Italy v England

[Gavin]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gingergenius @ Feb 15 2010, 07:39 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Gavin @ Feb 14 2010, 07:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Someone a bit bitter? Saying that is was 100% England's fault is a bit harsh - the Italian's played bloody well.[/b]

They scored no tries, never got close to scoring any tries, made hardly any line breaks, had a player sin-binned and could have had more for ill-disciplined off the ball incidents, were let off the hook with 8 points missed off the tee, and against a team who did nothing all day but kick it to them... to me, that's not playing well.

[/b][/quote]
Correct but take it in context, this is Italy, not any of the top six nations in the world. If it was Ireland who were in Italy's shoes and lost as the Italian's did then I'd agree with you. But the fact it that Italy are not one for the top six nations in the world (could go further and say top ten) Therefore to kept England within five points is fantastic. Italy cleared the ruck better than England, made more offloads and completed more passes. To me for such a small rugby nation that is bloody good going. Think of the players England have, and the amount of clubs that play good quality rugby in the English league - compare that with Italy - it's no contest.

 

[shtove]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Gavin @ Feb 15 2010, 07:52 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gingergenius @ Feb 15 2010, 07:39 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Gavin @ Feb 14 2010, 07:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Someone a bit bitter? Saying that is was 100% England's fault is a bit harsh - the Italian's played bloody well.[/b]

They scored no tries, never got close to scoring any tries, made hardly any line breaks, had a player sin-binned and could have had more for ill-disciplined off the ball incidents, were let off the hook with 8 points missed off the tee, and against a team who did nothing all day but kick it to them... to me, that's not playing well.

[/b][/quote]
Correct but take it in context, this is Italy, not any of the top six nations in the world. If it was Ireland who were in Italy's shoes and lost as the Italian's did then I'd agree with you. But the fact it that Italy are not one for the top six nations in the world (could go further and say top ten) Therefore to kept England within five points is fantastic. Italy cleared the ruck better than England, made more offloads and completed more passes. To me for such a small rugby nation that is bloody good going. Think of the players England have, and the amount of clubs that play good quality rugby in the English league - compare that with Italy - it's no contest.
[/b][/quote]
Agree. I can't remember another 6N match when Italy had so much time and space to use their backs. Didn't work, but England should not have allowed it.

 

[Bullitt]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Prestwick @ Feb 14 2010, 03:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I'm so sorry, how rude of me! I forgot to introduce Mite as well.. Bullit, meet Karma. Karma, meet Bullit. There we go! We're all aquianted! Pro-tip guys: don't be overtly rude about the other team no matter how poor they may or may not be. It tends to come back and bite you in the arse.[/b]

Ah ********!

The sign of a good team is still winning even when your playingb ****.

However, the sign of a shite team is getting beat (on your own cabbage patch) by a clueless team who's determined to kick away possession at every possible oppertunity while still never looking like scoring a try. Least forgetting how ther goal kicker couldn't hit a cows backside with a banjo.

Let's not pretend this was either a good game or either team were in any shape or form convincing.

 

[coonor]

It was a bad English preformance but they won in the end. I think england have learned alot.

 

[mohamed_ali12]

England Player Ratings:

1. Payne - 5 - Nothing around the park, no significant impact in scrum.
2. Hartley - 3 - no impact in scrum, no impact around the park, poor lineout throwing
3. Cole - 6 - got around the field, put in some good drives and worked hard at scrumtime. Looked at home in an England jersey.
4. Shaw - 4 - no shove, no nothing.
5. Borthwick - 5 - some good work at the breakdown and lineout, little else to show for a day's work.
6. Haskell - 3 - went into hiding
7. Moody - 5 - did what was expected, no more.
8. Easter - 5 - at least showed some ambition when he got the ball, poor execution

9. Care - 5 - bad hands, some good decisions though
10. Wilkinson - 5 - bad kicking from hand and the spot, didnt release backs often enough (thought he did it well though, when he did)
11. Monye - 4 - a few breaks, no vision, poor kicking
12. Flutey - 3 - not involved enough
13. Tait - 7 - when he got his hands on the ball looked threatening, kicked well
14. Cueto - 6 - did what was expected
15. Armitage - 6 - better than last week, kicked to often. Ran well.

