Team for Wales

[twitchy]

Well after being incredibly annoyed I couldn't watch the game it looks like I didn't miss much and we won anyway. So best result possible.

[Digby]

Btw, after some recent improvement it was nice to see Launch back on form at the restarts

[Raggs]

Btw, after some recent improvement it was nice to see Launch back on form at the restarts

Yep , just can't get his positioning right.

[Digby]

Btw, after some recent improvement it was nice to see Launch back on form at the restarts

Yep , just can't get his positioning right.

And god bless him he missed by metres. Which with Itoje and Lawes there does raise a few queries about who has what role too

[Raggs]

I have always wondered why teams continue to insist on using him in key restart positions, especially with another lock option available.

[Raggs]

Just started watching through the game (will be on and off). Hartley lucky to get an HIA, since he should have got a penalty/yellow for the shoulder charge on Lee, if Lee hadn't bounced him off, might have been a bit different.

[Mr Mwenda]

Just been reading all the glowing press reports about Faz. He is now in the position once held by Jonny Wilkinson. In the eyes of many media pundits and fans he is the Prince Valiant of the England team; the stellar leading light; every match is preordained to be a great one; he can do no wrong; no critisizm will be considered or tolerated; national adulation is rampant and mandatory. Don't hold yer breath - it will only get worse.

In his defence (no pun intended) he has improved as a runner and distributor. But he still looks like a 10 playing at 12.

One write up I saw, I think it was on the been highlighted the missed tackles.

In the Guardian's player ratings : "Owen Farrell left a mark with some thumping tackles" - makes no mention of the missed ones.

Sorry, tried to write 'the beeb'.

[Puja]

Just started watching through the game (will be on and off). Hartley lucky to get an HIA, since he should have got a penalty/yellow for the shoulder charge on Lee, if Lee hadn't bounced him off, might have been a bit different.

Yeah, I noticed that too. Looked a definite yellow that the ref just ignored, possibly from pity at Hartley's humiliation.

Puja

[Banquo]

Itoje is very good at restarts.
Are the ‘effectiveness’ stats about yet?

[Raggs]

First half watched.

Simmonds offside by a mile, or at least a good half meter in front of the rest of the defensive line, which makes it very easy to spot. Rushes up and Parkes runs over him, but also comes down on top, so he did the job, back to the pen though. He's been over the ruck a couple of times now (no need to really clear yet).

Farrell in with a shoulder barge on Patchell too. Vice captain following his captains lead. One of his missed tackles comes chasing the 22, like the rest of his game, he's really seemed to work on his pace, he's right up in Patchells face, even if he misses, it was good pressure.

Like the variation on the lineout move, typically you'd expect someone to truck it up the middle to split the field, instead Ford leaves it until the very last moment for the chip over, very nice.

11.26ish sees simmonds as first man to the ruck and does the same as he did previously, dives at the legs of the guy on the ruck and tries almost to tackle him, first time it worked because they weren't in the right body position, clearing Owens off when he's in position, it's completely ineffective.

15.55 is Farrells next miss technically, Parkes smashes him, which is the miss, then Farrell grabs his legs to bring him down with robshaw. Patchell is getting plenty of semi late hits, latest one from Cole, AWJ spots it, and smashes him in the back, seemingly as if he was in the way of the ruck.

17.05 England attacking, Simmonds goes off his feet at two rucks in a row, not acheiving anything in terms of ball retention or clearing out.

18.08 Simmonds takes the ball after a launch carries, and takes it straight up from the ruck, clever play keeping the pace up whilst we're pressuring Wales.

23.55 Next Farrell miss, rushing up on Navidi to pressurise after the restart. Obviously it's better if he does get thrown aside, but it does mean the others get up and take Navidi down.

24.20 Lovely from Ford and Farrell, Farrell makes a good break and a nice kick through.

25.50 Farrell with a dire left to right pass.

32.09 Next Farrell miss, bounced on Shingler, but it was scramble, and he got Shingler down (collided with Hartley and fell over).

34.15 The next Farrell miss? Parkes hands him away whilst running sideways, Farrell isn't really trying to tackle him though.

36.20ish, Simmonds control at the base is a bit dodgy, scrum gets reset anyway.

Whilst watching through, whoever is in charge of showing replays should be shot. Countless restarts have been missed due to slow motion replays (needless for the most part).

Nothing from Simmonds suggests he could fill the 7 role that Eddie wants, but then there was really only one or two chances to show it, so perhaps we just didn't see the opportunities. Fairly ineffectual all round, but not bad. Launch has been working ludicrously hard, as has Robshaw.

[Mellsblue]

The Times’ obsession with Farrell is becoming ridiculous. Not only do we have an article devoted entirely to Farrell’s interventions, ‘Farrell puts in regal display from first till last’, but Barnes starts his column with ‘Owen Farrell was the most important player on the field. England probably would’ve lost without him....’

