England vs Japan - Sunday

[Mellsblue]

We've been here for years though. Starting scrum half looks bad, sub comes on and improves things, gets picked to start, looks terrible, guy he replaced comes on and looks better.

Just seems to be down to instructions. We cut out most of the aimless kicking in the last 10 when we started moving it with some pace and purpose.

Agree completely with the first part. Second part, I think there's a certain tactical element but I think it's being over used by players lacking confidence. Daly kicked towards the corner off attacking ball he could have run with at least three times. Ok the kicks weren't bad but it was certainly on for him to have a crack. He just looked like he didn't back himself. Similar with Lawes making the break, Daly calling the switch probably makes more ground instead he flounders on the outside and gets tackled into touch. I wonder if some of the players are taking the criticism from the media to much to heart.

same kicking madness as 6n

Yep. 8 months of evidence suggests it’s coach instructions.

[Mikey Brown]

Agree completely with the first part. Second part, I think there's a certain tactical element but I think it's being over used by players lacking confidence. Daly kicked towards the corner off attacking ball he could have run with at least three times. Ok the kicks weren't bad but it was certainly on for him to have a crack. He just looked like he didn't back himself. Similar with Lawes making the break, Daly calling the switch probably makes more ground instead he flounders on the outside and gets tackled into touch. I wonder if some of the players are taking the criticism from the media to much to heart.

same kicking madness as 6n

Yep. 8 months of evidence suggests it’s coach instructions.

I’m just trying to understand what the threshold for poor kicking is though. Does it matter that so many of the kicks were absolutely dreadful? Does the fact we won with 5 points mean it doesn’t matter at all?

There was a point where Mitchell seemed to hesitate because he realised he was kicking to a blindside with 4 Japan defenders and no English chasers, inside their 22, then he just did it anyway. It’s surreal to watch.

Passing the ball 20 metres backwards in order for Daly to kick it 25 metres forwards (hopefully) and lose possession seems to be our default strike move now.

[Danno]

This is really testing what little loyalty I have

[Beasties]

Hilarious that the bookies had this as a 22pt game.

Pfft, what do they know?

In other news, this ref has certainly caught the eye. I’d put a fiver on him for the final but the odds would be shit given there are no other contenders.

[Danno]

Don't know where else to ask but the current activest thread, but I need the James Haskell likes this post gif

[Mellsblue]

same kicking madness as 6n

Yep. 8 months of evidence suggests it’s coach instructions.

I’m just trying to understand what the threshold for poor kicking is though. Does it matter that so many of the kicks were absolutely dreadful? Does the fact we won with 5 points mean it doesn’t matter at all?

There was a point where Mitchell seemed to hesitate because he realised he was kicking to a blindside with 4 Japan defenders and no English chasers, inside their 22, then he just did it anyway. It’s surreal to watch.

Passing the ball 20 metres backwards in order for Daly to kick it 25 metres forwards (hopefully) and lose possession seems to be our default strike move now.

The fact the execution is crap is the crap icing on the crap cake.

[p/d]

Clear tactic. Bring everyone down to our level then, when the booing starts, surprise them with our replacements ………. using Stewart to keep the charade of incompetence up

[Danno]

Steward seems to be getting worse the more he plays. We need another FB to get a couple of games so that we're clamouring for his return.

[Mikey Brown]

Steward seems to be getting worse the more he plays. We need another FB to get a couple of games so that we're clamouring for his return.

I honestly think we could ruin Arundell in just a couple of games. Might give Steward’s confidence a boost?

[Danno]

Steward seems to be getting worse the more he plays. We need another FB to get a couple of games so that we're clamouring for his return.

I honestly think we could ruin Arundell in just a couple of games. Might give Steward’s confidence a boost?

That's the spirit

[Puja]

Don't know where else to ask but the current activest thread, but I need the James Haskell likes this post gif

You can always find it by searching the forum for 'Haskell gif'



How come?

Puja

[Puja]

Steward seems to be getting worse the more he plays. We need another FB to get a couple of games so that we're clamouring for his return.

