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England vs USA Eagles

Umaga presented the ball brilliantly to the USA there...

Caught the last 20 mins of that, is it worth watching the first 60 or was the whole game that much of a shitfest?
 
This is strange to watch even though outside of 2 the players are all different, yet they seem to make the same defensive mistakes and give away the same stupid penalties as the first team.
 
Taking a reasonably even split and picking players in position, all novel ideas I know…
 
I'll take a 14 point loss to the English Second side. De Haas looked good at time but his inexperience showed. Just based on pride I never want to see Te'o in a USA shirt ever again.
 
Too many changes to the core team to get much from that. No cohesion and individuals trying too hard to prove a point.
 
Losing inform malins for average form Umaga and Lawrence for a scrum half, our backline was always going to be abot disjointed.

I really wanted to see that backline i think it was very balanced.
 
Randall Quick try, Pop off the floor to smith and class break, all 3 came for him doing what he does upping the tempo and sniping a gap so soon as he works on his all round game he likly will be our future first choice 9.

Seems a good partnership with Smith.
 
Bit of a mixed bag for me. On the one hand I was pleased to see a product of Welsh Rugby get the MOTM award but on the other it was sad to hear England fans still singing Swing Low.
 
Do think that will be close to the starting 15. I wouldn't do this but I think Umaga starts at 10. Smith played in final last week and Canada is a 6 day turn around.
 
So my take on the team, overall it was very disjointed performance, but that can be partly explained by the inexperience of many players, the injury disruption and so shite refereeing. Tbh this was never going to be the team going forward and was always more about individual opportunities to shine.

1: Genge - but disappointed mainly as he needed to be the cooler head and never seemed to calm down. Yes Brace may have been crap with scrum decisions, but that's where you need to learn to play the ref and his experience was missing there. However, when it went right looked strong in the scrum, carrying and tackling. If he can keep improving and add a bit more maturity then he'll definitely overtake Mako soon.
2: Langdon - Darts seemed solid enough, but tbh I didn't really notice him that much. Certainly not enough to challenge George and LCD, but that was always unlikely. Probably look at him more next WC cycle.
3: Heyes - Issues at the scrum as well, but again hard to know how much was the refereeing. Made a few good carries and tackles. Considering there is a lack of depth at 3 he has shown potential, but still very young. I'd probably stick with Stuart for 2023 with Heyes coming through after.

4&5: Ewels & McNally - Tbh I don't remember them doing much at all outside of giving away penalties. Lock depth is starting to be a bit of a worry if we have injuries.

6: Ludlow - Barely remember him doing anything tbh. Didn't have any real impact at all and considering the depth in the back row it turned out to be a wasted opportunity. Curry would have been far more effective.
7: Underhill - Great performance, solid as usual. Probably helped having some experience in the back row.
8: Chick - Made a couple of good carries, but not enough from a number 8, certainly not enough to challenge Billy in EJ's eyes. Hopefully see more from Dombrandt next week.

9: Randall - Some great moments and some crap moments. Needs to be more consistent with passing and kicking, but he's young and certainly more exciting than Youngs. I'd start him next week and keep giving him experience.
10: Smith - Some great passing, but kicking off the tee was poor. Like Randall I think he needs some more time to settle and he will definitely shine soon.

11: Malins - Looked good before his injury, issue is he needs to hold down a position because at the moment in a full strength squad he's just making the 23 really.
14: Cokanasiga - Looked better than he has done for a while, picked a great line for his second try. Didn't see any power line breaks though and I don't see him as a starter still. Would like to have seen what Radwan, Sleightholme and others could have done.

12: Lawrence - Guy is so unlucky. Looked good before going off and showed some power for his try. Excellent pass too at the start. Needs to just get a decent run going. Definitely better than Farrell though.
13: Slade - Some excellent passing, but we know what he can do. Again maybe that bit of experience helped in midfield. Want to see Marchant at least next week though.

15: Steward - Excellent game, solid in the air, some good attacking moments. Definitely can develop into the full back England have been missing.

16: Blamire - Good try, but darts let him down. Same as Langdon, not challenging incumbents right now.
17: Obano - made some good tackles. Ddin't really shore up the scrum and gave away some penalties. Definitely behind Genge in the pecking order.
18: Davison - Honestly don't remember him doing anything.
19: Hill - Can't remember him having much of an impact either, but then was playing at lock, which is not his natural position.
20: Curry - looked good and you wonder what he could have done if he started.
21: Ludlum - excellent cameo off the bench and was probably the second best forward after Underhill.
22: Robson - can't judge as once again he's played out of position by EJ's ridiculous selections.
23: Umaga - hard to judge as not playing where he should. However, definitely missed some tackles and didn't look as good as others around him.

Overall from the new boys I felt that Heyes, Randall, Smith, Steward and Curry showed they could hang around the squad come the Autumn.
 
Jones needs to quit with this ridiculous 6-2 split on the bench, it's absolutely ridiculous.
 
Congratulations England. The score was closer than I expected, but you're clearly the better side. USA rugby is better in Sevens and I'm looking forward to the Olympics.

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Congratulations England. The score was closer than I expected, but you're clearly the better side. USA rugby is better in Sevens and I'm looking forward to the Olympics.
My view has been purely about England. I thought overall USA played well and didn't give up. Certainly did better than I thought they might.
 

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