[2016 RBS Six Nations] Round 1: Scotland vs. England (06/02/2016)

[Leonormous Boozer]

Ah lads... The article says he said it jokingly! It's mainly him saying he's up for this as much as the native Scots, no reason to hate the man.

 

[Peat]

Ah lads... The article says he said it jokingly! It's mainly him saying he's up for this as much as the native Scots, no reason to hate the man.

On the one hand, yup. This.

On the other, only so many jokes you can hear about people hating others before it gets very unfunny. Doesn't necessarily have to be you being hated, although that certainly doesn't help, but comedy racism isn't a great look whoever.

I don't think he's serious or should be hated or whatever but it's still a bit of a tool thing to say.

 

[Maverick1987]

Ah lads... The article says he said it jokingly! It's mainly him saying he's up for this as much as the native Scots, no reason to hate the man.

Nah lets hope he gets relegated with London Irish . He can be a gob****e in the championship then

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Nah lets hope he gets relegated with London Irish . He can be a gob****e in the championship then

Bristol for Irish?

 

[The Jones Boy]

England by 11

 

[YoungScud]

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. It's really that easy to get people steamed up? Wow.

 

[LiRFCMatt]

Nah lets hope he gets relegated with London Irish . He can be a gob****e in the championship then

But on a different note, I am kind of appalled that Daly won't be starting. I understand not changing the team around too much, but Daly and Joseph are like-for-like players and it is the perfect opportunity to keep the same system but play the better player, which in this case is Daly. Same case at 12, if Slade is to be our permanent 12 then Devoto has to start. Changing our system every week doesn't work.

Also the lack of an actual 7 is pretty disappointing too, Kvesic has been brilliant as always, leading the Prem in turnovers won I believe by a good 4 or so, and yet we go with old-man Haskell. Itoje should be in at 6 too, he's easily dynamic enough to play there and with our quality at lock I feel that 6 could be his shirt for a very long time.

Other than that not many complaints, Mako should obviously be in over Marler and Youngs over Care, but I'm not too upset that Danny got the nod.

I don't mean to keep spamming the link to my blog (actually I do of course) but it's difficult to say everything without copying and pasting it all, so if you wanna have a look at what team I think should have been picked give it a read here: http://fourballsblog.blogspot.fr/2016/02/four-ballss-england-team-to-face.html

 

[Saint4805]

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. It's really that easy to get people steamed up? Wow.

It's incredible isn't it even though the article stated "he joked" after the quote.

It's like Andy Murray's 'anyone but England' joke at Tim Henman all over again. Just giving the haters an excuse to hate.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Mel Gibson stars as Sean Maitland an Australian playing a New Zealander pretending to be Scottish playing against the arrogant nation that is England, in the Summer hit about a plucky rugby team determined to beat the odds and not finish in the bottom 2 of the 6N's.

From the Actor who brought you The Patriot and Braveheart comes a new film about hating the English


Arrogant England: Time to Pluck the Rose.

 

[AzaMatt]

Mel Gibson stars as Sean Maitland an Australian playing a New Zealander pretending to be Scottish playing against the arrogant nation that is England, in the Summer hit about a plucky rugby team determined to beat the odds and not finish in the bottom 2 of the 6N's.

From the Actor who brought you The Patriot and Braveheart comes a new film about hating the English


Arrogant England: Time to Pluck the Rose.

sounds great to me haha

 

[Saint4805]

Mel Gibson stars as Sean Maitland an Australian playing a New Zealander pretending to be Scottish playing against the arrogant nation that is England, in the Summer hit about a plucky rugby team determined to beat the odds and not finish in the bottom 2 of the 6N's.

From the Actor who brought you The Patriot and Braveheart comes a new film about hating the English


Arrogant England: Time to Pluck the Rose.

Good one! Although given Mel's salary demands it might be cheaper to hire Red Dwarf's Chris Barrie to play Stuart Lancaster in the movie "We plucked ourselves"

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

But on a different note, I am kind of appalled that Daly won't be starting. I understand not changing the team around too much, but Daly and Joseph are like-for-like players and it is the perfect opportunity to keep the same system but play the better player, which in this case is Daly. Same case at 12, if Slade is to be our permanent 12 then Devoto has to start. Changing our system every week doesn't work.

Also the lack of an actual 7 is pretty disappointing too, Kvesic has been brilliant as always, leading the Prem in turnovers won I believe by a good 4 or so, and yet we go with old-man Haskell. Itoje should be in at 6 too, he's easily dynamic enough to play there and with our quality at lock I feel that 6 could be his shirt for a very long time.

Other than that not many complaints, Mako should obviously be in over Marler and Youngs over Care, but I'm not too upset that Danny got the nod.

I don't mean to keep spamming the link to my blog (actually I do of course) but it's difficult to say everything without copying and pasting it all, so if you wanna have a look at what team I think should have been picked give it a read here: http://fourballsblog.blogspot.fr/2016/02/four-ballss-england-team-to-face.html

You can't have a team staring the first 6 nations game away with an inexperienced new 6 and 7 and 12 and 13. That would be mental and we wouldn't really gain much from it.

You have to ease these players in. Itoje has been in the camp for only a short time, let him get all the moves down and then bring him in without any pressure.
Kvesic as ignored on here gives up too much ground in the tackle. That's what Mr Jones has said. Lancaster must have had the same problem with him because for two international coaches to ignore him probably means there's a fault someone in his game he's not improved on. Personally I think Fraser is the better 7, but defiantly think Clifford will do really well at 7 in the short term before moving to 8.

I hope the starting team includes either Clifford or Devoto but you have to understand if it doesn't. These are young players going away to Scotland. Not an easy way into international rugby.

