Caporegime
Not entirely convinced that gerome garces is a neutral.
Rugby union?
- Thread starter Unseul
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Yes, a strange game but a good finish and I'm not complaining about the result.
This one's heating up nicely too but I don't mind who wins, having both English and Irish ancestry.
Caporegime
Cian Healey didn't ground that for me.
Great game so far.
Great game so far.
Soldato
Can we start a petition to have Garces never ref a game again please?
Caporegime
So many forward passes by Ireland and the Irish commentator complains about the one questionable pass England make!
Caporegime
Oh Slade, you sneaky devil!
Caporegime
Great game. Garces goes to video for everything to check for reasons that he can disallow English scores.
Caporegime
He did everything he could to ensure an Irish win in that.
I was super surprised by Englands strong showing away in Ireland, they sent a big message to rest of the competition. England's back with a bang.
Happy with Scotland's win against Italy. Not the perfect showing, but dominated when we needed to and got the BP which was the important thing. I don't think turning off at the end is too concerning going forward.
Last night was just complete madness, not sure what to take away from that game.
Happy with Scotland's win against Italy. Not the perfect showing, but dominated when we needed to and got the BP which was the important thing. I don't think turning off at the end is too concerning going forward.
Last night was just complete madness, not sure what to take away from that game.
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I only saw the first half of the England game as I felt tired and went back to bed to get another few hours kip before my night shift but that first half was pretty good.
England would have beaten anyone yesterday, brilliant performance. Ireland are all about controlling the game, keeping the pressure on, and not making mistakes. England got it spot on, go out of the blocks at 100mph and get a lead and don't drop the intensity, force them to chase the game,which they aren't good at.
Did not expect to come away with 5 points from Dublin. Hugely significant that Ireland were denied a BP as well. Game on.
Did not expect to come away with 5 points from Dublin. Hugely significant that Ireland were denied a BP as well. Game on.
As others have said, big weekend of rugby! France really did throw the first game away... excellent decision making and tactics in the first half, which would have closed out the game easily, but they abandoned tactics, took too many risks, and subsequently threw it away. No idea why Vahaamahina decided it was better to throw a miss 2 pass rather than crash in, especially considering his personal attributes and the scoreline... also no idea why Eddie Butler kept saying Ntamack threw the pass... how do you mix up them up, with 6 inch height difference and 40kg weight difference, and only one wearing a scrumcap?!? Really feel for Huget spilling the ball near his own line!
Honestly, not a lot to say from the Italy vs Scotland game, other than Italy will continue to struggle until they find a better scrum half.
England vs Ireland... wow, just wow. The first 90 seconds was simply perfect. Overall, we beat Ireland using their own tactics, plus a whole new level of intensity in contact. The defensive line speed was awesome, and all but 2 kicks in the whole game were perfect by England. Personally, Mako's try was good; Curry should not have received a yellow card (it was only just a penalty, but I don't have issue with a penalty); and Itoje's controversial penalty where he took out Earls would never have happened if an Irish player had not blocked May chasing the kick (if May had competed for the ball then Itoje would have held back), so they brought it on themselves! The match has shown that Ireland really don't like chasing a game, and don't cope well when they are not controlling the tempo. However, one win/loss does not change everything... Ireland are still a world class team, and England are not certain to win the Six Nations. The England performance was amazing, and the most intense and physical performance I think I've ever seen, but I wonder/worry if they can maintain that intensity week after week without tiring and suffering a high injury count... can they keep it up through a WC tournament?
Honestly, not a lot to say from the Italy vs Scotland game, other than Italy will continue to struggle until they find a better scrum half.
England vs Ireland... wow, just wow. The first 90 seconds was simply perfect. Overall, we beat Ireland using their own tactics, plus a whole new level of intensity in contact. The defensive line speed was awesome, and all but 2 kicks in the whole game were perfect by England. Personally, Mako's try was good; Curry should not have received a yellow card (it was only just a penalty, but I don't have issue with a penalty); and Itoje's controversial penalty where he took out Earls would never have happened if an Irish player had not blocked May chasing the kick (if May had competed for the ball then Itoje would have held back), so they brought it on themselves! The match has shown that Ireland really don't like chasing a game, and don't cope well when they are not controlling the tempo. However, one win/loss does not change everything... Ireland are still a world class team, and England are not certain to win the Six Nations. The England performance was amazing, and the most intense and physical performance I think I've ever seen, but I wonder/worry if they can maintain that intensity week after week without tiring and suffering a high injury count... can they keep it up through a WC tournament?
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Well summed up stu!!
Also what was more than impressive was they never gave away to many penalties to irelandTheir defence was absolutly insane yesterday, there should have been atleast 3 or 4 man of the match awards.
I was so happy to see manu tuilagi back on the field, when he is on form he is awesome imo.
Roll on next weekend, every single match is worth watching win or lose.
Also what was more than impressive was they never gave away to many penalties to irelandTheir defence was absolutly insane yesterday, there should have been atleast 3 or 4 man of the match awards.
I was so happy to see manu tuilagi back on the field, when he is on form he is awesome imo.
Roll on next weekend, every single match is worth watching win or lose.
