Next up, Ireland

[Mellsblue]

And just for the lols here are his ratings:

ENGLAND

Elliot Daly
7/10
Saracens
Caps 33 Age 26 Ht 1.84m Wt 94kg
Had way more chances to show what he can do, including fine pass for try from outside-centre

Joe Cokanasiga
8/10
Bath
Caps 7 Age 21 Ht 1.93m Wt 122kg
Increasingly dangerous and learning all the time. Someone to electrify. Lovely

Manu Tuilagi
9/10
Leicester Tigers
Caps 35 Age 28 Ht 1.85m Wt 111kg
As an all-round performance it was better than the day he took New Zealand apart. Fit and fiery

Owen Farrell
7/10
Saracens
Caps 72 Age 27 Ht 1.88m Wt 92kg
Calm as ever, the ideal foil for the attacking power and pace around him


Jonny May
7/10
Leicester Tigers
Caps 46 Age 29 Ht 1.88m Wt 90kg
Possibly a little overshadowed by the other wide men but appeared to be on rare form

George Ford
8/10
Leicester Tigers
Caps 58 Age 26 Ht 1.78m Wt 84kg
Maintained the high standards he showed during Leicester’s dire season; some majestic moments

Ben Youngs
8/10
Leicester Tigers
Caps 88 Age 29 Ht 1.78m Wt 92kg
One of his best, and not even the paucity of the opposition could devalue it

Joe Marler
7/10
Harlequins
Caps 61 Age 29 Ht 1.84m Wt 110kg
Excellent. Able to keep up with the fastest of the action, helping England to scrum with authority

Jamie George
7/10
Saracens
Caps 39 Age 28 Ht 1.83m Wt 109kg
All seemed to go well, part of a terrific front row which could test the best

Kyle Sinckler
9/10
Harlequins
Caps 24 Age 26 Ht 1.83m Wt 113kg
Wonderful. Well done Quins, England and Battersea Ironsides. A prop who can play

Maro Itoje
9/10
Saracens
Caps 29 Age 24 Ht 1.95m Wt 115kg
Majestic, especially when the game was still a contest early on. Sublime all-round player

George Kruis
8/10
Saracens
Caps 35 Age 29 Ht 1.98m Wt 113kg
Well-timed run for his try, not the best finish with a yellow card. Excellent

Tom Curry
8/10
Sale Sharks
Caps 12 Age 21 Ht 1.85m Wt 99kg
No-one deserved a try more, the combination of he and Underhill seemed to work well in back row

Sam Underhill
8/10
Bath
Caps 10 Age 23 Ht 1.86m Wt 103kg
Becoming very influential. Tough man, harsh at close quarters and reaching a career-high

Billy Vunipola
7/10
Saracens
Caps 44 Age 26 Ht 1.88m Wt 126kg
Did not need to show his best, though you feel that he could have switched on at any time

[Mikey Brown]

As an aside, did anyone notice the Kearney clothesline on Curry as he passed to Daly for his try? Proper naughty!!

I only saw this one time but the tackle on Curry as he put the ball down for his try also looked a bit dodgy and slide tackle-ish on first glance. Not sure who it was, would assume POM with that level of brazen cuntery.

[Mellsblue]

As an aside, did anyone notice the Kearney clothesline on Curry as he passed to Daly for his try? Proper naughty!!

I only saw this one time but the tackle on Curry as he put the ball down for his try also looked a bit dodgy and slide tackle-ish on first glance. Not sure who it was, would assume POM with that level of brazen cuntery.

Hopefully it’ll teach him to put the ball down before celebrating.

[Puja]

Minute 10

Ireland kick the conversion a sprightly 72 seconds after scoring the try.

Diggers, I have opened you a thread of your very own: http://www.rugbyrebels.co/board/viewtop ... f=2&t=3852

Puja

[p/d]

Ben Youngs
8/10
Leicester Tigers
Caps 88 Age 29 Ht 1.78m Wt 92kg
One of his best, and not even the paucity of the opposition could devalue it

[Puja]

As an aside, did anyone notice the Kearney clothesline on Curry as he passed to Daly for his try? Proper naughty!!

