The Rugby Thread

[talkshowhost86]

France were awful to be honest.

England v France is going to be a battle of who is slightly less crap on the day.

Will the proper Smith he fit for that one?

 

[TheHoddleWaddle]

France were awful to be honest.

England v France is going to be a battle of who is slightly less crap on the day.

Will the proper Smith he fit for that one?

Hope so. England in desperate need of some flair and someone who can read the game in the backs.

I'm in France with family for le crunch. There is 0 confidence on either side of the Channel... In fact. I'd say the french expect a loss. (Due to pessimism as opposed to England being any good)

 

[Dunc2610]

Desperately unlucky for Italy to miss beating the French with that last gasp penalty that hit the post.

Couldn't figure out what happened, ball was on the tee, he was prepping to kick and it just... Fell off?

 

[Finchyid]

Borthwick isn’t the answer, ford, care and some of the other elders need to be moved on. Need to just play the youth

 

[Dunc2610]

Borthwick isn’t the answer, ford, care and some of the other elders need to be moved on. Need to just play the youth

Care moved in, he's not long been allowed back... He's an excellent player for younger ones to learn from, same with a number of the older heads, you need them in the squad!

 

[talkshowhost86]

Borthwick isn’t the answer, ford, care and some of the other elders need to be moved on. Need to just play the youth

I'm not sure who you play instead of Care but its ridiculous that he's currently the answer.

I agree on Ford. He's not really good enough in any sense anymore.

I also don't see the real benefit of continuing with Daly and Slade.

 

[teok]

Kolisi said it took something like 14 games for SA to get the blitz defence by jones. I'm willing to wait on that.

The huge question mark to me is wigglesworth as attack coach. England players are just expected to run into brick walls relying on the players to try and do something individual. Compare this to ireland who have 2 or 3 players running off them, giving them options.

I would go for Sam Vesty who has massively impressed with northampton's attack. Wigglesworth has no experience at all in coaching and saracens despite their success had a very limited attacking game. It really feels like we are badly coached in attack.

Put mitchell (he is out for the whole tourney though) and smith back in at 9 and 10 and we should look a lot better.

As for borthwick. You can see where he is working. Set plays and set pieces we look decent. It just falls apart in open play and the players look confused as to what they are supposed to be doing.

Ireland will put a record thumping on us, despite what we do.

 

[Hans Moleman]

Not Sure Borthwick is going to ever get England to where they want to be. The game is moving away from the kick and defend style. South Africa played that way in the World Cup semi and final but the conditions were torrid for both so it suited it. I suspect they’re trying to evolve from that now with the appointment of Tony Browne as attack coach. England have a young core of exciting talented attacking players yet Borthwick seems like the opposite of what you’d want in a head coach to get the best out of them.

 

[RJR1949]

Over the weekend I watched the Wigan v Penrith Rugby League World Club Challenge and the Scotland v England Rugby Union International.

The rugby league game was faster, more intense, with more skill and fewer mistakes and the rules were intelligible.

I played Union and used to prefer it to League but no more.

 

[funkycoldmedina]

Over the weekend I watched the Wigan v Penrith Rugby League World Club Challenge and the Scotland v England Rugby Union International.

The rugby league game was faster, more intense, with more skill and fewer mistakes and the rules were intelligible.

I played Union and used to prefer it to League but no more.

Great game wasn't it? Fantastic result for Wigan.
So many of the better aspects in modern RU are coming directly from League. If you watch Ireland there's always 2 or 3 supporting runners ready for a slipped pass, that's Farrell and his league upbringing.

 

[UncleBuck]

Well at least the u20’s managed to get a draw against Ireland tonight, totally threw it away on the last phase with yet another penalty.
Have to say though the u20’s gameplay and management mirrors the senior team so much which was really surprising, they didn’t turn up in the first half and too many penalties conceded, I was expecting a lot more ball to hand but no, we wanted to play football
Good finish in the end but England really threw that away

 

[talkshowhost86]

Brilliant from Italy.

Thought they were going to let it slip away again but fantastic discipline in those final minutes.

 

[Dunc2610]

Beginning to think Borthwick doesn't like Quins players?

 

[TheChosenOne]

England impressive so far, Ireland need to react to the power

8-6

 

[talkshowhost86]

Much more ambition from England so far, but yet again already a very high penalty count.

But on the full plus-side Lawrence makes a massive difference to this England side. He's the player that Tuilagi hasn't been for a while. I want to see Marcus linking up with him ASAP.

This still won't go well for England ultimately today I suspect.

 

[PCozzie]

Same issue as against Scotland here for England. Scotland barely got into England's 22 yet scored three tries. Ireland have barely been in England's 22 but lead 9-8.

Edit: 12-8 Ireland. Same thing. Didn't even have to spend more than 10 seconds in England's 22 and it's another 3 points.

 

[talkshowhost86]

Same issue as against Scotland here for England. Scotland barely got into England's 22 yet scored three tries. Ireland have barely been in England's 22 but lead 9-8.

Edit: 12-8 Ireland. Same thing. Didn't even have to spend more than 10 seconds in England's 22 and it's another 3 points.

Yup.

Silly penalties. Handling errors at key moments. Ford missing a pretty straightforward penalty.

Ireland are one of the best teams in the world yet we seem to be doing as much damage to ourselves as they are at the moment.

 

[PCozzie]

Yup.

Silly penalties. Handling errors at key moments. Ford missing a pretty straightforward penalty.

Ireland are one of the best teams in the world yet we seem to be doing as much damage to ourselves as they are at the moment.

England will pay for it, because there's no way Ireland are going to be as passive in the second half as they have in the first. You know there's going to be a 10 minute spell where they score two or three tries.

Notwithstanding that, England have definitely been better and have reduced the handling errors somewhat but when they have made a mistake, it's been a crucial one.

 

[talkshowhost86]

England will pay for it, because there's no way Ireland are going to be as passive in the second half as they have in the first. You know there's going to be a 10 minute spell where they score two or three tries.

Notwithstanding that, England have definitely been better and have reduced the handling errors somewhat but when they have made a mistake, it's been a crucial one.

Yes I suspect Ireland will raise their game now, and even if they don't it looks like they have the ability to grind out the points as well.

Also worth just pointing out that Bundee Aki is terrifyingly good.

 

[TheChosenOne]

Finely poised I reckon.