Rugby union?

There were 3 players that should have covered once Smith went into the line, but were just walking. Whilst SA should win I do think England have an outside chance of upset.
Think they're all just absolutetly shagged after the constant mindless blitzing. I'm hoping England can find a bit more control over the blitz to conserve a bit of energy when it's not going to be effective.

I reckon England will play a similar game to last years World Cup vs. SA

Kick, chase for possession, and avoid the power of SA forwards / scrum

Oh and don't forget to over celeberate every decision that goes your way to wind up the opposition
Agreed. Looking JVP and Steward being brought into the starting lineup pretty much confirms this tactic to me. Hopefully we try and play a bit to provide some variation.

I think an England win is plausible, but unlikely. England have upped their game the last few times they've came up against the Boks, they're going to need to pull a blinder.
 
I wonder where we (England) go from here. It's another game which we could have but didn't win and looked hopeless in the second half, only getting 3 points in those 40 minutes.

Our defense looked shambolic and I don't know how much improvement can be made before the six nations next year. The attack looked good under Smith but how much was that his creative flair Vs an actual attacking structure. I noticed we didn't offload and just sent 1 up runners every ruck who got tackled behind the gainline.
 
Disapointed with the loss, but it was a pretty exciting game to watch.

I've seen people calling for Borthwick to be fired already, don't think that will fix anything right now personally, who would you replace him with anyway? I think I'd maybe like him to be a bit more open and frank with some of his comments, but overall England are definitely playing a more exciting brand of Rugby than they were a few years back - it's just not quite there yet, and made to lose worse with the teams we're playing.
People grumbling about the current losing streak... Yeah it isn't great, but look at the teams they've played - bar Australia all the top teams in the world. They aren't teams that I think anyone can realistically expect England to win. By all means grumble about the way we didn't win them, but making a sweeping decision based on a losing streak would be foolish. I think some coaching decisions need to be made, such as calming down on the Blitz defence and refining the attach with more deception - too many solo runners getting hit without support.

We seem to lack the players. Some of this is down to the squad choices, some down to RFU rules preventing players like Tom Willis playing, but for the most part. I don't think England have the players to compete with the top few teams in the world rankings. None of England's front row would even make the squad for South Africa or New Zealand, we've not got top tier scrum halves available, and the centre partnership just isn't cutting it. Add in the lack of depth - our bench impact is non existent.

Additionally, England seem generally sluggish to act and react. JVP's box kicks were a solid demo of this, no urgency at all. Maybe part of this is down to being knackered from the blitzing, but it's not all physical, theirs a fair bit of slowness too at times.


New Zealand vs France was brilliant too. So unstructured at times, lots of big counter attacks. Fantastic game as a neutral.
 
England have played 3 games with the new rush defence - and have learned zero acroiss those games. Still making the same mistakes they did against NZ (in fact I would say they are worse) defenders running out of the line only to miss the tackle completely or at the least, failing to prevent the ball being passed. Clearly having zero confidence in teh teamamtes inside them - coming over to cover and leaving big spaces out wide etc etc.

An "attack" that is basic 1 up rugby with zero flair - so easy for the Southern hemisphere teams to defend against. Probably the worst of all - numerous handling errors, turning the ball over time after time coupled with at times a non-existant defence.

The 6 nations is going to be painful if Borthwick doesnt accept that he hasnt got the players who can get their heads around how he suddenly wants us to play.

Oh and JVP is not an international level scrum half - plus bringing the bench on automatically at 60 mins+ whatever the state of the game seems to guarantee a loss.
 
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Watching the rugby advice - EE tv box £15/pm-24months or Sky add on £20pm no contract ?

Parents are resigning to rugby, there seem to be two options they already have a sky box and contract, but the EE tv box seems to be cheaper long term option,
but, it is an additional box, and maybe the catchup capabilities are poorer than via sky box, where you can record the match on local hard-disk and jump through, as you want.
 
Once again South Africa played poorly but got a win. Steward is a liability as last defender, to big and slow to turn, though brilliant under high ball. Maybe play him at wing? The Kolbe sidestep without moving was a comedy masterclass.
The Williams try as part due to good awareness, but Lawrence sold his team in the rush and Steward bought the eyes before the sidestep.
And why is Jamie George allowed to keep screaming at ref? Itoje had arm round neck and then was rolled by tackle. Yes he might not have intended to roll, but why did he have are around neck.
Not sure if Borthtwick will be around long. Moaning that the players aren't fit enough when is admitting you are not a good enough head coach. Losing Felix Jones and Aled Walters is worrying - with Jones saying it was about the uncertain setup speaks volumes.
 
I am going to go out on a limb and suggest the the games we have lost are against WC winners or finalists.

Some of our fluffs have been pretty awful, but I also think playing NZ and SA is never going to be easy... they also have points to prove, too.
 
I am going to go out on a limb and suggest the the games we have lost are against WC winners or finalists.

Some of our fluffs have been pretty awful, but I also think playing NZ and SA is never going to be easy... they also have points to prove, too.
Australia did not get out of their group and were ranked 9th. Losing a few games against best teams is understandable, but England are not learning from mistakes, dropping players for no good reason and don't seem to have a plan.
Rush defense takes a while to implement - it took Leinster a year and that's with playing weekly for months. But you would hope to see improvements since they started it in 6 nations.
 
I am going to go out on a limb and suggest the the games we have lost are against WC winners or finalists.

Some of our fluffs have been pretty awful, but I also think playing NZ and SA is never going to be easy... they also have points to prove, too.
Well I guess we will find out in a couple of months.
 
World players of the year nominees have announced and Ox Nche has been snubbed. He has been immense this year, upping his attacking game and crunching everyone in the scrums.
Nominees are Caelan Doris (IRE); Eben Etzebeth (RSA); Pieter-Steph du Toit (RSA); Cheslin Kolbe (RSA). Etzebeth now has 3 nominations - the first was in 2013. To have played so long and still be amongst the best is amazing.
 
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