Next up.....France

[Banquo]

Great match, and great for Eddie as a ton to work on. Still a lot of penalties- in fairness a good number forced by aggressive French work at the breakdown...players isolated/slow support reactions too. Knock ons, some inaccurate passing irritating. Defence and tackling were frankly poor, even allowing for French excellence- some individuals were exposed. But some big positives, not least winning. Even Faz was ok- though put a high hit in.

Interesting next selection- some stepped up, others did not.

[Mikey Brown]

Was that him that was sent rolling backwards by Fickou? That did make me laugh.

[Raggs]

Farrell still attacking which is nice. When they first brought Lawrence on i groaned, thinking they'd taken Ford off, then realised it was Slade, and felt better.

[Banquo]

Farrell still attacking which is nice. When they first brought Lawrence on i groaned, thinking they'd taken Ford off, then realised it was Slade, and felt better.

Starting midfield ok going forward, but heftily exposed in defence, esp Slade. Need to watch back, but looked like system malfunction/doubt.

[Puja]

Farrell still attacking which is nice. When they first brought Lawrence on i groaned, thinking they'd taken Ford off, then realised it was Slade, and felt better.

Starting midfield ok going forward, but heftily exposed in defence, esp Slade. Need to watch back, but looked like system malfunction/doubt.

Slade was 100% at fault for Penaud's try. Bought the dummy runner hook, line, sinker, rod, and copy of Angling Times and left two players trying to cover four French and half the field (although it could still have been stopped if May had had faith that Farrell was going to get there rather than stepping in. Can't really blame him though - if he doesn't step in and Farrell doesn't quite make it, then the inside man walks in under the posts). It was even more egregious because the dummy runner was covered by Ford, Farrell, and the pack coming across - it was never Slade's man and he just came in looking for the big hit and massively misread who the ball was going to.

Daly was good when he came on, probably better than Malins was tbh. Malins deserves a run in the 15 shirt though, as a 20 minute cameo doesn't erase the previous shitness of Daly.

Puja

[FKAS]

Tough one, but I’ll be cheering for France. I would hate to watch this Welsh team win a Grand Slam.

I live in the West Country, surrounded by Welsh and people who have lived in England all their lives and have no trace of a Welsh accent, but are "Welsh" when they're winning at rugby. I don't hate to watch the Welsh team win a Grand Slam, I'd just hate *hearing* about it.

Just watched the highlights and, quite apart from Itoje definitely getting the nose of the ball down, Woki is a good couple of feet offside when Itoje picks and goes, so justice was done anyway.

Puja

I don't have anything against Wales as a nation even if I have some Welsh mates that will go on about winning for some time. I more have the problem that I find Wales a dull team to watch. They have a lot of ability at their disposal and rarely use it to the full extent they could. I thought Pivac might change that but the shadows of Gatland Ball still remain. I'd prefer France to win solely because I like their brand of rugby and in rugby as a sport we tend to copy the trends of winning teams and I'd much rather we looked at what France have been doing well and went with that.

[Banquo]

Farrell still attacking which is nice. When they first brought Lawrence on i groaned, thinking they'd taken Ford off, then realised it was Slade, and felt better.

Starting midfield ok going forward, but heftily exposed in defence, esp Slade. Need to watch back, but looked like system malfunction/doubt.

Slade was 100% at fault for Penaud's try. Bought the dummy runner hook, line, sinker, rod, and copy of Angling Times and left two players trying to cover four French and half the field (although it could still have been stopped if May had had faith that Farrell was going to get there rather than stepping in. Can't really blame him though - if he doesn't step in and Farrell doesn't quite make it, then the inside man walks in under the posts). It was even more egregious because the dummy runner was covered by Ford, Farrell, and the pack coming across - it was never Slade's man and he just came in looking for the big hit and massively misread who the ball was going to.

Daly was good when he came on, probably better than Malins was tbh. Malins deserves a run in the 15 shirt though, as a 20 minute cameo doesn't erase the previous shitness of Daly.

Puja

Slade bit in at least 3 times unnecessarily, and missed half his tackles; Watson also bit in for the first score. Communication is looking to possibly an issue under stress- Slade was caught between rush and drift it seemed in real time a few times(but you also need to look at what is happening inside, and credit the attack) ; they tweaked well second half, but were under pressure less.
Malins underwhelmed, but was a whole new experience. one or two good things, but a couple of real bad ones.

