Re: England vs Fiji - Sat 3.15pm
Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2023 8:20 am
Their set piece and sheer physicality was another level. Made the AB’s look average.Beasties wrote: ↑Sat Aug 26, 2023 7:23 amThey’re gonna take some stopping.p/d wrote: ↑Fri Aug 25, 2023 10:51 pmThey are some units that SA side.16th man wrote: ↑Fri Aug 25, 2023 8:46 pm Sinkler out with a chest knack now. Very quickly going from crisis to farce.
In an unrelated point, we've joked about it for years, but the Boks have pushed the button and gone 7 1 split on the bench tonight. They've smashed the AB pack all over the place, and are only 14 nil up because they're weirdly copying our grubbers first policy in the AB 22.
It’s easy to say one team were awful (and I’m not arguing any different) but when a team like SA impose themselves on you like that there is little that can be done. They absolutely strangled everything NZ had to offer. Barrett is a moron. Must have English ancestry?FKAS wrote: ↑Sat Aug 26, 2023 7:42 amNew Zealand were awful. If they play like that against France (who've got some units of their own) then the record defeat they've just suffered will be bettered in short order. Looks like they were copying the English discipline policy. Mo'unga was lucky his tackle on Andre E wasn't reviewed otherwise could have been four yellows in the first half.
The Boks intensity was something else though. Don't often see a kiwi side totally collapse under pressure; was like the 2019 RWC times 2.FKAS wrote: ↑Sat Aug 26, 2023 7:42 amNew Zealand were awful. If they play like that against France (who've got some units of their own) then the record defeat they've just suffered will be bettered in short order. Looks like they were copying the English discipline policy. Mo'unga was lucky his tackle on Andre E wasn't reviewed otherwise could have been four yellows in the first half.
I’m amazed Barrett’s tucked arm on Marx wasn’t upgraded to a red. A clear and deliberate cheap shot.Beasties wrote: ↑Sat Aug 26, 2023 8:54 amIt’s easy to say one team were awful (and I’m not arguing any different) but when a team like SA impose themselves on you like that there is little that can be done. They absolutely strangled everything NZ had to offer. Barrett is a moron. Must have English ancestry?FKAS wrote: ↑Sat Aug 26, 2023 7:42 amNew Zealand were awful. If they play like that against France (who've got some units of their own) then the record defeat they've just suffered will be bettered in short order. Looks like they were copying the English discipline policy. Mo'unga was lucky his tackle on Andre E wasn't reviewed otherwise could have been four yellows in the first half.
This WC is a write off, do you really think a team stuffed with the same old players is going to get any different result to bringing in the next generation. SB had 3 months and 9 games (assuming e make the quarter final) to bed in a new team and he's wated it by picking the same team, with the same tactics as Jones. Maybe there's not a direct replacement for Sinckler for example -= so leave him there but as the exception rather than the ruleFKAS wrote: ↑Fri Aug 25, 2023 1:40 pmCome on Puja one friendly before the world cup is definitely the time to ditch as many experienced players as possible and select as many youngsters with potential as possible. Unless they are solid players like Steward in which case drop them for the next mercurial youngster as well. Young and attacking potential are the only criteria we need.Puja wrote: ↑Fri Aug 25, 2023 12:38 pmI don't get the disdain for May - he's our second top try-scorer ever, he's elusive, he's still very quick, he's improved continually over his career and is probably one of our most secure players under a high ball, and one of our best positionally. He's also only 33, so neither "35 year old" nor utterly decrepit.Skalyba wrote: ↑Fri Aug 25, 2023 10:27 am I've lost all faith - it was shaky before but picking May and Coke just shows how poor SB is. We can't buy a try in our backs and rather than go for fresh, in form, talent he brings in 35 year old May.
He has wasted an absolute golden opportunity with this world cup to build a new team - it doesn't matter if the new players aren't better than the old, they just (hopefully bring a better attitude). He should have binned Marler, Cole, Sinckler, Lawes, Vunipola, Youngs, Care, Ford or Farrell, Tuilagi, May, Daly, Watson. I've probably missed a couple but are those players really so much better than VRR, Willis, Mercer, Pearson, Mitchell, Murley, Freeman, Roebuck etc that it's worth keeping them on?
