RugbyRebels

Minute 1:
Ireland kick off, straight down Manu's throat, which is returned well. Youngs box kicks and it's okay without being brilliant - 15m in from touch, but at least Underhill can hit the catcher as he lands. Ireland run through three phases without testing the England defence overly, before Maro gets over the ball and wins a turnover. For any other ref but Owens, that's probably a pen for coming in at the side, but Nige waves it on, so we'll call it playing what you know you'll get from the referee. Youngs digs it out and throws a pass that Ford has to reach for. I'm planning on keeping a counter for all of Youngs's mistakes, but I don't think I'll include that one as it wasn't egregious.

Ford kicks into space under pressure and a lucky bounce sees May onto the ball. He tries to force the offload and Ford knocks it on, although in slow motion he's right to complain that Ringrose has tackled him early. However, he looks like a footballer complaining to the ref and the fact remains that May should've held onto the ball anyway. Ireland kick long.

Minute 2:
Too long and the ball stops in the try zone. I saw it asked in the match thread why Faz didn't put one foot over the line and pick it up - the answer is that you can't do that anymore as it now counts as you taking it out (same as taking a catch with one foot over the touchline).

Youngs takes a quick 22, which is actually a good move - sets Sinckler away to the 10m line. He follows that up with an okay box-kick - it bounces in space and takes play down to 30m out from the Irish line, and the Irish line had reset so there wasn't an obvious counter-attack on. Still, I would've preferred to see us play with the ball rather than give it back. Ireland carry up a few phases and our defence is good.

Minute 3:
Rob Kearney is dragged a full 5m into touch by BillyV and Sinckler has the presence of mind to pick up the ball and wang a quick lineout back to Daly. It's a full 25 metre territory loss and bounces to Daly, so not his best maneouvre in the match. Daly then decides not to try and beat the one man chasing, which is a shame cause there was loads of room. Instead he kicks poorly and Ireland are nearly back where they were when they got dragged into touch. Thankfully, there's a shoddy forward pass and we go back for the scrum.

Minute 4:
Weird f*cking scrum this one. The entire Irish front row lose their footing and go to their knees on engage. Nige is keen to play and Youngs put the ball in, George misses the hook because his opposition are on the ground, and then the Irish get their feet underneath them and drive upwards from their prone position, routing the England front row who aren't prepared for an assault from below. The scrum spins like a top and this is a lesson of why you can't just play on with a collapsed scrum. Good use of a minute.

Minute 5:
This scrum is better and England get a good solid drive on. Not brilliant control at the back by Billy as he doesn't get it to his feet and Maro ends up standing on it and kicking it to the back where Murray takes it. I'd be annoyed if it played on, as I think the ball is still just under Billy's feet when Murray grabs it, but Nige blows for a penalty as Sinckler has absolutely crushed Healy on the right hand side, just after Stuart Barnes has finished talking nonsense about Healy looking to put pressure on Sinckler at the scrums. Faz is going for posts.

Minute 6:
Faz is definitely allowed more than a minute to kick this, even before the ball falls off the tee and he has to replace it.

Minute 7:
A solid two minutes after the penalty was blown, Fazlet slots the penalty. Ireland kick off to Manu, who again makes good ground and beats people, this time taking it outside the 22m.

Seven minutes gone without a major Youngs error - maybe I misremembered how bad Youngs was in this game and we were all maligning him.

Minute 8:
Youngs Error Count - 1
Box kick that's landing 12m from touch, a good 5m away from the chase, and perfectly placed for Kearney to run onto. And so, it begins.

Kearney does well to round the rushing Underhill, run to the outside, draw in the widest man of our chase, and hook over the top to Larmour. Good work from Ford and Faz in defence brings them down, and then Murray gets scragged by May as he goes to pass - May has clearly had his Wheaties as he hauls Murray towards him, picks him up, and then carries him bodily into touch.

We win the lineout, but a terribly constructed maul allows Henderson to strip the ball from us and Ireland are on the attack.

Minute 9:
We get a bit narrow in defence and a nice pass from Kearney puts Stockdale free in space. He chips over and it looks like Manu has it completely covered to catch and ground it, but a rugby ball occasionally hates you and it bounces completely away from all five players from both sides who are chasing. Larmour, who's a bit behind everyone else, gets an utter gift, and just has to catch and fall over the line.

Minute 10:
Nice conversion from Byrne. Doesn't require 2 days to kick it either, which is nice.

Minute 11:
We kick long and Curry smashes Larmour. Ireland clear to just inside their 10m line. Scrappy lineout as Ireland contest and both Sinckler and Yougns flap the ball backwards, which they should know better than to do. Cokanasiga actually controls the ball, but is knocked backwards. We have a couple of forward drives befor the play of the match where Faz sends Ford on a crash ball switch into Cian Healy, with the result that you'd expect. In Fazlet's defence, Ford did call for the ball and did run the line, but if he goes wide, then there's Manu, Daly, and May up against Larmour. We do at least get the ball back.

Minute 12:
Youngs sets for the box kick and there's a rather clear and entertaining call of "Don't kick it!" Not sure if that's off the ref's mike or someone in the crowd has got close to a microphone. The latter seems more likely, but it does sound like the former. Whoever is giving the advice, they're wrong - Youngs puts up a lovely high ball which May contests very well, forcing a knock-on from Kearney.

The scrum wheels blind and Murray is worried about BillyV picking and going that way. Unfortunately, Billy's just the link and the ball goes open to Youngs, who successfully runs a line that draws in 7 and 10. Farrell's running a very hard line and it looks like it's going his way, but Youngs passes out the back to Ford. Aki is drawn in by the Farrell crash ball though and now Ireland only have three defenders not committed. Manu runs a hard line out-to-in, which draws in Ringrose, only for Ford to go behind him to May sweeping around. Now there's 2. Stockdale commits to catching May man-and-ball, only for May to put in a lovely catch and pass to Daly to leave England 2-on-1 with 20m of the pitch to play with. Daly draws the last man and Cokanasiga has 30m to cover before the Irish scramble defence can cover across.

Minute 13:
He makes it with ease and England are 8-7 up

I think we must have misjudged Youngs. That's a very nice kick followed with a good attacking run and pass and we've only come up with one error so far. Clearly, we're all just biased.

Minute 14:
Farrell misses the conversion. He's no George Ford.

Minute 15:
Better kickoff from Ireland as it puts Curry hard to the touchline, but it's still long and he carries well to just outside the 22. A very nice kick from Youngs - up to halfway and just inside the touchline, leading to an Irish lineout as Kearney lets it bounce. We have definitely must have been too mean to Youngs.

