England vs. Ireland - Saturday 21st Nov

[Banquo]

Will def need to change game plan this weekend, then. Say what you want about the Irish but they know their potatoes.

History says otherwise to the tune of a famine

A famine of entertaining rugby?

A blight on the game

[morepork]

Jesus, they must have set an alarm clock for James Lowes residency requirement. Straight in.

[Digby]

He looked decent against Wales, very good actually. His kicking especially, and that's the primary requirement on a back

[Puja]

Jesus, they must have set an alarm clock for James Lowes residency requirement. Straight in.

He was actually in last week, possibly to the minute of his eligibility.

Puja

[morepork]

He looked decent against Wales, very good actually. His kicking especially, and that's the primary requirement on a back

He was a loss to NZ when he left pretty much near the peak of his game.

[Oakboy]

Will we be entertained in this next one? I find it bizarre that the silences, player applauses and anthems persist with no crowd. In fact, does it make any sense not to play the games at the Stoop or anywhere smaller for a bit more atmosphere? Presumably, the bullshit gatherings don't occur in lockdown so does it even make economic sense at Twickenham? Would TV coverage require it?

[Banquo]

Will we be entertained in this next one? I find it bizarre that the silences, player applauses and anthems persist with no crowd. In fact, does it make any sense not to play the games at the Stoop or anywhere smaller for a bit more atmosphere? Presumably, the bullshit gatherings don't occur in lockdown so does it even make economic sense at Twickenham? Would TV coverage require it?

Crikey, and I thought I was feeling gloomy.

[Digby]

He looked decent against Wales, very good actually. His kicking especially, and that's the primary requirement on a back

He was a loss to NZ when he left pretty much near the peak of his game.

Peak indeed, he's already around 100 games behind Elliot Daly. How are your players going to peak if you don't flog them into the ground?

I don't know how much you've missed him tbh, he'd add perhaps a little bulk to your backline, but I don't often watch your lot and think yep, that back three looks ropey and then some.

[morepork]

We would have moulded him into something other than kick return automaton #11.

[Oakboy]

Will we be entertained in this next one? I find it bizarre that the silences, player applauses and anthems persist with no crowd. In fact, does it make any sense not to play the games at the Stoop or anywhere smaller for a bit more atmosphere? Presumably, the bullshit gatherings don't occur in lockdown so does it even make economic sense at Twickenham? Would TV coverage require it?

Crikey, and I thought I was feeling gloomy.

Lockdown blues! Can't play racketball at present (too old for squash now). Just thinking of a new woodwork project and the wife has declared that I need to decorate the kitchen first. That just leaves alcohol!

[morepork]

No firearms in the house I hope Oakboy?

[Oakboy]

No firearms in the house I hope Oakboy?

No, plenty of wine though.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Will we be entertained in this next one? I find it bizarre that the silences, player applauses and anthems persist with no crowd. In fact, does it make any sense not to play the games at the Stoop or anywhere smaller for a bit more atmosphere? Presumably, the bullshit gatherings don't occur in lockdown so does it even make economic sense at Twickenham? Would TV coverage require it?

Crikey, and I thought I was feeling gloomy.

Lockdown blues! Can't play racketball at present (too old for squash now). Just thinking of a new woodwork project and the wife has declared that I need to decorate the kitchen first. That just leaves alcohol!

Drink enough alcohol and decorating the kitchen will take care of itself.

[Digby]

We would have moulded him into something other than kick return automaton #11.

Maybe. You don't seem to do much development with wingers though, just pick someone with an absurd physical skillset and play them for 18 months until they get a knee injury and/or the next exciting talent emerges. With allowances only made for 6'5" lads who play like a less skilled and very skinny version of Banahan

[Oakboy]

Crikey, and I thought I was feeling gloomy.

Lockdown blues! Can't play racketball at present (too old for squash now). Just thinking of a new woodwork project and the wife has declared that I need to decorate the kitchen first. That just leaves alcohol!

Drink enough alcohol and decorating the kitchen will take care of itself.

I'll quote you to 'her indoors' and see what she thinks while I am still coherent. There's something I don't understand about changing the f*cking colour????

[Digby]

We're supposed to be doing a whole new kitchen, new hob, new ovens (one of which must or must not be a steam oven), new flooring, cupboards, new fridge/freezer potentially some extension work and new windows/doors done before anything else, possibly knocking through into a larger dining/seating area, possible just having a breakfast bar...... it goes on and on. None of which means I haven't also looked at many, many colour samples, be those tiles, flooring, cabinets...

Although if the match is as bad as the last two I could get some brownie points for being happy to chat kitchens whilst the rugby is on.

[Oakboy]

We're supposed to be doing a whole new kitchen, new hob, new ovens (one of which must or must not be a steam oven), new flooring, cupboards, new fridge/freezer potentially some extension work and new windows/doors done before anything else, possibly knocking through into a larger dining/seating area, possible just having a breakfast bar...... it goes on and on. None of which means I haven't also looked at many, many colour samples, be those tiles, flooring, cabinets...

Although if the match is as bad as the last two I could get some brownie points for being happy to chat kitchens whilst the rugby is on.

