Wales v England

[shamrock in turkey]

perfect performance, perfect game for two teams and perfect score for england

 

[Draggs]

Poor decisions (kicks at the beginning instead of lineouts) and no real spark
Roberts is a 12, no doubt. Craig Mitchell held his own in the scrums but was a liability in the loose.

01 P James
02 M Rees
03 S Andrews
04 B Davies
05 AW Jones
06 D Lydiate
07 S Warburton
08 R Jones
09 D Peel
10 S Jones (Would prefer Hook but he is needed at 15)
11 S Williams
12 J Roberts
13 J Davies
14 M Stoddart
15 J Hook

16 R Hibbard
17 J Yapp
18 J Thomas
19 J Turnbull
20 M Phillips
21 R Priestland
22 ?

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Echo intercept thoughts on palmer thought he was immense. The turnover he won in the last ten...awesome. Almost had a heart attack when care came on but he was fine. Thought our backrow was immense especially considering everyone wrote them off.

Thought Bradley Davies was great, Philips was painfully bad. Some suspect decision making from Welsh backs especially in the first half. Shame Williams included.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Echo intercept thoughts on palmer thought he was immense. The turnover he won in the last ten...awesome. Almost had a heart attack when care came on but he was fine. Thought our backrow was immense especially considering everyone wrote them off.

Thought Bradley Davies was great, Philips was painfully bad. Some suspect decision making from Welsh backs especially in the first half. Shame Williams included.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

You're echoing your own thoughts now too, I see

 

[shtove]

Poor from both sides, but Wales especially. Only chink of light for the reds was Hapes brainfart in defence. Scrumhalf throws 3 passes to ground in a row. Then Peel comes on and gets smother tackled 3 times because he's so slow.

England couldn't kill them in the scrum, even when Wales were down to 7 men on their own line with a second-string prop sin-binned. England couldn't get the midfield working, even with Jonny on the field. England are South Africa lite - all about tight forward work, 15 man defensive line, kicking ahead, blockhead centres in attack, ignoring the talent out wide - except England got stuffed by SA in November. Fair dues for winning in the Millennium, but not much good. Where is the Johnson RAGE!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Where is the Johnson RAGE!

Did you not see him when Wales got the turnover/penalty on their line?
Thought he was going to smash the monitors in his box

 

[coonor]

Wales were very lateral. Their decision making was crap. The big players did not stand up today and although some players like Davies had good games he didn't have the backing of his team. I think Wales' scrum was good but their centres were very predictable. I think Hook was wasted at 15. Powell was poor while he was on and Philips' passing was all over the place and he never gave Wales any quick ball. As for England they took there time to get in the game and they seemed abit boring. They seemed to have little space. I think they took their tries well and kept the pressure on Wales but they played at a slower tempo than usual. All in all a good win away for England but Wales are not using their strengths and they did not really penetrate England's defence.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Boom!

Very happy with the win, but playing like that won't win us the World Cup

Deacon surprisingly not sh** (got a yellow - but stopped a try)
Haskell surprisingly decent, Wood good on debut
Hartley great in the lineout - Shut up Gatland, that's for sure (though I fully expect a "England are cheating b**tards" interview from him)
Flood a good game
Ashton took his tries well
Everyone else fairly anonymous

Huh Hartley was not that great to be fair, hit his men in the line but that was it! Think you might want to retract the statement about what Gatland was going to say because he was humble in defeat, acknowledged England were better! Sorry what did Deacon do all game, Haskell was non-existent but Wood was terrific, him and him alone was a major force at the breakdown and had to do his work as a 6 as well as Haskells work of an openside, Haskell is not an openside! He did carry ball to be fair but his donkey work at the breakdown was non-existant. Wood as I said was magnificent. Flood was magnificent, can't fault him. His kicking a d running of the game was brilliant. Dislike Ashton with a passion his attitude is terrible but takes his opportunities well! Thought Wales did the job at scrumtime but England were dominant at lineouts.