Soldato
Much happier with Mitchell's new defensive pattern over Gustards, far more stable and allows England to use their natural attributes with more chance of suffocating the opposition. Will be interesting to see if he's allowed for 2 sweepers when Wales or Scotland have worked out they need to go over the top to counteract the linespeed.
Huge performance from England there. A lot of fun to watch.
Perhaps not a huge surprise that having more effective carriers makes the game easier though. Itoje is now out, but in principle, swap Launch for Kruis, and that gives yet another gainline carrier.
Let's hope England keep it going.
Perhaps not a huge surprise that having more effective carriers makes the game easier though. Itoje is now out, but in principle, swap Launch for Kruis, and that gives yet another gainline carrier.
Let's hope England keep it going.
You raise a good point about other teams working out the system... I believe that is one of the reasons for our poor Six Nations last year... Eddie came in and put new systems in place that had great success through 2017, then in the 2018 Six Nations we got found out that we were not properly committing to rucks because emphasis was on really fast ball, Scotland and France "over-committed" in the rucks and either turned the ball over or disrupted us so much that the extra men in the loose were on the back foot and ineffective. I hope our current system does not get worked out until after the World Cup!!!
Gustard did seem to be blitz, blitz and if the blitz isn't working, blitz faster.
I think however, having Farrell at 10 helps, at 12, he follows Guzzies idea of blitz hard and fast, and doesn't really worry about what's actually going on, leaving the other players in a bit of trouble, especially as he misses a fair few.
I think however, having Farrell at 10 helps, at 12, he follows Guzzies idea of blitz hard and fast, and doesn't really worry about what's actually going on, leaving the other players in a bit of trouble, especially as he misses a fair few.
Soldato
I wouldn't call Gustards defences a traditional Union Blitz, they Blitz the first receiver plus the man out and the man in then it's down to the rest of the team to form the secondary drift line. The problem is it needs complete understanding and trust of all the players and an exceptional level of fitness to do it all game, it also allows far to much field penetration outside of the Blitz point which was England's downfall the last couple of years. Gustards defences are great at club level where you have the players all the time and it's drilled constantly but at International level it just will not work due to that lack of drilling time and the far greater strike threat when the opposition are into wide space with the drift trying to cover across.
Mitchell has taken England back to where they are happiest, the White Wall and a tight five who love putting their bodies on the line for rest of the team, it's that English Rugby DNA that EJ keeps talking about.
Oddly enough with Itoji out and probably Launchbury in (how many World class 2nd row does England have right now!
) that won't weaken the White Wall, if anything it gets stronger because Launch will just spend the whole game putting his body where it'll hurt him the most because he's both a work horse and a war horse 
Mitchell has taken England back to where they are happiest, the White Wall and a tight five who love putting their bodies on the line for rest of the team, it's that English Rugby DNA that EJ keeps talking about.
Oddly enough with Itoji out and probably Launchbury in (how many World class 2nd row does England have right now!
) that won't weaken the White Wall, if anything it gets stronger because Launch will just spend the whole game putting his body where it'll hurt him the most because he's both a work horse and a war horse 
Soldato
Real shame for Itoje to be out for the tournament. I hope he’s well recovered for the World Cup. Second row is not a weak area for England at the moment, but the slight issue is back row cover which Itoje can provide. Hughes and Vunipola on the field at the same time is good, but doesn’t allow for the slight variation in playing styles that the back row requires.
Hell of a performance in Dublin. Aggressive, disciplined (apart from when the aggression took over!) and showing some attacking flair which has been sorely missed from England sides of late. Will be very interesting to see if they can keep the momentum up during the year.
Hell of a performance in Dublin. Aggressive, disciplined (apart from when the aggression took over!) and showing some attacking flair which has been sorely missed from England sides of late. Will be very interesting to see if they can keep the momentum up during the year.
I think we are being harsh on Gustard... he is a class defence coach!
Losing Itoje is a blow, because he is truly world class, but we have amazing depth in the second row and back row, and it is certainly too early to think about WC player availability/injuries. Itoje (when fit) and Lawes can cover second row and blind side, we have Kruis and Launchbury (both word class), then Attwood and possibly Nick Isiekwe or Michael Rhodes. I think we actually have more depth in the back row right now... even excluding Itoje and Lawes, this is my list of players capable of playing backrow at international level: Billy, Tom Curry (and probably his brother too), Hughes, Wilson, Shields, Underhill, Simmonds, Mercer, Earl, Clifford, Kvesic, Armond, Ewers and (of course) Robshaw. I'm sure I've missed some others.
Losing Itoje is a blow, because he is truly world class, but we have amazing depth in the second row and back row, and it is certainly too early to think about WC player availability/injuries. Itoje (when fit) and Lawes can cover second row and blind side, we have Kruis and Launchbury (both word class), then Attwood and possibly Nick Isiekwe or Michael Rhodes. I think we actually have more depth in the back row right now... even excluding Itoje and Lawes, this is my list of players capable of playing backrow at international level: Billy, Tom Curry (and probably his brother too), Hughes, Wilson, Shields, Underhill, Simmonds, Mercer, Earl, Clifford, Kvesic, Armond, Ewers and (of course) Robshaw. I'm sure I've missed some others.