England vs. New Zealand - Match Thread

[Mikey Brown]

Insane. Totally insane. Best England performance I've ever seen. Even with an injured Farrell playing like a total spastic and all the refs against us we should have won by 20.

[Puja]

Incredible. Well done England. Well done Eddie Jones!

Yeah, I think we've lost the right to criticise Jones's selections/preparations/methods for a good while now. He's earned the benefit for a doubt.

Puja

[Banquo]

Insane. Totally insane. Best England performance I've ever seen. Even with an injured Farrell playing like a total spastic and all the refs against us we should have won by 20.

Faz was Effin gutsy second half, but he should have been off

[Digby]

That's the first time I can remember NZ not living with physicality in a game. Turns out it wasn't a good selection in the backrow not to include Cane, but even that could well have left them struggling.

Of course this WC has an asterisk next to it what with us getting to rest for the France game, something like that anyway

[Banquo]

Who replaces Heinz and possibly May.

SCW praising Faz.

[TheDasher]

I was just saying to a mate this morning, who is English but lived here 9 years, that if both teams played their best, NZ would win, otherwise it was anybody’s game. Only one team was near their best and that made it pretty hard for the other team to be even adequate.

The best team on the night certainly won. Well done to your lads. I’m pleased it didn’t come down to a card or any controversial call.

England are a better side. That was on another level.

[Which Tyler]

Incredible. Well done England. Well done Eddie Jones!

Yeah, I think we've lost the right to criticise Jones's selections/preparations/methods for a good while now. He's earned the benefit for a doubt.

Puja

Please don't say that.
A] Criticising Eddie is one of my co tumulus rugby-watching joys this century.
B] We've another week to go yet

[Banquo]

Pretty much the whole pack and Watson were superb. The rest did a job. Not happy w Youngs, but we won anyway.

[Mikey Brown]

Who replaces Heinz and possibly May.

SCW praising Faz.

What happened to Heinz?

And yes, "Farrell immense and Itoje up there too". He is literally insane.

[Digby]

I liked Youngs

[Mellsblue]

Who replaces Heinz and possibly May.

SCW praising Faz.

An Englishman for Heinz. No one for May, he looks fine.

SCW is mental.

[Spiffy]

I was just saying to a mate this morning, who is English but lived here 9 years, that if both teams played their best, NZ would win, otherwise it was anybody’s game. Only one team was near their best and that made it pretty hard for the other team to be even adequate.

The best team on the night certainly won. Well done to your lads. I’m pleased it didn’t come down to a card or any controversial call.

It is true that NZ were far from their best. But that was because England bullied them off the park right from the get go and did not let then get a foothold in the game. There was nothing NZ could do about it. That was a pretty comprehensive humping not reflected in the score line.

[Mikey Brown]

I liked Youngs

Brilliant opening 20. As soon as NZ contested a ruck he seemed to lose faith, it's not like our forward platform totally fell apart at that point.

[Banquo]

Billy Undercurryson were great as were George Lawtoje

[Banquo]

Who replaces Heinz and possibly May.

SCW praising Faz.

What happened to Heinz?

And yes, "Farrell immense and Itoje up there too". He is literally insane.

Big hammy pull by the look of it

[Puja]

I may not have won my "Win to zero" bet (although there's still next week), but I've raked it in (relatively speaking) with Ladbrokes willing to offer evens on Itoje to make more than 10 tackles and Underhill to make more than 12 tackles. Looked like easy money before the game, turned out that it was.

Puja

[fivepointer]

An awesome all round effort.

Hats off to everyone.

[Beasties]

Thought Manu had a very effective game. Not hugely eye-catching but some immense tackling and interventions. Not alone in that by any means but worth commenting on.

Just heard SCW jizzing all over the place about Farrell. Almost taken the shine off the whole game for me.

[p/d]

It is true that NZ were far from their best. But that was because England bullied them off the park right from the get go and did not let then get a foothold in the game. There was nothing NZ could do about it. That was a pretty comprehensive humping not reflected in the score line.

Spot on Spiffy. They could not live with England today.
Complete rugby performance

[Mellsblue]

We even had to give them a try to make a game of it.

[Banquo]

Thought Manu had a very effective game. Not hugely eye-catching but some immense tackling and interventions. Not alone in that by any means but worth commenting on.

Just heard SCW jizzing all over the place about Farrell. Almost taken the shine off the whole game for me.

Yes he did, and scrambled well

[Freddo]

Is Wigglesworth still out in Japan?

[p/d]

We even had to give them a try to make a game of it.

Thought that would be a turning point, but the way we came back was just immense. I was in awe of the boys

[Oakboy]

I thought Sinckler and Lawes had storming games too. After 20 I would have given Sinckler MoM. In the last 20 I thought the replacements did well though it took Kruiz a good 10 minutes to get up to pace.

What a cracking win.

[twitchy]

My nerves are completely shot. That has to be one the best performances I have ever seen from an england team. Hats off to eddie and the boys.