Dirty Laundry, Underdogs and Annihilation

Posted at 13:11 on Sep 23, 2011 by Muscle Blog

Confessions of a professional rugby player..

I’ve sat next to the same guys in the changing room for the last ten years and if Danny Grewcock dropped five line-outs in one match, I wouldn’t need to tell him he’d had a bad game.

People have got carried away with this phrase ‘brutal honesty.’ You need to find a balance between saying the right thing and pointing the finger for the sake of it. That doesn’t impress the coaches.

I’m not keen on any dressing room laundry appearing in public, especially telling a journalist that some of your brothers in arms need to be named and shamed. The only reason they do it is to appease external pressures.

We’re not saying England aren’t good enough, these players are some of the best in the world so they’d be pretty pissed off at the moment, but they will be confident they can address the penalty count.

England are only 20 minutes away from hammering somebody. Even at 90% of their potential, they should hammer Romania by half-time. England should be annihilating them everywhere, at the scrum, line-out, breakdown, and on the scoreboard.

Europe’s elite set to face off...

Already people can’t wait for the potential all-European quarter-finals.
 
If Wales can get everyone fit they have the complete team. Key guys like Jamie Roberts are back firing and dominating defences like he did for the British & Irish Lions.

If Wales can get Gethin Jenkins back on the front-row, they’re a match for anyone up front. Gethin’s a phenomenon in propping terms and like having a fourth back-row forward.
 
Ireland is the team to avoid. Their recent form has been poor and really shouldn’t have beaten Australia, but they play with a chip on their shoulder and count themselves as full-time underdogs, which makes them very dangerous.

England will be relishing the chance to play France because we beat France at World Cup’s and I think they’ll do the same again!

Flat’s predictions

England v Romania - England to win 65-6
Wales v Namibia - Wales to win by 50 points
Ireland v Russia - Ireland to win by 30 points
Argentina v Scotland - Scotland 19-12 Argentina