To save anyone else from having to watch it again. Mind, I'm actually quite interested to do this one. It's not (just) that I'm a huge nerd - it wasn't an enjoyable game by any means, but I think there's a bit to be learned about *why* things went wrong, especially in the first half.
Minute 1:
Canna kicks long to BillyV, who carries hard into a group of Italians and then is marched straight back. Not a good start. Youngs resets with a phase and then box-kicks a belter - 43m out and coming down just as May arrives. Steyn's got one eye on the imminent hit and drops the ball dubiously backwards, but the ref lets it go. We're up fast in defence, but it's a bit ones-and-twos rather than the wave that we're so good at. Our co-ordination gets worse as we fail to number up on the blind and compound that by rushing rather than drifting. It's a 4-on-3 which looks like turning into a 3-on-1 as Marchant and Francis charge while McConnochie lags back and a good miss-pass from Braley could see Italy away.
Minute 2:
Luckily for us, it's not a good pass. The ball is behind and below the intended recipient and, while Italy collect the bobbling ball, Braley makes it an outstanding minute by fumbling at the base of the ruck. Scrum England.
It's understandable that our defence is a bit ropey, as our backline is a distance off first choice and the week has been partly spent fitness training rather than match-day training. Still, needs to be better. The rest of the minute is taken with Barnes giving "expert" "analysis" while the scrum is set.
Minute 3:
England get clean ball from the scrum and the difference between Farrell and Ford is laid bare. We do our favourite move of the fly-half taking the ball to the line, the two centres running hard lines, and the winger running around, but the difference is that Farrell is always passing to Marchant. There isn't a decision being made on the merits, it's just going to Marchant, and every bit of his body language tells you that's the case. Ford doesn't always make the right decision and sometimes he does also have a predetermined pass that ignored what's ahead of him, but he always looks like the ball could go to anyone or that he might have a dart himself.
On replay, McConnochie isn't even looking at Farrell, which is a very bad, cause if the ball went out the back to him, then he's got a 3-on-1 with Watson and May outside him. Still, it's a nice enough pass to Marchant, who fails to get an offload away to Watson which would also have seen him through.
England hit up nicely through the forwards and then Youngs puts in a very nice kick to turn the Italian full-back. It bounces wickedly into May's hands, but Hayward manages to haul him down and the offload lands in Italian hands. Hayward utterly cleans out Curry off the ball with an elbow to the head, which he's lucky was not spotted by anyone. Curry appears to have a habit of getting cheap shotted in front of oblivious refs.
Italy clear, but straight to Youngs who feeds Watson. Broken field, lots of spaces and Watson runs hard which draws in three defenders. If he gives before contact, then we're free down the right and you'd be surprised if we didn't finish it, but he attempts to burst through a tiny gap between two front rowers and the moment is gone. To make things worse, Marler does an execrable job of securing the ball and, while he's technically correct in complaining to the referee that Canna is second man in, he's lucky it's given, cause a different referee (Nige) would not have done. A far higher percentage move would've been to actually do his damned job and ruck properly.
Minute 4:
Looking at the slow motion replay and Hayward is *lucky*. He deliberately body checks Curry, off the ball, leading with his elbow, which makes direct contact to the head. It's not as obvious a red as Kearney's was last time, but it's still a red. Or, "Not a citeable offence" depending on how much World Rugby care about concussions this week.
Nothing happens in this minute, which is odd considering you get 60s to take a penalty...
Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
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Puja
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Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
Backist Monk
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Mikey Brown
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
My god, you’re a masochist.
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Puja
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
Minute 5:
90s later, Fazlet slots the easy penalty.
Italy restart long to the same point, but Youngs has swapped with BillyV and can catch and kick without any Italian getting within 3m of him. Bizarre kick-off - don't know what that accomplishes other than boosting Lenny's confidence.
Minute 6:
Very ropey lineout throw by Italy, but we don't contest in the air. Instead it's a maul that Launchbury works his way through to scrag the ball carrier. Bortolami raises the interesting point that we didn't number up properly at the lineout, which is a) schoolboy from us as it could easily have got pinged and b) probably the only time I'll learn something from the Sky commentary team all evening.
Our defensive line is still all over the shop - we're short on numbers and rushing up from inside to out, meaning that we're begging for a wide pass or a cross-field kick. Canna goes for a chip over instead, which is not necessarily the wrong option - we're very flat, Youngs isn't sweeping behind, and Watson is miles back - but it's poorly executed as it's too high and too shallow. Still, the fact that Italy aren't good enough to punish us doesn't excuse our errors.
We regather and May tries to play scrum-half, but changes his mind twice as England aren't ready one way and Italy are offside and advancing on the other. Canna then makes sure the ref gives the offside by tackling May from an offside position and becomes the second Italian half-back to make two mistakes in the same minute.
Youngs taps and goes and then floats a lovely pass to George steaming down the wing. George does a wonderful impression of a front-row lost on the wing, looking for all money like he's tucking the ball under one arm and carry the ball into the winger to kill the momentum, but just before contact he pops the ball one handed, under his arm, to Watson on the inside. It's a glorious bit of skill, made perfect by the disguise - everyone thought he was a fat man carrying straight into the nearest contact. Sadly, there's not quite enough room for Watson to make a full linebreak and he's hauled down on the 10m line.
Minute 7:
We go through a phase before the ball comes out to Farrell. Again, he's winding up the pass as soon as he gets the ball and it's clear and obvious where it's going - his body is turned into it and there's no chance for a break or a change of decision. The contrast with Ford is shocking.
Let's play the "Spot where the ball's going" game!
We recycle and again run the two-crash-one-fade-behind move - this time the predetermined call is to go out the back, but this time Farrell is a little less obvious (and closer to the line) and Marchant's got space wide. He's just brought down and the Italian number 8 gets away with four penalties - first slapping down Marchant's offload from the floor, then coming in from the side to play the ball, then falling over and lying on the ball as Curry cleans him off, then wriggling forwards and pushing the ball back to Italy's side while on the floor. The ref shouts "No red, hands off, you've lost!" which just emphasises how poor a decision Marler made earlier in gambling that the ref would make the right decision at a breakdown.
Italy run a couple of inoffensive phases, going backwards all the time, before Marler is given another example of the perils of relying on the ref. I'd say he's first man in and clearly turning it over, but the ref shouts "Second man, leave it red!" - Marler does so, but the ball squirts out and the penalty is given.
Minute 8:
A lineout is achieved towards the end of the minute due to a lot of fart-arsing around and a back peel sees Farrell give up ground to make a tackle with the help of Wilson. England aren't quick round the corner and BillyV is late getting into the line. George charges up, Billy is rushing to catch up and in doing so misses the tackle on Negri. The offload goes to hand and Italy are away.
Minute 9:
Watson's last line tackle isn't textbook, but it does bring the man down, which is more than can be said for some of Daly's efforts. The ball is recycled quickly twice and our defence holds more with individual tackling than with being in alignment. Italy are now within 3m of the line. Braley very kindly slows the ball down for a few seconds and we get our composure and line back again. Italy go one out for the rest of the minute which is meat-and-drink. The minute end with the ref's mike picking up the sage captaincy of Farrell shouting, "F*cking GO! F*cking HIT! F*CK HIM!" I mock, but that's probably quite a stirring battle cry in this sort of situation.
90s later, Fazlet slots the easy penalty.
Italy restart long to the same point, but Youngs has swapped with BillyV and can catch and kick without any Italian getting within 3m of him. Bizarre kick-off - don't know what that accomplishes other than boosting Lenny's confidence.
Minute 6:
Very ropey lineout throw by Italy, but we don't contest in the air. Instead it's a maul that Launchbury works his way through to scrag the ball carrier. Bortolami raises the interesting point that we didn't number up properly at the lineout, which is a) schoolboy from us as it could easily have got pinged and b) probably the only time I'll learn something from the Sky commentary team all evening.
Our defensive line is still all over the shop - we're short on numbers and rushing up from inside to out, meaning that we're begging for a wide pass or a cross-field kick. Canna goes for a chip over instead, which is not necessarily the wrong option - we're very flat, Youngs isn't sweeping behind, and Watson is miles back - but it's poorly executed as it's too high and too shallow. Still, the fact that Italy aren't good enough to punish us doesn't excuse our errors.
We regather and May tries to play scrum-half, but changes his mind twice as England aren't ready one way and Italy are offside and advancing on the other. Canna then makes sure the ref gives the offside by tackling May from an offside position and becomes the second Italian half-back to make two mistakes in the same minute.
Youngs taps and goes and then floats a lovely pass to George steaming down the wing. George does a wonderful impression of a front-row lost on the wing, looking for all money like he's tucking the ball under one arm and carry the ball into the winger to kill the momentum, but just before contact he pops the ball one handed, under his arm, to Watson on the inside. It's a glorious bit of skill, made perfect by the disguise - everyone thought he was a fat man carrying straight into the nearest contact. Sadly, there's not quite enough room for Watson to make a full linebreak and he's hauled down on the 10m line.
Minute 7:
We go through a phase before the ball comes out to Farrell. Again, he's winding up the pass as soon as he gets the ball and it's clear and obvious where it's going - his body is turned into it and there's no chance for a break or a change of decision. The contrast with Ford is shocking.
Let's play the "Spot where the ball's going" game!
