[2015 Six Nations] Wales vs England (Round 1)

[goodNumber10]

I feel like your moniker is a joke, so perhaps I shouldn't rise to this, but to respond to your points (I'm being generous) quickly: 1.) I watched most of those games and never saw it, whilst I saw it when Ford and Flood played. 2.) The player kicking the ball either slows the ball down or makes the opposition commit more players to the ruck. 3.) Yes, Farrell's passing makes me sigh too.

1: then you are blind, or just ignoring it.
2: I understand what it does fine - it just, unless it's another incident to the one i flagged up at 54 minutes it never happened in the way you're claiming .
3: it's not Farrell i'm sighing at.

 

[msf]

Are you sighing at your own debating skills? If so, I have to concur. Just a tip, if you're not a kid then sighing in response to a point someone has made makes you seem like a kid. Just for the record, I think Farrell is a decent player, but if this England team is ever going to win a world cup then he won't be the starting 10.

 

[goodNumber10]

Are you sighing at your own debating skills? If so, I have to concur. Just a tip, if you're not a kid then sighing in response to a point someone has made makes you seem like a kid. Just for the record, I think Farrell is a decent player, but if this England team is ever going to win a world cup then he won't be the starting 10.

i must say that I think it's pretty cool that when you're points are proven wrong you don't answer the point and instead resort to petty insults and belittlement.

 

[msf]

Haha, good one. If you really want to challenge yourself, try to explain what you were sighing at. You will realize (if you have enough brain cells) that you were sighing because you didn't have a comeback. Anyway, you are clearly someone it isn't worth debating, so perhaps I should be grateful for your juvenile response.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I think we can all agree that had Magnus Lund been on that flank that the try would not have been scored.

 

[ratsapprentice]

If Dave Ewers was there we would be mourning the unfortunate death of a young Welsh international.

 

[goodNumber10]

Haha, good one. If you really want to challenge yourself, try to explain what you were sighing at. You will realize (if you have enough brain cells) that you were sighing because you didn't have a comeback. Anyway, you are clearly someone it isn't worth debating, so perhaps I should be grateful for your juvenile response.

Aye. Because it's all about my *sigh*.

Maybe if your points were factually correct you'd have got a sensible response.


Also lol @Rats.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

If Dave Ewers was there we would be mourning the unfortunate death of a young Welsh international.

Probably for the best as the WRU would most likely foot him the bill after he ploughed straight through the post later on in the game.

 

[ratsapprentice]

You have to factor in the cost of treating 60,000+ cases of PTSD and the lack of revenue from an empty Millenium Stadium in the coming years too.
Would have been a mare.

 

[goodNumber10]

Dave Ewers is a cream puff.

You know it and I know it.

 

[msf]

This guy is an obvious troll - he edited his post because he realized that sighing again would make him seem like the child I was suggesting he was.

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Just pointing it out so no one else wastes their time debating him.

 

[goodNumber10]

Seriously, what's the point in conversing with you sensibly? You are wrong about the Ford ruck incident, you're wrong about the short lines only being run by Ford you're wrong about Youngs being dropped because of Farrell (which in itself is hilarious).

so you start with name calling? Yet i'm the kid?

mate, it's not my fault you started getting all aggy when i pointed out your anecdotal evidence is factually incorrect. That's fine, you don't have to have the same opinion as me it'd be a boring place if we all had the same opinion but when your points are shown to be wrong you start insulting me.... and then i'm the troll?

 

[msf]

Haha, you don't know the meaning of anecdotal obviously...I called you a troll because you edited your post when you realized that it made my point for me.

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Anyway, I will ignore your posts from now on and I suggest you do the same.

 

[goodNumber10]

yes, the fact i actually gave you a reference point to check when all you did was say "i watched them" is a great indication of me not understanding Anecdotal.

I edited my post because i thought of something better to say to you, if that makes me a troll so be it.

Also good job on avoiding answering any of my points.

 

[martinspoonboy1]

As Harry Enfield's scousers would say "calm down, calm down". Save your arguments for Big Ewis! Where is that guy? Haven't seen much of him round here lately!

