[2019 Six Nations] England vs Italy (09/03/2019)

[Jashay]

Thoughts!

- Robson did well in his cameo. Crisp passing and fast movement.
- Big Joe is an absolute force going forwards, but a bit rubbish in defence.
- Manu works well at 13, even with Te'o inside him.
- Ford looked a bit rusty, but no worse than Farrell. Good kicking.
- Te'o is pants. I would genuinely rather they put Big Joe there.
- I'm annoyed Shields got two tries.

Team in general:
- No competition at the breakdown, really. Odd given that it was a strength of ours previously
- Everyone seemed to want to ship it wide without drawing the defenders. Looked laboured, but I guess that's what you expect of the midfield we had.
- Really liked seeing the running game, particularly with Daly coming up from the back
- Genge, George, Sinks is a cracking front row.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

We've just beaten Italy by 43 and are finding plenty to grizzle about

Ireland, Wales and Scotland managed a combined margin of 34 between them.

Funny old game.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Acceptable performance with ball in hand. Deplorable defensively. I was expecting similar scorelines in at least three matches this tournament, so I'll take this one on the chin.

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

I genuinely think that Italy have a good chance of taking France. They were poor today but they've been impressive so far this tournament.

 

[Mike Rolls]

England looked vulnerable in defence too often to feel happy. At least the penalty count was down - and about time.
Mike

 

[Which Tyler]

I know I've said this about loads of players over the years and I'm sure I'll ssy it again, but I really think Te'o might be the worst ever player to be a Tier 1 international

Be fair, he's not even the worst centre England have selected. Remember Erinle, Farrell Snr, Tomkins, Hape...

 

[duncanb]

Fair result just watching from TV.
Took huge % of chances created.
Defence ok not going to take away 2 good tries from Italy.
Can't see Italy upsetting France as you are blowing out your asses in a fast game which the poor French coaching staff may have just found by mistake.
A bad 2nd half v Wales will cost us,but no gripes.
It shows not only do you to attack but defend as well.

 

[BPM]

A lot will depend upon the Italian injuries. Losing Campagnaro and Castello could be the difference between having a chance against the French and not TBH.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

The amount of Celts kicking up a stink about Joe on social media, while simultaneously cheering on Parkes, Aki, Nel etc. is insane

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

The amount of Celts kicking up a stink about Joe on social media, while simultaneously cheering on Parkes, Aki, Nel etc. is insane

What's being said?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

What's being said?

Just the usual nonsense about England scouring the world robbing talent instead of using our own,
There'll be no English players in the 23 soon
"Cokanasiga? Well that's a very English name isn't it"
"He should be playing for Fiji not England"
Etc etc

Just have a browse under any FB article about him/the game by rugbydump etc.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Just the usual nonsense about England scouring the world robbing talent instead of using our own,
There'll be no English players in the 23 soon
"Cokanasiga? Well that's a very English name isn't it"
"He should be playing for Fiji not England"
Etc etc

Just have a browse under any FB article about him/the game by rugbydump etc.

Ah right, the platform explains a lot, he fails the white test! Its fairly outrageous really, the consensus when we capped Stander was "fair play, RSA gave him no chance and we saw his potential" whereas **** was flying in all directions when it was Aki!

 

[Ainsthrilln]

Just the usual nonsense about England scouring the world robbing talent instead of using our own,
There'll be no English players in the 23 soon
"Cokanasiga? Well that's a very English name isn't it"
"He should be playing for Fiji not England"
Etc etc

Just have a browse under any FB article about him/the game by rugbydump etc.

Well, in this same thread an English fan critizised Italy for having players without Italian names, so...

 

[Duck a l'Orange]

Well, in this same thread an English fan critizised Italy for having players without Italian names, so...

Everyone at some point whines about other countries using foreign players. Surprise surprise, no-one ever whinges about their own country using them. Go figure.

 

[Not Mike Brown's Sock]

Everyone at some point whines about other countries using foreign players. Surprise surprise, no-one ever whinges about their own country using them. Go figure.

meh, i for one will happily admit I would rather not have Shields playing for England, but thats mainly cause hes **** tbf

 

[Which Tyler]

Everyone at some point whines about other countries using foreign players. Surprise surprise, no-one ever whinges about their own country using them. Go figure.

There have been plenty of Englishmen not wanting the likes of Shields, Hughes, Flutey, Hape, Waldron etc to be capped for England.
Actually, I can't think of any foreign born player who arrived in England as an adult, who didn't get complaints from the English.