We recycle and again run the two-crash-one-fade-behind move - this time the predetermined call is to go out the back, but this time Farrell is a little less obvious (and closer to the line) and Marchant's got space wide. He's just brought down and the Italian number 8 gets away with four penalties - first slapping down Marchant's offload from the floor, then coming in from the side to play the ball, then falling over and lying on the ball as Curry cleans him off, then wriggling forwards and pushing the ball back to Italy's side while on the floor. The ref shouts "No red, hands off, you've lost!" which just emphasises how poor a decision Marler made earlier in gambling that the ref would make the right decision at a breakdown.
Italy run a couple of inoffensive phases, going backwards all the time, before Marler is given another example of the perils of relying on the ref. I'd say he's first man in and clearly turning it over, but the ref shouts "Second man, leave it red!" - Marler does so, but the ball squirts out and the penalty is given.
Minute 8:
A lineout is achieved towards the end of the minute due to a lot of fart-arsing around and a back peel sees Farrell give up ground to make a tackle with the help of Wilson. England aren't quick round the corner and BillyV is late getting into the line. George charges up, Billy is rushing to catch up and in doing so misses the tackle on Negri. The offload goes to hand and Italy are away.
Minute 9:
Watson's last line tackle isn't textbook, but it does bring the man down, which is more than can be said for some of Daly's efforts. The ball is recycled quickly twice and our defence holds more with individual tackling than with being in alignment. Italy are now within 3m of the line. Braley very kindly slows the ball down for a few seconds and we get our composure and line back again. Italy go one out for the rest of the minute which is meat-and-drink. The minute end with the ref's mike picking up the sage captaincy of Farrell shouting, "F*cking GO! F*cking HIT! F*CK HIM!" I mock, but that's probably quite a stirring battle cry in this sort of situation.
Backist Monk
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Puja
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
I do it so you don't have to.Mikey Brown wrote:My god, you’re a masochist.
Puja
Backist Monk
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Puja
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
Minute 10:
Cole does a very nice bit of work. He tackles, goes to jackal, pulls out when it's clearly not on and then spots the Italian number 8 is doing a nice bit of ruck inspecting over the ball. He waits till Braley goes to pick up the ball and shoves the 8 back onto the scrum-half. It's not going to turn over the ball, but it is going to annoy Italy and slow everything down, which is just what the doctor ordered. Plus, it's funny. The 8 picks himself up, at which point Cole tries to launch him again, but this time Braley just steps out the way. Two more Italians step in to quell Cole, who looks like he's having great fun, and this breakdown has taken 12 seconds for Italy to get the ball out of.
Thus slowed, Italy go one out again and again, not really getting anywhere or stressing the England defence. Tackling practice. Wilson puts in some belters.
Minute 11:
Italy spin it wide, but it's covered well and they've now moved back to 15m out from the line. Farrell launches in with a blatant shoulder charge, which he's lucky to get away with, but no-one's hurt. It allows Ferrari to bounce off and gain an extra metre and suddenly our defence goes really passive for some reason. Italy are still going one-out and it's not threatening, but we're letting them come to us and giving up ground. It gives Italy the chance to spin it wide out the back and suddenly we're short and charging up again. Youngs is defending at outside centre for some reason and steps in on the wrong man, leaving the Italian 11 free. Francis does well to cover across (considering he was marking the man that Youngs stepped in to tackle), but the ball is away and Benvenutti is one-on-one with May. May gets himself wrong-footed - he's covered too far across and a faked step inside leaves him off-balance and open to a hand-off. May does enough to knock the ball out of Benvenutti's hands as he goes for the line, which is a result of a sort, but he'll be disappointed with how easily he was beaten.
Minute 12:
Italy have no interest in scrummaging fairly and we reset several times.
Minute 13:
Italy have no interest in scrummaging fairly and we reset several times.
Minute 14:
Penalty to England and we will never get those two minutes back.
England take the lineout well and play some fairly uninspiring phases from it, leading to a ruck 35m out in the middle of the pitch. Youngs passes back deep into the 22 and Farrell kicks, long and straight says the commentator, ignoring that it was long and straight down Hayward's throat. No way Ford would've got away without a comment on that. Hayward runs 10m without encountering anyone and then launches it high and not very well, as Watson catches without contest and can run onto it.
Cole does a very nice bit of work. He tackles, goes to jackal, pulls out when it's clearly not on and then spots the Italian number 8 is doing a nice bit of ruck inspecting over the ball. He waits till Braley goes to pick up the ball and shoves the 8 back onto the scrum-half. It's not going to turn over the ball, but it is going to annoy Italy and slow everything down, which is just what the doctor ordered. Plus, it's funny. The 8 picks himself up, at which point Cole tries to launch him again, but this time Braley just steps out the way. Two more Italians step in to quell Cole, who looks like he's having great fun, and this breakdown has taken 12 seconds for Italy to get the ball out of.
Thus slowed, Italy go one out again and again, not really getting anywhere or stressing the England defence. Tackling practice. Wilson puts in some belters.
Minute 11:
Italy spin it wide, but it's covered well and they've now moved back to 15m out from the line. Farrell launches in with a blatant shoulder charge, which he's lucky to get away with, but no-one's hurt. It allows Ferrari to bounce off and gain an extra metre and suddenly our defence goes really passive for some reason. Italy are still going one-out and it's not threatening, but we're letting them come to us and giving up ground. It gives Italy the chance to spin it wide out the back and suddenly we're short and charging up again. Youngs is defending at outside centre for some reason and steps in on the wrong man, leaving the Italian 11 free. Francis does well to cover across (considering he was marking the man that Youngs stepped in to tackle), but the ball is away and Benvenutti is one-on-one with May. May gets himself wrong-footed - he's covered too far across and a faked step inside leaves him off-balance and open to a hand-off. May does enough to knock the ball out of Benvenutti's hands as he goes for the line, which is a result of a sort, but he'll be disappointed with how easily he was beaten.
Minute 12:
Italy have no interest in scrummaging fairly and we reset several times.
Minute 13:
Italy have no interest in scrummaging fairly and we reset several times.
Minute 14:
Penalty to England and we will never get those two minutes back.
England take the lineout well and play some fairly uninspiring phases from it, leading to a ruck 35m out in the middle of the pitch. Youngs passes back deep into the 22 and Farrell kicks, long and straight says the commentator, ignoring that it was long and straight down Hayward's throat. No way Ford would've got away without a comment on that. Hayward runs 10m without encountering anyone and then launches it high and not very well, as Watson catches without contest and can run onto it.
Backist Monk
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Puja
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
Minute 15:
Watson's offload is loose and Fazlet does well to hold onto it. We recycle, Francis plays 10 with Faz 12, who grubbers through - it's not a bad shout, but it's a bit long, McConnochie doesn't seem to have realised it's going to happen, and Bellini has read it well, so it's ball back to Italy. They don't achieve much with it though and it's more tackling practice.
Minute 16:
Braley decides that he's had enough of ineffective fumbling round the halfway and launches a contestable box kick. I suspect Bellini's offside, but it matters not as McConnochie comes forward and claims it confidently. Quick ball and Farrell has a choice of BillyV short or passing it wide. No-one looks good here - BillyV's dummy line is derisory and doesn't fool anyone, but in his mild defence, Farrell's already sent out the telegram announcing the future disposition of the ball. Poor play though - I was always taught you ran a dummy line by having your hands up, shouting for the ball and expecting to get it, both so that you fooled the defence and didn't drop it if it did come to you. Billy's achieving nothing with what he's done there.
Francis doesn't cover himself in glory either by wanging a very floaty pass to May, who looked like he was expecting a chip or a grubber (for which there is *masses* of room, btw) and has to stop and wait to get it, at which point the Italian defence is on him. He looks like he's wandering back inside, only to pull out a vicious step and accelerate that leaves the Italian 13 clutching air and 11 and 12 just about dragging him down by his bootlaces. Quick ball and Youngs makes the right decision to go blind and feed George - it's not a great pass, but you could say George overran it. George makes a half-break down the wing, dummies the offload to draw Steyn in and then releases it when Steyn's out of the passing lane to send Watson through a half-gap. It is exquisite work.
Italy bring down Watson at the cost of another 8m and two lots of quick ball see us approach the 22. Jonny May looks so dangerous - his sudden changes of pace and direction see him almost through another non-existent gap. Unfortunately a poor Youngs pass kills a small overlap and we have to restart the momentum.
Minute 17:
Credit where it's due, this is *much* better from Fazlet. He carries the ball right to the line, looks like he's passing to Curry, but instead pops a nice disguised ball off to Wilson. Better. Wilson carries into the 22 and the ball is quick. Farrell then undoes the good work by giving the ball away. It's the same as the picture I took before - he knows where he wants to pass, he's turned right into it, but the Italian 12 has rushed up on his intended recipient of BillyV and the 13 is charging his backup option of the pull-back to Watson. The right move is to carry himself - the pass is cut off and even a crap carry that allows us to recycle is the best option (and there's a hint of a gap from the dogleg if he's nimble). However, he has already turned into the pass and it's now nigh impossible for him to straighten or step back inside, so he dithers and then tries to feed BillyV anyway. The Italian 12 pinches the ball instead and Italy clear away.
The lineout is clean and we maul passably well. We're still letting players swing round behind the ball carrier - I don't think they're legal, but refs seem very reluctant to give those at the moment and we seem very susceptible to it happening. I think we'd be better off being less ambitious with our speed of forward movement and building a longer tail so that we don't go forward only to get swamped. Anyway, Youngs gets the ball out and box-kicks.
