England vs Fiji - Sat 3.15pm

[jngf]

Sad to see a top bloke out of his depth tbh. In fact sad to see quite a lot of top blokes out of their depth.

It is. They have been over promoted.

Which begs the question why someone running the show - Bill Sweeney or Conor O'Shea maybe - didnt recommend bringing on board a few seasoned pros at least in the short term.

Bill Sweeney is long past his sell by date and should take responsibility for giving Jones a contract renewal.

[16th man]

I feel a little bit for Earl, yes he left a hole but that’s because no other fucker bothered to actually get to the ruck. He should be more aware of his defensive team mates, but it’s not unreasonable to expect someone to put just a smidge of effort in. He should have checked, but it’s a whole defence failure. If Earl stays close there I are gaps wide and still on the other side of the ruck. Symptom of our defence being utter shunt.

As I pointed out in the match, the man working across was Dan Cole. Our set up doesn't seem to account for that fact that at some point a knackered old prop may be the guy needed to link the outside and inside defence.

Doesn't matter, you move off from guard and push out when the inside defender pushes you out. You can always track across and out, if you get broken inside you then you are in far more trouble.

Sinfield, like all of the coaches, is going to face a lot of pressure if the world cup goes as bad as we expect it will. The England players not trusting each other, not buying into his philosophy or just being to thick to follow the basics - whatever the reality it needs to be fixed and fixed fast if we want to avoid further embarrassment.

I'd suggest it does matter, as whatever Earl did, and I'm not suggesting there was a huge amount of thought process going on with him standing still, there would be a massive hole one side or other of the ruck for Fiji to pick and go through.

[Mellsblue]

Bloody joke. His qualifications in union are at Bedford entry point.

No sympathy from me. Took the role so can fall on his own sword

I think Kevin Sinfield is a great guy, hence the sadness. Which is different to not having sympathy for taking the role- but more importantly, it shouldn't have been offered. MInd, who offered you the role of winding Mells up

Mells is as sharp as a tack, so you have to grab the opportunity when it arises.

Nothing gets past me, d\p

[FKAS]

As I pointed out in the match, the man working across was Dan Cole. Our set up doesn't seem to account for that fact that at some point a knackered old prop may be the guy needed to link the outside and inside defence.

Doesn't matter, you move off from guard and push out when the inside defender pushes you out. You can always track across and out, if you get broken inside you then you are in far more trouble.

Sinfield, like all of the coaches, is going to face a lot of pressure if the world cup goes as bad as we expect it will. The England players not trusting each other, not buying into his philosophy or just being to thick to follow the basics - whatever the reality it needs to be fixed and fixed fast if we want to avoid further embarrassment.

I'd suggest it does matter, as whatever Earl did, and I'm not suggesting there was a huge amount of thought process going on with him standing still, there would be a massive hole one side or other of the ruck for Fiji to pick and go through.

Earl over chases the wrap round in defence and leaves a gaping hole between himself and the ruck which Fiji exploit. You fill the guard first, particularly in a Sinfield defence. Well in any defence really, it's defence 101 guard position at ruck.

With the Sinfield defence faltering I wonder if they'll change tactic for Argentina. Sinfield likes a narrow hard hitting defence where the defence is narrowed with double hits and dominant tackles stopping any momentum for the opposition forwards. It relies on tackle completion, work rate and winning the contact. England's forwards aren't delivering that though. As soon as you are going backwards then you've got a narrow defence and the opposition have quick ball. Perhaps moving back to what England had previously which was more bend don't break and less aggressive might work though that is reliant on the jacklers then performing which they've failed miserably at so far, albeit in a different system.

[Spiffy]

How will we know until we get a head coach who can get the best out of them? Yes, the players are not world beaters but is there a single one who is on top form? Steward has looked solid in past games but even he has gone off.

Even worse, the team unit is getting worse, game on game. Based on the state of things when he took over, SB must have had the word 'improve' somewhere in his job spec presumably?

I don't think Steward has gone off per se - he's just a one-trick pony who's increasingly been found out.

