[2013 EOYT] England

[French TommyGun]

Cheers for your input guys so we got All Blacks in 5, 8 and before 20mins so I'll bet on.... NZ 12mins in??? If I win I'll buy you all breakfast!

 

[Big Ewis]

Definitely NZ try in the first 20.

well that's hopeful !

 

[ratsapprentice]

well that's hopeful !

"Judgement day is inevitable" - The Terminator*


*I tried to find the clip of him saying that in the movie on youtube, and all it came up with was a load of chirpy Muslim fellers.

 

[Chikwa]

The battle of Twickenham 2015!
The dress rehearsal for psychological bragging rights take place this weekend.
The Ab's should plant a flag after theirs victory in the middle of the pitch.
Ab's to win by 10-15 points.Ab's first try in the first 25 minutes after withstanding an onslaught by the English.

 

[Patchey]

Come on guys, we all know England will win by four tries and jump to second in the rankings...

What? Why are you all backing away from me??


Team announced just not, same as last week.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Further bad news on Corbs; he's having knee surgery, which I guess will rule him out of the 6N.
Dorian West said the following:

"I think he's having a cartillage operation and it's his good knee as such that he's having it on this time. Hopefully they'll tidy it up," West told the Northampton Chronicle & Echo.

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,9817_9025725,00.html

 

[ratsapprentice]

It was inevitable - without wanting to sound like a doom-monger - I can't see how he can sustain his career with this sort of injury enforced disruption

 

[kesh]

It was inevitable - without wanting to sound like a doom-monger - I can't see how he can sustain his career with this sort of injury enforced disruption

Just when you thought we had a ready made replacement for Big Ted.. Marlers improved alot at his scrummaging, carrys alot more (and well) for Quins too and his still young enough to improve and take on more physical responsibility. Thought he had abit of a geezer attitude at first but his a decent egg i suppose. Not all gloom.

On England, with Youngs and Morgan, we've got alot of go-forward to come on just when the game might start opening up in the middle. Still would rather they started mind. Not so much if we're still close after half time though. It's not going to rain neither by the looks of things.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Fear not, the future's in safe hands

 

[kesh]

He is a big lad, far too early though. Like Henry. You just worry they'll end up cripples by 26.

 

[ratsapprentice]

http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-uni...-discipline-centre-kyle-eastmond-for-walk-out

I had a feeling that was going to happen.

 

[Big Ewis]

It's almost here fellas ! But I'm sorry, France Tonga is by far the highlight of the weekend. Sure NZ are good, and England want to defend their field, but France-Tonga is clearly the rivalry of this young decade. At 2 wins apiece, we're exactly 50-50. Tonight is the great decider of this arm wrestle; the stakes have never been higher, winner takes all. I've got so many goosebumps thinking this text up, I can barely contain myself...
So I'm sorry, but ENG NZL has given some mildly epic and I'll even concede sometimes interesting battles, but obviously it just doesn't compare to FRA TON.

 

[kesh]

http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-uni...-discipline-centre-kyle-eastmond-for-walk-out

I had a feeling that was going to happen.

http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/Kyle...by-following/story-20089814-detail/story.html

Says he was replaced by Banahan at half time here.
Trying to get into the England team without touching the ball. Can understand it somewhat. I'm frustrated that his not at least on the England bench and the snail Goode is.

It's almost here fellas ! But I'm sorry, France Tonga is by far the highlight of the weekend. Sure NZ are good, and England want to defend their field, but France-Tonga is clearly the rivalry of this young decade. At 2 wins apiece, we're exactly 50-50. Tonight is the great decider of this arm wrestle; the stakes have never been higher, winner takes all. I've got so many goosebumps thinking this text up, I can barely contain myself...
So I'm sorry, but ENG NZL has given some mildly epic and I'll even concede sometimes interesting battles, but obviously it just doesn't compare to FRA TON.

FRA TON has my toes tingling.

 

[Peat]

So have at it lads.

Where are we now? How happy are we? What have we learned?

I think the pack has taken another step forwards. There's all sorts of little frailties, but the unit consistently performs together.

