RWC: England - Scotland (01-10-2011, 20:30)

[McTallshort]

fair point tallshort, I wouldn't drop Lawes but he was anonymous today. Just that Deacon was too, and that is the norm for him.

Sorry I have to disagree, Deacon has become an easy target but ( and I have not looked ) I bet his tackle count is the highest of all the forwards and who do you think gets the mauls going as well as they did tonight? No he isnt a big hit merchant but he clears out well and has a work rate that doesnt drop all game. Johnson was a 2nd and I think he knows what he is talking about and before everyone jumps on the "tigers connection" bandwagan ask yourselves why Flood is on the bench and Chuter is sat at home.

 

[Nobblynick]

To be fair to Jonny, why were England taking pot shots from the halfway line? The team had no ball, and were going backwards. They could have stuck it in the corner and got some momentum going.

Also, even Dan Carter would have looked poor with Youngs inside him today. He was awful and has been when England are in a tight game. 2 scrum penalties could have been avoided if he got rid of it rather than waiting for written permission.

Wigglesworth gets the nod for me.

 

[JW.]

We won, thats the most important thing, if we play this way in the QF/SF we will lose but we've beaten Scotland and that is a very hard thing to do for England.

Youngs was very poor, he messed up every attacking situation in the Scot's 22 for Jonny and our backline. Passes behind him, above him or just very slow. When wigglesworth came on England scored what a suprise... Jonny wasen't great but it's very hard to look anything near decent when your scrumhalf is having a nightmare.

But we won and that for me in an England-Scotland match is the most important thing.

Also I expected Stevens to do better in the first half, second half he got his act together though. Palmer was such a step up, for me it has to be him and Lawes.

 

[Nobblynick]

Agreed. It easy to bash a number 10 when he misses a few (long) kicks.

At the risk of sounding like a fanboy, Wilko was good as ever in defence.

Tough call on the 10 shirt for France.

 

[j-dawg]

I remember when most people on this forum thought the sun shined through Stevens' arse, calling for Sheridan to be dropped to make way for him. Corbs to start?

On the Flood vs Wilkinson subject, I was a Wilkinson supporter. To be fair, if you dropped a player after one poor game I don't think we'd have a team right about now. However, its pretty clear something is deadly wrong with Wilkinsons form and I like the cut of Floods jib. Flood to start against France for me.

Don't find myself noticing Deacon. I would happily drop him for Shaw, who played very well against Romania. Why, I'd even think about starting Shaw with Palmer after Lawes' non-existant performance today. Im increasingly drawn to the conclusion that he is massivley overrated.

Oh, and Wigglesworth impressed me today. His first touch of the ball was a knock on (which provoked some colourful language directed at the T.V from me) but he made some game-changing touches with his quick hands at the end. But I think Youngs has enough money in the bank to warrant a starting place against France. Its not a shabby partnership he's got going on with Flood.

 

[JW.]

I remember when most people on this forum thought the sun shined through Stevens' arse, calling for Sheridan to be dropped to make way for him. Corbs to start?

On the Flood vs Wilkinson subject, I was a Wilkinson supporter. To be fair, if you dropped a player after one poor game I don't think we'd have a team right about now. However, its pretty clear something is deadly wrong with Wilkinsons form and I like the cut of Floods jib. Flood to start against France for me.

Don't find myself noticing Deacon. I would happily drop him for Shaw, who played very well against Romania. Why, I'd even think about starting Shaw with Palmer after Lawes' non-existant performance today. Im increasingly drawn to the conclusion that he is massivley overrated.

Agreed I thought he was very capable of playing loosehead as our scrum was steady against Wales and Ireland, he did play well in the second half though. Our scrum didn't lose out once in the second half.

Oh, and Wigglesworth impressed me today. His first touch of the ball was a knock on (which provoked some colourful language directed at the T.V from me) but he made some game-changing touches with his quick hands at the end. But I think Youngs has enough money in the bank to warrant a starting place against France. Its not a shabby partnership he's got going on with Flood.

It's not a coincidence that we scored while Youngs was off and Wigglesworth was on, Youngs had a awfull game today. But I think it was just a one off and I'd still start him against France.

 

[shtove]

Ha ha, I spotted that too.

Perhaps MJ realises that Jonny is not up to it, but just can't bring himself to pick Toby Flood at 10

I really think Jonny Wilkinson is past it.

Missed straightforward penalties, no confidence at the gain line, and totally unable to spark anything in the backline.

