[2016 RBS Six Nations] Round 2: Italy vs. England (14/02/2016)

[Leonormous Boozer]

Sets Ireland up beautifully for a win that game does!!

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Last 20 was decent. Youngs, Ford, Robshaw and Haskell should be worried about their positions. JJ, Care, Itoje, George and Clifford all must have got big plusses for their performances. So nice in the last 20 having our breakdowns actually defended and Care getting the ball out quickly. England looked loads better at the end of the 2nd half but that's not enough to make up for the sack of **** that was the first half.

Also Goode has good footwork... Yeah until he meets a defender.

 

[stus768]

Why does our reserve scrum half always play better?

 

[McTallshort]

Meh, I'm not very happy with that.

40mins of absolute ****e.
20mins of better.
20mins of acceptable.

I hope the scoreline doesn't paper of the massive cracks.

Obviously Italy were not push overs.

 

[Crapspray]

Boy is my face red for defending Hartley last week. Only time he stood out was through mistakes.

I can't help but feel the interception saved us. Italian heads went straight down and let England put a gloss on a poor performance.

 

[Irish boy]

Impressive finish from England Thought Ford improved as the game went on. Brown has been found out prefer Goode

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Youngs didn't have the benefit of having Itojie and Clifford at the breakdown.

Deserved MotM


This post was brought to you by a Leicester Tigers supporter.

 

[YoungScud]

Hats off to england for the last 20, but Glenn Jackson is still pretty dire. You could argue for a card for Haskell, but earlier Garcia kicked through and Nowell blatantly late shoulder charged him into touch. Add that to Itoje's clear knock on at the attacking Italy scrum and you begin to wonder if this guy's ever going to become a referee.

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Oh, and George's offload was sublime.

 

[Aristodemus]

It's nice to see a good honest neutral appraisal of the ref there ^^

 

[back2back]

Hats off to england for the last 20, but Glenn Jackson is still pretty dire. You could argue for a card for Haskell, but earlier Garcia kicked through and Nowell blatantly late shoulder charged him into touch. Add that to Itoje's clear knock on at the attacking Italy scrum and you begin to wonder if this guy's ever going to become a referee.

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Oh, and George's offload was sublime.

Glenn Jackson is terrible, I can't believe he's an International Ref. He's OK domestically here, but very pedantic, NZ refs have gone down the *****ter in the past couple of years. Byrce Lawerance started the trend in the SA vs Aus game in 2011 RWC.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Hats off to england for the last 20, but Glenn Jackson is still pretty dire. You could argue for a card for Haskell, but earlier Garcia kicked through and Nowell blatantly late shoulder charged him into touch. Add that to Itoje's clear knock on at the attacking Italy scrum and you begin to wonder if this guy's ever going to become a referee.

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Oh, and George's offload was sublime.

Completely missed the Italians knocking the ball on just before the 2 lineouts in our 22 (that the Italian hosts didn't show a replay of because they knew it would show a huge knockon). Numerous Italian offsides ignores, only punishing English offside. Coming in from the side of the Italians ignored... Yeah.

 

[Peat]

Maybe this is bias for a player I like speaking, but it's funny how our continuity at the breakdown waxes and wanes depending on whether Launchbury is on the pitch. Pinch of salt for ESPN statistics this close to the game, but we were recorded as losing 4 of our breakdowns at half time and 4 at full time (i.e. none lost in second half).

I can't agree with Youngs being MotM, but anyone criticising him and praising Care should imo take a moment to consider what their performances would be like if they'd swapped packs.

Overall though, same old same old. Which isn't wholly bad, always beating Italy and racking up the points difference isn't the worst place to be, but isn't the glorious hour of the revolution either.

Credit to the scrum and maul.

One final point - Joseph - 11 runs, 0 passes. Either the team needs to be putting him into space where a pass to the winger is on, or he's being a greedy little bugger. I suspect it's mostly the former.

Feel for Italy. Hope both they and Scotland beat someone this tournament.

 

[LukeFitzgerald]

Glenn Jackson is terrible, I can't believe he's an International Ref. He's OK domestically here, but very pedantic, NZ refs have gone down the *****ter in the past couple of years. Byrce Lawerance started the trend in the SA vs Aus game in 2011 RWC.

