Rugby union?

Soldato
Joined
20 Dec 2004
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15,957
Take nothing away from the French, they have been magnificent.
No doubt, they are incredible, execution is so good, always making good decision.

It's not a huge surprise how poor we are considering the mess the domestic game is in....half the English teams are sat on the sofa each weekend with all the byes.
 
Soldato
Joined
21 Sep 2005
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Bradley Stoke, Bristol
I'm not going to go too hard on England for that performance without rewatching some highlights, but damn that scoreline. France were immense and capitalised on every opportunity they were given. Meanwhile England kept knocking it on and losing turnovers, frustrating.
 
Caporegime
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23 Dec 2011
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Northern England
England undone by their crap discipline. I say it week in and week out that because players get away with these errors at club level due to...generous refereeing it transfers in to the international game and screws us.
 
Soldato
Joined
3 Oct 2010
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3,437
Problem is that England have played an agricultural form of rugby for so long and now their pack doesn't dominate anyone they are blunt instrument. I think they are particularly weak at half back. Farrell is not a creative talent but they didn't look better without him. All we've really seen from England is the odd cross field kick for the winger. Hard to say where the new coach goes from here in a World Cup year.
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Jul 2003
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11,575
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Northants
Problem is that England have played an agricultural form of rugby for so long and now their pack doesn't dominate anyone they are blunt instrument. I think they are particularly weak at half back. Farrell is not a creative talent but they didn't look better without him. All we've really seen from England is the odd cross field kick for the winger. Hard to say where the new coach goes from here in a World Cup year.
We've got a softish group in the World Cup (watch we'll get done by Japan or Samoa now!) so about the best they'll manage is getting out the group then getting beat in the Quarters by pretty much anyone!
 
Associate
Joined
25 Oct 2013
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1,005
As usual Sinckler and Genge were walking penalty machines. There seemed to be something very off about England at the breakdown - like they werent even trying, just standing off waiting for the ball to get stripped. I also had a flashback to the Man Utd game - England had no spirit and just gave up.

JVP is glacially slow and is yet another player that shouldnt be first choice for England but seems to be flavour of the month for the old men at HQ. The continued absence of VRR in the pack is a disgrace.

All very weird and disappointing - cant see Borthwick lasting long.
 
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Soldato
Joined
30 Jun 2006
Posts
6,194
Location
Horsham
As usual Sinckler and Genge were walking penalty machines. There seemed to be something very off about England at the breakdown - like they werent even trying, just standing off waiting for the ball to get stripped. I also had a flashback to the Man Utd game - England had no spirit and just gave up.

JVP is glacially slow and is yet another player that shouldnt be first choice for England but seems to be flavour of the month for the old men at HQ. The continued absence of VRR in the pack is a disgrace.

All very weird and disappointing - cant see Borthwick lasting long.

Issue is, I believe, that Steve is hamstrung by Eddies 45 man elite performance group at the start of the season. He cannot change that many players, with the exception of injuries.

Would love VRR at LH with Rodd on the bench but realistically cannot happen until the summer tests when he can reset the entire group.
 
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Soldato
Joined
19 Dec 2010
Posts
12,055
Scotland were very good yesterday, but, Ireland are relentless. When Jamison Gibson-Park came on and increased the tempo of the game even more, this killed off the Scottish Challenge. They were just about hanging in with slow ball coming out of the rucks. When the paced picked up, Ireland found the gaps and ran out easy winners in the end. They were a whisker away from getting the bonus point win too.

England were bad this weekend. Don't think they will be that bad again. And Ireland will have to contend with the backlash. Some people are suggesting that Ireland will run out easy winners of that game. I am not so sure. You just never know in a game like this what's going to happen.
 
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