He's clearly not a one trick pony he just has one obvious weakness that is easy to exploit when England's defence narrows up. Fiji didn't manage to exploit it at the weekend but then didn't need to as apparently our forwards seem to struggle to fill in guards to ruck defence. Earl and then Ribbans inexplicably costing us two tries with something you'd expect an under 9 to be able to grasp as a concept.

Steward has been quite poor for a couple of games. He's usually very reliable and will likely regain form, but don't expect too much in attack. The one thing that is difficult to understand is why Silly Buugger did not try another starting full back in any of the warm ups. If Smith is to be introduced at 15 as an attacking option late in the game, when things have broken up, then he should also be tested in the hard-nosed early exchanges to look at defensive capabilities.

[Mush]

A few comments, based solely on perception - no stats considered:
1. Defence errors look to be mostly from poor communication, though there are far too many individual errors. (though I would suggest that both Ford and Smith stood up well to their defensive duties.)
2. At times the attack structure looked good, if, on too many occasions, predictable.
3. Many handling errors were weather related, affecting both teams equally, so I'm going to ignore them with respect to this game only.
4. Lack of (controlled) aggression in defence, but more worryingly in attack. Running blindly into opposition defence isn't in itself aggressive, but doing so and continuing to drive, with suitAble support, usually is. (A la Fiji) Likewise, having to find a small gap and ensuring the ball is set up for a ruck (a la Theo Danny) is controlled aggression, clever and beneficial, if you make it into quick ball for half decent scrum half - and to be fair we have two half decent accumulates one one fully decent.)
In short, there is something there to build on. Fiji were more challenging than either Wales or Ireland. Enough there to believe we can win the group and contest a QF, but not enough to go beyond that and in truth, anything beyond that might not lead to more progressive strategy and personnel.

[Puja]

A few comments, based solely on perception - no stats considered:
1. Defence errors look to be mostly from poor communication, though there are far too many individual errors. (though I would suggest that both Ford and Smith stood up well to their defensive duties.)
2. At times the attack structure looked good, if, on too many occasions, predictable.
3. Many handling errors were weather related, affecting both teams equally, so I'm going to ignore them with respect to this game only.
4. Lack of (controlled) aggression in defence, but more worryingly in attack. Running blindly into opposition defence isn't in itself aggressive, but doing so and continuing to drive, with suitAble support, usually is. (A la Fiji) Likewise, having to find a small gap and ensuring the ball is set up for a ruck (a la Theo Danny) is controlled aggression, clever and beneficial, if you make it into quick ball for half decent scrum half - and to be fair we have two half decent accumulates one one fully decent.)
In short, there is something there to build on. Fiji were more challenging than either Wales or Ireland. Enough there to believe we can win the group and contest a QF, but not enough to go beyond that and in truth, anything beyond that might not lead to more progressive strategy and personnel.

That is a lot more optimistic than I'm capable of being right now and I'm frankly known for foolish optimism.

Puja

[Danno]

A few comments, based solely on perception - no stats considered:
1. Defence errors look to be mostly from poor communication, though there are far too many individual errors. (though I would suggest that both Ford and Smith stood up well to their defensive duties.)
2. At times the attack structure looked good, if, on too many occasions, predictable.
3. Many handling errors were weather related, affecting both teams equally, so I'm going to ignore them with respect to this game only.
4. Lack of (controlled) aggression in defence, but more worryingly in attack. Running blindly into opposition defence isn't in itself aggressive, but doing so and continuing to drive, with suitAble support, usually is. (A la Fiji) Likewise, having to find a small gap and ensuring the ball is set up for a ruck (a la Theo Danny) is controlled aggression, clever and beneficial, if you make it into quick ball for half decent scrum half - and to be fair we have two half decent accumulates one one fully decent.)
In short, there is something there to build on. Fiji were more challenging than either Wales or Ireland. Enough there to believe we can win the group and contest a QF, but not enough to go beyond that and in truth, anything beyond that might not lead to more progressive strategy and personnel.

That is a lot more optimistic than I'm capable of being right now and I'm frankly known for foolish optimism.

