[2015 Six Nations] England vs Italy (Round 2)

[TommiG88]

Mako showing his scrummaging ability again.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

If May hasn't gotten him into to touch there.....


Wow....How?! He was flirting with the touchline before May even got to him, but managed to get further away after the hit!

 

[Tony Manx]

Good try saving tackle on Biaggi by Watson..............England's overall defence has been very poor and Brown's absence very telling there.

This, more than their late starting, is going to damage them in the next three games and one hopes that they can score more than they will give away!!!

Not a great performance but leaves us 17 points higher than Ireland against Italy which could be vital....................until May does not get their winger into touch and costs England 5 points...............make that 7!!!

 

[Patchey]

Aaaaand May also failing to tackle like even a semi professional player...

 

[TommiG88]

May cannot defend! How he didn't put him into to touch there. Our back row is missing Haskell already.

 

[Peat]

Hmm. May's not done himself too many favours today.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Pathetic tackling through the middle again and poor work by May - should have put him into touch.

 

[j'nuh]

Nope, not been a great game from him.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Can we replace Croft with Ewers yet?

 

[Aristodemus]

May needed to move him 30cm then, couldn't manage that.

 

[goodNumber10]

Please Lancaster keep Watson at 15.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Can we replace Croft with Ewers yet?

I agree croft needs to prove himself with Leicester first.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Eeeeehhhh.......
We won by 30, scored 6 tried, but I'm not happy.

 

[goodNumber10]

Eeeeehhhh.......
We won by 30, scored 6 tried, but I'm not happy.

I don't think we should be too critical.

Last week was a big performance, so was hard to see them backing it up with a similar performance, especially taking into account that's only the second time for this backline.

 

[Patchey]

What an odd game...

First thoughts, some great attack at times and some ferocious first up tackles, especially towards the end. May was very very poor, Youngs unconvincing. JJ, 36 both looked great. Thought both Ford and Cips were decent. Croft didn't do anything wrong but we missed Hask big time.

I guess my main complaints are that for some quite long passages we looked decidedly uninterested and Italy took advantage. Also, it just irks me to give Italy such unnecessary chances.

 

[Tony Manx]

I agree croft needs to prove himself with Leicester first.

It is not just Croftie.....ANY player who has had a serious injury MUST be given time at club level to get the match fit. Chucking them into an International straight up is stupid whether its Tuilagi, Farrell, Croft or anyone else! This really may be necessary in nations with less depth but not the case for England!

PS Thought 36 was pretty good today and looked an international!! Pleased for him.............

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

It is not just Croftie.....ANY player who has had a serious injury MUST be given time at club level to get the match fit. Chucking them into an International straight up is stupid whether its Tuilagi, Farrell, Croft or anyone else! This really may be necessary in nations with less depth but not the case for England!

PS Thought 36 was pretty good today and looked an international!! Pleased for him.............

Everyone except Cole?

36 does look good in these games it the games against the big 3 he looks poor in.

 

[Jockstap]

Eeeeehhhh.......
We won by 30, scored 6 tried, but I'm not happy.

You should be, had the Italian 10 not missed so many kicks Ireland would have had a higher winning margin while playing a mediocre game in Rome. Kick in the arse the English team needed probably.

 

[Peat]

Italy deserve a wee bit of respect here. They make life difficult for teams they're facing and they've got plenty of danger.

Us, we're still short a fair few of our best players and a little short of cohesion. So of course we're going to make mistakes. We made more than needed but, eh...

I dunno, I'm gonna take this, I'm not gonna be too mad. We saw some nice play, we roughly got what we wanted.

edit: And if Italy had got closer it would have sparked a different psychological response from England, let's not pretend it would have been the same match if whatshisface could kick with the exact same score just with more for Italy.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I think Croft was rushed back into the side because they weren't sure how the lineout would function without any of Lawes/Launchbury/Parling/Wood there - it's gone well enough so far (or at least not bad enough that they've tried to get Croft involved earlier).
Would prefer his bench spot to be taken by either a true lock (Kitchener) or a proper powerful flanker for when Haskell goes off (can we call up Ewers as injury cover for Brown? Is that a thing that the EPS rules allow?)