2013 Six nations

[koneguitarist]

Well I think as Defending Grand slam winners etc, I am gonna get my excuses in early looking at injury list we have.
Our 1st,2nd,3rd,and 4th choice lineout guys are out.
Dan Lyidate our best no 6 out. Ryan Jones his replacement out. Stephen Shingler 3rd coice 6 is also out.
Front row injuries, Richard Hibbard, Huw Bennett,Aaron Jarvis
Backs, Rhys Priestland, James Hook, Scott williams Others have been out injured and are hoping to be fit for start of 6 nations, without any major game time.
Worst year for injuries ever.
Whats the injury list like for your countries ?

[A5D5E5]

At last, a proper thread. None of that "what pickups for my guitar" crap you usually get on here!

Wales always struggle when their first choice players are injured - depth is better than it was a few years ago, but still not at the same level as England or France whose backups tend to be much closer in quality to their first choice players. Preistland being injured will free up your backs though.

England (my country) seem to be pretty well placed re injuries at the moment. Apart from Corbisiero (who is a big loss) the pack is pretty much at full strength. In the backs, I think it is only fringe players who are injured. Makes a change though - a few years ago we always seemed to have some key injuries. Of course, having more players makes it easier to cover the gaps - losing Lawes would have been a disaster a couple of years ago. This Autumn, Launchbury came in and looked like he could be a fantastic player.

I fancy France to win. Wales lack confidence, have injuries (as you say) and seem badly coached by Howley. Ireland seem to be going backwards (though I fancy them to beat us). Scotland just don't have the players and will be fighting for the wooden spoon with Italy.

We are a strange one - lots of promise, lots of good players coming through, confidence high on the back of a fantastic result, but we are still not getting continuity in the backs. Mind you, if our forwards play like they did against the all blacks then only France would have the power to cope. Sadly, I don't think they can produce that level of performance 5 times.

[koneguitarist]

Good analysis.
Wales do struggle when first team players are out agreed, but the sheer amount of injuries we get is far in excess of most teams.
I think even NZ would struggle, if 4 of their locks were out as well as Macaw and carter.

[evilmags]

I see the UK are in the middle of deporting an ex England player to South Africa because he got injured and had his contract cancelled. I reckon France could win it this year. If Scotland win two games I'll be happy. We have a total lack of depth in the game and it is really starting to get dull.

[bertie]

I predict a slow start for England, where then the press will compare every game with the win over NZ and slaughter them in print.

I also predict Danny Care having at least 2 yellow cards, with Farrell being good contender for another.

Would like to see Freddy Burns get a full run out.

Ireland will miss O'Driscoll.

Mags will moan about non-England born players playing for England.

[JonEve]

I predict a slow start for England, where then the press will compare every game with the win over NZ and slaughter them in print.

I also predict Danny Care having at least 2 yellow cards, with Farrell being good contender for another.

Would like to see Freddy Burns get a full run out.

Ireland will miss O'Driscoll.

Mags will moan about non-England born players playing for England.

Yup. Pretty much sums it up nicely.

[Fretwired]

I see the UK are in the middle of deporting an ex England player to South Africa because he got injured and had his contract cancelled. I reckon France could win it this year. If Scotland win two games I'll be happy. We have a total lack of depth in the game and it is really starting to get dull.

Probably a Scotsman at the Home Office with a grudge ...

[bertie]

[A5D5E5]

Good analysis.
Wales do struggle when first team players are out agreed, but the sheer amount of injuries we get is far in excess of most teams.
I think even NZ would struggle, if 4 of their locks were out as well as Macaw and carter.

No doubt any team would struggle with so many injuries in the same position. I am not sure you can count Priestland and Lydiate (?) as being quite so irreplaceable as carter and macaw though! I'm not sure that Wales get more injuries than other teams - it may well feel like that, but I remember thinking exactly the same a few years ago when England was going through a particularly bad injury crisis. This year, we have by few. Last year, didn't you keep pretty much an unchanged team throughout the six nations? I do think it seems to go in cycles.

[A5D5E5]

I see the UK are in the middle of deporting an ex England player to South Africa because he got injured and had his contract cancelled. I reckon France could win it this year. If Scotland win two games I'll be happy. We have a total lack of depth in the game and it is really starting to get dull.

Fourie is not being deported. The border agency quashed that story the day after it broke. Either the guy played them like puppets or the UKBA are incompetent. I know where my money is!

I feel for you re it starting to get dull - there is little joy in watching your team get beaten more often than not. One of the real strengths of the 5/6 nations is that any team can genuinely beat any other team on their day - even in 2001 to 2003 other teams fancied beating England. It would be a real shame if (say) Scotland began to fall away from the rest of the 5 nations and become closer to Italy in standard and results.