Creep!

[Stom]

We're supposed to be doing a whole new kitchen, new hob, new ovens (one of which must or must not be a steam oven), new flooring, cupboards, new fridge/freezer potentially some extension work and new windows/doors done before anything else, possibly knocking through into a larger dining/seating area, possible just having a breakfast bar...... it goes on and on. None of which means I haven't also looked at many, many colour samples, be those tiles, flooring, cabinets...

Although if the match is as bad as the last two I could get some brownie points for being happy to chat kitchens whilst the rugby is on.

We're also planning a kitchen renovation, though we have the fridge already. Will require everything new and a complete new layout as the current one is just terrible, tbh (previous owners built the house and, well, didn't have an eye for details).

Will most likely result in us throwing the kitchen sink. We won't call Ben Youngs to help, or he'll end up kicking the bloody thing instead.

[Digby]

We're supposed to be doing a whole new kitchen, new hob, new ovens (one of which must or must not be a steam oven), new flooring, cupboards, new fridge/freezer potentially some extension work and new windows/doors done before anything else, possibly knocking through into a larger dining/seating area, possible just having a breakfast bar...... it goes on and on. None of which means I haven't also looked at many, many colour samples, be those tiles, flooring, cabinets...

Although if the match is as bad as the last two I could get some brownie points for being happy to chat kitchens whilst the rugby is on.

We're also planning a kitchen renovation, though we have the fridge already. Will require everything new and a complete new layout as the current one is just terrible, tbh (previous owners built the house and, well, didn't have an eye for details).

Will most likely result in us throwing the kitchen sink. We won't call Ben Youngs to help, or he'll end up kicking the bloody thing instead.

We have the new fridge too, but it can't go in the kitchen yet as we need a bigger doorway to get it through. someone might have already scratched it trying to do that and it didn't go over well

[morepork]

We would have moulded him into something other than kick return automaton #11.

Maybe. You don't seem to do much development with wingers though, just pick someone with an absurd physical skillset and play them for 18 months until they get a knee injury and/or the next exciting talent emerges. With allowances only made for 6'5" lads who play like a less skilled and very skinny version of Banahan

Fakes gnus. We often force them to play centre.

[Digby]

Fake guns is a decent summation of where the current NZ pack is.


Back on England we often talk about the kicking game and the attack, with some bias for lamenting the attack, but what are people hoping for in this series of game around the Mitchell defence? We've missed out on Willis Vs Stander hunting turnovers, indeed without Willis we've really no one to look for turnovers in the ruck, maybe Curry a little bit but only if it's obviously on or he's backed into a corner. And that's interesting in a team that could have lots of players looking to jackal, an unusually high number actually, but in practice just doesn't.

[Puja]

Fake guns is a decent summation of where the current NZ pack is.


Back on England we often talk about the kicking game and the attack, with some bias for lamenting the attack, but what are people hoping for in this series of game around the Mitchell defence? We've missed out on Willis Vs Stander hunting turnovers, indeed without Willis we've really no one to look for turnovers in the ruck, maybe Curry a little bit but only if it's obviously on or he's backed into a corner. And that's interesting in a team that could have lots of players looking to jackal, an unusually high number actually, but in practice just doesn't.

Wait, Curry doesn't jackal?!

Oh, I get it now. Nice try jngf, but we can tell it's you. How'd you get hold of Digby's password anyway?

Puja

[Oakboy]

Presumably, Jones's one idea for doing without Billy remains Curry at 8. I'd like to see Earl there for the last 20 minutes. If he is not a viable option there he could/should struggle to stay in the squad. Curry should be kept on the flank.

I know it's old ground and it won't happen with Jones but can we see, just for once, the last 20 minutes without Youngs and Farrell? I am fed up with praying for minor injuries to them both.

[Banquo]

Fake guns is a decent summation of where the current NZ pack is.


Back on England we often talk about the kicking game and the attack, with some bias for lamenting the attack, but what are people hoping for in this series of game around the Mitchell defence? We've missed out on Willis Vs Stander hunting turnovers, indeed without Willis we've really no one to look for turnovers in the ruck, maybe Curry a little bit but only if it's obviously on or he's backed into a corner. And that's interesting in a team that could have lots of players looking to jackal, an unusually high number actually, but in practice just doesn't.

Itoje is handy at ruck turnovers and... um...

[Digby]

Fake guns is a decent summation of where the current NZ pack is.


Back on England we often talk about the kicking game and the attack, with some bias for lamenting the attack, but what are people hoping for in this series of game around the Mitchell defence? We've missed out on Willis Vs Stander hunting turnovers, indeed without Willis we've really no one to look for turnovers in the ruck, maybe Curry a little bit but only if it's obviously on or he's backed into a corner. And that's interesting in a team that could have lots of players looking to jackal, an unusually high number actually, but in practice just doesn't.

Itoje is handy at ruck turnovers and... um...

Not recently he isn't. He can get stuck in, so too Curry, but they don't, which like Youngs kicking is probably somewhat down to orders and having as many people on their feet in the line as possible. That way we can apply pressure so the ball is kicked to us, because otherwise how will we kick the ball back?