Minute 18:
It is a belting kick and Jonny May dominates the contest in the air to gain us a full 20m and a backpedalling defence. Farrell carries up, but his shoulders are much squarer this time, leaving him able to go himself when the pass isn't on. We go through a few phases and Italy are pinged very harshly for offside in the backline. They've actually been offside *a lot* this game, but perversely only get penalised for the least offensive occasion.
Farrell uses the advantage to drop back and put up a high kick, but it's not wide enough and definitely not deep enough, landing outside the 22 and just inside the 15m line, and May isn't breaking into a jog to get under that one. If that had landed 5m from both the touchline and the tryline, then Italy would've been backpedalling, May would've been running onto it, and it would've been a very dangerous kick. As it is, May regathers and gets bundled backwards by Italy running onto it and the advantage is pissed away like it's a Conservative majority.
Minute 19:
Farrell takes a lot of time over the penalty.
Watson's offload is loose and Fazlet does well to hold onto it. We recycle, Francis plays 10 with Faz 12, who grubbers through - it's not a bad shout, but it's a bit long, McConnochie doesn't seem to have realised it's going to happen, and Bellini has read it well, so it's ball back to Italy. They don't achieve much with it though and it's more tackling practice.
Minute 16:
Braley decides that he's had enough of ineffective fumbling round the halfway and launches a contestable box kick. I suspect Bellini's offside, but it matters not as McConnochie comes forward and claims it confidently. Quick ball and Farrell has a choice of BillyV short or passing it wide. No-one looks good here - BillyV's dummy line is derisory and doesn't fool anyone, but in his mild defence, Farrell's already sent out the telegram announcing the future disposition of the ball. Poor play though - I was always taught you ran a dummy line by having your hands up, shouting for the ball and expecting to get it, both so that you fooled the defence and didn't drop it if it did come to you. Billy's achieving nothing with what he's done there.
Francis doesn't cover himself in glory either by wanging a very floaty pass to May, who looked like he was expecting a chip or a grubber (for which there is *masses* of room, btw) and has to stop and wait to get it, at which point the Italian defence is on him. He looks like he's wandering back inside, only to pull out a vicious step and accelerate that leaves the Italian 13 clutching air and 11 and 12 just about dragging him down by his bootlaces. Quick ball and Youngs makes the right decision to go blind and feed George - it's not a great pass, but you could say George overran it. George makes a half-break down the wing, dummies the offload to draw Steyn in and then releases it when Steyn's out of the passing lane to send Watson through a half-gap. It is exquisite work.
Italy bring down Watson at the cost of another 8m and two lots of quick ball see us approach the 22. Jonny May looks so dangerous - his sudden changes of pace and direction see him almost through another non-existent gap. Unfortunately a poor Youngs pass kills a small overlap and we have to restart the momentum.
Minute 17:
Credit where it's due, this is *much* better from Fazlet. He carries the ball right to the line, looks like he's passing to Curry, but instead pops a nice disguised ball off to Wilson. Better. Wilson carries into the 22 and the ball is quick. Farrell then undoes the good work by giving the ball away. It's the same as the picture I took before - he knows where he wants to pass, he's turned right into it, but the Italian 12 has rushed up on his intended recipient of BillyV and the 13 is charging his backup option of the pull-back to Watson. The right move is to carry himself - the pass is cut off and even a crap carry that allows us to recycle is the best option (and there's a hint of a gap from the dogleg if he's nimble). However, he has already turned into the pass and it's now nigh impossible for him to straighten or step back inside, so he dithers and then tries to feed BillyV anyway. The Italian 12 pinches the ball instead and Italy clear away.
The lineout is clean and we maul passably well. We're still letting players swing round behind the ball carrier - I don't think they're legal, but refs seem very reluctant to give those at the moment and we seem very susceptible to it happening. I think we'd be better off being less ambitious with our speed of forward movement and building a longer tail so that we don't go forward only to get swamped. Anyway, Youngs gets the ball out and box-kicks.
Minute 18:
It is a belting kick and Jonny May dominates the contest in the air to gain us a full 20m and a backpedalling defence. Farrell carries up, but his shoulders are much squarer this time, leaving him able to go himself when the pass isn't on. We go through a few phases and Italy are pinged very harshly for offside in the backline. They've actually been offside *a lot* this game, but perversely only get penalised for the least offensive occasion.
Farrell uses the advantage to drop back and put up a high kick, but it's not wide enough and definitely not deep enough, landing outside the 22 and just inside the 15m line, and May isn't breaking into a jog to get under that one. If that had landed 5m from both the touchline and the tryline, then Italy would've been backpedalling, May would've been running onto it, and it would've been a very dangerous kick. As it is, May regathers and gets bundled backwards by Italy running onto it and the advantage is pissed away like it's a Conservative majority.
Minute 19:
Farrell takes a lot of time over the penalty.
Backist Monk
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Puja
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
Minute 20:
90 seconds later and Fazlet kicks the 3. We just about have enough time in the minute for the kickoff, which is a repeat of the utterly harmless effort that Italy doled up last time. It gets an even worse result - Youngs catches, but this time his kick connects beautifully to go into touch inside Italy's half. Don't know what their plan is there.
Minute 21:
Barnes eulogises about Youngs and I have to say, he's a bit effusive but generally right. The box kicking has been spot on (and May has been superb under it), his passing has been generally accurate and swift, and we've even seen a tap and go. It's been nice, although not quite worth the mess that Barnes has discovered in his underpants.
Italy win the lineout and make slow, yet safe progress with a maul. Braley goes to get the ball, but somehow Lawes manages to get an arm through and hook a hand around the ball. Sisi makes a terrible mistake in stopping mauling to try and remove him, which ironically opens the gap that Lawes uses to push forward and convert the hand over the ball into a full arm. After that, it's just a case of waiting for the ref to get bored and call the scrum to England.
Minute 22:
George complains a lot to the ref. No scrum occurs.
Minute 23:
The scrum happens and it's a quick hook back to BillyV's feet. It's an 8-9-10 move and Farrell carries the ball to the line, shoulders square, and it's much better, right up until the point at which his pass hits the deck. It looks like a planned move - 9 to 10, 10 goes to the line with 12 on a close crash line, and 9 loops round for the return pass off 10, but either Youngs has forgotten the move and doesn't think the ball is going to him, or Owen's improvising and has made a very bad call. Either way, the pass shouldn't have been thrown - Braley has read the move and has tracked Youngs and is between him and the ball, so best case scenario sees Youngs hit man and ball, worst case sees an intercept and a try. Owen throws it anyway so it's either stupidly sticking to a planned move that was no longer on or making a poor decision on the fly - not good either way.
As it is, Youngs doesn't run onto the pass which throws Braley off and the ball bounces until it's knocked on by Youngs belatedly trying to gather. Italy fail to take advantage and Yaay, more scrums!
Minute 24:
Italy still have no interest in scrummaging, but the touch judge decides it's England's fault, so free-kick. Braley taps and goes, before floating a wide pass out to an invisible man standing between two Italian defenders. He's making me feel better about our scrum-half options. There's no knock on, but Italy are going nowhere and decide to box kick.
90 seconds later and Fazlet kicks the 3. We just about have enough time in the minute for the kickoff, which is a repeat of the utterly harmless effort that Italy doled up last time. It gets an even worse result - Youngs catches, but this time his kick connects beautifully to go into touch inside Italy's half. Don't know what their plan is there.
Minute 21:
Barnes eulogises about Youngs and I have to say, he's a bit effusive but generally right. The box kicking has been spot on (and May has been superb under it), his passing has been generally accurate and swift, and we've even seen a tap and go. It's been nice, although not quite worth the mess that Barnes has discovered in his underpants.
Italy win the lineout and make slow, yet safe progress with a maul. Braley goes to get the ball, but somehow Lawes manages to get an arm through and hook a hand around the ball. Sisi makes a terrible mistake in stopping mauling to try and remove him, which ironically opens the gap that Lawes uses to push forward and convert the hand over the ball into a full arm. After that, it's just a case of waiting for the ref to get bored and call the scrum to England.
Minute 22:
George complains a lot to the ref. No scrum occurs.
Minute 23:
The scrum happens and it's a quick hook back to BillyV's feet. It's an 8-9-10 move and Farrell carries the ball to the line, shoulders square, and it's much better, right up until the point at which his pass hits the deck. It looks like a planned move - 9 to 10, 10 goes to the line with 12 on a close crash line, and 9 loops round for the return pass off 10, but either Youngs has forgotten the move and doesn't think the ball is going to him, or Owen's improvising and has made a very bad call. Either way, the pass shouldn't have been thrown - Braley has read the move and has tracked Youngs and is between him and the ball, so best case scenario sees Youngs hit man and ball, worst case sees an intercept and a try. Owen throws it anyway so it's either stupidly sticking to a planned move that was no longer on or making a poor decision on the fly - not good either way.
As it is, Youngs doesn't run onto the pass which throws Braley off and the ball bounces until it's knocked on by Youngs belatedly trying to gather. Italy fail to take advantage and Yaay, more scrums!
Minute 24:
Italy still have no interest in scrummaging, but the touch judge decides it's England's fault, so free-kick. Braley taps and goes, before floating a wide pass out to an invisible man standing between two Italian defenders. He's making me feel better about our scrum-half options. There's no knock on, but Italy are going nowhere and decide to box kick.
