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England EPS 2017/18 edition.

TobyBeastTeague said:
I thought that the only noticeable impact of the altitude was in the kicking.
Click to expand...

Agreed. The team wouldn't have scored that May try at the end if we were struggling with the altitude.

It's very like the 2010 football tournament. Few teams got use to the thin air went it came to the ball, hence why it was a terrible tournament.
 
Having watched the game again.

- Poor missed tackle from Pollard, but a strong, strong hand off from Brown for the first try.
-Sinckler is the first man to the ruck after the May/Youngs break.
- Billy Dropped the ball on the restart.
- Very harsh penalty against Sinckler for holding on - Vermeulen was taken off his feet almost immediately. Not the strongest clearout from Isiekwe on Kolisi, but the penalty was given after a fraction of a second. Too quickly IMHO.
- Penalty against Itoje for closing the gap - does a very sneaky trick where he runs back and forward and very slightly to the right, so it's not as obvious that he's moving across - unfortunately, the ref was watching him specifically. Good spot from him.
- Penalty against George for not rolling is incredibly harsh. Boks were moving the ball in/before the tackle very well.
- Good pressure from Isiekwe on Faf's box kick - Sinckler with a nice basketball pass back to Itoje, goes to Ford, who straightens, draws in his outside defender, gives it to Brown. Boks tacking very well close in, good clearout from Isiekwe prevents a steal from Vermeulen. Incredible offload from Slade takes out 3 defenders for brown to go. A couple of really strong clearouts and carries from Isiekwe. Beautiful work from Ford and May for Daly's try.
- Vermeulen is a problem - it took 3 guys to clear him out just before that try - Billy just fell off him, Farrell did good work and Itoje cam in to finish him off.
- Isiekwe first man in to make the tackle on Vermeulen from the box. Good return kick from Daly, forces Le Roux to make a poor clearance.
- Nice direct carry from Slade, make a few metres, quick ball. Then that phenomenal pass from Ford to May for Farrell's try.
- The second Penalty on George is incredibly harsh - Mako and Curry made a good steal. 18:25 on the match clock if you want to watch it.
- Very tight spacings on the blindside between the ruck and Brown, but not enough of a press - they should have been more spread out. It allows Nkosi to get right up to the try line by just outpacing Brown in the 5m channel. Faf Scores. 19:40 on the clock
- It's noticeable just how fast Isiekwe is getting back to his feet after tackling and rucking - he's playing very well.
- Ref calls a knock on from Daly after he jumps to collect a high ball - was actually knocked back by Dyanti.
- Very harsh short arm penalty against Sinckler for a fractional early engage at the scrum from that "knock on".
- Our defensive alignment off that scrum seems off to me - tight in looking to press, but not actually pressing (as it was earlier), so we just having to drift because SA are passing beyond the edge.
- Nice rip from Slade in the tackle. Jonny May summons his inner 13 year old.
- Good scrum - not moving forward, but perfectly still for Youngs to give good service. Daly makes what would have been a very good kick if it went where he wanted it to! Acres of space. Good decision - poor execution. Having said that - If we had someone faster on instead of Brown, the pass outside would have made more sense.
- Itoje tries to Steal the ball from the resulting lineout, but Mako doesn't lift him. Need to work on our defensive LO's. 25:35. Curry rushes up a bit too much, should have spread a bit more, not a major mistake - still makes the tackle with Ford.
- Another good scrum. Ball kicked, good defensive pressure for a couple of phases. Isiekwe with a good tackle after a Brown miss on Nkosi.
- A few phases later: ball is spread from ruck in left 5m channel, goes wide quickly and Brown is standing outside the 10m channel, with Am and Nkosi inside it... they breeze past him, Slade makes the tackle on Am, Daly on Nkosi. Brown is exposed horribly for pace. Thankfully, Mako makes a strong turnover - Youngs misses touch. Slade and Isiekwe make the tackle on Pollard returning the kick.
- Isiekwe steps out of the line to block Faf's pass, but George doesn't press with him, so Faf get's an offload to De Allende, who breaks Slade's tackle. Brown steps in, plants his feet, De Allende offloads to Nkosi who only has to beat George and Youngs.
Grubbers it, Daly fluffs the put down, try. 28:55. Not a great tackle from Slade, Brown shouldn't have pressed so hard, Daly shouldn't have ****** up. Brown didn't even bother chasing.
- Good carry from Sinckler, but Vermeulen isn't removed from the ball by George or Farrell.
- Isiekwe again jumps out of the line to try and pressure De Klerk, who again gets an offload. Shortly after misses a tackle on Du Preez after pressing on him - is this actually why he was removed? Not supposed to be doing it?
- Not sure what they are doing defensively for the Nkosi try at 33:15. But SA had a 6 on 3. My gut feeling is that May needed to drift and trust Daly or Slade to make the tackle on Le Roux.
- Silly mistake from Robshaw on the restart - goes offside. Still quite harsh.
- Isiekwe taken off, Shields on.
- George pinged again - again, it's incredibly harsh, ref allowing himself to be conned by Faf. Immediate high tackle (and good, but immaterial steal) by Maro.
- Good maul defense. With good disruption of the following ruck by Curry and Shields. Sinckler secures the ball nicely.
- Again - incredibly harsh penalty for closing the gap at the lineout. About as pedantic as you can get. Pretty good defence of the maul, however.
- Once again - our defensive shape is being exploited horribly - they are passing beyond our edge and exploiting Brown extremely easily. It's odd - they're staying tight but not pressing at all. My gut feeling says Slade should either be pressing harder or drifting faster. But I don't honestly know - because they're all doing the same thing. Add the lack of pace outside him and it's a horror show.
- Mako with another great turnover to end the first half. Farrell kicks it.