Ireland win the lineout, although how Maro wasn't penalised for jumping so far across the lineout that he ends up at the back to the nascent Irish maul.

Minute 16:
Ireland show us how to form a decent maul and do well. Our defence is poor, but at least we don't give away a penalty, despite several players having very obvious thoughts about coming in the side or pulling it down. Eddie has clearly promised the switch for anyone giving away a dumb penalty after last weekend. Maro eventually does well to get up the middle and get on the ball, forcing Ireland to turn it into a ruck to keep the ball.

Byrne puts up a high cross-field on Daly, who actually does pretty well. It's a hard kick and contested and, while the best result would've been a clean catch, getting up highest and taking it into touch is not a terrible second prize.

Minute 17:
Itoje disrupts the Irish lineout and we flap it back to our side. We go rather aimlessly laterally and are turned over when Farrell shows he's listened to us too much and acts like a flanker with a pick-and-drive. Ireland go through one-out or two-out phases for the rest of the minute and our defence is good, especially from Itoje who puts in two dominant tackles.

Minute 18:
A cross-field kick finds Kearney and he chips over. May is back and flips up to Daly who really should have just run open and trusted in being faster than Kearney. Instead he fakes inside, before going outside - looks nice and will show up on highlights reels, but means the Irish defence is up quicker and he only brings the ball to 15m from the tryline. We reset once to give Ben Youngs the perfect position and everything he could possibly want to box-kick to touch.

Youngs Error Count - 2

The ball is again 10m from touch, but this time it's a good 10m from any chasing man. Thankfully Byrne looks terrified by having so many options and seeks contact.

Minute 19:
Great defence knocks Ireland back 5-6m and they decide to kick down to just inside our 22. Maro takes the resulting lineout at the front.

Minute 20:
This maul is so much better and Youngs puts in a lovely kick from a tight angle - takes us all the way up into Ireland's half. Maybe he'll get better from here and these two mistakes are all that he has? Ireland win the lineout scruffily and spend the rest of the minute failing to test our defence.

Minute 21:
Ireland kick into our half again and it's our lineout. More scrappy lineout ball at the front for us, but George recyles and set up a ruck just outside the 22.

Youngs Error Count - 3

The kick is the right length, but it's a good metre into touch. Dick.

Minute 22:
Ireland win the resulting lineout and again offer a lot of one-out plays that our defence has no problem containing. Billy V does very well to get in over the ball and earns us the penalty.

Minute 23:
You know, I don't think we've conceded a penalty yet, stupid or otherwise. Could be a new record for us.

First clean lineout for us and Maro does nice bit of work by dummying a pass off the top to sucker all the Irish players who are already offside. Ford and Farrell run a little move way off the gainline, but it's all a ploy to get Manu up to speed, cause he takes the ball at a run and crunches through some weak shoulders. They bring him down, but only after a good 10m is made from where the lineout was. We recycle and play again and I feel I have to note Farrell's carrying well. Francis got a lot of prasie for these kind of lines and solid running last week.

Minute 24: Some lovely offloading and quick ball here for England - they instantly look dangerous ball-in-hand. May makes good ground down the left and we're 10m out with momentum. Who can stop us now?!

Youngs Error Count - 4

I think the pass is aimed for Curry who is running short, but he's not Stretch Armstrong so he's not reaching that. It goes flying across and bobbles to the feet of Kruis, who has to reset 10m further back. Still, we're still on the attack and we can just restart with this quick ball...

Youngs Error Count - 5

This pass is to an invisible tiny man, located a metre in front of Tuilagi. Manu does a superb job, diving forward like a cricket fielder to get his hands under the ball and secure it, but you wouldn't have though he'd go anywhere from flat on his face and we're now back to the edge of the 22.

Howeve, upon writing that, he flips back to his feet and breaks three tackles to drive us back deep into the 22. Front foot, Ireland are retreating, the ball is passed out of the tackle so it's as quick as it could possibly get, and BillyV is sprinting forward calling for it. That means it's time for...

Youngs Error Count - 6

It's an offload out of the tackle, so there is no offside line as the tackle was not completed. This doesn't stop Youngs from being outraged that Healy has run back through his passing lane and he eschews passing to Billy to instead flip the ball petulantly at Healy before turning to the ref like he's appealing for LBW. Both players are wrong - there's no offside so Healy could just have caught it if he wanted and, even if he were offside, anyone who tosses away wonderful attacking ball to prove a point to the referee needs shooting. Even worse, he's so busy wailing at the ref that he doesn't pay attention to the ball bobbling and is beaten to it on the floor by Ringrose. I'm not going to count that as a new error, cause it's part of the original one, but it increases the enormity of it.

Ireland kick long and we've now lost 70m and prime attacking ball because Youngs was a f*ckwit. FFS. Jonny May shows a bit of class and steps the sole chaser to make a nice break up to the 10m line.

Minute 25:
Farrell kicks long and aimlessly to Ireland, who thankfully return the favour. Daly, inspired by May, tries the same move and gets similar success. Sadly, Henderson is very quick over the ball and we don't dislodge him. Penalty Ireland.

Minute 26:
Penalty kicked for 8-10. This minute mostly enlivened by the Irish guest commentator explaining, in words of one syllable, why Healy wasn't offside, only to be followed by Miles Harrison saying, "Well, there's no question that he was being a lazy runner."

Minute 27:
Farrell kicks off deep and our defensive line is up fast and contiguous to pin them in their 22. Ireland then make a right hash of the next phase - Murray passes to Stander who decides to pop it out the back to Byrne who was neither a) free or b) expecting it. Itoje is through on him as he gathers the ball and, while Ireland keep the ball, it's a scrappy clearance and it's only the quality of Murray that gets them up to near the 10m line.

Minute 28:
Clean lineout ball and Youngs fizzes a lovely wide ball out to Farrell. He does have the skills, just fails to use them so often. We crash up with Billy V and then Kruis, before one of the moments of the match for me. Sinckler uses his footwork to interest two defenders and waits till Aki bites in before popping inside to BillyV, who rides the covering tackle to pop inside to Itoje who drives through contact and offloads to Sinckler, who is not only back on his feet, but coming at speed. It's 8 seconds, three offloads, and 15m made with Ireland backpedalling. Lovely work and made even better by Marler following and securing the ball to make a ruck that's barely even 1 second. Ford, Farrell and George go right and Cokanasiga could be an extra man, but he's far too flat on George, who makes the right decision to cut inside. A 2 second ruck and the ball is swiftly away - this is the best I've seen from England in many a year.