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Puja
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
Minute 25:
Watson comes from deep and looks like he has it, but loses it as he tumbles over the crowd. It wasn't easy, but we've excoricated Daly for less. Despite the ball clearly going backwards off Watson and then ricocheting off an Italian, the ref gives knock-on advantage and Braley kicks it away with an iffy cross-field kick that Francis fields. There's a 2-on-1 due to a lackadaisical Italian chase and Francis merely has to draw and give to send Farrell away down the left. Technically he manages a draw and give, but the hash he makes of a 2 metre pass has to be seen to be believed. Somehow he manages to spin it from his wrong hand, with the ball going as far high as it does across, and by the time it loops down into Farrell's hands, the moment is long since gone. Very poor. Farrell then decides to make a bad situation even worse by kicking straight into touch which, to be honest, would possibly have been his option even if he had been given a free run down the wing.
Minute 26:
Italy play off the top of the lineout and we're not doing a good job of contesting so far. The ball is taken into midfield and the ref is kind to Italy twice - first by letting Steyn away with getting up from a clearly completed tackle, and then calling tackle when the next Italian carrier is being held up by George and Launchbury.
Italy attempt to go wide and England's defensive alignment is awful again as we are very, very short, but a mixture of good work from Marchant and poor work in attack by Budd gives McConnochie the chance to come up and join the defensive line so we can number up. However, he doesn't cover himself in glory by going high on Hayward and getting brushed off, then rounded. Francis covers across and spares his blushes, but the result is another Italian lineout just inside our half.
Minute 27:
Again, completely uncontested lineout win for Italy. They're not doing anything with it, but we're again defending weirdly. Youngs and Farrell are consistently manning the short side, for some reason, with McConnochie sitting back deep as a second full-back. It's happened several times this game and appears to be an active plan. Is this planning ahead for keeping Ford out of the defensive line? Whatever the plan, it's not working, as first Youngs steps out for no reason to leave a gap that Launch has to cover, and then two phases later Fazlet steps in unnecessarily to make a double tackle on the penultimate man, leaving someone unmarked if the Italian had got the pass away quickly. Maybe we could try having a winger defending on the wing? Cause this isn't working.
Minute 28:
Italy are attacking without any pace onto the ball and it's tackling practice for our forwards. Eventually a pass bobbles forwards and lands in Wilson's hands. England spin it wide to stretch Italy and when the ball comes back the other way, Farrell puts in a lovely chip over the top for May to run onto. May beats one man and makes ground, but he's blindsided by a tackle from behind as he attempts to beat the last man and is isolated on the floor. It's not great rucking from George and Launchbury, but you have to say solid defence by Italy and good turnover.
Minute 29:
We get a lot of replays to appreciate the atrocity that is Jonny May's new haircut while a few players go down injured. The announcer attempts vainly to get the crowd awake again and gets a desultry cheer for his efforts. Cann kicks for a lineout deep in England's half.
Watson comes from deep and looks like he has it, but loses it as he tumbles over the crowd. It wasn't easy, but we've excoricated Daly for less. Despite the ball clearly going backwards off Watson and then ricocheting off an Italian, the ref gives knock-on advantage and Braley kicks it away with an iffy cross-field kick that Francis fields. There's a 2-on-1 due to a lackadaisical Italian chase and Francis merely has to draw and give to send Farrell away down the left. Technically he manages a draw and give, but the hash he makes of a 2 metre pass has to be seen to be believed. Somehow he manages to spin it from his wrong hand, with the ball going as far high as it does across, and by the time it loops down into Farrell's hands, the moment is long since gone. Very poor. Farrell then decides to make a bad situation even worse by kicking straight into touch which, to be honest, would possibly have been his option even if he had been given a free run down the wing.
Minute 26:
Italy play off the top of the lineout and we're not doing a good job of contesting so far. The ball is taken into midfield and the ref is kind to Italy twice - first by letting Steyn away with getting up from a clearly completed tackle, and then calling tackle when the next Italian carrier is being held up by George and Launchbury.
Italy attempt to go wide and England's defensive alignment is awful again as we are very, very short, but a mixture of good work from Marchant and poor work in attack by Budd gives McConnochie the chance to come up and join the defensive line so we can number up. However, he doesn't cover himself in glory by going high on Hayward and getting brushed off, then rounded. Francis covers across and spares his blushes, but the result is another Italian lineout just inside our half.
Minute 27:
Again, completely uncontested lineout win for Italy. They're not doing anything with it, but we're again defending weirdly. Youngs and Farrell are consistently manning the short side, for some reason, with McConnochie sitting back deep as a second full-back. It's happened several times this game and appears to be an active plan. Is this planning ahead for keeping Ford out of the defensive line? Whatever the plan, it's not working, as first Youngs steps out for no reason to leave a gap that Launch has to cover, and then two phases later Fazlet steps in unnecessarily to make a double tackle on the penultimate man, leaving someone unmarked if the Italian had got the pass away quickly. Maybe we could try having a winger defending on the wing? Cause this isn't working.
Minute 28:
Italy are attacking without any pace onto the ball and it's tackling practice for our forwards. Eventually a pass bobbles forwards and lands in Wilson's hands. England spin it wide to stretch Italy and when the ball comes back the other way, Farrell puts in a lovely chip over the top for May to run onto. May beats one man and makes ground, but he's blindsided by a tackle from behind as he attempts to beat the last man and is isolated on the floor. It's not great rucking from George and Launchbury, but you have to say solid defence by Italy and good turnover.
Minute 29:
We get a lot of replays to appreciate the atrocity that is Jonny May's new haircut while a few players go down injured. The announcer attempts vainly to get the crowd awake again and gets a desultry cheer for his efforts. Cann kicks for a lineout deep in England's half.
Backist Monk
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Puja
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
Minute 30:
I will be honest, my enthusiasm for recapping this is flagging. I thought there was more to discuss here, but this first half has been 90% Italy futilely throwing themselves against our defence and 10% us/Farrell giving the ball back to them. I remember the second half being much better, so we'll see if I can survive that long.
Ooh, look! A competition at the lineout! Lawes pinches it at the back with some very nice lifting work on the move by Marler and BillyV. The ball bobbles to Wilson who runs round the front and gets away. Sadly he can't quite get the offload properly out of the tackle, as if that had gone to May's hands he was through. Knock on.
Minute 31:
Italy get clean ball and run hard and direct. Quick ball recycled and, while our defensive line looks unruffled, this is much better from Ital... and the pass goes to floor. More scrum.
Minute 32:
Messy scrum as the ball gets stuck under the feet of the second row and then squirts out, but Youngs is aware and goes on a little run before feeding Farrell. England has a 2-on-1 with Watson and McConnochie if Faz passes behind, but instead he goes for a touch kick which Hayward fields and boots back downfield. It wasn't a bad kick and unlucky on the bounce that it didn't make touch, but there was *so* *much* *room* there and he didn't even see it.
Faz is nicely under the kick from Hayward though and we counter attack with some nice offloading from BillyV and May before Francis kicks deep and is again unlucky that the ball bounces up and not into touch. George overchases in the hope of taking the catcher and is made to look very foolish. Italy counter and there is a good tackle and jackal from Curry which should really have been given as a penalty.
Minute 33:
Barnes attempts to extract humour out of the fact that a man named Ferrari is playing prop forward. It is as amusing as it sounds. He then tries to double-down and make a second "quip" when nobody even gives him a sympathy chuckle. There is a full 8 seconds of radio-silence while the ball is box-kicked as no-one acknowledges it at all. Francis catches and passes and Miles Harrison begins commentating again, clearly relieved to have something to change the subject to.
Back in the rugby, the only exciting player on the pitch has the ball and suddenly accelerates to make it through a non-existent gap between two back row forwards. His change of pace and footwork is a real weapon - I still think he's one of our best shouts for a World XV. He makes 15m through heavy traffic and we've got quick ball. George runs a good line off Farrell. Watson is running a hard short line, but the ball doesn't come out the ruck quickly enough, so Youngs eschews the forward pass and instead picks and goes into the space that he's created.
Italy are cheating a lot - they're never onside and Ferrari takes the biscuit by standing up after a tackle and then tackling the 9 without even an attempt to get back onside, but England are getting the ball away quickly and running fast at weak shoulders and gaps. Unfortunately we overegg the pudding as Launchbury tries to force one offload too many and it goes forward. Still, much, much better.
Minute 34:
Mass subs - Ewels for Launch (probably injury), and both props are being replaced (probably Eddie f*cking about). However, that's the most exciting part of the minute as no scrum occurs.
I will be honest, my enthusiasm for recapping this is flagging. I thought there was more to discuss here, but this first half has been 90% Italy futilely throwing themselves against our defence and 10% us/Farrell giving the ball back to them. I remember the second half being much better, so we'll see if I can survive that long.
Ooh, look! A competition at the lineout! Lawes pinches it at the back with some very nice lifting work on the move by Marler and BillyV. The ball bobbles to Wilson who runs round the front and gets away. Sadly he can't quite get the offload properly out of the tackle, as if that had gone to May's hands he was through. Knock on.
Minute 31:
Italy get clean ball and run hard and direct. Quick ball recycled and, while our defensive line looks unruffled, this is much better from Ital... and the pass goes to floor. More scrum.
Minute 32:
Messy scrum as the ball gets stuck under the feet of the second row and then squirts out, but Youngs is aware and goes on a little run before feeding Farrell. England has a 2-on-1 with Watson and McConnochie if Faz passes behind, but instead he goes for a touch kick which Hayward fields and boots back downfield. It wasn't a bad kick and unlucky on the bounce that it didn't make touch, but there was *so* *much* *room* there and he didn't even see it.
