RugbyRebels

Ireland may have bought into their own hype. Beat NZ and all you have to do is show up and beat England.

England had a good game plan. And executed on point

Get. In. A stoater of a match. Ireland underwhelming though. Need some more spark.

I had thought england had been generally written off a bit too quick.

Where's Puja where you need a rankings update?

WaspInWales wrote:Where's Puja where you need a rankings update?

he's still wanking

Honestly - even players who I’ve been very critical of in the past - notably, Youngs, Farrell and Slade were all excellent today.

Hopefully the injuries to Kruis, Itoje and Sinckler are not serious.

Scrumhead wrote:Honestly - even players who I’ve been very critical of in the past - notably, Youngs, Farrell and Slade were all excellent today.

Hopefully the injuries to Kruis, Itoje and Sinckler are not serious.

I wouldn't go that far on Youngs... But agree on the others.

Sinckler looked like cramp, no?

Yeah, Youngs did do some good things, but he is just so facking slow at times and that box kick was just mental.

Disagree. Let’s give credit where credit’s due. His passing was considerably better than usual and his kicking was 90% good.

In comparison to what he usually serves up, he was excellent.

Scrumhead wrote:Disagree. Let’s give credit where credit’s due. His passing was considerably better than usual and his kicking was 90% good.

In comparison to what he usually serves up, he was excellent.

Yes, but he still takes too long to get the ball out half the time.

I’ve had a chance to think about it and we were farking brilliant. Imagine how good we would be if we picked a scrum half who knew where to pass and a full back who could catch.

Round one. All away wins

Make no mistake this was a superb performance and a result against a side rightly regarded as 6N favourites. Irelands home record is very impressive and not many thought England would go there and do such a job on them.
I'm struggling to think of a better performance under Eddie.
We were that good, particularly in the 2nd half when we controlled the game and gradually just got completely on top of them.
Hats off to everyone, those on the pitch and off.

Fair play, England were good.

Best they've played as a team for a while and quite a few put in excellent performances.

Considering the opposition and considering the venue, that was way better than I could have imagined.

Thought we could sneak a result if everyone had a blinder, but honestly thought the most likely result was a comfortable Irish win.

Mellsblue wrote:I’ve had a chance to think about it and we were farking brilliant. Imagine how good we would be if we picked a scrum half who knew where to pass and a full back who could catch.

Youngs always looked confused. Imagine Webb, Davies or Tomos Williams directing business behind that pack. Don't imagine Conner Murray. You can never have that.

Buggaluggs wrote:Round one. All away wins

I know the Jocks are reknowned for playing kiwis but they did actually play in Scotland this week

I got it wrong with Faz, Manu and slade combo was perfect today.
Youngs might have been slow, but I don't think england wanted to play that quickly either on the whole.

The plan was clearly target Henshaw.

Murray is great but Youngs outplayed him today. why because the forwards gave him the platform and took it away from Murray. (It's almost like the way half backs play is affected by the forwards......)

Well done England. They hammered Ireland into submission with a performance of tremendous physicality and comittment. Feel sorry for poor old Robson who did not get a run. He would have thrived in that second half and upped th England tempo.
Why don't England simply swap Daly and Nowell positionally?

This is shaping up to be a facking outstanding 6Ns

Scrumhead wrote:Disagree. Let’s give credit where credit’s due. His passing was considerably better than usual and his kicking was 90% good.

In comparison to what he usually serves up, he was excellent.

It's just that whenever he has a decision to make, he seems to get brain freeze and can't decide which one to pick! The Itoje turnover where he went one way then turned back the other being a case in point.

Tigersman wrote:I got it wrong with Faz, Manu and slade combo was perfect today.
Youngs might have been slow, but I don't think england wanted to play that quickly either on the whole.

The plan was clearly target Henshaw.

Murray is great but Youngs outplayed him today. why because the forwards gave him the platform and took it away from Murray. (It's almost like the way half backs play is affected by the forwards......)

I'm afraid I disagree with that, I thought Murray was excellent. His overall management of the game was superb. Let down by his pack and his centres.

I picked Aki in the Fantasy because I was sure Farrell would shoot up and leave a whole more often. Now that's an unexpected performance that deserves praise: Farrell had discipline in defense. Much, much better from him on that part. There were 0 holes in that midfield.

On other points, May was excellent under the high ball. 2 stupid mistakes aside, he had a blinder.

Nowell was lively but...well he was lively.

Billy didn't have much opportunity, but that might have been one reason we got so much good ball elsewhere. The Irish targeted him, and that left space elsewhere.

Stom wrote:

Scrumhead wrote:Disagree. Let’s give credit where credit’s due. His passing was considerably better than usual and his kicking was 90% good.

In comparison to what he usually serves up, he was excellent.

It's just that whenever he has a decision to make, he seems to get brain freeze and can't decide which one to pick! The Itoje turnover where he went one way then turned back the other being a case in point.

Buggaluggs wrote:Ben Youngs looks like an ostrich who can't decide what to peck at

Indeed

Honestly I don't see what Murray did that Youngs didn't do TBH. Maybe I wasn't looking hard enough.
Just seems like people are wanting a 9 that just doesn't seem to suit how Eddie wants England to play.
He kicked well and he passed well (Which is something he doesn't usually do TBF), Eddie doesn't want him to be a main point of attack.
End result 5 tries v Ireland.

I think the biggest difference is that he now seems to have a team that he can use his game plan with.

My worry is if he think Te'o = Manu because Te'o lacks all the power and speed Manu has.

Buggaluggs wrote:

WaspInWales wrote:Where's Puja where you need a rankings update?

he's still wanking

Well yes, of course I am, but that only takes one hand. Only takes thumb and forefinger to handle the tweezers to be frank. http://rugbyrebels.co/board/viewtopic.p ... 51#p161951

I think a few people, me included, owe Eddie an apology. That was a very good performance, getting the best out of those players. I still think Daly looks like a winger lost at full-back, but overall, I think he got the team, the preparation, and the tactics absolutely spot on.

Puja

3 things that showed Englands adaptability.
Curry got a YC, yet we managed that 10 minute spell very well.
We subbed Kruis and lost Itoje almost straight away. Losing both starting locks within minutes could have seriously knocked us out of our stride but it didnt. We coped.
We tightened up our discipline in the 2nd half, just conceding one penalty (i think)
You might get picky about Youngs and he did have his dithering moments, but he did put in some good kicks, did create pressure on Sexton for Slade to intercept and did generally pass tidily enough.
Must mention Mako's stats - 25 tackles and 11 carries. No penalties and no turnovers. That is quite outstanding.
Wilson made 21 tackles and was again mightily impressive.

Sweet! Although I think some of us on the board are being a bit picky in finding fault in what was a fine English performance.
The wingers impressed me, May's confidence under the high ball and his pin-point kick ahead for Slade's first, and Nowell's abilty to make yards taking the ball into contact.
Now for les Bleus!