[November Tests 2016 EOYT] England vs. Australia (3/12/2016)

[Jakedood]

Saw there'd been no thread yet, so may as well make one up, to group our thoughts together...


Slightly worried so far at the mention of Yarde over Roko, BBC mentioned it was likely due to his "experience playing against Australia in the summer" which sounds like a little bit of bull faeces to me, but hoping its not true as Roko in full stride is glorious to watch

 

[spartan32]

I also heard that yard is favoured over Roko. In which case WTF!!! I can accept that EJ does not see future for Roko in the long run but for now he is clearly the best in wing option we have. Yard is so mediocre it's unreal. I do have some real concerns. The loss of. Billy being chief among them. Australia. Are sstill off song but play with such intensity that we would currently struggle to match. Plus our one up tackle stttats are terrible.AATM the starting team would seem to be

3.cole 2. Hartley. 1 Mako
4.lawes 5. Kruis
6. Robshaw. 7. Wood 8. Hughes
9. Youngs
10. Ford
11.. May
12. Fax
13. JJ
14. Yard
15. Brown

Harrison some how hanging on in there as a bench warmer, no doubt Teo, Slade, Youngs to cover the backs.

Not sure what the game plan is for that team? Set piece issues due to key players missing. Continuing defensive issues and loss of yet another attackingg threat. EJ is going to have his work cut out. This will be a. Golden chance for the Aussie to get one over on us. And they will definitely try and take it

 

[ncurd]

Not going to Bath Fan freak out on Roko over Yarde until I see a team sheet.

However its still an order of magnitude better than the whole dropping JJ against Wales last year....so I'll remain relatively calm.

 

[Jakedood]

Hopefully Hughes can go someway to replacing Billy, he is no slouch in the ball carrying department either, although Billy's performances have rightly been called world class recently.

The tackling must improve, you're right here... admittedly, Australia dont have the size of Argentina, Fiji or South Africa, however if we let the likes of Folau break a tackle or two, we're screwed. I'm expecting Hartley to have a much bigger game this week, as he quite simply has to.

Watching Ireland last week, in the first 5-10 minutes, Australia had a chance of turning over the ball nearly every ruck, with someone over it, and Ireland maybe got a bit lucky not to get pinged more for holding on in this phase... England will need to be incredibly sharp around the park to avoid getting turned over in the key areas of the pitch, and its something I've actually not heard much about so far, so our whole back row trio are going to have to be on point, and our attacking shape must be spot on with our support players

 

[spartan32]

Hopefully Hughes can go someway to replacing Billy, he is no slouch in the ball carrying department either, although Billy's performances have rightly been called world class recently.

The tackling must improve, you're right here... admittedly, Australia dont have the size of Argentina, Fiji or South Africa, however if we let the likes of Folau break a tackle or two, we're screwed. I'm expecting Hartley to have a much bigger game this week, as he quite simply has to.

Watching Ireland last week, in the first 5-10 minutes, Australia had a chance of turning over the ball nearly every ruck, with someone over it, and Ireland maybe got a bit lucky not to get pinged more for holding on in this phase... England will need to be incredibly sharp around the park to avoid getting turned over in the key areas of the pitch, and its something I've actually not heard much about so far, so our whole back row trio are going to have to be on point, and our attacking shape must be spot on with our support players

Thankfully Wood has done a Hask and suddenly improved and Robshaw is on fine form, it's Hughes I'm worries about. He may be a lump with ball in hand but is his defensive work up to scratch? Also Harrison on the bench is hardly an impact sub!

Agree that Hartley has to up the intensity. Thankfully George is an impact sub and makes a difference when the skipper come off.

I'm really not sure how this game is going to pan out. I think it will come down to intensity. If England can come out all guns blazing and hit a tired and slightly demoralised Aussie team early, the we should be ok. If however we allow them to get their tails up it could be a tough afternoon. Weather is looking to be dry so we can't rely on the rain to help us slow everything down. The keys are going to be controlling the breakdown and Fords game e control. He and faz have to keep the teams shape and not be drawn into the e Aussies game.

This one might be a good option for Teo. As you say the Aussies aren't too big out the back and a big boy like him could do some damage in the later stages. His hard hits would certainly make an impression .

 

[The Jones Boy]

Giving up an early red could be fatal against Australia.
Discipline will be a factor.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

What with Banners out injured I would rather Roko was with England as much as poss

 

[ncurd]

Giving up an early red could be fatal against Australia.
Discipline will be a factor.

5 red cards in the history on English International rugby, the one last weekend was the first in about a decade.

I'm not particularly worried it will happen.

 

[The Jones Boy]

No Launchbury for 2 weeks, then a red card last weekend and another yellow... Is it the Eddie Jones factor driving the over exuberance of the English players?

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

I don't really think so. But even if it is I much prefer that to the Lancaster choir boy era. The mindset EJ is instilling will win us more games than it loses.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

No Launchbury for 2 weeks, then a red card last weekend and another yellow... Is it the Eddie Jones factor driving the over exuberance of the English players?

Are you on a wind up?

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Are you on a wind up?

Don't mention the games against Ireland...

 

[The Jones Boy]

Are you on a wind up?

Only a little bit, but it won't be a wind up if the English boys are naughty against the convicts this weekend.
I can see the convicts being really up for this, Eddie is right, if they win this one its a lot of vindication for them over the summer break, I just don't think they have the forward pack to get them across the line.
We'll have to wait and see...

@Rage, AB's didn't get any red cards mate. ;-)

 

[Jakedood]

Only a little bit, but it won't be a wind up if the English boys are naughty against the convicts this weekend.
I can see the convicts being really up for this, Eddie is right, if they win this one its a lot of vindication for them over the summer break, I just don't think they have the forward pack to get them across the line.
We'll have to wait and see...

@Rage, AB's didn't get any red cards mate. ;-)

Fekitoa got one "retrospectively" after the citing

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

@Rage, AB's didn't get any red cards mate. ;-)

Got a citing, should have had 2, All Blacks are cheats, you know the drill, bite me

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Still going on about this??

This should be a very tight game, and sadly I think the Wallabies will snatch it with England having so many players out and the Wallabies finding form. Maybe not though...

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Have the Wallabies found form? They couldn't beat us minus our two best backs and one of our best backrows from the start and a whole host of injuries second half! England by 10+.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Have the Wallabies found form? They couldn't beat us minus our two best backs and one of our best backrows from the start and a whole host of injuries second half! England by 10+.

My thoughts too,
I'm worryingly confident we'll win

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

My thoughts too,
I'm worryingly confident we'll win

The thing is these Wallabies have been a few knock ons short of annihilating a few teams like they did with Wales. It's scary how easily they have torn up some defences and only failed at the last hurdle. If they make the last passes stick, they will be running in tries for fun. Our defence has been far from solid and is getting worse the more injuries we get. I worry that when the Aussies play us, those last passes will stick.

 

[Every Time Ref]

The thing is these Wallabies have been a few knock ons short of annihilating a few teams like they did with Wales. It's scary how easily they have torn up some defences and only failed at the last hurdle. If they make the last passes stick, they will be running in tries for fun. Our defence has been far from solid and is getting worse the more injuries we get. I worry that when the Aussies play us, those last passes will stick.

I see a high scorer