When there are only two fully pro teams in the Country what are you gonna do?
Raid players from the Pacific Islands, maybe? 😉
7 Tries let in. The Scottish defense is/was non-existent.
I thought the Scots were supposed to be on an upward curve?
Oh dear.
some serious rethinking required. Forwards OK but the backs - only Blair and Evans looked like they should be on a international pitch.
southwell was particularly inept - I thought he had been looking good for his club.;
Laidlaw and Jackson getting a run will be good for the future but thats just an embarrassing stuffing.
Seen the England Aus highlights. Looked a bit sort of scrappy and disorganised to me. Both sides letting loads of breaks through. It looked exciting with loads of running but seems that they were only able to run through lack of defenders in the way.
it is so frustrating being a wales supporter, well played england.
Ashton's second try sounded ace via Radio Five - looked rather good on the highlights.
Reminded me of the days of the French when Saint-Andre, Blanco, Sella and co were playing.
got the highlights of the england game to watch. Looking forward to the Wales england game to open 6 nations already, shaping up to be a cracker if, and its a big if, wales can get the majority of their best players fit. Missed Shane badly when he went off and was replaced by the somewhat limited Checkeye
That long try though - where was the Aussie defence? England caught them unawares, fine, but that doesn't make it one of the best Twickers tries ever does it? He just ran a long way that's all.
It's almost as though the Aussies planned for a grinding forwards game.
molgrips - MemberThat long try though - where was the Aussie defence? England caught them unawares, fine, but that doesn't make it one of the best Twickers tries ever does it? He just ran a long way that's all.
There was no Aussie defence because THEY were attacking on England's line and suddenly got turned over. THe reason that it was a great try was because Youngs decided to counter attack from behind his own line instead of hoof the ball to safety. Besides, there were some defenders but Ashton burned them off and then also swerved around Drew Mitchell (no slouch himself) before leaving him for dead too.
Yeah not exactly hard when you're a winger and as such one of the fastest blokes on the pitch, and you've got about as much space as it's possible to have on a pitch. Good try, yes, absolutely. But a great? Not really. Just a lucky grab or defensive slip, and a fast pair of legs. Not that different to an interception or a charge down.
Great Ashton try. Have not really seen it in detail but buy turning the 11 (?) inside he had a headstart, but to be fair had already run from his own try line! Probelm is, several England wingers not playing would have scored from that position largely IF they had turned inside too. So a very good try but not anywhere near say Shane Williams top 5.
His first try was more pleasing - he has been doing that for Saints for the past 12 months.
Well played England.
You all realise it's a false dawn though, don't you?
molgrips - MemberYeah not exactly hard when you're a winger and as such one of the fastest blokes on the pitch, and you've got about as much space as it's possible to have on a pitch. Good try, yes, absolutely. But a great? Not really. Just a lucky grab or defensive slip, and a fast pair of legs. Not that different to an interception or a charge down.
You fail to understand that it was the intent to attack from their own goal line that made it such a good try. Not the greatest ever seen at Twickers, sure, but still pretty good.
He was one of the fastest blokes on the pitch but he had to beat Drew Mitchell (one of their fastest blokes) and shake off all the other fast blokes. These days, not just the wingers are fast. Tom Croft is quicker than many of the backs for example.
So a very good try but not anywhere near say Shane Williams top 5.
Shane is broken 😥 some big nasty south african broke him.
Aston is good but not in the same class as George ap Lomu North 😀
Hmm I feel I must correct the misconception that we steal players from small South Pacific nations. There are a lot of 2nd/3rd generation New Zealanders of pacific island descent From the side that played yesterday:
Ma'a Nonu - born in Wellington.
Mils Muliaina - moved to Invercargill from Samoa aged 2.
John Afoa - born in Auckland.
Isia Toeava - born in Samoa but played highschool rugby in Auckland so must have come over at a young age.
Sonny Bill Williams - born in Auckland.
These guys are New Zealanders. When Sean Fitzpatrick played nobody said we were stealing players from the Irish !! Andrew Merhtens anybody ??
hels - don't let it get to you mate, it's just a lame excuse. If you are eligible to play then thats all that counts.
We would have had a bigger win if the glory boys released the ball a bit more often, luckly it paid off, but a couple of opportunites were missed by players hanging on to the ball hoping to break tackles when they should have passed to the men waiting.
