England vs New Zealand

[WaspInWales]

Harsh call there. Lost it when the lineout disintegrated. Anyone with more technical knowledge see what hge issue was? Just George losing it?

I'm no expert, but they looked like Itoje was high enough, Retallick just kept reading it, and George wasn't getting the ball high enough

Yep, Retallick had a stormer. Immense.

[Peat]

Can we all, please, take a moment to see that we just held NZ to only 16 points, only 1 try, got Barrett worried to the point he's going for DGs
We also looked a completely different team for 30 minutes of that game to what we have for the past 2 years - even just from an intensity point of view!

Penalty count was a huge improvement too!

The fact we can sit here and whinge about the ref in an NZ game is such a huge turn around from where we were last week!

Less of the optimism you!



I have to say, I thought the Lawes call was correct. I wonder if he'd got away with it if everyone had been a step up though, rather than just Lawes stood a good pace in front of everyone else in a white shirt, begging the question.

Of course, he deffo gets away with it if its not a try, which is almost as irritating as Danny Care's very clumsy attempts to buy a penalty.

[francoisfou]

Has to be said, England's leadership went to absolute pot after Hartley went off. No composure, wobbly set piece, poor tactics

Exactly, shame Hartley was replaced by George, who didn't have his best game in an England shirt.
What can one say about Farrell? Curate's egg is probably fair. A captain? No!

[WaspInWales]

Farrell with 10 missed tackles according to ESPN.

Will that get a mention?

[Renniks]

Farrell with 10 missed tackles according to ESPN.

Will that get a mention?

If you're playing on the edge all the time, you're going to miss tackles! Cough cough

[Galfon]

Daws: 'I said it at the time - three points is everything. When you're under the posts you take the points and it's those fine margins that we need to get right..'
It depends who calls the shots...surely EJ has a signalling system to override on-pitch panic ?

[Which Tyler]

Has to be said, England's leadership went to absolute pot after Hartley went off. No composure, wobbly set piece, poor tactics

Exactly, shame Hartley was replaced by George, who didn't have his best game in an England shirt.
What can one say about Farrell? Curate's egg is probably fair. A captain? No!

Faz... 2 good tackles, and directly responsible for a 9 point swing to the ABs.
Jonny May would have been a better captain in that second half.


Oh,I also had a plea to make. For those who think Underhill's try should have stood... For the love of god's, we need to act with more class than the Saffers did about their last minute penalty last week.

[fivepointer]

The disallowed try. Lawes was fractionally offside so a penalty was the right call. Shame that every other backfoot offside in the game wasnt called.
England got lucky last week with the TMO. These things do tend to even out over time.
Our line out wasnt great but throwing it to Maro is only going to work some of the time. Kruis was hardly used and Lawes ignored when he came on. Whoever was calling, needs to have a bit of a rethink.
I thought there was much to be pleased about though. We defended well, our workrate was excellent, out fitness stood up, we scrummaged well and we scored 2 very good, albeit contrasting tries. I cannot recall the last time we've driven a maul like that.

[fivepointer]

Farrell with 10 missed tackles according to ESPN.

Will that get a mention?

Bloody hell. Thats more than i thought. His defence is absolute pish. Of course it wont get a mention, at least not by the fatheads on Sky who seem determined to laud his every good effort and disregard the 50% of his game that is so ordinary.

[Peat]

Daws: 'I said it at the time - three points is everything. When you're under the posts you take the points and it's those fine margins that we need to get right..'
It depends who calls the shots...surely EJ has a signalling system to override on-pitch panic ?

Court of Human Rights threw out the remote controlled shock collars.

[Mellsblue]

Has to be said, England's leadership went to absolute pot after Hartley went off. No composure, wobbly set piece, poor tactics

Exactly, shame Hartley was replaced by George, who didn't have his best game in an England shirt.
What can one say about Farrell? Curate's egg is probably fair. A captain? No!

Faz... 2 good tackles, and directly responsible for a 9 point swing to the ABs.
Jonny May would have been a better captain in that second half.


Oh,I also had a plea to make. For those who think Underhill's try should have stood... For the love of god's, we need to act with more class than the Saffers did about their last minute penalty last week.

You can’t disagree with a call without lacking class? Watching it in a crowded pub I thought it was ok. I’ll bow to those who had a better view of the telly. I’ll also stick to the fact that 99 times out of 100 the 2 inches (nearly beating NZ hyperbole clause invoked) he is offside isn’t given a seconds thought.

[paddy no 11]

Got away with it last week, done out of it this week that's the way it goes

Wouldn't be too buoyant if I was England, Underhill sets the tone for 20 minutes and everyone follows after that there's plenty of issues.

[Insouciant]

Losing to New Zealand on an offside decision... I didn't even know that rule got used when they played.

[Peej]

Farrell with 10 missed tackles according to ESPN.

Will that get a mention?

Bloody hell. Thats more than i thought. His defence is absolute pish. Of course it wont get a mention, at least not by the fatheads on Sky who seem determined to laud his every good effort and disregard the 50% of his game that is so ordinary.

