RugbyRebels

The EMB has been having a pointless conversation about what they should be aiming for/targeting/expecting/hoping for, so I thought we might as well do the same.

First things first, to pre-empt the bores, we should be aiming to win every game and we'll all be gutted when/if we lose and no doubt be able to point to things we should have done differently.

My personal view is that:

4-5 wins - Have to be pretty ecstatic

3 wins - In a way will be disappointing but only because we have reached that level a few times now. It is still a decent result as it will mean we have either beaten at least one of Wales or Ireland away or we will have beaten both of England and France at home.

2 wins - Will be a bit deflating but doesn't necessarily mean a lot has gone completely wrong. A lot will come down to performances as it is perfectly possible to play well and lose against 4 of the teams.

1 win - Worrying. Even given what I said above, if we play well we should be winning at least one of our non Italy games.

0 wins - Nightmare - Italy are going to start winning at some stage but they are still not good.

Hard to expand on that much to be honest. I always feel like form goes out the window at the start of a new tournament. Come round 2 the only thing in the world that will matter is how we played in round 1.

0 Wins wouldnbe a disaster. No point sugar coating it.

1 Win - Major disappointment. Could potentially be mitigated, but only marginally, if we are excellent and other sides just better.

2 Wins - disappointing. Will depend on performances. Especially if we just bend over in Ireland.

3 Wins - probably the expectation

4 Wins - would be a welcome surprise.

5 Wins - lets not kid ourselves. It would be the greatest grand slam in our history and the biggest rugby shock for a while.

Not much to add, save that Covid may cause a re-appraisal. I hope not, but worth mentioning.

And also that while it’s about us and the number of wins, I feel another bottom half finish would be a failure.

Cameo wrote:The EMB has been having a pointless conversation about what they should be aiming for/targeting/expecting/hoping for, so I thought we might as well do the same.

First things first, to pre-empt the bores, we should be aiming to win every game and we'll all be gutted when/if we lose and no doubt be able to point to things we should have done differently.

My personal view is that:

4-5 wins - Have to be pretty ecstatic

3 wins - In a way will be disappointing but only because we have reached that level a few times now. It is still a decent result as it will mean we have either beaten at least one of Wales or Ireland away or we will have beaten both of England and France at home.

2 wins - Will be a bit deflating but doesn't necessarily mean a lot has gone completely wrong. A lot will come down to performances as it is perfectly possible to play well and lose against 4 of the teams.

1 win - Worrying. Even given what I said above, if we play well we should be winning at least one of our non Italy games.

0 wins - Nightmare - Italy are going to start winning at some stage but they are still not good.

its always tricky. I agree with your pre-emptive comments. Can we add to to them and dismiss the annual "its the best squad we'd ever had"

Obviously winning no games would be bad, then again away games are never a gimmee, and Italy will be desperate for a win, any win in the 6N given how long since they last won one. We disregard their pride and passion at our peril, not just us who have that.

And one win would be disappointing, very. Again we have 3 away games, and the 2 at home not going to easy.
Having poured a large bucket of cold water caution and reality, I'm not finished. What I want to see is performances. Performances that we can be proud of, and if we perform as we can will will win games. If we perform as we can and lose to a better team, we need to suck it up, look how to get better again, all to build toward RWC 2023.
Not performing and losing games we shouldn't because we don't perform as we should in itself might mean some decisions as to who needs to be moved out easier and more obvious

So my expectations are as they always are not so much about results but performances. I want results, but I demand performances - from the team, the individual players and the systems we use

Cameo wrote:The EMB has been having a pointless conversation about what they should be aiming for/targeting/expecting/hoping for, so I thought we might as well do the same. .

link?

I’m not sure if that was a sarcastic request or not, but the conversation was scattered among several others. Though it was all prompted by a statement that anything less than a grandslam is failure.

I’m not sure if that was a sarcastic request or not, but the conversation was scattered among several others. Though it was all prompted by a statement that anything less than a grandslam is failure.

I’m not sure if that was a sarcastic request or not, but the conversation was scattered among several others. Though it was all prompted by a statement that anything less than a grandslam is failure.

I’m not sure if that was a sarcastic request or not, but the conversation was scattered among several others. Though it was all prompted by a statement that anything less than a grandslam is failure.

I’m not sure if that was a sarcastic request or not, but the conversation was scattered among several others. Though it was all prompted by a statement that anything less than a grandslam is failure.

I’m not sure if that was a sarcastic request or not, but the conversation was scattered among several others. Though it was all prompted by a statement that anything less than a grandslam is failure.

I’m not sure if that was a sarcastic request or not, but the conversation was scattered among several others. Though it was all prompted by a statement that anything less than a grandslam is failure.

I’m not sure if that was a sarcastic request or not, but the conversation was scattered among several others. Though it was all prompted by a statement that anything less than a grandslam is failure.

Just to reemphasise the point.....

Pardon?

septic 9 wrote:So my expectations are as they always are not so much about results but performances. I want results, but I demand performances - from the team, the individual players and the systems we use

Same for me. I feel we have to have another year like last year to establish ourselves, we had a large contingent of Lions last time out and this is the chance to prove that it was built on class and not a sudden spike on form

Mikey Brown wrote:I’m not sure if that was a sarcastic request or not, but the conversation was scattered among several others. Though it was all prompted by a statement that anything less than a grandslam is failure.

it was a genuine request.I assumed the EMB was the Edinburgh message board, but see nothing there (as usual )

So if not that, what, and where?

It's the English Message Board

Which Tyler wrote:Pardon?

Tongue in cheek, reference to the 6x posting glitch that's all..

Croft_No.5 wrote:

Which Tyler wrote:Pardon?

Tongue in cheek, reference to the 6x posting glitch that's all..

ermmm... so was mine

stevedog1980 wrote:It's the English Message Board

ah, tks

They can talk?

septic 9 wrote:

stevedog1980 wrote:It's the English Message Board

ah, tks

They can talk?

well they can write. Not sure can read or remember though.

Don't seem to have read that Barbeary has a hammie problem, or remember that he is made of glass.
Gave up at that, so didn't see the usual over hyped stuff. Have they ordered the Grand Slam T shirts yet?

General Zod wrote:Not much to add, save that Covid may cause a re-appraisal. I hope not, but worth mentioning.

And also that while it’s about us and the number of wins, I feel another bottom half finish would be a failure.

To me, unless we win it, the number of wins matters more than the table. I know we finished fourth last year but if you win three games and almost win the other two, I think you can consider yourself to be one of the better teams.

Well, you beat England. Where does that rate in terms of expectations?