General points:
Isiekwe was playing very well, but there were two occasions he jumped out of the line to block a pass from Faf and his inside man didn't make a tackle, or didn't stop the offload and the ball went clear. Is this actually why he was replaced?
George was playing well too, he was being penalised harshly, IMO.
Curry not smashing anyone, but doing a fine lumberjack impression. Good stuff.
Scrum was going very well.
Defense was consistent in what it was doing, and being exploited consistently because of it.
Are they doing what they're supposed to and it wasn't working, or were they not doing what they were supposed to? I don't know, in all honesty.
Vermeulen needs to be hit hard if you want to remove him from the ball.

Will do the second half in a bit.
 
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Interesting that the only two times you mention our "can't do without" player he's dropped the ball and fallen off a tackle. Sure he'll be better in the second half.
 
Second half

- Good break from the Boks.
- First scrum is good.
- Second scrum is good. But our defensive line is in sooooo tight, and not pressing at all. Daly's our last defender and he's not even in the 10 metre channel. He put's good pressure on Le Roux - if he didn't then it was a walk in for Dyanti. Very crucial from Elliot.
- Pen against SA for leaning at the scrum, Shields gets good pressure on the throw at the lineout - he's very fast up.
- Curry gets cramp at 46 mins.
- Shields slows the ball nicely.
- Daly comfortably defuses a fairly unthreatening bomb.
- Shields again puts pressure on their jumper. Itoje sacks it nicely but doesn't roll, he must have thought it was a maul and was latching. Pollard misses the PK.
- Itoje penalised for a high tackle on Faf. The kick is good.
- SA get really good pressure on Daly as he takes a bomb, Shields does well to prevent a possible turnover. A couple of good phases, and Ford's clearance hits Sinckler - accidental offside. Ford's fault.
- Good scrum. Still going well, even with Du Toit and Kitshoff on the field. Defensive shape looks a little better? Maybe?
- Very powerful scrum from SA. Looks to me like it's Du Toit and Mbonambi coming in on George that does it 55:00. Pollard hits the post.
- Itoje gets a strong turnover, but it goes back for a "rip forward" from Billy. Still unsure of the laws around stripping the ball.
- Sinckler comes off - SA with another strong scrum - again, it's Du Toit on George.
- Shields and Itoje's linespeed forces a fumble, Daly kicks it dead.
- Some good play in our own 22 leads to a great break from Curry - Shields first man in to secure. Ball gats shifted ot the opposite 5m channel, but Faf tackles Slade, forcing a knock on. He was, however, never on side - no-one spots it.
- Mako and George very tight to each other on the next scrum, trying to nullify Du Toit, but he's still getting through.
- Shields with good pressure at the breakdown. Then Mako gets a yellow - it's never a card. Bullshit YC, frankly. Faf has the ref eating from the palm of his hands.
- Another harsh penalty at the LO/Maul - early drive, it's marginal to say the least. SA get a try a couple of phases later - just some good, powerfulphase play from the Boks. Maybe you could say Curry was too easily shepherded away from his gaurd position in that set, but... really, it was just good play. Curry cramping again - maybe would have spread the defensive line a bit better if he wasn't. But I don't think it really made a difference.
- Shields take a good LO throw from LCD. Penalty advantage for SA offside in the lineout.
- Strong carry from Billy - the ball is passed cleanly, but Hughes is very late in to secure it.
