Not good news for England
Not a great start for England. Parisse is class though.
Hope Brown is OK.
Not at all convinced Billy had contact when the ball was over the try line- seemed to drop it.
JJ is class again but May butchered a clear chance in good old fashioned England style!
If Italy could kick their goals and not run themselves in to trouble half the time then England would have a tough job on their hands
Haha. Not really so tough. Leaked two tries but the scoreline says it all really.
I'm amazed this thread thrives ion STW. Surely all those Barbour wearing, privately educated, middle class Twickenham twonks, singing 'swing low etc, are the antithesis of everything this site is about?
What is this site about?
Wha makes you think that those on here are any better than rugby supporters?
I'm amazed this thread thrives ion STW. Surely all those Barbour wearing, privately educated, middle class Twickenham twonks, singing 'swing low etc, are the antithesis of everything this site is about?
1/10
JJ obvious man of the match. Worryingly 36 has played alright at 12, and May has leaked chances and in defense. I makes me nervous that Lancaster could play 36 and Burrell with JJ on the wing - although JJ is doing a good job of stepping in instead of hanging out wide. Maybe it could work.
That much, Martin?
Johnny May can't tackle for shit.
JJ looking excellent, though.
Thought Italy were pretty good value as well.
1/10? Aww c'mon it was better than that ! I mean there's RBS splattered all over the walls, Nat West all over the pitch and approx 30000 city boys in the crowd! Am I wrong?
It's half term, and I'm sure most of the braying city boys are off doing something insanely privileged and anti-STW like skiing. 😉
Not sure that Italy are nailed-on for the wooden spoon here. Wales really have to win at Murrayfield or they could be in bother with Ireland at home and Italy and France away.
May had a shocker. Burrell played well, a rock in defence and solid going forward. Kruis looked good.
JJ and watson are both game changers, surely a staple in this team now. Youngs was ok, still prefer the spark that care can bring. Brookes looked very good when he came on.
So anyway, when are Bristol playing Moseley?
Tomorrow mate. Loads of Welsh playing.
36 shouldn't be on that bench.
Could understand last week when the oppo plan was so obviously to batter Ford and nobble him, and he wasn't sure he entirely trusted Cips. 2 inside backs was acceptable.
Did a good impression of Lewis Moody when he came on too.
Looks like this week he just forgot to change the team-sheet.
Should have been cover for outside backs. Nowell can play 13, and with Watson able to switch, should be there.
I've been a May supporter so far but he was poo today. Made some good breaks but was selfish in the first half when in space. JJ was excellent though.
This as a no win game for England though...smash Italy and the response is 'it's only Italy' struggle and get told you should have smashed them. Italy looked much better this week though.
Can't believe that the Italian starting 10 weighs more than our starting loose head! He doesn't look that huge.
Dublin is gonna be huge. Hopefully England will star better and be a bit sharper.
Robinson, Henson, MaulE not a bad midfield!
Rewind to 24:17 on the match clock and look closely at the faces in the crowd.
😀
Italy are truly perplexing, why are they insisting on starting with Kelly Haimona @10 not at 12 with T Allen starting at 10 then L Morisi @13, given Haimona is not a great place kicker 9 points missed? while allen looked much better, I though Mclean was excellent and the Italian backrow really put England under pressure. A really decent effort from Italy
May needs to be dropped not just for his inept running, cost one try, abysmal defence but his not jumping or challenging for the high ball.
Defence was not good but the Italians created the score fro try one and 2, yes Watson sucked in but still great from Paressi. Atwood who I thought played well, got too far away from Marler but still a lot to do for Morasi.
JJ excellent, Burell good and 36 looked better and offered a second kicking option, Watson needs to improve defence but as a unit ford and youngs look excellent...Ford is a massive improvement on Farrell.
Forwards Haskell mixed bag as with Billy Front Row excellent, MArler and Cole very very good in the scrum. Robshaw excellent and Easter added something when he can on.
Very positive for England as the mistakes are things that can be improved.
Lancaster may shove JJ and Watson on Wings and Mani in at 13........... ❓
12T has been OK so far. Much better than his form at Glous this season. If JJ is going to play, it needs to be in the centres. Starting players out of position is something that Bomber seems to do a lot but is frustrating.
France are playing some appalling, dull rugby. