England shoot down Welsh Six Nations title hopes

Just a day earlier the Zulu had massacred the British at Isandwana. It wasn’t all one sided. There is a movie about that as well I believe. Certainly there’s a great book about both battles that pays tribute to both sides. “Day of the Dead Moon” by David Rattray, he lived where the battles took place. A book that treats both sides honorably. It was different times but its a pity that some carried those times well into the the 20th century. It wasn’t the British though.

Oh yes Morsie, that movie was a smash hit in Africa. I can remember the African theatre patrons cheering as another volley from the colonising army mowed down some more Zulu warriors. It seems these warriors took offence at some European power who had superior arms and trained armies and navies to invade and take whatever resources they wanted. And at the end, the producer tried to instill some diversion by having the defeated Zulu paying "tribute to the courageous" invaders. As I am sure Joe Stalin said more than once, "winners are grinners and get to make the movies of their bravery". :crying:

Mr Homer Simpson, I do hope that you know there is about 45 minutes of actual play in a rugby match, the rest is slow walking to lineouts, scrums with the occasional piggie pow wow, water boys and medics rest/instructions time, goal kickers reading War n Peace as they line kicks up, multiple scrum resets and a variety of other stoppages/slow downs. So watching a 24 minute highlight catches over 50% of the match for a time-poor prole such as myself. So in my view I would get a good feel of the game, its nuances, rolls of the dice, poor decisions and perhaps some idle refereeing. You say referee Adamson and his band of linesmen and TMO had a "perfectly good, but picky" game. You're winding me up, right? He did his usual horror show and that is being kind. Let's bring up some instances 4 days off memory; {A} how many times did the blind mice called referee team go mute while English players moved across the "throw line" in lineouts with a Welsh throw? I saw 4 times off my Highlights, one of which led to their one and only try of the match (should have been disallowed). Wales looked a similar offside on England's throw around the 60th minute. What I couldn't understand there was "why was the Welsh captain and hooker not speaking to the ref and linesman about it the 1st time they did it?" {B} About the 73rd minute, why did the referee ignore the Welsh captain's request that he look at the shoulder to head tackle on winger Josh Adams, who had to go for a HIA. The TMO also went mute. I looked at that 3 times during Sunday and all I can see is a red card to the English player (J.Marchant I think). {C} You try to show your vast superior knowledge with a childish snide comment regarding C.Lawes' deliberate knockdown of the ball. Can I ask you "do you ever watch rugby with no skin in the game or just when your team is winning?" Yes, WR Law 11 sanctions a penalty for deliberate knock-ons and generally a YC if a try scoring opportunity was prevented; but many a referee world-wide has brought out the dreaded yellow when they consider the action was simply to stop a movement of promise and buy your team time to reset the defence and get a breather. And Lawes stopped that Wales movement dead by a deliberate slap-down. Referee Adamson went silent, was it because he didn't want to upset the ERU who play a leading role in determining who gets some action at RWC2023. I can assure you Adamson and the clown Sth African TMO certainly knew the knock-on Laws when Wales played against the WB last December. {D} Apart from his usual carry-ons (and give credit where due for some magnificent play of his), I figured M.Itoje thought he perhaps was at a church service. He spent almost every ruck he attended on his knees. It appears to be a very NH thing to allow kneeling in rucks or just take a well-earned rest on top of it. Blokes from both sides were doing it, though Itoje and his props were especially bad. Give Adamson his due here, he watched blokes kneeling and almost sealing off with gay abandon but he was quick to whistle if he saw hands or sun-baking at the back of rucks. WR tinker with the Laws, they bring in things like 50-22's which most decent rugby kickers should nail, yet will not bite the bullet on this one. Is it any wonder that nearly all breakdown turnovers are when the bloke with the ball gets isolated. Teams see this and say "bu99er the wide runs and losing the pill, truck it up the guts with your piggies behind you". Its a Catch-22 situation and WR has no idea.

You're welcome Chook. But you chose to ignore the 20 minutes of scrum resets? Unacceptable ;)

Thanks Neil... I watched the whole game including about 40 mins of stoppage time :unhappy:

:laughing:

I bet you’re the life of the party…

Most of them weren't Welsh. The 24th Ft only became the South Wales Borderers two years after Rorke's Drift. Prior to that, recruitment was chiefly in southern England. Of the 11 VCs awarded, seven went to Englishmen, two to Welshmen, and one each to the Irish, and the Swiss! The film took quite a few liberties. Then again , we should be grateful that it wasn't won by the Yanks.

