Brown wasnt great last week by his standards.
agreed, but in the six nations he was superb. Bit of niggle though!
I'm surprised at Englands lack of talent at wing, there must be some at clubs i'm just not seeing?
@tinybits - May has talent he just needs to focus on running forwards instead of sideways.
Wales: Liam Williams, Alex Cuthbert, Jonathan Davies, Jamie Roberts, George North, Dan Biggar, Mike Phillips, Gethin Jenkins, Ken Owens, Adam Jones, Luke Charteris, Alun Wyn Jones (captain), Dan Lydiate, Aaron Shingler, Taulupe Faletau.Replacements: Matthew Rees, Paul James, Samson Lee, Ian Evans, Josh Turnbull, Gareth Davies, James Hook, Matthew Morgan.
as good as can be expected, although North is a doubt, Matt Morgan on the bench is a bit left field. Well done Smiler, cancer diagnosis to test match bench within a year, officially HARD AS ****
agreed, and some of the tries he's scored for Gloucester have been great. I've not seen it on the international stage yet though. He reminds me of Dan Luger!
He reminds me of Dan Luger!
Now go easy on the poor bloke he's not that bad, Dan Luger and Mark Jones were hatched from the same egg I'm sure, very fast in a straight line but turned like Bambi on ice.
Looking forward to seeing if england can turn over the all blacks this am.
Bloody bloody sky is down...... Can't watch!
Wiziwig is your friend
10 to 3 england so far. Great start. Tuilagi looks wasted on the wing though.
Should have been 15-3 Tuilagi's lack of pace exposed.
Why is Farrell off. BBC mention it but give no reason. Can't see it him getting a cheap shot in he's not that brave.
Farrell is such a cock 😆 got away with a cheap shot and got carded for deliberately slowing ball down ( I think)
God that was frustrating. Why do international coaches insist on playing people out of position? Never works. Drives me nuts. And 12trees is out of position on any international pitch.
Well, just read the bbc report that basically said the all blacks thrashed England. By 1 point? We're England just very lucky to happen to score 3 tries? Before we start again AA, not defending England, I didn't see the match (no broadband either thanks to sky!) so honestly, just asking!
Great game. Tuilagi at 14 didnt work though. NZ's drift defence gave and England midfield loads of space but they went nowhere, last week Tuilagi drew them all in.
Well, there were definitely moments in the 2nd half where it felt like England were being thrashed. When the score was 28-13 (I think) it then felt like we were out of it. But they came back pretty well.
I suppose the "thrashed" thing comes from the fact that we never actually looked like we could win it in once the 2nd half got going.
[i]Tuilagi at 14 didnt work though. NZ's drift defence gave and England midfield loads of space but they went nowhere, last week Tuilagi drew them all in.[/i]
Spot on
No probs with sky here.
Agree with all the comments so far. Tuilagi needs to be back in the centres, Burrell at 12? 36 is a liability and wasted so much ball.
wtf happened at the 2nd half kickoff? In the first 15 minutes England looked like a shadow of themselves in the 1st half. They were all asleep and gave the ab's all the space they needed. I was shocked that Lawes and Vunipola seem to add nothing to the game.
The irony of Gashton scoring the final try and our lack of another decent winger might unfortunately see the swan diving idiot on the pitch next week.
Some credit for playing the game to the end though
I am coming to the opinion that Eastmond and Tuilagi might be your best midfield
Aus 6 France 0. Glad i missed that one...getting ready to hide behind the sofa for the wales game!!
[i]The irony of Ashton scoring the final try and our lack of another decent winger might unfortunately see the swan diving idiot on the pitch next week.[/i]
Never liked him, but he has been on bloody good form for Saracens, so maybe he's what England need. Tuilangi and Eastmond centres, Yarde and Ashton wings. You know, in their actual positions!
Ashton isnt bad but suffered from being hugely over hyped and then having a drop in form. Its just he was made out to be world class and he never was.
Anyway I'm off behind the sofa. I'll be back in a few weeks!!!
Big hit, mildly nsfw
Oh God is it over yet 😥
Is what over? Didnt see a thing from behind the sofa.....
End of the road for Adam and Spikey I think both Lee and Davies stepped up and need to start. Liam Williams was shite but seeing as how Gatland hates Bryne we have no other option than Hook. Shingler is Croft light but who else is there, McCusker wouldnt even make the Bokke notice him. SA just too big and strong and wales were poor early on.
