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'Scotland in a Grand Slam decider...': The Rugby Pod predictions

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by Getty Images)

With giddy Guinness Six Nations atmosphere in the air, The Rugby Pod has been busy in this week’s latest episode giving its unique take on the likely outcome of the three upcoming round one matches in Paris, Dublin and Edinburgh while also nominating who will be the likely title champions when the trophy will be handed out in mid-March.   

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Rounding off a show that featured an interview with new Wales skipper Dan Biggar, co-hosts Andy Goode and Jim Hamilton finished up by initially having a guess at how this weekend’s series of eagerly awaited matches might pan out, especially the game at Murrayfield featuring Goode’s England and Hamilton’s Scotland. Here is how their Six Nations predictions panned out:   

FRANCE vs ITALY (Sunday)
GOODE: The big one. There is only one way this is going. I am going to say France by 30. That’s conservative as well I think. 

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HAMILTON: Yeah, I think conservative week one game one. Games in Paris, though, I am going to go 32-6 France. 

IRELAND vs WALES (Saturday)
HAMILTON: I am going to say 28-12 Ireland. 

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GOODE: As much as I want Wales to do well, I’m a quarter Welsh… I am going to say Ireland by 20 points. 

SCOTLAND vs ENGLAND (Saturday)
GOODE: How much is Scotland going to win by? I am not going to lie, I am pretty nervous about this. Whereas last year I thought we would win the Calcutta Cup at Twickenham I think Scotland are favourites. I really do. 

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HAMILTON: Just hit us with a score.   

GOODE: I am going to say England will win it by four. 

HAMILTON: He can’t bring himself to say it. 

GOODE: No, I can’t. As much as you’re favourites, England by four. Marcus Smith, the wizard. 

HAMILTON: This shows how much you don’t give a s*** about your match pint predictions.  

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GOODE: I’d rather lose face and say England are going to win even if Scotland do win.

HAMILTON: I can’t trust the Met Office app, so I ain’t even going to talk about weather, I am going to talk an all-out score, 24-18 Scotland. It is going to be a cracker, well I hope it is… The weather says precipitation. Come wind, rain, snow or shine we are winning. It just depends by how much but I have gone for Scotland by six. C’mon Scotland.   

Having outlined their respective round one predictions, the conversation then switched over to who would win the 2022 Six Nations title.

GOODE: A really tough one to call, isn’t it? Even the Scots, I think they had their best ever Six Nations last year in terms of wins and they finished fourth. 

HAMILTON: Joint third.

GOODE: Well, fourth. Pre-tournament, you are asking me looking at the fixtures, France have got the best run of fixtures. If they can dust Scotland away from home, they have got Ireland in Paris, they have got England in Paris and the form they were on in the autumn, I think France are favourites for me.

HAMILTON: Ireland-Scotland, Grand Slam decider, last game of the tournament. 

GOODE: Scotland in a Grand Slam decider?! The only decider that will be is if Ireland have still got the Grand Slam on the line. Scotland won’t be playing for a Grand Slam, they will be trying to stop Ireland win the Grand Slam. 

HAMILTON: Scotland will win their first two games and then…

GOODE: Lose to Italy.

HAMILTON: Right, probably win all of them and lose to Italy. I want to say Scotland, I am going to say Ireland to win a Grand Slam decider, last game. I just think because Ireland are at home and we struggle against Ireland, Ireland will just pip us by one point and it will be a controversial decision that should have never been.

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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