I only saw this one time but the tackle on Curry as he put the ball down for his try also looked a bit dodgy and slide tackle-ish on first glance. Not sure who it was, would assume POM with that level of brazen cuntery.

The clothesline should have been a straight red. Forceful, straight to the head, no mitigating factors at all - Kearney was lucky the try was scored and should be cited if there's any justice.

I'd just regard the one where Curry scored as an incentive to put the ball down properly. Same with Maro - did they not watch Freddie Burns? At least they both used two hands, but it was closer than it needed to be.

Puja

[p/d]

As an aside, did anyone notice the Kearney clothesline on Curry as he passed to Daly for his try? Proper naughty!!

I only saw this one time but the tackle on Curry as he put the ball down for his try also looked a bit dodgy and slide tackle-ish on first glance. Not sure who it was, would assume POM with that level of brazen cuntery.

Hopefully it’ll teach him to put the ball down before celebrating.

Exactly.

Also thought it looked like Itoje tried a trip a player in the build up to Ireland’s try. The one where Daly waved Aki in at the corner.

[Mellsblue]

Ben Youngs
8/10
Leicester Tigers
Caps 88 Age 29 Ht 1.78m Wt 92kg
One of his best, and not even the paucity of his passing and kicking could devalue it

I think it must be an editing error. I’ve bolded the bit that was in Jones’s original submission but mistakenly changed.

[Mikey Brown]

As an aside, did anyone notice the Kearney clothesline on Curry as he passed to Daly for his try? Proper naughty!!

I only saw this one time but the tackle on Curry as he put the ball down for his try also looked a bit dodgy and slide tackle-ish on first glance. Not sure who it was, would assume POM with that level of brazen cuntery.

The clothesline should have been a straight red. Forceful, straight to the head, no mitigating factors at all - Kearney was lucky the try was scored and should be cited if there's any justice.

I'd just regard the one where Curry scored as an incentive to put the ball down properly. Same with Maro - did they not watch Freddie Burns? At least they both used two hands, but it was closer than it needed to be.

Puja

That's fair enough. Went back to look at it though and regardless if Curry is taking his time it doesn't seem like it's worth risking breaking a players ankles to save 5 points, not least in a warm-up where you've already been humped.

[twitchy]

[Banquo]

Really? I thought 2 years ago we were all saying let’s not build our backline around a player who hasn’t been fully fit for 3 years.

I’m not sure anyone on here has questioned the impact he can have.

This.
That claim simply isn't true

Pleasantly suggesting......i seemed to to get a feeling of .....i cant spell it properly now....condensation? that i was being patted on the head and told that we needed ball players and passers to play in the centres for England....thoughourbred multi skilled three quarters who understood lines of running, tactical nous, who could out think a defence, total rugby back players?

Anyway...I remeber the posted raised eyebrows. We saw today some thought out backs moves, with a coherent game plan, which was massivley accentuated by Irelands line out collapse.

So as the dew settless onto a horizon with a different temperatue...

I think your memory is playing tricks on you. Everyone bar maybe one person on here is a Tuilagi fan; you may have had some questioning Manu at 12 (which is still a good option imo, and where I'd play him, even after yesterday's backline slickness), as a lot are wedded to having a second distributor at 12.

[Banquo]

57-15 isnt to be sniffed at, warm up game or not. We were very good today. Big performances up front from the locks and Curry and Underhill. Their pairing worked a treat, and its surely one we will see again.
Manu was sensationally good.
We scored some terrific tries, handled really well throughout but i really liked the work in the forwards, generally defended well, looked fit and full of threat.
Mako coming off was an obvious downside. Daly's defence is a glaring weakness.
And Ben Youngs at SH. Jeez that was a dire effort. To be comfortably eclipsed by Heinz was telling.
All in all, though, this was a very encouraging performance.

Yep, the forwards were the star of the show, though I liked Ford taking it up and playing on the tackle line.

