Review of the last International year for your team?

I was wondering if any of you would be kind enough to write a few words on how you feel the season went for your National Team this year. I guess for you antipodeans this comes a little late though it is still prior to the start of your new season, and for those non-antipodeans, ("podeans" sounds wrong so ill run with a double negative) for the sake of a conclusive style thread lets just consider the International season to close with the club season. The forth coming summer tours and Barbarian games to be part of the future.

Some Results should you have forgotten....!

RWC - NZ 1st, France 2nd, Aus 3rd, Wales 4th
3N - Australia 1st, NZ 2nd, SA 3rd
6N - Wales GS, Eng 2nd, Ire 3rd, France 4th, Ita 5th, Scots 6th

IRB Rankings top ten

1 NEW ZEALAND
2 AUSTRALIA
3 SOUTH AFRICA
4 ENGLAND
5 WALES
6 FRANCE
7 ARGENTINA
8 IRELAND
9 TONGA
10 SAMOA



In the endeavour to create an interesting thread minus pointless trolling mocking and jeering. It would be the gentlemanly thing to do to encourage a review of your own club before you start to pass opinion on what other board members have contributed as opinions of their own clubs.

Not much to say for the era of PDV last year is there?

The rankings, once again, are a good reflection of the current world order. Can't argue with that.

I guess Ill kick this off myself.

Wales.

The year did not start wonderfully, if counting last years stevo century cap awarding BaaBaas game as the start of the year, then we showed great endeavour and seemed to find a little added excitement with the inclusion of Toby Faletau at eight...

Move on a few training camps to the RWC warm ups and it was a similar affaire at HQ, losing but good performance, rigid defence, competitive pack and a big backline that asked a few questions, then a a couple of wins in Cardiff and steady progression prior to the daunting task of playing SA in the opener of the RWC 2011.

Wales looked measured and controlled, a missed kick by Hook, ( or was it???) was the difference and little more in a one point loss for Wales. Next up a really bruising game against the Samoans, a nemisis of RWC past... Narrow and hard fought victory... Followed by rousing wins for the rest of the group stages. A wonderful win over Ireland, a narrow defeat to france and a poor display against the ozzies... More positives than negatives, though the following Wales vs Australia match at cardiff was little to write home about. a Great send off for the retiring shane williams but doubt in the fans was creeping in after the performance...

Could Wales return to decent form in the Six Nations or were the good bits of the RWC blips and highlights...???

Well the toughest game of the Six nations came first in Dublin a narrow and hard fought win with two tip tackles and two yellow cards... though momentum is the key to a GS slam and the games and the way wales played were positive and progression was made... a GS against France at the end...

Conclusion, things are definitely at their most healthy in Welsh rugby for thirty years or so... I also think this is sustainable. The key to all things that are good in welsh rugby is the design of a system that works well for us, budgets are spent on youth and academy rugby, good coaching and exposure to top flight at an early age. The downsides in Welsh rugby is the lack of money that rugby creates. But in a poor economy in a country that struggles to create a wealthy standard of living will that ever change...?

Definitely a good year for Welsh Rugby. One of the best for a long time. But there is still a hell of a lot of work to do....

biltongbek wrote:Not much to say for the era of PDV last year is there?

There were still a few high points though Bill...

Onwards and upwards mate...!

maestegmafia wrote:

biltongbek wrote:Not much to say for the era of PDV last year is there?

There were still a few high points though Bill...

Onwards and upwards mate...!

You are right of course, high points were when PDV left and John Smit retired.

biltongbek wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

biltongbek wrote:Not much to say for the era of PDV last year is there?

There were still a few high points though Bill...

Onwards and upwards mate...!

You are right of course, high points were when PDV left and John Smit retired.

Mentioning that you beat Wales to top Group D in the RWC would be a courtesy but many would see that as an achievement too... Ha ha ha...!

Ireland:

I think that last season was a very low point for Ireland. Littered with 1 good game between 5/6 terrible ones. Distinct lack of imagination for Deccie and selections rewarding past glories over current form.

Sadly i cant see any change for the next year either

eirebilly wrote:Ireland:

I think that last season was a very low point for Ireland. Littered with 1 good game between 5/6 terrible ones. Distinct lack of imagination for Deccie and selections rewarding past glories over current form.

Sadly i cant see any change for the next year either

Ireland were on the losing end of some narrow but fantastic performances.. Against Wales and France you were superb, you destroyed Italy and Scotland... There were many positives to take from the six nations if you discount the scrum and the result at twickenham.

I dont see it that way, i saw the potential side that could have been picked and saw what was picked and was seriously disappointed.