Faz is nicely under the kick from Hayward though and we counter attack with some nice offloading from BillyV and May before Francis kicks deep and is again unlucky that the ball bounces up and not into touch. George overchases in the hope of taking the catcher and is made to look very foolish. Italy counter and there is a good tackle and jackal from Curry which should really have been given as a penalty.
Minute 33:
Barnes attempts to extract humour out of the fact that a man named Ferrari is playing prop forward. It is as amusing as it sounds. He then tries to double-down and make a second "quip" when nobody even gives him a sympathy chuckle. There is a full 8 seconds of radio-silence while the ball is box-kicked as no-one acknowledges it at all. Francis catches and passes and Miles Harrison begins commentating again, clearly relieved to have something to change the subject to.
Back in the rugby, the only exciting player on the pitch has the ball and suddenly accelerates to make it through a non-existent gap between two back row forwards. His change of pace and footwork is a real weapon - I still think he's one of our best shouts for a World XV. He makes 15m through heavy traffic and we've got quick ball. George runs a good line off Farrell. Watson is running a hard short line, but the ball doesn't come out the ruck quickly enough, so Youngs eschews the forward pass and instead picks and goes into the space that he's created.
Italy are cheating a lot - they're never onside and Ferrari takes the biscuit by standing up after a tackle and then tackling the 9 without even an attempt to get back onside, but England are getting the ball away quickly and running fast at weak shoulders and gaps. Unfortunately we overegg the pudding as Launchbury tries to force one offload too many and it goes forward. Still, much, much better.
Minute 34:
Mass subs - Ewels for Launch (probably injury), and both props are being replaced (probably Eddie f*cking about). However, that's the most exciting part of the minute as no scrum occurs.
Backist Monk
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Digby
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
If you get stuck I saw a dog shit someone hadn't cleaned up from a pavement earlier, and whilst waiting to cross a roundabout someone exited/turned left without indicating, both of which were substantially more exciting than England so I can cover for a while
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Puja
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
No bloody chance. I've not slogged my way through all the crap just to let you swoop in when it starts to get good okay!Digby wrote:If you get stuck I saw a dog shit someone hadn't cleaned up from a pavement earlier, and whilst waiting to cross a roundabout someone exited/turned left without indicating, both of which were substantially more exciting than England so I can cover for a while
Puja
Backist Monk
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Puja
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
Minute 35:
Italy buy a penalty from the ref by refusing to take the hit, but it's partly our fault for making a hit when there's no real need. Old head from Italy taking advantage of Sinckler, who is still very young in prop years.
Minute 36:
Weirdly, we send Curry up to compete at the front, lifted by Ewels who is a front jumper. He's nowhere near getting that and doesn't look comfortable - I think he's more of an option on our ball than attacking opposition ball. Italy box-kick and May reads it exceptionally well - it looks like it's going straight out, but just curves back infield and he follows it to take the catch. A lot of players would've let that bounce (especially with Ben Youngs shouting "It's going straight out. Out, out, OUT!") and havoc could have ensued. Still, Youngs gets a chance to be restrospectively right a phase later as he box-kicks out on the full and even May's best efforts can't keep it in. The camera focuses on Youngs and you can easily lipread "That was sh*t". Yes Ben. Yes, it was.
Mind, it is only his first error this week, so we're already much better than the Ireland game.
Minute 37:
England send up two pods at the lineout and do enough to induce a fumble from the Italians. Wilson secures it and Farrell clears, with a kick that can politely be called sh*te. It lands straight in the full-back's arms, middle of the pitch, just outside the 22, leaving him with 30m to the nearest English chaser. If that's Beauden Barrett that takes that kick, that move is ending in 7 points. Thankfully, it's only Jayden Hayward and our defensive line from the chase is pretty solid, so we end up with him very kindly kicking the ball back to us. We end up losing the ball forward as BillyV goes a bit Nathan Hughes and tries to carry too upright (which has happened a couple of times) and gets stripped.
Italy play the advantage and go wide where we are, surprise surprise, a little short. We have it mostly covered with the drift, except that McConnochie appears to have switched off and doesn't drift at all, leaving him keeping a beady eye on a player that Marchant is coming across to cover and with Bisegni completely unmarked going down the wing. He's one-on-one with Watson and grubbers through for the players calling on the inside...
Minute 38:
May makes the decision to let it run, which is a tad brave considering rugby balls can be bastards, but it does roll true and May dots down for a 22 drop out.
Farrell makes a functional drop-out, but we don't really compete for it, so it's neither nothing nor something. Italy go wide and we are... survey says SHORT ON THE OUTSIDE! McConnochie makes a good call to rush up and close down a 3-on-1 overlap, but he's a little lucky that Italy don't get the ball through the hands quicker, cause there would've been trouble if they'd got the ball away. Scrum to England from an Italian knock-on in the McC tackle.
Minute 39:
Again the ball gets stuck under Lawes's feet in the scrum and it ends up bobbling away. Youngs does well to get to it first and get the ball away in one movement. England manage to reset and set up a new phase, but Italy are blatantly offside and kill the play. Fazlet opts for the posts to the delight of the crowd. It's the right call though - we've been scrappy and if Italy fluke 7 points, then it'll knock the wind out of us and invigorate them.
Minute 41:
Faz kicks the points and thank all the gods that the half is over.
Italy buy a penalty from the ref by refusing to take the hit, but it's partly our fault for making a hit when there's no real need. Old head from Italy taking advantage of Sinckler, who is still very young in prop years.
Minute 36:
Weirdly, we send Curry up to compete at the front, lifted by Ewels who is a front jumper. He's nowhere near getting that and doesn't look comfortable - I think he's more of an option on our ball than attacking opposition ball. Italy box-kick and May reads it exceptionally well - it looks like it's going straight out, but just curves back infield and he follows it to take the catch. A lot of players would've let that bounce (especially with Ben Youngs shouting "It's going straight out. Out, out, OUT!") and havoc could have ensued. Still, Youngs gets a chance to be restrospectively right a phase later as he box-kicks out on the full and even May's best efforts can't keep it in. The camera focuses on Youngs and you can easily lipread "That was sh*t". Yes Ben. Yes, it was.
Mind, it is only his first error this week, so we're already much better than the Ireland game.
Minute 37:
England send up two pods at the lineout and do enough to induce a fumble from the Italians. Wilson secures it and Farrell clears, with a kick that can politely be called sh*te. It lands straight in the full-back's arms, middle of the pitch, just outside the 22, leaving him with 30m to the nearest English chaser. If that's Beauden Barrett that takes that kick, that move is ending in 7 points. Thankfully, it's only Jayden Hayward and our defensive line from the chase is pretty solid, so we end up with him very kindly kicking the ball back to us. We end up losing the ball forward as BillyV goes a bit Nathan Hughes and tries to carry too upright (which has happened a couple of times) and gets stripped.
Italy play the advantage and go wide where we are, surprise surprise, a little short. We have it mostly covered with the drift, except that McConnochie appears to have switched off and doesn't drift at all, leaving him keeping a beady eye on a player that Marchant is coming across to cover and with Bisegni completely unmarked going down the wing. He's one-on-one with Watson and grubbers through for the players calling on the inside...
Minute 38:
May makes the decision to let it run, which is a tad brave considering rugby balls can be bastards, but it does roll true and May dots down for a 22 drop out.
Farrell makes a functional drop-out, but we don't really compete for it, so it's neither nothing nor something. Italy go wide and we are... survey says SHORT ON THE OUTSIDE! McConnochie makes a good call to rush up and close down a 3-on-1 overlap, but he's a little lucky that Italy don't get the ball through the hands quicker, cause there would've been trouble if they'd got the ball away. Scrum to England from an Italian knock-on in the McC tackle.
Minute 39:
Again the ball gets stuck under Lawes's feet in the scrum and it ends up bobbling away. Youngs does well to get to it first and get the ball away in one movement. England manage to reset and set up a new phase, but Italy are blatantly offside and kill the play. Fazlet opts for the posts to the delight of the crowd. It's the right call though - we've been scrappy and if Italy fluke 7 points, then it'll knock the wind out of us and invigorate them.
Minute 41:
Faz kicks the points and thank all the gods that the half is over.
Backist Monk
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Mr Mwenda
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
Sounds like a real boon for rugby in the north-east.
I appreciate the analysis.
I appreciate the analysis.
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Puja
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
Second half:
Minute 41:
Farrell does a nice shallow kick-off and Lawes flies through the air to take it above the Italian catchers. We ruck over firmly and then Sinckler runs a very good line at pace from Youngs. Genge sees it and tries to do the same, but he's far too upright in the carry and is nearly held up. An Italian hand knocks away his attempted offload and George rescues it and give it away in the same second with a very poor decision on a pass. Canna seizes on the loose ball and makes ground, but Genge redeems himself by making the tackle and then bouncing straight to his feet to effect the turnover with a penalty for holding on.
Minute 42:
Farrell drags the penalty wide and that's very poor. 42m out, straight in front of the posts - you don't see Ford missing kicks like that.
Minute 43:
Italy restart long and Marchant gathers and beats three men - mostly going sideways, but it's still quite nice. Quick ball and we get Sinckler and Genge crashing up again. Youngs proves that he can learn - Italy come up what looks like offside (and probably is), but instead of petulantly throwing the ball at one of them, he plays to the goddamned whistle and finds Sinckler on the charge again. Good decision, as the referee waits for another couple of seconds before communicating that he thought the ball was out. Might've been nice to have that chat while the event was actually happening ref?
