England vs Australia

[p/d]

That’s not making the PRC for you

Talk about kicking a man while he’s down.

True! I mean he’s just had to sit watching that shower of shit unfold!

I blame Smith

[Danno]

Thought Spencer was pretty fucking good at times. First time in white he's actually turned it on.

[Danno]

Can we get Cheika in in time for the 6N
Mostly suggesting this to annoy the Leicester fans

[Banquo]

I’ve never argued we don’t get the best out of what we have, pretty consistent on that. In fact, my biggest issue, cos it’s in your gift. It’s both possible to get the absolute best out of players, yet still come up short. Be nice to find out.


Jones was a huge winner relatively and you hated that. So what do you really want.


Today was a massive blow- Oz are in a huge transitional phase, but kept playing what was in front of them; which was a team who were both inept on the basics, failed to grasp the key moments, and utterly fell apart in the last hour.

For all Scrumheads… er passion.. Smith produced magic moments for sure; but I was behind the posts, and he utterly fcks most standard plays with a combo of always trying to make the play about him and never hitting a straight line…. He’s a mare to play outside as a consequence. Had he and Spencer been a proper playmaking duo, we would have been 30 points up after 20 mins imo. That doesn’t excuse ridiculous error count, and the worst midfield defence I think I’ve seen from an allegedly full strength side.


It was a disgrace, and several folks should be considering their position.

I can’t believe a man of your standing was made to sit behind the posts.

That’s not making the PRC for you

[Banquo]

I’ve never argued we don’t get the best out of what we have, pretty consistent on that. In fact, my biggest issue, cos it’s in your gift. It’s both possible to get the absolute best out of players, yet still come up short. Be nice to find out.


Jones was a huge winner relatively and you hated that. So what do you really want.


Today was a massive blow- Oz are in a huge transitional phase, but kept playing what was in front of them; which was a team who were both inept on the basics, failed to grasp the key moments, and utterly fell apart in the last hour.

For all Scrumheads… er passion.. Smith produced magic moments for sure; but I was behind the posts, and he utterly fcks most standard plays with a combo of always trying to make the play about him and never hitting a straight line…. He’s a mare to play outside as a consequence. Had he and Spencer been a proper playmaking duo, we would have been 30 points up after 20 mins imo. That doesn’t excuse ridiculous error count, and the worst midfield defence I think I’ve seen from an allegedly full strength side.


It was a disgrace, and several folks should be considering their position.

I can’t believe a man of your standing was made to sit behind the posts.

I can.

gee ....er...summat

[Banquo]

Talk about kicking a man while he’s down.

True! I mean he’s just had to sit watching that shower of shit unfold!

I blame Smith

bang average.

as was smudge

[Puja]

Can we get Cheika in in time for the 6N
Mostly suggesting this to annoy the Leicester fans

I mean, in fairness, providing coaches for the RFU to pay release fees for is a major part of our balance sheet, so we are due another injection of cash.

Puja

[Puja]

Thought Spencer was pretty fucking good at times. First time in white he's actually turned it on.

Really?!? I was shouting at the television about how ponderous he was getting the ball away and how slow his passing was. Thought we looked much better when Randall came on and actually gave some zip from the base.

Puja

[Danno]

I did say "at times". And we're talking about Spencer so it's in that sort of context. He did some good stuff compared to his international performances to date,if that works as a compromise

[Mikey Brown]

Christ, this isn’t a good look for old Ken.



Only turned the game on as Dombrandt was coming on so I hadn’t seen this. Mostly downhill from there it seemed.

[Spiffy]

True! I mean he’s just had to sit watching that shower of shit unfold!

I blame Smith

bang average.

as was smudge

From the flow of the discussion, I take it you mean that Smith was bang average. If so, what did you think about Ford, Lawrence and Slade? I'd say that in this game none of them looked international quality. (I don't know who smudge is.)

