England v Argentina SUNDAY 4.10pm

[Galfon]

Ref. ignores forward pass, then clear pen. to Eng..

[Galfon]

17 - 13, 51 mins.
'Q3 Finishers' on Baxter, Pollock, Stuart, Curry

[Epaminondas Pules]

Fuck me! Are we trying to bore them to death?

[Captainhaircut]

This is so bad. Not helped by standard performance by a Frenchman refereeing us.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Christ on a bike this is awful!

[Galfon]

Good test for the team, under the cosh but stii in front.
17 - 16 after 60 min.

[Epaminondas Pules]

I mean why we’ve basically decided to play no rugby whatsoever and just kick everything is beyond me! But the spreadsheet must be right! Trust the spreadsheet!

I’m so fucking bored!

[Galfon]

Creative reffing there.

[Galfon]

Another sublime assist for Max O
24 - 16 after 66 min
Pollock, Curry, Mitchell all bringing a bit.

[Epaminondas Pules]

We played some rugby!!!!

[Galfon]

27 - 16 after 72 min
Pollock pen. win.

[Galfon]

We played some rugby!!!!

Unfortunately, they'll probably run the clock down from here..

[Captainhaircut]

That was fucking horrific.

Nearly paid the price for that horrible backline selection. Hopefully Borthers learns from that shit.

[Which Tyler]

I don't think it was the selection that nearly screwed us, so much as the tactics.
Ultimately, it was only Daly as a questionable selection in tha backs.

Ref was... unhelpful

[Oakboy]

It just feels like we got away with it - just. Why did SB leave Marcus on the bench?

[Captainhaircut]

I don't think it was the selection that nearly screwed us, so much as the tactics.

Ref was... unhelpful

Ref was dreadful. Not sure I’ve ever seen a Frenchman ref England in any way that wasn’t poor though…

I think the selection and the tactics go hand in hand do they not? We set up to play that way.

[Which Tyler]

It just feels like we got away with it - just. Why did SB leave Marcus on the bench?

I get that, didn't need to make anything happen, or want to risk any mistakes.
But then, I know a lot of posters trust Marcus more than I do

[FKAS]

It just feels like we got away with it - just. Why did SB leave Marcus on the bench?

Because Ford was playing well and Steward was our only direct carrying threat.

Max Ojomoh, drifted in and out of the game at times but when he was in the game, wow. Scored or created three tries. That's how you put down a marker. England need a 12, been hearing that for years and now we seem to have three (plus some more waiting for a chance). Just need to find some outside centres now...

England looked short of physicality, particularly in the backline. Steward helped a little bit as did the subs bench but no Freeman, Roebuck, T Willis or Lawrence was telling. AOF fairly underwhelming, was expecting to see more of his explosive carrying.

Re the TCurry incident, that looked no different to the many tackles on Ford after he'd passed (some of those looked more than one step pre contact). Seemed to be the injury to Malia that caused the offence in the ref's eyes.

[twitchy]

I think it just shows that argentina are very good at what they do (as we predicted). We managed to survive the final onslaught without some key players. Job done in the end.

[Which Tyler]

Harsh on Mojo IMO (but that's not surprising for either of us).

As for OC, Lawrence in possession, and 2 of the ICs are perfectly comfortable there.


Played fairly poorly, but deserved winners anyway. 11 in a row (which is our longest run with the Shield) and plenty for the new coaches to work on - I'm feeling pretty positive after the AIs

[morepork]

Good win. Just. Think you’ve found your 12. Pollock very useful but is turning into that annoying mate that starts unnecessary fights at the pub. Good work by Itoje sorting it out. RG so close. Puts our bigger loss into stark perspective.

[Galfon]

Steward made some useful fields and yards, but Daly was as expected not match sharp, and Spencer took the usual pace down a notch.
Arg will rue the missed opportunity at the end and who could begrudge them for taking that one.
No need for the footy-style dramas stoked up by FC at the end., for a typical Curry crunch, a fraction late.
These games cry out for neutral refs. as well.

[oldbackrow]

Good win. Just. Think you’ve found your 12. Pollock very useful but is turning into that annoying mate that starts unnecessary fights at the pub. Good work by Itoje sorting it out. RG so close. Puts our bigger loss into stark perspective.

Id argue last week's team was far more cohesive and better prepared than this week's.

[morepork]

Good win. Just. Think you’ve found your 12. Pollock very useful but is turning into that annoying mate that starts unnecessary fights at the pub. Good work by Itoje sorting it out. RG so close. Puts our bigger loss into stark perspective.

Id argue last week's team was far more cohesive and better prepared than this week's.

That’s very kind of you but Argentina took that shit up a notch while we didn’t.

[Captainhaircut]

I thought Steward was dreadful. Barely took a high ball all game which makes it pointless picking him. The Curry tackle on Malia that led to their entry into our 22 and the subsequent crazy last 5 came from him knocking on another one he should have taken.

With Daly and Furbank back and MSmith playing well against NZ, he’ll do well to even make the 6N squad.