Team for Italy

[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.

Jury out for me- he carried well but consistently inconsistent.

Looks more consistent in the latter to me

[Spiffy]

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

Several bad tactical kicks.
Missed a few easy close quarter tackles.
Got himself into a fight.
Failed to get the three quarters moving.

[stepsider]

Wise words from Dallaglio.

What did he say?

[Epaminondas Pules]

You know we’re a bit shit if you’re agreeing with Clive!

[Mellsblue]

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.

Agreed. I think he just needs one game where it clicks and he’ll be a good test player but he’s running out of time.

[Puja]

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.

Ironic that we've finally dropped BillyV when I think he'd be doing a much better job than Dombrandt at what we're now askng our 8 to do.

Puja

[Epaminondas Pules]

Wise words from Dallaglio.

What did he say?

Nothing ;D

[Mellsblue]

Wise words from Dallaglio.

What did he say?

That it’ll take time to improve as they’re only now getting consistent messages after the high turnover of coaches in the previous regime. Plus consistency in selection rather than random dumping of players, referencing Lawrence.

[Danno]

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.

Totally avoided his name while criticising him, too.

[stepsider]

If Lawrence had been given just a fraction of the game time accorded to Farrell over recent games, reckon he'd now be firmly established at 12. We'd still have OF at 10, though...

[francoisfou]

Kick after boring kick. Might support the French.

Bravo, Mellsbleu!

[Epaminondas Pules]

40 missed tackles. A genuine sign of a new structure. Not too dissimilar to Tigers previously.

Attack. Not so sure.

[fivepointer]

A game that offered some positives alongside a number of negatives.

Some of our attack was laboured and witless. We kicked away far too much ball and seldom strung together the kind of attacking shape that we hinted at last week. I think OHC received one pass.
The subs didnt offer much bar a neatly worked try with Mitchell and Arundell. Mako & Cole were badly exposed for the 2nd Italian try and the others didnt do anything to demand a start next time. At least Walker got on.
Our line out was good and our driving maul much improved. The pack generally went well. Chessum is making the shirt his own, Itoje had his best game for a while and the 2 flankers were excellent.
The backs were less impressive, though Lawrence justified his selection and added some much needed midfield punch. Slade looked a bit rusty and Farrell was......um...well largely Farrellesque.

Italy were a considerable disappointment.

[paddy no 11]

Farrell is dirt

Willis with a run of games will be exceptional

[Banquo]

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.

Looks more consistent in the latter to me

Think that’s agreement!

Not averse to Willis, T Curry, Ludlam going forward

[Shiny]

Good:
Willis
Lawrence
Mitchell
Ludlam
Genge

Bad:
Farrell
Dombrandt
The coach who is telling Farrell and Smith to kick through

Everyone else marks time but for the love of god leave Youngs at home again next time please (and Woodward to keep him company).

[p/d]

Ffs!!! Can we please find a 10 that doesn’t have a natural instinct to kick the ball away. Even when Elvis and his goatee came on we couldn’t escape it!!! Aaaaaggghhh

Good staff from our locks, LudLAM and Jack. Great stuff from Lawrence. Really chuffed for him

[Shiny]

Good:
Willis
Lawrence
Mitchell
Ludlam
Genge

Bad:
Farrell
Dombrandt
The coach who is telling Farrell and Smith to kick through

Everyone else marks time but for the love of god leave Youngs at home again next time please (and Woodward to keep him company).

Forgot add Chessum into the good category and Vunipola into the thanks but stay at home category.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Jury out for me- he carried well but consistently inconsistent.

Looks more consistent in the latter to me

Think that’s agreement!

Not averse to Willis, T Curry, Ludlam going forward

Yep. I’m almost in the category of anyone but Dombrandt.

[Beasties]

chessum is natural born intl...lovely smooth line out ball

I feel like the Hill experiment was just a nightmare that I alone had, and that Eddie never really was the Eng coach either, all in my imagination. I’ve finally woken up and it never actually happened, phew.

Some players just look comfortable.

[Danno]

Smith was rank bad. Kicked his one touch away to turn it over and promptly fell off three tackles in the ensuing break. Have to suspect that being benched in favour of Him is irksome.

[Beasties]

Good:
Willis
Lawrence
Mitchell
Ludlam
Genge

Bad:
Farrell
Dombrandt
The coach who is telling Farrell and Smith to kick through

Everyone else marks time but for the love of god leave Youngs at home again next time please (and Woodward to keep him company).

Forgot add Chessum into the good category and Vunipola into the thanks but stay at home category.

I’ve never been Mako’s biggest fan but it does seem like his time has clearly passed now. VRR please, with Rodd and West (if getting exposure somewhere soon) pushing.

[Oakboy]

Mako looks to have no international future - following Billy, Youngs and Tuilagi. What about Isiekwe and Dombrandt, though? I hope the latter gets another game but I doubt he will keep T Willis out for long.

[stepsider]

Arundell made his mark with hardly any opportunities, shame the ref blew for a England scrum when Henry was about to head for the Italian line. Mitchell lively, too.

[Danno]

chessum is natural born intl...lovely smooth line out ball

I feel like the Hill experiment was just a nightmare that I alone had, and that Eddie never really was the Eng coach either, all in my imagination. I’ve finlly woken up and it never actually happened, phew.

Some players just look comfortable.

Don't forget Ewels!