Wales were below par, to many men MIA and Gatland selection must be questioned, not only that but his gameplan is old and does not suite the players Wales has, its the Wasps gameplan! Hook is not a 10, was evident tonight. He is a creative center that will go well with John Davies. Stoddart was poor, could easily have made a mess of the try! Craig Mitchell did a job at tighthead but is still raw.

England were not pretty, much like the Valley girls you find clocking round with cyRil but what England did was play within themselves and execute the gameplan very well!

 

[veux]

Danny Care is simply not good enough to be the 2nd choice English 9, probably bottled 3 or 7 points by deciding to look the other way for 2 minutes when Wilko was screaming for it just before the turnover.

Haskel and Wood worked really well together imo, maybe Haskel to 8 and Wood to 7 when Croft comes back. Impressed with Cole in the loose and at scrumtime, though Englands counter rucking needs to be worked on a lot.

IF we're going to win games, we need to replace either Hape or Tindall. It's fine having one of these players in the backline, but neither seem to either have the rugby nauce, the speed or the skill to form an effective midfield combination. Ideally Twelvetrees, Waldouck or Barrit would be fast-tracked into the 12 shirt, my personal favorite being Twelvetrees!

Roberts was completely anonymous for Wales, and Phillips was absolute gash.

 

[TrueSlawter]

Roberts is a inside not outside center tbh he hardly got the ball to make a impact today.. needing hook at 12 for his creativity limits roberts but if he was outside center then he would get more ball then than having davies at 12.

 

[profitius]

It was a good game. Wales blew it by making so many schoolboy mistakes. England deserved the win although they'll need to play better to win the 6 nations.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Sorry what did Deacon do all game,
Haskell was non-existent but Wood was terrific, him and him alone was a major force at the breakdown and had to do his work as a 6 as well as Haskells work of an openside, Haskell is not an openside! He did carry ball to be fair but his donkey work at the breakdown was non-existant.

Deacon didn't throw the game to Wales, which is what I expected him to do. He did basically nothing in the game, but that's better than I expected him to do
I though Haskell carried well, and it was basically like having another 8 on the pitch, though as you said, left Wood to do the work of both flankers, which he duely did to a high standard.
Wood should be involved with England from now on, was top and deserves to be there over Fourie and Worsley (and probably Moody too - though Moody will be straight back in due to his captaincy)

I do take back what I said about Gatland, he was gracious in defeat,
I liked the "So...another game to the losing streak" "we drew one!" in the post match interview

I think that Hape should be dropped, as Veux said, having one of Tindall or Hape is fine, but you need someone more creative. Tindall is a) English, b) Good tackler c) Experienced d) Good leadership for the backs (along with Cuets) - Hape rushing out of the line was what made Cueto come in to tackle JD leaving the overlap for Stoddarts try.
Bring in anyone (not Banahan) to replace him - Would love to see Twelvetrees in there, but Barritt would work too (though we'd need two injuries, maybe 3, before we see a new centre, as 1 injury will see Banahan played there, 2 injuries will see Flood in the centres with Wilko at 10, 3 injuries might see Barritt promoted)



For Wales I was impressed with Bradley Davies (again - he never fails to impress - one of the best NH locks going atm), John Davies (with what little ball he had to run with) and Dan Lydiat - Honourable mention to Sam Warburton as well
I think Priestland should be given a decent amount of game time against Scotland. If needs be, start Hook at FB again (which is probably better than having Byrne, after tonights performance, on top of recent form) - switch Jones for Priestland at 50ish mins, then if it's not working, switch Priestland and Hook around

 

[gingergenius]

Well, my prediction before the game was a Welsh win - that the better side (England) would be beaten by a side buoyed by home advantage and Anglophobia. I was wrong. Wales are a poorer side than I thought.

Yes, they were missing Jenkins & Jones; but from what I heard James & Mitchell were still more than a match for the England front row. With the Welsh injuries, I can think of 3 international sides who have scrums to match England's, and none of them speak English.

