Stade de France Saturday 19th March

[Oakboy]

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

MB, I really hope you are right but feel obliged to ask if you've been on the pop? Just asking.

[Mikey Brown]

I have indeed, but I’m rolling with it.

Despite the amount I criticise Eddie and the team, I do think they could be (if not close, then) not a million miles from clicking? Perhaps?

Is that faith founded on evidence? No. Is it founded on having been at a chronic point of apathy with this team for quite a while and just got bored of it? Maybe.

I do sort of believe in the turning point/“galvanising” stuff to some extent. Momentum can come from anywhere. Getting dicked in the World Cup group stages and then pulling together has served England well before, though I guess you do see a world cup final loss as still being a complete failure. Something to prompt a bit of fightback from the players could be good. It doesn’t have to be a full-on coup.

Similarly with Eddie arriving just after getting dumped out of a home World Cup - to some extent there was always going to be a wave to ride in terms of the players motivations to prove themselves again. Maybe I was just fooled by the 2018-2019 turnaround.

I’m just saying “who knows?” Maybe the buzz was purely temporary within the Ireland game, but it felt like it could be significant. The teamsheet would suggest Eddie has taken at least some sort of tactical change in to consideration. A bit more structure and intention in what we’re doing and maybe it comes together a bit. We at least have a recent history of winning against France when we absolutely do not deserve to.

[Dan. Dan. Dan.]

I genuinely reckon we might well win tonight, I'd say I'm only about 60-40 that it will be France. I don't expect a trouncing by any means. We are massive underdogs (which, for some reason they love being), you shouldn't underestimate the power of being the spoiler against a potential Grand Slam, Jones has a history of pulling a game winning gameplan from out of nowhere (see NZ when with both England and Aus, SA with Japan and more), and it certainly feels like the players have something to prove after Ireland and will, physically at least, front up.

But, that is becoming part of the problem for me. Why can we only get it up when we are against the wall? Why do we have to constantly flip-flop between one style of play and another? SA, France and Ireland (NZ also for most of my lifetime but not necessarily in recent times) have all identified a gameplan that plays to their strengths and back it against anyone. They have a settled squad and wider squad who all know what they need to do and they can focus on just executing better and getting fitter. Outside of Jones' first couple of years, England just seem to have been pulled this way then that tactically and selection-wise and the players must not know whether they're coming or going.

There have been so many false dawns under Jones that if we beat France I'm not sure I'll be at all excited by it. There's been Ireland pre WC, the NZ semi, SA last autumn. All of them felt like we might have finally found a definitive way to play, but everytime we've disappointed afterwards (I know we got to the WC semi after Ireland, but we played pretty turgid stuff on the way there).

I do wonder if the masterplan is to give England many different ways of playing, then start empowering them to switch during games, France do this pretty well in attack, but if you're not particularly successful at any of them I'm not sure that's going to work!

[fivepointer]

Get a decent start, stay in the game for an hour then who knows? Allow France to get on top and get ahead on the scoreboard and our chances will be very slim, so keeping things tight to at least h/t will be crucial.
Problem is I can see France scoring tries but i'm finding it hard to see how we're going to match them.
If France click and we dont play significantly better than we've managed so far, it could be a very long night.
Area behind the sofa will be cleared just in case.......

[francoisfou]

I’ve a hunch that England could scupper France’s Grand Slam. Itoje, Isiekwe and Lawes will pressurize the French line out, as could Chessum who got the better of Woki when Tigers beat Bordeaux in December. If Ellis Genge can be as devastating as he was against Ireland then he could galvanize his team and pull off a surprise.

[Oakboy]

I played a league match at my squash club last night against a guy I have known for years but with whom I gave never previously discussed rugby. Inevitably, when tonight's match came up I was pessimistic and admitted that I do not rate Jones.

"None of the players like him," was Steve's response.

I asked him why he thought that and it turned out he is a closish relation by marriage of David Flatman and several conversations quoting a number of players had led to that conclusion.

Obviously, I am now quoting 4th/5th hand with an appropriate pinch of salt required. I had never heard such a view expressed before with any claim to some sort of inside track.

Inconsistency of performance (which is a definite feature of England) might tend to suggest Jones being unpopular is not impossible. Of course, he does not need to be liked to be successful but any sort of player straw poll might not help him much perhaps.

[p/d]

League match!!!! Squash!!!! You?

[Oakboy]

League match!!!! Squash!!!! You?

Racketball now, to be fair. I still run our racketball first team and play in the county league. I'm not that old - only 73!

[p/d]

The new 50!!
Not played racquetball. Squash with an inflated ball?

[Mellsblue]

League match!!!! Squash!!!! You?