16. Thompson - 6 - stabilised the forwards when he came on
17. Mullan - 5 - no significant impact
18. Wilson - 5 - '' ''
19. Deacon - 5 - '' ''
20. Armitage - N/A
21. Hodgson - N/A
22. Flood - N/A

Bear in mind '5' is an average performance.

 

[Bullitt]

Hartley, Haskell and Flutey (Englands 3 best players) only worth a rating of 3, yet Payne, moody and wilkinson worth 5 or above???

Armitage worth 6????

What bloody game was I watching???

 

[feicarsinn]

Hartely's throwing was shambolic today, hardly one of England's best.

 

[elgringoborracho]

No matter how badly England played today they will always turn up against us. Their next match against Ireland whould be something special. I have no freakin idea who will win it

 

[Bullitt]

Borthwick, Shaw and Easter are just as much to blame. Hardly a classic performance from the part-time Kiwi, but Brian Moore got it miles wrong singling him out... I remember one landed perfectly in easters waiting hands, after which the number 8 tapped down to care and he proceeded to throw it forward, yet Moore for some reason called it a Hartley "short throw" :blink:

 

[munster]

Bullitt, your just struggling to find a good saint so are making excuses for Hartely's poor throwing and poor performance... overall he was just as poor as the rest...

 

[dullonien]

Hartley's throwing was poor today. Almost all of his throws in the second half were either short or not straight. Saying that, as few of the 'short' throws still ended up in the jumper's hands, and should have been able to find Care anyway. Care was also poor in that regard, knocking on a couple that possibly weren't perfect, but definitely catchable.

What's gone wrong with the lineout in general. Almost every team in world rugby are struggling at the moment. Sa and Ireland being the better teams in this aspect. Wales, Scotland, England, Italy, New Zealand etc. etc. are all very inconsistent.

Anyone else think Borthwick was closing the gap and jumping across the linout on Italy's throws? Deserved a few penalty's imo.

 

[gingergenius]

Player ratings:

Payne - 5. His best performance for England so far. :lol:
Hartley - 3. Not impressed.
Cole - 6. Good start.
Shaw - 4. Anonymous.
Borthwick - 4. Lineout is his job and it wasn't great.
Haskell - 6. Good ball carrying, got a bit isolated at times.
Moody - 3. Anonymous and outplayed by Bergamasco. Time to unearth a real fetcher for the future (Andy Saull cough cough).
Nick Easter - 6. Links well with the backline.
Danny Care - 5. Did alright but for a few frustrating knock-ons.
Johnny Wilkinson - 2. Didn't kick goals, kicked out of hand like a twat and threw some stupid passes. Flood please.
Ugo Monye - 6. Threatening.
Riki Flutey - 6. Looks threatening, but I want to see him play with Flood.
Matthew Tait - 6. Alert and always a danger.
Mark Cueto - 5. Good brain and a safe pair of hands, just looks a little over the hill.
Delon Armitage - 6. Came into the line on numerous occasions and looked dangerous.

I'll admit that the back 3 & Tait get off lightly for their poor kicking compared to Wilkinson, but I can't criticise people for failing to counterattack when there's forwards literally standing in the middle of the park rather than rushing to offer support. I think they were victims of a shitty gameplan more than anything else.

 

[King_D'Arcy]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (elgringoborracho @ Feb 14 2010, 10:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

No matter how badly England played today they will always turn up against us. Their next match against Ireland whould be something special. I have no freakin idea who will win it[/b]

yeah interesting one to think about. Both teams had a very disappointing weekend. England are still on for the grand slam though and will have that home advantage. But Ireland just have much better leaders on the pitch, a better coach and a recognizable game plan. But will their confidence be too smashed to win against England in twickenham? One things for sure, both teams need this 2 week break more than any1

 

[Bullitt]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MunsterMachine @ Feb 14 2010, 10:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Bullitt, your just struggling to find a good saint so are making excuses for Hartely's poor throwing and poor performance... overall he was just as poor as the rest...[/b]

There's a huge difference between "he was one of the best players" and "he was bloody good", so don't feed me that tripe - I'm fully aware (and said so myself) that the whole team was abysmal. The LO may have been shakey, but the same people who think he had a bad day scrummaging & in open play are the same morons who think Danny Care had a bad game against Wales. Those people don't know what they're talking about.