The rugby

[Pross]

But what gets me is they won a grand slam in 2019. And the championship in 2021. That's only 5 years ago.

Due to their small player base they've always been a bit fragile and capable of having bad seasons, but they've always bounced back. Sometimes rather annoyingly Remember the 2015 RWC. So I tend to think "ah, we've seen this before ..."

But this seems to be the real deal. They aren't pretending.

The only conclusion I can draw is that during his first stint at least, Warren Gatland was working miracles. But when he came back it was beyond even him.

One of the problems in each of the successful stints was that we had good players to form a first choice squad but no depth so we stuck with the same players whenever possible for years without trying to integrate some younger players occasionally then all the experienced players retire and this no-one available to fill the void.

 

[Beebo]

Interesting stat that just popped up.
Since RWC2023 the 6 nations match wins is as follows. I’m not including Bonus Points.
France 8 wins 1 draw 2 losses
Ireland 8 wins 3 losses
England 8 wins 3 losses
Italy 4 wins 1 draw 6 losses
Scotland 4 wins 7 losses
Wales 0 wins 11 losses

Italy have our performed Scotland. Wales have lost every game.

 

[BrumJim]

Interesting stat that just popped up.
Since RWC2023 the 6 nations match wins is a follows. I’m not including Bonus Points.
France 8 wins 1 draw 2 losses
Ireland 8 wins 3 losses
England 8 wins 3 losses
Italy 4 wins 1 draw 6 losses
Scotland 4 wins 7 losses
Wales 0 wins 11 losses

Italy have our performed Scotland. Wales have lost every game.

Surprised that France, Ireland and England have the same number of wins.
Also surprised that Italy and Scotland have the same number of wins.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Interesting stat that just popped up.
Since RWC2023 the 6 nations match wins is as follows. I’m not including Bonus Points.
France 8 wins 1 draw 2 losses
Ireland 8 wins 3 losses
England 8 wins 3 losses
Italy 4 wins 1 draw 6 losses
Scotland 4 wins 7 losses
Wales 0 wins 11 losses

Italy have our performed Scotland. Wales have lost every game.

Some more stats for the same period (last 2 6N plus first round of this one)

	Points diff	Tries for	Tries conceded
France	153​	48​	27​
England	110​	45​	29​
Ireland	80​	38​	26​
Scotland	-19​	30​	29​
Italy	-113​	21​	47​
Wales	-211​	24​	48​

So Italy may have just shaded Scotland on wins/draws, but when they have lost, they have lost big. Looks like Italy have developed the art of winning the tight ones.

 

[Alex321]

Some more stats for the same period (last 2 6N plus first round of this one)

	Points diff	Tries for	Tries conceded
France	153​	48​	27​
England	110​	45​	29​
Ireland	80​	38​	26​
Scotland	-19​	30​	29​
Italy	-113​	21​	47​
Wales	-211​	24​	48​

So Italy may have just shaded Scotland on wins/draws, but when they have lost, they have lost big. Looks like Italy have developed the art of winning the tight ones.

Those stats emphasise that Wales's biggest problem is lack of discipline. -24 on try difference to Italy's -26, but nearly twice as bad a points difference, which means they are coneding a lot of kickable penalties.

And Saturday's game was a case in point, they had several good attacking opportunities that they then threw away by needless penalties, and at the other end the only reason they didn't concede many points to penalties was that England were dominant enough they didn't need to kick them.

And even as a biased Wales supporter, there weren't many decisions I could argue with.

 

[matticus]

Some more stats for the same period (last 2 6N plus first round of this one)

	Points diff	Tries for	Tries conceded
France	153​	48​	27​
England	110​	45​	29​
Ireland	80​	38​	26​
Scotland	-19​	30​	29​
Italy	-113​	21​	47​
Wales	-211​	24​	48​

So Italy may have just shaded Scotland on wins/draws, but when they have lost, they have lost big. Looks like Italy have developed the art of winning the tight ones.

... and that confirms their reputation as the worst at try-scoring. Just by-the-by.

 

[BrumJim]

Some more stats for the same period (last 2 6N plus first round of this one)

	Points diff	Tries for	Tries conceded
France	153​	48​	27​
England	110​	45​	29​
Ireland	80​	38​	26​
Scotland	-19​	30​	29​
Italy	-113​	21​	47​
Wales	-211​	24​	48​

So Italy may have just shaded Scotland on wins/draws, but when they have lost, they have lost big. Looks like Italy have developed the art of winning the tight ones.

Stat-tastic! So the French, English, Irish AND Scotish defences are pretty close in terms of not conceding tries, but with the better sides able to score tries more freely. And as noted, although Italy win games, their try count is the lowest, and points difference is well behind that of Scotland.

 

[Blazing Saddles]

I have to say this makes me really angry as once again the clubs are paying for the WRU’s greed.
15,000 unsold tickets for Sunday. It’s France for goodness sake.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c78x5878dzgo

 

[Beebo]

27,000 left for Italy. That’s over a third of the stadium. It’s The only game you can realistically win?
People in Wales just don’t have the money to waste on a poor product.
it’s not like the rich dicks at Twickenham. The RFU have an almost inexhaustible supply of wealthy Henry’s who spend £120 without thinking.