[2015 RWC] Warm Up Match: England vs Ireland (05/09/15)

[Ragey Erasmus]

B.Youngs was looking very lethargic in the 5 mins or so before Wiggy came on, walking to the breakdown and getting the ball out incredibly slowly. Got off to a great start but then it was like he suddenly couldn't be bothered any more.

I'm glad Brown and May seem to be working together better, I always got the impression they didn't like each other and it was ruining team chemistry. Ultimately I'd still like to see us experiment with Slade and JJ in the centres for the Fiji game, the 2nd distribution and kicking option is something I'm sure will benefit England greatly, especially if it is with Ford at 10. I'm tempted to consider Wiggy starting at 9 as well to make sure we just get very good basics and bring B.Youngs on to introduce a bit more flair later on against tired teams. England's main weakness is still our ball handling and technical skills. We are trying to play a style of rugby we just don't have enough experience at. I think we let too many opportunities go by allowing the opposition to slow down our ball at the breakdown (or having the SH take too long getting it out). With our backs we should be confident putting in an extra forward to the breakdown to ensure fast ball and let the backs slice the opposition up.

 

[itsonlyrugby]

Tommy bowe was ****e. Worth a squad place?

 

[itsonlyrugby]

Wonder what the odds of Farrell getting a yellow card are? Full of himself doesn't begin to describe him.

 

[ratsapprentice]

he was dominating scrums in the second half of last season- Marler looking a bit off colour too in this department- a pair of lightweight locks and hooker can't be helping...

He was or the most dominant international LH was?

Lightweight locks don't help - but very few people seem to appreciate the value of someone like Attwood.

Brown and May still have a communication issue when it comes to high balls though - there were numerous bombs that they both tried to take, seemingly unaware of the other's presence.

 

[The Jones Boy]

England are going to be dangerous in the RWC
They have lots of young talent and they have home advantage, they have good kickers and they have massive support.
It will take a lot to beat them on their home turf.
Momentum is swinging their way.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

My team for Fiji would be

Marler for consistency
George for the line out
Cole give him 1 last chance

Launch bury has to play 4 to add some grunt.
Parling offers a better option at 5 than lawes at the moment

Wood robshaw and Morgan, best backrow we can put out there. Morgan has looked a million times more effective the binny

Youngs and ford best pairing

Barritt and JJ. Don't like Barritt but the best option we have at 12 now as slade hasn't been tried there ffs

I'd partner may and nowell on the wings as I think they have played the best out the three

Brown best choice

Youngs to come on and cock up important line outs
Vuinipola best bench option
Brookes same as above
Lawes to smash some ppl late on
I'd actually go for Haskell as he covers all back row positions
Wiggs stable influence late on
Farrell to close a game out
And Watson as he covers 15 and wing

 

[McTallshort]

Set piece is still a sack of crap. Line out worked by more luck than judgement and the scrum split too often.

Still its a win against Ireland who are on paper a better side than us.

Anyone think the WC might get dominated by over the top TMO's? felt the 2nd disallowed try was the TMO desperatly trying to find a reason not to award the try. How many phases are they allowed to go back I thought it was only 1?

 

[itsonlyrugby]

No more than 2 phases tallshort. He wasn't in control of the ball anyway,which nobody seems to mind,he can clearly be seen losing control,dropping, the ball ( from the head on camera angle) then landing on it.

 

[The Jones Boy]

I'd actually go for Haskell as he covers all back row positions

No.
No he doesn't.
He's a damn fine no.6, I like him as a player, and he can play 8 because he has the size and the tackling ability but he is never going to be a no.7.
Apart from this single issue I like where your coming from.

I would have really liked to see Danny Cipriani get a look in.

 

[JJFlash]

England are going to be dangerous in the RWC
They have lots of young talent and they have home advantage, they have good kickers and they have massive support.
It will take a lot to beat them on their home turf.
Momentum is swinging their way.

Bullshoite!

 

[Every Time Ref]

3/10 is clearly ridiculous for T. Youngs, I agree with Olyy that the stats don't tell the whole story, the lineout ball we got from him was pretty scrappy, it's not just about winning the lineout in the same way that back play is not just about catching and passing without dropping the ball. He was also good in the loose, as ever - although I think his forward pass is probably being used against him, which is pretty unfair really, he was a hooker in the 13 channel for God's sake, give him a break.

Basically the latest bandwagon is "Youngs is rubbish, Hartley's the best thrower in the history of anything he should never have been dropped" and that's going to be reflected in parts of the press until the trendy view in English hookers becomes something else.

Ford looked good at times but not in the same level in attack that he looked in the 6N, after a great start to his international career there's maybe a feeling that the honeymoon period is over a bit? I hope I'm wrong there, but he didn't seem to really get the line moving consistently, even with really good ball. Maybe it came from playing with Barrit at 12 not offering much in attack? I'm also still a bit worried about his kicking, there was, again, a hell of a lot of kicking deep straight to the back three. I can't remember a single good tactical kick from Ford. Fortunately Youngs kicked really well, which if it continues into the tournament will really help Ford out.

