Topic: [Rugby] Union / League / Super / Sixes Sevens Pro14 / Cups & Tours / Olympics - page 59. (Read 14713 times)

Rugby Union.

Round three of the Super Rugby Pacific kicks off in about eight hours time along with two games in Round one of the Super W.



The first game this week is between the Moana Pasifika and Crusaders after the formers previous two games had to be postponed.



The Crusaders should win, however, Moana Pasifika will no doubt want to play catch up for matches missed, so it should be a good game.

Screen shots via https://www.rugby.com.au/

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Rugby League.

Similarly this weekend sees the Women's premiership round two get underway on Sunday.  Reigning women's champions The Broncos will be looking to advance on the ladder with a win over the Knights in their game.



Thursday next week will see the first round of the regular season for 2022.

Screen shots via https://www.nrl.com/

This Rugby season there are 3 new rules introduced by World Rugby (union) and
to me one of the rules is really interesting and promotes a level of skill, its the 50:22
rule which promotes skill, game management and field awareness. It can be used
in both attack and defense positions.

When a player kicks the ball from anywhere in their own half and it lands in the opposition
22 then bounces into touch the kicking team is awarded the resulting lineout, previous to
this the opposing team got the lineout.

The finest example I have seen of this to date was last weekends kick by Henry Slade
of England, the link below has a clip of the action.

https://www.rugbyworld.com/news/watch-superb-henry-slade-5022-138128

Six Nations - Round 3 - Game 3: Ireland v Italy



To be short about this game today it was a disaster all round because of
a bit of an anomaly in the rule book which came into play today.

The scenario which transpired started with an injury for Italy's hooker who
was replaced who then got a red card which resulted in a case for un-contested
scrums which in turn meant Italy lose a second player and go down to 13 players.

All this happened within the first 17 minutes of the game.

More about it here >
https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/ireland-v-italy-five-things-we-learned-as-rugby-s-laws-come-under-spotlight-1.4813578

and the table as it looks now

Ah but their defence looks good in the second half and then their counter attacking
was pretty damn good, ok they a bit lucky with the bouncing ball but to quote
an old saying "you have to make your own luck".

I really thought this was going to be close and a did a small bet on Scotland more
than half knowing it was a tall ask.

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Right, up next is England v Wales, this has the potential to be a close one too.
On the upside for Wales, the team is boosted with the return if Josh Adams
and top player Taulupe Faletau.

EDIT :::



That was a game of two halves for sure, Wales probably a bit unlucky in the end,
in extra time England to have a player penalised for deliberate knock on and not be
yellow carded is lucky but unlucky for Wales who had a great second half to
score 3 tries and a losing BP.

What went against Wales today was the amount of overturns they had against
them at ruck time and the line outs and of course not being able to register a score
in the first half.

Scotland absolutely taking the game to France today. I think there was a argument for a penalty try, and potentially a yellow card around the 28 minute mark, but moments later Scotland scored a try anyway. France looking a little ill disciplined today, which I think ultimately might be what decides this match. I tell you what, if France could control their discipline issues they would be one hell of a team, they've largely looked unstoppable attacking today, but it's just these issues they can't sort out. I had them, and Ireland has favourites to win the Six Nations, but I think Ireland probably has the better chance looking at the issues of the French team.

10-12 to France with ten minutes left in the first half.

Waratah woes return in exasperating defeat to Queensland Reds

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/feb/26/waratah-woes-return-in-exasperating-defeat-to-queensland-reds

Australian Associated Press Sat 26 Feb 2022 12.43 AEDT

Timelord you are very right, Pizza and Guinness is a great combination!

SIX NATIONS::..

Scotland over France is going to be real close, I have a small bet on Scotland
@ 3.5, France are big favourites for this one @ 1.37.

I have that bet on Sportsbet with 0.01mBTC, they seem to have gotten their act
together regarding Rugby but still dont have a book on the URC, for that I use Nitrogensports.

Rugby Union:

Week One of the Super Rugby Pacific tournament saw the Moana Pasifika-Chiefs sit out their first game and will again sit out this week-ends match.

