Whether the weather is a factor or not

Whether the weather is a factor or not, do you find yourself praying for a certain type of weather? For example, when it comes to Scotland games, I always pray for inclement weather for them. Why? Because I get the impression it gives them their best chance of success. I remember a Billy Connolly concert in Christchurch and he was describing a boatful of Scottish Protestants approaching the shores of NZ at the northern tip of the North Island. Naked Maoris greeted them with obscene gestures and the Scots fled from those sun-kissed shores, horrified by what they encountered. They sailed south until they discovered Dunedin where they were met with horizontal driving rain and exclaimed this is it. This is the place for us. We can stay indoors and be miserable for the rest of our lives here.

Something happens to the Scottish psyche when they play rugby in the rain. The worse the weather the better. When they encounter it outside Scotland so much the better. Australia away. No matter. It's hosing down. We're at home here and you're going to go down. Bring out the sun in Dunedin and Christian Cullen cuts through them like butter.

Other teams I'm not so sure. SA you would think would suit the combative elements of rugby that are exaggerated in rainy weather. But I think their style of play is better suited to the hard dry decks they find in the high veldt. High altitude makes the ball travel further so you can go for lineouts and drive with firm footing underneath. I only think they pray for bad weather against NZ because that negates their main rival's strengths and does not detract too much from their own.

Australia seem to be the exact opposite. They pray for a dry deck because they want to shift that ball around and use their advantage in the backs. NZ are versatile enough to adapt to more inclement conditions but handling is the key for them and night games with dew on the ground is probably worse than a day game in the rain. When conditions are cold and firm underfoot it lulls you into thinking you can throw the ball around but when the dew makes the ball slippier than a bar of soap the temptation to make that 50 50 pass is too great.

So does it depend on the opponent or does it depend on your own team's style? What type of weather suits your team the best?

Yeah I think the weather has influenced the 6N over the last few seasons.

Given that Ireland is so wet you'd think the rain, wind etc. would help us.

However I believe that that this has favoured the teams with the stronger scrums and powerful ball carriers - i.e. Wales and England more so than the likes of Ireland or Scotland, who maybe need to throw the ball around a bit more to break teams down.

Ireland haven't been strong at attacking from the set piece in recent years either, whereas Wales are particularly strong attacking off the lineout.

Definitely I'm hoping on decent conditions because we can't match some of the other sides in an arm wrestle or territorial battle I think.

I think the weather certainly favoured England in their win over you last year, one for the forwards that.

I'm assuming we'll close the roof against Italy if the storms start again in Wales - the weather for Dragons v Saints was mental

Yeah I believe so ...I mean I'm not saying any results would be different but certainly in recent seasons we've been tactically naïve and our skills levels and execution haven't been great - when you combine that with a struggling scrum then that puts you up against it versus good sides.

yeah, I'm not saying thats the reason they won, they were tactically smarter than you and you couldn't run around them in the wet

Im hoping for a dry day v England. It wont matter as much against anyone else.

Well, what weather would w(one) wish will weigh in?

Willfull Wet weather will certainly wash away any winning ways with wonderful rugby.

The South Africans like no air.  The closer to orbital conditions they get the better their lungs work.  They could save NASA a whole lot of money by voulnteering to go into space with no need for expensive space suits at all.

Weather?  Influence?  Yes... but so be it.  Refs influence.  Home crowds (if good enough at their job!) influence.  I'd much prefer rugby influenced by the elements - hot sun, heavy rain, strong shifting winds, sleet etc than to be influenced by the sterility of a constantly closed roof.  I think it's important that rugby stays mostly an outdoor game and that our human desire to increasingly control everything around us doesn't push us to accept nothing less than a roof for every main stadium in the world.

So now we suck on vacuums.   

If that was the case we would all be deep sea divers.   











































Just kidding

Weather also affects pitches and those with crap surfaces are the worse affected i.e. Paris. You would think that the pitch at the millennium would be perfect as they can control the amount or water it gets. Still a pile of turds though.

Which international side will follow Sarries and get an artificial pitch, HQ have gone part way with a percentage of synthetic grass sown in. Seems to work well in all weathers.

more efficient groundkeeping and event planning....... other stadiums can manage multi-use and still have reasonable sod for most of a year.

Problem with the Millennium is that the grass has never got enough sunlight. Artificial pitch should be the way to go if it will work for Football etc too

Australia 6 - Scotland 9, 2012.


Nuff said.

Ireland vs Scotland is likely to be the only game really effected and to be honest the weather eases off by Sunday looking at the latest synoptic Gribs.

Paris will be cold maybe drizzling but not windy like the UK. Cardiff will likely close the roof...

Be warned if you are travelling to the game that there may be strong gusts of wind and lashing rain. Not easy driving conditions.

I find this myth about Scotland preferring the rain rather annoying. Scotland try to play a fast o0fflading game - rain does not help! Yes many of our players are used to the rain and yes it can level things down - but we want sunshine and dry pitches so we can play the game we want. co0ld still and sunny are the perfect conditions for the scots to play in.

TJ wrote:I find this myth about Scotland preferring the rain rather annoying.  Scotland try to play a fast o0fflading game - rain does not help!  Yes many of our players are used to the rain and yes it can level things down - but we want sunshine and dry pitches so we can play the game we want.  co0ld still and sunny are the perfect conditions for the scots to play in.

A good number of your players, like with Wales, don't play in the rain in their home country...

That statement about the scots and the rain is very much referencing of their opposition not being able to play due to inclement conditions levelling the two teams.

Now the scots have some quality players in the backs it matters little.