[Mellsblue]

I thought that penalty count showed a terrible game by Garces - if we spent a second or two on the wrong side of a ruck then it was a penalty for slowing down the ball, which is fair enough in of itself, but the Welsh seemed to get 5 seconds of colour commentary advising them to "Release! Roll away! Release red!"

Puja

Rob Debney agrees with you:
‘The Frenchman had an inconsistent approach at ruck time......The tone was set early when he allowed the Welsh players to flop over the ball, but penalised England for it.’

[Raggs]

Far less to write about in the 2nd half.

2nd half and I'm mostly bored. Underhill has hit one line at good pace. Our attack has actually been OK, but Garces is letting the Welsh kill all the speed in the rucks.

Garces really wasn't giving us anything in the breakdown.

Oh, and someone told ITV they need to cut out the silly replays for the 2nd half.

Underhill great tackle, I also love the fact that he looks like one of the rock trolls from the Hobbit. We've upgraded from orcs.

Care btw clearly tiring by the 60 minute, if not 55 minute, mark. 2 minutes after making that comment, on comes Wiggles! Yay!

64.43 Welsh knock on, great reaction from Underhill to grab it, then offload, Itoje with a very good carry. FUCKING WIGGLESWORTH THOUGH! Turnover ball, decent clearout, oppotunity to take advantage of a still retreating Welsh backline, decides to take 3 seconds after he's put his hands on the ball (let alone the time before that), with a deep pass back to Farrell, who kicks away turnover ball, OK, by the time the ball gets to him, and he decides what to do, the up and under isn't a bad choice, but come on!

Going to blame Wiggles for getting caught in the setpiece move too. And all those saying he had great temperment calling for the scrum 30m forwards, our new captain was already yelling at Garces for exactly that. Farrell was calling for it too (apparently Jonny May thought he was replacement captain... that thought scared Eddie).

70.06 Up until now, Wiggles has been going at an OK pace, but he decides now is the best time to slow it up. I don't really understand why. We eventually get turned over after Jonny May inexplicably is unable to stop Francis from rucking him off the ball, Itoje had felt that May had that covered and left him defending the ruck by himself.

72.22 Is that Underhill carrying?

76ish Brown lucky not to get a yellow for that slap of the ball.

I like Underhill, but no more evidence that he's the 7 Eddie is after, than Simmonds is. Be interesting to see what Eddie does with Hughes.

[Mikey Brown]

Far less to write about in the 2nd half.

2nd half and I'm mostly bored. Underhill has hit one line at good pace. Our attack has actually been OK, but Garces is letting the Welsh kill all the speed in the rucks.

Garces really wasn't giving us anything in the breakdown.

Oh, and someone told ITV they need to cut out the silly replays for the 2nd half.

Underhill great tackle, I also love the fact that he looks like one of the rock trolls from the Hobbit. We've upgraded from orcs.

Care btw clearly tiring by the 60 minute, if not 55 minute, mark. 2 minutes after making that comment, on comes Wiggles! Yay!

64.43 Welsh knock on, great reaction from Underhill to grab it, then offload, Itoje with a very good carry. FUCKING WIGGLESWORTH THOUGH! Turnover ball, decent clearout, oppotunity to take advantage of a still retreating Welsh backline, decides to take 3 seconds after he's put his hands on the ball (let alone the time before that), with a deep pass back to Farrell, who kicks away turnover ball, OK, by the time the ball gets to him, and he decides what to do, the up and under isn't a bad choice, but come on!

Going to blame Wiggles for getting caught in the setpiece move too. And all those saying he had great temperment calling for the scrum 30m forwards, our new captain was already yelling at Garces for exactly that. Farrell was calling for it too (apparently Jonny May thought he was replacement captain... that thought scared Eddie).

70.06 Up until now, Wiggles has been going at an OK pace, but he decides now is the best time to slow it up. I don't really understand why. We eventually get turned over after Jonny May inexplicably is unable to stop Francis from rucking him off the ball, Itoje had felt that May had that covered and left him defending the ruck by himself.

72.22 Is that Underhill carrying?

76ish Brown lucky not to get a yellow for that slap of the ball.

I like Underhill, but no more evidence that he's the 7 Eddie is after, than Simmonds is. Be interesting to see what Eddie does with Hughes.

This is something we keep seeing, not specifically from Itoje, but we don’t seem aware to it quickly enough.

[Digby]

The setup for England is to very lightly resource the breakdown so they can keep width. I don't like it, but my bias is more in line with Schmidt than Jones on this one.

Worth noting though how much England kick from 9 and 10 so they don't have the problem of resourcing rucks in their own half

[WaspInWales]

I'm sure Ireland will be licking their lips when it comes to hitting our ball in the breakdown.

[Digby]

I'm sure Ireland will be licking their lips when it comes to hitting our ball in the breakdown.

With a little more accuracy that's where the pick and go game could really help England, though some flankers being in the correct positions would help too. And we could do that even without changing the system