England vs Chile

[Mr Mwenda]

Champion mullet enters the fray!

Stuart, hang your head in shame. You've been done!

[16th man]

Ben bloody Youngs.

[Mr Mwenda]

Ben bloody Youngs.

Youth must have its fling.

[16th man]

Did the commentator just say "England have arrived at this world cup"? Sweet baby Jesus.

[fivepointer]

Did the commentator just say "England have arrived at this world cup"? Sweet baby Jesus.

He did. Its been brilliant announces Monye.

Get a friggin' grip lads. This is Chile. Game but hopelessly outgunned by a Pro team tactically, technically and physically streets ahead of them.

[Mr Mwenda]

A shame Chile couldn't get any points

[Insouciant]

Arrived home in the second half. Managed to watch about 25 minutes. Chile were already well beaten although they were putting in a lot of effort with (sadly) nothing to show for it.

England looked more inventive than usual. Running, passing, off-loads... I'm guessing they watched the Portugal game earlier and thought they'd try to copy it. (Georgia v Portugal was a brilliant game btw - highly recommend catching the highlights if you have a chance). A win is a win. I'm happy enough. Nice to see Arundel score a few. Not sure how this changes first XV selection (other than the messiah must return at 10 or 12 or something) but there's still Samoa to play before the knock-outs.

[Danno]

Care, Daly, Malins and Billy can all get in the bin.

[pompey-zebra]

Arrived home in the second half. Managed to watch about 25 minutes. Chile were already well beaten although they were putting in a lot of effort with (sadly) nothing to show for it.

England looked more inventive than usual. Running, passing, off-loads... I'm guessing they watched the Portugal game earlier and thought they'd try to copy it. (Georgia v Portugal was a brilliant game btw - highly recommend catching the highlights if you have a chance). A win is a win. I'm happy enough. Nice to see Arundel score a few. Not sure how this changes first XV selection (other than the messiah must return at 10 or 12 or something) but there's still Samoa to play before the knock-outs.

You can only play whats in front of you.

[Spiffy]

Care, Daly, Malins and Billy can all get in the bin.

That lot, plus Youngs, should not play again in the RWC.
With Steward restored to FB, Marcus Smith might still be worth a punt on the wing with a roving, play making role like Ireland's Hanson. What's to lose - he could not be worse than Daly/May/Malins.
He certainly has the gas.

[Insouciant]

With Steward restored to FB, Marcus Smith might still be worth a punt on the wing with a roving, play making role like Ireland's Hanson. What's to lose - he could not be worse than Daly/May/Malins.
He certainly has the gas.

A backline of the following wouldn't be too bad imo:
9. Mitchell
10 Ford
11. Smith
12. Tuilagi
13. Marchant
14. Arundell
15. Steward

[morepork]

Man oh man think of the backs you could have developed in the past 5 years. Poor old Farrell looked really out of place when Smith, Ford and Rivendell starting slashing it about a bit. Daly and Malins look like extras in a period piece drama about life at Public Schools.

[Stom]

I only watched the first half, and...well we weren't very good.

My only comments are:

Arundell scores almost every time he touches the ball. So pass to him more, ffs.

Malins is beyond a joke now, he just is not fast enough for international rugby on the wing.

Theo Dan is industrious, I like him. He's also Romanian, which is cool.

Smith still goes blockbuster too often BUT he's got much better at keeping the ball. He's not being turned over as much, which is good.

Ludlam was the pick of the backrow...so, yeah, Willis is nowhere near the starting XV, and BillyV shouldn't be, either.

[Shiny]

Don’t worry we will soon be back to picking brilliant wingers and never passing to them. Normal service will be resumed.

[Beasties]

I only watched the first half, and...well we weren't very good.

My only comments are:

Arundell scores almost every time he touches the ball. So pass to him more, ffs.

Malins is beyond a joke now, he just is not fast enough for international rugby on the wing.

Theo Dan is industrious, I like him. He's also Romanian, which is cool.

Smith still goes blockbuster too often BUT he's got much better at keeping the ball. He's not being turned over as much, which is good.

Ludlam was the pick of the backrow...so, yeah, Willis is nowhere near the starting XV, and BillyV shouldn't be, either.

Things changed in the second half. Willis finally woke up. Dan is the man though, agreed.

