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 second round of action in the 6 Nations has our Expert Panel feeling good, some more than others. With the #6N only totaling only 5 weeks of action, any bad week can make or break a season. Even too many 2-1 weeks can do you in. Let’s see how they 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 England versus Italy match proved to be much more of a contest [until it wasn’t] than many expected.
-Ireland had to dig deep against France in a match that if it was 5 minutes longer, might have gone the way of Les Bleus.
-The Scotland v Wales game made all the difference in the standings. For most of the game the Scots kept you thinking they would – or had to breakthrough – and get the win. By the time they did breakthrough, it was too late and Wales had the victory.
Loyd: 6-0, with the shame of getting the Pick of the Week wrong and taking his Pick of the Week record to 1-1. The Englishman remains perfect through his first six picks. He has shown his loyalty to Her Majesty and has been rewarded for it. The only blemish was him getting the Pick of the Week wrong. He dismissed the amount of fight in the Scots and paid for it.
Hall: 6-0, with the shame of getting the Pick of the Week wrong and taking his Pick of the Week record to 0-2. Very much like his English/American compatriot, Mr.Loyd, Mr. Hall‘s backing of the English has seen him rise to the top of the standings. Unfortunately, his Pick of the Week was also wrong, like his compatriot’s. He backed an Irish victory but by 2 points, too many. As narrow a point spread to get a PotW wrong as you will ever see.
JWB: 5-1, with the bonus of getting the Pick of the Week right and taking his Pick of the Week record to 1-1. Picking England to win by 6 as his Pick of the Week was a huge boost to future title prospects. He joined the ranks of the round 2 unblemished by backing the physical Welsh to top the Scots.
Harrington: 4-2, with the bonus of getting the Pick of the Week right and taking his Pick of the Week record to 2-0. The Castres-residing writing machine caught some members of the Panel off-guard by not picking France to win. This, along with the rampant form of the Irish under Joe Schimdt, was probably the reason the rest of the staff didn’t. Indeed, if our Top14 expert doesn’t back them, then why should anyone else? Mr. Harrington likes to take the road less traveled for his Pick of the Week, opting for the tough to call matches. As such he just managed to get it right as Ireland won as he predicted.
Blaber: 4-2, with the shame of getting the Pick of the Week wrong and taking his Pick of the Week record to 1-1. Junoirdamus is done. The streak earned yours truly that name last year has gone and does not look like it is coming back. That said, my weekend wasn’t that bad except my Scottish ancestors clouded my judgment. To be honest, that loss to Wales was not that horrible and others suffered the same fate. I didn’t take the easy game of England v Italy, instead expecting a huge backlash from Ireland after a slow week one. The French didn’t comply and kept the game much closer than 10 points I wrongfully predicted.
Yeats: 3-3 with the bonus of getting the Pick of the Week right and taking his Pick of the Week record to 1-1. Yeats’ had the worst week of anybody. His Irish bias had him pick Italy in a game they had no hope of winning. He of course backed Ireland against the Frogs but he also made it his Pick of the Week and was let down in that aspect. The Scotland-Wales game was a tough call which he was on the wrong side of.
2 down and 3 to go. We are nearing the midway point and for each as still early but there is lot on the line for each member of the RWU Panel. Round 2 is coming 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, DJ Eberle, James Harrington, Nick Hall, James Harrington, Jamie Wall, Jake Frechette, Scheenagh Harrington, Jamie Loyd, Cody Kuxmann, Karen Ritter and Declan Yeats, respectively.
And as always, stay low and keep pumping those legs.