It's spoiled a bit by a slow ruck because of Kruis flopping down rather than driving over, but the speed is resuscitated by a pass out the tackle from BillyV, followed by another quick ruck.

Minute 29:
Farrell runs a hard line off Youngs and then gets the offload in the tackle - he does have a better running game as a 12 than he's given credit for. Youngs sends a miss-pass which Larmour tries to shut down by going man-and-ball for Manu, but he sees it coming and just taps the ball straight across to Daly. Everyone's bringing out the party tricks!

The cover is across to shut down May on the wing, but he steps Murray very nicely (knocking him spark out in the process) and skips inside, resetting the play nicely. The ball spills out of the ruck and we reset before sending BillyV on the crash. We just look so dangerous here - running onto the ball at pace, with excellent cleaning out of rucks to present the ball on a platter to Youngs (whose service is excellent, tbf). Itoje and then Manu take the ball up at pace, before Ford calls it wide and there's acres of space. Ireland rush up - Ford takes and gives in one movement just before he's hit, Curry draws the covering full-back, and Daly is walking over. That is the best two minutes of rugby I've seen from England in a long, long time, regardless of the opposition. Clinical, accurate, dangerous, fast, and I think I might need a tissue or two. Scott Wisemantel, take a bow sir.

On a side note, Kearney needs to be cited for his clothesline of Curry as he passes. It's legitimate to try and make a tackle - it's not late - but it's a stiff arm, direct to the neck and head, with force, and it's a clear nad obvious red card. He's very lucky that England are so accurate, as if Curry had flubbed that pass, it would've gone to TMO for a red card and a penalty try.

Underhill is notable as being superb in the rucks here as well. His workrate and effectiveness is hugely impressive.

Minute 30:
Nothing much happens - I think we're all still mopping up after that try.

Minute 31:
Fazlet is allowed to keep kicking duties despite having missed the last one (something the Real Ice Man at 10 just doesn't do). It's actually a very shonky contact, but it does wobble it's way through the posts. Ford would've done it better.

Ireland kick off and it's a beauty - just outside the 22 and tight to the touchline. Cokanasiga takes and has Ireland forwad immediately on him - really should have been driven into touch, but he does so well to stay infield until Curry and Itoje can come to rescue him.

Minute 32:
England get another few metres through a powerful Underhill surge and Youngs has all the time in the world to put up a box-kick where he wants it.

Youngs Error Count - 7

Maybe he feels that Byrne was hard done by for Ireland's forwards not using his wonderful kick-off to take England into touch? Either way, his box kick lands a good two metres out of play and we're coming back for an Ireland lineout. Itoje knocks down the Ireland lineout however and we have recovered the ball for Ben to have another go.

Youngs Error Count - 8

Minute 33:

In fairness, this one does not go straight into touch. However it lands 15m in from touch, 7m in front of any England chaser, straight down an Irish throat. If you asked him to deliberately provide a perfect attacking situation for Ireland, he might not have been able to provide one as good as that.

Underhill does extremely well to track Stockdale and bring him dow nwith a low tackle. Stockdale tries to be clever and release the ball to pick it back up, but knocks it on as he tries. Nige gives the knock on and Kruis has a little nudge on an Irishman just after the ball has gone. Nothing much in it, but I think he's been reading the EMB comments about him not having enough niggle.

England scrum and Nige is *completely* ignoring the new IRB directive about not allowing heads to touch shoulders due to axial loading. No care for it at all - considering it's an injury prevention one, that's not a great look from a top ref.

Lovely pass away by Youngs and Ford makes a lot of metres while Ireland watch Tuilagi and Cokanasiga on his shoulder. There's a slow ruck because of Irish shenanigans and we go back to big men taking the ball at pace. His errors aside, Youngs's service has been lovely today. I mean, it feels weird to say, "If you ignore the 8 glaring errors that killed the play and turned over possession and territory, Youngs has been quite good," but he has.

Minute 34:
I swear I didn't know this was coming before I wrote the above.

Youngs Error Count - 9

A pass that is in front and low on Billy V, forcing him to stop and take it at his shin-level. He then gets munched by the Irish defence. We retain the ball and then Youngs gives another wobbly pass that dies on Ford. I'm not going to count it as an extra error as Ford takes it well and kicks through so it didn't change the play. Lovely kick as well - threaded through the defence and down into the Irish 22.

Stuart Barnes again demonstrates that he knows nothing about the sport by saying that "Surely, this is a lineout where Ireland have to simplify and say, We're going to take it at 2." The Irish commentator points out that Itoje is at the front, ready to compete. It's almost as if defending lineouts won't give you a free 2-ball when you're under pressure and struggling to get your lineout?!

Nige has a word about not closing the gap and warns England that it's a free-kick next time. I'm going to spoil the ending for you - England will continue to close the gap all game and that free-kick will never appear. Should've just been a free-kick first off and then we wouldn't have done it again.

I think we have still only given away 1 penalty all game so far - is that right?! Doesn't sound like us.

Minute 35:
Kruis reads the Irish lineout like a book and just gets up in front to nick the ball cleanly. We recycle a couple of times to try and speed up the ball, and then Youngs picks a beautiful pass, ignoring the first option of Marler vs props to hit Itoje vs Byrne. It gets us moving forwards, but the ball is slow despite great clearout from Kruis. It's tempting to blame Youngs as he's sitting with his hands on the ball, but in fairness there's no good option. Faz is calling left for a 6-on-3 underlap, and no-one's back ready for a short ball yet. He waits till BillyV is ready and unfortunately the designated clearer is Sinckler who trips over the first tackler that Billy beats. Ireland turn over the ball, but knock it on and we have a 5m scrum.

Notable that Itoje's leg drive in contact has really improved this season. He's very dangerous there now.

Minute 36:
Lots of replays. Of interesting note is that the knock on was forced by Manu, who saw that BillyV was on his own, ran in and did a perfect (and legal) ruck and then crococile roll to take the Irish flanker off the ball (who then regathers it on the ground and holds on, so it could have been a penalty, but we'll take the scrum). Great, great work.

