[2020 Six Nations] England vs Wales (07/03/20)

[martinspoonboy1]

Reading this thread,not sure Wales need to turn up.Stay home and avoid embarrassment boys. Swing low innit.

Because,friend,without sarcasm we have little left .I mean, just look and listen even read and you will or might get the jist. There I a reason why England,at rugby are detested. Bizarrely,Welsh sports fans seem to tolerate England football team more than the rugger one.It helps not to have a self aggrandising,arrogant Aussie coach who has little class or respect for anyone. Im expecting England to win by at least 18 points and Wales get really tonked. Hot dogs for tea

You're new here. Gotcha!

 

[Lé Ddanno]

Reading this thread,not sure Wales need to turn up.Stay home and avoid embarrassment boys. Swing low innit.

We got more locks than you, me old mucker. Your boys are getting stuffed.

 

[ThebigARena]

No proper Welsh rugby fan in their right mind thinks Wales WILL win this match. But we always think we CAN win.
Talking about the '99 match, we had no right to win that one either.

Enjoy the game either way, I've got my 90's "hope we keep the score close" head on for this one.

Can 60% Will40%

I will admit Im slightly in the hope camp for this mainly because of returning casualties.

If North gets another knock to the noggin in this game there will be serious repercussions for the WRU.
Have to go deep into the Welsh archives to find his last even decent performance..
Seriously tho the man gone gun shy in contact and for the sake of his health should call it a day, Im guessing the lure of 100 caps is just too tempting for him!

 

[ThebigARena]

We got more locks than you, me old mucker. Your boys are getting stuffed.

Yeah... and we got the ultimate equaliser...
AAron fkin Shingler baby..

 

[AlRums]

This thread is noticeably different to the one before the Ireland game. Before the game, most thought we were gonna get tonked. Now many seem to think we're going to be the tonkers.

I'm always confident in England at Twickers. Our record there is fantastic. We've only lost 2 Six Nations matches there in the last ten tournaments (Wales 2012 and Ireland 2018). We've lost just twice in the 26 home tests since Eddie came (Ireland and NZ, both 2018). Even in the bad old days of Robinson, Ashton etc, we still didn't lose many at HQ. We've only lost 7 times there in the 21 tournaments since the Five Nations became Six. That's a great record.

Yep, I'm determined to jinx us.

Didn't win all the others though!!

 

[AlRums]

No proper Welsh rugby fan in their right mind thinks Wales WILL win this match. But we always think we CAN win.
Talking about the '99 match, we had no right to win that one either.

Enjoy the game either way, I've got my 90's "hope we keep the score close" head on for this one.

Spoken to Jiffy recently?

 

[ThebigARena]

Spoken to Jiffy recently?

Yeah. He predicted an England win

 

[Roady26]

I think is a strong team from England. Essentially our best tight 5 starting. Lawes at 6 doesn't bother me much anymore if he plays like he did last week. Good to see Wilson straight back in the side, I think he's class and he played well last week. I would prefer to see him pack down at 8 at the scrums but Curry has had plenty of time in training to get comfortable there so not too worried I guess. Right shame to see Underhill injured, would have loved to see Curry, Underhill, Wilson again. We were always going to see Youngs start unfortunately, but lets hope that he pulls a good performance out of himeself again. That backline looks pretty lethal and is pretty much the best I think we can field if Farrell is playing 12. Tough on JJ but he would be fighting for that bench spot against Slade with Manu in good form, and I'm happy with either of them. I don't actually mind a 6-2 split now that we have a proper back three that can cover a lot of positions, I think this is intent from Eddie to be very dominant up front in the second half - lets hope it pays off. Plenty of dynamism coming on with Earl, Genge, LCD and Heinz to hopefully speed up the game and poke a few holes in some tired legs.

I think for England this game will come down to disipline and managing the game properly. We need good kicking in behind to get the territory and back our set piece and defence to build pressure. Our attack only seems to work on the front foot - with bruising work in the loose from the forwards and then going out back with essentially three distributers to put the wings through. England need to back their defence and slow Wales ball right down at the ruck, letting players like Itoje, Wilson and Curry make those dominant tackles against a stagnant attack. If things start getting hairy Ford, Farrell and Youngs need to step up and control the pace of the game and get back to playing in the right areas or things seem to snowball quite quickly.

Looks to me like a strong Wales team that will be really fired up to come to Twickers and put one over us, looks set for a cracking game in the dry. I might get down the pub now just to get a headstart...

 

[TommiG88]

In the pub for 3. Poopfaced by 10

 

[BPM]

I get the point you're making about the general coverage of England rugby, but having read this thread again to me it looks like people are saying (myself included) that because of home advantage, welsh injuries, welsh coaching staff changes, etc, England should win. Not that they will win, mind, that they should. Most people then go on to say that they've now jinxed it, or that anything can happen, or something along those lines. I wouldn't say any of that is unreasonable.

