BLUEMOMENT

The perfidious Frog has treated the flower of Brexitland with disdain. Let's hope our lot can do the same next Saturday.

Wonderful to watch - shame about Saturday - I thought Scotland were going to edge it.

Being Irish, I am not as upset as the rest of you about Hoggy dropping it, but I thought it was a dire game. It might have been different if Finn had been there? However I really enjoyed the first half this afternoon though it was a real disappointment that les frogs could not deny our friends their bonus point. Be annoying if they use it to win the championship. Perhaps time to think of a wee wager on Wales. ABE!

Some excellent pre-match comments by Brian O'Driscoll and Jonny Wilkinson concerning Finn Russell. I think he needs to grow up.

Perhaps you guys could have cut him a bit of slack, he played against Saracens in the afternoon, got beat, which feels twice as bad when it is them, and the result meant that instead of a home semi they have to go away to Clermont, probably one of the hardest places to win. Got himself up to Scotland as ordered to have a drink with his team mates,got in to an altercation and left in a huff before 22-00.
I am not sure how he was feeling that day but he had had a much more unpleasant Sunday than the rest who had probably been sitting around all day. Which of us after a really bad day at work has not felt like having a few?

The points raised by both Brian O Driscoll and Jonny Wilkinson were really to do with remembering that no-one is bigger than the game, that the team is what matters and not your own personal feelings and that unless you wise up fairly quickly, you are missing games you will never get back because your life as a top flight player is a short one.
Cannot argue with any of those, personally.
I also think it is impossible to put ourselves, try as we might, into the shoes of International level players. I played county rugby about 125 years ago when it was a far different game - When we played Lancashire, Yorkshire or Cheshire we played against Internationally capped players - the difference was huge - I think with the advent of the professional game, its grown ever more so and at that level, having a bad day at the office or having a personality issue with the coach (which I think is what this is all about) is just something you have to suck up.
And shame on you for not being gutted when Stuart Hogg fumbled

Did he fumble? he immediately celebrated the try,or was he trying it on, surely not?
If the SRU had treated THe senior Russel fairly perhaps his son would have more respect for it. It must be difficult working for an organization that victimised your father while at the same time copping an enormous pay rise for the directors involved,which they justified as a performance bonus. I have a feeling that professional sportsmen may have some difficulty in maturing in the goldfish bowl they live in. most coaches recognize that, It seems clear that Finn has limited respect for Townsend, but he is trapped. When I had a boss I did not respect, in order to progress my career I just took steps to find employment elsewhere,can not be nice not to have that option.
Not including Finn Russell in this weeks squad has probably blown any chance of resolution but I am sure his club will be delighted and England are probably not unhappy either.