New Zealand Rugby confirm postponement of Moana Pasifika-Chiefs game

https://www.rugby.com.au/news/moana-pasifika-game-against-chiefs-postponed-2022221 - Tue, 22/02/2022, 07:25 am
Nathan Williamson


According to Wikipedia:


See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_NRL_pre-season_results

I've always regarded it a chance for teams to get back into competition matches (and try out new tactics) without it jeopardising their ladder positions early in the season.  It looks to have worked for the Warriors out playing the Storm with a solid win.  If they can replicate that during the season, then they'll be a team to watch.

All three Qld teams put in good points in week one with The Broncos putting in a solid performance drawing with the Gold Coast Titans 26 -26



Week Two of the 2022 pre season will see the following games:

I'm not really going to call any games except to say the Raiders might get up over the Sea Eagles and the Cowboys/Broncos game will be close.  Panthers over the Eels and we will just have to wait and see for the other games.

Round 12 of the URL gets under way this evening and continues over the weekend.

I'm having trouble accessing my Nitrogensports account ATM so I cannot check the
odds on some of these games, Offhand I'm thinking wins for Cardiff, Munster, Leinster,
Glasgow and Ulster.

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I see on Sportsbet that they have odds up for the first round of the NRL on the 10th
of March, kicking of with the 2021 cha,pions, The Panthers against finalists Sea Eagles.

I see from https://www.nrl.com/ that there are Pre-Season trials on, @Timelord2067
can you let us know what these are and what bearing they have on the season ^{if any}

^
No I wouldnt be confident either about Wales and I wasnt confident they could beat
Scotland but that game was probably more about Scotlands error count.

Watching the match I actually thought Russell was attempting to intercept
that pass ^{Correct technique would be using both hands!}, He is a
very mercurial player, he would be capable of pulling a one handed intercept off,
but yea at that moment in the game in your own 22 it wasnt the correct play.

I'm not feeling confident at all about Ireland winning the championship, I cant
see any team beating France. Everyone is talking about how they have this season
become the team we were all hoping to see for many years gone by.

England have a chance of growing into the tournament but If Wales can get a few key
players back for two weeks time they could beat them.


Dont underestimate Wales, when those players get that red jersey on they transform.

Scotland over France, from where Ireland are, yea hopefully.

This is probably the least confident I've been in a Welsh side for years, although I have a feeling that we'll turn up for the English game no matter what our current form is, as we always manage to do that. The Scottish game had some good spells, but I couldn't help, but think that Scotland probably were the better attacking side. Wales have a good defense for the most part, however they really do lack in creative flair going forward. We'll need to sort that out if we are going to finish in a respectable position in this years Six Nations.

I thought Russel's sin bin was justified, and the right decision, but I do believe the decision in the dying minutes of the game to not yellow card us for a clear shoulder to head tackle, was wrong. I didn't think there was enough mitigating factors there to downgrade it to just a penalty. I thought it was at least a yellow, and could have potentially been a red on another day.

I've got Ireland winning the Six Nations this year. Runners up will probably be France, and then the next spot will either be Scotland or Wales. You could say I've got a bias against England there, but I just think Ireland, France will beat them, they've already lost against Scotland, and I will always fancy our chances against England due to the nature of the rivalry.

More wishful thinking than actual skills for those games, but I'm glad France won as I'd bet ten times what I'd intended to ^{(one of the joys of having to type the whole amount in each time is you can get caught out sometimes)}

I'm only being offered points spreads at the moment which I dislike doing as the team will win, just not enough to payout.

If I do get to bet in round three, it'll be Scotland over France, England over Wales and then the only way Italy will win is if Ireland don't turn up.

Game 3 of round 2 today in the Six Nations resulted in a predictable result,
an England win 0-33 and sees England into second place on the table. There
are still 3 rounds to play and all wont be revealed until the last round really,
thats what makes this competition so great.

Timelord2067 has 3 from 3 this weekend, nice one.

Wow what a day of Six Nations Rugby, two very close games with 2 losses
for me and two wins for Timelord2067 ^{GOOD CALL!}





Interestingly Scotlands game today was the same full time points as last
week but they were on the losing side, they started the game well and definitely
were threatening going forward but there were way to many handling errors,
probably as a result of the much improved Welsh side who were able to defend their
20 year old defence on home soil against Scotland.