Wow that really is shockingly high

[Mellsblue]

Daws: 'I said it at the time - three points is everything. When you're under the posts you take the points and it's those fine margins that we need to get right..'
It depends who calls the shots...surely EJ has a signalling system to override on-pitch panic ?

It’ll be interesting to see how he reacts now he has to make the pressure calls. Past behaviour suggests it won’t be his forte. I’ll never forget his tantrum when Robshaw made the (wrong) call against Wales on the World Cup. As I said to my mate at the time, I’d be disappointed if my eldest behaved like that on the rugby field.

[Mellsblue]

Farrell with 10 missed tackles according to ESPN.

Will that get a mention?

Bloody hell. Thats more than i thought. His defence is absolute pish. Of course it wont get a mention, at least not by the fatheads on Sky who seem determined to laud his every good effort and disregard the 50% of his game that is so ordinary.

Wow that really is shockingly high

If that stat was next to Ford’s name.....
The miss on Bin Smuth was criminal. All we’ll hear about, though, is the tackle on Read (which was bloody good).
The thing that annoys me is that all the things you here about him in commentary, match reports or ratings, of you didn’t know any better, you’d think he was a back row player. Not what I’d want from my 10.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Harsh call there. Lost it when the lineout disintegrated. Anyone with more technical knowledge see what hge issue was? Just George losing it?

I'm no expert, but they looked like Itoje was high enough, Retallick just kept reading it, and George wasn't getting the ball high enough

Yep, Retallick had a stormer. Immense.

NZ did what they’ve done all 4Ns which is close the gaps to make the contest more viable. They succeeded and competed well. We should have made a meal of the gap to ensure that we have more advantage as the throwing side but as usual remained mute. Cute from NZ, poor from England.

[Which Tyler]

You can’t disagree with a call without lacking class?

Of course you can - last week, the Saffers failed; I really do'nt want us to fail as well.

Watching it in a crowded pub I thought it was ok. I’ll bow to those who had a better view of the telly. I’ll also stick to the fact that 99 times out of 100 the 2 inches (nearly beating NZ hyperbole clause invoked) he is offside isn’t given a seconds thought.

Agreed entirely - in fact, I think I may have said exactly that already.

[Oakboy]

Surely, George's place has to be questioned? His lineout throwing cost us the match in the cold light of day. The total yardage lost to his poor throws was the difference between defeat and victory.

Yes, there were loads of other issues but sacrificing field position to that extent just can't be acceptable.

[Beasties]

To my eyes it looked like Hartley was having his best game for ages (not saying a lot though). It seemed an odd decision to replace him so soon.

[16th man]

Rules lawyers appearing all over the place, putting rulers on Lawes feet, but seemingly ignoring the AB swallow diving into the ruck from the side in the background. If the TMO is going to get involved then surely he should point out the first offence.

Anyway, if you'd offered me 15 v 16 at 2.55 i'd have bitten your hand off.

[Mellsblue]

You can’t disagree with a call without lacking class?

Of course you can - last week, the Saffers failed; I really do'nt want us to fail as well.

Watching it in a crowded pub I thought it was ok. I’ll bow to those who had a better view of the telly. I’ll also stick to the fact that 99 times out of 100 the 2 inches (nearly beating NZ hyperbole clause invoked) he is offside isn’t given a seconds thought.

Agreed entirely - in fact, I think I may have said exactly that already.

I’m glad someone else also invoked the nearly beating NZ hyperbole clause. I was feeling like I’d made it up.

[fivepointer]

To my eyes it looked like Hartley was having his best game for ages (not saying a lot though). It seemed an odd decision to replace him so soon.

I thought he was going pretty well. Surprised he got taken off at h/t.

Losing a l/o isnt always down to the hooker. Sometimes the opposition work things out and get a man up to contest. Our problem was in using Maro almost exclusively. It became quite an easy read, particularly as Maro wasnt taking a step back. I'd put it down to poor calling.

On Lawes, yes it was a tough call. You see dozens of incidents every game of players in front of the back foot and liable to penalty. Except unless its about 10 meters from the goal line it is almost never blown.

Rough with the smooth on these things.....

[I R Geech]

England lost because they aren’t very bright. Poor decisions from Farrell, repeating things that aren’t working in the lineout, and brain farts when in scoring positions - it’s been a trait of this team for a while. No one is thinking, or seems capable of it.

Woodward is a twat, but Thinking Clearly Under Pressure won him a World Cup. This lot clearly couldn’t think their way out of a paper bag.

[canta_brian]

Bloody hell. Thats more than i thought. His defence is absolute pish. Of course it wont get a mention, at least not by the fatheads on Sky who seem determined to laud his every good effort and disregard the 50% of his game that is so ordinary.

Wow that really is shockingly high

If that stat was next to Ford’s name.....
The miss on Bin Smuth was criminal. All we’ll hear about, though, is the tackle on Read (which was bloody good).
The thing that annoys me is that all the things you here about him in commentary, match reports or ratings, of you didn’t know any better, you’d think he was a back row player. Not what I’d want from my 10.

Blimey you’re brave with that last sentence. The Johnny Wilkinson appreciation society may well lynch you for that sort of sentiment.