[RWC2023] England vs Argentina (09/09/2023)

[Welsh Exile]

England win this by 12. Argentina red card by 30 mins. England top the group.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

England win this by 12. Argentina red card by 30 mins. England top the group.

Winning games we should lose because of a red card?
What are we, Welsh?

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Winning games we should lose because of a red card?
What are we, Welsh of 2 years ago?

FTFY. Right now they are with us in just the plain old losing camp.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Raynal reffing. Is that a good / bad thing or even a thing at all?

 

[Lé Ddanno]

I read he's going to start him at 8.

I hope you read this in a dream.

 

[Lé Ddanno]

Raynal reffing. Is that a good / bad thing or even a thing at all?

It's never positive.

 

[Scotty]

I hope you read this in a dream.

It will be Curry or Earl or Ludlam...no 8s in the squad so i dont care who is 8, for me earl purely because he is more explosive of the base. We have Lawes and 7s in this team which is insane.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

It will be Curry or Earl or Ludlam...no 8s in the squad so i dont care who is 8, for me earl purely because he is more explosive of the base. We have Lawes and 7s in this team which is insane.

You could say we at 6's and 7's...

 

[Saintjay]

Times saying Smith is likely to come on at FB again.

Also mentioning that he's never started a game at 15. We know this, but it's pretty stark to see it like that - you need to defend as well as attack.

Just about resisting the urge to update the transfers thread with "but does he play 15 for his club" moving from Watson to Smith.

Nick Evans on the BBC didn't sound convinced it's a good idea. Smith will be targeted, and against Argentina it will possibility be a kick heavy game.

I think he explained it as an issue with not having two play makers given the dropping of Slade, Daly on the wing and likelihood of Borthwick planning a Ford/Farrell 10/12 axis.

 

[Lé Ddanno]

You could say we at 6's and 7's...

6.5s

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

6.5s

Ah, the good old days…..

 

[Not Mike Brown's Sock]

Mitchell starting and Care bench apparently.

Whilst that's a good sign, it does make me think Borthwick is desperate and abandoning his plan... Which is probably for the best.

Early-Curry-Lawes(C) back row with May on the wing and Cole at 3 too apparently

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

Horrid things that SB could do:

Smith to FB
Freddie to wing
Curry to 8
Youngs at 9
Smith to 12
Malins on the wing
A centre in the 23 shirt


I'm guessing at least 3 of those may occur.

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

A centre in the 23 shirt

Kind of necessary, isn't it? Farrell not around to cover 12. Daly not around to cover 13. Unless you start Marchant on the wing then we'd have no centre cover anywhere if not in the 23 shirt.

 

[Which Tyler]

Ah, the good old days…..


View attachment 17563

Worsley and Moody would be the original pair.
Unless you count Hill and Back, who were both 7s playing across, rather than 6s playing across.

Whilst that's a good sign, it does make me think Borthwick is desperate and abandoning his plan...

Have you got that in edible form? or is it just for smoking?

Kind of necessary, isn't it? Farrell not around to cover 12. Daly not around to cover 13. Unless you start Marchant on the wing then we'd have no centre cover anywhere if not in the 23 shirt.

The only way I see of avoiding it, is Smith in the 23 shirt, and a centre wearing 22

 

[TopTen2003]

Mitchell starting and Care bench apparently.

Whilst that's a good sign, it does make me think Borthwick is desperate and abandoning his plan... Which is probably for the best.

Early-Curry-Lawes(C) back row with May on the wing and Cole at 3 too apparently

Whilst Cole worries me, I'm not against a strong bench for this one, especially if we do keep it very tight first half. Sinckler, Dan, Willis, Marchant (think he may start on bench as centre/wing cover so Lawrence and Tuilagi to start) is a nice impact bench perhaps?

I expect the final 30 mins of this game to be where Argentina could pull away so I'm quietly pleased if we do name an impact bench, although we are placing a lot of faith in the XV to keep things very close at the least.

When do we announce, tomorrow?

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

I'd love Mitchell to start but what's the point if after 20 minutes we just kick aimlessly again. Really hope SB has sorted the teams tactics out.

 

[Saintjay]

Mitchell starting and Care bench apparently.

Whilst that's a good sign, it does make me think Borthwick is desperate and abandoning his plan... Which is probably for the best.

Early-Curry-Lawes(C) back row with May on the wing and Cole at 3 too apparently

Cole at 3 fits with him going with tactics that worked four years ago. He's probably read a years old article that says "Argentina known for a good scrum" ......... Better get Dan on to wobble about a bit.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Mitchell starting and Care bench apparently.

Whilst that's a good sign, it does make me think Borthwick is desperate and abandoning his plan... Which is probably for the best.

Early-Curry-Lawes(C) back row with May on the wing and Cole at 3 too apparently

So 4th choice SH bought in to speed it up and 3rd choice veteran TH to slow it right back down. Sounds about right.

Borthwick may not have had much of a plan but a plan it was, executed well it would have been effective enough if dull. For all the talk about player power and 07 etc I really hope that we're not planning on materially changing what we've trained for over the last 3 months - that can only lead to (even more) chaos.

 

[Becca]

I hope you read this in a dream.

Nope. My dreams are far more bizarre than that