[2024 Six Nations] England vs Wales - 10/02/24

[dirty harry]

At half time your all seeing eye also foretold us that Englands pack was enhausted.

'I dont know, some of those England forwards looked a bit gassed, after half time I expect them to pick it up'

The actual quote lol.

Are you a Daily Mail journalist? Hahahaha

 

[BPM]

Treat it for what it was nothing more, nothing less. A win is a win, especially over Wales who are at the start of their cycle towards the next RWC. Still, i won't be surprised if next 3 are losses, and big ones v Ireland and France to put it in perspective where England really are.

Who is under any illusions about that though?

I hope we can beat Scotland, but I don't think we will. I have 0 expectation of beating Ireland or France.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

I know I said the win was the most important thing, but honestly.

That was not a good Welsh team.

Interesting to see CCS packing down at 8. He's the future.

About the only highlight was Underhill slicing Thomas in half. But otherwise he still looks a bit rusty.

One brilliant 50:22 from Ford but he otherwise looks like a guy whose race is run.

Fair play to Earl for his try but any self respecting pack should have been looking to annihilate our scrum with 2 forwards down.

No Borthwick bounce last year and, while I know it's a newish team, no obvious sign of a George bounce yet either. 2 scraped wins against the 2 weakest opponents we'll meet.

 

[Duck a l'Orange]

Did Fin Smith make it on? And if so, any impact?

 

[Booboobang]

I feel Borthwick is smart enough to develop into a great coach tbh.
I feel that he needed a lot more time at Tigers to develop it.


Kicking is in all honestly the key to winning the best teams kick even at international level this isn't saints winning at Poundland , he will learn to see the importance of red zone finishing.
You are right about Wigglesworth and I have mentioned a lot on that.

I just think Borthwick will develop over time just should never have been with England

I know a good kicking game is a key component to winning, but if we look at the best teams it isnt the only component, south africa for example probably the best at it have shifted to using electric wingers so that you have other outs when you have space and a distubuting 15 to offer other looks, they kick to set up attacks, not just kick and hope like we do. I dont think you can run a system like saints or italy of a couple of years back and win consistently at international level, but you also cant kick and have nothing on the back end. Kicking gets your attacking weapons of choice into a better position to score, steve just seems to not be interested in developing the second half of that equation.

Lovely guy, dont doubt his inteligence, but nothing from his time at tigers or so far from england makes me think he is interested in taking the handcuffs of wiggelsworth. Horrible feeling we will be 3 years down the line and people will be saying 'oh we just need to get -insert crisis here- right and then steve will finally add the attack....Let wiggelsworth add what he has previously shown he is capable of doing, if its fix x then x then x, what exactly are the attacking coaches doing during training?

 

[Booboobang]

Did Fin Smith make it on? And if so, any impact?

No, care the only back that got on the pitch.

 

[Duck a l'Orange]

No, care the only back that got on the pitch.

Thanks. What a waste of Smith and IFW.

 

[Jimbo]

'I dont know, some of those England forwards looked a bit gassed, after half time I expect them to pick it up'

The actual quote lol.

Are you a Daily Mail journalist? Hahahaha

Haha your reaching, it was tongue in cheek, if I was a journo I think I'd find a more interesting subject.

 

[dirty harry]

Haha your reaching, it was tongue in cheek, if I was a journo I think I'd find a more interesting subject.

Spoken like a true rag journo...

Jumbo the journo hahaha

 

[Geordie]

There's a world of difference between positive and negative. Personally, I think I'm in the middle ground. I don't have a lot of patience for crap performances and I remain highly sceptical about whether Borthwick is the man to deliver what's needed.

However, I do find it tedious that you and other posters solely focus on the negative and can't seem to see any positives.

FTR, my only real positives from today are a win and CCS off the bench.

I can't be bothered anymore....just going to say **** all....

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Thanks. What a waste of Smith and IFW.

Got them locked down for three years, last week, so now SB doesn't care


(Only semi serious)

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Imagine Scotland with Russell starting and F.Smith from the bench...

 

[Lé Ddanno]

The games are dull enough without the usual ******** posters tbh.

 

[Lé Ddanno]

Imagine Scotland with Russell starting and F.Smith from the bench...

Nah Townsend would bin Russell off. REVENGE.

 

[BrokenWing]

Wales once again find a way of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Booh

 

[Mallow]

The game could have gone either way and Wales need to learn when to just kick. That's two matches now they could have snuck a win in the last 5. Regardless, I think Wales are looking very good for a young inexperienced team and they're going to be very difficult to face if they continue to grow.

Can't really say much about England. They've seemed very stagnant the last few years.

 

[BenniMarco]

Deflating to lose when so close but I'd have taken a 2 point loss going into this!

We look weak at 10, I like Lloyd but he's too inexperienced and needs time playing club level.

Lineout was excellent yesterday, makes a big difference that our set piece functioned.

Reffel with some big turnovers too, good for him to get some regular time with Morgan out. Depth is being built quite well currently, pleasantly surprised with the two games so far overall as thought we would be beaten bet 20 in both games.

 

[TommiG88]

Can't bring myself round to watch the highlights. I hope that chap does a min by min analysis again for me

 

[dullonien]

I'm not too disapointed after that. It was a pretty poor spectacle all around, but for a young squad I thought Wales fronted up OK on the whole.

Steward was probably the difference between the sides, he was imperious in the air. As expected the scrum was also an issue, especially when Griffen came on. We still lack ball carriers that can get us some momentum vs an organised blitz defense, because on the whole England's defense ate us up.

I think we can continue to grow, but there's certainly a few problem positions where there's no obvious answer atm. Ioan Lloyd is a way off from being an international quality 10. He'll improve if given time, but his game management, defense and line kicking are all weaknesses. Tighthead is another. Asseratti was OK, but as someone pointed out above, we couldn't put any pressure on Englands scrum when down 2 forwards, which was very disapointing.

Gatland has made hooker an issue by continuing to select Elias who can't throw! The likes of Parry, Belcher and Roberts are fit and available, who can all perform this basic skill.

Tompkins also struggled yesterday. He tried hard, and was busy, but his lack of size and power told. Also, sorry to bring up Adam Beard again, and he was far from the worst performer yesterday, but we really need more aggression and power from the bigger players in our pack. He's 6'8" and over 18st, yet we never ******* see it! Get a lock in there to carry hard and hit hard. I also have a slight issue with Gareth Thomas at loosehead. He get's through a lot of work, but he rarely has any big moments in games. I know Carre has 'issues' with his weight, and his scrummaging still needs some work, but he's the type of player we need atm, because he can punch some holes.