I agree that the scots are famous for a fast pace rucking/offloading game. A pleasure to watch too.

TJ wrote:I find this myth about Scotland preferring the rain rather annoying.  Scotland try to play a fast o0fflading game - rain does not help!  Yes many of our players are used to the rain and yes it can level things down - but we want sunshine and dry pitches so we can play the game we want.  co0ld still and sunny are the perfect conditions for the scots to play in.

Agreed. It's like the talk of 'The Welsh Way'. Gatlandball is effective (in the NH) but it's a long way different from how it is tradionally perceived that they play.

Like the other myth of England's early noughties '10 man' rugby'.

  

I agree, England are much more a ten man rugby team now than they were then

TJ wrote:I find this myth about Scotland preferring the rain rather annoying.  Scotland try to play a fast o0fflading game - rain does not help!  Yes many of our players are used to the rain and yes it can level things down - but we want sunshine and dry pitches so we can play the game we want.  co0ld still and sunny are the perfect conditions for the scots to play in.

Scotland do try and play a fast offloading game. Trouble is they dont do it very well yet they seem to put in good performances when it is bucketing down such as the game v Australia in Australia.

munkian wrote:I agree, England are much more a ten man rugby team now than they were then

I won't argue there. All 6 Nations sides play like that at the moment.

It's a shame that only England (and France to a lesser extent) in their pomp were able to regularly beat the SH sides.

Wales have had their best side (for a long time) in the last few years but haven't really kicked on in world terms and made the NH proud.

Yeah, cos you'd all be rooting for us if we did that   

munkian wrote:Yeah, cos you'd all be rooting for us if we did that   

Yeah, I'd like Wales to beat one of the big SH sides. They give us so much stick about it a NH win would be great!

Its rugby, teams should be able to play in all conditions not whinge when it doesnt quite suit you.

Scotland beat Australia fair and square in the rain...and it was almost written off as unfair because it was raining....what utter tosh...

The home nations might not get glorious sunshine like they do in OZ or SA...but we still have plenty of days suited to open flowing rugby.

You play the opposition and adapt to the conditions.

maestegmafia wrote:Ireland vs Scotland is likely to be the only game really effected and to be honest the weather eases off by Sunday looking at the latest synoptic Gribs.

Paris will be cold maybe drizzling but not windy like the UK. Cardiff will likely close the roof...

Be warned if you are travelling to the game that there may be strong gusts of wind and lashing rain. Not easy driving conditions.

Sounds like ge's posts...pish and fart.

GunsGerms wrote:

TJ wrote:I find this myth about Scotland preferring the rain rather annoying.  Scotland try to play a fast o0fflading game - rain does not help!  Yes many of our players are used to the rain and yes it can level things down - but we want sunshine and dry pitches so we can play the game we want.  co0ld still and sunny are the perfect conditions for the scots to play in.

Scotland do try and play a fast offloading game. Trouble is they dont do it very well yet they seem to put in good performances when it is bucketing down such as the game v Australia in Australia.

That was a number of factors - not least a team on tour settled into their game and knowing they had a real chance. I think on that day they would have beaten them in any conditions. But we will never know. I bet every scotland player would have preferred a dry pitch.

Cyril wrote:

munkian wrote:I agree, England are much more a ten man rugby team now than they were then

I won't argue there. All 6 Nations sides play like that at the moment.

It's a shame that only England (and France to a lesser extent) in their pomp were able to regularly beat the SH sides.

Wales have had their best side (for a long time) in the last few years but haven't really kicked on in world terms and made the NH proud.

Pomp Passes though - and there's the Pity.

SecretFly wrote:

Cyril wrote:

munkian wrote:I agree, England are much more a ten man rugby team now than they were then

I won't argue there. All 6 Nations sides play like that at the moment.

It's a shame that only England (and France to a lesser extent) in their pomp were able to regularly beat the SH sides.

Wales have had their best side (for a long time) in the last few years but haven't really kicked on in world terms and made the NH proud.

Pomp Passes though - and there's the Pity.

Aye, it's what you do with your pomp when you've got it.

What I want to know is what exactly do you call a comedians gig. Is it really called a concert? I spose he does play the banjo.

Wales too but their pomp is just that little staler than England's pomp. More like Sodastream Pomp. It had its day but its fame was fleeting and now open to ridicule when making attempts to reference it in serious conversation.   

Let's hope the Six Nations is more Pomp Up the Volume than Pomp up the Valium

Cyril wrote:Let's hope the Six Nations is more Pomp Up the Volume than Pomp up the Valium

That's Pimp up the Valium I think. Pimp my Pump!

It is absolutely horrible weather in Dublin today. What is it like in Paris and Cardiff? Hopefully it will be nicer on Sunday or Ill freeze in Landsdowne.

It needs a dry deck for that like last 6N. Not so encouraging the forecast so hopefully a wet deck gets the juices flowing and we get more viagra than valium.

Hard graft gets more brownie points than fleeting flash in the pan moments. Up to a certain point...

GunsGerms wrote:It is absolutely horrible weather in Dublin today. What is it like in Paris and Cardiff? Hopefully it will be nicer on Sunday or Ill freeze in Landsdowne.

It is absolutely foul here in Newport, and the weather is awful too   

Seriously, it's been pouring most of the day. There's water coming into our bedroom from the roof/exterior walls somewhere. Localised flooding in some of the lower areas.

At least we've got a roof on the MS I suppose, so it should be dry underfoot if not a little bit lacking in grass!

there is going to be a storm tonight too aparently. Great!