Plenty of Scots didn't like the idea of Laney and a few others. The French are often upset about their capping of South Africans and Fijians etc.


I think fans only criticise their own nations when there's no obvious link, and excuse those for whom there is (such as arriving in childhood eh. Coka arrived aged 3, his father was in the British Army) where it's blatantly not a poach.

 

[Rich Taff]

Really not in the mood to trawl through the '6 nations visitors' posts, so unsure if anyone else has mentioned -

ITV coverage is abysmal! (though not quite as bad as sky, who seem to think the 6 nations is an England tour of the Northern Hemisphere).
To ensure a balanced opinion, with each side getting fair input, they put together a studio team of Dallaglio, Woodward, Wilkinson and the cheerleader guy who's supposed to be a presenter.
Then, just when you think they can't get any worse or more biased, the commentator announces the 'Guinness Premiership Man of the Match', and can't even remember what the tournament is called when he realises why neither team is wearing a club badge that he recognises.
The BBC don't do much right, but they really do nail Rugby. A condition of ITV having coverage of some games should be that they're not complete and utter sh*t.

 

[BPM]

The England squad really isn't poach heavy at the moment. Even if you take the Islanders out, who does that leave in the current squad? Shields (two English parents) and that's about it.

Even if Cokanasiga is Fijian by birth, he's been here since he was 3 and is 100% a product of English rugby. As is Tuilagi, who came to England as a 12/13 year old.

If there's any debate about the Vunipolas it should be as much about their eligibility for Wales as there is for Tonga.

I'm not a fan of Te'o, but I don't think there's any argument that his mum is English.

Hughes is the only player who qualifies solely on residency and I think most of us would prefer the likes of Morgan in the squad anyway ...

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Really not in the mood to trawl through the '6 nations visitors' posts, so unsure if anyone else has mentioned -

ITV coverage is abysmal! (though not quite as bad as sky, who seem to think the 6 nations is an England tour of the Northern Hemisphere).
To ensure a balanced opinion, with each side getting fair input, they put together a studio team of Dallaglio, Woodward, Wilkinson and the cheerleader guy who's supposed to be a presenter.
Then, just when you think they can't get any worse or more biased, the commentator announces the 'Guinness Premiership Man of the Match', and can't even remember what the tournament is called when he realises why neither team is wearing a club badge that he recognises.
The BBC don't do much right, but they really do nail Rugby. A condition of ITV having coverage of some games should be that they're not complete and utter sh*t.

This is the broadcaster that infamously invited a Scotsman into their studio and ran a graphic outlining his outstanding losing record at Twickenham. I shudder to think what the Sky coverage is like if it is /more/ jingoistic. ITV could desperately do with importing some Project Presenters.

 

[spartan32]

Usual complaints on here about one thing or another, but to my eye that was the soundest beating Italy have yet received and as good a performance as we could have hoped for.

Still a lot of hate for Shields on here. From what I can see he's always looking for the off load or to be quite dynamic with ball in hand, and if it were to come off he'd be pretty handy. He seems to be slightly overplaying, maybe to prove a point, and if he calmed down a little might do better. He's got potential still but not a starter in the current crop of players.

Big Joe!!! What a game that lad had. Just some lovely stuff. Think Jack Nowell May be a little nervous, and rightly so. Really hope Jones gives him a start next week and more game time, as well as a chance to see if he can produce that level of performance against a tougher opposition. Maybe the RWC has come to soon for him this time round.

Good to see Manu romping about and having a good time.

At last Robson gets some game Time and a score and clearly poses a running threat. Young's on the other hand, has he run once with the ball in hand at any stage this tournament? Zero sniping around the frindges, it's either kick or pass. Hardly mixing it up.

May had another good game. He's just getting better and better. With him setting the example for Joe we could have a really potent wing pair on our hands.

Notice that no one seems to be complaining about Daly at 15 anymore. Think he was solid in this game and is such an attacking threat. Wonder what poor old Anthony Watson will do when fit again. Is there even space for him in the team anymore?

All in all it was the result that one would
Expect. England a little loose in defence due to much more focus on attacking a side that is much weaker than them. A healthy score line and a couple of bits of Champagne Rugby we can all enjoy. Very little learnt in real terms but a little momentum gained going into the final weekend. Don't think we can take Scotland for granted. They ran the Welsh very close and if they had taken the huge number of chances they had, arguably should have won comfortably, and you just know they'll turn it up to 11 for us, even with nothing to gain.