I see that the NFL thread is a rather dynamic one, and while I know that quite a few tropers are American, I imagine some of them might come from countries where the version of the game without the multiple ad cuts is more popular.
Okay, seriously, I don't plan on making this thread an American Football bashing one, it's just that the Six Nations have been starting, and after the complete disaster that the World Cup was for Northern nations, I think it is going to be interesting to see where it goes.
I watched France-Italy (had to, there are two Italian colleagues at work and one did play rugby) and bits of Scotland-England yesterday. Italy impressed me: of course Parisse was amazing (although a bit ambitious in the end), but the scrum as a whole was very solid and Campagnaro and Sarto also did an excellent game. I would say that they only need a solid 9-10 pair to become serious contenders in the Tournament.
France was erratic at times, but at least was fun to watch. I'd rather have us be magnificent losers than poor ones - we never did anything good when we tried to emulate 03's England anyway. Plus it was a very young team so they have a lot of room for improvement. Plisson and Bézy (if he solves his square feet issue) worked well together, and Vakatawa, holy hell. This was the first Union rugby of the guy in 2 years, he was playing VII before, and he was impossible to tackle. If Saint-André was still the coach then I know he would waste him like they did Bastareaud, but Novès might be able to properly exploit his qualities. I hope.
As for Scotland-England, I feel like Scotland is like Italy, they just lack a playmaker to add some craziness to the offense.
I see that the NFL thread is a rather dynamic one, and while I know that quite a few tropers are American, I imagine some of them might come from countries where the version of the game without the multiple ad cuts is more popular.
Okay, seriously, I don't plan on making this thread an American Football bashing one, it's just that the Six Nations have been starting, and after the complete disaster that the World Cup was for Northern nations, I think it is going to be interesting to see where it goes.
I watched France-Italy (had to, there are two Italian colleagues at work and one did play rugby) and bits of Scotland-England yesterday. Italy impressed me: of course Parisse was amazing (although a bit ambitious in the end), but the scrum as a whole was very solid and Campagnaro and Sarto also did an excellent game. I would say that they only need a solid 9-10 pair to become serious contenders in the Tournament.
France was erratic at times, but at least was fun to watch. I'd rather have us be magnificent losers than poor ones - we never did anything good when we tried to emulate 03's England anyway. Plus it was a very young team so they have a lot of room for improvement. Plisson and Bézy (if he solves his square feet issue) worked well together, and Vakatawa, holy hell. This was the first Union rugby of the guy in 2 years, he was playing VII before, and he was impossible to tackle. If Saint-André was still the coach then I know he would waste him like they did Bastareaud, but Novès might be able to properly exploit his qualities. I hope.
As for Scotland-England, I feel like Scotland is like Italy, they just lack a playmaker to add some craziness to the offense.