Marler crushes Furlong, but Nige insists that we play it away. Ireland are clearly worried about a BillyV pick from the base. They've taken it down immediately, Aki is tight to the scrum, and McGrath is never onside to try and tackle him early. England are using him as a fake though - he's always passing to Youngs and the offise tackle just ruins his pass rather than stops it. Youngs does well to pick up the bouncing ball and feed Tuilagi. Stockdale, for once, decides not to cut in on the man (although what he thinks he can do against Cokanasiga in that amount of space if the pass goes, I don't know). Manu offers like he's going to pass and then tucks the ball under one arm and dances past the cover defence himself.

Minute 37:
Farrell continues to prove himself almost as good as Ford by kicking the conversion.

Minute 38:
Conor Murray is back on, which is madness. I don't care if he passed an HIA, he was clearly knocked silly.

Ireland kick off deep and Curry carries up well. Youngs box kicks and this one is better without being brilliant - it's now 17m from touch, so he's drifting infield, but it's high enough that Underhill is there to gib Kearney as he lands. Underhill is back on his feet and he atches with Cokanasiga to drive over, but unfortunately Coka's not as good in the ruck and Ireland retain the ball.

England's defensive line switches off for a minute and a Furlong pass inside opens a hole on the side of the ruck for Best to run through.

Minute 39:
Ringrose tries to round Ford with a roll and does get a few metres, but Ford holds on and brings him down. England are then up hard in defense and aggressive tackles from Marler, Curry, and then Marler knock Ireland back 14 metres. Ireland recover with another Ringrose run, but they're pinned around the halfway line and go through several phases to no effect.

Minute 40:
Some rank Ireland passing turns the ball over to Itoje and Ireland compound the error by killing the ball in the ruck. Still, there has only been one penalty from England this half from my count. How much of that is better discipline and how much of it having an easier ride, I don't know, but you can see definite thoughts from players starting to do something stupid and then remembering Uncle Eddie's birch switch and changing their mind.

That is a gorgeous touch kick from Farrell, but he spoils it by whining at the touch judge. Still, we're into the 22 and decide to try our maul again. It doesn't go very far, but it's well constructed, moves a little forwards and we keep the ball - I will take that over some of the shambles we've shown the past few weeks.

Minute 41: Coka, Curry, then Billy carry up hard, but we then give away our second penalty of the half with an Irish player jackalling. On the one hand, Marler is clear over the ball and setting the ruck, so the Irishman is clearly second man in and should be penalised. On the other, the referee is Nigel Owens and we knew that when we walked out there, so someone should have been clearing him off, whether they thought he was meant to be there or not. Looking at the replay, that was Youngs's man to clear as they were isolated, but instead he just looked at the Irish player and complained. I'm not giving it as an error, as clearing shouldn't be his main job, but realistically that was his turnover conceded.

BillyV gives everyone heart attacks by staying down and holding his knee, only to jump up with nothing apparently wrong. Ireland tap and kick out and it's half-time.

Second half!

Minute 41:
England keep very deep to the Irish 5m line and McGrath gathers and clears. He doesn't make touch though and Daly wangs it inside to Ford who finds Cokanasiga. It's not a great counter-attack, but Coka makes a little ground with a Rokocoko spin in the tackle and we're up to halfway. Some decent hands and it looks like Daly's rounding Stander. He decides not to try it and instead passes to BillyV, who barrels down the wing. Easy metres and May gets a nod for a very effective clearout to stop the ball from being turned over.

A good pass from Youngs through a thicket of players finds Ford's hands. I know he's up to 9 significant errors, but that was really quite delicious. Unfortunately Jamie George looks up at the contact instead of concentrating on receiving Ford's offload and spills a simple pass.

Ireland kick it away into England's 22 (and might have a case that Fazlet shoulder charges the kicker as he follows through on the charge down, but it's hard to tell from the angle we have) and Daly puts a beautifully judged kick into touch over the Irish 10m line. Good work.

Minute 42:
Ireland winan uncontested lineout and wang it wide quickly. Stockdale attempts to stop and go to round Cokanasiga, but Joe has the angle on him and hauls him down with ease. Manu is straight in over the ball and, even better, actually turns it over, rather than standing there with his hands on it shouting at the ref. Too many players try to buy a penalty and get driven off - Manu actually went for the ball and when he was driven off, the ball came with him.

Farrell plays scrum half, passes deep to Daly, and suddenly it's on. There's not an Irish player within 25m of the far touchline and there's Youngs, May, and Curry out wide. Daly passes to Youngs who simply needs to pass it one out to May who has a literal half the pitch to play with - he can round Aki and then he's got a one-on-one with Larmour scrambling to come forward. For a player of May's calibre it's practically a walk-in. All he needs is for Youngs to ship it once more down the line...

Youngs Error Count - 10

What the actual f*ck Ben. I've been trying to defend you, but what the f*ck. You have one of the best finishers in world rugby a literal 5m away from you and all you have to do is get it into his hands. There is no decision to be made here. Instead, what you do is run forwards and sideways to allow Larmour to come up into the defensive line and everyone to drift into the space and then try to fling a cut-out pass to Curry on the wing. It sails through a good 6 metres in front of Curry and into touch. Even if that was the right option, which it wasn't, it was embarrassingly poorly executed. Jonny May says an extremely rude word and jumps up and down like Yosemite Sam, neither of which I can blame him for. Decking him wouldn't have been an overreaction.

Minute 43:
We all watch the replay of Error #10 and sit back in wonder. Nige has given a forward pass, which is dubious given the fact that Youngs was running forward and there was momentum, but it was so sh*t that I wouldn't criticise him being given a yellow for it. It's certainly stopped a probable try - can you get a penalty try given against your own teammate?

Minute 44:
Solid scrum for Ireland and they find easy metres out wide as England retreat to drift. However, once the forwards are out of the scrum, it's a different story and the defensive line is rock solid. Ringrose looks the only threat, but he's just one man and Ireland go wide where a Manu and Ford double tackle sees Ford rip the ball in the tackle and Kruis secures. Doesn't get eulogised by the commentators for some reason as Fazlet normally gets.

Ireland do drive over completely legally from the ruck and I'm resigned to having the scrum, but for some reason Nige is shouting "Advantage! Leave it Green, leave it Green, advantage! Leave it Green!" I wasn't aware that you weren't allowed to compete at a ruck during a knock-on advantage, but it's the rule we're apparently playing. Ben Youngs walks round the bemused Irish ruck and picks up the ball from the back of their feet, out of the hands of McGrath who is looking at Nige with an expression of, "Seriously?" on his face.

The ball comes back to Daly within two passes and it's a clear play that they look for him on turnover ball. There's nothing really on though, so he kicks long to find touch just outside the Irish 22. Good decisions.

