Argentina vs England second test - Sat 12th 8.40pm

[TheNomad]

Really miss Willis carrying, but he was blowing out of his arse after 55. Breakdown pretty average, but so much time in their 22 with zippo

Totally agree. We’ve not threatened enough at the breakdown at all.

This is such a frustrating watch

[Banquo]

Lol. Impressed with Pepper have to say. Can’t work out whose playing where….has a centre gone off?

[Banquo]

Series win away is a great effort but that game was a 30 point win with a bit of accuracy

[Which Tyler]

TFFT

[Banquo]

TFFT

Yus

[Which Tyler]

Lol. Impressed with Pepper have to say. Can’t work out whose playing where….has a centre gone off?

Northmore's HIA saw Underhill return - I think

[Stom]

Lol. Impressed with Pepper have to say. Can’t work out whose playing where….has a centre gone off?

Not a clue, lol.

[Which Tyler]

Entertaining, but not great quality.
I guess we've learned something about the hookers behind the main 2

[Banquo]

Lol. Impressed with Pepper have to say. Can’t work out whose playing where….has a centre gone off?

Northmore's HIA saw Underhill return - I think

Yup, 6 fucking 2.

[fivepointer]

Good to get over the line but we should have had that wrapped up well before the final couple of minutes. Our conversion rate in the 22 was very poor.
But we stuck at it, kept our discipline and workrate and came through a testing encounter.
Thought Pepper made a difference.

[Banquo]

Entertaining, but not great quality.
I guess we've learned something about the hookers behind the main 2

Also some positives in the backs until lost shape, and Pepper impressed.., helluva back row battle shaping up.

Mysterious why CCS didn’t appear until minute 79 when we missed carrying physicality. Coles showing improved physicality I thought.

Lineout massively catastrophe, but scrum and props big ticks

[Which Tyler]

2-0 series win, I was kinda expecting a 2-0 loss.
We keep the Raeburn, and take it up to USA with us. Hope everyone's social media are squeaky clean and don't say anything mean about the world's biggest twat.

ETA: IIRC today's win equals our longest run with the shield, beat USA and it's a new record for us

[Insouciant]

We need more hookers like an understaffed brothel.

Otherwise, great run from Pepper at the end. You see his little look where the support is then manages to draw the defenders away from it so JVP has a free run. Very nice.

Such a grind of a game. Breakdown was messy. Scrum went largely well - I know we got pinged early on but I don't think we did again. Lineout throwing didn't help. Overall, we just didn't pop in quite the same way. Maybe the absence of Slade? I know he's not popular but continuity and all that.

Ford was fantastic and should've gone on the lions tour. He kept us in their half for the best part of 40 minutes. Thought Muir had a good game, with a particularly great up and under (+ chase) leading up before we got the 2nd half penalty. Roebuck looks class, one of those you wonder why you haven't seen the guy playing for England more often.

They can't all be pretty. Stuff to work on, but a tough place to go and get a series win. We kept playing, even if everyone looked knackered. We found a way. Overall, 2 entertaining games and a good series win.

[Banquo]

So- props, big tick
Hookers oops
Second row- decent back up
Back row- lots of good, but Willis needs to be more than 40 min player, good as that 40 is. Pepper is a great prospect
JVP ok, Spencer not terrible with some great clearance yardage
Ford mostly good, maybe overplayed kicking
Wings were more than decent- Roebuck smart and great in the air. Pace??
Centres- like Atkinson and Northmore looked comfortable
Fb- Freddie remains a bit accident prone and really is still a bit leaden footed, but a threat going forward

All round has to be positive, and signs of a promising attacking and defensive shapes

[Scrumhead]

Lots of positives overall IMO.

I thought Baxter and Heyes were excellent and Ewels and Coles were solid. Atkinson and Roebuck were very good again Northmore had a very accomplished debut. Murley and Pepper impactful from the bench.

Finally a word for Ben Spencer. I've been a regular critic but I thought he was much better today.

[Epaminondas Pules]

So- props, big tick
Hookers oops
Second row- decent back up
Back row- lots of good, but Willis needs to be more than 40 min player, good as that 40 is. Pepper is a great prospect
JVP ok, Spencer not terrible with some great clearance yardage
Ford mostly good, maybe overplayed kicking
Wings were more than decent- Roebuck smart and great in the air. Pace??
Centres- like Atkinson and Northmore looked comfortable
Fb- Freddie remains a bit accident prone and really is still a bit leaden footed, but a threat going forward

All round has to be positive, and signs of a promising attacking and defensive shapes

Like a duck to water! The lateness of his hands at the line is bloody lovely!

