Three words to define a nation's rugby character

It's no surprise to most on here that the different rugby nations play the game in different styles. But can we distill those styles down to an ethos for various countries. I did some research for a comment on another thread this afternoon and stumbled across the "Southern Style" based around the ruck pioneered by Vic Cavanagh Sr and Jr and Charlie Sexton in the 30s, 40s and 50s which flowed into the NZ game as a whole. Sexton defined that ethos as "Position, Possession and Pace" which I think still defines NZ rugby - get field position, get the ball, and run it over the line.

So looking at the major rugby nations (alphabetically), what do people think are the key attributes?
Argentina
Australia
England
France
Ireland
New Zealand - Position, Possession, Pace
Scotland
South Africa
Wales


Some other key words for consideration (please feel free to suggest others)
Flair - Australia, France, Wales
Power - Argentina, England, South Africa
Set-piece
Precision
Unpredictability
Audacity
Pluck
Self-belief
Unity
Planning
Pressure
Defence
Simplicity
etc

I'd like to see if we can get a v2Journal article out of this that distills the collective wisdom of v2.

Wales - on our day

LordDowlais wrote:Wales - on our day

Nice one.

LordDowlais wrote:Wales - on our day

Wales - flair, running, and I want to say defence as the 3rd one but that's only a recent development. Inconsistent is probably better!

South Africa - Relentless,Pressure,Power

England, this is so damn easy ......


Everyone hates us

Triangulation wrote:England, this is so damn easy ......


Everyone hates us

I don't

Triangulation wrote:England, this is so damn easy ......


Everyone hates us

Hate is far to strong a word. And I'm quite fond of your womenfolk

Bullsbok wrote:South Africa - Relentless,Pressure,Power

I like that.

rugbydreamer wrote:Wales - flair, running, and I want to say defence as the 3rd one but that's only a recent development. Inconsistent is probably better!

"Inconsistent" covers off "on our day" quite nicely

France:
Audacity, Inconsistency, ...?

Kiwireddevil wrote:

rugbydreamer wrote:Wales - flair, running, and I want to say defence as the 3rd one but that's only a recent development. Inconsistent is probably better!

"Inconsistent" covers off "on our day" quite nicely

Well aye, I thought so


France - hmmm, unpredictable? because let's face it, they really are!

rugbydreamer wrote:

Kiwireddevil wrote:

rugbydreamer wrote:Wales - flair, running, and I want to say defence as the 3rd one but that's only a recent development. Inconsistent is probably better!

"Inconsistent" covers off "on our day" quite nicely

Well aye, I thought so


France - hmmm, unpredictable? because let's face it, they really are!

Yer true we all know sometimes those Frenchmen can wake up and feel the need to beat the all blacks or have a sudden urge to lose to Italy

The new England- unrefined, stubborn, gutsy

Ireland - dum de dum

Wales - Flair, Unpredictability, Pluck (recent form would include Power, Self-belief and Defence but I've stayed loyal to the form stretching back a number of years now).

France - Flair, Unpredictability (to a crazy extent), Precision.

South Africa - Set-piece, Pressure, Power.

England - Power, Depth, Underachieve.

Ireland - Breakdown, Self-belief, Unity.

New Zealand - Clinical, Precision, Pressure.

Australia - Flair, Potency, Inconsistency.

Argentina - Flair, Power, Inconsistency.

Sorry Scots but couldn't think of any definitive aspects of Scotland's game.

Kiwiwired Devil "the term Position,Possession,Pace"was the term used by the
NZRFU Forces side which toured Europe 1945-6 the "KIWI`s" Captained by Charlie Saxton and Freddie Allen,notable players being,Herb Cooke,Bob Scott,
J.B.Smith,Wally Argus and Ike Proctor,K.D.Arnold among others[a Hennie Muller style loosie].Post War it was adopted by the NORTHISLAND predominatly Auckland.The South Island Otago Game developed by Vic Cavanagh Jr and Snr.
was a forward orientated game built around the Set Piece Scrum [possibly the only Coaches to learn the secrets of the 3-4-1 Scrum.The Ruck was a loose Scrum based on the old 2-3-2 scrum.plus kicking half backs,and crash ball centres creating the ruck.The Term was used by the All Blacks on the 1967 Lochore led tour to UK.Saxton and Allen were Manager and Coach of the side.

england- majestic, god, power
wales- spoilt, neighbour, passion
new zealand- benchmark, movement, choke
france- flair, nonchelance, emotional

Ireland - Munster, Leinster, Ulster, Connacht

How do we fit the jigsaw together?