There are positives but they are outweighed by Deccies negative selections and game plans...

biltongbek wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

biltongbek wrote:Not much to say for the era of PDV last year is there?

There were still a few high points though Bill...

Onwards and upwards mate...!

You are right of course, high points were when PDV left and John Smit retired.

Without being disrepectful to Wales, we always expect to win our pool, that isn't supposed to be an achievement, if we did lose to Wales it would have created uproar in SA.

Thats only because Ireland wer'nt in your pool Biltong

Of course billy, of course.

Christ, has nobody got humour today?

I have, but I thought the rolling eyes would be more effective.

As for humour, I recieved an email from a client of mine with a bloody virus on, and after two days of effort I still can't get rid of it. It must be embedded somewhere so I can't find the damn thing.

I backed up all my documents, then deleted it from my documents, emptied my recycle bin, and now when I try to put them back it tells me it is already there but I can't find it.

Twas Shoite .

rodders wrote:Twas Shoite .

+1, way too many shoite Ulster players

I know what this thread needs, a bit of positivity, so here we go. The ABs year was absolutely flippin brilliant!

EBOP wrote:I know what this thread needs, a bit of positivity, so here we go. The ABs cheating this year was absolutely flippin brilliant!

Fixed that for you free of charge

EBOP wrote:I know what this thread needs, a bit of positivity, so here we go. The ABs year was absolutely flippin brilliant!

That's just bragging.

EBOP

We didnt win the tri-nations.

In all seriousness, besides the Aussies winning the tri-nations, the AB's were the standout team of the year.

aucklandlaurie wrote: EBOP

We didnt win the tri-nations.

See EBOP, the voice of reason.

eirebilly wrote:In all seriousness, besides the Aussies winning the tri-nations, the AB's were the standout team of the year.

When are they not the standout team?

To true Laurie, that was hard to swallow, but thankfully no choking involved. Shesh we expect a lot eh? Also the crusaders losing the S14 final was a shame after all they'd been through. So maybe overall, given these losses mixed with the unmentionable (you know what) win, it was maybe more like an above average year. How about that for a typical kiwi understatement?

No side had ever won the World Cup and the 3N in the same year. It was all part of Ted´s master plan. He ensured confidence was sky high for the Wallabies and lured them into a false sense of security which saw them underestimate the Irish and set up a collision course with SA.

That said, the Crusaders lost the Super final to the Reds and we'll never get a chance to get that silverware back as it's the 4N now (I refuse to call it by that other name) so all in all a disappointing year. The World Cup was the consolation prize to minimise those earlier disappointments.

For England, it's been a year of two halves. The change came with the World Cup and the Blackett report, with the consequent chucking out of just about everyone.

Now we have Lancaster, a new Board, CEO and Team, and a new approach. All we've seen is the 6Ns and although there were some promising signs none of us know what the next few years will bring.

It has been a much better year for England than it seemed it was going to be; but unusually, the really important stuff happened OFF the pitch!

Scotland's season was a selection car crash. One which AR has been lucky to keep his job.

If it were up to me he would have been sacked after overseeing the worst period in Scottish rugby history.

All the more tragic when you see how well some players who were ignored by Robinson have been performing for their clubs. He seemed to take the weaknesses of both pro Clubs in Scotland (Edinburgh's salloon door defence and Glasgow's uninspiring attacking game) and morphed them into a Frankenstein type monstrosity.

1st game of the 6N and the team is nothing like how it should have been.

15 Rory Lamont Stu Hogg
14 Lee Jones
13 Nick De Luca
12 Sean Lamont Matt Scott
11 Max Evans Sean Lamont
10 Dan Parks Greig Laidlaw
9 Chris Cusiter Mike Blair
8 David Denton
7 Ross Rennie
6 Alasdair Strokosch Rob Harley
5 Jim Hamilton
4 Richie Gray
3 Euan Murray Geoff Cross
2 Ross Ford (c)
1 Allan Jacobsen John Welsh

Never mind though Andy, for reasons best known to themselves the SRU have decided to persever with your bizzare selection policy.

I mean Dan Park's selection set the bar for this tournament, everyone and their dug could see a disaster for Scotland when that team sheet was released and as has already been noted, the 6N in particular is all about momentum.

When the Selections in Scotland started to improve it was only because Robinson's favourites were becoming injured!

All in all, a season every scottish fan wants to forget.

Agreed, very few positives for Scotland fans this season.

A few:

1. Stuart Hogg emerging as a very good young fullback.

2. Richie Gray continuing to be excellent, and forgetting the notion of second season syndrome.

3. The fact that with a selector getting more than half the selections right we should have improved on our results.

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:Scotland's season was a selection car crash. One which AR has been lucky to keep his job.