We're running good short lines off Youngs and making ground. Farrell grubbers through - if you were being hypercritical, you'd say it needed to be firmer - and May almost gathers for a try. Italy just scramble to regather.
Minute 44:
Braley box-kicks away, but only to May, who carries up well and is only just brought down. The ball comes back to Faz who puts a nice cross-field kick over to Marchant who takes it up to 10m out. Genge then take the ball up, for certain values of up, as he does that intensely annoying thing where he steps just before contact and runs laterally across the defensive line. Yes Ellis, you've got great footwork for a prop, we all know. However your job here is to make a dent. Beating one man by going sideways helps nobody if you just keep going sideways until you meet someone who can knock you backwards. It didn't work for 2014!Jonny May and he didn't need "for a prop" to be appended to compliments about his footwork. Sometimes, you just need to take the damned contact with momentum, rather than sidestepping and losing all forward power. He makes zero ground, but evades 4 defenders who are more baffled than actively beaten.
Minute 41:
Farrell does a nice shallow kick-off and Lawes flies through the air to take it above the Italian catchers. We ruck over firmly and then Sinckler runs a very good line at pace from Youngs. Genge sees it and tries to do the same, but he's far too upright in the carry and is nearly held up. An Italian hand knocks away his attempted offload and George rescues it and give it away in the same second with a very poor decision on a pass. Canna seizes on the loose ball and makes ground, but Genge redeems himself by making the tackle and then bouncing straight to his feet to effect the turnover with a penalty for holding on.
Minute 42:
Farrell drags the penalty wide and that's very poor. 42m out, straight in front of the posts - you don't see Ford missing kicks like that.
Minute 43:
Italy restart long and Marchant gathers and beats three men - mostly going sideways, but it's still quite nice. Quick ball and we get Sinckler and Genge crashing up again. Youngs proves that he can learn - Italy come up what looks like offside (and probably is), but instead of petulantly throwing the ball at one of them, he plays to the goddamned whistle and finds Sinckler on the charge again. Good decision, as the referee waits for another couple of seconds before communicating that he thought the ball was out. Might've been nice to have that chat while the event was actually happening ref?
We're running good short lines off Youngs and making ground. Farrell grubbers through - if you were being hypercritical, you'd say it needed to be firmer - and May almost gathers for a try. Italy just scramble to regather.
Minute 44:
Braley box-kicks away, but only to May, who carries up well and is only just brought down. The ball comes back to Faz who puts a nice cross-field kick over to Marchant who takes it up to 10m out. Genge then take the ball up, for certain values of up, as he does that intensely annoying thing where he steps just before contact and runs laterally across the defensive line. Yes Ellis, you've got great footwork for a prop, we all know. However your job here is to make a dent. Beating one man by going sideways helps nobody if you just keep going sideways until you meet someone who can knock you backwards. It didn't work for 2014!Jonny May and he didn't need "for a prop" to be appended to compliments about his footwork. Sometimes, you just need to take the damned contact with momentum, rather than sidestepping and losing all forward power. He makes zero ground, but evades 4 defenders who are more baffled than actively beaten.
Backist Monk
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Puja
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
Minute 45:
Curry and Sinckler show Genge how it is done in successive carries - they do use footwork, but they use it as part of their charge, not obviating the charge in favour of a sideways step. We're up to the very brink of the line and Italy have eyes on all the England attackers without really noting how close Youngs himself is to the line. He sells a good dummy by ordering his team to run round and changing his feet like he's going to pass the other way, before lifting the ball and placing it over the line for a 30cm special.
Minute 46:
Our time is wasted for a pointless TMO, which reveals only that Youngs really should have grounded the ball with two hands rather than one. Italy kick off deep and BillyV again catches uncontested and can carry up. Whatever the Azzuri are planning with these kickoffs, it's not working. We carry up to just outside the 22 and Youngs passes back to Farrell who is charged down. It's not actually a case of being caught as Negri isn't that close to Farrell when he kicks - it's just a really low trajectory that rebounds off his shoulder. Not sure if there was a plan for a flat kick or if it's just badly executed, but it's not good either way.
The ball ricochets to bounce a metre from our try line and then takes an abrupt 90 degree left turn, because rugby balls are bastards. Piers Francis fails to gather and we're very lucky to get away with a knock-on, then a playing on the floor, then a holding on on the floor. Still, the ref sees nothing and we have a very average pick and drive from Genge who is again high and gets driven back over the ruck. He's got so much promise, but someone needs to have a word and convince him that he's not as good as he thinks he is and can't take on the world with an upright carry and a hand off. He's the prop version of Nathan Hughes.
Minute 47:
A BillyV and Wilson conglomorate gain us an extra metre, at least enough that the back of the ruck isn't directly in the ingoal area. Youngs then box kicks away to touch and it's a brilliant kick from where we are and how much pressure we're under.
Eddie has seen enough and has sent The Real Ice Man on to save the day. Francis is sacrificed.
Early finish to this update, as small children are demanding. Back later; do try and contain your excitement.
Curry and Sinckler show Genge how it is done in successive carries - they do use footwork, but they use it as part of their charge, not obviating the charge in favour of a sideways step. We're up to the very brink of the line and Italy have eyes on all the England attackers without really noting how close Youngs himself is to the line. He sells a good dummy by ordering his team to run round and changing his feet like he's going to pass the other way, before lifting the ball and placing it over the line for a 30cm special.
Minute 46:
Our time is wasted for a pointless TMO, which reveals only that Youngs really should have grounded the ball with two hands rather than one. Italy kick off deep and BillyV again catches uncontested and can carry up. Whatever the Azzuri are planning with these kickoffs, it's not working. We carry up to just outside the 22 and Youngs passes back to Farrell who is charged down. It's not actually a case of being caught as Negri isn't that close to Farrell when he kicks - it's just a really low trajectory that rebounds off his shoulder. Not sure if there was a plan for a flat kick or if it's just badly executed, but it's not good either way.
The ball ricochets to bounce a metre from our try line and then takes an abrupt 90 degree left turn, because rugby balls are bastards. Piers Francis fails to gather and we're very lucky to get away with a knock-on, then a playing on the floor, then a holding on on the floor. Still, the ref sees nothing and we have a very average pick and drive from Genge who is again high and gets driven back over the ruck. He's got so much promise, but someone needs to have a word and convince him that he's not as good as he thinks he is and can't take on the world with an upright carry and a hand off. He's the prop version of Nathan Hughes.
Minute 47:
A BillyV and Wilson conglomorate gain us an extra metre, at least enough that the back of the ruck isn't directly in the ingoal area. Youngs then box kicks away to touch and it's a brilliant kick from where we are and how much pressure we're under.
Eddie has seen enough and has sent The Real Ice Man on to save the day. Francis is sacrificed.
Early finish to this update, as small children are demanding. Back later; do try and contain your excitement.
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Mikey Brown
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
I'm actually enjoying this more than the game to be honest.
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Puja
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
Damning with faint praise.Mikey Brown wrote:I'm actually enjoying this more than the game to be honest.
Puja
Backist Monk
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Digby
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
Was Ben Youngs actually pretty decent, bar Italy put precious little pressure on him?
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Puja
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
Minute 48:
Italy look for a moment as though they're getting some change out of the English defence with some forward carries, but somehow lose the ball forward after a tackle, despite no English player competing. The ball squirts back to Farrell, who acknowledges his superior by passing to Ford to clear.
Sadly for my preconceived notions, it's not a brilliant kick from Ford - there's space down the tramlines for Watson to chase or he could go for touch, but instead he hooks it to the middle of the pitch, where Jayden Hayward once again shows the difference between him and Beauden Barrett in deciding not to take on Sinckler for pace on the outside where the space is. Probably a good call. Unfortunately, Sinckler is comedically offside from the kick and we come back for the penalty, which is kicked to touch.
The lineout is won by Italy who set a maul, but Ewels is called for coming in at the side for exactly the same thing the Italians have got away with all game. I don't understand the rules which let players swing round the side of mauls and the referees' inconsistent interpretations of them don't help me parse them. To my mind, if you end up on the wrong end of the maul having gone round the side, I think it should be that you have to get out - I don't care if you haven't changed your bind. You defend a maul either by going through the middle or by committing players and pushing, which leaves space outside. This technicality bollocks of "hasn't changed his bind" needs to get in the sea.
Minute 49:
Italy don't do anything that innovative or daring with their advantage possession and it's all very comfortably dealt with. The most exciting discovery of this minute is that Eddie Jones has some kind of blue plasticky elbow-patch on his white dress shirt. The utility of that is as baffling to me as the Italian kick-offs.
Minute 50:
England turn over a lineout and frankly it's poor play from Italy. There's a desultory dummy which no-one buys, Ewels reads the play and is up very early, in the slot where Italy want to go, but instead of calling cancel and going to a backup jumper (or just hanging about until his lifters get tired/complaining to the ref about an early jump), Italy try and send up their planned move regardless of circumstances and Ewels casually nabs the ball. It's the lineout equivalent of Farrell taking the ball to the line and it's the kind of thing that, if the Sky commentators didn't like the hooker, would have them moaning about him not being very good with his throwing because they can't analyse a game properly and only know simple predetermined talking points (the commentary equivalent of Farrell taking the ball to the line). Thankfully, Barnes hasn't the first clue who the Italian hooker is, so our brains are left thankfully unmolested.
