Team for Italy

[Puja]

England bring on Smith... for Slade. FFS.

Puja

[Mellsblue]

Mako is utterly shattered after 20 mins…

[Puja]

Ludlam need to go off. The game should have been stopped - the ref saw him lying dazed, told him to stay down, but didn't blow the whistle.

And as I type, makes another two tackles. This is going to be evidence in a future lawsuit.

Puja

[Beasties]

This ref is absolutely destroying any residual scrum enjoyment. He’s pathetic.

[Mr Mwenda]

Bloody hell, Lawrence over Capuozzo as player of the match?

[Mellsblue]

Ludlam need to go off. The game should have been stopped - the ref saw him lying dazed, told him to stay down, but didn't blow the whistle.

And as I type, makes another two tackles. This is going to be evidence in a future lawsuit.

Puja

Looked like a bang to the nose that put him down and had him holding his face rather than an head knock.

[Beasties]

Remind me again, why did we take our best player off after 52 mins?

[Mr Mwenda]

Finishing on a kadab? No we get a scrum.

[Puja]

Ludlam need to go off. The game should have been stopped - the ref saw him lying dazed, told him to stay down, but didn't blow the whistle.

And as I type, makes another two tackles. This is going to be evidence in a future lawsuit.

Puja

Looked like a bang to the nose that put him down and had him holding his face rather than an head knock.

I reserve the right to be wrong, but he looked very unsteady at his first attempt to get up.

Puja

[Mellsblue]

Remind me again, why did we take our best player off after 52 mins?

Complete guesswork but it might be workload management if he’s back to France next week and playing a match on a 6N fallow week.

[Mr Mwenda]

Remind me again, why did we take our best player off after 52 mins?

? Farrell played 80....

[Mellsblue]

Ludlam need to go off. The game should have been stopped - the ref saw him lying dazed, told him to stay down, but didn't blow the whistle.

And as I type, makes another two tackles. This is going to be evidence in a future lawsuit.

Puja

Looked like a bang to the nose that put him down and had him holding his face rather than an head knock.

I reserve the right to be wrong, but he looked very unsteady at his first attempt to get up.

Puja

Then I’m surprised the docs didn’t pick it up, especially as they called an Italian player off for an HIA a couple of mins later.

[Spiffy]

That win was all brawn and no brains. Compared with Ireland/Scotland yesterday, England has a staggering lack of rugby intelligence.

[francoisfou]

After the outstanding match in Dublin yesterday, thus was very much a second division contest. It’s a shame that the Italians couldn’t reproduce their form of last week , but hats off to them as they weren’t afraid to run the ball from almost anywhere. England can be content with the win but they’ve tougher opponents still to come - and I include Wales, who’ll surely raise their game in Cardiff.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Well, that was, erm, average. Our attacking nous is one dimiensional and our pack just dull.

[Banquo]

Fckin smith comes on and kaddabis what is going on.

Need to dump Faz.

Ludlam has turned into a very good intl, credit jngf where it’s due.

Jury out on Dombrandt still, but that starting 8 is a good one.

Wide Defence, daft penalties, persistently kicking it away, and handling generally remain issues. Good tight defence and set piece generally- Lawrence, Chessum, Ludlam, Willis and Itoje all had good games; both JVP and Mitchell were fine.

[stepsider]

What did Farrell actually do apart from a couple of good touch finds (+ missing 2 conversions)?

[Mellsblue]

What did Farrell actually do apart from a couple of good touch finds (+ missing 2 conversions)?

Just his very presence improves his teammates by 10% obvs

[Banquo]

Well, that was, erm, average. Our attacking nous is one dimiensional and our pack just dull.

…as in stupid?

I liked Chessum, Itoje, Willis and Ludlam up front.i

[Epaminondas Pules]

Fckin smith comes on and kaddabis what is going on.

Need to dump Faz.

Ludlam has turned into a very good intl, credit jngf where it’s due.

Jury out on Dombrandt still, but that starting 8 is a good one.

Wide Defence, daft penalties, persistently kicking it away, and handling generally remain issues. Good tight defence and set piece generally- Lawrence, Chessum, Ludlam, Willis and Itoje all had good games; both JVP and Mitchell were fine.

Hard to argue with any of that. Except Dombrandt who has looked awful.

And not just dump Faz but dump this ludicrous kick to score bollocks!

Pack is still lacklustre. Ball presentation still poor. Attacking moves are largely absent. There’s almost no point playing wing.

[Mellsblue]

Wise words from Dallaglio.

[Banquo]

Fckin smith comes on and kaddabis what is going on.

Need to dump Faz.

Ludlam has turned into a very good intl, credit jngf where it’s due.

Jury out on Dombrandt still, but that starting 8 is a good one.

Wide Defence, daft penalties, persistently kicking it away, and handling generally remain issues. Good tight defence and set piece generally- Lawrence, Chessum, Ludlam, Willis and Itoje all had good games; both JVP and Mitchell were fine.

Hard to argue with any of that. Except Dombrandt who has looked awful.

And not just dump Faz but dump this ludicrous kick to score bollocks!

Pack is still lacklustre. Ball presentation still poor. Attacking moves are largely absent. There’s almost no point playing wing.

Jury out for me- he carried well but consistently inconsistent. As said persistently kicking away is killing us.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Well, that was, erm, average. Our attacking nous is one dimiensional and our pack just dull.

…as in stupid?

I liked Chessum, Itoje, Willis and Ludlam up front.i

Mostly. Maul ok(ish), scrum ok(ish). Bad decisions. Lacking cohesion. Just a big shade of grey. Some good players. But is a bit meh.

[Beasties]

Willis, Chessum, Itoje (yaay), Ludlam good. Domnrandt reminds me of le Tissier, looks great at club level then irrelevant at int’l level. Tom Willis just seems a no brainer upgrade to me but hey ho, same situation as Jack so understand why it’s tricky right now. Lawrence was fine but either side of him nowt going on of any significance.

Bench just dragged the whole match down. Negri pick of the Italians.

[Mellsblue]

SCW: too much kicking in the red zone and the captain made a poor decision at the end.
Also SCW: should’ve kept Farrell at 10 for the full 80mins.