The backline is another kettle of fish, except for Mike Brown.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Summed it up well.
Pack, as a unit, is looking solid. Marler, today, played as good as I've ever seen him.
Dickson did all right at 9, but nothing amazing. Youngs was pants, but will always be in the 23.
Don't think Farrell was particularly good. Better today, but overall uninspiring, which in turn made 36 look worse than he could have (though he did himself no favours vs Australia, before a better performance vs Argentina and again today).
Hopefully Tomkins won't be around in the 6N, he was pretty pants. Hopefully JJ ups his form dramatically for Bath, and/or Trinder comes back from injury and continues playing well. We need a good backup to Tuilagi rather than Tomkins who plugs the gap and nothing more.

Ashton was as bad as ever in an England shirt, really needs to be dropped. Brown very very good - Foden did well enough on the wing, for a fullback. Certainly enough to be in the 23 over Goode (though that's not hard).

I'm really disappointed we didn't get a chance to see Wade, and only saw Yarde for one game. I know that injuries hampered both's chances, but it's still disappointing.

 

[ratsapprentice]

The pack (the second row combo in particular) has performed far better than I had anticipated.
I think Lawes and Launchbury have together, cemented themselves as our first choice second row.
Lawes' scrummaging is an issue, but aside from that they have been good in all areas IMO.
Parling could find himself surplus to requirements sooner rather than later.

We have 3 very good looseheads and 2 very good tightheads.
Not much more to be said.

I would like to see Webber given some time from the bench, I feel he's quite a similar player to Hartley.
I love Tom Youngs, but his throwing has clearly been a big issue; even with Parling.

Our current back row works very effectively indeed.
It does rely on us having a strong ball-carrying 8, but I don't think we need to worry about that now (particularly with the emergence of Dickinson and Ewers as potential back-ups).
We need to figure out which flanker is next in line though. Kvesic needs to be given a couple of games.
The pack is settled enough after this series that we don't need to start our first choice pack every game in the 6N, so there are no real obstacles to this.

Mike Brown has locked down the 15 shirt beyond any doubt.
There is absolutely no reason for Goode to be in the squad - I fully expect him to be replaced by Watson.
Foden is - and should be - our back up. Those are our two specialist fullbacks.

Yarde and Wade should be our first choice wingers going into the 6N.
They should be given the tournament to settle in - so unless they have absolute howlers they shouldnt be in imminent danger of being dropped IMO.
Ashton doesn't deserve to be in the squad but I can't see him being dropped.
Watson should be with the squad primarily for experience, but is a viable option as an injury replacement on the wing or at FB.

Tomkins simply isn't up to it. He was probably the best choice as a solid player to fill the gap left by Tuilagi.
I hope that's all he is considered to be by Lancaster et al.
Trinder and JJ are our major options here, I guess it'll just come down to form.
Although I think that it might be a smart idea for Burrell to play a few games at 13 for Saints so that he is at least an option there.
I'd like Twelvetrees to continue at 12. And I hope he can shed some of the looseness from his game.

I'd also like to see Burns start a game. This is obviously dependent on him picking up his form, which I am confident he can.
Farrell is great in defense and he is very intense in his application, but he just isn't very good with ball in hand.
His passes are consistently to the receiver rather than in front of them, and when under pressure in open play he passes extremely hard.

I'm really unhappy with the continual selection of Tom Youngs though.
We look so disorganised in attack when he plays.
He has the ball in his hands for way to long for a scrum half.

 

[Rich Taff]

I think England have taken a step backwards. However, I think that's a good thing for them. They've 'gone back to basics' a bit, with forward oriented play. Before the '03 WC they were playing fantastic flowing rugby, but when the WC came around they resorted back to a power game built around strangling the life out of other teams with powerful forward play (and as they keep reminding us, they won it ).

As commentators are always so happy to tell us, you have to earn the right to spread the ball wide. I feel England have lost their way a bit for the last few years, and tried to please the press, rather than do what they're best at.

I wish we'd seen more of Yarde and Wade this series, and there's also another guy playing centre who's name I forget, and even which team he plays for. Really powerful guy, incredible burst of speed off the mark.

Future looking good, with a really good coach.

The WC pool is certainly becoming more of a 'pool of death'.

 

[Peat]

There's an English centre with an incredible burst of speed off the mark who's really powerful?

Are you sure sure you didn't just invent him?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Yeah, im struggling to think who that is too?
Unless Joseph and Tuilagi had a baby together?

 

[SecondRow04]

Think he's talking about Eastmond. He's fairly powerful for his size, and is rather quick off the mark.