Anyway, Youngs box kicks away and it's pretty solid without being spectacular - landing just outside the 22 and 7m in from touch. I would question the value of kicking to compete around there, but a wide shot shows it's a relatively clever ploy - the Italian winger has dropped right back expecting a long kick and has to make up over 20m to get to the ball, which he subsequently dropped. Can't help feeling that it might not have been such a smart play if he'd caught it cleanly and Italy had had possession back on our 22, although I suppose that's no different from kicking to touch from there.
Anyway, Ewels adroitly regathers the loose ball and we get quick ball from George acting scrum-half, which has happened a few times in this game and seems to be a tactic. It's a neat idea and keeps the game flowing (rugby league use the hooker as a distributor as well, don't they? Maybe stolen from there), although I would suggest that Youngs should be running harder in that situation.
Aaaaanyway (lots of digressions in this minute!), the ball goes out to Billy who has lots of space to run and barge into people and would certainly make ground. Instead, he catches and gives out to Ford - this is unquestionably the right move from this kind of turnover ball and I wanted to note it because 2015!BillyV would have absolutely gone for the bosh to make 15m himself. Good development of both the player and the team.
Aaaaaaanyway... Ford rewards Billy's maturity by whipping a nice misspass across to put Curry in a 4-on-2 that he muffs with a pass behind Marchant. Marchant gathers it in, but it's given the defence time to come across and by the time the ball gets to May and Watson on the outside, they're covered by the Italian defence. We make ground though and Curry acts as scrum-half because Youngs is still arriving a second or two too late. Run harder Ben!
Unfortunately Watson's rolling on the floor to present sees him put a foot on the touchline and it's an Italian lineout.
Italy look for a moment as though they're getting some change out of the English defence with some forward carries, but somehow lose the ball forward after a tackle, despite no English player competing. The ball squirts back to Farrell, who acknowledges his superior by passing to Ford to clear.
Sadly for my preconceived notions, it's not a brilliant kick from Ford - there's space down the tramlines for Watson to chase or he could go for touch, but instead he hooks it to the middle of the pitch, where Jayden Hayward once again shows the difference between him and Beauden Barrett in deciding not to take on Sinckler for pace on the outside where the space is. Probably a good call. Unfortunately, Sinckler is comedically offside from the kick and we come back for the penalty, which is kicked to touch.
The lineout is won by Italy who set a maul, but Ewels is called for coming in at the side for exactly the same thing the Italians have got away with all game. I don't understand the rules which let players swing round the side of mauls and the referees' inconsistent interpretations of them don't help me parse them. To my mind, if you end up on the wrong end of the maul having gone round the side, I think it should be that you have to get out - I don't care if you haven't changed your bind. You defend a maul either by going through the middle or by committing players and pushing, which leaves space outside. This technicality bollocks of "hasn't changed his bind" needs to get in the sea.
Minute 49:
Italy don't do anything that innovative or daring with their advantage possession and it's all very comfortably dealt with. The most exciting discovery of this minute is that Eddie Jones has some kind of blue plasticky elbow-patch on his white dress shirt. The utility of that is as baffling to me as the Italian kick-offs.
Minute 50:
England turn over a lineout and frankly it's poor play from Italy. There's a desultory dummy which no-one buys, Ewels reads the play and is up very early, in the slot where Italy want to go, but instead of calling cancel and going to a backup jumper (or just hanging about until his lifters get tired/complaining to the ref about an early jump), Italy try and send up their planned move regardless of circumstances and Ewels casually nabs the ball. It's the lineout equivalent of Farrell taking the ball to the line and it's the kind of thing that, if the Sky commentators didn't like the hooker, would have them moaning about him not being very good with his throwing because they can't analyse a game properly and only know simple predetermined talking points (the commentary equivalent of Farrell taking the ball to the line). Thankfully, Barnes hasn't the first clue who the Italian hooker is, so our brains are left thankfully unmolested.
Anyway, Youngs box kicks away and it's pretty solid without being spectacular - landing just outside the 22 and 7m in from touch. I would question the value of kicking to compete around there, but a wide shot shows it's a relatively clever ploy - the Italian winger has dropped right back expecting a long kick and has to make up over 20m to get to the ball, which he subsequently dropped. Can't help feeling that it might not have been such a smart play if he'd caught it cleanly and Italy had had possession back on our 22, although I suppose that's no different from kicking to touch from there.
Anyway, Ewels adroitly regathers the loose ball and we get quick ball from George acting scrum-half, which has happened a few times in this game and seems to be a tactic. It's a neat idea and keeps the game flowing (rugby league use the hooker as a distributor as well, don't they? Maybe stolen from there), although I would suggest that Youngs should be running harder in that situation.
Aaaaanyway (lots of digressions in this minute!), the ball goes out to Billy who has lots of space to run and barge into people and would certainly make ground. Instead, he catches and gives out to Ford - this is unquestionably the right move from this kind of turnover ball and I wanted to note it because 2015!BillyV would have absolutely gone for the bosh to make 15m himself. Good development of both the player and the team.
Aaaaaaanyway... Ford rewards Billy's maturity by whipping a nice misspass across to put Curry in a 4-on-2 that he muffs with a pass behind Marchant. Marchant gathers it in, but it's given the defence time to come across and by the time the ball gets to May and Watson on the outside, they're covered by the Italian defence. We make ground though and Curry acts as scrum-half because Youngs is still arriving a second or two too late. Run harder Ben!
Unfortunately Watson's rolling on the floor to present sees him put a foot on the touchline and it's an Italian lineout.
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Puja
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
Minute 51:
Okay, that lineout loss is the hooker's fault. He's put off by Ewels at the front and even though the Italians are unmarked at the back, Ewels's leap makes him veer to the left and it's an England scrum for not straight.
Neither England nor Italy show any real inclination to scrum properly there and it goes straight down, but the ref spins the Wheel of Scrum Decisions and comes up with an English penalty.
Minute 52:
There's a Mexican wave going on and I can't blame them that much. Italy compete and it's a bit of a loose tap back by Ewels. Youngs gathers the bouncing ball and Ford takes to the line before popping inside to May. Wilson does a good job of being first in to secure the ruck, but the tackler rolls back into Youngs and blocks him when he gets up (Penalty #1), then one of the Italians grappling with Wilson goes to pick up the ball in the clearly set ruck (Penalty #2), then as Wilson removes that player another one goes to pick up the ball (Penalty #3) who then throws himself off his feet over England's side as Youngs goes to ruck him off, then an Italian player goes to pick up the ball from the now empty ruck (which is legal if you ignore all the stuff that lead us here) only for Wilson, who is now on the floor, to put his leg on it and disrupt the pick-up (Italian penalty #1). What does the ref give? An England scrum for a knock on. Classic.
McConnochie comes off for Cokanasiga and I stand by my assessment that he didn't have a good game. Granted, he had naff all ball and very little to do, but he did make two poor defensive errors which would get punished against better opposition. Not dire, but not a great debut.
Minute 53:
Turns out that the ref made the right decision to give the scrum - not in terms of being correct, cause the decision was risible - but in terms of the excitement of the match. Given a penalty, we would've just kicked for the corner and lost the ball from the resulting maul, but from the scrum, Ben Youngs takes scrappy ball, runs a teasing line across the pitch before choosing the right option to pick out Marchant (instead of Farrell, who gets utterly munched off the ball).
Marchant's running line is exquisite - he's initially running at the inside shoulder of the 13, parallelling Fazlet who is running at the inside shoulder of the 12, but between the ball leaving Youngs's hands and it getting to him, he has jinked a full metre sideways without losing any speed, so he's now on the 13's outside shoulder. The Italian 13 has got his eyes on Farrell who is running a very hard and direct line, but he's confident that he knows where Marchant is running and he has him covered too. By the time he looks away from Farrell, it must be like Marchant has teleported between one glance and the next.
Marchant's pace and power sees him through four attempted tackles without slowing down and he's in under the posts for a tremendous try. This angle shows just how good the running line was:
Minute 54:
Italy kick off deep, straight to BillyV and I give up trying to work out whether there is a tactic there. Ford clears handily up to the 10m line.
Okay, that lineout loss is the hooker's fault. He's put off by Ewels at the front and even though the Italians are unmarked at the back, Ewels's leap makes him veer to the left and it's an England scrum for not straight.
Neither England nor Italy show any real inclination to scrum properly there and it goes straight down, but the ref spins the Wheel of Scrum Decisions and comes up with an English penalty.
Minute 52:
There's a Mexican wave going on and I can't blame them that much. Italy compete and it's a bit of a loose tap back by Ewels. Youngs gathers the bouncing ball and Ford takes to the line before popping inside to May. Wilson does a good job of being first in to secure the ruck, but the tackler rolls back into Youngs and blocks him when he gets up (Penalty #1), then one of the Italians grappling with Wilson goes to pick up the ball in the clearly set ruck (Penalty #2), then as Wilson removes that player another one goes to pick up the ball (Penalty #3) who then throws himself off his feet over England's side as Youngs goes to ruck him off, then an Italian player goes to pick up the ball from the now empty ruck (which is legal if you ignore all the stuff that lead us here) only for Wilson, who is now on the floor, to put his leg on it and disrupt the pick-up (Italian penalty #1). What does the ref give? An England scrum for a knock on. Classic.
