[2015 Six Nations] Wales vs England (Round 1)

[Ragey Erasmus]

Did you miss Ford repeatedly going high and getting walked over the gain line then, or are you just choosing to ignore it?

Did you miss Ford making the tackle but May not having confidence in his tackling and so being drawn in leading to a try? Maybe if people weren't constantly putting down Ford for his defense, May might have had enough confidence to not step in.

 

[yaboyjj]

Bar 1 mistake each (although costly), I though Kruis and Haskell were outstanding, and were very physical in defense while making good ground with ball in hand.
A word for Joesph too- Barritt esque performance in defence and did a great job marshaling the backs (particularly in the wide channels) whilst making some good covering tackles. Classy play in offense too, taking his try very well- nailed on 13 for now.

my team for Italy (albeit 1 day after):

1. Marler
2. Hartley
3. Cole
4. Attwood
5. Kruis
6. Haskel
7. Robshaw
8. Vunipola
9. Youngs
10. Ford
11. May
12. Slade
13. Joseph
14. Watson
15. Brown

bench: Youngs, Vunipola, Brookes, Parling, Clarke, someone quick?, Burrell/36, Nowell

Generally it should be a policy of sticking with a winning formula. Having said that, this is arguably the last chance to try out combinations in a competitive game before the world cup (that you expect to win comfortably).
Burrell still didn't convince at 12 and Slade needs to be start if they think he is a realistic proposition for the 22 shirt (at Twickenham v's Italy is the time to try him out).
Wigglesworth did well to close the game out, however I don't expect this to be needed next week and Simpson needs a go.
Easter's only contribution yesterday was to cause obstruction, Clarke should be given a go.
Slade covers 10 and Nowell deserves a go to stake his claim on the wing (harsh on Cipriani and he should be given a go later, but you have to be cut throat now).

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Ewers.
Isn't.
In.
The.
England.
Squad.

 

[BasqueBete]

lol, yes you need to be cuthroat, and tell nowell to **** off back to exeter

 

[yaboyjj]

Ewers.
Isn't.
In.
The.
England.
Squad.

Changed to Clarke <_<

^ Nowell is a much better defender than May and offers something different to Watson- he might not be a flashy player, but imo he's exactly what we need.

 

[munstermuffin]

I'm not really sure it was an issue of tactics yesterday. We were simply beaten up front, with a collapse of our set piece. It meant we had little field position, and were forced to kick. Back-foot ball was being shipped out to a static backline, making it easy for the English defence to hold up our runners behind the gain line.

When this happens, it doesn't really matter what the attacking tactics are, because it's impossible to get anything going.

We simply have to shure up our set piece, so that we can get some field position, phase play and momentum, so that we can actually get the likes of Warburton, Faletau and our backline carrying the ball against a defence on the back foot, and thus actually get Roberts, Davies and North into the game.

The old adage of forwards wins you the game, the backs decide by how much, is still very much true.

While I agree with that. Some guys do get comfortable. ROG was on tv last night for RTE and said Mike Phillips said Gatland has them brainwashed to think the can outmuscle any team in Northern Hemisphere but the reason they struggle against Southern Hemisphere teams is they don't believe it.

They do go hand in hand too. If guys know they can't get comfortable your effort increases and those little things in defence and structures etc improves

 

[mstar]

great game watched it 2 times before bed last night

To me the balance of 6,7 and 8 is the best i have seen under Lancaster simply because Haskell brings more physicality and was a absolute menace at the breakdown and could easily throw the physical welsh forwards around and they couldn;t bully england. I actually think Haskell gives us the carrying ability with Vinny that we been crying out for and gives us that gain line dominance. I actually think at 6 Haskell gives us a little more in open play then wood does.

I thought Watson was great his defence and attack took his try well. JJ may be our answer as a centre i was watching him closely looking at his defence and to be honest like he plays for Bath he is no worse then other centres in defence. I actually don't want to see Manu back i like to see JJ/Luthur have a run of games -they might be the answer for our centres problem.

I think Kruis did ok so did Attwood both did a lot of work. However i JUST think Lawes and Launchers gives us that little little bit extra around the park.

Vinny played ok, however i would of liked Easter to have a run to show what he can do (Lancaster said before the game in Training Easter has been wonderful not making 1 mistake all training session he was impressed).

I wouldn't change this team maybe lawes comes in but other then that, lets see what these players can do.

 

[jaffka]

Still have a nice buzz about that last night, really enjoyed the game.

To come back and win after being behind at half time shows that this team has some character.

At ten nil down I was thinking here we go again!

 

[RedruthRFC]

My ratings...

Having just read Mick Cleary's ratings in the Telegraph, I suggest you forward your ratings on to their sports editor and ask for a job! Ten times better analysis and more accurate ratings.

I can't remember Attwood putting a foot wrong, his work rate was great and he must take a good portion of the credit for England's set piece success, so I would bump him up to 8/10 personally.

Nothing to add that hasn't already been said before in terms of analysis, but I'd like to reiterate other posters' thanks to the Welsh posters for accepting defeat like gentlemen.

