) are going to really compete against the big 3 in world rugby.

I know its just my opinion and everyone is open to there's but i don't think a Grand Slam for England would really show that they are a better than good team.

Right now
England - OK
Wales- Awful
Ireland- Awful
Scotland- Below Awful
France- Terrible
Italy- Bad but some good performances and a great victory over a screwed up French team.But well done

The standard of play by

The standard of play is always poor in the 6 Nations.
The margins between victory and defeat are minimal, and at the moment if you have one area of your game malfunctioning then you will struggle, if you have two areas you will lose, and three areas you will get smashed.
Wales beat Ireland but got well beaten by England. Ireland smashed England but lost to Wales. Wales beat Italy, but Italy beat france, france hammered wales.
In reality the margins between the 6 nations sides are very, very small so no one can dominate. The results are a mixed bag no one is successful and no one is terrible. No fans are happy because they lost games they could of won, but they all won games they could of easily lost.
Wales fans are up in arms, but they did win 3 games out of 5. Which based on history isnt bad at all.

And could have beaten England.

Although the 6 Nations standard is clearly a step off the 3 Nations I'm backing the 6 Nations teams to have fairly good World Cups.

I agree Red_Stag the World cup will be at the start of next season. Meaning all our players should be fairly fresh / injury free and ready to go.

I think the set up suits them. We are near guaranteed a France v England quarter final and I also think we will have a Wales v Ireland quarter too.

The Six Nations in my opinion was OK this year, but people who are criticising England for winning the title based on the standard of the tournament are a bit out of line because you can only play (and beat) what's in front of you.

I think Ireland showed glimpses of what they are capable of when they put their mind to it. Sean O'Brien was an outstanding find this season and we all know what they are capable of. No doubt that the IRFU have their heads switched on when it comes to the issue of centrally contracted players.

The Welsh are, in my opinion, always the nearly men at the moment. People praise them for playing this 'attacking' brand of Rugby but when it comes to the crunch they lose the big games. Whether they should've beaten England we will never know, because when they had opportunities to build a lead in that game they didn't take advantage of it.

It was nice to see Italy at least try and expand on their game a little bit. Fabio Semenzato was a good find at half back and can hopefully be the one to spark some further imagination into the backline that will always have a steady stream of ball thanks to the uncompromising Italian pack.

Scotland and France - if they had a school report it would simply say 'must do better'.

England can go into the tournament with no fear of being inferior as such, although I do worry that at times their naivety can be dangerous. There's nothing wrong with pinning a team in the corners with a strong kicking game - it's about judging the game at the right moments and if they learn that then they'll be alright.

Wales have won 2 grandslams in the last 6 years, no mean feat!

Ireland are enjoying the most incredible time in their rugby history yet have won only 1. That needs to be put into perspective.

England have always based their success on a jugernaut pack to dominate games, they are not able to out-muscle teams any more so consistent success is beyond them.

I would have to disagree with you there Alyn. If you were to argue of anyside in Europe being consistent it'd have to be the French.

They are on an upward curve, which does please me. They aren't there yet but if they keep progressing and learning along the way it'll bode well (as they are a young side). And that gargantuan pack hasn't done them any harm in fairness.

I think the Welsh are infuriating because, from their performances, they aren't that far off being a good side who end up on the right side of scorelines. They have a lot of good players to come back into the side and they can produce substance that they have lacked over the past year.

One thing's for certain, it seems wrong for them to have lost nine or so tests in 2010 when they are capable of producing. It must drive Gatland and Edwards crazy.

SB wrote:I would have to disagree with you there Alyn. If you were to argue of anyside in Europe being consistent it'd have to be the French.

They are on an upward curve, which does please me. They aren't there yet but if they keep progressing and learning along the way it'll bode well (as they are a young side). And that gargantuan pack hasn't done them any harm in fairness.

I think the Welsh are infuriating because, from their performances, they aren't that far off being a good side who end up on the right side of scorelines. They have a lot of good players to come back into the side and they can produce substance that they have lacked over the past year.

One thing's for certain, it seems wrong for them to have lost nine or so tests in 2010 when they are capable of producing. It must drive Gatland and Edwards crazy.

There's two results there this season which proves how inconsistent they are. how can you stuff Wales and yet lose to Italy

27 Nov 2010 France 16 - 59 Australia
12 Mar 2011 Italy 22 - 21 France

The wonderful thing about the 6Ns is the unpredictability,every team has peaks
and troughs.England and Wales only have a gnat`s whisker between them.Only one win difference between them,despite the rival supporters winding each other up.Ireland so often promise great things but seem to disappoint at the last.Despite having a couple of the best sides in europe at regional level.Scotland with stretched resources often with a limited plan,often get results above there weight.France usually favourites pre season,but which one turns up.The All Black slayers of RWC fame,or the little boys who concede 50 points to OZ at home?Italy ignore them at your peril they just may bite you.
Intensity in the local tournament seems much more so than in other matches.
There are usually enjoyable games to the true lover of the game,where the style does`nt matter just the result.