Youngs was truly awful.

[Banquo]

Feeling pretty good about my promotion of Ford/Faz/Manu as being our best combo. They were everything I'd hoped for, despite some truly execrable work from Youngs inside them.

Excellent result, although I will caution that Ireland were coming off fitness camp and without any match practice, plus that an Ireland team without Sexton and Ryan (and Murray for most of it) are a very different beast to full-strength. Even with that caveat, that was a superb effort and some of the best handling I've seen from an England team in a long time (Youngs aside).

Puja

Fair to gloat, though I'd think you could get the same things going in the backline with Ford/Manu/JJ. Youngs was sooooo dire tho.

[Banquo]

Agreed Puja, he definitely had time to play, and I don't think it was immediately off the kick

Also - pretty sure that people's derision was over the idea that we just need a boshing centre - I'd still not back Te'o to play anywhere near to the level Manu did today - and I'd not, in any way, want two of them.

Agreed - I think any condescension (rather than being a bit damp) was over the suggestion of Te'o/Tuilagi being paired.

Speaking of which, I now maintain even more than Manu is wasted at 12. You can use him as a bosh blunt instrument there, but the joy of him is having him as a wide option to move defences about as they go saucer-eyed at him and all cluster in, as well as having the crash ball be much more effective as an outside-to-in line against the grain (which is also easier to use as a dummy), rather than in-to-out which can be drifted with. I'd love to have Joseph playing 13, but using Manu at 12 means you're only getting half the player.

Puja

You can easily start him in different positions in attack. He was used as a dummy runner most effectively yesterday, and the number on his back makes little dfference from that point of view. JJ for example could easily do the passes Faz (and indeed May) were doing in midfield. I really liked the variety of ways the backs were used yesterday. Put his power with JJ's pace and defence, happy days for me. I'd worry slightly more about his defence at 12 than finding ways of using him in attack.

[Stom]

Jesus, that's bad.

[Epaminondas Pules]

That guy is bang on!! Proper smart fella I’ll bet!

[Raggs]

Need to include @worldrugby @engrugby (is that the address) etc etc to make sure it's picked up.

I feel Kruis should be potentially looking at a spell on the sidelines too. Perhaps England and Ireland coaching teams both agreed to let the others slide?

[Freddo]

He won't be cited just like Biggar wasn't last week.

Really good performance but I would love to see what an on form decent passing scrum half could add to the team.

Also, is it just me that doesn't think Stockdale is as good as he is made out to be?

[Epaminondas Pules]

Another angle. Proper filth!

9C5026C2-4FBD-4819-87A3-228D71A900A9.jpeg

[Spiffy]

I would love to see Kearney banned for the duration of the Rugby World Cup.

[Mellsblue]

Jesus, that's bad.

Blimey. That is bad. Can’t even blame a change of direction, horizontally or vertically. Just a straight clothes line.

[Banquo]

Jesus, that's bad.

Blimey. That is bad. Can’t even blame a change of direction, horizontally or vertically. Just a straight clothes line.

Looked awful in real time, I thought Curry would be going off with a whiplash injury.

[Digby]

Jesus, that's bad.

Blimey. That is bad. Can’t even blame a change of direction, horizontally or vertically. Just a straight clothes line.

Looked awful in real time, I thought Curry would be going off with a whiplash injury.

I got into trouble with a clothes line today playing badminton in the garden and now have an impressively swollen ankle, which sadly forced me to sit with foot up watching the cricket unable to chase the kids any longer. I've further been self medicating with a weird alternating mix of chilled glasses of rose and cold beer.

Sadly at this point I think it rules me out of a WC call up, and we could clearly use the help at 9

[Mr Mwenda]

My dad is hoping for a late first cap at 68. Just as well he's been walking the dog a fair bit since digby's now out.

[Oakboy]

My dad is hoping for a late first cap at 68. Just as well he's been walking the dog a fair bit since digby's now out.

I do not wish to hear that I am older than your Dad, thank-you.