[Epaminondas Pules]

Torturing myself by watching the game again. England in attack are all over the place. Alignment is non existent, the passing is often behind the man / overrun, and there seems no clear idea what the purpose of each phase is. Be interested to know how it looked from behind the posts as the view is different. But we look, from the TV, an absolute mess. There’s also obvious miss communication going on a lot!

[Banquo]

I blame Smith

bang average.

as was smudge

From the flow of the discussion, I take it you mean that Smith was bang average. If so, what did you think about Ford, Lawrence and Slade? I'd say that in this game none of them looked international quality. (I don't know who smudge is.)

Smudger Smith. The whole team was bang average being kind after the first 20 mins, when their concentration went to shyte. Very very poor.

[Banquo]

Torturing myself by watching the game again. England in attack are all over the place. Alignment is non existent, the passing is often behind the man / overrun, and there seems no clear idea what the purpose of each phase is. Be interested to know how it looked from behind the posts as the view is different. But we look, from the TV, an absolute mess. There’s also obvious miss communication going on a lot!

Yes, equally a mess. In attack in the backs we’re too close together then compounded by lateral running by all tbh, and zero patience; defence was simply terrible, no obvious talking or pattern to it, scrambling across not happening. Looked like they didn’t know each frankly. Never seen a teams wheels come off so quickly.

[Mellsblue]

Torturing myself by watching the game again. England in attack are all over the place. Alignment is non existent, the passing is often behind the man / overrun, and there seems no clear idea what the purpose of each phase is. Be interested to know how it looked from behind the posts as the view is different. But we look, from the TV, an absolute mess. There’s also obvious miss communication going on a lot!

Yep. Shape goes to shit after only 2/3 phases from what I remember. I’m not enough of a masochist to watch again so won’t be ruining my Sunday morning by confirming via replay.

[Banquo]

Thought Spencer was pretty fucking good at times. First time in white he's actually turned it on.

Really?!? I was shouting at the television about how ponderous he was getting the ball away and how slow his passing was. Thought we looked much better when Randall came on and actually gave some zip from the base.

Puja

Quality and speed of ball was piss poor whoever was at 9 it seemed to me

[Epaminondas Pules]

Another observation as I hit half time of the replay. Jamie George looks an utterly spent force as an international player.

[Oakboy]

Thought Spencer was pretty fucking good at times. First time in white he's actually turned it on.

Really?!? I was shouting at the television about how ponderous he was getting the ball away and how slow his passing was. Thought we looked much better when Randall came on and actually gave some zip from the base.

Puja

Quality and speed of ball was piss poor whoever was at 9 it seemed to me

My take on Spencer is that viewers can be misled by his hard passing (i.e. flat and not loopy like Youngs's). What is more important, IMO, is that he delays for split seconds like Youngs did. Overall, the arrival of the ball in the recipient's hands IS slower (later) than it should be. He also kicks far too much, though that may be coach-induced. Either way, he is the root cause of missed attacking opportunities. Did he once run with the ball?

Smith gets flack for trying to do too much with poor/late ball. He must be persevered with and given the whole 80 at 10 if he's physically OK, as he clearly was yesterday. SB is crazy to have Ford in the 23 ahead of Fin Smith. How many more disastrous cameos does it need to make that point?

[Oakboy]

Another observation as I hit half time of the replay. Jamie George looks an utterly spent force as an international player.

Agreed. Making him captain was a major error no matter how good he might be at that job. The captaincy disguises his inadequacy as a player.

[Banquo]

Really?!? I was shouting at the television about how ponderous he was getting the ball away and how slow his passing was. Thought we looked much better when Randall came on and actually gave some zip from the base.

Puja

Quality and speed of ball was piss poor whoever was at 9 it seemed to me

My take on Spencer is that viewers can be misled by his hard passing (i.e. flat and not loopy like Youngs's). What is more important, IMO, is that he delays for split seconds like Youngs did. Overall, the arrival of the ball in the recipient's hands IS slower (later) than it should be. He also kicks far too much, though that may be coach-induced. Either way, he is the root cause of missed attacking opportunities. Did he once run with the ball?