[Mellsblue]

There seems to be periods/phases where Eng seem lost, unsure what they should be doing. As a team that have proved over and over again they struggle to think for themselves, that’s incredibly worrying.
Iirc, and I was on to my second bottle of wine, Slade bit so hard for Penaud’s try he was inside Farrell. I’m coming to the conclusion that he has all the tools but isn’t quite sure how to use them. Eng’s 12 & 13 is a mess.

[Puja]

There seems to be periods/phases where Eng seem lost, unsure what they should be doing. As a team that have proved over and over again they struggle to think for themselves, that’s incredibly worrying.
Iirc, and I was on to my second bottle of wine, Slade bit so hard for Penaud’s try he was inside Farrell. I’m coming to the conclusion that he has all the tools but isn’t quite sure how to use them. Eng’s 12 & 13 is a mess.

You're not far off - he bit very hard, but Farrell, to his credit, had read the play well and was already sprinting flat out towards the wing (to the extent that, as I mentioned, he might've saved the try if May had had faith in him), so they were overlapping.

Puja

[16th man]

I really hope this isn't the case, but gven the improvement in the last couple of games, it really looks like the coaching team might have decided it would be an idea to have a chat with Farrell about how to play 12 outside Ford.

[Mikey Brown]

For me Malins played about as well as I generally expect from Daly at this point. He’s only going to improve surely so I hope he gets more of a chance. Good to see Daly looking so keen when he got in.

[Danno]

For me Malins played about as well as I generally expect from Daly at this point. He’s only going to improve surely so I hope he gets more of a chance. Good to see Daly looking so keen when he got in.

This. He looked alright for a first start in a position that has been decidedly ropey for the last 5 five years. I hope he gets to stay there whenever possible at club level

[Digby]

Malins underwhelmed, but was a whole new experience. one or two good things, but a couple of real bad ones.

Is that Malins was a new experience just in and of himself? Because the rest of it could be a number of Daly's games just mixing up the good, the bad and the turning your back on a player 5m from your try line

Hope he stays in, Sexton should given him more to think about than Dupont and Jalibert who didn't kick well, which is almost impressive given how dangerous France looked ball in hand

[Digby]

For me Malins played about as well as I generally expect from Daly at this point. He’s only going to improve surely so I hope he gets more of a chance. Good to see Daly looking so keen when he got in.

This. He looked alright for a first start in a position that has been decidedly ropey for the last 5 five years. I hope he gets to stay there whenever possible at club level

More than just the last 5 years. We've rarely if ever picked a 15 who brought a consistent quality and a rounded game.

Malins didn't look alright for a first start, he looked ropey but probably (hopefully) gets away with it because it was a first start.

[Danno]

Considering it was his first start, in a match we were widely tipped to lose, and that Jones doesn't like to change the 15 shirt often I'd argue he was trying a bit too hard, and I can't really blame him for that. I'm sticking with alright and also hoping he gets more of a shot there.

[Spiffy]

Great match, and great for Eddie as a ton to work on. Still a lot of penalties- in fairness a good number forced by aggressive French work at the breakdown...players isolated/slow support reactions too. Knock ons, some inaccurate passing irritating. Defence and tackling were frankly poor, even allowing for French excellence- some individuals were exposed. But some big positives, not least winning. Even Faz was ok- though put a high hit in.

Interesting next selection- some stepped up, others did not.

The big positive of wining is the key point here. The match was evenly balanced and could have gone either way. England won it by a hair but came close enough to losing. If they had lost three games so far in this 6N tournament, everyone would be baying for Eddie's head. The fact that they nicked it (and fair play to them,they showed a lot of determination), will be used to vindicate Jones' selections, and poor performances will be ignored, so don't expect any changes. England beat the mighty France and all in the garden is rosy again.

[fivepointer]

Not just winning but playing a whole lot better. That was a significant step up from the Wales game and frankly light years from the absolute dross we served up against Scotland.

[Mr Mwenda]

Not just winning but playing a whole lot better. That was a significant step up from the Wales game and frankly light years from the absolute dross we served up against Scotland.

This.