Minute 45:
Awkward moment of silence as the replay of Ford bodily wresting the ball from Kearney is played as Barnes and Harrison try to work out how to make this about Farrell. The Irish co-commentator, clearly not knowing the rules, spoils it by breaking the silence and praising it.

Bad overthrow by Best at the lineout and the ball bobbles to Ford who sends Underhill on the charge. Clear tactic to have Underhill standing with Ford on defensive lineouts, btw, which is nice. Ford can tackle very well, but teams will send people down his channel because of the perception that he can't (and because he's never going to smash you back) so it makes sense to have your best tackler where the oppo are likely to run.

Youngs get a call from Maro on the right and he bursts through some very weak guard defence to charge over the line. It's shocking organisation from Ireland as the second man is too wide and there's too much room for Maro. If we were being picky, he's probably overrun it and it's only just not a forward pass (checked it on slow motion and it's just flat enough to be called not clear and obvious if the TMO were to be invoked), but it's a big positive call, a nice line from out to in, picks out a hole, and enough pace to get over the line.

Minute 46:
I feel like a grumpy old man, but Itoje should have fallen over the line with the ball. He didn't know whether there was someone coming behind him and, while his emphatic place between his legs looked cool, it wasn't a 100% move. If we've learned anything from watching Bath this year, it's that you make sure the try is scored first and then look cool later.

Ireland kick-off to compete and England are taken aback. Ireland in possession.

Minute 47:
As per usual, Ireland in attack are being very comfortably contained by England and aren't making dents or getting super-fast ball. Byrne drops back to make a kick, but forgets to catch the ball and fumbles to the delight of the crowd.

Furlong turns right in on Marler at the scrum and everything folds in on itself. Nige is happy to play away though and Ford kicks nicely into the Irish 22. Kearney clears from tight to the touch line and England have gained a solid 15m from that play.

Minute 48:
Lineout to the back (to Curry - see, I told you he could jump in the lineout!) and all of Ireland's defence is focussed on Cokanasiga and Tuilagi running lines off Ford. From an eagle's-eye perspective, it should possibly have gone out the back to Farrell, but Tuilagi makes good ground and focusses the mind of the Irish. Unfortunately, the next pass by Youngs is high and behind Kruis and he fumbles it. I'm not counting it as an error, cause it was catchable, but it wasn't a kind pass and Kruis can feel a bit aggrieved at it going down as his drop.

Ireland pick up and attempt to make something happen, but they go through just one phase before Furlong decides to carry into Underhill and Tuilagi - the latter hits him high and the ball goes flying, and the former picks him up and dumps him on his arse. A one-two of a modern tackle and a classical one.



Minute 49:
The scrum is solid and Youngs feeds Ford on the blind. All Irish eyes are on Manu and Coka, but this time the ball is out the back to Daly who attempts to round the last man. I think if he'd gone full pace, he might have made it, but he slows to try and catch out the full-back and Larmour catches him with a good tackle.

Minute 50:
Quick ball, but Youngs's service is high and loopy. Itoje decides to jump to catch it, rather than expose his rib-cage (and possibly to try and milk a penalty for tackle in the air), which turns out to be a poor choice when he drops it and then gets crunched anyway when he lands. Again, I'm not counting it as a big error as it could have been caught, but it wasn't a good pass and at best it would've slowed the attack.

Minute 51:
Good England shove at the scrum, but Ireland get it away. Youngs rushes up and missed the tackle, leaving Ford to clear up his mess. It's not massively game-changing like the others, but I feel I've been lenient on the Youngs Errorometer of late and lots of little mistakes should be worth a big one, so here we are:

Youngs Error Count - 11

Ireland aren't going anywhere however and are stuck just outside their 22.

Minute 52:
If I was keeping a Byrne error count, that would be #2 as his kick is hooked poorly into touch after passing back into the 22. England attacking lineout and it's sweet - clean ball tapped down to BillyV who makes a crisp pass to Ford and Tuilagi comes on a crash ball while the defence have half an eye on Cokanasiga drifting behind. This is *exactly* the same move which gives Cokanasiga his try later in the game, only this first time it's going to Manu. It's like a fast bowler setting someone up with 5 balls that swing away and the 6th that swings in and is really nice work by Wisemantel (I presume).

Plus, sending Manu on the crash has value in and of itself, as he bashes through two tackles. Youngs is back on his game with some nice passing to runners, and Farrell makes a nice half-break by stepping Larmour and offloading to BillyV.

Minute 53:
Faz then follows up a phase or two later by running at Ringrose to draw him and then finding May with a lovely flat miss-pass. He steps Kearney who appears to be trying to shoulder charge rather than tackle. Jonny May loses the ball in the impact of having a pointy shoulder in his ribs, but it goes backwards and Curry carries to within a metre of the line.

Stander is over the ball and looks like a turnover, but Nige tells him to leave it alone, presumably because Farrell was there as the first man. Frankly, I don't see how that's different to the one at the end of the first half, but that's Nige for you. Kruis takes a big run-up and Youngs hits him with perfect timing. Looks like he'll be held up, but the speed of his charge just gains him enough leeway to ground the ball.

On replays, Kearney isn't using much of his arms, but probably enough to just keep it legal. And BillyV shows some very nice skill - it would've been very easy for him to snatch at the loose ball and knock it on, and 2015 Billy would have done just that. Instead, he waits till he's got enough control to pick it up and then flicks it up to Farrell in one movement to keep the play alive. Very nice.

Minute 54:
Conversion kicked by Fazlet. Substitutions occur, most notably, Heinz for Youngs, who has not had a good day. He's done a lot very right, but far too many big errors. The Youngs Error Count finishes on 11 and frankly, I think I was a bit lenient on him at times. Hopefully it is just rust, combined with a discrete personal nightmare of a game, as there was enough quality from him elsewhere that I want to see him back in form.

Ireland kick off and Curry does very well to take it under pressure from Cokanasiga. Not brilliant organisation there and someone needed to be calling.

Minute 55:
Heinz box-kicks from the base and it's not perfect on line as it does drift infield. However it is very nicely weighted and Larmour gets a stud back on the ground befoe being utterly levelled by Tuilagi. Possibly more luck than judgement that that wasn't a tackle in the air, but we'll call it "exquisitely judged by Manu" and move on.

Entertainingly, Larmour grabs hold of Manu's leg as he tries to follow play and has a moment of trying to wrestle him down to the floor to take umbrage with the big hit. Manu looks down at him, there is a moment of eye contact, and Larmour decides to let go of Manu's leg.