Agreed - today was an absolute 2/10 performance for him. He spilled high balls, dropped an easy pass, and not even getting close to Matsushima was an utter embarrassment.

Puja

[Danno]

Don't know where else to ask but the current activest thread, but I need the James Haskell likes this post gif

You can always find it by searching the forum for 'Haskell gif'



How come?

Puja

Top man, thank you. It's on my phone somewhere, but there's 5,000 other bits of nonsense of a haystack to find it in.

Its for another (non-rugby) forum that I also like to shit up.

[Spiffy]

England has to find a way of getting Smith more game time and using his attacking instincts. With Ford playing well, and Faz lurking, he's not going to get a meaningful run at 10. He has looked OK at 15, but always coming on too late to change the course of things significantly. Some posters question his defensive capabilities at FB, but he usually makes the tackle and is actually quite a tough little nut. But he does not have to sub on at 15. Why not give him a wing slot and a roving, playmaking role - the way that Ireland uses Hansen. He actually has the gas to play wing and could hardly be worse than May/Daly in their current form. England could even start him against minor opposition to see how it goes - it wouldn't be much of a risk against Chile/Samoa.

[Scrumhead]

Smith on he wing? Nah. Not for me.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Farrell at 10 and Smith at 15 for Chile.

I’d prefer to have Smith at 10 and Arundell with Farrell to stay on the sidelines, but unfortunately, that ain’t happening.

If they have to play together, Smith at 15 is marginally more palatable than Farrell at 12 IMO.

[Beasties]

Clear tactic. Bring everyone down to our level then, when the booing starts, surprise them with our replacements ………. using Stewart to keep the charade of incompetence up

Edit; Hang on, are we talking Stuart (I assumed) or Steward? Or, quite possibly, both?

[Oakboy]

Which players enhanced their reputation? Earl, Smith, Lawrence.

Went backwards: Chessum, Mitchell, Daly, Ford.

Stayed about the same: the rest, though, arguably, some (e.g Tuilagi) could not get worse.

Where do we go from here? I accept, now, that picking a settled side to get continuity matters little. What the hell they did in training since the Argentina game, I can't imagine. Puja commented early in the game that the players looked like they'd just met each other in the car park and that looked about right. Tactics seemed to be 'kick'. (The full stop should be bolded, italicised and underlined.)

Changes? IMO, Smith and Lawrence must start. I'd pick them at 10/12 with Ford on the bench. I'd have Willis at 7. SB will do none of that, I'd guess.

[p/d]

Clear tactic. Bring everyone down to our level then, when the booing starts, surprise them with our replacements ………. using Stewart to keep the charade of incompetence up

Edit; Hang on, are we talking Stuart (I assumed) or Steward? Or, quite possibly, both?

Oops. Stuart.

[Mikey Brown]

Which players enhanced their reputation? Earl, Smith, Lawrence.

Went backwards: Chessum, Mitchell, Daly, Ford.

Stayed about the same: the rest, though, arguably, some (e.g Tuilagi) could not get worse.

Where do we go from here? I accept, now, that picking a settled side to get continuity matters little. What the hell they did in training since the Argentina game, I can't imagine. Puja commented early in the game that the players looked like they'd just met each other in the car park and that looked about right. Tactics seemed to be 'kick'. (The full stop should be bolded, italicised and underlined.)

Changes? IMO, Smith and Lawrence must start. I'd pick them at 10/12 with Ford on the bench. I'd have Willis at 7. SB will do none of that, I'd guess.

Is Daly fully fit? Suffering from the gameplan? Just completely forgotten (or unable to recapture) what made him a good wing 6 years ago? We were all clamouring for him to return to the wing, where he can use his strengths without exposing his weaknesses, but he looks completely lost. 6 years sounds like a long time now I've put it like that.

Smith is having some good moments off the bench because he's being used as a hail mary option, but with no obvious plan to actually integrate him in to the team or how we play. Same as Arundell was really. It's the same flawed 'stodge + flair = total rugby' thinking.

