England v Samoa

[TRF_Olyy]

This is the most interesting thing. If Banahan can offload through the tackle the back three will run riot. (Just have to make sure Ashton doesn't butcher any more tries!) No idea about Banahan's defence.

Apparently Banahan has a decent offload, mainly because he's taller than a lot of locks, so it's hard for player to wrap his arms/the ball in the tackle :lol:

 

[Charles]

How can Samoa be so bad at scrummaging...

 

[Duckdee]

I guess that was ok, should've taken the early penalties, though.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Took England 44minutes to get going, but I'm happy with the win!
Well done to Samoa, apparently that's the most points they've score at Twickenham, and they were strong on defence, and good on attack as well (Williams especially)
Hape had his best game yet, impressive offloading and ball carrying. Banahan, his missed tackle at the start aside, was alright. Not amazing, but not shite like a lot of people feared. Took his try well, and his intercept too. I wouldn't be upset to see him and Hape play together next week (though I expect Tindall will be back)
Cueto did well in the second half, after a lackluster first. Fourie was a revelation for me, made yards every time he had the ball, very impressed. Was it me or did him and Haskell play reversed? I'm sure, in the scrum, it went 7, 8, 6 along the back row.
Fodens counter attacking was top notch,
Sheridans carrying (one in particular) very strong, and the scrum was decent (though not as dominant as last week - especially when Johnston came on). Easter had another strong game too, this is the best continuous form I think i've ever seen him on, normally he'll have a good game then several anonymous
Haskell was pretty anonymous, certainly didn't do enough to take Crofts shirt, or Fouries bench spot

A lot of handling errors in the first 45mins though, and just generally a disappointing first half.
As I said though, happy with a win. First back-to-back AI wins in a few years


Edit:
Agree with Duckdee, in the first half, should've taken the three points when they could get them, but then in the second half should've gone for the corner instead of taking the three pointers.

 

[Prestwick]

Will watch highlights later but...

...oh ffs we won! Now we have to put up with ANOTHER week of media hysteria!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

...oh ffs we won! Now we have to put up with ANOTHER week of media hysteria!

I've taken to only reading Planet Rugby and, at a push, the BBC site, they tend to be fairly impartial. I shudder to think what Barnes/Guscott put in their columns
It's a good thing the tabloids don't like rugby, imagine if the England football team won two matches in a row :lol:

 

[Charles]

Good effort by Samoa. I thought their defense was ourstanding at times, countering wave after wave of english attacks. Not many penalties in the rucks either...

 

[Prestwick]

I've taken to only reading Planet Rugby and, at a push, the BBC site, they tend to be fairly impartial. I shudder to think what Barnes/Guscott put in their columns
It's a good thing the tabloids don't like rugby, imagine if the England football team won two matches in a row :lol:

You know I was THIS close to posting a load of ************ clips...then realised I was at work

 

[veux]

Fourie was quality - though in the first half he should have done less pick and drives. Hape was great today, if he keeps it up he'll be the starting 12 come world cup. 29 as well so not too old. Pleased with Banahans game, look at what a few international tests have done for Hape - if we keep Banahan as our 13 for the world cup he'll be top class come the world cup.

Back three were good.

Anyone else think at times Youngs + Floods passing was pretty poor as well.

 

[Sam Owen]

We lost by 13 so it does hurt a bit but the experience alone was valuable for us. Good game England.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I think Youngs/Flood didn't have their best games at all.
Not sure where it went wrong with them, they still played well, but definately not as well as the last two weeks.

 

[Prestwick]

Well here is the $64,000 question: would England be able to win the (hypotheitcal) return fixture in Samoa?

 

[iWin]

Yes. England would definitely be able to.
Would they actually do it? Your guess is as good as mine, and mine would still be yes.

Samoa never looked dominant in any aspect and it was more England's errors that let them into the game.
Penalty count was too high and there were too many unforced errors.

On the subject of Banahan, I think the best way to describe his performance is 'not bad'. Didn't shine, but certainly worked harder to correct his mistakes than Tindall has done and scored & set up a try.
Hape looked good again, although I would have picked both wingers (Cueto my personal choice) as man of the match ahead of him.

 

[cardassian]

Congrats England, haven't seen this yet but am looking forward to watching it later.

 

[shtove]

Samoa defence was great. Mapusua is a smart guy, watching England's moves from deep and waiting for them with a giant axe dripping with blood. They will cause problems in New Zealand.

England were pretty good. Banahan didn't really get a chance to set up the back three, so that was disappointing. The commentators made an interesting point about Flood and Hodgson working together in the last few minutes, but it was mostly defence for England at that point. Impressed with Cueto again - give him a chance to pirouette and he'll gay it up every time.

Looking forward to England over the next year, but they're wasting good chances in every match. Need to ditch that habit.

 

[eot345]

truely awsome diffence by Samoa they held firm where teams like australia would, and did break. the penalty count was still to high sheridan was good ... i no longer have to diffened him from people he is the most over rated player in the world!!

 

[Salesa]

good game....wasn't the results i was hoping for, mann...we really need a good goal kicker but it was a nice game to watch, as always...have to wake up at 4:30 am to catch the game, hope we get better next year thou

 

[gingergenius]

from what i saw, which was only extended highlights, decent performance from england. i'm very happy, we've played some nice rugby and got through a potentially embarrassing game.

performance wise - i didn't see the full game so i can't really judge the forwards. Hape seemed to be involved in everything England did well, if he plays like this every time i'll take back what i said about him not being good enough. Banahan... meh. Nothing more or less than what I expected. Still not going to cause good defences any problems at this level.

 

[Muzzy]

Samoa were great and if they had a better goal kicker they should have won, their forwards were very strong and i was impressed with how smart they played rather than just using brute force. Khan Fotuali'i was excellent again, best player of the match imo. its a damn shame Fotuali'i isn't playing for the all blacks right now. even though Samoa didn't win i think they can take a lot from the game because they're developing very well. it sucks fiji and samoa have to be in the same pool in the world cup though

although to be fair to england they turned down too many penalties, they had a few penalties of their own they could have easily kicked but instead they went looking for tries and didn't get them. i think for teams to beat the island teams they have to build up a lead with kicks first and that will lower the morale of the island teams but england didn't do that.

 

[Teh Mite]

HMS Banahan. Hunrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh.

The entire game summed up in one sentence.