Smith gets flack for trying to do too much with poor/late ball. He must be persevered with and given the whole 80 at 10 if he's physically OK, as he clearly was yesterday. SB is crazy to have Ford in the 23 ahead of Fin Smith. How many more disastrous cameos does it need to make that point?

Again seemed to me that our inaccuracy at the breakdown was more of a problem than who was at 9; then again none of the halfbacks were making the right decisions in attack. We botched tries early on cos of this.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Thought Spencer was pretty fucking good at times. First time in white he's actually turned it on.

Really?!? I was shouting at the television about how ponderous he was getting the ball away and how slow his passing was. Thought we looked much better when Randall came on and actually gave some zip from the base.

Puja

Quality and speed of ball was piss poor whoever was at 9 it seemed to me

Totally agree. Left to right was often ropey as shit. Compounded by the first receiver being all over the place.

[FKAS]

Another observation as I hit half time of the replay. Jamie George looks an utterly spent force as an international player.

Agreed. Making him captain was a major error no matter how good he might be at that job. The captaincy disguises his inadequacy as a player.

Not just George, Dan Cole was struggling at scrum time. Wrong Leicester tighthead.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Quality and speed of ball was piss poor whoever was at 9 it seemed to me

My take on Spencer is that viewers can be misled by his hard passing (i.e. flat and not loopy like Youngs's). What is more important, IMO, is that he delays for split seconds like Youngs did. Overall, the arrival of the ball in the recipient's hands IS slower (later) than it should be. He also kicks far too much, though that may be coach-induced. Either way, he is the root cause of missed attacking opportunities. Did he once run with the ball?

Smith gets flack for trying to do too much with poor/late ball. He must be persevered with and given the whole 80 at 10 if he's physically OK, as he clearly was yesterday. SB is crazy to have Ford in the 23 ahead of Fin Smith. How many more disastrous cameos does it need to make that point?

Again seemed to me that our inaccuracy at the breakdown was more of a problem than who was at 9; then again none of the halfbacks were making the right decisions in attack. We botched tries early on cos of this.

So many times the first receiver was not in any way in a position of attacking intent. Basic body and pitch position.

[Beasties]

Hindsight is 20:20.

Watch this frame by frame and I think you’ll have a bit more sympathy.

Some, but not signficantly more. Sleightholme is always still coming across - yes it's possible that Ikitau may still beat him, but in a 2-on-2 situation, you have to trust your inside man to make that tackle instead of making it a 2-on-1.

Puja

I know that by the book you trust your inside man but that wasn’t by the book defence. Sleightholme wasn’t really coming across, rather he was beaten on the outside. I can see why Smith made the decision as for a second Sleightholme looks like he’s fecked it up, as he did for when Furbank had to gamble. Ultimately, if our onfield defensive guru hadn’t fecked up initially (again) Smith isn’t put in that position. We’re really arging over the symptom rather than the cause.

Everyone happy with Slade’s role in that last try? I’m not. He made a bad decision and had a weak Sleightholme outside him and Smith left in WTF’s happening no man’s land.

Slade had three men inside him with absolutely nothing on for Aus except quick ball (which is obv helpful). There was no danger until he decided to fly in at 45 degrees and create a 4 on 2 outside from nothing. Sleightholme looks weak in D anyway but didn’t help, not that there was much he could’ve done (other than look weak and indecisive) once Slade made his decision, and then Smith has it all to do and didn’t manage it. A shagged out Earl and LCD unable to muster a jog were the cover. I find blaming Smith for us losing that a bit odd frankly.

I’m no defence analyst but WTAF Slade? He has more D decisions to make than everyone else so he’s bound to get the odd one wrong, which he did here for me. Willing to be wounded on this hill am I. Fire away.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Slade constantly rushed up and jammed in from 13. It’s a tactic. A shot one because sometimes defensively you don’t want to do that as it fucks the outside defence if they get past you.