Racketball now, to be fair. I still run our racketball first team and play in the county league. I'm not that old - only 73!

That’s a decent level of racketball.

[Oakboy]

The new 50!!
Not played racquetball. Squash with an inflated ball?

And a stumpier racquet. It's a bouncier ball so it's easier to have long rallies when joints start to creak with age. In a way, it's like going back to start all over but conversely the accuracy principles of length and width are exactly the same as squash.

[Oakboy]

League match!!!! Squash!!!! You?

Racketball now, to be fair. I still run our racketball first team and play in the county league. I'm not that old - only 73!

That’s a decent level of racketball.

We do only play in the 3rd Division so I don't wish to overstate. It's competitive.

[Mr Mwenda]

Is squash continuing to die in England? Here in Sweden, I've been pleased to climb from fifth to second division winner in the very low quality social league. My pride however wilted when I realised that we're now don to three divisions (possibly two this time).

Likewise paddleball is huge here, coming in the past five years. Is it a thing in England?

[Which Tyler]

Is squash continuing to die in England? Here in Sweden, I've been pleased to climb from fifth to second division winner in the very low quality social league. My pride however wilted when I realised that we're now don to three divisions (possibly two this time).

Likewise paddleball is huge here, coming in the past five years. Is it a thing in England?

Yes and yes

TBF, Squash, socially, has been in decline for 25-odd years, but to my eyes, it's accelerated in the last dozen or so.
I think once the lottery started funding sports, and concentrating on olympic sports (along with Sports England) success, publicity and players gravitate to those; so we see more rowers and more cyclists, whilst other, non-olympic sports, like squash lost players to those other alternatives.

11 years ago, my local squash club died, and the courts were converted to a gym. This is a club that produced a few fully professional players in my 5 years as a member (I can only claim any credit as a clinician, not as an opponent getting my arse handed to me by a bunch of 12 year olds) Also hosting national level competitions - both at junior and open levels.
But just with funding itself through membership fees; it wasn't sustainable, and converting to being the 4th-5th gym in Tewkesbury was significantly more profitable than being the only squash club.

Going back, the club I played at at University closed shortly before I graduated, got knocked down and had a block of flats built on its footprint.
Same with the 2 clubs I played at as a kid (well, one was for houses, and the other became a community centre for its housing estate).


I'd love to do paddleboarding, but for most of the year, I live about 2 miles from the river - which is a fair distance to carry a board (I don't own a car); and I'm not getting one for the 4-6 weeks of the year I can commute by paddleboard.

[Mr Mwenda]

Sad to hear, Which.

Paddleball is kind of cross between tennis and squash, it uses tennis balls and a paddle rather than a racquet. One has to go over a net but can also bounce off walls. It's very popular because it is played almost exclusively as doubles and is very forgiving on the average athlete I think. Presumably as one gets good it becomes as horrifically one-sided as tennis but at least you don't have to walk a mile to pick up the ball. The town I live in has two privately built and owned paddleball centres that are booked at all hours. At least the poorly maintained municipal squash courts are usually free....

[Mr Mwenda]

Our squash club's top player (who at one stage had sponsorship so must have been top 10 in Sweden) is in his late fifties. It was similar in town I lived in previously (although the top player was even older). I just hope I can be better than one of these buggers before my own inevitable physical decline sets in. At this rate, I haven't a prayer.

[Mellsblue]

My local tennis club is having a padelboard court built as I type. The fastest growing sport in the world, allegedly.

[Banquo]

Isn't paddleboarding on water?

(Paddleball, racketboarding who knows...)

[p/d]

I thought the decline in squash was a result of then 60yr olds (now in their early 70’s) discovering youporn

[Oakboy]

I thought the decline in squash was a result of then 60yr olds (now in their early 70’s) discovering youporn

No, maintaining physical potency with squash means one does not need pictures of it!

[32nd Man]

Eddie's masterplan unfolding in front of us here. We can't finish lower than 4th now.

[Oakboy]

Eddie's masterplan unfolding in front of us here. We can't finish lower than 4th now.

You've cheered me up no end!

[Beasties]

Hell of a finish to the Wales Italy match.

[Mr Mwenda]

Eddie's masterplan unfolding in front of us here. We can't finish lower than 4th now.

You've cheered me up no end!

Come on, you bugger! Italy winning is good all round!

[Oakboy]

Eddie's masterplan unfolding in front of us here. We can't finish lower than 4th now.

You've cheered me up no end!

Come on, you bugger! Italy winning is good all round!

Oh, I agree with that but it does not make me feel any better about our feeble effort so far. We beat Wales only because they gifted us a try. Now, Italy have won in Cardiff by their own effort with a last minute superb try. Is our ambition height to be not grovelling down amongst the second division losers?