Italy - Holy S**t!!!

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bangorboy
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Italy - Holy S**t!!!

Post by bangorboy »

What a match - ridiculous offloads, massive hits and kept their penalty count lower than normal... fair play Italy :salut: :salut: :salut:
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Shan
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Re: Italy - Holy S**t!!!

Post by Shan »

Normally I'd be cheering for France, except when they play us, but I have to say I was more than a little on Italy's side today. Outstanding display from them and some great rugby to watch. Parrisse as usual was excellent but the outhalf Orquera was absolutely brilliant as well as to be fair were most of the team.

Delighted for them and it will be interesting to see the reaction from France. At least they had the excuses in early this week anyway.

Italy's third ever win against France which is the same number they have over us.....but 2 in the 6N v France is telling.

Would love to see Italy beat Wales and Scotland as well. It would give them such a great lift and encouragement for the future.


It does probably need to be said that France did not look at the races today, whether that was because of that outlined by Saint-Andre, complacency / arrogance or because of Italy is the open question.....possibly a bit of all three.
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Re: Italy - Holy S**t!!!

Post by Lurgan Lad »

Think when France joined the 5 nations they got beat all the time, but slowly got better. The Italians are heading the same way, crucial their two rabo sides continue to improve to really establish the sport in Italy. Great result though, well deserved and a really great team performance.
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Re: Italy - Holy S**t!!!

Post by namron »

I think Italy have improved in spite of the Rabo sides lack of achievement especially regards the new Zebre franchise which superseded Aironi and alienated a lot of supporters. The foreign leagues have fostered Italys star players and i think it will be a long time before most tof the top Italians will be Rabo bound. Nonetheless 6 nations blown wide open Avanti Italia :cheers:
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Indiana
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Re: Italy - Holy S**t!!!

Post by Indiana »

Absolutely brilliant for Italy, I really thought they looked the part today. If you walked in half way through you would have had difficulty figuring out which team was France.

the only sour point was Nigel Owens giving a yellow card two minutes from the end. Sorry ref but I didnt hear any warnings so how so you stand over that decision! Looked very dodgy to me!

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Re: Italy - Holy S**t!!!

Post by breakdown »

Parisse would walk into any team. Played really really well today, he was everywhere.

Wouldnt mind Orquera as back up to PJ... :stir:
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Re: Italy - Holy S**t!!!

Post by Cap'n Grumpy »

Indiana wrote:

Absolutely brilliant for Italy, I really thought they looked the part today. If you walked in half way through you would have had difficulty figuring out which team was France.

the only sour point was Nigel Owens giving a yellow card two minutes from the end. Sorry ref but I didnt hear any warnings so how so you stand over that decision
I have been a big fan of Nigel Owens, but recently I have been disappointed by his reffing and today was a massive disappointment. I thought he only reffed one side today - looked to penalise Italy for offside, but the French got away with it. To be fair there was one kick where the Italian chaser was a good 10m offside and got away with that too, but in general at the breakdown he was constantly warning the Italians, but never said a word to the French even when they were blatantly ofside. He was also very lenient on side entry by les Francais. It came as no surprise that he produced the yellow near the end, and but for the ball going out of play, I was thinking he'd find another way of giving France a penalty just to keep the game alive.

Perhaps that is unfair, but it was the impresion I had. Was it only me (being biased towards the underdog) or did anyone else think similar?

BTW - Well done Italy!
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Shan
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Re: Italy - Holy S**t!!!

Post by Shan »

Not just you Grumps. I have become so accustomed to Italy being rode by refs that it is no longer a surprise. In their game v NZ a couple of years ago they utterly wolfed the NZ scrum but the ref wouldn't accept that and absolutely crucified them with disgraceful decisions. Of course it isn't just Italy who face such unjustifiable treatment v NZ as we know.....but poor old Italy face this in pretty much every game they play v Top 10 teams.
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Re: Italy - Holy S**t!!!

Post by Cap'n Grumpy »

Shan wrote:Not just you Grumps. I have become so accustomed to Italy being rode by refs that it is no longer a surprise. In their game v NZ a couple of years ago they utterly wolfed the NZ scrum but the ref wouldn't accept that and absolutely crucified them with disgraceful decisions. Of course it isn't just Italy who face such unjustifiable treatment v NZ as we know.....but poor old Italy face this in pretty much every game they play v Top 10 teams.
Have seen it before too, Shan. What was your impression today?
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Re: Italy - Holy S**t!!!

Post by ruckover »

I love to see the little Italians doing well - so often the whipping boys, to beat the French giants again is phenomenal. If they can win another match either v Wales or Scotland then it will be a very successful tournament for them.
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Re: Italy - Holy S**t!!!

Post by Cap'n Grumpy »

ruckover wrote:I love to see the little Italians doing well
Have you seen the size of some of them "little" italians? :shock: :lol:
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Shan
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Re: Italy - Holy S**t!!!

Post by Shan »

Sorry grumps I was feeling so outraged by thoughts of all the historical injustices I forgot to comment on today's performance. :D

I agree with you. France could do pretty much as they pleased and Owens was happy for them to be offside, off their feet and conduct any other illegal activity while constantly giving Italy a hard time. Of course that doesn't mean I am blind to Italy being well able to step over the line themselves and sometimes even get away with it but it is like Owens had two eyes on them(one of which may not have been fully functional all the time) but just trusted France to stick within the Laws without requiring any observation.
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Re: Italy - Holy S**t!!!

Post by Snipe Watson »

French just wandered around today. Even in the last few minutes, they were still in no rush.
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Re: Italy - Holy S**t!!!

Post by ardsrugbyards »

I think the Italian fans need a mention too, fair play to them every year the numbers grow and it was good to see that they got good value for their Euro today.
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Re: Italy - Holy S**t!!!

Post by bazzaj »

Italy were better than usual and fair play to them but France got what they deserved.
Once again France were infuriatingly stupid with tactics,attitude and selection.
Playing Europes form centre in Fofana on the wing for one.
He naturally kept tracking the ball and clearing rucks denying the French width on the right.
Then not picking Europes form 9 in Parra who organises brilliantly and rarely misses a kick.
Baffling that one.
They select the ever flakey Michalak at 10 whose game management and temprament is always in question.
Then they take off Picamoles the one player who was giving them any sort of go forward ball.

We get the hump when we dont pick to form but the head and shoulders form team in Europe this season are Clermont who had one player selected out of position.
I appreciate that this is the guts of the team that stuffed the Aussies in the autumn but I got the impression that was more of a reflection of how poor the Aussies were.
The only surprise is that people were surprised at that result as I looked at the French team before the game and hoped that the same side would be picked against us.
Bet it isnt.
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