The RWU Expert Panel is comprised of Rugby Rain Man Junoir Blaber, England’s Jamie Loyd, East Midlands man Nick Hall, infamous Ireland National, Declan Yeats, Englishman-in-Castres, James Harrington and contrived Kiwi Co-Host, Johnathan Wicklow Barberie.
NEW YORK, NY – The third round of the 6 Nations was the chaos round. Usually when a 6 Nations round review of our Expert Panel‘s picks is put together, it’s a rather straight forward process and requires spicing up of the storylines. This round was similar to a spicy curry dish from your favorite Thai or Indian restaurant. The round started with this panel in this order Loyd, Hall, JWB, Harrington, Blaber and Yeats but it finished very different. The members of the panel with celtic heritage, JWB, Yeats and Blaber had a better round than the other 3 of English heritage. The storylines write themselves but let’s see how the experts fared in our 6 Nations Picks Review.
Here is the revised picks spreadsheet with the results of the match-ups. Incorrect predictions are in red.
-The Scotland versus Italy match was tense and closer than many expected. The result shocked the whole panel.
-Wales showed more fortitude than their hosts France in a match that had French fans and their coach voicing their frustrations. It split the panel.
The Ireland v England game was another one that split the panel. It was a huge clash and the split went down to each experts family ties.
JWB: 7-2, with the shame of getting the Pick of the Week right and taking his Pick of the Week record to 1-2. JWB insisted he hit the wrong key and picked Scotland to win by 5 and not 8. It didn’t matter as the Scots lost courtesy of a poor punt to touch. He backed Warren Gatland’s side against the fickle French and got it right. He made his Irish mom proud by picking the Irish to top the English. It was that win that took him to the top of the standings.
Hall: 7-2, with the shame of getting the Pick of the Week wrong and taking his Pick of the Week record to 0-3. Mr. Hall’s pick of the week drought countinues. He only has two rounds to avoid going 0 for 5. Like his fellow experts the unstoppable Italian forward determination was not predicted by anyone. He also backed Gatland-ball against the unpredictable French. What denied him sole possession of first place was his loyalty to the crown. The English fell to Ireland so Mr. Hall is tied for the lead.
Loyd: 6-3, with the shame of getting the Pick of the Week wrong and taking his Pick of the Week record to 1-2. The Noble Englishman’s perfect streak came to a screeching halt with a winless weekend. The knight fell of his high horse in spectacular manner. He chose to back the Scots and they betrayed him. He speaks a little French so he goes with Les Bleus and they leave him twisting in the wind. He then shows his English arrogance (Yeats’ words) and makes England his Pick of the Week. It all went horribly wrong for the young man as he had of the worst weeks an expert panel member can have.
Yeats: 5-4with the bonus of getting the Pick of the Week right and taking his Pick of the Week record to 2-1. Never count out the man from Munster. He came back by sticking to his formula and backing the Celts. Scotland’s disappointing loss was balanced by the joy of the Welsh victory. There are now words to express his joy of England’s defeat at the hands of the Irish and the win covered his pick of the week point spread as well. He was doing the Irish jig all over the house.
Blaber: 5-4 with the shame of getting the Pick of the Week wrong and taking his Pick of the Week record to 1-2. Mssr. Blaber is in a weird spot. With 6 games left and 2 rounds to play he is not quite out of it. However, he is not quite in it either. He has Scottish roots so be backed Scotland and is no longer a fan of Scotland fly-half Pete Horne. The loss of Mike Brown made it easy for him to back an Irish victory. The key for him was Wales v France. He backed Les Bleus and came away dejected. The game would had moved him into one game of the lead.
Harrington: 5-4, with the bonus of getting the Pick of the Week right and taking his Pick of the Week record to 2-0. We often talk about how one bad week can change everything. That became true for the English heritage, Castres-residing writing machine. With 2 rounds left to go, this was a terrible round to get every pick wrong. Mr. Loyd was top of the pack so he only landed in 3rd while going 0 for 3 has put Mssr. Harrignton in last place. 3 games out of 1st with 6 games to go. Things are not looking good for him.
2 rounds, 6 games left to go. There is literally all to play for, for each member of the RWU Panel. Round 4 will come up fast, so stay tuned!
That’s it for now. Feel free to comment below, look for and “Like” our Facebook Rugby Wrap Up Page and follow us on Twitter@: RugbyWrapUp, Junoir Blaber, James Harrington, Jamie Wall, Nick Hall, DJ Eberle, Jake Frechette, Scheenagh Harrington, Jamie Loyd, Cody Kuxmann, Karen Ritter and Declan Yeats, respectively.
And as always, stay low and keep pumping those legs.
