Was a pretty nasty tackle. No control whatsoever, somewhat karma that he did the damage to himself.
Why we ran the crash off that last scrum I have no idea. Moronic. Not least because Woodward isn't that big and there had to be an overlap somewhere in the backline. Summed England up in a way, lots of good work then poor decision making at a crucial time.
paddy no 11 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 24, 2023 2:30 pm
Fair result Ireland might have a few gripes with 2 high shots in 1st half one on cooney who will be suspended for aus game now presumably.
Eng 1 and Ireland 3 were both brilliant, England have room for improvement moreso than Ireland
I'm sure England have a gripe with the no second yellow card after the penalty try. Ireland down to 13 would have probably been in a lot of trouble. Generally the ref was ok, just a bit inconsistent in how strict he was at times. Both sides might point to a few they felt they should have had whilst at the same time be safe in the knowledge there was a few they got away with.
On the first scrum I noticed the Ireland pack weighed in at 900 Kg, and England 917Kg. These kids are massive and already the size of a full, senior, international pack. WTF are they feeding them on these days?
Ireland get a bonus point 30-10 victory against Australia, so we need to hammer Fiji today if we want to set a good chance of qualifying top of the group (and then go on to get a bonus point against Aus ourselves, which isn't guaranteed!).
France hammered the AB's, huge huge forward pack that the AB's couldn't live with. Italy just beat SA too, conditions pretty bad, all games on the same pitch is taking its toll..
29-7 - bonus point try after 47 minutes and England are just utterly bullying the Fijian forwards with scrum and maul in a fashion that's bordering on cruel. Every scrum is a penalty and the Fijian loosehead's just seen yellow, basically for being prop-shamed by Halliwell rather than any active cheating.
41-7, but we're throwing away an opportunity to put up a bigger score by ridiculously schoolboy penalties. I know they are literally, but it's not reflecting well on the coaching team that they're making these kind of amateur mistakes against a side they're clearly outclassing.
Puja wrote: ↑Thu Jun 29, 2023 7:28 pm
41-7, but we're throwing away an opportunity to put up a bigger score by ridiculously schoolboy penalties. I know they are literally, but it's not reflecting well on the coaching team that they're making these kind of amateur mistakes against a side they're clearly outclassing.
Also, I feel the ref is feeling generous to the Fijians. Seem to be getting pity penalties at times. England seemed to be penalised for owning the Fijian scrum there.
Puja wrote: ↑Thu Jun 29, 2023 7:28 pm
41-7, but we're throwing away an opportunity to put up a bigger score by ridiculously schoolboy penalties. I know they are literally, but it's not reflecting well on the coaching team that they're making these kind of amateur mistakes against a side they're clearly outclassing.
Puja
err....thats the players, not coaches surely....
I thought boneheaded penalties was England's national playing style.
I loved the commentator trying to make it seem closer just before half-time
"Fiji much more clinical than England, scoring with every trip into the 22"
Puja wrote: ↑Thu Jun 29, 2023 7:28 pm
41-7, but we're throwing away an opportunity to put up a bigger score by ridiculously schoolboy penalties. I know they are literally, but it's not reflecting well on the coaching team that they're making these kind of amateur mistakes against a side they're clearly outclassing.
Puja
err....thats the players, not coaches surely....
The coaches prepare the team and the patterns of play. If one player makes a boneheaded penalty, then that's the player. When there's been about 10 spread evenly across the team, that's a system issue.
Mr Mwenda wrote: ↑Thu Jun 29, 2023 7:43 pm
Also, I feel the ref is feeling generous to the Fijians. Seem to be getting pity penalties at times. England seemed to be penalised for owning the Fijian scrum there.
In fairness, that was dangerous play from England at the one where they sent the tighthead into orbit. Part of your responsibility when you have such dominance is to impose it safely.
Finished 51-7, but you can't help feeling that we could easily have put another 14 points on with just a touch more discipline. The weather and pitch just neutered all of Fiji's strengths and amplified ours. Hope we won't get hurt by points difference at the end of the group stages.
Puja wrote: ↑Thu Jun 29, 2023 8:02 pmFinished 51-7, but you can't help feeling that we could easily have put another 14 points on with just a touch more discipline. The weather and pitch just neutered all of Fiji's strengths and amplified ours. Hope we won't get hurt by points difference at the end of the group stages.
Also worth noting that we played without a FH for 25 minutes, which is the period we should have been racking up the scores.
Regardless of PD, I don't see any particular threat to us getting through to the SF unless we fail to beat Aus, in which case we won't deserve to, regardless of PD.
Puja wrote: ↑Thu Jun 29, 2023 8:02 pmFinished 51-7, but you can't help feeling that we could easily have put another 14 points on with just a touch more discipline. The weather and pitch just neutered all of Fiji's strengths and amplified ours. Hope we won't get hurt by points difference at the end of the group stages.
Also worth noting that we played without a FH for 25 minutes, which is the period we should have been racking up the scores.
Regardless of PD, I don't see any particular threat to us getting through to the SF unless we actually lose to Aus, in which case we won't deserve to, regardless of PD.
Fair, on both counts, although I think the aim has got to be not just qualifying for the semis, but avoiding France, to put off our demolition for another week.
Meh, if we want to win, we'll have to beat France.
For me, U20s is about assessing where this batch of players stand, and about performance; not so much about winning if it's not fully deserved.
At U20s, I don't really care about the difference between 3rd and 2nd. We've already done well for ourselves by doing so much better than in the 6N
Havent seen the game but putting 50 pts on a side who gave Australia a good test with a starting XV well below full strength strikes me as a pretty good result.
Puja wrote: ↑Thu Jun 29, 2023 7:28 pm
41-7, but we're throwing away an opportunity to put up a bigger score by ridiculously schoolboy penalties. I know they are literally, but it's not reflecting well on the coaching team that they're making these kind of amateur mistakes against a side they're clearly outclassing.
Puja
err....thats the players, not coaches surely....
The coaches prepare the team and the patterns of play. If one player makes a boneheaded penalty, then that's the player. When there's been about 10 spread evenly across the team, that's a system issue.
Mr Mwenda wrote: ↑Thu Jun 29, 2023 7:43 pm
Also, I feel the ref is feeling generous to the Fijians. Seem to be getting pity penalties at times. England seemed to be penalised for owning the Fijian scrum there.
In fairness, that was dangerous play from England at the one where they sent the tighthead into orbit. Part of your responsibility when you have such dominance is to impose it safely.
Finished 51-7, but you can't help feeling that we could easily have put another 14 points on with just a touch more discipline. The weather and pitch just neutered all of Fiji's strengths and amplified ours. Hope we won't get hurt by points difference at the end of the group stages.
Puja
we will have to disagree- you called them amateur mistakes and boneheaded; blame the coaches for selecting ten boneheads mebbe
