Stade de France Saturday 19th March

[francoisfou]

Hmm! When did Eddie pick a team without any odd selections? I’ve not see much if Stuart at tight-head, so can’t really comment, but his opposite number, Baille is a good ‘un. Still, Eddie knows best, doesn’t he?

The Scotland game we were all pleasantly surprised!
I do still wonder if this is just all part of the World Cup planning for unsettling the XV as a forced experiment. But honestly I'm just bored of all that now. I think he must be at risk of losing the dressing room...

He’s unsettling me.

…and 99.9% of the English supporters !

[Puja]

Scott Robertson or Andy Farrell, then. Who's your money on? The dream ticket of course would be an all-Wigan panel of Farrell, Edwards and Gleeson, but that's so Northern I think rugby union would explode.

Farrell won't leave Ireland before the RWC and they wouldn't let him even if he wanted to. I think it'd have to be Robertson, assuming he even wants it. Not many people willing to take it on at this stage. Fuck it, let's have Mallinder. I know he's capable of creating a simple, solid game plan that results in short-term success.

Puja

[Which Tyler]

I think he must be at risk of losing the dressing room...

Any basis for this? or just assuming that players agree with posters?

[Puja]

I think he must be at risk of losing the dressing room...

Any basis for this? or just assuming that players agree with posters?

I would imagine losing isn't going down too well.

Puja

[p/d]

I think he must be at risk of losing the dressing room...

Any basis for this? or just assuming that players agree with posters?

If he said ‘might’ would that have been more acceptable. Or do you know something we don’t?

[Oakboy]

Punditry is labelling the game 'must-win'. The players can read (I think that's a fair assumption). If they lose, Jones's future might at least be a topic for debate in the dressing room, I'd imagine.

I can't help going back to the 14-man performance against Ireland where simple ball-breaking necessity produced the best application of the 6N. Was it because coaching design no longer counted? The players would have an opinion on that, I'd have thought.

[Dan. Dan. Dan.]

Pure conjecture on my part. Although as Puja says, losing must have them getting doubts. This is the flaw in the Jones way of doing things. You can keep losing games and telling the players "there's a plan, there's a plan". But eventually they will stop believing there was ever a plan, and just think you're telling them all the wrong things.
Also as Oakboy points out, the one game where they looked anything close to committed and united was the one where whatever Eddie's gameplan was had to be thrown out 2 minutes in.
I think the lead up to the last WC he proved a point to some extent, but it certainly feels different this time. While I'd love England to win another WC, I'm not sure I want them to do it at the expense of, at least being competitive in 6N, and playing this weird schizophrenic rugby that seems to lurch one way then the other.
I've been one of the more patient with Eddie, but I think he might just have reached the point where the players just won't listen to him anymore (could be a good thing!). Of course there's absolutely no chance he isn't the coach for the WC though...

[Mellsblue]

I think we’re all missing the obvious. Jones told Ewels to get himself sent off ASAP last weekend - no other reason for two tackles like that - knowing it would galvanise the team into an unbeaten record between now and the final whistle of the World Cup final.

[Peej]

Punditry is labelling the game 'must-win'. The players can read (I think that's a fair assumption). If they lose, Jones's future might at least be a topic for debate in the dressing room, I'd imagine.

I can't help going back to the 14-man performance against Ireland where simple ball-breaking necessity produced the best application of the 6N. Was it because coaching design no longer counted? The players would have an opinion on that, I'd have thought.

I do think there's something in that. It was simple, smash-everything-that-moves and play-what's-in-front-of-you rugby but it was the best England have looked for a long time

[p/d]

I think we’re all missing the obvious. Jones told Ewels to get himself sent off ASAP last weekend - no other reason for two tackles like that - knowing it would galvanise the team into an unbeaten record between now and the final whistle of the World Cup final.

I know you are joking, but could it not be the case that all Jones’ pre match bollocks of how Ireland won’t have faced anything so physical is the very same reason Ewels charged in to make an unnecessary high hit

[Peej]

No, I think he just has really poor technique, which he has shown in the Premiership quite regularly

[Oakboy]

I think we’re all missing the obvious. Jones told Ewels to get himself sent off ASAP last weekend - no other reason for two tackles like that - knowing it would galvanise the team into an unbeaten record between now and the final whistle of the World Cup final.

I know you are joking, but could it not be the case that all Jones’ pre match bollocks of how Ireland won’t have faced anything so physical is the very same reason Ewels charged in to make an unnecessary high hit

So, was/is Ewels the brightest in the camp for listening so avidly to Jones or . . . . the doziest?