2nd row - Bradley Davies is clearly a very good player. AWJ was anonymous. Deacon was, as per usual, anonymous (not including the 10 mins he spent off the pitch), but Tom Palmer was excellent. Solid option in the lineout and far more useful in the loose than other English lineout specialists (Borthwick, Kennedy) have ever been.

Back row - no saying our back row is anything special, but we completely outplayed Wales here. Wood was very assured in his debut, Haskell typically good and bad, and Easter up to his usual standards. For Wales, they looked a lot better as soon as Powell went off. Lydiate couldn't match us physically, while Warburton looks a good player.

Backs. Well halfbacks is obvious. Ben Youngs was off-colour, but looked a mile ahead of Mike Phillips who is in dire form. Toby Flood was justifiably motm, whereas Stephen Jones never really got going.

Centres. Euuuuh. Hape was poor, Tindall was only good in defence. Wales - Roberts is great, but only ever plays well with someone half decent at 13. Davies is not that man.

Back 3 - for England, I'm happy. Ashton once again managed to be in the right place to score tries, he'll be big at this level. Wales - Stoddart was OK. Hook should be in the midfield, you can't keep wasting his abilities. And Williams was short of match fitness, and it showed.

Managers? Gatland looks like a twat. Johnson is (very) slowly making some nice progress.

 

[j-dawg]

Am I the only one who thought Simon Shaw dominated the field for the short time he was on?

 

[Peat]

Centres. Euuuuh. Hape was poor, Tindall was only good in defence. Wales - Roberts is great, but only ever plays well with someone half decent at 13. Davies is not that man.

Davies was playing 12, not Roberts, and looked the better player.

Feel the difference in this match was Mike Philipps vs. Ben Youngs, goalkicking, and the fact that England were willing to go direct round the fringes for as long as needs be (too long in some cases) while Wales pussied around trying to go around the end of our line repeatedly.

 

[Faatau82]

Mike Phillips looked completely out of sorts.

Best players of the game for me were: Flood, Hartley, Wood, Palmer, Ashton. For Wales, not many i'd say but Lydiate had a fair game, Bradley Davies was very good. Front row did well, but get silly penalties. Stoddart gave a good display, looked fairly adventurous.. but Wales spent the whole time running laterally and not really making much ground. And they were out scrummed when England were down to 7 forwards when Deacon was off. Says it all really.

On this form, i'd have to say i'd drop Hape and maybe Tindall. Hape barely was in the game, apart from getting the ball to Cueto to pass wide for Ashton's 2nd try., which is nothing but teamwork really. That's all i remember positively and probably some decent tackles. And his stupid penalty on Phillips at the ruck which was pinged moments later, and his ball watching that gifted Wales' try.. which they even nearly threw away. He effectively gave Wales 10 points, which bought them right back into the game.

England i thought looked measured and calculated to a point, but they'll have to play better to beat more attacking sides. It's a simple game, and Ashton is very good at supporting play and credit to him, he knows where to be at the right time. Wales looked like total shambles, and attacking wise.. a bit clueless.

Hook needs to start at 10. He can get their backline moving forward. Byrne at FB, but not sure who to put in the centre, as Roberts does need a playmaker next to him to bring out his best, but the ignition needs to start from 10.

Wales just look very short of confidence. Especially Mike Phillips.. anything he is good at, he just flopped at bigtime.

 

[TrueSlawter]

I think hook is better at 12.. he's good at 10 dont get me wrong but jones 10, hook 12, roberts 13 would be good then priestland at 15.

 

[Teh Mite]

I found a Welshmans head one day,
Nailed to a piece of Wood,
The Welshman looked quite miserable,
We beat them so he should!

 

[SelimNiai]

I found a Welshmans head one day,
Nailed to a piece of Wood,
The Welshman looked quite miserable,
We beat them so he should!

Could you be more smug :lol:

We were lucky to get within 7 imo. We were poor, only Bradley showed some fight and passion. England wanted it more, were more clinical and smart with the ball. My comment about our backs being better really bit me on the arse.

And please Prat-land, shut your mouth about other teams/players and sort your own out first