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Some say Dave Ewers could have outsung the entire Welsh crowd by himself.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Ever played skyrim, when you can do that shout that sends people flying?
It's like that but in time to music. There would be no survivors.

 

[ratsapprentice]

His hunch focuses his lungs.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Having rewatched the game I thought that there were a lot of standout performances from players who don't typically get a great deal of credit.

Its difficult to overstate the importance of such a strong set-piece to how that game panned out.
Crucial to that for me was Hartley who rarely gets the plaudits. I also felt he was excellent in defence and really led us well in the contact area. He made two big mistakes when he put his head down and ran, getting isolated but I can forgive that for the strength of the set-piece and his defence.

Ben Youngs had his best England game since about 2010... added to which gave us in my opinion the best half-back pairing for a good many years. Youngs was able to keep Wales' fringe defence honest in a way Care hasn't really done for a while, and his physicality in defence and even going forward, was important.
I think its childish to deny that defenders make some ground against Ford, much more so than Farrell, it's plain dishonest to say otherwise, but ultimately he's a good defender and his overall game unlocked a level of attacking performance we've never been close to previously. That's just my opinion, I feel we went up not only a gear but actually a couple of gears.

I felt the balance between Attwood and Kruis was really excellent, and Kruis proved an exceptionalyl suitable replacement for Launchbury with his rucking and athleticism...he was honestly everywhere, hitting rucks, chasing the charge down.

The flankers were immense - and don't seem to be getting full credit for it. Haskells carrying was excellent, in the first ten minutes alone he went right through Sam Warburton which isn't done easily. The fact is that Warburton was really outplayed, and going back to this thing about a proper openside, it's all very well if it works, but if you're not on top at the breakdown I think it's good to offer something else. This isn't a criticism of Warburton, who is hugely busy in all facets, its more a defence of Robshaw and Haskell who are very underrated players. Robshaw is a very smart rugby player I've noticed and unlike many players, you don't seem him diving into contact without knowing he has support....his technique of turning as the tackle comes in is excellent so he can present the ball.

For me Vunipola was disappointing until the final 30 when, weirdly, he came into the game. Showed a level of fitness hitherto unsuspected! I think what we saw though yesterday is even when he's not playing well, he draws in defenders and can create space if you have the half-backs to exploit that - and yesterday we did.

Really happy with the inside and outside backs too. Burrell was quiet but showed a great ability to free the arms and offload, Joseph showed the sort of magic we've missed, and Watson looks like on hell of a player. May made a few mistakes but hey, was Englands most improved player in the autumn!

As for Wales? I'm going to sound a bit 'I told you so' but a few years ago when Wales were dominating the six nations I said that what they mustn't do is think that they can't improve further, and disregard ways in which to do that. I still think that success at the six nations level could be Wales' undoing above and beyond it, because of a reluctance now on Gatalands part to make changes. Does Cuthbert have as high a ceiling as Eli Walker potentially? Or Liam Williams? He won't make changes but Gatland should. Tipuric should have a lot more caps by now, and Bradley Davies should have played yesterday.

What pleases me is that based on yesterday I think we've now got a genuinely replicable game template, which could, even should, work as well if not better in subsequent matches. Injuries not withstanding, I don't see any reason we can't replicate that; we have a pack big enough and good enough,and some creativity and class at the back to put other sides away. I guess what I'm saying is that in the past I haven't been confident that in the next game we could stay at the same level of performance, whereas now I don't see any reason, touch wood, that we shouldn't. It's simple and effective, and simple here doesn't mean boring or unimaginative.

What worries me I suppose is that I don't think we would have seen that side and hence that performance, had the changes not been forced on Lancaster. I think we would have seen Burrell and Barritt in combo, which may have worked well, but at the end of the day Joseph deserved to be there on merit. As Jonathan Davies said, its moments of class like the one shown by Joseph for his try which wins you games - and I strongly feel we have to factor that into our gameplan in future - all teams need a bit of that and I therefore desperately hope Joseph is here to stay.

 

[goodNumber10]

yeah, agree with pretty much all of that Henry.