[p/d]

No, I think he just has really poor technique, which he has shown in the Premiership quite regularly

Not sure if that makes it better or worse

I blame Dolly

[p/d]

I think we’re all missing the obvious. Jones told Ewels to get himself sent off ASAP last weekend - no other reason for two tackles like that - knowing it would galvanise the team into an unbeaten record between now and the final whistle of the World Cup final.

I know you are joking, but could it not be the case that all Jones’ pre match bollocks of how Ireland won’t have faced anything so physical is the very same reason Ewels charged in to make an unnecessary high hit

So, was/is Ewels the brightest in the camp for listening so avidly to Jones or . . . . the doziest?

It might just be that, like me, when Jones starts talking he hums Words by F R David to himself

[Mellsblue]

No, I think he just has really poor technique, which he has shown in the Premiership quite regularly

Not sure if that makes it better or worse

I blame Dolly

The Sheep?

[p/d]

No, I think he just has really poor technique, which he has shown in the Premiership quite regularly

Not sure if that makes it better or worse

I blame Dolly

The Sheep?

2003, bad year for Dolly but….

[Mellsblue]

Not sure if that makes it better or worse

I blame Dolly

The Sheep?

2003, bad year for Dolly but….

Suddenly the selection makes complete sense.

[p/d]

The Sheep?

2003, bad year for Dolly but….

Suddenly the selection makes complete sense.

Fair hair, light perm and foreign.

[Mikey Brown]

No, I think he just has really poor technique, which he has shown in the Premiership quite regularly

Not sure if that makes it better or worse

I blame Dolly

Surely it’s Smith that should have instructed him not to do it? How he’s retained his shirt is beyond me.

[Spiffy]

Punditry is labelling the game 'must-win'. The players can read (I think that's a fair assumption). If they lose, Jones's future might at least be a topic for debate in the dressing room, I'd imagine.

I can't help going back to the 14-man performance against Ireland where simple ball-breaking necessity produced the best application of the 6N. Was it because coaching design no longer counted? The players would have an opinion on that, I'd have thought.

I do think there's something in that. It was simple, smash-everything-that-moves and play-what's-in-front-of-you rugby but it was the best England have looked for a long time

It was great blood-and-thunder stuff, but the reality was that England did not look remotely look like scoring a try. It will take more than that to beat good teams.

[Mellsblue]

England did not look remotely look like scoring a try.

You could say that for every match bar Italy.

[Oakboy]

Punditry is labelling the game 'must-win'. The players can read (I think that's a fair assumption). If they lose, Jones's future might at least be a topic for debate in the dressing room, I'd imagine.

I can't help going back to the 14-man performance against Ireland where simple ball-breaking necessity produced the best application of the 6N. Was it because coaching design no longer counted? The players would have an opinion on that, I'd have thought.

I do think there's something in that. It was simple, smash-everything-that-moves and play-what's-in-front-of-you rugby but it was the best England have looked for a long time

It was great blood-and-thunder stuff, but the reality was that England did not look remotely look like scoring a try. It will take more than that to beat good teams.

No argument there but we are straw-clutching to an extent. First up is plain, simple effort applied as a team unit. That ought to be a given but it has not been for years. That is the depth to which we have sunk.

Who knows - maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised tomorrow evening? I'm reduced to hoping we can keep defeat down to non-embarassing proportions but I fear a hammering.

[p/d]

England did not look remotely look like scoring a try.

You could say that for every match bar Italy.

We looked like scoring against 14 man Wales 5m out. But took it upon ourselves to wait until they were back to 15 to have a go.
Is there a fair play award?

[morepork]

Fuck it's grim in here.

Maybe England should go all Corné Krige on France and hope to win at least a totally unnecessary Fite.

[Mikey Brown]

Fuck it's grim in here.

Maybe England should go all Corné Krige on France and hope to win at least a totally unnecessary Fite.

See I feel weirdly positive about it all, I mean it’s got fuck all to do with Eddie or the coaches it seems but we at least looked like we could match a side like Ireland for intensity. There is a part of me that really is buying in to this feeling of having turned a corner. Then again I say this every year as a Scotland fan and it comes back to haunt me.

I always wonder how Ireland (often Munster and Leinster too) keep up that collective, rabid intensity, as that so often seems to be the deciding factor. All the other top tier nations seem to struggle fairly frequently with that. SA manage it, but don’t often have the skill/application to make use of it, France/Aus generally the reverse.

The ABs somehow seemed to keep it up for a long, long time despite routinely conquering all before them. Like it would be an utter embarrassment to be anything but clearly the best team in the world.

It doesn’t feel like Ireland should be significantly better than Scotland or Wales for instance, but their players just rarely seem to drop off in the same way.

…aaaaaanyway. England vs France. I’m oddly, perhaps undeservedly, optimistic.