Toby Flood comes on, gets out of the pocket and up to the gain-line, delivers a long, deadly accurate scoring pass to Ashton that Wilkinson wouldn't deliver in a month of Sundays, and then caps it off by banging over a sideline conversion on his "wrong" side to put England out of penalty/dropped goal reach.

Toby Flood is undoubtedly the best 10 in England. Why oh why does MJ persist with Wilkinson??

Flood is a flake - a lesser version of Quaid Cooper. The other 6N teams would look forward to his selection because they know how to skin his carcass.

 

[McTallshort]

We won, thats the most important thing, if we play this way in the QF/SF we will lose but we've beaten Scotland and that is a very hard thing to do for England.

Youngs was very poor, he messed up every attacking situation in the Scot's 22 for Jonny and our backline. Passes behind him, above him or just very slow. When wigglesworth came on England scored what a suprise... Jonny wasen't great but it's very hard to look anything near decent when your scrumhalf is having a nightmare.

But we won and that for me in an England-Scotland match is the most important thing.

Also I expected Stevens to do better in the first half, second half he got his act together though. Palmer was such a step up, for me it has to be him and Lawes.

Yeah similir to the argentina game when Youngs came on and scored......

 

[JW.]

Yeah similir to the argentina game when Youngs came on and scored......

I am not sure if you're being sarcastic or what? What do you mean?

 

[Me 1]

the sun shined through Stevens' arse

Must have blinded the second row

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Re wigglesworth, dont even go there. He was the one who sorted us out against argentina and also looked strong against romania. We cant be so reactionary to dropo him simply because wworth had an impact off the bench.for me the standout fact of this tournamnent has been that our bench is changing games. And this is happening regardless of who is on it. For me thats in no small part down to how tired the other team has become by the 65 minute mark in games. That doesnt mean we cant gwt it right to begin with, ie with flood corbs, palmer.undecided about lawes or deacon

 

[JW.]

Re wigglesworth, dont even go there. He was the one who sorted us out against argentina and also looked strong against romania. We cant be so reactionary to dropo him simply because wworth had an impact off the bench.for me the standout fact of this tournamnent has been that our bench is changing games. And this is happening regardless of who is on it. For me thats in no small part down to how tired the other team has become by the 65 minute mark in games. That doesnt mean we cant gwt it right to begin with, ie with flood corbs, palmer.undecided about lawes or deacon

Nobody was calling for Youngs head? Just saying he had a bad game and Wigglesworth did have an impact of the bench even if it only was a good flat pass.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Just read that Wilko's having an X-ray on his arm - also that he's only got 9/20 kicks, which is the worst in the whole RWC

 

[JW.]

Just read that Wilko's having an X-ray on his arm - also that he's only got 9/20 kicks, which is the worst in the whole RWC

****, just thought he had his regular stinger. Something wrong with his kicking, and the worst thing is he doesn't know whats wrong. According to him his whole motion towards the ball is correct as is his carrythrough etc. Wind played a big part in the misses today, but Jonny on song would've got those. Must be a theme Carters kicking hasen't been wat is was normally all season.

 

[B10]

Just read that Wilko's having an X-ray on his arm - also that he's only got 9/20 kicks, which is the worst in the whole RWC

Who would we call up? Owen Farrell?

 

[JW.]

Who would we call up? Owen Farrell?

Hodgson. Been involved in the setup, is ahead of Farrel at flyhalf for Saracens 2. He is the obvious choice anyways, but I hope Jonny isn't injured. I'd be devastated.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

It'd be one of Hodgson or Flutey - most likely to be Hodgson

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Nobody was calling for Youngs head? Just saying he had a bad game and Wigglesworth did have an impact of the bench even if it only was a good flat pass.

Wasnt aimed at you man. One guy called for wigglesworth, but he was a quins fan so we dont need to pay too much attention to that!

 

[JW.]

Wasnt aimed at you man. One guy called for wigglesworth, but he was a quins fan so we dont need to pay too much attention to that!

Haha, agreed!

 

[gingergenius]

Hodgson. Been involved in the setup, is ahead of Farrel at flyhalf for Saracens 2. He is the obvious choice anyways, but I hope Jonny isn't injured. I'd be devastated.

Saracens use a rotation system, Hodgson's not ahead of Farrell - we'll see when the Heineken Cup starts who they pick for the big games.

That said, at this stage of the tournament, Hodgson would be the right choice.