This cheered me up. Still waiting to post Cuthberts try, **** me it was good, shame it was in such a pasting.
Cuthberts try at 3.20 he's a big donkey in defence but christ he can finish!!
Yep, cracking try. Looked like Wales were completely out muscled though.
Yeah Gatlandball doesnt work when the opposition are bigger and more aggressive. They defended better in the second half and never gave up but they were out classed.
Well, some natural selection and good performances this morning in the England camp I think will give us what we wanted; Burrell & 36 have ankle injuries, Farrell's out. So I reckon the changes are;
Foden - will go to the wing
Eastmond - Centre
Tuilagi - Centre
Burns - with Cips on the bench
Wood - with Haskell benched for impact sub 60 mins
I strong believe England will be instructed not to kick unless they are caught behind or for penalty position. We'll be carrying it up and bashing it over, and holding on to the ball.
Can't wait.
Never saw the logic of Tuilagi on the wing, he's a player the ABs know is dangerous, he needs to be in the thick of it drawing attention and causing problems. Clearly the ABs had had a "solid" half time talk and England failed to live with the intensity and skill level. IMO Farrell should have been rested and Burns needs more game time.
@Kryton - we have to play smart with position, if that means kicking we should. I think the ABs have a fantastic kicking game, really smart to put you under pressure. We should do the same. Its all in the execution.
I thought we'd get killed on this tour so the narrow losses feel quite constructive and we are getting game time for some new blood.
Wales, I though Jones was below his best this past 6N. I am sure he can get himself back to being first choice but as @aa says others should get a start now and up to AJ to respond.
we have to play smart with position, if that means kicking we should. I think the ABs have a fantastic kicking game, really smart to put you under pressure. We should do the same. Its all in the execution.
Your last four words make my point for me. Unless we can kick well we are kicking to a very good back 3 and we'll organise backs. We invited them onto us last week and gave them too much ball.
@Kryton - understood but plan A should be to execute the kicks better. If we keep trying to run the ball out of our own half sooner or later we'll turn one over or give a penalty away.
Swept the Crusaders aside this morning
Samson Lee was outstanding when he came on, needs to start at 3. Jones has been less effective since the hit was removed.
Only just seen this cannot believe it was a red card...
Frankly thats a joke. AB's & SA charge like that all the time. Jackson should learn to tackle IMHO.
Yep, complete rubbish. That wasn't leading with the elbow, that was on the side of the arm. I'd be embarrassed as the tackler to go down like that!
Take a look at a few pacific islanders, they'll show you how to lead with an elbow!
Yes. Wasn't even a penalty.
England Team and I'd suspect close to the World Cup team;
[i]]M Brown (Harlequins); C Ashton (Saracens), M Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), K Eastmond (Bath), M Yarde (Harlequins); F Burns (Leicester), B Youngs (LeicesterTigers); J Marler (Harlequins), D Hartley (Northampton Saints), D Wilson (Bath), C Lawes (Northampton Saints), G Parling (Leicester Tigers), T Wood (Northampton Saints), C Robshaw (Harlequins, capt), B Vunipola (Saracens).
Replacements: R Webber (Bath), M Mullan (Wasps), K Brookes (Newcastle Falcons), J Launchbury (Wasps), B Morgan (Gloucester), L Dickson (Northampton Saints), D Cipriani (Sale Sharks), L Burrell (Northampton Saints).[/i]
Not sure about Ashton. I do get the Parling /Lawes partnership as he's been very busy about the place and I thought Launchbury looked tired as he came off for both games.
It'll been interesting to see how Vunipola goes. To have him running at you to be replaced by Morgan has got to be a wearing prospect.
I'm surprised to see Kaino off for the Ab's though and swapped for a chap with limited game time despite the player of the year award. I thought Kaino was a standout player and deserves the place tbh.
I like that side, I'm even very begrudgingly able to accept Ashton on the basis that Burns is getting more game time.
England JRWC champions 2014! 😀
England 21, South Africa 20. 😀
What a fantastically tense game. Some really impressive rugby.
And as Kryton says, England are Junior World Champs. Best of all, by beating South Africa.
(just got around to watching the final!)