- Another good throw and take from LCD to Robshaw. Poor mauling though and we are always going backward.
- Couple of nice tight carries from LCD and Shields, lead to advantage. Another good hard carry from Slade leads to some decent space on the blindside, but it's only Ford there. Itoje gets the try a couple of phases later. Farrell doesn't convert.
- Astute tactical kicking leads to some nice territory - keeping SA in their own 22.
- Itoje drive through the SA maul - Shields steals the ball. Good stuff.
- Slade comes in for another strike run, but is met on the gain-line and knocks it on. SA make a break and get to our 22, Brown with a brilliant steal. We try to run it out, notable clearout from Williams, nice half-break from LCD. But Robshaw concedes a pen for holding on around the halfway line. Pollard slots it.
- YC period over. Marler on, Solomona replaces Ford.
- Slade continues to carry well into traffic.
- Definitely some better tight carrying from the forwards from the 70th minute onward.
- Vermeulen survives the clearout from Marler and Hughes concedes a pen for holding on.
- Hughes is held up and has the ball ripped. We get the ball back, Slade makes another great offload, Shields commits his man, makes a good pass, Daly does the same - Jonny May gasses everyone. Try.
- Billy still carrying hard. Francis makes a pass to no-one inside our own 22, massive pressure. Hughes makes a nice break. Shields with a solid clearout.
- We have LO on their 10m line - Snyman clocks it's going to Robshaw and makes a great steal. LCD's throw was bang on - it was a good intercept. 70:40 if you want to have look.
- Nice hard tackling by Williams, but that's the game.

Vermeulen is a big problem. He's not doing anything illegal - he's just really good over the ball. You need to ******* smash him, it's as simple as that.

Du Toit is potentially a big problem - he was the major reason behind SA's successful scrums in the second half IMO. He got past Mako onto George very well.

Our defensive shape seemed to be a bit better in the second half. Looked more up-and-out as opposed to whatever it was in the first half.

I still didn't see any huge, noticeable impact of altitude.

Old Hooker said:
Interesting that the only two times you mention our "can't do without" player he's dropped the ball and fallen off a tackle. Sure he'll be better in the second half.
Click to expand...

He carried decently throughout the game. Certainly better than any alternatives in the tight - particularly on set-pieces. He's not at full fitness - but tbh, he's still probably fitter than he was when he got his first cap.
 
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Old Hooker said:
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....-jobs-month-brutal-cost-cutting-exercise/amp/


Torygraph story. Up to 100 facing job losses due to cost cutting.
Click to expand...

As predicted, the cost of the East Stand redevelopment has doubled from the £40m budgeted!

I'm glad that they are looking into freebies. A few years ago, I saw a list of what freebies CB reps get, it's beyond belief. If there is a genuine need for them all to meet and discuss rugby business, then they would be better served turning up without the distraction of partners. Better still, they could do it in a Travelodge somewhere in the midlands, enabling the RFU to save the cost of their perks and more importantly sell them on at their commercial value. The £30,000 saving proposed and rejected is the tip of the iceberg.
 
Fortunately I don't know what that is, or I would feel worse about it.
 
Ta. That's not horrid since Saints at least seemed to identify talent - and how much damage can he do when they're shipped off within 2 years
 

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