Le Crunch

[Digby]

Next week's crunch game does come with the feel of being soaked in milky coffee, as in it's not the real thing. However we're going to be playing one of the 2 sides in the world that not only can get physical parity with us but have it in them to physically dominate us, and that does present an interesting challenge.

Outside of the set piece going stupidly in one side's favour or either side facing a penalty count of 16+ (and that could happen to either or both), and outside of one side dropping lots of high kicks what will England do to apply pressure on attack? The big obvious addition to our game within current selection limitations is to make some offloads out of the tackle, we have lots of players that could and have even done so for England, but it's just not what we've been looking to do for a while

[Oakboy]

Maybe by only kicking when forced to, we'd simply develop attacking threats? Whereas, IF the default option dictated by the coaches is to kick, players simply align differently, move differently and anticipate differently. The backs, especially if Watson starts are good enough to cause damage (even with Farrell).

[twitchy]

Star England flanker Sam Underhill has told rugby’s critics “if you don’t like scrums and lineouts, go and watch rugby league’’.

Underhill produced a man of the match performance as England’s strong set piece focus stifled Wales in a 24-13 victory at Llanelli on Saturday (Sunday NZ time).

The 24-year-old was unrepentant about England’s approach, saying set piece dominance was a critical feature of rugby.

"I wouldn't say it [the style] is boring. If you don't like scrums and line-outs, go and watch rugby league," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"The quality of the set-piece now compared to 10 years ago is the difference. The quality of rugby in general is going up and the more that goes up, the smaller the margin for error."

England coach Eddie Jones told BBC Radio 5 Live that the 29 kicks in play during the Wales match was part and parcel of modern rugby due to the increasing athleticism of players.

"The size of the pitch hasn't changed. You have 15 players now who are all athletically superior to what they were 12 months ago, so space is hard to find.

"Sometimes you want to go round, sometimes you want to go through and sometimes over the top. At the moment, over the top is the way to do it."

[16th man]

I would imagine that Eddie will want to see how Ntamak and DuPont feel about Billy Mako and Sinkler going down their channel so I imagine there'll be lots of pick and go to try to tie in the back row.

And lots of hoofing it in the air obviously.

[16th man]

Star England flanker Sam Underhill has told rugby’s critics “if you don’t like scrums and lineouts, go and watch rugby league’’.

Underhill produced a man of the match performance as England’s strong set piece focus stifled Wales in a 24-13 victory at Llanelli on Saturday (Sunday NZ time).

The 24-year-old was unrepentant about England’s approach, saying set piece dominance was a critical feature of rugby.

"I wouldn't say it [the style] is boring. If you don't like scrums and line-outs, go and watch rugby league," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"The quality of the set-piece now compared to 10 years ago is the difference. The quality of rugby in general is going up and the more that goes up, the smaller the margin for error."

England coach Eddie Jones told BBC Radio 5 Live that the 29 kicks in play during the Wales match was part and parcel of modern rugby due to the increasing athleticism of players.

"The size of the pitch hasn't changed. You have 15 players now who are all athletically superior to what they were 12 months ago, so space is hard to find.

"Sometimes you want to go round, sometimes you want to go through and sometimes over the top. At the moment, over the top is the way to do it."

Good to see that Eddie is using the time with the squad to focus on training up their disingenuity

[switchskier]

Do France get to select their first choice side? They beat Italy with the B team because of the agreement with the FRU.

[Puja]

Do France get to select their first choice side? They beat Italy with the B team because of the agreement with the FRU.

I believe they do, cause they had their Bs against Italy and had the bye against Fiji.

Puja

[Timbo]

Most of their first choice 23 won’t feature. They could only play In 3 Autumn games, and they played a first choice 23 in the Wales warm up, Ireland 6N’s and Scotland Autumn Cup game.

They’ve already announced their squad. It’s 2nd/3rd choice players and youngsters.

[Oakboy]

Jones's athleticism comments re kicking are OK at face value. However, if the ball is kicked so high constantly it gives defenders so much time and the ball rarely hits grass. If the chase was always effective, maybe it would be better but the only real gain is if the ball is dropped which it rarely is.

I wonder if kicking technique is being properly investigated. For example, top goalkeepers in football have developed a method of kicking the ball high and wide of the body with topspin to get a hard flat trajectory. The ball would be far harder to catch and be much more likely to hit grass if rugby players could perfect it.

I just think rugby is stuck in a small-minded time-warp where kicking is concerned. Rather than condoning the status quo coaches should be looking for ways to get round the stalemate.

[Digby]

The bigger point on athleticism is we now look fitter than Wales, and by a margin. For a long time now they've either looked a little ahead or it's been much of a muchness.