I was watching it with the French commentary. It's 'n'importe quoi' (illogical, unstructured) was their comment on some of the refereeing. In several games Mike Adams (i think is his name) hasn't impressed me much either.

Here's a tip for everyone who watched the highlights package and formed an opinion on the game they felt they had to share. Shush now.

One of my favourite movies of all time is Zulu. Every time I see a Welsh team take the field I think of that movie, and those gritty little hard men from the valleys dressed in red.

I really shouldn't be surprised at the standards of nelsonian analysis on here any more (I can't work out whether the spelling is a reflection of Oceanian educational standards ot the age group of those commenting). To watch a highlights reel and then make a claim to an understanding of the game is pretty laughable. Inevitably, the alleged "highlights" will focus on the key points which, again inevitably in a rugby match, will revolve around reffing decisions. If England were getting the bulk of the decisions, guess what, that probably reflects the flow of the game. Adamson had a perfectly good, if somewhat picky, game. But, he is relatively inexperienced and for refs, like players, nerves are understandable. The notion that a deliberate knock-on (questionable in this case) is an automatic yellow card, is an interpretation which you have conveniently plucked from nowhere (well I do know where, but I'm too polite to say). Wayne Pivac squealing about a try that should have been disallowed is positively hilarious after what went on in Cardiff last year, but understandably as a Kiwi, he feels that any decision that goes against him is akin to heresy. Raynal is getting his share of games. All points answered? What is clear is that after seven years under EJ, England aren't getting any better. Struggling to beat the weakest Welsh team of the century to date, really isn't an achievement. Appointing as his onfield leader the anti-Captain Lawes (one almost pines for the return of Owen Farrell) points to some form of psychological flaw in the coach. And short of a miraculous transformation over the next fortnight, any ideas of wins over Ireland and (especially) France are for the birds.

Shocked! Shocked that England seemed to get the better end of the reffing at Twickenham. France are certainly looking the goods.

Very much agree with all of that. Likewise watched the 20 minute package and was 'surprised' by quite a few of the refs decisions and non-decisions. (My surprise involved a lot of swearing out loud.) Too many players ("cough", Itoje, "cough") bridging onto their hands - even if they got straight on the ball, they haven't kept weight on feet - being rewarded with turnovers & penalties.

Only saw the 24min highlight reel. Looks to be a different interpretation of the breakdown laws in the Northern Hemisphere vs Southern having quickly reviewed France v Scotland too. (Not surprised, just stating the apparent) By this I mean differing interpretations of “releasing the tackler” vs “releasing the ball”, “hands in the ruck” vs “legal jackal”, and “not rolling away” sometimes pinged, sometimes not. There appears also to be a disappointing trend of sealing off and players going straight off their feet at the ruck without consequence. Perhaps it’s just down to individual referees but these things matter in the lead up to a World Cup. England seemed to get some pretty soft penalties. The lack of a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on also appeared to be an obvious error. France look to be nailed on favourites for 2023. The word that epitomises their play at the moment for me is “power”.

Wales lost becoz of their stupidity in the first 15 minutes. they tried to play too much rather than clear the lines and play territory - and ended up giving penalties. also when they got penalties went for glory rather than kick for points. England were rubbish - couldnt score against the Welsh defence - but for a contencious try . Wondering why the best ref around - raynol is not getting games ? maybe he is too good applying the laws !!! its like chalk n cheese watching 6 nations reffing after super rugger -- not sure which interpretations are right or wrong :laughing:

After I've finished sobbing after Friday night's match where TNT won everything but the game, then of course RT's Blue Babies murdered Digger's Farts (the windies, geddit?) except for the last 20 seconds. Round 2 sucked! :shocked: To bring me slowly back to rugger, I tuned into a replay (just the 23 min highlight package) of the Eng vs Wales match. All I can offer to your comment above is England will go OK, just as long as they have the same ref from last night. He waited till the game was over before squaring up the lopsided penalty count, but still couldn't bring himself to yellow card C.Lawes. If I was in the stands singing that stupid American slave song, I would wear a jacket and hide my England shirt. A win it may be, but flogged by three tries to one pretty much says it all. :laughing:

Hard luck Wales... and things seriously won’t get any easier For England with Ireland up next. Let alone Les Bleus in Paris for the last game. Oh my my... :shocked: