England vs Canada - Sat 10th July

[jngf]

What the fuck is a sea wolf?

For that matter wtf is a peppa pig?

[jngf]

I don't know if Kruis does walk back into the side. He is a very good player, but so are Lawes and Launchbury. If anything one might argue L&L are better players, but equally one might argue Kruis forms a better partnership with Itoje and adds some power in the tight five grunt work which we lack with some of our more mobile selections.

Yes, agreed. I can accept that Kruis is arguably the strongest scrummaging lock (how to prove this?) and that him and Itoje together bring a force that is greater than the sum of its parts - however outside the tight he's not got the carrying ability of Launchbury and Lawes and I don't see any evidence that he intimidates opponents (and strikes fear in them) to anywhere near the extent Lawes and Itoje do. I rather suspect he's viewed by opponents at test level as an honest workrate, grafter type of lock a bit like Ewels to be honest....in the image of dare I say it Borthers.

[Scrumhead]

I think those days are gone TBH. I’d be disappointed if any of our players are intimidated by the opposition locks. Etzebeth is really the only one I can think of with the ‘enforcer’ type of reputation and he’s a pussycat compared to Bakkies Botha etc.

[jngf]

I think those days are gone TBH. I’d be disappointed if any of our players are intimidated by the opposition locks. Etzebeth is really the only one I can think of with the ‘enforcer’ type of reputation and he’s a pussycat compared to Bakkies Botha etc.

I'm not meaning illegal violence of that type, more that of being a real nuisance getting in the face of oppo e.g. Itoje or being a tenacious tackler like Lawes. I certainly agree that the days of teamS with multiple enforcers e.g. the France forward pack for most of the 70s, have to an extent disappeared as a I suspect a consequence of both professionalism and increased use of cameras as part of officiating. To be honest if you looked at the forward packs of Carling's England and Sole's Scotland of the same era, they contained a lot of hard as nails individuals but all would be physically lighter than their counterparts today. Now the emphasis is less outright machismo and more about athleticism and power (with the odd throwback to old skool hardness the exception rather than the rule). Looking at England side now I suspect Underhill is the player most typifying that 'hard as nails' presence - not so much by a hard man attitude as such but by shear pound for pound dynamic physical power.

[Mikey Brown]

Oh god this really is pointless isn't it.

[Danno]

Yes. And I don't think I can bear another 80mins of Ashton

I see we're going to try to break our offside penalty record from last week

[FKAS]

Oh god this really is pointless isn't it.

It's never pointless because you can see who is able to keep up the professional mindset and intensity even when the game is in no doubt. Those who can do it under no pressure will do it in a caldron atmosphere.

[Digby]

Surely that's a red card

[Mikey Brown]

Oh god this really is pointless isn't it.

It's never pointless because you can see who is able to keep up the professional mindset and intensity even when the game is in no doubt. Those who can do it under no pressure will do it in a caldron atmosphere.

Well yes, fair enough. I'm still watching after all, just wish there was a bit more competition as a spectator.

Ludlow might have just made this all a bit more interesting though.

[Mikey Brown]

Oh. Lucky that was deemed low force given the injury he caused.

[Digby]

Ewels might get the yellow for repeat team infringements all by himself

[Digby]

Probably not going to get there anyway, but why on earth does Steward buy the step?

[Raggs]

Ewels even causing Wells to give up penalties.

Ludlow should handed been red.

Smith not going that well.

Has Dombrandt done much yet?

[Digby]

Smith is playing like his haircut, some stylish moments, but mostly it's overdoing it and getting in the way

That said giving away pens, and all that territory isn't on him and it's he's then pushing too quickly to recover momentum. The really weird thing is getting pinged with a dominant scrum again, just seems no need, one supposes that's about team culture for when we play competitive sides

[I R Geech]

Coka looks like someone who has found rugby easy as he grew up because he was big and fast and so never developed any skills or a rugby brain.

[I R Geech]

Who is the C4 presenter? Does nothing other than laugh nervously whenever Marler speaks.

[Raggs]

We've not been repeatedly pinged in the scrum yet for winning it. I'd be happy to keep going until we get hit again on their ball.

Ewels has been dire forpenalties but then Hill has been too so maybe that's not as big an issue as we think.

Genge going well as is Underhill. But then it's only Canada.

This is a game where you can lose your shirt but i don't think you can win it.

[Shiny]

Dombrandt still goes missing for periods and doesn’t do enough for me to be challenging Billy.

Genge and Underhill going well.

Smith is a player I like but he doesn’t quite seem on it. Not sure if that is tiredness after a long season, or the speed of international play, or if he is missing Care or if Eddie has coached something out of him.

Worth putting up with listening to Ashton to be able to get Marlers analysis.

Too many penalties again.

[Shiny]

Who is the C4 presenter? Does nothing other than laugh nervously whenever Marler speaks.

I expect he is scared of him.

[Shiny]

Talk on Twitter (Sara Elganj from South Africa of Marcus Smith being called to the lions to replace Finn Russell.

[Mikey Brown]

Jesus, has Gatland not consulted Digby about this?

[Shiny]

Eddie needs to sub him off before he gets injured.

[Mikey Brown]

This system of Genge getting to be captain for 4 minutes each week after Ludlow goes off is interesting. Slade captain again?

[Danno]

Jesus, has Gatland not consulted Digby about this?

That was a good chuckle

[Mellsblue]

Ashton is pretty clueless.