England vs South Africa

[Timbo]

Was a bloody great tackle, Barnes is chatting utter turd.

[Danno]

My stream died... was it a fair tackle?

It was not. I think it escaped without sanction because someone has a dinner appointment

[Timbo]

My stream died... was it a fair tackle?

It was not. I think it escaped without sanction because someone has a dinner appointment

Nah, he made an attempt to wrap, that’s all you need to do. He can’t wrap his arms fully when the 17 stone Saffa centre is bouncing back 5 yards.

[Mr Mwenda]

Hurrah!

Great work from the reserve pack. Really liked the look of mercer. Fair play to farrell, so good moments.

Lucky, lucky, but fine by me!

[Danno]

My stream died... was it a fair tackle?

It was not. I think it escaped without sanction because someone has a dinner appointment

What an utter turd of a match all round. Struggling to think of anything entertaining unless I play clown music in my head to the escapades of Shields

[Scrumhead]

Positives for me: Wilson, Moon, Mercer.

May and Nowell were both good too.

[Cameo]

That was a very strange decision. You can't always successfully wrap but surely no one thinks that's a genuine attempt. Bending your arm and bringing it round is irrelevant if you have led with the point of the opposite shoulder

[Insouciant]

Just saw the 'tackle' on youtube. His attempt to do anything with his arms was cursory at best.

[Beasties]

Can you be sited if the ref's reviewed it during the match out of interest?

[Renniks]

South Africa lost that, rather than England winning it…

But, a winning game is fantastic start - I'm hoping that'll give them confidence and momentum

Worried about Curry injury, especially with Shields being so awful
Hoping 70 minutes of rugby for Te'o helps him get into form (hah)

Daly was most disappointing player for me, his high ball control was poor, and his vision appeared to be flawed!

[Beasties]

Positives for me: Wilson, Moon, Mercer.

May and Nowell were both good too.

Slade didn't shit the bed for once. Care injected pace when he came on.

[Epaminondas Pules]

A win is a win and that is what matters, especially when you look at what is missing from this side. Lots of negatives, but I don't care right now as we managed to turn that into a win.Second half was miles apart from the first. Main negative was John Mitchell as defensive coach!

Extra special mention to Charlie Ewels who came off the bench with little left on the clock and made a HIUGE impression. He was awesome for 5 minutes. Serious impact. Proper impact sub and then some.

And what a hit from Faz to win it. All he has to do is attempt to wrap the arm and he did that. That is leadership!

[Epaminondas Pules]

South Africa lost that, rather than England winning it…

But, a winning game is fantastic start - I'm hoping that'll give them confidence and momentum

Worried about Curry injury, especially with Shields being so awful
Hoping 70 minutes of rugby for Te'o helps him get into form (hah)

Daly was most disappointing player for me, his high ball control was poor, and his vision appeared to be flawed!

Daly really wasn't. Shields by a distance.

[Renniks]

South Africa lost that, rather than England winning it…

But, a winning game is fantastic start - I'm hoping that'll give them confidence and momentum

Worried about Curry injury, especially with Shields being so awful
Hoping 70 minutes of rugby for Te'o helps him get into form (hah)

Daly was most disappointing player for me, his high ball control was poor, and his vision appeared to be flawed!

Daly really wasn't. Shields by a distance.

I expected Shields to be shit… if anything he delivered on that!

[Epaminondas Pules]

South Africa lost that, rather than England winning it…

But, a winning game is fantastic start - I'm hoping that'll give them confidence and momentum

Worried about Curry injury, especially with Shields being so awful
Hoping 70 minutes of rugby for Te'o helps him get into form (hah)

Daly was most disappointing player for me, his high ball control was poor, and his vision appeared to be flawed!

Daly really wasn't. Shields by a distance.

I expected Shields to be shit… if anything he delivered on that!

Delivered? He deserved a bonus and a massive tip! Just for the "offload" 5 yards from their line alone.

[Oakboy]

Often, IMO, a player can just look international class immediately. Mercer did.

Are we back to Jones's initial period with a tight, fortunate win?

[Scrumhead]

Agreed. Shields was plain awful. Based upon what I saw today I’d have Wilson at 6 and Mercer at 8. Hopefully Curry’s injury isn’t serious and he can come back in at 7.

[fivepointer]

Cant fault England for their resilience and determination. Also, they deserve credit for coming back so well in the 2nd half to play a bit of rugby and look quite good at times. A win is no mean feat given the pounding we took in the 1st half.
Whether SA gave it away is neither here nor there. England stuck at it and did just enough, though on another day another ref might have penalised Farrell to give SA the chance to kick a winning penalty.
Wilson and Mercer good up front, Moon and George made a difference and i liked the work of both wingers. Daly a mixed bag with some good runs, but he did overlook a man free on the outside on 2 occasions which could have led to tries.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Often, IMO, a player can just look international class immediately. Mercer did.

Are we back to Jones's initial period with a tight, fortunate win?

Considering the volume of players unavailable and the class therein, a win is a fantastic result. Especially as this SA side have been together for a tournament, beaten the ABs and arguably should've beaten them twice. That's not to say they are better by any stretch, just cohesive on the day.

[Mellsblue]

Daly really wasn't. Shields by a distance.

I expected Shields to be shit… if anything he delivered on that!

Delivered? He deserved a bonus and a massive tip! Just for the "offload" 5 yards from their line alone.

Couldn’t stop laughing at the offload. Comedy genius. I think he’ll definitely back next week......as halftime entertainment. That pass that stopped May dead his tracks was f**king awful. Did he really plant in Super Rugby!?!?!?

[fivepointer]

How Shields gets a game ahead of Don Armand is utterly inexplicable. What is also hard to fathom is why he was left on the field until past the 70th minute.

[Scrumhead]

Yeah - such a poor performance. I would have preferred Ewels on and Itoje at 6.

[Renniks]

Ted Hill scored another try for Worcester today - can we just get him in instead of Shields

[twitchy]

Moon, sink and may all had good games. Agree about shields he looking bad.

[TheDasher]

God it's negative on here... we defended well in 1st half, penalty count WAY lower than usual and we were the better team 2nd half. Farrell played extremely well imo.