Agree with others that Cole and Lawes were the standout non-performers - Lawes' carrying in particular was really poor. I really do think we'll regret not taking Attwood, he's the best scrummaging lock and he's superb in the maul - attack and defence. I disagree with the poster who said Launch would add "grunt", he's not that kind of second row, but Attwood is and we miss him.

B.Youngs was looking very lethargic in the 5 mins or so before Wiggy came on, walking to the breakdown and getting the ball out incredibly slowly. Got off to a great start but then it was like he suddenly couldn't be bothered any more.

There was one point he sauntered up to a ruck, picked up the ball and casually threw it on the floor. Someone I was watching with pointed out that he looked like he'd just taken a knock to the head, I wonder if there was an incident that everyone missed? I really hope not.

 

[TommiG88]

My team for Fiji would be

Marler for consistency
George for the line out
Cole give him 1 last chance

Launch bury has to play 4 to add some grunt.
Parling offers a better option at 5 than lawes at the moment

Wood robshaw and Morgan, best backrow we can put out there. Morgan has looked a million times more effective the binny

Youngs and ford best pairing

Barritt and JJ. Don't like Barritt but the best option we have at 12 now as slade hasn't been tried there ffs

I'd partner may and nowell on the wings as I think they have played the best out the three

Brown best choice

Youngs to come on and cock up important line outs
Vuinipola best bench option
Brookes same as above
Lawes to smash some ppl late on
I'd actually go for Haskell as he covers all back row positions
Wiggs stable influence late on
Farrell to close a game out
And Watson as he covers 15 and wing

Agree with most however I feel billy has to be on the bench. Covers the back row just as well as Haskell.

I think Watson and May will start against Fiji.

Wigglesworth may be a calming influence but if we are chasing a game I would want care to come on.

I thought launchbury looked pretty poor when he came on yesterday, needs to get fit and I would start with lawes and launch. George at hooker and tom youngs to come on with parling.

 

[TobesHodges]

I would probably have the same team to walk out against Fiji, my only changes would be George to start hooker, with Youngs impact at 50-60mins and Slade at 23 for Burgess.
It would be managerial suicide to not play May after that kind of performance, haven't seen an English winger play like that for a long time..

 

[big ginger 8]

There was one point he sauntered up to a ruck, picked up the ball and casually threw it on the floor. Someone I was watching with pointed out that he looked like he'd just taken a knock to the head, I wonder if there was an incident that everyone missed? I really hope not.

Yeah I'm pretty sure a stray elbow caught him a ruck or two before that.

 

[Japhet]

No.
No he doesn't.
He's a damn fine no.6, I like him as a player, and he can play 8 because he has the size and the tackling ability but he is never going to be a no.7.
Apart from this single issue I like where your coming from.

I would have really liked to see Danny Cipriani get a look in.

Not being a 7 hasn't hindered Robshaw.

 

[chippieolamus]

There was one point he sauntered up to a ruck, picked up the ball and casually threw it on the floor. Someone I was watching with pointed out that he looked like he'd just taken a knock to the head, I wonder if there was an incident that everyone missed? I really hope not.

I remember that, it was because he thought Owens was still playing advantage and he wanted the penalty. Turns out it was advantage over.

 

[Every Time Ref]

I remember that, it was because he thought Owens was still playing advantage and he wanted the penalty. Turns out it was advantage over.

Usually when a player does that it's obvious though - there's almost a standard process to it, crouch, bounce ball forward into ground and back into hands, stand up and move to penalty location. This incident didn't look like that, it really looked to me like he meant to pass the ball and it came out wrong.

Yeah I'm pretty sure a stray elbow caught him a ruck or two before that.

I didn't see that. If it is indeed true it's really worrying, because it's another incident of a potential concussion being missed and the player playing on. If it was wooziness from a knock to the head which made him drop that ball - imagine he'd decided instead to snipe round the base, been tackled and taken another knock to the head on landing.

 

[TommiG88]

I would probably have the same team to walk out against Fiji, my only changes would be George to start hooker, with Youngs impact at 50-60mins and Slade at 23 for Burgess.
It would be managerial suicide to not play May after that kind of performance, haven't seen an English winger play like that for a long time..

More chance of Nowell being 23 as he can cover full back, wing and 13. Farrell on the bench to cover 10 & 12.

 

[Every Time Ref]

More chance of Nowell being 23 as he can cover full back, wing and 13. Farrell on the bench to cover 10 & 12.

Nowell can cover those positions form the pitch too though. May's performances in the warm ups have really put the cat among the pigeons, I thought Nowell and Watson were nailed-on starters but he has been superb. Maybe Watson the one to sit on the bench, covering wing and fullback with Nowell covering 13 from the pitch and Farrell covering 10 and 12.

On another note does anyone else think JJ was a bit off the pace today? Messed up an overlap and looked very unthreatening in attack. I'm a big JJ fan but for the first time since he's been playing for England I thought he was disappointing.

 

[ratsapprentice]

No **** - he was playing with an attacking non-entity inside him - that's the problem with Barritt.

Certainly don't think he either messed up that overlap or looked unthreatening - the tackler tackled him pretty much as soon as he received the pass.