Rugby A Game For Gentlemen

If England had put the same effort into the game as a whole as they did in the last 10 minutes they might have done it.
There was no intensity, no explosive impact play, France defended against them easily.

Anyhow, well done Ireland a very well deserved 6N

Does that now mean England have a fair chance of being 5th now?

England failed to play the referee again. At least Eddie Jones is finding out who has or doesn’t have the necessary mettle. Didn’t compete at the breakdown either.

No excuses, England were predictable and ponderous. There are fundamental problems with this team now, it’s not a single issue. Jones really should be put under some scrutiny as to what’s going on; they just don’t seem up for it.

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Bullied
Kick the ball away too much and don’t have a tactic beyond box kicks.
Not enough tactical kicking for distance.
Awful forward lurches into contact when stood still.
Zero use of the back three.

Ugh

I had to avoid the score until I got home at seven to watch it real time on record.

Well, great match between Ireland and Scotland, it should have been closer on points, but the scots blew 3 tries.

England / France, what a fucking shambles both teams are, but I have to say England were worse.

Things wrong and I mean seriously wrong, not just a little bit wrong with England at the moment.

  1. They look over trained, over muscled and stiff / sluggish, especially the forwards. Sack the fitness guys and tell Jones to fucking shut it.

  2. Back row is just shit apart from Robshaw who tried his heart out and is just too old and slow. Simmonds had a mare and looked like a boy in a mans game. Second rows at 6 wank, complete wank with wank stains.

  3. If the fact that our forwards were slow wasn’t bad enough, the 9 / 10 / 12 was shockingly bad. How the fuck did Danny ‘old and slow’ Care get to be 9? If Robson is not 9 for England Vs Ireland then there is no god and Eddie Jones is a stubborn old cunt. Fazlet is not a 12, never has been and never will be. Ford only works when the opposition are not compeditive, he’s been getting worse not better for two years. Fazlet should play 10 and Ford dropped all together and Cips in on the bench. 12 should be JJ and 13 Elliot Daly.

Without the forwards functioning, changes in backs is a waste of time. Launchbury has had two iffy games in a row and looks knackered. Fat boy Vinopola is just fucking useless and needs to be dropped from the squad, with Marler starting. Cole is great at set pieces but fuck all else, bench and Sinkler on as THP.

As much as it hurts, I would start Lawes and Itoje at second row. With Launch on the bench.

Back row, 6 Robshaw, 7 Curry, 8 Jack Willis, at least we’ll have some bloody movement and commitment.

End of rant.

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Without a dynamic back row, England will continue to struggle.

Robshaw, as usual, gave his all but he lacks half-a-yard of pace. Hughes crocked again. Lawes played like a stoned giraffe. Haskell did his usual cameo of bluster and giving away a kickable penalty. Simmonds struggled against a robust defence - too lightweight.

Both France and Scotland butchered overlaps today. But for one or two stray passes in each game, Scotland would have pushed Ireland a bit closer, and France would have been out of sight come 70 minutes.

Agree on the back row but we have never sorted that bit even when we were flying.
The lack of pace in the loose forwards is shocking.
And the service was ponderous, with hovering forwards expecting to just walk through tackles.
Has to be Faster to breakdown. Faster out. And great running lines from backs hitting the ball from deep. And if not some gain breaking carries and sniping passes. Not just a shunt to a big guy who is close
I agree on OF who has to be ten.
The worlds best team play at a speed we have only touched on a few times. When teams slow us down and stop us having time we are shambolic. With time we can be great.

Time for some players to be picked for positions not for names.

The premium placed on brute force and ignorance at the expense of skill has produced a generation of brain dead gym monkeys who are totally unfit for purpose at the higher end of the professional game. Shame on you, English Premiership.

So true.

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If I was England DoR it would be a quite different side facing Ireland of the players currently available. More pace, speed to the breakdown and getting the ball out with much more movement. A hint of brutality.

1 Marler
2 George
3 Sinkler
4 Itoje (just, he’s been poor lately)
5 Lawes
6 Armand (he is so under rated)
7 Curry (fit one not broken one)
8 Willis (he is that good)
9 Robson
10 Cips
11 Solomona (tight one, but he’s a finisher, a big unit and a load faster than most)
12 JJ
13 Daly
14 May
15 Watson

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Exactly what the current crisis in English football faces.

Atleticism and size instead of skill.
I’d keep OF in.

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Because you can’t go into an International without a kicker who is going to nail 80% of chances.
His kicking from hand is also very good.

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Bob doesn’t like Farrell because he’s ex RL and he doesn’t rate his dad for the same reason.

I thought that our back row were about as quick as the New Zealand front row. I don’t know or care how quick they can sprint 30m, they seem somehow slow of mind, not seeing where they need to be. That yard or two late to the breakdown was the reason for half our penalties and most of the reason why we are shit.

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We don’t have a 7.
We will always be ponderous until we get an agile 7 who is always first to the breakdown.

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Curry’s

No, I don’t like him as he has zero flair and vision and his kicking out of hand is flakey.

No it’s not.

Cips has nearly the same stats on kicking penalties this season as Fazlet.

With Ben Youngs out long-term, I would opt for Dan Robson and Cipriani at half-back, Farrell and Elliot Daly at centre and two from Jack Nowell, Jonny May and Denny Solomona on the wings with Anthony Watson at full back. Manu Tuilagi should come back into the equation in the summer after his horrific run of injuries.

Woodward