[2015 Six Nations] Ireland vs England (Round 3)

[Feicarsinn]

[strike]This thread is a joke. Obviously[/strike] I support [strike]Ireland,but have huge respect for [/strike]England going into this game. I knew [strike]the minute the Welsh media started[/strike] being cocky that England would win round 1 against Wales, so let's [strike]not[/strike] have a repeat of that [strike]cockiness from either side[/strike] this time round.
There is huge talent on each side, and in my opinion it will come down to battle of the game plan. Lancaster knows the english defence is weak at the moment. Schmidt will be aware of this. Lancaster will think Schmidt will take advantage of weak defence and change to a more attacking game plan. Will Schmidt do that, though? Will England be so worried about their defence that they'll be forced into errors? Will Ireland be so wary of England's attacking game and ability to score tries that they'll have their focus on defence again and defence only?
Who knows, but it's going to be an interesting game.
If Ireland play for 80 minutes, I think Ireland will win. Schmidt is way too tactical and I can see him playing games and frustrating a less experienced English side. However, if England come out with an improved defence, and let JJ shine, they'll take it.
Prediction: Ireland will win with another boring game because they'll frustrate the English team into giving away penalties.

Read between the lines sheeple.

 

[bw245]

Read between the lines sheeple.

Excuse me for having respect for another team.
I support Ireland 100%, but pretending that England aren't an extremely good side at the moment will get you nowhere.

 

[TommiG88]

O drizzle coming out of retirement in the second half is your only hope.

 

[bw245]

o drizzle coming out of retirement in the second half is your only hope.

lol

 

[chippieolamus]

O drizzle coming out of retirement in the second half is your only hope.

Nah, he doesn't compare to JJ

 

[msf]

Raggs, I totally agree with you, I think Wilkinson made England fans think that it's normal for a 10 to be able to knock players back...Ford is a better tackler than Cipriani was at this stage of his career, who is the only other England fly-half that comes close to him in terms of playmaking and game management. Ford is also the lightest player in the 6 nations, so it is hardly surprising if he gives away a few metres in the tackle. Wade is similar in that he is rarely a speedbump or a turnstyle despite being much smaller than opposing players, the problem for him (apart from positioning, but that is true of Yarde, May and Ashton too) is that wingers' ability in the air seems to be more important than the ability to score tries these days.

 

[chippieolamus]

Wade is similar in that he is rarely a speedbump or a turnstyle despite being much smaller than opposing players, the problem for him (apart from positioning, but that is true of Yarde, May and Ashton too) is that wingers' ability in the air seems to be more important than the ability to score tries these days.

Wade's positioning is much worse than the other 3, couple that with the fact that he can't compensate for it (to an extent) with power like Yarde can and there you have the reason why he's not in the England team. See where he shot out of the line in the Wasps game at the weekend for an example.

 

[goodNumber10]

Ford is a fine and brave tackler but you can't paper over the fact it has a bearing on a teams passivity in defence and that 9/10 seam will get target in games to come.. that doesn't mean drop him, and he's certainly not the only international 10 that concedes ground in the contact but England do need to find a way to protect him because both the Aussies and the Welsh are going to be gain line focused teams come the world cup.

 

[msf]

Just to stir some debate, I still think Tuilagi would be our first choice 13 if we had a world-class distributor at 12. Joseph is an excellent player, but I think the All Blacks would rather play him than Manu. Since we don't have a Greenwood at 12 however, I think the Burrell-Joseph combo has the best balance of all the possible pairings. I don't think that will stop Lancaster putting Tuilagi back in and Joseph on the wing though, since he only seems to have struck on a balanced partnership by chance.

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Wade's positioning might be even worse than Yarde's, but he is better at everything else in my opinion. Yarde seems to knock the ball on almost every time he gets an opportunity to actually do some damage.

 

[LiRFCMatt]

Just to stir some debate, I still think Tuilagi would be our first choice 13 if we had a world-class distributor at 12. Joseph is an excellent player, but I think the All Blacks would rather play him than Manu. Since we don't have a Greenwood at 12 however, I think the Burrell-Joseph combo has the best balance of all the possible pairings. I don't think that will stop Lancaster putting Tuilagi back in and Joseph on the wing though, since he only seems to have struck on a balanced partnership by chance.

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Wade's positioning might be even worse than Yarde's, but he is better at everything else in my opinion. Yarde seems to knock the ball on almost every time he gets an opportunity to actually do some damage.

Eastmond and JJ would be better than Manu and JJ in my opinion.

 

[ncurd]

Will Manu pass the ball to the wing?

 

[TommiG88]

Will Manu pass the ball to the wing?

Who needs the wing when you have manu? He has the side step of shane Williams, the pace of le roux and the presence of Chabal. He's god and could play on his own and still destroy the Irish......

 

[chippieolamus]

Eastmond and JJ would be better than Manu and JJ in my opinion.

Not big enough, simple as that.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Why not go all out and have manu at 9. Such a shock move, nobody would know how to deal with it!

 

[Maverick1987]

Why not go all out and have manu at 9. Such a shock move, nobody would know how to deal with it!

From the base of the ruck .....

 

[TommiG88]

Brown most likely out according to beeb.

Pennell training with team.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Pennell training with team.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

Manu can get used to not playing for England. 1 trick pony who needs to find some form and learn how to pass.

 

[chippieolamus]

He may be a one trick pony, but he's VERY good at that one trick.

 

[ncurd]

See up until the last two games I'd agree with you because England were showing a lack of penetration and going absolutely nowhere. However Ford-JJ-Watson have added the ingredients to make the backline spark back in to life. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to watch England backs who carve defences apart it's like being able to watch Jason Robinson again. So yeah stick Manu on the bench as plan B but I want to see backs who go around defenders, look to pass further outside and don't make complete hashes of overlaps. It's my main reason for wanting May out yeah he's a problem defensively but my concern is I don't like his decision making ball in hand and don't trust it.