We'll now see a bunch more changes for Chile I assume, with Farrell coming back in at 10. So we might see Smith or Willis get a start but will it be a real audition for a test spot or just rotation while we watch Faz win back the hearts and minds of the country?

[p/d]

Problem is we want the Smith that comes on to be as ‘influential’ when he starts. Cannot see it happening. He would be handed the same book of shit moves that Ford gets given. On the upside apart from Kick, Shovel & Fumble the rest of the pages are still blank

[Beasties]

Vunipola-Youngs-Farrell. The return.

Uuuurrrrggghhhh.

[Mellsblue]

Problem is we want the Smith that comes on to be as ‘influential’ when he starts. Cannot see it happening. He would be handed the same book of shit moves that Ford gets given. On the upside apart from Kick, Shovel & Fumble the rest of the pages are still blank

Bang on. I’m struggling to place the blame on anyone with a jersey number of 10 or higher.

[Stom]

Late to the show here.

There's one thing I don't understand.

Taken in isolation, all of Marler, George, Sinckler, Itoje, Earl, and Ludlam are good at getting around the park in defence.

So why, when a team plays quickly, are we so utterly incompetent in defence? I'm honestly coming round to the idea that Sinfield is an atrocious defence coach.

On the last quarter...when Ford suddenly started playing the game of rugby, instead of the game of 'how high can I kick this weird egg shaped thing?', we looked good...until some idiot kicked it away. Usually Daly.

We obviously have the potential to be a decent-ish team with Ford in there, but I worry that he's going to be out the door asap, or that we'll lose midfield balance to bring Faz back.

And I also worry that it'll therefore be Ford-Faz-Manu, leaving out Marchant, who has been our most effective defender in the backs. There was a play when he made THREE tackles in a row. Insane. Not just for his athleticism, but for the uselessness of the rest of the team that he needed to make those tackles.

[FKAS]

Which players enhanced their reputation? Earl, Smith, Lawrence.

Went backwards: Chessum, Mitchell, Daly, Ford.

Stayed about the same: the rest, though, arguably, some (e.g Tuilagi) could not get worse.

Where do we go from here? I accept, now, that picking a settled side to get continuity matters little. What the hell they did in training since the Argentina game, I can't imagine. Puja commented early in the game that the players looked like they'd just met each other in the car park and that looked about right. Tactics seemed to be 'kick'. (The full stop should be bolded, italicised and underlined.)

Changes? IMO, Smith and Lawrence must start. I'd pick them at 10/12 with Ford on the bench. I'd have Willis at 7. SB will do none of that, I'd guess.

No I don't think he'll make those changes. I don't agree that Smith or Lawrence advanced their standings. We knew Smith looks good as an impact sub from 15 and he did again, one of the key reasons being he likes to carry the ball and he often ends up at the bottom of a ruck afterwards and when playing at 15 he can do that with Ford still controlling the attack. Lawrence looks good against a disrupted defence, less so when he's carrying hard into a set defence ala Manu.

Earl played very well again, agreed there. Agree Daly and Mitchell showed up poorly. Ford played fairly well just overly pragmatic and when compared to last weekend was always going to look less impressive because of it.

Not sure what Chessum did wrong. Was a solid 6/10 for me. Did the bits he was supposed to do and reacted quickly to steal the ball for the try we scored.

I'd keep changes in the side to a minimum for the next game. Try and change the mindset more than anything. Ring the changes for key players early in the second half but for a side that's been anything other than consistent chopping and changing won't help much.

[FKAS]

Steward seems to be getting worse the more he plays. We need another FB to get a couple of games so that we're clamouring for his return.

Agreed - today was an absolute 2/10 performance for him. He spilled high balls, dropped an easy pass, and not even getting close to Matsushima was an utter embarrassment.

Puja

Dropped more than one easy pass, the dropped passes were particularly annoying because he'd run good lines that would have put us on the front foot, possibly scored early doors. It was a pretty dismal display only rescued by some nice interplay out wide when he actually caught the ball and then taking the crossfield kick with a neat finish just before he was subbed.

Needs a kick up the arse, looks like he's cruising a bit.