I also note you've suggested binning Cole and Sinckler without any suggestions of the young players to bring in.
Puja
I'd also suggest at only 30 and having looked more than decent off the bench Vs Ireland booting Sinckler now would be ridiculous. No age at all for a tighthead and with a couple of Lions tours under his belt plus 60 odd caps he's the type of experienced player we need in the squad. I'm hoping his injury isn't serious.
May's good, but is he so much better than Murley (or the other hopefuls) that he should be picked over them despite a poor season? They are the future, give them a chancePuja wrote: ↑Fri Aug 25, 2023 2:37 pmSee, this confuses me. He was doing a good job for England as recently as November, then had a long term injury, that kept him out most of the season, and while he's been gone, his rep on here appears to have morphed in Nowell 2.0 - any selection of him is greeted with "Oh for fuck's sake!"fivepointer wrote: ↑Fri Aug 25, 2023 1:50 pmMay's past it and there are other options, notably Murley who seems to have been badly done to along with Freeman.Puja wrote: ↑Fri Aug 25, 2023 12:38 pm
I don't get the disdain for May - he's our second top try-scorer ever, he's elusive, he's still very quick, he's improved continually over his career and is probably one of our most secure players under a high ball, and one of our best positionally. He's also only 33, so neither "35 year old" nor utterly decrepit.
I also note you've suggested binning Cole and Sinckler without any suggestions of the young players to bring in.
Puja
Given our lack of options at TH, having Cole in the squad is perfectly sensible.
Puja
What poor season!? He was injured for most of it and then scored 3 tries in his last three games!Skalyba wrote: ↑Sat Aug 26, 2023 11:48 amMay's good, but is he so much better than Murley (or the other hopefuls) that he should be picked over them despite a poor season? They are the future, give them a chancePuja wrote: ↑Fri Aug 25, 2023 2:37 pmSee, this confuses me. He was doing a good job for England as recently as November, then had a long term injury, that kept him out most of the season, and while he's been gone, his rep on here appears to have morphed in Nowell 2.0 - any selection of him is greeted with "Oh for fuck's sake!"fivepointer wrote: ↑Fri Aug 25, 2023 1:50 pm
May's past it and there are other options, notably Murley who seems to have been badly done to along with Freeman.
Given our lack of options at TH, having Cole in the squad is perfectly sensible.
Puja
I think you are right about the players in that they have proven time and again that they can't do it. However, none of us know, based on this forum's info anyway, whether SB was given instructions for short-term/ long-term. For example, he may have been told to get the best results he could at the RWC, delaying a rebuild till afterwards. He may have had no restrictions and decided the strategy for himself. Either way we are stuck with a group of repeated failures for the RWC.Skalyba wrote: ↑Sat Aug 26, 2023 11:45 amThis WC is a write off, do you really think a team stuffed with the same old players is going to get any different result to bringing in the next generation. SB had 3 months and 9 games (assuming e make the quarter final) to bed in a new team and he's wated it by picking the same team, with the same tactics as Jones. Maybe there's not a direct replacement for Sinckler for example -= so leave him there but as the exception rather than the ruleFKAS wrote: ↑Fri Aug 25, 2023 1:40 pmCome on Puja one friendly before the world cup is definitely the time to ditch as many experienced players as possible and select as many youngsters with potential as possible. Unless they are solid players like Steward in which case drop them for the next mercurial youngster as well. Young and attacking potential are the only criteria we need.Puja wrote: ↑Fri Aug 25, 2023 12:38 pm
I don't get the disdain for May - he's our second top try-scorer ever, he's elusive, he's still very quick, he's improved continually over his career and is probably one of our most secure players under a high ball, and one of our best positionally. He's also only 33, so neither "35 year old" nor utterly decrepit.
I also note you've suggested binning Cole and Sinckler without any suggestions of the young players to bring in.
Puja
I'd also suggest at only 30 and having looked more than decent off the bench Vs Ireland booting Sinckler now would be ridiculous. No age at all for a tighthead and with a couple of Lions tours under his belt plus 60 odd caps he's the type of experienced player we need in the squad. I'm hoping his injury isn't serious.
Very lucky. I would have given the first Fiji try simply because nothing else good has happened in Twickenham in 6 months