Hello and welcome.
Is this the most un-hyped tournament in recent history? Possibly.
Round 1:
FRA v IRE - Fri 20:00 ITV1
ITA v ENG - Sat 14:15 ITV1
WAL v SCO - Sat 16:45 BBC1
Please opine and predict away. I’ll do some polls.
Kind of looking forward to it, but then again I always do. I’m a creature of habit.
(~15 replies)
Very annoyed that I bought my GF tickets fir us to go and do a sip and paint in Chorlton tonight, so will miss the game.
Theres definitely a bit of a come down for Ireland and France folowing the workd cup, the Welsh are possibly a proper mess, so theyre more trepidition than anticipation, and England fans have a bit of optimism, with a few positive young selections, but are waiting to see if Borthwick is actually going to try and play any rugby at all.
Seems a bit daft to put the tournament decider as the first game tbh. France and Ireland to show everyone else just how far ahead they are. Hopefully Scotland can continue to improve. Wales’ tournament will be an absolute horror show. Would love Italy to get a couple of decent results and may be their best chance of doing so. Probably not going to happen though. England may be great but could just as easily be abject.
Should be interesting at least. Can’t say I’m looking forward to it though
Didn’t they do the same last year too? Odd.
They played each other week 2 in the last one. Still way too early…
Ireland looking solid
That’s a red
That’ll make them feel better about the card. Lovely piece of play
Oh god
Ugh, this again
Red. All day long. 2 yellows. What’s he doing???
Entertaining with moments of brilliance (and stupidity).
Loving McCarthy a lot.
So he’s been sent off twice!!
Some very not straight lineouts this match
Ireland look good. But the french never really arrived
Have to be honest this is more of a minor train scheduling problem than a sporting spectacle now
This sounds more pithy than it should be really, it’s been something I’ve been carrying for a while. I loved rugby but the people I enjoyed it with died and the players I loved retired, and the game developed in ways that felt alienating (specifically more nfl oriented but also just general refereeing not allowing what I consider standard running play). So it’s up to another generation which, jfc , are already almost wholly younger than I am, to win my heart again.
It’s also properly fucked me off as of late the stereotype that rugby is all a welsh person consists of, because it’s just so basic and reductive and bleak.
Runners don’t look for space any more. Just a giant war of attrition.
Would genuinely like to know how viewing figures, match attendances and just general engagement etc. compare now to how they used to. Can’t see it lasting that much longer as a significant money earning sporting spectacle if it carries on like this