England vs Italy

[shtove]

Wonderful. Only saw first half - rarely seen wingers get so much ball. For some reason they don't really bring Foden into the game, dunno what's going on there because he's an even better runner than Ashton.

Only criticisms of England:

too many penalties first Q,
not protecting quick ball at rucks,
missed three first half tries,
lacking X factor in the centre.

England can easily fix the first two. And if they fix the last two as well, they will be favourites for RWC.

 

[dangandan]

No, I think England and Scotland are going to use up their annual quota of tries by the time they meet each other in the 6 Nations. Will be awful hard to progress only through penalties

don't know bout that. argentina have trouble scoring tries of their own so if we go by your logic, it will be a pool of penalties!

 

[veux]

This game will be a massive confidence boost for England ahead of the France game. I just hope that they don't get sloppy.

Would really like to see a backrow of 6. Croft 7. Wood 8. Haskall come World Cup time. From the AIs and the 6Ns so far, it looks as if we have the potential for a world class pack (potential cause Johno may not play them all) Sheridan Hartley Cole Palmer Lawes Croft Wood Haskall and a world class 9, 10, 11, 14, 15. Just need to get a new 12 or 13 in and we'll be serious challengers.

 

[gingergenius]

what shtove said with regards to our flaws. otherwise, scintillating performance from us - what a shame Italy didn't turn up for the game, because this just made everyone in our 22 look good.

Now is not the time to be going on about world cups or calling certain players world class. Everyone played well today, but France will be a totally different kettle of fish.

Having said that, very impressed with the Haskwit today; Flood was outstanding again and I need say no more about the back 3.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Boom boom boom, shake the room!

Back-row containing both Wood and Croft would be immense, line outs would be top, and their athleticism is great too


Though Corbisiero did very well for a first cap!
Wasn't completely dicked by Castro, and carried well



and Cueto got a try too!

 

[WetAndCold]

I'm glad I was wrong about expecting a game like last years.
England played well. Let's hope they can keep it going for Scotland next week.

Who is Ashtons try celebrations disrespectful to?

How is putting an arm in the air and jumping as you score 'disrespectful'? Of course If I was an Italian, or supporting Wales last week then yes... it would be very disrespectful and that try should have been disallowed!............ how dare he put an arm in the air before he inevitably scores! heathen.... Seriously, c'mon...

Oh yeh, chuffed for Queto as well. The most deserved try ever

 

[WetAndCold]

I thought England where playing Scotland next week, turns out it's France. My mistake.

I didn't realise putting the arm holding the ball out/celebrating a fraction before scoring was against the rules...

Oooh, just read your post again, unsportsmanlike conduct is a penalty.

 

[Horizon]

so where did my posts go then?

 

[TRF_Cymro]

England are living up to their favourites tag, I know Italy were not on the ball today but Flood looked good at 10, ran the game and created quite a bit. Haskell was prominent running around like a raging bull. Impressed with Corbs and Cole and along with Hartley have one heck of a front row, adding Laws, Croft, Woods, Haskell into the mix the England pack is looking extremely strong.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Think Haskell at 8 could be worth a shout, with Wood/Croft on the flanks
That's a very mobile backrow, and what Haskell lacks in breakdown work he makes up for in his running game (though his little attempted kick through towards the end was dire :lol: )
Wood is good at the breakdown, and Palmer and Lawes will add a lot of grunt

Some tough decisions backrow wise for Johnson when everyones fit! (though he'll probably just stick with Moody and Easter with Haskell on the bench)

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Think Haskell at 8 could be worth a shout, with Wood/Croft on the flanks
That's a very mobile backrow, and what Haskell lacks in breakdown work he makes up for in his running game (though his little attempted kick through towards the end was dire :lol: )
Wood is good at the breakdown, and Palmer and Lawes will add a lot of grunt

Some tough decisions backrow wise for Johnson when everyones fit! (though he'll probably just stick with Moody and Easter with Haskell on the bench)

Easter is dire, really adds nothing, you could accommodate Moody if you played Haskell at 8. I still not sure of Hape at 12, Tindall was not bad today to be fair but Hape for a man with Rugby League you would expect some off load ability or being able to run head down on a straight line, most of the times he runs lateral!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

To be fair to Hape he did a pretty nice offload for (I think) Tindalls try
However I would rather someone else in there - if only Barkley played well in an England shirt, he tore Sale a new one last night
Barrit would be good, though

One thing about Hape though is he does get stuck in at the ruck, a lot of league converts/backs in general don't get through as much work as him (though this doesn't warrant a place in the squad though)

 

[coonor]

England were very good today. They look so sharp and the pack had a solid platform. They ran some great support lines and they looked comfortable with ball in hand. The attacked from deep and they always looked threatening. Ashton is in such good form and he can score tries for fun. Cueto got his deserved try as he has been playing so well for England. I was very impressed by Flood who pulled all the strings and linked well with Youngs. The bench worked well for England as well as Wilkinson, Banahan, Care and Thompson all made good contributions.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I was worried we'd lose momentum making so many changes in basically one go, but seemed alright
Wilkinson made a great trysaving tackle, but looked a bit crocked straight after (probably be ruled out for 36months with shoulder implosion now)

Bring on France (though a very out of form France, please )

 

[lucky number 7]

I was worried we'd lose momentum making so many changes in basically one go, but seemed alright
Wilkinson made a great trysaving tackle, but looked a bit crocked straight after (probably be ruled out for 36months with shoulder implosion now)

Bring on France (though a very out of form France, please )

Don't worry they will be on the back of an 80 point defeat

 

[shtove]

Cueto got his deserved try as he has been playing so well for England.

Mixed views on Cueto. He had a good chip ahead, then scored well, but completely dicked up a try on the right in first half when Dintall broke through - closed down the space by coming inside, so the pass bounced off him when he should have been five metres wider out - every stride he took you could tell he was making bad decisions.

 

[smartcooky]

No way would I class Ashton's try celebrations "unsportsmanlike", or "disrespectful".

It would be different if he was shaking a fist, or flipping the bird, in the face of an opponent, but holding an arm up with index finger extended or punching the air in exuberance is perfectly OK in my book. Only a complete and utter jobsworth would ping someone for that.

Lets allow players to be real people not moronic robots.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Mixed views on Cueto. He had a good chip ahead, then scored well, but completely dicked up a try on the right in first half when Dintall broke through - closed down the space by coming inside, so the pass bounced off him when he should have been five metres wider out - every stride he took you could tell he was making bad decisions.

If that's the missed try I'm thinking of he was already on his way down from being held back by an Italian player and over striding to try and get back in line with Tindall



Also: How dare you badmouth Cueto!
You're now on........my Enemys list

 

[Amobokoboko]

What a bashing.
Positive things about the game, made some English friends in the pub who found it a pity Wilko ruined our chance for a second try.
Mirco and Parisse are legends and it was a good game. Both sides kept on playing rugby so had a good afternoon out.

 

[Teh Mite]

Every time I see a player do it, I hope for this -

I made that bloody video with the music over-lay. I uploaded my a full 6 months or soo earlier.

<iframe ***le="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4tA3MBgBaA0?hd=1" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" width="480"></iframe>

Thieving ******* Australian.