[Banquo]

Lots of positives overall IMO.

I thought Baxter and Heyes were excellent and Ewels and Coles were solid. Atkinson and Roebuck were very good again Northmore had a very accomplished debut. Murley and Pepper impactful from the bench.

Finally a word for Ben Spencer. I've been a regular critic but I thought he was much better today.

Agreed on spencer

[Mr Mwenda]

Caught the last 35 minutes. That looked like a really gutsy performance. It seems the set up is working well if these players, many of whom will only get a cap or two are working that hard for it. Bodes very well for the future.

[p/d]

Lots of positives overall IMO.

I thought Baxter and Heyes were excellent and Ewels and Coles were solid. Atkinson and Roebuck were very good again Northmore had a very accomplished debut. Murley and Pepper impactful from the bench.

Finally a word for Ben Spencer. I've been a regular critic but I thought he was much better today.

Total agreement.

And I will also highlight Spencer. Better of the 2

[Danno]

Lots of positives overall IMO.

I thought Baxter and Heyes were excellent and Ewels and Coles were solid. Atkinson and Roebuck were very good again Northmore had a very accomplished debut. Murley and Pepper impactful from the bench.

Finally a word for Ben Spencer. I've been a regular critic but I thought he was much better today.

Total agreement.

And I will also highlight Spencer. Better of the 2

JvP's five metre box kicks are getting real old

[SixAndAHalf]

That game was helpful in terms of learnings and makes the tour overall a big success.

Up: Heyes, Baxter, Coles, Ewels, Pepper, Willis, Atkinson, Roebuck, Muir - all look test capable. George up in absentia.
Down: Dan, Steward

[fivepointer]

The big positives for me have been Baxter, Heyes and Atkinson. The young props have really stood up (so too Rodd and AOF) and Atkinson has shown we do have a serious IC talent.
A few other bright spots too - Muir surprised me in a good way, Coles took a step forward and i'm liking Pepper a lot.

[FKAS]

Was Spencer any better? Just watched the the highlights and for the two tries the first pass is at Ford's head height and slightly to his inside, the other is knee height after a step to bring up the defence. Looked more like Ford was just good at adjusting to the wank service having learned that was what he was going to get last weekend.

We conceded two comedy tries, the ball juggle sees Willis hesitate instead of smashing the man with him wondering if he should try to grab the ball. Then misses the tackle and it's a two on one they convert. Second is a ridiculously lucky bounce off the post, Steward has it covered but the deflection takes it straight into the path of their winger. Wasn't a case of Argentina picking our defence apart.

[Which Tyler]

Was Spencer any better?

Yes
He was about where he was 2nd half last week - which is way better than he's shown at international level, but still below club level form, and still developing an understanding with Ford.

[Scrumhead]

Was Spencer any better? Just watched the the highlights and for the two tries the first pass is at Ford's head height and slightly to his inside, the other is knee height after a step to bring up the defence. Looked more like Ford was just good at adjusting to the wank service having learned that was what he was going to get last weekend.

We conceded two comedy tries, the ball juggle sees Willis hesitate instead of smashing the man with him wondering if he should try to grab the ball. Then misses the tackle and it's a two on one they convert. Second is a ridiculously lucky bounce off the post, Steward has it covered but the deflection takes it straight into the path of their winger. Wasn't a case of Argentina picking our defence apart.

Totally agree. I don’t think it is a stretch to say we dominated that game and Argentina’s tries were fortunate rather than well-worked.

To Banquo’s point, that could have been a 20+ margin if we’d been better at converting in the 22. The biggest issue was the lineout. When we were running hot in the first half, I’d have backed us to score some points if Dan had managed to find his jumpers. I counted at least 4 scoring opportunities that were lost as a direct result of our lineout malfunctions. A slice of Argentina’s luck would also have seen the ball bounce more kindly for Roebuck after Steward’s grubber or Atkinson holding onto Murley’s offload. I guess our luck was Curry’s card staying yellow.

You might be right re. Ford adjusting to Spencer. I didn’t notice his passing being a consistent issue. His decision-making and urgency were significantly improved and he looked much more like the Bath version of Spencer than the pale imitation we’ve seen for England up until now.