Game of the championship thus far. Speaking personally, I needed England to play test rugby at least once this tourney.

Now, go on France!

[Banquo]

Malins underwhelmed, but was a whole new experience. one or two good things, but a couple of real bad ones.

Is that Malins was a new experience just in and of himself? Because the rest of it could be a number of Daly's games just mixing up the good, the bad and the turning your back on a player 5m from your try line

Hope he stays in, Sexton should given him more to think about than Dupont and Jalibert who didn't kick well, which is almost impressive given how dangerous France looked ball in hand

Whole new experience for him- intensity of game was a new level, and his first start.

I saw enough to be both interested and worried about his future at 15.

[Digby]

Malins underwhelmed, but was a whole new experience. one or two good things, but a couple of real bad ones.

Is that Malins was a new experience just in and of himself? Because the rest of it could be a number of Daly's games just mixing up the good, the bad and the turning your back on a player 5m from your try line

Hope he stays in, Sexton should given him more to think about than Dupont and Jalibert who didn't kick well, which is almost impressive given how dangerous France looked ball in hand

Whole new experience for him- intensity of game was a new level, and his first start.

I saw enough to be both interested and worried about his future at 15.

So no degradation to previous standard of service

[Banquo]

Great match, and great for Eddie as a ton to work on. Still a lot of penalties- in fairness a good number forced by aggressive French work at the breakdown...players isolated/slow support reactions too. Knock ons, some inaccurate passing irritating. Defence and tackling were frankly poor, even allowing for French excellence- some individuals were exposed. But some big positives, not least winning. Even Faz was ok- though put a high hit in.

Interesting next selection- some stepped up, others did not.

The big positive of wining is the key point here. The match was evenly balanced and could have gone either way. England won it by a hair but came close enough to losing. If they had lost three games so far in this 6N tournament, everyone would be baying for Eddie's head. The fact that they nicked it (and fair play to them,they showed a lot of determination), will be used to vindicate Jones' selections, and poor performances will be ignored, so don't expect any changes. England beat the mighty France and all in the garden is rosy again.

The top and tail are the two most important for me- that we won, but that plenty wasn't very good at an execution level. Loads of individual errors, and system meltdown under the pressure of some exceptional French rugby.

I'd bank the positives and enhance them, but pay a lot of attention to the flaws.

[Digby]

Not just winning but playing a whole lot better. That was a significant step up from the Wales game and frankly light years from the absolute dross we served up against Scotland.

This.

Game of the championship thus far. Speaking personally, I needed England to play test rugby at least once this tourney.

Now, go on France!

In many ways that was a very similar game from England this 6N. But they started in much more disciplined fashion, and they kept the attack structure going against a markedly more powerful outfit. Our defence looked wonkier, but as just noted France are a much more powerful outfit

[Banquo]

Is that Malins was a new experience just in and of himself? Because the rest of it could be a number of Daly's games just mixing up the good, the bad and the turning your back on a player 5m from your try line

Hope he stays in, Sexton should given him more to think about than Dupont and Jalibert who didn't kick well, which is almost impressive given how dangerous France looked ball in hand

Whole new experience for him- intensity of game was a new level, and his first start.

I saw enough to be both interested and worried about his future at 15.

So no degradation to previous standard of service

Personally I thought it was a little worse than par Daly, but not rushing to judge on one game, which did have the mitigation of being a whole new level of game.

[Banquo]

Considering it was his first start, in a match we were widely tipped to lose, and that Jones doesn't like to change the 15 shirt often I'd argue he was trying a bit too hard, and I can't really blame him for that. I'm sticking with alright and also hoping he gets more of a shot there.

I didn't think he was 'alright' but I'd still give him another shot.

[Digby]

Whole new experience for him- intensity of game was a new level, and his first start.

I saw enough to be both interested and worried about his future at 15.

So no degradation to previous standard of service

Personally I thought it was a little worse than par Daly, but not rushing to judge on one game, which did have the mitigation of being a whole new level of game.

I thought he was below Daly in standard too, but as with Daly it was a mix, and as with Daly there'e the striking thought the potential is way above what we're seeing. He's perhaps fortunate to have played Jalibert not Ntamack, sometimes you just need something like that to get you going. I'm looking forward to seeing him again