If it were up to me he would have been sacked after overseeing the worst period in Scottish rugby history.

All the more tragic when you see how well some players who were ignored by Robinson have been performing for their clubs. He seemed to take the weaknesses of both pro Clubs in Scotland (Edinburgh's salloon door defence and Glasgow's uninspiring attacking game) and morphed them into a Frankenstein type monstrosity.

1st game of the 6N and the team is nothing like how it should have been.

15 Rory Lamont Stu Hogg
14 Lee Jones
13 Nick De Luca
12 Sean Lamont Matt Scott
11 Max Evans Sean Lamont
10 Dan Parks Greig Laidlaw
9 Chris Cusiter Mike Blair
8 David Denton
7 Ross Rennie
6 Alasdair Strokosch Rob Harley
5 Jim Hamilton
4 Richie Gray
3 Euan Murray Geoff Cross
2 Ross Ford (c)
1 Allan Jacobsen John Welsh

Never mind though Andy, for reasons best known to themselves the SRU have decided to persever with your bizzare selection policy.

I mean Dan Park's selection set the bar for this tournament, everyone and their dug could see a disaster for Scotland when that team sheet was released and as has already been noted, the 6N in particular is all about momentum.

When the Selections in Scotland started to improve it was only because Robinson's favourites were becoming injured!

All in all, a season every scottish fan wants to forget.

Some very good selections, if I were you I would find Andy Robinson's house and pin that on the front door so he can't ignore it.

May I say, in some conciliation, that a season ago similar was said of Gatland and Wales by many many posters on hear so lets hope for the best that a similar rejuvenation happens to Scotland.

An exciting year for the welsh team culminating in another Grand Slam in spite of some poor performances throughout the tournament in which they never consistently played well. At least one victory in Australia is a must now. Wales continue to develop strength in depth beating Ireland away with 6-7 players missing. They must start to add more creativity to the powerful backline and I believe Ashley Beck may well prove to be something special in Australia - Here's hoping

RubyGuby wrote:An exciting year for the welsh team culminating in another Grand Slam in spite of some poor performances throughout the tournament in which they never consistently played well. At least one victory in Australia is a must now. Wales continue to develop strength in depth beating Ireland away with 6-7 players missing. They must start to add more creativity to the powerful backline and I believe Ashley Beck may well prove to be something special in Australia - Here's hoping

I agree mate. Beck and Davies could be a very interesting combo...

For England I'm not sure if huge progress was made on the pitch, although there are signs that real on-field progress might not be too far off. We matched last year's points total, winning 3 away games in the process, so not too bad.

But then again, were we that bad under Johnson? We may not have been any fun to watch, but we got our home and away wins against Australia and a Six Nations Championship in 2011. Certainly the 19-12 defeat to France that ended Johnson's reign was no more embarrassing or upsetting than the 19-12 home defeat to Wales.

I think we took two massive steps backwards in the Six Nations (dire performances against Scotland and Italy before a slightly better showing in the loss to Wales), before taking two big steps forward with a fantastic win in France and a home win against Ireland. So basically we are about where we were a year ago, but I'm more optimistic about the path we're heading on.

You can call it a rebuilding year if you like, but I'm disappointed that England couldn't retain the Six Nations, so you can't give England any more than a "B" grade for the Six Nations.

But moving on there is an exciting series away in South Africa. I'd have South Africa as marginal favourites at the moment, but I certainly don't think a series win is completely out of the question for England. 2-1 win in South Africa and a 3-1 home record in the AIs is the minimum England should be targeting from here. It will be a big ask, but a reversal in South Africa and a 2-2 home series would just be treading water.

Radge,

you can some it up more concisely than that:-

Utter, utter merde !

No team has won a 3Ns and a RWC BECAUSE in a RWC year the 3Ns is considered the lesser target.

Ireland

Managed to beat 1 top 8 nation in the whole season. By playing anti-rugby against a complacent Aussie team.

Next up the All Blacks

I would rather listen to an audiobook of Jessie J reading 'Great Expectations' than think about the last 12 months of rugby...

IanBru wrote:I would rather listen to an audiobook of Jessie J reading 'Great Expectations' than think about the last 12 months of rugby...

Ouch!!

I'm a Hurricanes supporter but gutted the Crusaders couldn't finish off the final. Such an amazing achievement and felt they deserved better.

NZ-well I'd have liked to have gone through the year unbeaten. The experimental selections for PE and a desperate Bok team put paid to that as did the Aussies. I'm cheesed off that Aussie won the 3N as we've dominated it and would have loved to keep that trophy permanently. Alas, we weren't good enough.