Apparently World Rugby have asked the WRU for an explanation of their handling for the George North situation. Their press release shows a lack of understanding of the situation by focusing on result not risk and wilfully fails to address the salient question - how could a team of people whose job it is to identify risk have missed the second incident when the world and his wife who were just watching the game saw it as plain as day?

http://www.espn.co.uk/six-nations-2015/rugby/story/255443.html

 

[Tony Manx]

Apparently World Rugby have asked the WRU for an explanation of their handling for the George North situation. Their press release shows a lack of understanding of the situation by focusing on result not risk and wilfully fails to address the salient question - how could a team of people whose job it is to identify risk have missed the second incident when the world and his wife who were just watching the game saw it as plain as day?l

Spot on and Gatling's feeble attempts at winding up England (dummy runners, roof etc etc), and his disgraceful passing of the buck to the medical staff over North, showed up a very real lack of class and the shoulder chip of a small nation alongside a much bigger one (well he is a Kiwi!!!).

 

[TheSaffycen]

positives from the game
The starting pack was really good. Cole looked good and will only get better, Marler has really turned into a guy you can rely on now to do his job, Hartley wasn't great and his place is a little bit in question. Attwood was brilliant in defence and now his carrying is bringing us success. Kruis looks more comfortable every game, liked him for ages (made a big mistake I know) brings more grunt to us but Bury is still the guy for the shirt. Our flankers really balanced the load well Haskell and Vunipola were great at the choke tackle. Robshaw should have been MOTM with 26 tackles !
Youngs was very good and Wales couldn't keep up with the intensity which was suprising considering their fitness regime. Ford was decent to good. Open kicking was good (made to look great by Watson) tackling brought the guy down. That's all I really look for in my 10 though, I don't need him to be a 6 in contact. Joseph was impeccable and Burrell I thought wasn't that bad in defence, his awareness in attack cost us 2 tries IMO. Back three played well, May was a bit more quiet but still okay. The try was his fault but he isn't used to playing with Ford so that might be why.
For Italy not a lot of change, let guys get used to each other.
1.Marler 2.Youngs 3.Cole 4.Attwood 5.Kruis 6.Haskell 7.Robshaw 8.Vunipola 9.Youngs 10.Ford 11.May 12.Twelvetrees 13.Joseph 14.Watson 15.Brown
16.Hartley 17.Corbisiero 18.Brookes 19.Parling 20.Croft 21.Wigglesworth/Care 22.Cipriani 23.Burrell/Nowell

 

[goodNumber10]

Did you miss Ford making the tackle but May not having confidence in his tackling and so being drawn in leading to a try? Maybe if people weren't constantly putting down Ford for his defense, May might have had enough confidence to not step in.

That has absolutely nothing to do with what I was saying. Well done.

 

[Thingimubob]

I still can't believe North wasn't taken off. Slightly disgusted in fact...

Have a feeling that the WRU might get into trouble for it... Not sure what kind of punishment there would be though.

Did Toulouse get into trouble after the whole Fritz incident?

 

[Peat]

You could probably mark a few of those guys up because - good as the result was, good as the second half performance was, the overall game performance needs a fair bit of improvement and I thought the marks should reflect that. Harsh, but there we go.

I would like to see Attwood carry more. He does it well, I feel he's probably our strongest tight five carrier at the moment, but that's worth nothing if he's carrying only 4 times in a game with plenty of pack possession. I'm reminded of the press report that the coaches roasted Attwood alive over his work rate down in New Zealand. I'd also like to see those 3 missed tackles again.

Kruis is developing nicely but doesn't really seem to have the X-factor. Nothing wrong with that per se, Parling is a fine example of an outstanding international lock with no real freakish abilities and Kruis is a more physical man, but Kruis has a wee bit to go before he develops his intelligence and reliability to Parling-esque levels. That should be his goal. I'm struggling to remember what he did other than some good choke tackles, although I know he did most of his work well.

Pretty much every forward suffers a little in my eyes for the sheer bloody nerves I felt about our ruck ball for most of the game. I might try rewatching and doing some ruck marks for England next week.

 

[ratsapprentice]

I would like to see Attwood carry more. He does it well, I feel he's probably our strongest tight five carrier at the moment, but that's worth nothing if he's carrying only 4 times in a game with plenty of pack possession. I'm reminded of the press report that the coaches roasted Attwood alive over his work rate down in New Zealand. I'd also like to see those 3 missed tackles again.

At least two (and I think the third) were in the last ten minutes when he was rushing up very quickly trying to nail Wales in their half.
Positive missed tackles.

As happy as I am that we're picking a more traditional blindside again (being that sort of player myself) I can't help but feel that anything Haskell can do, Ewers can do better.

 

[TheSaffycen]

At least two (and I think the third) were in the last ten minutes when he was rushing up very quickly trying to nail Wales in their half.
Positive missed tackles.

As happy as I am that we're picking a more traditional blindside again (being that sort of player myself) I can't help but feel that anything Haskell can do, Ewers can do better.

I would say Haskell is a much better poacher. Really good at getting over the ball and distrupting the opposition, it was like we had a couple of 6.8s . Ewers is a better tight carrier and hits much harder, but I would put him at 8. I know that his strongest position is 6, but Hask and Robshaw slow down the ball so well together that Ewers job can just be hitting things and carrying from 8. Also 3 guys hitting so many rucks would be great. That was the problem with 3 6s before (carrying) but that wouldn't happen with Ewers at 8 or 20.

 

[ratsapprentice]

I think Ewers slows down the ball just as much, he just does it in the tackle rather than on the ground.

 

[goodNumber10]

Haskell, missed tackle aside, was excellent.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Haskell, missed tackle aside, was excellent.

I agree.

 

[TheSaffycen]

I think Ewers slows down the ball just as much, he just does it in the tackle rather than on the ground.

I would like to see both of them with our new idea of choke tackling. I don't think any other team has ever tried it before and it's awful that we would ever do that, hopefully we don't do it against Ireland and win in Dublin...