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Nobody is destroying anybody here, of that I'm certain.ireland will destroy them tbh 30-15. england are a mess
Nobody is destroying anybody here, of that I'm certain.ireland will destroy them tbh 30-15. england are a mess
i hope Eddie goes with
1. Mako
2. Hartley
3. Cole
4. Kruis
5. Launchbury
6. Itoje
7. Robshaw
8. Haskell
9. Care
10. Farrell
11. Watson
12. te'o
13. JJ
14. Earle
15. Brown
Only a 20 home match unbeaten run, RWC excl. or the hopes and dreams of the greatest little nation on the planet can be destroyed this Saturday!Nobody is destroying anybody here, of that I'm certain.
Nobody is destroying anybody here, of that I'm certain.
Unless miracles can happen in a week and they won't because we couldn't sort out the issues in 2 weeks (we were better I think, marginally), there is no way I can predict anything other than an Irish win.
Its not that I don't think England can't and won't bounce back by the sA tour its just 1 week against a great team that is wining is too big an ask, for anyone.
Only a 20 home match unbeaten run, RWC excl. or the hopes and dreams of the greatest little nation on the planet can be destroyed this Saturday!
England... Hopes and Dreams... lol
I have thought much the same. I hope your rightI've just typed this elsewhere; but it might as well go here; though I'm not sure how much is post-fact justification, how much is hope, and how much is genuine interpretation of events and comments.
I happen to think that fatigue IS playing a pretty big part.
Not only in performance on the pitch, but also affecting selection (fatigue increase risk of injury); but I think that Eddie is beasting the squad, not just before the tournie started, but also during it. And I think he's doing so deliberately.
I think Eddie is treating this 6N as a mock-RWC. He's piling the pressure on the players; he's using fallow weekends to beast them in training so that they're constantly fatigued for 8 weeks; he's refusing to bring in any players from outside of his core squad unless he absolutely has to. He's seeing how far he can push them before performances drop off. Hopefully, he'll use that information when developing his pre-RWC training camps.
I think he sees this tournie as comparatively disposable. He needed his first 2 years (all tournies) to get to know the players, for them to know him, to cut the dead wood, and to develop systems for these players [I think he's underestimating our players, but hey]. He needed wins to establish himself.
He needs 12 months leading up to the RWC to build up to it; when wins are again, all important to build confidence. This 6N, and possibly this summer in South Africa are his best opportunities (as in, the least consequences) to risk losing matches. I happen to think he's found the point at which performances drop off, and that he also underestimated the opposition - pretty much all of the opposition. I think he expected to be able to beast them hard enough for performances to drop; but that we'd still win all our matches except Ireland. Now it may be that he hadn't accounted for injuries, or that he hadn't accounted for resurgence from Italy, Scotland and France; or that he had and the gamble just hasn't paid off.
Of course, in spite of the above, I still think he's got his tactics wrong. Specifically I think the Prem has been reffing the breakdown differently to the Pro14 and Top14 competitions - which is down to the ref.s (it can hardly be a surprise that Barnes, Owens and Garces might lead their officials in slightly different directions at the breakdown); and coaches, have come up with different ways to handle the breakdown accordingly. However, it's also Eddie's fault for not spotting, and adapting to this. Fair enough in November; but after that, and most of the EPRC has been played out; he should have noted it, and changed his plan accordingly.
i hope Eddie goes with
1. Mako
2. Hartley
3. Cole
4. Kruis
5. Launchbury
6. Itoje
7. Robshaw
8. Haskell
9. Care
10. Farrell
11. Watson
12. te'o
13. JJ
14. Earle
15. Brown
Hmmm.
vs. an Irish 15 of:
1. Healy
2. Best
3. Furlong
4. Henderson
5. Ryan
6. O'Mahony
7. Leavy
8. Stander
9.Murray
10. Sexton
11. Stockdale
12. Aki
13. Ringrose
14. Earls
15. Kearney
Jeez. I know this is probably biased even though I'm trying hard not to be... but on current form, of those two teams, the only Englishmen I'd consider taking would be Farrell (and I'd play him at 12) and Robshaw (and he'd be either 6 or a sub). [Albeit dunno much about Earle.]
The English team isn't bad. But compare each individually head-to-head and then tote up the numbers and its pretty brutal!
Of course, playing at home must be worth at least 6-9 points.
Ireland couldn't score a try against France and scraped a win with a last minute hail Mary kick England could have stolen the match in the last few minutes so I don't see anybody winning by a lot looking forward to it England by 20 haha
TBH i deliberately picked the crappiest team possible for England.
Who else is he likely to go with?
I think Hask is more likely to start than Armand.....so the teams likely worse than that.Honestly prob that team lol.
Seriously maybe
1. Mako, 2. Hartley, 3. Cole
4. Itoje, 5. Launch
6. Robshaw, 7. Armand, 8. Simmonds
9. Care, 10. Ford
12. Faz, 13. Te'o
11. May/Daly, 14. Watson, 15. Brown
16. George, 17. Marler, 18. Sinckler
19. Kruis, 20. Haskell
21. Wig, 22. JJ, 23. May/someone else.
Still meh.