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Mike, there's only one driving seat in the car and I suspect that Lizzie won't be drinking... you'll be fine!

Rugby at peoples houses sounds like a plan to me.

p

Well I I'm down in Cannock for England v Italy (8th) and Ireland v England (28th). At least I'll be able to watch the first one, the second (more important) match co-incides with suit-fitting (or suite-fitting if you are my brother! Where are we going? DFS?) for my bro's wedding. Anyone got a mini-tv I can borrow?

If it's showing on BBC (I think they've got it until 2013, yes?) then I can volunteer our living room for a couple of matches.

On a side-note, I take it one or two interested parties will have spotted the "Rugby players strip off" article and pictures on the BBC site by now?

The only problem is if Lizzie goes into Labour and cant drive! It would also be a shame to miss the birth of our daughter because I was totalled!

On a side-note, I take it one or two interested parties will have spotted the "Rugby players strip off" article and pictures on the BBC site by now?

hmmmmmm...not that i went and looked

The worrying thing is that mr_e has seemingly been intrigued/interested by the article! I saw the headline and went "Meh, rugby players stripping off? That'll have just been a quiet night out then!".

England capitalise on Italian mistakes as they win their first Six Nations fixture at Twickenham 34 - 11. I was very pleased to see a last ditch good efforts from Tait (Sale) and Cueto (Sale). Tait was a last minute sub and Cueto played much better with his Sale team mate on the pitch. I was only partially impressed with Andy Goode despite his early try, which was later ruined by his poor kicking record. Ben Foden made an international debut in the last 20 mind and played nervously but with passable skill. It would have been good to see him on for longer.

If we don't start making chances then the larger teams will eat is for breakfast.

Well we lost 23 - 15 in the Millenium Stadium today. I was however pleased to see that England were pushing hard to create chances and actually scored some tries. At times both England and Wales apeared to teater on the brink of conceading important tries. Let's be honest though, the important mistake that cost England the match were the two sinbinnings that obviously tired the players and the numerous conceaded penalties. Goode was good again but my favourite players Tait, Cueto and Sackay were all very fast and strong. Tait needs to be in the starting line up in the next match as his speed was well appreciated.

Worsley was very strong in defence and Armitage was passable but made a few creeping errors towards the end which was a shame. He must have been starting to tire by that point. A much improved England side compared with the performance against Italy. They need to mature, stop conceeding penalties, getting sin binned and making school boy errors to beat a side like Wales.

I don't think that I am very clever at match analysis but give jonno a credit, they were starting to entertain! Quality match, win the next one! LOL

BBC Ruck n' Roll years from the 60's. This is quite fun as the players are obviously a lot smaller and faster than their modern day equivalents. Also look at the quality of the pitches! They look like they are the local community pitches being used. The Cardif pitch was even insulated against ice and snow with straw before an Wales - England match.

There are others from the 70's, 80's and 90's too which I will catch later.

Some of those clips provided good watching. I suspect they look faster because they're smaller though. One of those last Welsh tries (in colour as well, forgot when that had become commonplace) was quality, slipped loads of tackles.

At least with the straw they had some cushioning instead of running straight into the barriers.

The more recent England game was better, but still not quite up to standard. I tuned in late, but it looks like the sin-binnings didn't help their cause. That and a load of penalties conceded in our own half. Again.

I suppose that the other side of the story is if you show any highlights then it will look amazing because they will only show the absolute best of the best. I did not manage to watch the others yesterday so I will try when I get into work.

BBC Reports that England players are being tempted away from their English clubs for as much as a three-fold pay increase to play in France. France operates without a wage cap and the players are highly sought after. This will apparently cause problems with England selections. At the moment English clubs have to release their players for training sessions through out international competitions, France do not have to honour this agreement.

Some people may actually have a genuine reason to dislike the French if that happens. The article does touch on the usual French trait of not wanting too many foreign imports, so I suspect things will balance out in the end.

Well on the one hand I agree with them for not wanting too many imports as it does limit the development of home grown talent. However, if the home grown talent is not sufficient to compete why would you restrict the success of the team? After all I support the team that has Chabal as one of its top quality players and he is French. . .

... and he is leaving... to play in france