England vs Argentina

[Puja]

Gods, what a terrible kick from Daly. Everything that's not Ford is terrible.

(ETA. The kick through, although the penalty wasn't great either)

Puja

[Mr Mwenda]

Earl is very annoying and won't stop kicking good ball away, but he has been pretty good today.

Puja

[Big D]

Not been pretty but well done to England on digging this out.

[Big D]

Earl is very annoying and won't stop kicking good ball away, but he has been pretty good today.

Puja

He needs to stop celebrating every decision like a toddler being told they are going to soft play.

He has been good though.

[Oakboy]

Lawes and Itoje have had great games.

[pompey-zebra]

Have Argentina been bribed to throw this game?

[francoisfou]

Man of the match? Has to be Farrell, who’s not put a foot wrong!

[francoisfou]

Man of the match? Has to be Farrell, who’s not put a foot wrong! x2!!

[Big D]

This has been a throwback performance by Argentina. Back to the bad old days of poor discipline and lack of skills and leadership.

[Galfon]

Have Argentina been bribed to throw this game?

Not beyond the realms...but against 14 they could have backed off a bit.
Still won the try count.

[switchskier]

Glad that is finally over. I get why but I could have screamed when they took three when 21 points ahead with four minutes remaining.

Huge performance from England though. Defense and intensity so much higher. Only a couple of mistakes in attack and some easier games coming up to get things flowing.

Mitchell impressed but Ford deserved motm. Taking the drop goals was really smart game management, given where England have been.

[Banquo]

Superb- from piss poor to practically perfect in the circs, bar a couple of overlaps burned. Fantastic energy and set piece- defence very good, discipline good, breakdown good- take a bow Lawes and Itoje. Ice man Ford good. Well done all inc coaches

[FKAS]

Cometh the hour cometh George Ford. The ice man is dead, long live the ice man.

[Spiffy]

Superb- from piss poor to practically perfect in the circs, bar a couple of overlaps burned. Fantastic energy and set piece- defence very good, discipline good, breakdown good- take a bow Lawes and Itoje. Ice man Ford good. Well done all inc coaches

Yes - a hard nosed but dull performance. Any kind of win is better than another humping. Thank Gawd for George Ford, but the inability to score a single try says a lot. Never mind - Faz will be back soon to screw things up and normal service will be resumed.

[Shiny]

Now we have had our moment can we have Billy, Fazlet and Youngs back so we can get back to normality please.

Joking aside, a bit better but still no teeth in attack and we never looked like scoring.

Oh, and a Knighthood for Mr Ford for digging us out of the doo-doo yet again and for showing the petulant one what an international fly half looks like.

[Scrumhead]

But we didn’t really try to attack … and that’s mostly because it would have been dumb to do so in the circumstances.

I’m not saying our attack is any good. More that we did exactly the right thing with 14.

[jngf]

I’ve been a big sceptic but fair play Lawes had arguably his best game as a test back row in this match. Earl is a curates egg, mightily industrious but better on the flank than at No.8 at this level. Jack Willis will be needed in the mix more than ever now and I would be tempted to start Ludlam at 8 going forwards.

[bruce]

Surely you've got someone better than Daly.

[morepork]

Ford is class. No angry man pantomime from him, even when he got clattered.


Argentina were so bad. What happened to them?

[pompey-zebra]

But we didn’t really try to attack … and that’s mostly because it would have been dumb to do so in the circumstances.

I’m not saying our attack is any good. More that we did exactly the right thing with 14.

And England did, and they did it well, but it was hardly backs to the wall stuff until the very last minute. Argentina offered so little that you almost wonder if they think the easier route to progress is to finish second in the group.

[Epaminondas Pules]

That was an exceptional effort! Was never going to be running rugby post the red. Especially when you put Manu into every scrum. Can’t fault the effort at all!

Though Argentina just fell apart!

[Danno]

Argentina 3
George Ford 12

Bring back Farrell as Ford clearly cannot cope with being the main man.

Puja

Only 7 days to go! To the bench Sir George of Ford, it's an honour you should be grateful for.

[Danno]

Just to pick on him a little bit, OF looked like an absolute misery every time the footage cut to him, even while sort of applauding the pen that saw us at 24-3.

Really galvanises the squad though.

[Banquo]

But we didn’t really try to attack … and that’s mostly because it would have been dumb to do so in the circumstances.

I’m not saying our attack is any good. More that we did exactly the right thing with 14.

Well exactly - I’m finding some comments a bit strange. Winning against comfortably against a side like Argentina when playing practically all match with 14 is something to applaud tbh. Esp when we have been soo shit.The pack were immense and the backs did their job. All of Lawes, Itoje and Manu answered a lot of questions for example.

[Banquo]

I’ve been a big sceptic but fair play Lawes had arguably his best game as a test back row in this match. Earl is a curates egg, mightily industrious but better on the flank than at No.8 at this level. Jack Willis will be needed in the mix more than ever now and I would be tempted to start Ludlam at 8 going forwards.

Ludlam was pretty poor when he came on, and he’s only started at 8 five times in his senior career. Earl- kicking aside- was more than ok.