Back with the play, the ball lands in Itoje's hands and he tries to force an offload which is intercepted. The ball bounces between players before eventually ending in an Irish hand. Shame, as there was a lot of space if we'd held onto the ball, but it's back for the scrum from the Larmour knock-on.

Replays show that I'm doing Manu a disservice as he's looking at Larmour and accelerates into it, so it does appear to be just very well timed.

Back from rewatching the cricket highlights. That game was ridiculous.

Minute 56:
Ireland's replacement front row don't even pretend like they want to scrummage, but the ball is at the back so Nige wants it played. Nice pass by Heinz and Faz runs a traditional 12 line off Ford and makes good ground. A lot of people on the board say that Farrell can't run and offers no threat from 12, but he really can.

Manu does well to clear the ruck and provide quick ball - never mind the 2 opensides, a large chunk of our speedy rucks have come from Manu or Farrell (and May occasionally!) putting their shoulder in effectively. Heinz feeds Curry who breaks a feeble tackle and makes a good burst. Heinz then changes his mind last minute on his pass - he's initially passing short to Sinckler, but Ford is yelling for it (not sure why as there's not much on - maybe a cross-kick?) and he changes tack mid-movement. The result is a poor pass that Ford does well to gather off his bootlaces.

Farrell picks a line off Ford, breaks the first tackle and gets halfway through another before offloading to LCD who takes us to the edge of the 22m. We play through a few phases - it's quick and aggressive, but we're only edging forward. Nice hands from Sinckler out the back gives Daly some space and we're over the 22.

Minute 57:
Sinckler calls for the ball off Heinz again and he's got Curry and Underhill running lines off both shoulders like he's the 1st XV fly-half! A little shoulder ball and Underhill walks through a gap, draws the last man and passes to Curry who waltzes under the posts. Should put the ball down properly and safely again and he's lucky not to lose it as he slows down to celebrate and gets clattered with a challenge of dubious legality. What's wrong with falling over to ground it?

A replay shows that Sinckler's called the move and is telling Underhill where to run before Heinz has even got to the ball. He is a very, very useful player. Great draw and pass from Underhill as well.

Minute 58:
Lawes is on (in the back row) and takes the kick-off nicely. Manu strips the ball and rolls round the proto-maul to get England back on the front foot. Sinckler makes a superb clearout to stop the ball being stolen and England play through another phase. Heinz box-kicks from mid-pitch, which is an odd decision, but he's clearly received instructions and it's a very contestible kick. No-one appears keen on contesting it though (although Sinckler is bumped off the ball by an Irish player - how is he one of the first chasing a kick in the 58th minute, btw! His engine is incredible!) and Ireland regain.

Minute 59:
Ireland go through some phases, but again aren't looking troublesome. The replacement fly-half has a little dart, but only isolates himself for LCD to clamp over the ball. Nige gives England advantage and then politely reminds them that they could try actually playing the ball - LCD lifts up the completely freed ball that he'd been limpeting on and sheepishly puts between his legs to Heinz. Fazlet kicks it through, May sprints through and Ireland are in trouble. The ball doesn't cooperate and dribbles into touch, so we're back for the penalty.

Minute 60:
Farrell goes for broke and lands the ball about 8m out. That's a good kick. Sinckler is coming off for Cole - he's had a terrific match and you'd have to say he'd be in the conversation for a World XV the way he's improving. Runs off like he's got a carpet under each arm and a bad case of haemorrhoids though - not graceful!

England show they have learned a minimal amount from the Cardiff game and don't try and use their dysfunctional maul from the lineout. Instead they dummy the maul and when Ireland pile in, Billy's popped out to release the ball to Heinz. Cokanasiga was standing at the front of the lineout and he's rolled round to take the ball off Heinz's shoulder. It's a nice move, but I've just looked back and the setup didn't have the desired effect - Cokanasiga is in at the front of the lineout so England have 8 men, but Ireland only have their 7 forwards (with hooker in the 5m zone) so they're not numbered up. If we're going to play shenanigans with an overstocked lineout, then we need to alert the ref and insist on matched numbers, as there might have been space in the backs had Ireland had to put in another man. Maybe we're saving that bit for the RWC.

As it is, Cokanasiga, LCD, then Lawes are all stopped on the gainline by resolute Irish defence before Furlong latches on and earns the penalty. You wouldn't have said that was a clear and obvious releaser by Furlong as the tackler, but this is Nige and these things will happen.

Obligatory post to demonstrate that someone is reading and enjoying the thread.

Minute 61:
Ireland kick the penalty to touch and get a lineout 35m out. Lawes gets a hand to the ball, but it just comes back Ireland's way, albeit scrappily. They wang it wide quickly again and this time Stockdale beats Cokanasiga for pace on the outside. However, Manu is looking as svelte and pacy as I've seen him since 2011 and he hares across to get enough on the winger to get a foot in touch. That's great work.

Minute 62:
Yaay Mako's on! This will go well!

Clean lineout and Ford puts up the garryowen. Daly seagulls about being blocked from competing and, looking in slow motion, he's got a very good point, although it was exquisitely done by Ringrose. The Irish catcher is seized upon by Daly and Farrell who hold him up and Nige gives a scrum to Ireland for a maul direct from a caught kick. Fazlet complains - I can see his point, as that law only counts if the player is immediately taken from a kick, where Larmour had a couple of seconds and even took a step before he was scragged, but I can also see why Nige gave that one. Fair enough.

Minute 63:
Solely taken up by failing to scrummage, which is the first time I've typed that this review. Nice. Why couldn't this game have been the one to've been on terrestrial?

Minute 64:
Ireland win the scrum and decided that if it worked last time, they'll try spreading it swiftly wide again. It appears Cokanasiga is annoyed at being stood up and rounded by Stockdale last time, especially since he got a nice handoff in on the way past. He charges up as soon as the pass is loosed and takes Stockdale man and ball, scragging him towards touch. Stockdale attempts to throw the ball inside, but loses it forwards.

Minute 65:
Good scrum and England use stable set-piece ball to run the reverse of the move I identified earlier. Ford and Farrell going to the line, Manu running the hard crash ball, Cokanasiga drifting round behind, Daly lurking out wide, but this time it's door number 2 that's opened by Fazlet and Cokanasiga waltzes through a defence that's worried about Manu one way and Daly and May the other. Nice little dummy to give Heinz hope that a pass is coming, but the full-back was always well-beaten and Joe's in for his second. He gets full marks for me for diving and grounding it properly as well, rather than showboating.

