2014 6 Nations: Italy vs England (Round 5)

[Toby Sweeney]

Tuilagi is far superior to Burrell every time he touched the ball he broke tackles...

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Clive did make an interesting point earlier about Burrell versus tuilagi. Sure, Manu might make an extra metre or so but Burrell will get the offload away.

Might be controversial but today pretty much confirms for me that Nowell has done better in terms of an all round game than may. The latter did exactly what we suspected which was to get tackled whilst going sideways and this give away momentum.
Nowell runs straight and fast at gaps, and is able to offload. He's also more physical.

 

[ratsapprentice]

The shape of our attack suffered somewhat when Manu came on though.

 

[Toby Sweeney]

Clive did make an interesting point earlier about Burrell versus tuilagi. Sure, Manu might make an extra metre or so but Burrell will get the offload away.

Might be controversial but today pretty much confirms for me that Nowell has done better in terms of an all round game than may. The latter did exactly what we suspected which was to get tackled whilst going sideways and this give away momentum.
Nowell runs straight and fast at gaps, and is able to offload. He's also more physical.

I would agree with that May just hasn't done anything this six nations, reminded me of the way Ashton has played for England recently.

 

[Big Ewis]

well done England. This is still 50 pts in a tier 1 nation's backyard. So it's big. But objectively, Italy may have had some ok moments, but BUTCHERED EVERYTHING. EVERY. THING. They played the slowest I've seen them, despite England's good rhythm, that was just ridiculous in parts from Italy.

I'm very disappointed in Italy. They've got absolutely no chance of getting past the Pools in 2015, and they've had lots of time to progress though. There's NO WAY they're beating France or Ireland.
They show major improvement, and then two weeks later they make you forget everything you've seen and feel like a dick when you've praised them and called them a team in progress.

I never thought England would put 50+ on Italy in Rome, and yet...this is more a disaster for Italy than it is a plus for England, although again England fans can rejoice that their side did score 50 on the road...

But Italy with 2-3 results reminiscent of the old days now...
Where the hell was the Wales/Scotland Italy today ??!!

 

[Patchey]

We 'lost' the game (in terms of points difference) when Tuilagi cam on rather than Ford. Also not convinced bringing Youngs on at a time when our line out was our dominant set piece was that clever. Apparently Twelvetrees didn't train at all this week, presumably he had a knock, so makes his substitution more understandable. That said, Farrell brought nothing to the game in the centres.

I'm frustrated at an 11-52 win, which I guess is a good sign?

 

[Big Ewis]

The shape of our attack suffered somewhat when Manu came on though.

but he's still clearly a step up from Burrell. Burrell was a bit clumsy with the ball today, and isn't nearly as enormous on those impacts. Tuilagi needed 3 Italianos each time today and still bent the curtain, if not traversed it.
No substitute for pure power at midfield.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Agree with rats I thought structure went abit with Manu because I feel that when he's on the pitch, his other backs feel like the ball has to go to him (well, this is the fault of the fly-half to be fair)
But it means that our 7 man back structure where everyone can get their hands on the ball, just goes out the window. We make ground through Manu, but the phase ends earlier because offloading is rarer.

Burrell still has the 13 shirt, no question.

 

[Toby Sweeney]

Agree with rats I thought structure went abit with Manu because I feel that when he's on the pitch, his other backs feel like the ball has to go to him (well, this is the fault of the fly-half to be fair)
But it means that our 7 man back structure where everyone can get their hands on the ball, just goes out the window. We make ground through Manu, but the phase ends earlier because offloading is rarer.

Burrell still has the 13 shirt, no question.

:roflrol:
I'm sorry but I don't get this Burrell hype, Tuilagi was far more effective and is still and will always be a better player!!

 

[St George]

Apparently Twelvetrees didn't train at all this week, presumably he had a knock, so makes his substitution more understandable.

Which therefore makes the Tuilagi for Burrell substitution even more incredulous.

Well i predicted 20+ so 40+ is nothing to be sniffed at.
Well done England, and i think it's a shame that this game has had a cloud over it regarding points accumulation and wasn't just a normal fixture played with cooler heads.

i guess now we will have a few days of tooing & froing regarding Big E's pre-game predictions.

 

[ForensicShoe]

:roflrol:
I'm sorry but I don't get this Burrell hype, Tuilagi was far more effective and is still and will always be a better player!!