I do agree that England get bigged up far too easily, but this is in general far more the media's doing than the average fan. We are also not alone in this. You only have to look at, for example, WOL to see exactly the same thing happening with other countries.

My personal opinion is that another key reason why England rugby are detested is the impression that it's full of a bunch of toffs who look down their noses at everyone else as if they are common scum. While this may well have been true in the olden days, it is definitely not the case now - among the players at least. Of course, walking through the Twickenham car park before a game doesn't really help dispel the notion, but the tickets are so bloody expensive that only the rich toffs can afford them!

FWIW, i think an England win by <10. The fact that Navidi is fit concerns me a little bit, and the fact that Underhill is not fit concerns me even more. Liam Williams i also view as a bit threat.

What i want is a hard fought match without everyone on the pitch gobbing off at the ref the whole time. Including Farrell and AWJ. Incidentally, who is reffing?

Well said. I agree with 99% of the above.

I'm more concerned about the balance/pace of our back row in this (weird) configuration. Wales' back row is quicker with a more familiar feel of an established unit where the three players know their roles far better. Having said that, to go from two months out to test intensity in one to is a big ask for Navidi and as much as I dislike how we've set-up, it probably doesn't matter that much in open play.

On a similar note to Navidi, Williams has barely played rugby in 5mths. As much as I rate him and would consider him a genuine threat, I'd like our back three to really test his sharpness/fitness.

 

[Not Eddie Jones]

I don't actually mind a 6-2 split now that we have a proper back three that can cover a lot of positions, I think this is intent from Eddie to be very dominant up front in the second half - lets hope it pays off.

Thinking about that for a moment, and Eddie's obsession with positional flexibility, looking at this team and where the players have actually played for England, we have:

Marler - can play loosehead or tighthead
Itoje - lock or blindside
Lawes - lock or blindside
Wilson - blindside, openside or 8
Curry - blindside, openside or 8
Ford - scrum-half (according to Eddie he's emergency cover) or fly-half
Farrell - fly-half, inside centre or outside centre
Tuilagi - inside centre or outside centre
Watson - wing or fullback
May - wing or fullback
Daly - inside centre, outside centre, wing or fullback
Ewels - lock or 8
Earl - blindside flanker, openside flanker, 8 or wing (okay, this is mainly theoretical at this point!)
Slade - inside centre, outside centre or fullback

That's some really nice in-game flexibility to have for any situation that arises.

 

[Yoshimitsu]

Can I shake you hand?

In these post covid-19 days absolutely not!.......

 

[Not Eddie Jones]

I think the fabric of reality just tore and we've been cast into a parallel dimension. Every single one of WOL's pundits has predicted an England win, most of them a big England win! Wtf?!?

Not only that, but Planet Rugby have predicted an England win as well.

My confidence is shot now. We're so gonna lose.

 

[perchy]

Sorry.On wrong site.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

In the pub for 3. Poopfaced by 10

Pacing yourself, I like the discipline.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Thinking about that for a moment, and Eddie's obsession with positional flexibility, looking at this team and where the players have actually played for England, we have:

Marler - can play loosehead or tighthead
Itoje - lock or blindside
Lawes - lock or blindside
Wilson - blindside, openside or 8
Curry - blindside, openside or 8
Ford - scrum-half (according to Eddie he's emergency cover) or fly-half
Farrell - fly-half, inside centre or outside centre
Tuilagi - inside centre or outside centre
Watson - wing or fullback
May - wing or fullback
Daly - inside centre, outside centre, wing or fullback
Ewels - lock or 8
Earl - blindside flanker, openside flanker, 8 or wing (okay, this is mainly theoretical at this point!)
Slade - inside centre, outside centre or fullback

That's some really nice in-game flexibility to have for any situation that arises.

Yes, although mainly from a last resort injury cover perspective. Most of those can't play all the positions listed anything like equally well.

 

[Not Eddie Jones]

Yes, although mainly from a last resort injury cover perspective. Most of those can't play all the positions listed anything like equally well.

Not as yet maybe, but given more practice, who knows?

 

[Not Eddie Jones]

Eddie Butler's predicting 39-38 to England.

That's it, the world's gone mad. We're doomed! Doomed, I tell you!

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

This is a really dull build up. Probably sums up the general mood around the tournament, which will just fizzle out with the cancelled / postponed fixtures.

For 80 mins this afternoon let's forget about everything else and hope for some spite, skill and fireworks on the pitch.

 

[Lé Ddanno]

This is a really dull build up. Probably sums up the general mood around the tournament, which will just fizzle out with the cancelled / postponed fixtures.

For 80 mins this afternoon let's forget about everything else and hope for some spite, skill and fireworks on the pitch.

Agreed, it's weird feeling this flat ahead of any test, let alone Wales. Might go and camp in the pub for this one.