[2025 Six Nations] Ireland vs England - 01/02/25

[Saintjay]

On that note isn't the seedings and rankings for the RWC done from November? Not ideal for England or Wales if it is.

 

[Which Tyler]

I couple of journos were saying they think England are becoming cap obsessed. Not sure if that's related to the you need X amount to win a world cup that's banded about every so often.

Becoming?

 

[Jakedood]

The weirdest thing about this game was the tactical element from England. Ireland had 23 lineouts on their own ball, and of course won all 23.

Going into the game (and clearly from the off, England agreed) it appeared like Itoje was the only real challenge to Irish lineout ball.
Also in the first 10 minutes, England looked great in the kick return game, open field running in broken play and Smith was looking dangerous.

Yet then they caved to concede a **** ton of penalties, a lot of which came from unnecessary offsides, allowing the Irish the type of platform their attack thrives on.
England kicked a lot to touch as well, when I think it should have been the plan to keep balls in play, either garryowens or deep into Irish territory down the middle and look to counter off that.

England still look like they struggle to pen teams up in structured phase play, so the way the game unfolded after taking an early lead made about zero sense

 

[Rugbyfan564]

And they're both on Enhanced Contracts, which is more pressure to stick with them

View attachment 22790

And the RFU don't want any more coverage of their finances.

 

[mikebrownsauce1512]

Think people are massively underrating Slendergast's contribution. Conan and Sheehan worked perfectly as tactical subs.

I think Conan is a magnificent player, really hurt us when he came on. Your bench was very good, well played.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Hadn't realised it was CCS there - it's clever alignment by Ireland but what is CCS leaving that much room between him and the ruck/a prop at guard

 

[mikebrownsauce1512]

Hadn't realised it was CCS there - it's clever alignment by Ireland but what is CCS leaving that much room between him and the ruck/a prop at guard

Hot knife through butter

 

[BrokenWing]

Like a bald man with a man bun through butter

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Like a bald man with a man bun through butter

Justice for high but not receding hairlines.

No justice for man buns.

 

[BrokenWing]

Justice for high but not receding hairlines.

No justice for man buns.

High?

There are railway bridges round here that hairline wouldn't be allowed under.

 

[Half Pint]

So a few things not yet covered (I think) :
1) That game was the beginning of the death spiral for Sniff Bostick. By the end of the tournament he's toast.
2) England need to seriously review the idea of ignoring those playing in France. It's tying one hand behind our back. The first XV might be fine, but benches have looked thin for a while. We need the best players qualified for England, for England.
3) Lowe was exceptionally lucky not to get a yellow. When BOK said that he'd show yellow to the next player joining a scrap, he clearly only meant the next *English* player.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

2) England need to seriously review the idea of ignoring those playing in France. It's tying one hand behind our back. The first XV might be fine, but benches have looked thin for a while. We need the best players qualified for England, for England.

Who are we changing the rules and killing the Prem for, though?
Jack Willis the only one who is realistically being snubbed, and as good as he is I don't think it's opensides we're hurting for at the moment

 

[Wasps92]

Chessum to 6, Hill to bench
Willis to start
ACurry starts, with his brother on the bench
I'd like to see 12. Dingwall, 13. Lawrence, but that's not going to happen.

Murley... big question for man-management. If he hits training tearing up trees and determined to right some wrong, then he gets the chance to redeem himself. If he hits training with his head down and the weight of the world on his shoulders, then we can't risk it.

Realistically, we don't have much room to tinker with selection.

If Quirke or JvP are fit, then there's a bench spot waiting for them. Mitchell had a bad game, but has credit in the bank, Spencer starts or stays home.

Harsh dropping a Curry in my opinion, they were both exceptional at the weekend.

 

[Wasps92]

We improved our defence, looked more organised in attack and actually played good rugby in parts.

France are beatable with this England team if we put together a full 80 rather than this brilliant 40 and then poor 20m we usually do.

Not sure why so many people are down on this team, we actually looked like we have improved for once.

Cutting out the individual errors will help massively and is surely one of the easiest things to fix. We can't afford to be falling off tackles like we were on Saturday. I have some sympathy for Smith trying to tackle Aki but Mitchell's attempt at bringing Lowe down was shockingly bad.

 

[BrokenWing]

It was pointed out in something I listened to today that when Mitchell falls off the tackle, Lawrence makes no effort to accelerate from a jog to get there

 

[Which Tyler]

So a few things not yet covered (I think) :
1) That game was the beginning of the death spiral for Sniff Bostick. By the end of the tournament he's toast.
2) England need to seriously review the idea of ignoring those playing in France. It's tying one hand behind our back. The first XV might be fine, but benches have looked thin for a while. We need the best players qualified for England, for England.
3) Lowe was exceptionally lucky not to get a yellow. When BOK said that he'd show yellow to the next player joining a scrap, he clearly only meant the next *English* player.

1) Sill ********' death spiral started... about a week before he accepted the job
2) Why kill the game in England? What's the benefit? 1 more OSF to add to the large roster of international-class OSFs?
3) TBF, whilst it was a little hypocritical, he really wasn't joining / starting a scrap - was it really worth overturning the penalty for? Feels like English one-eyedness to me.

Harsh dropping a Curry in my opinion, they were both exceptional at the weekend.

Yes, it is harsh. International rugby is harsh.
We selected 3 OSFs for the match against Ireland, specifically and explicitly to get to every ruck first, sacrificing power for pace. Next match is against France, and we'll need (much) more brawn. If I'm bringing both Chessum and TWillis into the starting XV, then sorry, there's only room for 1 Curry there (the other still keeps a bench spot).

 

[Amiga500]

Hadn't realised it was CCS there - it's clever alignment by Ireland but what is CCS leaving that much room between him and the ruck/a prop at guard

'cos he's the same as far too many English forwards.

Far to keen to line up his big hit and not smart enough to survey the field in front of him.

Just like this really:

 

[Half Pint]

Haha - I'm English, and I love that picture.
Can't remember exactly what the ref said in response to their confusion, but it was along the lines of "It's not my job to coach you in how to play.."