Obviously King Kong has jumped off our backs (leaving the England football team, the Chicago Cubs and the South African cricketers to get theirs gone) and that's great. It's awesome to finally say "We're the best team in the world" without getting the obvious retort. Mind you some folk still tell us we were lucky, and to be honest you need that. However it wasn't all rosy and I feel for Dan Carter most of all as he is the most complete 10 I have seen and it was a tragedy he missed the big games (I'd say had he played the final he'd have prevented about 4.5 million coronaries by keeping the French out of reach). Hope he can make 2015.

But that's a Kiwi trait-to get all dour and analytical in hindsight of a rugby match despite a great or historic win. I didn't let that get in the way of celebrating trust me. Wish I could see the security tapes of the Woolshed to see the reactions of my friends and I.

Looking forward to Ireland and am quite anxious as they may get a result. However O'Connell is shaping up as a big loss.

Biltong,

would take PDV in a second over Robinson. In fact would take Lady Gaga as coach over Robinson (and Townsend at Glasgow next season too).

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:Biltong,

would take PDV in a second over Robinson. In fact would take Lady Gaga as coach over Robinson (and Townsend at Glasgow next season too).

At least PDV would find a way of excusing Hamilton's latest rampage. Rugby isn't ballet!

funnyExiledScot wrote:

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:Biltong,

would take PDV in a second over Robinson. In fact would take Lady Gaga as coach over Robinson (and Townsend at Glasgow next season too).

At least PDV would find a way of excusing Hamilton's latest rampage. Rugby isn't ballet!

So he managed to get to you guys, eh?

For me it was very sad for the Crusaders but Reds were deserved winners. It was disappointing not to win the Trinations and while we did win the World Cup I thought we played averagely against Argentina and were lucky to win (but didn't deserve to lose) the final.

Such miserable buggers we are. Never satisfied, always demanding more from our team. Sometimes I think we need to be reminded of how good we have it. I think we should adopt another rugby country and be made to support them. My father is Scottish and so my sentimental team is Scotland but the sentiments are usually nostalgic tinged with tears of bitterness and rage. We pampered AB fans don't know how good we have it!!

That said, Scotland has the ideal tour for them. Some really challenging games which will make them have to shoot for high standards. Otherwise it'll get ugly. And Scotland is such a beautiful place...

Havent read an Oz perspective.. Obviously the Welsh and Kiwis are happy, the English apparently happy with their Ranking, but the Aussies had a good year... Tri Nations winners, good world cup...

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Such miserable buggers we are. Never satisfied, always demanding more from our team. Sometimes I think we need to be reminded of how good we have it. I think we should adopt another rugby country and be made to support them. My father is Scottish and so my sentimental team is Scotland but the sentiments are usually nostalgic tinged with tears of bitterness and rage. We pampered AB fans don't know how good we have it!!

That said, Scotland has the ideal tour for them. Some really challenging games which will make them have to shoot for high standards. Otherwise it'll get ugly. And Scotland is such a beautiful place...

There's always the Black Caps Kia

maestegmafia wrote:Havent read an Oz perspective.. Obviously the Welsh and Kiwis are happy, the English apparently happy with their Ranking, but the Aussies had a good year... Tri Nations winners, good world cup...

I'd say more content than happy as an England fan. The win/loss hasn't been bad (10 wins to 3 losses) and we've probably matched expectations, but we haven't come up against a big SH side since Autumn 2010 and we haven't made a big impact in either of the tournaments we've played in in the last 12 months. So it's been okay, but I wouldn't say I'm terribly happy with the last 12 months.

maestegmafia wrote:Havent read an Oz perspective.. Obviously the Welsh and Kiwis are happy, the English apparently happy with their Ranking, but the Aussies had a good year... Tri Nations winners, good world cup...

Yes, England are the best ranked NH side, but we've got to aim higher than that and not be content with being at the top of the NH tree.

robbo277 wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:Havent read an Oz perspective.. Obviously the Welsh and Kiwis are happy, the English apparently happy with their Ranking, but the Aussies had a good year... Tri Nations winners, good world cup...

I'd say more content than happy as an England fan. The win/loss hasn't been bad (10 wins to 3 losses) and we've probably matched expectations, but we haven't come up against a big SH side since Autumn 2010 and we haven't made a big impact in either of the tournaments we've played in in the last 12 months. So it's been okay, but I wouldn't say I'm terribly happy with the last 12 months.

Good Squad to go to SA though so things are continuing to look bright for Englands future under Lancaster. Optimism for the future.