Rugby union?

Nigel Owens sums it up very well
Now, let me explain this bit for you. So, if Farrell was in the process of going to make a legal tackle and then suddenly there is a change of direction or a significant drop in height from the ball carrier (either voluntarily or due to another player) which caused Farrell's tackle to become illegal, then the referee would apply mitigation. In that situation, there would be no way he could have changed what he was doing.

The key thing about mitigation here is that Farrell's actions were always illegal. No matter what happened, he was always leading with the shoulder and not making an attempt to wrap for a legal tackle - so mitigation does not and should not play a part in the decision.

So, there is no mitigation for me, and there is certainly not enough to mitigate down from a red card, as it is foul play, there is a high degree of danger and there is an act of illegal ness which is leading with the shoulder.
 
English rugby is in the pits currently at both country and club level.

Self inflicted wounds by the RFU. For years they've propped up certain teams, turning a blind eye. This has lead to a lack of discipline and tbh effort from them as they know refs will hand them games. See it week in, week out. Sarries, quins, Leicester, chiefs being the main offenders.
 
Outright fundemental issues with England's gameplan this year. Don't ever seem to look in any danger of scoring tries, until they're a man down. Commentary kinda touched on it, they start playing rugby when already on the back foot. Why not start out playing with that hunger, the desire to run and pass the ball. Rather than just the constantly kicking forward (sometimes to compete) and gaining very little.
I think Borthwick needs to actualy let some of the players play a bit more freely like it appears they're allowed to do once they've lost players?

Another frustrating game to watch. But on the plus side, I could be a Wales fan...
 
I have come to dislike international rugby, only France and New Zealand play anything remotely like interesting rugby these days. England were dire, no desire evident. This was the bands final tour that they had to complete for contractural reasons before breaking up because they hated each other. When Steward was held up in the last 10 minutes no one was interested, no one arrived it was frankly embarassing. 3 or 4 decent players, 6 or 7 has beens and a few scrapings is what today looked like.
 
Last edited:
they start playing rugby when already on the back foot. Why not start out playing with that hunger, the desire to run and pass the ball.

In this game, Ireland had the game won at that stage and they knew they weren't going to lose. They eased off completely and that's when the England started breaking tackles.

To put it another way. It wasn't because England started playing better, it was because Ireland stopped playing with full intensity.

Now add to that it was the last 10-15 minutes and England had only one option and that was to run the ball. Kicking was no good for them at that time. When you combine those two things together Ireland dropping off and England running more, it looks like they are playing much better. But It's not real and no manager would look at the last 15 minutes of the game and decide that's the way we should play in the future. It's really meaningless.

What I find from looking at England at the moment is they don't seem to know what way they are playing. They look totally disconnected and unsure of themselves. At least with Eddie Jones in charge, their tactics might have been a bit one dimensional but every player knew exactly what they were doing. There was no indecisiveness.

And worst of all, their discipline is completely gone.

I have come to dislike international rugby, only France and New Zealand play anything remotely like interesting rugby these days.

If New Zealand or France played England today it still would have been a terrible game. You need two teams to have a good rugby game. England today had, as you say, no desire. They were so negative and it's very hard to play good rugby against that. It turns into a grind.

Ireland were very boring to watch for the later stages of Joe Schmidt's time in charge, but they are a much better team to watch these days.
 
I missed the game last night but I’m going to see if I can watch the match.

Looks and sounds like an absolute cracker. AB biggest defeat ever. Just ahead of the WC as well. That’ll no doubt be Scotland finishing 3rd!!

Heating up really nicely though.
 
Back
Top Bottom