England vs Samoa - Sat 4.45pm

[Danno]

I hate Andrew Brace and Brian the fun ruiner TMO

[jngf]

Samoa can feel a little hard done to there. TMO was England’s best player

[morepork]

Kinda bullshit that Samoa’s yellow card lasted 15 minutes. Still, they blew several chances throughout the game and can only blame themselves for not closing that out.

They were all over it in the first half. That fucking TMO scrubbed points an aeon after they were scored. I don't often go for the ref fucked us angle, but christ on a bike.

[Stom]

So, I didn't see the game, only a small part of it. But at least we got the funniest moment in the WC so far. The look on lukewarm water-man's face when he was told...hilarious.

Oh, and in what I did see...we were abysmal.

[Mellsblue]

Woodward demanding 10.Ford/Farrell 12 Manu 13 Marchant and pace. I take back everything I posted yesterday.

[morepork]

Fuck you England (with the exception of every poster here, wot are nice, funny and engaging).

[Insouciant]

I was actively cheering for Samoa. This world cup felt closer than the others before it, going into it at least but that's not really the way it has worked out. Samoa gave a great showing there and it was a shame they didn't take it. I have a feeling they missed a kick at some point, which must sting a bit. The ref's decision on the disallowed try (the late one) was iffy but they had other chances too.

England were so bad after the first 15/20 mins. I look forward to Surinamese Bulgarian explaining why that was actually a good performance and why we need more of the same (especially with regards to Farrell).

[Danno]

Woodward demanding 10.Ford/Farrell 12 Manu 13 Marchant and pace. I take back everything I posted yesterday.

And Steward on the wing....

[Mellsblue]

Fuck you England (with the exception of every poster here, wot are nice, funny and engaging).

You on to the whisky now?

[jngf]

Is Borthwick ruthless enough to make necessary calls for QFs? (
and I expect like MJ he’s just a bit too nice to do so)

1. Ford at 10 not Farrell

2. Lawes moved to lock or bench

3.Itoje benched - he’s coasting at best ( and has lived off his reputation pretty much post RWC 2019 imo )

4. May and Cole pensioned off

5. Call up a specialist 8 given Jack Willis’ injury - neither Billy nor Earl are ideal there for quite differing reasons

[Epaminondas Pules]

Luckily we’ve got game changers on the bench……..

To be fair Care (somewhat), Smith and Lawrence did

[FKAS]

Luckily we’ve got game changers on the bench……..

To be fair Care (somewhat), Smith and Lawrence did

The bench worked alright to be fair. Martin's crunching hit on Sapoaga forced the knock on that got us the ball back with Samoa threatening.

I'm grasping at straws here...

[fivepointer]

Well we did improve a bit after h/t and did - just - enough to scramble a win. Thought Care and Lawrence added something.

Overall we were pretty shit. The error count was horrendous, the lack of accuracy was truly amateurish and we fell asleep defensively at key moments.

Its a joke that this team, playing this poorly, is in the QF but thats the luck of the draw for you.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Holy shit, you guys must be looking forward to playing Fiji after that performance.

[Oakboy]

I just hope SB looks at that match with ruthless realism. He needs to reassess.

[jngf]

Holy shit, you guys must be looking forward to playing Fiji after that performance.

Not as much as I suspect Fiji will be looking forward to playing us

[Puja]

Woodward demanding 10.Ford/Farrell 12 Manu 13 Marchant and pace. I take back everything I posted yesterday.

Woodward was like a comedy act. "What this game proves it that we need everyone playing in their right positions. No more trying to fit players in, just players in their correct positions: Ford or Farrell, Tuilagi, Marchant... then we need to have Smith at fullback and Steward on the wing."

Mind, I don't know what sensible punditry there was to make on that game. Just so many basic, simple, individual skills errors. Chessum getting stripped, Earl losing it at the back of a scrum, Martin forgetting to catch at the lineout, so many individual knock-ons, the IceMan firing a pass that was never on at Tuilagi when the best outcome was 1-on-4 underlap, that penalty, Steward half-heartedly flapping an arm at the cross-field kick, clearly thinking it was going dead, Ford failing to aim a single one of his punts, George throwing a not straight lineout?! I just don't even know what to say. Can't even judge a single one of the systems from that game cause everyone just played like they'd spent the afternoon drinking heavily.

Puja

[Mikey Brown]

Jesus Christ that was awful. I found myself throwing my arms in the air when Samoa lost the ball at the end there. I genuinely didn’t want England to win.

Just utter dog shit. We look completely incoherent. Despite what people keep saying this isn’t a new group of players. Nobody seems to be on the same page. Was anything learned from messing about with positions aside from it all being a bit underwhelming?

Woodward’s “get people back in their correct positions, but also Smith at 15 and Steward on the wing” made me laugh at least.

[Mellsblue]

Woodward demanding 10.Ford/Farrell 12 Manu 13 Marchant and pace. I take back everything I posted yesterday.

Woodward was like a comedy act. "What this game proves it that we need everyone playing in their right positions. No more trying to fit players in, just players in their correct positions: Ford or Farrell, Tuilagi, Marchant... then we need to have Smith at fullback and Steward on the wing."

Mind, I don't know what sensible punditry there was to make on that game. Just so many basic, simple, individual skills errors. Chessum getting stripped, Earl losing it at the back of a scrum, Martin forgetting to catch at the lineout, so many individual knock-ons, the IceMan firing a pass that was never on at Tuilagi when the best outcome was 1-on-4 underlap, that penalty, Steward half-heartedly flapping an arm at the cross-field kick, clearly thinking it was going dead, Ford failing to aim a single one of his punts, George throwing a not straight lineout?! I just don't even know what to say. Can't even judge a single one of the systems from that game cause everyone just played like they'd spent the afternoon drinking heavily.

Puja

Poor coaching, innit.

[Oakboy]

One small aside: there was a bit of a murmur from the crowd when Farrell broke the point-scoring record. A popular player would have attracted a cheer to take the roof off.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Woodward demanding 10.Ford/Farrell 12 Manu 13 Marchant and pace. I take back everything I posted yesterday.

Woodward was like a comedy act. "What this game proves it that we need everyone playing in their right positions. No more trying to fit players in, just players in their correct positions: Ford or Farrell, Tuilagi, Marchant... then we need to have Smith at fullback and Steward on the wing."

Mind, I don't know what sensible punditry there was to make on that game. Just so many basic, simple, individual skills errors. Chessum getting stripped, Earl losing it at the back of a scrum, Martin forgetting to catch at the lineout, so many individual knock-ons, the IceMan firing a pass that was never on at Tuilagi when the best outcome was 1-on-4 underlap, that penalty, Steward half-heartedly flapping an arm at the cross-field kick, clearly thinking it was going dead, Ford failing to aim a single one of his punts, George throwing a not straight lineout?! I just don't even know what to say. Can't even judge a single one of the systems from that game cause everyone just played like they'd spent the afternoon drinking heavily.

Puja

Don't forget the IceMan running out of time for a penalty kick.

I think Wilkinson's transcendental musings make the perfect punditry for this. One needs to be philosophical.

[loudnconfident]

"Can't even judge a single one of the systems from that game cause everyone just played like they'd spent the afternoon drinking heavily."

[morepork]

drop Farrell, for the love of god, drop him.

[16th man]

Where do you even start?

I think I watched pretty much every game during the misrules of Robinson and Johnson and can't remember a performance more abject than that.

[Oakboy]

Is it significant that SB waited till after this game to call up a replacement for Willis?