But Arundell just looked class, so give him the fekking ball.

[p/d]

When Farrell moved to 12 it became clear why we don’t want him at 12.
Love the second row today. And yes Dan is ‘the man’ …..being saying it for awhile now.

[p/d]

Oh, Care and Youngs really are spent. Why we took both only SB knows

[Danno]

Oh, Care and Youngs really are spent. Why we took both only SB knows

To be entirely too fair, Youngs V2.0 got injured, Quirke only just came back from injury and Warr is probably too raw. We're not exactly blessed with 9's

[fivepointer]

How do we assess that performance? We won at a canter and werent seriously tested. Can we set much store in some of the performances?
I'm inclined think there were positives in the overall performance and that there were some players who enhanced their reputations.
i really like Dan, who has an energy and mobility that could be a great asset. Ribbans was very good, Smith and Arundell had their moments.

[Oakboy]

I only watched the first half, and...well we weren't very good.

My only comments are:

Arundell scores almost every time he touches the ball. So pass to him more, ffs.

Malins is beyond a joke now, he just is not fast enough for international rugby on the wing.

Theo Dan is industrious, I like him. He's also Romanian, which is cool.

Smith still goes blockbuster too often BUT he's got much better at keeping the ball. He's not being turned over as much, which is good.

Ludlam was the pick of the backrow...so, yeah, Willis is nowhere near the starting XV, and BillyV shouldn't be, either.

Strange comment on Willis. According to the DT he 'topped the tackle count by a distance and scored a deserved try'. They awarded him 8/10, Ludlam 6 and BV 5. About right, I thought. IMO, Willis is exactly the sort of gritty presence (i.e. doing all the important but non-spectacular stuff) that the team needs. He certainly deserves a better reputation for carrying than he gets. I'd not pick him with Lawes and Vunipola but I'd suggest our best back row from the squad on current form is Lawes, Willis, Earl.

[p/d]

Oh, Care and Youngs really are spent. Why we took both only SB knows

To be entirely too fair, Youngs V2.0 got injured, Quirke only just came back from injury and Warr is probably too raw. We're not exactly blessed with 9's

I would still have taken Warr. Probably too raw edges out probably past it. Brave new world and all.
But I get your point.

[Oakboy]

How do we assess that performance? We won at a canter and werent seriously tested. Can we set much store in some of the performances?
I'm inclined think there were positives in the overall performance and that there were some players who enhanced their reputations.
i really like Dan, who has an energy and mobility that could be a great asset. Ribbans was very good, Smith and Arundell had their moments.

Yes, assessment is not straightforward. Does Arundell walking in gift tries mean anything? Where was the leadership and defensive organisation when Chile ran us ragged several times in the first half? Can set-piece success count for anything against such opposition?

Maybe, we should only react to the off-the-cuff and individual man-on-man stuff since we should be the superior team in terms of organised quality.

I thought Willis was excellent around the fringes. Dan offers pace and feistiness. Smith's pure gas from a standing start is too big an asset not to be in the starting XV.

One obvious problem is SH should Mitchell's performance v Fiji be more than a blip.

[Oakboy]

Oh, Care and Youngs really are spent. Why we took both only SB knows

To be entirely too fair, Youngs V2.0 got injured, Quirke only just came back from injury and Warr is probably too raw. We're not exactly blessed with 9's

I would still have taken Warr. Probably too raw edges out probably past it. Brave new world and all.
But I get your point.

Why not Quirke? At least he was recovered from injury unlike other players on the ferry.

[Puja]

To be entirely too fair, Youngs V2.0 got injured, Quirke only just came back from injury and Warr is probably too raw. We're not exactly blessed with 9's

I would still have taken Warr. Probably too raw edges out probably past it. Brave new world and all.
But I get your point.

Why not Quirke? At least he was recovered from injury unlike other players on the ferry.

I don't get your Quirke obsession. Yes, he'd recovered from injury, but he'd not shown any significant form since doing so and had limited game time because he was deservedly behind Warr. The only thing to pick him on was potential, or his form from over a year ago.

I like him as a player and expect him to kick on again next season, but he wasn't realistically in a position to play for England.

Puja

[jimKRFC]

Whilst I like Dan and what he offers - it's nothing that Thacker hasn't been doing just as well, in a weaker pack, for the past 4 years...