When I think of Wales I just think of sneaky penguin theft.

Here's my revised opinion:

Wales - Grand, Slam, Glory
England - Not, As, Good

Knowsit17 wrote:Here's my revised opinion:

Wales - Grand, Slam, Glory
England - Not, As, Good

Wales - Sevens world cup
England - Proper world cup

Here is my try

Wales - Never losing faith
England - Never giving up
Italy - Ten man rugby
France - Which turn up?
New Zealand - What hit us?
Scotland - No! Not again
Australia - Not too bad
Ireland - Always fall short

I remember when I was a kid our ist xv coach used to drill into us the 3 P's.
Pace,Purpose and Perseverence.

Ours used to be focus, fitness and forcefulness

Scotland- Please not Parks (until recently)

England - slow, boring, foreign

All most countries - must beat England

All Blacks = four, more, years

No wait, we finally won the WC!

So I'd say.....

All Blacks = pipe, smoke, it

France - because we're French
Wales/Ireland - next world cup
England - last world cup
Australia - let's ban scrumming
SA - what are backs?

HammerofThunor wrote:England - slow, boring, foreign

That made me laugh!

Good idea this Kiwi, I'll give it a think.

Lol , dont think to hard pal, you might injure yourself.

New Zealand - Preparation, patience, execution.
Australia - - Speed, smarts, Skills
South Africa - Methodology, Pressure, Power
England - Power, calculating, accuracy at kicking
France - Flair, Fantasy, Fallibility
Ireland - Collective, Proud, Perserverence
Wales - Busy, inconsistent, Exciting
Scotland - Stoic, Strangling, limited.

Patience was the first word I thought of for the All Blacks, Biltong.

Yeah, they tend to have more of that than any other team.

Ireland : Kidney must go

Wales are becoming more patient (probably something to do with having a Kiwi at the helm), but it's not the first thing that springs to mind with us.

Another one for Wales (from a book I read on one of the 70s ABs tours): optimism (we'll beat you next time ...
You may have scored more points than us but Cardiff will beat you ...
You may have scored more points than us but Neath will beat you ...
etc)

Fervour is one word for Wales.

England : Slow, predictable (but) effective
New Zealand : Electric, persistent, frustrating
Wales : Exciting, passionate, Inconsistent
France : Handling, speed, unexpected
Scotland : Drive, strength, extreme frustration
Australia : Movement, speed, skill
Sth Afric : Pressure, pressure, big hits

One for France and Australia is invention. They'll try things other countries wouldn't even have thought of, even if it doesn't come off. Another word for both countries - certainly France - would be spontaneity.

Aus - Innovation, Resourcefulness, Uncontested

Ireland: Heineken European Cup.

Rodders: hubris, hubris, hubris.

New zealand - two world cups
Australia - two world cups
South Africa - two world cups
England - one world cup.
everyone else - no world cups.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Rodders: hubris, hubris, hubris.

biltongbek wrote:New zealand - two world cups Should be 3 but lost one due to food poisening
Australia - two world cups
South Africa - two world cups Should be 1 after poisening the AB's in 1995
England - one world cup.
everyone else - no world cups.

Thats the way to stir the pot biltong

eirebilly wrote:

biltongbek wrote:New zealand - two world cups Should be 3 but lost one due to food poisening
Australia - two world cups
South Africa - two world cups Should be 1 after poisening the AB's in 1995
England - one world cup.
everyone else - no world cups.

Thats the way to stir the pot biltong

Gasp!! Billy, you naughty naughty man

Samoa = chiropractors, appointment, monday

EBOP wrote:Samoa = chiropractors, appointment, monday

We have a number of Springboks that will confirm that.