McConnochie comes off for Cokanasiga and I stand by my assessment that he didn't have a good game. Granted, he had naff all ball and very little to do, but he did make two poor defensive errors which would get punished against better opposition. Not dire, but not a great debut.
Minute 53:
Turns out that the ref made the right decision to give the scrum - not in terms of being correct, cause the decision was risible - but in terms of the excitement of the match. Given a penalty, we would've just kicked for the corner and lost the ball from the resulting maul, but from the scrum, Ben Youngs takes scrappy ball, runs a teasing line across the pitch before choosing the right option to pick out Marchant (instead of Farrell, who gets utterly munched off the ball).
Marchant's running line is exquisite - he's initially running at the inside shoulder of the 13, parallelling Fazlet who is running at the inside shoulder of the 12, but between the ball leaving Youngs's hands and it getting to him, he has jinked a full metre sideways without losing any speed, so he's now on the 13's outside shoulder. The Italian 13 has got his eyes on Farrell who is running a very hard and direct line, but he's confident that he knows where Marchant is running and he has him covered too. By the time he looks away from Farrell, it must be like Marchant has teleported between one glance and the next.
Marchant's pace and power sees him through four attempted tackles without slowing down and he's in under the posts for a tremendous try. This angle shows just how good the running line was:
Minute 54:
Italy kick off deep, straight to BillyV and I give up trying to work out whether there is a tactic there. Ford clears handily up to the 10m line.
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Puja
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
I knew there was a better angle of that try that illustrated the change of line better and it turns out they show that replay a minute of two later. Here it is:
The baffled look that the Italian 13 gives tells you all. "He was right here, just a second ago, I swear!"
Puja
The baffled look that the Italian 13 gives tells you all. "He was right here, just a second ago, I swear!"
Puja
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Stom
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
Marchant is a seriously good attacking 13.
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Puja
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
Minute 55:
Lawes somehow manages to beat Sisi to the lineout ball, despite only having a front lift and that not a very big one. Combination of an average throw and a ridiculous leap. We go through a phase and then sweep right for Fazlet to grubber through - he's unlucky that it bounces into touch, as there were a number of English players who were through if that stayed infield. Never mind, we send both Ewels and Lawes up on the Italian throw and it comes back our side again off CGS's hand. I'd still probably pick Krutoje to start, but Lawes is probably the best no 19 in World Rugby right now and such a good player to be able to bring on to make an impact.
Minute 56:
Youngs gathers in the tap and we go left fast - Faz tries to replicate the grubber and, if you were harsh, you'd say he should've kept it in hand, as the Italian winger has leapt up to try and cut off the misspass to May and instead opened a massive gap for Cokanasiga, but we won't be harsh as there is masses of space for the grubber and if it goes through May has probably scored. Plus 2014!Farrell probably would've tried to throw the pass to May and got intercepted, so let's be happy that that doesn't happen anymore.
Faz is unlucky, as Benvenuti blindly sticks out a foot and blocks the kick. We regather and go through some nice dynamic phases that stress the Italian defence without gaining huge amounts of ground until May gets the ball in very little space and beats two players in a phone booth. We're up to the 22 and Italy give away a penalty for not rolling away, I think as much through tiredness as anything else. Our rucks are quick, our attacks are wide and we're constantly shifting the point of attack. Must be exhausting. And, to top it off, Youngs taps and goes.
Minute 57:
Sadly, while Ford is on the same wavelength as Youngs and is in support, no-one else is up with them and Ford has to take it in. He is held up, but a pedant would say he gets knee to ground several times before the ref calls a maul. Still, you'd be annoyed if that wasn't given as held up if it was your team in defence, so I'd say morally it's the correct decision.
The scrum ends with an Italian penalty - it just looks like a mess to me, but the ref's spun the wheel again and you gotta take the rough with the smooth.
Minute 58:
BillyV exits the pitch and the entirety of RugbyRebels breathes a sigh. Kvesic comes on, which causes one RugbyRebel patron to get inappropriately excited, and his first job is to defend an Italian lineout which is won by the Italians for once. They do a nice inside ball off 10, but Genge gets in the way of an offload and Italy then knock on the loose ball. Canna then picks up the ball from England's side of the ruck and I'm not sure why the referee goes back for the knock on rather than the glaring penalty right in front of his eyes. Maybe it's the fact that Canna's so brazen about it, like a footballer confidently picking up the ball after a penalty shout, that means he decides that the ball must already have been dead. Weird.
Minute 59:
Will Greenwood tries to explain the glory of Marchant's line and footwork for his try, but for some reason uses the absolute worst angle which hides the footwork and the change of line completely. Sky Sports - I am likely cheaper to employ than Will Greenwood as the only remuneration I would require would be for you to let me tell Stuart Barnes to shut up once a game.
Most of the rest of the minute is taken up with failing to scrum, but right at the end, the ref gives a free-kick to us for... some reason, and Youngs taps quickly. Youngs to Ford to Farrell and I am being picky as this is split second decision-making, but this is the time for the grubber that Faz was trying to bring out a minute ago, or a chip over. Watson and May are running fast, Italy are flat-footed and the full-back's not even in the picture - there is a literal 20m of space in which a kick could land and result in an England try.
Anyway, it's passed to Watson on the crash and that's okay, I guess. We make ground, get a quick ruck and go into Minute 60.
Lawes somehow manages to beat Sisi to the lineout ball, despite only having a front lift and that not a very big one. Combination of an average throw and a ridiculous leap. We go through a phase and then sweep right for Fazlet to grubber through - he's unlucky that it bounces into touch, as there were a number of English players who were through if that stayed infield. Never mind, we send both Ewels and Lawes up on the Italian throw and it comes back our side again off CGS's hand. I'd still probably pick Krutoje to start, but Lawes is probably the best no 19 in World Rugby right now and such a good player to be able to bring on to make an impact.
Minute 56:
Youngs gathers in the tap and we go left fast - Faz tries to replicate the grubber and, if you were harsh, you'd say he should've kept it in hand, as the Italian winger has leapt up to try and cut off the misspass to May and instead opened a massive gap for Cokanasiga, but we won't be harsh as there is masses of space for the grubber and if it goes through May has probably scored. Plus 2014!Farrell probably would've tried to throw the pass to May and got intercepted, so let's be happy that that doesn't happen anymore.
Faz is unlucky, as Benvenuti blindly sticks out a foot and blocks the kick. We regather and go through some nice dynamic phases that stress the Italian defence without gaining huge amounts of ground until May gets the ball in very little space and beats two players in a phone booth. We're up to the 22 and Italy give away a penalty for not rolling away, I think as much through tiredness as anything else. Our rucks are quick, our attacks are wide and we're constantly shifting the point of attack. Must be exhausting. And, to top it off, Youngs taps and goes.
Minute 57:
Sadly, while Ford is on the same wavelength as Youngs and is in support, no-one else is up with them and Ford has to take it in. He is held up, but a pedant would say he gets knee to ground several times before the ref calls a maul. Still, you'd be annoyed if that wasn't given as held up if it was your team in defence, so I'd say morally it's the correct decision.
The scrum ends with an Italian penalty - it just looks like a mess to me, but the ref's spun the wheel again and you gotta take the rough with the smooth.
Minute 58:
BillyV exits the pitch and the entirety of RugbyRebels breathes a sigh. Kvesic comes on, which causes one RugbyRebel patron to get inappropriately excited, and his first job is to defend an Italian lineout which is won by the Italians for once. They do a nice inside ball off 10, but Genge gets in the way of an offload and Italy then knock on the loose ball. Canna then picks up the ball from England's side of the ruck and I'm not sure why the referee goes back for the knock on rather than the glaring penalty right in front of his eyes. Maybe it's the fact that Canna's so brazen about it, like a footballer confidently picking up the ball after a penalty shout, that means he decides that the ball must already have been dead. Weird.
Minute 59:
Will Greenwood tries to explain the glory of Marchant's line and footwork for his try, but for some reason uses the absolute worst angle which hides the footwork and the change of line completely. Sky Sports - I am likely cheaper to employ than Will Greenwood as the only remuneration I would require would be for you to let me tell Stuart Barnes to shut up once a game.
Most of the rest of the minute is taken up with failing to scrum, but right at the end, the ref gives a free-kick to us for... some reason, and Youngs taps quickly. Youngs to Ford to Farrell and I am being picky as this is split second decision-making, but this is the time for the grubber that Faz was trying to bring out a minute ago, or a chip over. Watson and May are running fast, Italy are flat-footed and the full-back's not even in the picture - there is a literal 20m of space in which a kick could land and result in an England try.
Anyway, it's passed to Watson on the crash and that's okay, I guess. We make ground, get a quick ruck and go into Minute 60.
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Puja
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
I actually won't be that sad if Slade doesn't recover in time. Prior to the Barbarians game, I had Marchant down as "Pretty good, but unlucky that there are a few other good 13 around." Basically, I didn't want Wales to poach him, but I wasn't sure if we particularly needed him. He's been superb in the chances he's had this summer and I'm keen to see more of him for England, preferably in a less awful kit.Stom wrote:Marchant is a seriously good attacking 13.
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Scrumhead
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Re: Minute-by-minute - England vs Italy
Marchant has been excellent in an average midfield for Quins. Alongside better players, he will be top class.
That said, Slade had an excellent season including a great 6 Nations and deserves his place.
That said, Slade had an excellent season including a great 6 Nations and deserves his place.