Suddenly all looking different.
Just reward against two professional fouls.
Blimey. France.
France looking pretty good for a first game in the tournament. Ireland looked completely out of it in the first half but did come back in the second.
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Took a while for Ireland to get tough and have some traction but France were incredibly good straight from the whistle for game one. Depth of squad and young talent very exciting.
Seemed like refs under instructions to limit and shorten TMO interactions. There were a couple of borderline decisions (?forward passes etc) but I liked them going on with the game unless it was obviously a howler. Better comms between ref, assistants and TMO I think. Trust the ref, get on with the game.
Bruce
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Forward passing is becoming the new straight scrum feeds……
Yep, that always gets me. 
When I played school rugby 40 years ago, it was always strict that the ball goes in straight at the scrum, at least a little bit, and it was between you and the hooker to work out your code. You got pinged if it didn’t.
Now it just gets zipped in to the second row!
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I see you as a scrum half in the Austin Healey mould, but with magnificent hair like Faf de Klerk.
The split screen ads are awful. It’s only a matter of time before rugby goes the way of NFL, with so many ad breaks that any immersion in the game is lost. It’s the same with blasting music at the crowd whenever there is a break in action, is that just to satisfy the social media addicts in the crowd that struggle to maintain attention on something for more than a microsecond?
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That pretty much sums it up. Though I preferred playing on the wing and keeping out of the way of the big lads. I just usually got picked as no.9 as I was the only one who knew what to do and to be a bit sneaky.
Perhaps it’s my TV but Scotland look like they are playing in lilac
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Pink. 
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…and they may have some red faces too. Italy scoring rather easily.
Bruce
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France were excellent last night, quite ominous for everyone else think.
I did not think the split screen adverts were a problem particularly as they only showed them in a break in play.
There would no have been much point burning your license in protest as it only funds the BBC not ITV.
Italy look impressive so far against Scotland.
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Thanks I do realise but my comment was meant in jest. No problem though. Enjoy the rugby.
Deserved win for Italy. They were better in the dry, and held on in the rain. Not a day Ashman will want to remember!
Bruce
Italy played well, dry(er) or wet. They just played better in the conditions, even though Scotland should have been favoured by a wet game. It was so wet, though it was a bit of a lottery in the 2nd half.
For me, the way Italy have been playing recently (e.g. beating Australia in the autumn) it has vindicated the requirement for patience in the development of a 6th team in the tournament.
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Twickenham crowd pretty quiet given England are almost 30 points up.
Just a shame we haven’t put 50 on them.
I think the crowd are feeling a bit sorry for Wales…Notttt.
So close though