I think he's had a great 6N and seeing him play has proven, to some extent, that we have now got some kind of depth in the centre department.

I still remember (about this time last year?) that everyone was fretting about that position.

 

[Aristodemus]

I think Manu is the guy for the 13 shirt, he causes huge problems in defence and his passing game is also much better than people say. Burrell had his worst game in the England shirt for me today, a missed tackle and a poor pass very nearly cost two tries.

 

[goodNumber10]

well done England. This is still 50 pts in a tier 1 nation's backyard. So it's big. But objectively, Italy may have had some ok moments, but BUTCHERED EVERYTHING. EVERY. THING. They played the slowest I've seen them, despite England's good rhythm, that was just ridiculous in parts from Italy.

I'm very disappointed in Italy. They've got absolutely no chance of getting past the Pools in 2015, and they've had lots of time to progress though. There's NO WAY they're beating France or Ireland.
They show major improvement, and then two weeks later they make you forget everything you've seen and feel like a dick when you've praised them and called them a team in progress.

I never thought England would put 50+ on Italy in Rome, and yet...this is more a disaster for Italy than it is a plus for England, although again England fans can rejoice that their side did score 50 on the road...

But Italy with 2-3 results reminiscent of the old days now...
Where the hell was the Wales/Scotland Italy today ??!!

can't you just admit england were way better than Italy? Do you have to spin it into a massive negative for italy, rather than just admit England dispatched Italy without really playing well?

england were just better on so many levels and if they hadn't been chasing points would have dominated them even more with a lot more structure.

 

[goodNumber10]

I think Manu is the guy for the 13 shirt, he causes huge problems in defence and his passing game is also much better than people say. Burrell had his worst game in the England shirt for me today, a missed tackle and a poor pass very nearly cost two tries.

and yet, an outside break and offload created englands first try and broke the dam. whereas tuilagi died with the ball every single time except when he scored.

 

[nobbyrn]

I will leave the selection problems (which are good ones) to Stuart.

Well done England for a fantastic score while on the road, and particularly well done to Mike Brown who once again had a corker and is a pleasure to watch.

 

[St George]

Ok this ref is ridiculous, did he just sin bin him for having teh ball kicked at him?!

No....he sinbinned him for going down on the ball and playing it from an offside position thus preventing the England players from getting it. He should of just left the ball. Fair call IMO.

I'm sorry but can't help but feel this ref is much quicker to penalise Italy than he is England. He's not the only one to do it too, I remember Poite's godawful display last year in Twickers...

Yeah it's all the refs fault Italy lost....i'm actually surprised you didn't castigate Poite for picking on poor Jenkins, the best Prop the world has ever seen

 

[B10]

Delighted with that. Only thing I think Lancaster could of done differently in hindsight.

He said 36 didn't train all week so maybe was ideal time to give Eastmond a go at 12, saying that I didn't think 36 looked bad today at all.

Secondly, why not move Burrell to 12 when Manu came on for the same reason...

 

[Aristodemus]

and yet, an outside break and offload created englands first try and broke the dam. whereas tuilagi died with the ball every single time except when he scored.

He barely touched the ball, who is to say what would have happened if he started. Over the past 4 years he has shown what he can bring, and that is something England want.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

:roflrol:
I'm sorry but I don't get this Burrell hype, Tuilagi was far more effective and is still and will always be a better player!!

I don't see this at all. Burrell has very little experience at 13 yet is nonetheless running better lines than tuilagi. He's made some great clean breaks, has beaten defenders, and for example in the first try has offloaded skillfully and successfully. Manu is great but we are playing better rugby without him than we have ever played with him.

 

[Tony Manx]

I think Manu is the guy for the 13 shirt, he causes huge problems in defence and his passing game is also much better than people say. Burrell had his worst game in the England shirt for me today, a missed tackle and a poor pass very nearly cost two tries.

If that was his worst game then he is the best centre in the world......I do not buy into this hype of Manu who is what the great Nonu and Bastreau were before they learnt that there was more to rugby than just trying to run through everything......Manu did not attempt one pass today and did not even take one ball when he was not standing still. He should NOT have been in the squad and certainly should not have been on the pitch.

I believe that Lancaster et al have done a great job but, like Mallinder at Saints, he has stuffed up many a game by his inept use of the bench........!!