 

[Tony Manx]

You can't have a team staring the first 6 nations game away with an inexperienced new 6 and 7 and 12 and 13. That would be mental and we wouldn't really gain much from it.

You have to ease these players in. Itoje has been in the camp for only a short time, let him get all the moves down and then bring him in without any pressure.
Kvesic as ignored on here gives up too much ground in the tackle. That's what Mr Jones has said. Lancaster must have had the same problem with him because for two international coaches to ignore him probably means there's a fault someone in his game he's not improved on. Personally I think Fraser is the better 7, but defiantly think Clifford will do really well at 7 in the short term before moving to 8.

I hope the starting team includes either Clifford or Devoto but you have to understand if it doesn't. These are young players going away to Scotland. Not an easy way into international rugby.

Common sense is always welcome!

This is the first match from Jones and he has done the right thing in going for experience as it is more important not to lose his first match so that the rebuilding starts with some confidence.

Far and away the better way is to bring new players in gradually to a confident, winning side where they themselves can gain confidence in an arena that is new to them!

As peeps will be aware, I am not overly fond of the appointment of Jones but he should be given time without too much criticism to prove himself............or to stuff up, whichever it may be!!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

not finish in the bottom 2 of the 6N's.

That's a bit far fetched, even for hollywood.

 

[j'nuh]

England: Joe Marler, Dylan Hartley (captain), Dan Cole, Joe Launchbury, George Kruis, Chris Robshaw, James Haskell, Billy Vunipola, Danny Care, George Ford, Jack Nowell, Owen Farrell, Jonathan Joseph, Anthony Watson and Mike Brown.
Replacements: Jamie George, Mako Vunipola, Paul Hill, Courtney Lawes, Jack Clifford, Ben Youngs, Alex Goode and Ollie Devoto.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/35490568

 

[Tmartin995]

Billy Vunipola, Farrell and Brown apparently named as vice captains by Jones.
I can understand Farrell and Brown, but Binny always seems like the kinda guy who only plays rugby because he likes smashing into people and not really have much of a brain on him.

 

[LiRFCMatt]

England: Joe Marler, Dylan Hartley (captain), Dan Cole, Joe Launchbury, George Kruis, Chris Robshaw, James Haskell, Billy Vunipola, Danny Care, George Ford, Jack Nowell, Owen Farrell, Jonathan Joseph, Anthony Watson and Mike Brown.
Replacements: Jamie George, Mako Vunipola, Paul Hill, Courtney Lawes, Jack Clifford, Ben Youngs, Alex Goode and Ollie Devoto.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/35490568

Mako not in is bizarre, Haskell is a terrible choice and switching up Farrell and Ford week in week out is not the system we need to play. Honestly playing players because they're experienced isn't a good enough excuse anymore, it's not what we need. We need to place our confidence in the best players at club rugby, which Kvesic, Daly and Itoje have proved themselves to be. Devoto is a different story because he barely plays club rugby, but to omit the others is crazy in my opinion when they play better quality opposition every week than the guys they'll face in the Scottish team.

 

[Every Time Ref]

Edit: beaten to it, oops

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Feel a bit sorry for Farrell. He barely plays 12 for his club and will no doubt cop disproportionate criticism when we don't play like the ABs.

Will Marler and Cole rediscover their Mojos? If they don't it could a behind the sofa kind of a game.

How will Robshaw go, playing in his proper position and freed of the captaincy?

 

[Every Time Ref]

Like many Englishmen I've been customarily miserable about Jones's selections over the last few days, but I've had enough of conforming to type, it's four days to the start of the Third Greatest International Tournament On Earth, pus it's only Scotland anyway, so let's go with some positives.:

1) Vice captain choice. I was as anti-Hartley as the next man, but Jones has set his stall out in terms of the attitude he expects and the choice of vice captains confirms that. Brown and Farrell are both at their best in physical encounters and with a bit of aggro to the game. They'll look to front up and get in the oppo's faces and right now we could do with a bit of that. A clean break from the past, and a proven way (sometimes) of beating technically/tactically better teams. And an attitude which goes a long way in the Six Nations, muddy, attritional, no bonus points and built on old, old grudges between modern industrial nations which in the 21st century really should know better (but this time of year we're glad they don't).

2) The second row. Launchbury is a shoe-in, one of our few world class players. Lawes has been underperforming for a long, long time and it was time for a change. Nice to see Kruis given the chance, offers a bit more of the basic dirty work (a lock's bread and butter) than Lawes. Lineout jumping and one crunching tackle per game isn't enough. You need to make lots of solid tackles, hit lots of rucks, scrummage, maul and carry in close quarters to be an international second row. Especially if your partner is mroe the athletic mould, like Launchbury.

3) No Brad Barritt. Hope this is obvious to all.

4) An eye to the future. Clifford, Devoto, Hill - all uncapped players. Are they the right uncapped players to invest in? Maybe, maybe not, but good to see that without going overboard and chucking in youngsters right left and centre Jones is looking to give some young talent a go from the bench.

5) Robshaw at blindside. It's been said by many people for a long time, myself included, that he was never a seven and it's good to see him getting a chacne to use the skills he undoubtedly has at six. His captaincy tenure had to end, but glad the baby is not being thrown out with the bathwater. For all his limitations, he has consistently performed for England, and in a position better suited to the skills he does have he could be a real stand out performer.

6) No Brad Barritt. Let's just enjoy that a bit more

7) Jack Nowell. Really started to look like England's best winger before being replaced by May before the World Cup (no complaints there though, May was very), and I like the contrast in styles with Watson, May and Watson being maybe too similar. A very rounded winger, good in the air, solid in defence, a surprisingly powerful little runner and seems to read the game well.

8)At some point we might see a flyhalf-inside centre-outside centre-winger lineup of all Bath players, and that's something which everyone will be thrilled about.