I know mr toys, thanks. It's not so much the stealing payers thing, more the idea that the brown skin guys aren't Kiwis, it's never directed at the white guys with european names.
You fail to understand that it was the intent to attack from their own goal line that made it such a good try.
It's one of those things that is derided as stupid if it fails (why the hell didn't he kick it?!) and lauded if it succeeds. Anyone can launch a death or glory run from their own line. If they beat 8 blokes to score incredibly then fine, if they only have to beat 3 in an otherwise empty pitch then it's a defensive problem more than genius attacking.
But enough of that.
But enough of that.
Fair points - let's just enjoy the performance and hope for more of the same against the Boks 😉
watched the highlights, fair play england were good, now trying to watch Scot NZ, my god scotland are shite!!
Fair points - let's just enjoy the performance and hope for more of the same against the Boks
Absoutely. It certainly makes good telly 🙂
I'm afraid I can't support England getting more than one victory though. The media coverage will be absolutely insufferable.
The media coverage will be absolutely insufferable.
It already is. Listening to Miles Harrison during the game you'd think England were: a)Suddenly the best team in the world, b)gonna win the grand slam and c)now favourites for the RWC.
That was before they'd even put the Aussies away too 😯
I don't have Sky so I watch lots of games via the web and I much prefer SH commentators when the feed I'm watching is not from Sky. THey're sometimes biased towards their own teams but they also tend to accurately assess the merits of each team and not get carried away like the English media.
At least Johnno is playing a straight bat and understands the need for consistency until such performances become the norm.
my god scotland are shite!!
That's what I was saying to all my Scottish mates in the pub during the match 😆
To be fair they have beaten Ireland and Argentina (twice) last time out but not having played for several months and then facing the best side in the world who've been playing (and winning) continually of late it was no surprise. NZ getting two early tries killed the game and it was men against boys after that.
I thought England were a step up on the performance against NZ last week. Oz were good, but they had not expected England to run the ball at them. However it is good to see England learning that against some teams you need to keep the ball. The Sky team (especially Will Greenwood) were bouncing all over the studio over the performance and almost criticised Johnson for being so downbeat. Johnson is right, England need to do this on a consistent basis. However at least they can do it once.
Scotland were so bad it was embarrassing. NZ could have put out the U21 team and still won with ease. Big problems for them for the forthcoming 6N and World Cup.
Disappointed with Wales. Had SA on the rack and then let them off. They depend a lot on the kicking of Jones and the ability of Williams to unlock defences. Good performance from George North, very impressive from a 18 year old in his first start at this level, but teams are now aware of him and as such he will find it harder.
Looking forward to 6N. Based on this set of performances, England vs Wales will be a cracker (and please can we have some scrums!) Scotland are going to come bottom and Ireland are going to struggle.
New Zealand could have put out the womens team.
put George North and Roberts in the same team with Shane willimas and defences are going to have a hard time, sadly it may never happen!
Had SA on the rack and then let them off
I dunno, fair play to SA that was some brilliant defending. I think that was what won the match for them. Lots of times Wales threw the kitchen sink at them pretty flippin well and it held solid.
As a Welsh fan I'm disappointed not to have won when we could (or should) have but I'm still pretty chuffed with the performance, and that they gave us such an exciting game. They looked like they really knew what they were doing for a change. Win or lose, quality rugby is what we all want to see up here, instead of the shambles of recent 6Ns.
Disappointed with Wales. Had SA on the rack and then let them off.
Too many stupid decisions and mainly from Shanklin. Wales could have scored on a few occasions in the last quarter but each time he took the wrong decision.
I wonder whether he was concussed? The collison he took was big enough to open up a large gash immediately - it can't have done much for his marbles..
Jonathan Davies on Scrum V actually criticised a referee, Steve Walsh! Two SA tries coming from very poor decisions by the ref. 🙄
And speaking of refs, England need to keep that same ref for every game - he was letting them do things at the breakdown that haven't been allowed since 1992.
Australia weren't in the game because the ref basically ignored the new law interpretations and allowed England to endlessly hang on to the ball at every tackle or pile onto the Oz side and kill/steal the ball, as they did with the Ashton try. Slow ball, illegally killed, but the ref allowed it so fair play to the English, they used it. Would they have won that game with a different ref, I wonder? (Not that it matters - they WON and with some style..)