Danno wrote:Obligatory post to demonstrate that someone is reading and enjoying the thread.

Thank you - it's genuinely very appreciated, as without it there's always a sneaking suspicion that no-one's reading and I'm wasting my time.

Puja

Minute 66:
Full marks to Fazlet, who took the ball right to the line before releasing Cokanasiga, and took a whack from Aki for his troubles. Slots the conversion as well.

England win a penalty from the restart as Toner jumps through Itoje in the air. Nothing malicious in it though.

Minute 67:
LCD hits 5 ball at the lineout - his darts have been good today - and England have quick ball again. We go wide for easy metres, reset and Ford puts in a cross-field kick which is not good at all. Nowhere near enough height to allow a chaser to get under it and Ireland claim an easy mark. Poor play from Ford. Carty learns from his elder and better though and puts in his own aimless kick straight back to Ford, about 65 metres out.

Minute 68:
Ford to Farrell to Daly, who has an Alex Goode-esque meander up to the defensive line. It's okay, but nothing special. The ball comes back to Ford, who puts in a second bad kick in a row - it finds grass, but bounces straight to Stockdale who kicks it back to England's 5m line. Ford is back and clears, but it's a net loss and Ireland have the lineout.

Francis comes on for Farrell as Ireland make a hash of tapping down a lineout. Kruis isn't even putting on that much pressure, but Ireland are wigged and the tap is hurried and finds no-one. Ireland bumble around on halfway for a few phases before being given a comedy offside decision by the touch judge, who says that Manu is offside when he's clearly not and has just stepped up very quickly.

Minute 69:
Ireland fail to use the advantage and we come back for the penalty. Good kick, right down to the 5m line.

Minute 70:
Ireland take the lineout and roll the maul round the front. England splinter the maul and it looks like the ball is on England's side from the resulting pileup. Heinz goes to pick it up, but Nigel shouts, "Ball is available, leave it White, don't touch, it's on this side, leave it." The ball is categorically at Heinz's feet, but he dutifully lets go and McGrath rather sheepishly reaches through the ruck to dig the ball out to his side, possibly reflecting on the turning of the wheel of weird ruck refereeing.

Ireland get another bonus from the referee, as Lawes lands on the wrong side of a tackle and doesn't spontaneously evanesce, which is the only way he could move faster than he did. Some sh*t passing means Ireland don't use the advantage and Carty kicks to the corner again.

Puja wrote:Minute 61:
Ireland kick the penalty to touch and get a lineout 35m out. Lawes gets a hand to the ball, but it just comes back Ireland's way, albeit scrappily. They wang it wide quickly again and this time Stockdale beats Cokanasiga for pace on the outside. However, Manu is looking as svelte and pacy as I've seen him since 2011 and he hares across to get enough on the winger to get a foot in touch. That's great work.

Minute 62:
Yaay Mako's on! This will go well!

Clean lineout and Ford puts up the garryowen. Daly seagulls about being blocked from competing and, looking in slow motion, he's got a very good point, although it was exquisitely done by Ringrose. The Irish catcher is seized upon by Daly and Farrell who hold him up and Nige gives a scrum to Ireland for a maul direct from a caught kick. Fazlet complains - I can see his point, as that law only counts if the player is immediately taken from a kick, where Larmour had a couple of seconds and even took a step before he was scragged, but I can also see why Nige gave that one. Fair enough.

Minute 63:
Solely taken up by failing to scrummage, which is the first time I've typed that this review. Nice. Why couldn't this game have been the one to've been on terrestrial?

Minute 64:
Ireland win the scrum and decided that if it worked last time, they'll try spreading it swiftly wide again. It appears Cokanasiga is annoyed at being stood up and rounded by Stockdale, especially since he got a nice handoff in on the way past. He charges up as soon as the pass is loosed and takes Stockdale man and ball, scragging him towards touch. Stockdale attempts to throw the ball inside, but loses it forwards.

Minute 65:
Good scrum and England use stable set-piece ball to run the reverse of the move I identified earlier. Ford and Farrell going to the line, Manu running the hard crash ball, Cokanasiga drifting round behind, Daly lurking out wide, but this time it's door number 2 that's opened by Ford and Cokanasiga waltzes through a defence that's worried about Manu one way and Daly and May the other. Nice little dummy to give Heinz hope that a pass is coming, but the full-back was always well-beaten and Joe's in for his second. He gets full marks for me for diving and grounding it properly as well, rather than showboating.

Jaysus H ! Now you get plus points for not behaving like Ashton. WTF has Rugby Rebels come to.

Minute 71:
Kruis competes for the lineout and Toner can only flick it back into touch for an England lineout. Marchant is on for Manu, getting the luxury of a whole 9 minutes on the pitch for his second cap. Good decision to rest Manu now though - last thing we need is him getting a twinge.

We take the lineout and it's another good throw from LCD. Good for his confidence this game. We also achieve a nice maul, although that's possibly as much about Ireland's spirit being flattened as us spontaneously developing technique.

Minute 72:
Heinz box kicks to touch nicely enough and the commentators say the dreaded words, "We'll get the latest thoughts of Clive." I scramble for the mute button on my remote control and thankfully find it just in time.

Ireland win the lineout and run a decent set play off Aki to make a little ground. However, the momentum dissipates and they're going nowhere.

Minute 73:
And, right on cue, Aki scores. It's caused by Ford getting overexcited and shooting up out the line. He gets nowhere near Aki and I'm not at all sure what he's trying to accomplish. BillyV drifts to cover Ford's absence and there's too big of a gap between him and Itoje, which Aki saunters through. It is a good and strong finish and Daly has been responsible for many worse bits of defending, but he'll be disappointed not to have stopped that with the angle he had and the touchline there.

On replay, it's bad from all four - Ford shouldn't have shot up, both BillyV and Itoje did little more than stick out an arm to stop him, and Daly offers him the outside and then fails to stop him when he takes it. It's a great try from Aki, but none of the England players should feel proud there. Switched off mentally for a minute.

Minute 74:
Carty fails to convert.

Minute 75:
Andrew Conway takes the kick-off, runs behind his forwards, then turns round and runs the other way. It's clearly obstruction, but we've done ourselves no favours by all following him charging across to the open and have no-one there when he cuts back blind. May hacks him down and Ireland attempt to wang it across the pitch again, but abort halfway through due to poor passing and the blitz defence being up in their faces. Itoje picks up the fly half and dumps him on the floor, like a boy playing WWF with his younger brother, and LCD is in to nick the ball. Ireland drive him back over to his side and everyone collapses on the ground with LCD clearly in possession of the ball. Nigel, for some reason, shouts "Turnover's good, let it go now!" which everyone assumes means the Irish, but then he leans in and explains that LCD has to let it go and give it back to the Irish, with the phrase, "Yes, you won it and now you have to let it go." Everyone is baffled, but Ireland have the ball and clear up to the 10m line.