The second game was also a close one with a win to France who brought
serious power and intensity to go 10 - 0 up in the first 6 minutes. Ireland made
a try with a restart kick and then a pick from the air and clear run across the
line by last weeks man of the match Aussie Matt Hansen.

The second half saw Ireland bounce back with two more tries to earn a losing
bonus point. Overall too many errors from Ireland from massive french pressure.

Game 3 tomorrow Italy v England

These all-star games are presumably teams formed from picking the best
Indigenous players from both Australia and New Zealand, how many games
are there in this series?

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For screen grabs what I use is a Photoshop Express Android app to crop,
resize and compress screen shots from my phone.

https://www.adobe.com/ie/products/photoshop-express.html

Yes, it was more wishful thinking than actual strategy made me hope England would win over Scotland last weekend.

This week, I'm going for Wales over Scotland (more wishful thinking) France over Ireland ^{(and they'd better win as I just bet one too few zeros when typing the price)} and to round it out England over Italy.

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Rugby League:

The Indigenous Vs Maori round one matches are on tomorrow - should be good games.  I could only get a point spread wager, but it's for the Australian Indigenous team over their Maori counterparts:

Maori All Stars - Indigenous All Stars Point Spread  Indigenous All Stars (-6.5) @ 1.79 Taken Amount: 0.03 mBTC Possible Payout: 0.05 mBTC

(Just the men's game, not the Women's teams who play their match first).

The NRL Pre-season trails kick off in just seven days.

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I need a new screen grab and upload program - any ideas?

Week 2 coming up this weekend, First game of the weekend is Wales V Scotland.

I'm betting on Scotland to win this game, Wales are still missing 6 key players, as was
the case last week and Scotland will be looking to build on a massive win over England
last week. Odds on this game are: Wales 1.91 - 1.85 Scotland.

Second game on Saturday will see Ireland travelling to France, This has the makings
of a cracking match, again France looking to build on their win over Italy last week but
this is their first big test. I'm going with Ireland for this one, they are playing a new
brand of Rugby but they need to get the changeover of personnel  better than last
week, the subs took a bit of time to get up to speed with the game.
Odds on this one are France 1.89 - 1.87 Ireland

 

Game 3 of the weekend was a predictable win for France against the visiting
Italian side.



It took almost 30 minutes for France to get going after Italy took the lead
with a try to bring the score to 3-7. The game overall was riddled with errors
on a windy and very wet evening. Again a frustrating watch for anyone
wanting Italy to show some progress but they kicked the ball too much resulting
in almost all occasions a French visit into the 22 and a score.

The table after the weekend:

Full time in Game 1 of the Six Nations



Fairly impressive Irish win today from an early try and conversion inside the
first 5 minutes of the game. Style of play is quite impressive since head
coach Andy Farrell has taken over, fast, clinical and a break from the heavily
structured style of play in past years.

Wales couldnt seem to get to grips with the fast flowing game from Ireland. Missing
key players and others playing in different positions than normal didnt help their cause.

Bit of trivia for @Timelord2067, Man of the match Mack Hansen the Connacht player
notched up his first game for Ireland today. He's an Aussie! His mum's Irish.

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Game 2 up next, Scotland v England.

England are favourites but there is talk of Scotland really capable of great wins
this year, but we have seen this before and the team hasnt performed.

ML on NitrogenSports is Scotland 2.97 - 1.37 England

I'm going with a win for Scotland, small bet though, I dont normally bet against
the favourite but I going with the positive rumblings from Scotland

They had a good Autumn series of games and their 2 clubs going ok in the
URC, currently in positions 2 and 3.

:::EDIT:::

and Scotland take the win



Great match to watch and could have been a draw match a few times in the
last 8 minutes of play.

A lot of errors on both sides and some poor decision making by England at times
corresponding to some great decision making by Scotland.
Finn Russell had a great game at 10 for Scotland while Luke Cowan-Dickie
made a silly play to get himself yellow carded and Scotland awarded a
penalty try, that changed the game on the 66^th minute.

Yes the player career window is very short, of course there are players who are able
to prolong that if they can stay healthy, competitive and fit.

Regarding COVID, currently there are very few restrictions in Ireland so The Aviva
Stadium in Dublin will be ROCKIN' with a full house for this match, I expect the same
in England, Wales and Scotland but games in France and Italy will most likely have
restrictions.