Puja

Genuinely scrolled up while reading Mush's post and I was surprised it wasn't you

[Oakboy]

Just chatted with a mate who works on drug-testing. He was in the changing room after the game. It was a strange, quiet atmosphere apparently. SB said little. The concern, listening to the account, is that SB seemed not to know what to say. Worrying, that!

[Which Tyler]

Are you sure your friend wasn't taking the piss?

[p/d]

Are you sure your friend wasn't taking the piss?

Very good!!!

[p/d]

Just chatted with a mate who works on drug-testing. He was in the changing room after the game. It was a strange, quiet atmosphere apparently. SB said little. The concern, listening to the account, is that SB seemed not to know what to say. Worrying, that!

Dors, the most surprising thing about that is you have a mate still at working age

[Oakboy]

Are you sure your friend wasn't taking the piss?

Being a Welshman who knows? With no sheep about, urine samples are his thing.

[Oakboy]

Just chatted with a mate who works on drug-testing. He was in the changing room after the game. It was a strange, quiet atmosphere apparently. SB said little. The concern, listening to the account, is that SB seemed not to know what to say. Worrying, that!

Dors, the most surprising thing about that is you have a mate still at working age

He's a retired headmaster who does the testing for expenses and the joy of being at so many top sporting events. He did NZ v SA and then England v Fiji and got to watch both games for free.

[p/d]

Just chatted with a mate who works on drug-testing. He was in the changing room after the game. It was a strange, quiet atmosphere apparently. SB said little. The concern, listening to the account, is that SB seemed not to know what to say. Worrying, that!

Dors, the most surprising thing about that is you have a mate still at working age

He's a retired headmaster who does the testing for expenses and the joy of being at so many top sporting events. He did NZ v SA and then England v Fiji and got to watch both games for free.

Lucky chap.
As a Welshman he must have skipped into our changing room

[loudnconfident]

Just chatted with a mate who works on drug-testing. He was in the changing room after the game. It was a strange, quiet atmosphere apparently. SB said little. The concern, listening to the account, is that SB seemed not to know what to say. Worrying, that

[Deleted]

He's a retired headmaster who does the testing for expenses and the joy of being at so many top sporting events. He did NZ v SA and then England v Fiji and got to watch both games for free.

Must have been an easy job testing the England players. (Not much evidence of performance-enhancing drugs that I could see.)

[Banquo]

Just chatted with a mate who works on drug-testing. He was in the changing room after the game. It was a strange, quiet atmosphere apparently. SB said little. The concern, listening to the account, is that SB seemed not to know what to say. Worrying, that!

Dors, the most surprising thing about that is you have a mate

sorry Dors, couldn't resist.

[Danno]

Sad to see a top bloke out of his depth tbh. In fact sad to see quite a lot of top blokes out of their depth.

It is. They have been over promoted.

Which begs the question why someone running the show - Bill Sweeney or Conor O'Shea maybe - didnt recommend bringing on board a few seasoned pros at least in the short term.

Bill Sweeney is long past his sell by date and should take responsibility for giving Jones a contract renewal.

I'm not sure he ever had a sell by date, he's a corporate in sport and that, as a concept, can fuck off entirely

[Mellsblue]

Uh oh. Fiji seem to have found a world class place kicker.

[Danno]

Uh oh. Fiji seem to have found a world class place kicker.

Until Matt Carley did the voodoo on him...

[FKAS]

Uh oh. Fiji seem to have found a world class place kicker.

It's amazing how good Fiji are when the ref doesn't bottle big decisions against them isn't it. Should be three tier 1 victories in a row for them.

[Puja]

Uh oh. Fiji seem to have found a world class place kicker.

It's amazing how good Fiji are when the ref doesn't bottle big decisions against them isn't it. Should be three tier 1 victories in a row for them.

Careful! The Welsh board are getting very waspy about people picking on them by criticising the ref in the Fiji game.

Puja

[Danno]

It's ok, I'm sure there's a mod around somewhere. Occasionally. I think...?