RugbyRebels

p/d wrote:bit harsh on Lawes there Diggers. wasn't his best game in an England shirt but far from poor.

I'd be questioning the 15, 10, 9 shirts and continue to doubt the suitability of the fecker who penned the term 'finishers'

Lawes put some huge tackles in, but his carrying remains average.

Test match rugby is supposed to be harsh

Digby wrote:Test match rugby is supposed to be harsh

Yeah well, there’s harsh and then there’s nonsense.

Timbo wrote:

Digby wrote:Test match rugby is supposed to be harsh

Yeah well, there’s harsh and then there’s nonsense.

Indeed, and locks going backwards in contact comes under such a heading

Banquo wrote:

p/d wrote:bit harsh on Lawes there Diggers. wasn't his best game in an England shirt but far from poor.

I'd be questioning the 15, 10, 9 shirts and continue to doubt the suitability of the fecker who penned the term 'finishers'

Lawes put some huge tackles in, but his carrying remains average.

He's our modern day Worsley.

His carrying seemed to really step up a level at the beginning of the EJ era, but did look a bit upright again. Too much of Hughes’s influence.

Nobody has mentioned Ford. I know he is a favourite on this board but what can his status be if Jones did not rate his chances of improving things after 60? If the bench 9/10 do not get on after that sort of performance by the starting pair, you have to question them being there. Neither Robson nor Ford can have been ripping up trees in training presumably.

Oakboy wrote:Nobody has mentioned Ford. I know he is a favourite on this board but what can his status be if Jones did not rate his chances of improving things after 60? If the bench 9/10 do not get on after that sort of performance by the starting pair, you have to question them being there. Neither Robson nor Ford can have been ripping up trees in training presumably.

I don’t think that’s it at all. You 100% need both halfbacks covered on the bench. There’s no question.

EJ has stuck with Youngs and Farrell to the point he can’t concede anybody else might do a better job.

I doubt it matters even a bit how anybody else trains or plays for their club until injury hits Youngs or Farrell, I’m sad to say.

Mikey Brown wrote:

Oakboy wrote:Nobody has mentioned Ford. I know he is a favourite on this board but what can his status be if Jones did not rate his chances of improving things after 60? If the bench 9/10 do not get on after that sort of performance by the starting pair, you have to question them being there. Neither Robson nor Ford can have been ripping up trees in training presumably.

I don’t think that’s it at all. You 100% need both halfbacks covered on the bench. There’s no question.

EJ has stuck with Youngs and Farrell to the point he can’t concede anybody else might do a better job.

I doubt it matters even a bit how anybody else trains or plays for their club until injury hits Youngs or Farrell, I’m sad to say.

Oh, I agree that Jones has demonstrated his lack of competence but he is the one who talks about finishers. If he doesn't have 9/10 game manager replacements that he trusts, by his own definitions, he has cocked up.

Call me whatever you like, but, for example, Wigglesworth and Cipriani, coming on at 60 would have won that game, IMO. I think Robson and Ford would have done too but Jones, apparently, did not trust them to do so.

Maybe, Youngs and Farrell's failings will have got through to Jones but I doubt it. The fact is that he used to regularly trust Care to finish so why did he get rid of him?

I don’t understand the situation with Robson/Care?

Why pick Robson if you’re not actually going to give him a chance to show what he can do? Care would typically have come on 50/55 minutes in to games so he have been the kind of influence we needed to twist the knife against France or bring a much needed change of pace/style in Cardiff.

Robson may well have been capable of doing the same, but we’ll obviously never know. At least Eddie might have had enough faith in Care to give him enough time to be a ‘finisher’.

The whole sub thing was bizarre.
Leaving a prop on for 70+ minutes struck me as odd, and leaving 3 players on the bench when the game is slipping away from you and you need some energy and urgency was utterly perverse.
It wasnt as if our half backs were lighting up the place with their brilliance, while Moon and George were run into the ground. I'm no fan of Shields but if he's in the 23 he surely needs to come on with more than a few minutes to go?

Ignoring yesterday’s frustrations for England, Alex Mitchell had another good game for Saints. Clearly Reinach is first choice, but Mitchell’s making a name for himself and post World Cup could be well worth a look for England.

Having watched the game again Youngs was better than I thought, even if that's qualified by looking at what they're trying to do given the tactics they're beholden to.
Farrell was worse than I'd thought

I also wonder how much needs to change given the narrow margin, specifically of interest here is how much easier it is to cover kicks on a small playing surface like in Cardiff rather than say Edinburgh, it's not a big positonal shift but give May another 20m to sprint into and you'd have to edge back just a little. No idea whatsize in goal areas we can expect in Japan

Mate of mine posted on here for years under name Oakboy. Anybody know why he got banned?

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Kitoluhe wrote:Mate of mine posted on here for years under name Oakboy. Anybody know why he got banned?

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{Mod} I wasn't aware that he was banned. I certainly haven't done it and it appears his last post was on Monday.

We're a relatively tolerant bunch on here. {/Mod}

Puja

He told me he'd posted under several names since 2006. Then out of the blue, his IP address has a permanent ban and no readon given.

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Kitoluhe wrote:He told me he'd posted under several names since 2006. Then out of the blue, his IP address has a permanent ban and no readon given.

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We've been having some problems wih spammers of late and instituted some IP blocks which it sounds like he's been caught by. It's definitely not an intentional ban - I'll go digging and let you know when it's sorted.

Puja

Thanks. He'll appreciate it.

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Someone PM me his IP address and I’ll check

Kitoluhe wrote:Thanks. He'll appreciate it.

Oh. And bring back jesusgoopy too while you're at it.

Kitoluhe wrote:Mate of mine posted on here for years under name Oakboy. Anybody know why he got banned?

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Repeat spamming utter nonsense is my guess

Digby wrote:Having watched the game again Youngs was better than I thought, even if that's qualified by looking at what they're trying to do given the tactics they're beholden to.
Farrell was worse than I'd thought

Agreed with that assessment. Youngs’ kicking was pretty decent throughout.

One thing that was noticeable to me was that in those last 15 minutes or so we stopped competing in the air on our kicks. Don’t really know why, as we had been competing well up to that point. Was a big shift in the kicking battle imo.

Timbo wrote:

Digby wrote:Having watched the game again Youngs was better than I thought, even if that's qualified by looking at what they're trying to do given the tactics they're beholden to.
Farrell was worse than I'd thought

Agreed with that assessment. Youngs’ kicking was pretty decent throughout.

One thing that was noticeable to me was that in those last 15 minutes or so we stopped competing in the air on our kicks. Don’t really know why, as we had been competing well up to that point. Was a big shift in the kicking battle imo.

I wonder if Eddie thinks we need a plan B or if we actually spent too much time running the ball and should have kicked more through Youngs and stayed patient with the kicking game?

Jack Willis is an absolute pest at the breakdown.

Timbo wrote:Jack Willis is an absolute pest at the breakdown.

Yep good comeback from a nasty injury.

Rob Miller is pretty decent for a 4th choice 10

Jonah Holmes has a better service than Ben Youngs