In fairness, there are very few high quality referees. I fully understand how difficult their job is, but some of the decisions refs have been making over the last few years that have drastic outcomes on matches is ridiculous. I don't know what can be done to address the horrific standard of refereeing, but something badly needs to be done. It is ruining games imo

 

[ncurd]

Maybe this is bias for a player I like speaking, but it's funny how our continuity at the breakdown waxes and wanes depending on whether Launchbury is on the pitch. Pinch of salt for ESPN statistics this close to the game, but we were recorded as losing 4 of our breakdowns at half time and 4 at full time (i.e. none lost in second half).

I can't agree with Youngs being MotM, but anyone criticising him and praising Care should imo take a moment to consider what their performances would be like if they'd swapped packs.

Overall though, same old same old. Which isn't wholly bad, always beating Italy and racking up the points difference isn't the worst place to be, but isn't the glorious hour of the revolution either.

Credit to the scrum and maul.

One final point - Joseph - 11 runs, 0 passes. Either the team needs to be putting him into space where a pass to the winger is on, or he's being a greedy little bugger. I suspect it's mostly the former.

Feel for Italy. Hope both they and Scotland beat someone this tournament.

On Joseph can't think of many runs where he had the support. I'd argue he possibly shouldo of given it to Watson for the hatrick try but support running was pretty poor in general.

 

[Aristodemus]

I think these next two weeks should be good for the England camp, despite what we all think on selection Jones has had next to no time to work with the players. Gustard having more time will also help our defence too. Itoje surely must have played himself into the starting lineup though, I would pair him with Kruis (who was one of the few forwards who actually played well who started). I would also love to see Clifford given a shot, preferably in place of Robshaw but I wouldn't mind if it was Haskell. Such a shame that George won't start all tournament (barring an injury to Hartley), he is such a talented player. The lineout wobbled today and the scrum did last week, I think we really need to up our game if we want to challenge for the ***le.

 

[The Jones Boy]

Give England a break.
This is a brand new team with a brand new coach.
Two away games in the 6 Nations as their first hit outs and two wins.
The manner of the wins is not particularly important the bottom line is they got them and they are improving.
3 months ago this team were at flat rock bottom.
Didn't get out of their pool at their own world cup, they were depressed and disconsolate.
Reams of newspaper were used up decrying the state of English rugby etc.
The fall out was long and intense and the players wore a lot of it, but it mostly wasn't their fault.

Here we are a few short months later with a new coach and lots of exciting young talent and they are winning games away from home.
Eddie is working with the talent on hand to the best of his ability and I can't find fault in his selections or ideas.
Sure the next game will be tough but home advantage counts for a lot and two away wins builds a little confidence. Confidence goes a long way in young teams.
Joseph is a star. He was a class apart in both teams. He broke the line and broke Italian hearts and spirit.
Launchbury looked awesome as an impact player. The Italians were very wary of running near him once he got on.
Danny Care added tempo as the Italians tired. He has a flair for probing gaps that is dangerous in every game.
Watson showed gas and flair on the wing.
Farrell was solid and kicked well.
There was genuine flair on show upon occasion in the second half.
England are only just starting out, it's a long road back, give them a break, this rebuild will take time and two early wins will do them the world of good.
They were a little impatient going through their patterns in the first half and it allowed the Italians the opportunity to break down some of their progress.
The Italians, bar a few bizarre results, are hard to break down in the first 40 minutes for any team in the world.
They have no quality on their bench to maintain impetus and that generally lets them down in the second half of their matches against better quality sides.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Correction: This is the same team playing the same way with a new coach. We *****ed about it before and we will bloody well continue *****ing about it until it changes.

 

[giampy161170]

Hi guys, just watched the match in Rome. As an Italian living in this country for a long time I have to tell you that I have had enough. I think italy needs a reality check, we need to pull out of the 6 nations asap. We are not good enough, not enough grass root rugby at home, not enough tradition or culture of the sport. Once again we got battered (9-40!!!) and it was actually quite painful to watch.

 

[The Jones Boy]

Correction: This is the same team playing the same way with a new coach. We *****ed about it before and we will bloody well continue *****ing about it until it changes.

Its not the same team, Barritt is missing and thats a bonus. Itoje, George andd Watson as a regular starter are advances.
Having Hartleys leadership is a boost. There has to be some experience in such a young team.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Its not the same team, Barritt is missing and thats a bonus. Itoje, George andd Watson as a regular starter are advances.
Having Hartleys leadership is a boost. There has to be some experience in such a young team.

Watson was in the team under Lancaster and Hartley was frequently in Lancaster teams. Itoje, George and Clifford have all had barely any game time. Barritt has been replaced by Farrell, again a Lancaster choice. This IS the same team.