Spiffy wrote:

Puja wrote:Minute 61:
Ireland kick the penalty to touch and get a lineout 35m out. Lawes gets a hand to the ball, but it just comes back Ireland's way, albeit scrappily. They wang it wide quickly again and this time Stockdale beats Cokanasiga for pace on the outside. However, Manu is looking as svelte and pacy as I've seen him since 2011 and he hares across to get enough on the winger to get a foot in touch. That's great work.

Minute 62:
Yaay Mako's on! This will go well!

Clean lineout and Ford puts up the garryowen. Daly seagulls about being blocked from competing and, looking in slow motion, he's got a very good point, although it was exquisitely done by Ringrose. The Irish catcher is seized upon by Daly and Farrell who hold him up and Nige gives a scrum to Ireland for a maul direct from a caught kick. Fazlet complains - I can see his point, as that law only counts if the player is immediately taken from a kick, where Larmour had a couple of seconds and even took a step before he was scragged, but I can also see why Nige gave that one. Fair enough.

Minute 63:
Solely taken up by failing to scrummage, which is the first time I've typed that this review. Nice. Why couldn't this game have been the one to've been on terrestrial?

Minute 64:
Ireland win the scrum and decided that if it worked last time, they'll try spreading it swiftly wide again. It appears Cokanasiga is annoyed at being stood up and rounded by Stockdale, especially since he got a nice handoff in on the way past. He charges up as soon as the pass is loosed and takes Stockdale man and ball, scragging him towards touch. Stockdale attempts to throw the ball inside, but loses it forwards.

Minute 65:
Good scrum and England use stable set-piece ball to run the reverse of the move I identified earlier. Ford and Farrell going to the line, Manu running the hard crash ball, Cokanasiga drifting round behind, Daly lurking out wide, but this time it's door number 2 that's opened by Ford and Cokanasiga waltzes through a defence that's worried about Manu one way and Daly and May the other. Nice little dummy to give Heinz hope that a pass is coming, but the full-back was always well-beaten and Joe's in for his second. He gets full marks for me for diving and grounding it properly as well, rather than showboating.

Jaysus H ! Now you get plus points for not behaving like Ashton. WTF has Rugby Rebels come to.

Actually I would take the "Ash Splash" over some of these players' groundings - at least that dive took it away from opposition defenders.

Puja

Minute 76:
England get clean ball and attack well, making ground and testing the Irish defence with each play. Ford puts Daly away down the blind and he chips ahead for Cokanasiga to chase. He's winning the race, but unfortunately, the ball beats everyone to roll into touch.

Minute 77:
Itoje puts a lot of pressure on at the lineout and Cronin overthrows to find LCD at the back for his now trademark scoring manouevre. As set plays go, LCD's tries from the back of an opposition lineout have been amongst the most effective we've seen in these warmup games.

Minute 78:
Mako limps off. Not great. We go through the rigmarole of a TMO check, but while a) Maro's jumping across the lineout and b) he does make contact with the jumper, neither of those have been pinged all match and neither of them have any effect on the lineout - it was just overthrown and the ball is long since gone before Maro makes contact. Eventually the right decision is made.

Minute 79:
Ford slots the conversion in his IceMan sort of way. Ireland kick long from the kick-off and England gather for Ford to kick long downfield. He doesn't find grass and that's the third poor kick in a row from Ford. He's not up to a Youngs-style Errorometer, but he has made mistakes this second half. Ireland carry up.

Minute 80:
Carty passes to no-one in particular and Ringrose has to go back to secure the bouncing ball. He does so and gets Lawes for his troubles. Wilson gives away the first silly penalty of the day by playing the ball off his feet in a ruck, but as Carty tries to chip for the advantage, Kruis follows through and absolutely cleans him out with a hooked arm around the neck. He gets a yellow and walks off fast before Nige can change his mind. There's an argument that there's no great force applied which might save him from a red, but I've seen less given. And, of course, worse not given:



Ireland kick for touch, but Maro gets up in front of Toner and wins the tap down. Heinz gathers, we set one ruck and then it's back to Ford to kick out. Joe Marchant has two England caps and I don't believe he has touched the ball, made a tackle, or been involved in a ruck as of yet. Poor sod.

Thank you all, you've been a wonderful audience. Good night.

Puja

Thanks for doing that .

I'd point out though, people (me) have often said Farrell didn't have a running game, because he really didn't. However that performance was fantastic. He's still not going to have defenders scared, or thinking about doubling up, but most importantly, they will have to stay focused on him, and cannot simply drift off, meaning our outside backs have more space/time, and Farrell does have the passing ability to get it out to them.

Puja wrote:the turning of the wheel of weird ruck refereeing.

I am stealing this.

Good stuff, tah.

Thanks a lot. I got something out of reading that lot especially in the context of quiet post migraine down time on holiday having not seen the match yet. Sounds like Owen had a bit of a shocker aside from Youngs

Raggs wrote:Thanks for doing that .

I'd point out though, people (me) have often said Farrell didn't have a running game, because he really didn't. However that performance was fantastic. He's still not going to have defenders scared, or thinking about doubling up, but most importantly, they will have to stay focused on him, and cannot simply drift off, meaning our outside backs have more space/time, and Farrell does have the passing ability to get it out to them.

I haven't seen the whole game, so unwise to critically comment, but it looked like every other game he has played at 12 when we have been on the front foot and been given time and space to attack. The bits that really impressed me about our backline were the differing roles played by different backs in attack, with changing points of attack and running lines, and Ford attacking the tackle line; blindside wings popping up and breaking the gainline or distributing (classic from May for example), and Daly coordinating attacks with the backfield, and good use of dummy runners, notably Manu and Faz. None of this seemed to be something that Faz could uniquely do, and I'd have said Francis could have done all I saw, with more effect on the run....(BUT I didn't see the whole game). What did he do that I have missed? I suppose as he will start, and we know that is true, there is comfort in how well it all worked, assuming Ford is the starting 10 (???)

All that said- it was the pack that really impressed with their carrying and hands- balanced back row looked great, enabled by the front five in all phases.

Youngs looked dreadful in the extended highlights I saw.