Scotland were disgraceful, but I'm a little worried that the same will happen to Wales. Unless I've missed something recently, Scotland aren't known for their flaky defence?
Scotland were disgraceful, but I'm a little worried that the same will happen to Wales. Unless I've missed something recently, Scotland aren't known for their flaky defence?
I think two things happened. NZ just clicked and were unstoppable and Scotland lost their shape and organisation in defence. The first meant a beating and I think NZ would have pasted anyone the way they played that day and the second meant it was an utter pasting.
Lack of captaincy from Scotland
I beg to differ TJ from my watching Scotland lost because they lost the collisions from 1-15 and from the start and were bullied at the breakdown. Says a lot that the only player who seemed to be competing physically was that big 12 who in most other respects is uselss. Doubt the same will happen to wales they stood up to SA well and Asutralia in that repect. Thats not to say wales wont get marmalised in other area's and loose by just as much. Without Shane they lack a bit of flair going forward too.
AA - Scotland actually took a fair few turnovers off NZ. ( infact 9) You are right that scotland did not do well at the breakdown either but the loss of defensive shape was a core reason IMO
One interesting stat is Scotland made 21 offloads from the tackle but no linebreaks. NZ made 7 breaks and scored 7 tries. NOrmally you would expect cover tackling to stop some of them
http://www.espnscrum.com/new-zealand-tour-2010/rugby/match/113591.html
[url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/9190833.stm ]Were the whole team on the sauce then? Both players were on the field in the (very close) match against Wales......[/url]
could explain the second half performance!!! 😉
welsh team to play Fiji
Wales: Lee Byrne (Ospreys); George North (Scarlets), James Hook, Andrew Bishop (both Ospreys), Aled Brew (Dragons); Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Richie Rees (Blues); Paul James, Huw Bennett, Adam Jones, Ian Gough (all Ospreys), Deiniol Jones (Blues), Ryan Jones (Ospreys - capt), Dan Lydiate (Dragons)/Martyn Williams (Blues), Jonathan Thomas (Ospreys).
Replacements Richard Hibbard (Ospreys), John Yapp, Bradley Davies (both Blues), Toby Faletau (Dragons), Mike Phillips (Ospreys), Stephen Jones (Scarlets), Tom Shanklin (Blues).
England team to play Samoa
England: Ben Foden; Chris Ashton (both Northampton), Matt Banahan, Shontayne Hape (both Bath), Mark Cueto (Sale); Toby Flood, Ben Youngs (both Leicester); Andrew Sheridan (Sale), Dylan Hartley (Northampton), David Wilson (Bath), Courtney Lawes (Northampton), Tom Palmer, James Haskell (both Stade Francais), Hendre Fourie (Leeds), Nick Easter (Harlequins - capt).
Replacements: Steve Thompson (Leeds), Dan Cole (Leicester), Dave Attwood (Gloucester), Tom Croft (Leicester), Danny Care (Harlequins), Charlie Hodgson (Sale), Delon Armitage (London Irish).
Plenty enough SH poaches in the England team and if Banahan is the answer at 13 then the question is wrong
Anyone want to rip the Wales games to a video file of some kind and make it available to me? I'll be in the USA for the Fiji match and the NZ one.
We're going to get so battered on Saturday 🙁
molgrips, I would have no idea how to do that sorry, check myp2p for links to the game.
Anyone want to rip the Wales games to a video file of some kind and make it available to me? I'll be in the USA for the Fiji match and the NZ one.
Yeah you could watch on:
[url= http://www.everythingon.tv/channels.php?categoryId=23&language=all&type=any&orderBy=isOnline&orderType=desc&page=1 ]everythingontv[/url]
[url= http://atdhe.net/index.html ]atdhe.net[/url]
[url= http://www.fromsport.com/ ]Fromsport.com[/url]
Unless it's in the middle of the night?
Guess I could record it on my Topfield box but not too au fait with uploading it?
Here we go!
Takeaway curry, a few beers and the rugby. Combine that with a day on which I received some astoundingly good news and I think I may get verrr, verrr, verr drunk watching the rugby tonight!
😉
Fiji are playing sevens! Ace!
Wales are a bit in the poo at this minute. Even I hope they get it together, as even Guscott want them to buck up..
Combine that with a day on which I received some astoundingly good news
LORD Flashheart ? 😯
😆
😆 @ allthepies!
Adam Jones - Legend.
C'mon Fiji!!!!! 😆