Fair play to Eddie on several seasons of hard work getting continual buy-in from the players to drive these standards because to do this hurts. And Eddie reckons we're training hard so we could be taking more into the games

[p/d]

Most of their first choice 23 won’t feature. They could only play In 3 Autumn games, and they played a first choice 23 in the Wales warm up, Ireland 6N’s and Scotland Autumn Cup game.

They’ve already announced their squad. It’s 2nd/3rd choice players and youngsters.

Oh joy

[Raggs]

So we lose and we're embarassed, we win close and the french win the mind games, or we win well and no one cares. And I don't see us winning well.

[fivepointer]

Most of their first choice 23 won’t feature. They could only play In 3 Autumn games, and they played a first choice 23 in the Wales warm up, Ireland 6N’s and Scotland Autumn Cup game.

They’ve already announced their squad. It’s 2nd/3rd choice players and youngsters.

Thats a great pity. England could with the kind of test a strong French side could bring.

[Epaminondas Pules]

So we lose and we're embarassed, we win close and the french win the mind games, or we win well and no one cares. And I don't see us winning well.

I’d take a trophy over mind games any day of the week.

[Raggs]

So we lose and we're embarassed, we win close and the french win the mind games, or we win well and no one cares. And I don't see us winning well.

I’d take a trophy over mind games any day of the week.

Me too. I just wish it'd been a full strength France. A proper game, a proper finish to the tournament, and no ifs and buts.

[twitchy]

[16th man]

Still take both their 9s over Youngs.

[Gloskarlos]

Yep

[tigran]

Yes so much for a crunch..

IF you guys don't win by more than 15 points you will be laughed at..

It's not even going to be a second french team...Unfortunately..

[morepork]

Yes so much for a crunch..

IF you guys don't win by more than 15 points you will be laughed at..

It's not even going to be a second french team...Unfortunately..

You have a plethora of big nasty bastards peppered with some spicy play makers. If you can keep the stupid penalties to a minimum and not get sucked into 60 minutes of kicking, you might just unhinge the stats-driven English sarcophagus and ask some hard questions of coaches that think tennis is an appropriate substitute for rugby.

[Spiffy]

Yes so much for a crunch..

IF you guys don't win by more than 15 points you will be laughed at..

It's not even going to be a second french team...Unfortunately..

You have a plethora of big nasty bastards peppered with some spicy play makers. If you can keep the stupid penalties to a minimum and not get sucked into 60 minutes of kicking, you might just unhinge the stats-driven English sarcophagus and ask some hard questions of coaches that think tennis is an appropriate substitute for rugby.

Based on recent performances, who are the spicy play makers?

[Mikey Brown]

Yeah not sure if that is referring to the current bunch or the first choice team.

I'm happy if it's not just going to be a competition to see who can have the ball least.

[Timbo]

Yes so much for a crunch..

IF you guys don't win by more than 15 points you will be laughed at..

It's not even going to be a second french team...Unfortunately..

You have a plethora of big nasty bastards peppered with some spicy play makers. If you can keep the stupid penalties to a minimum and not get sucked into 60 minutes of kicking, you might just unhinge the stats-driven English sarcophagus and ask some hard questions of coaches that think tennis is an appropriate substitute for rugby.

France don’t need to be sucked into anything. They kick about the same amount of ball as England do. They are exactly the same as all the top international teams at the moment- based around kick & pressure, direct power game and set piece.

A few individuals doing occasional bits of brilliance seems to give people the impression that they just fling the ball about.

[twitchy]

I won't copy the article but the tldr is that slade misses manu.

[Cameo]

Yes so much for a crunch..

IF you guys don't win by more than 15 points you will be laughed at..

It's not even going to be a second french team...Unfortunately..

You have a plethora of big nasty bastards peppered with some spicy play makers. If you can keep the stupid penalties to a minimum and not get sucked into 60 minutes of kicking, you might just unhinge the stats-driven English sarcophagus and ask some hard questions of coaches that think tennis is an appropriate substitute for rugby.

France don’t need to be sucked into anything. They kick about the same amount of ball as England do. They are exactly the same as all the top international teams at the moment- based around kick & pressure, direct power game and set piece.

A few individuals doing occasional bits of brilliance seems to give people the impression that they just fling the ball about.

Just a thought but, if it so hard to attack at the moment, isn't the penalty for losing the ball lower? Isn't that a reason to be a bit more inventive with your kicking? If I was up against England at the moment, I'd be trying a lot of chips and cross field kicks anywhere from about my ten metre line out. If it works, great. If not, they will probably kick it back to you soon enough. It will also slow down their defence.

I didn't think NZ were amazing on the weekend but they definitely mixed up their game better than most teams have been managing recently.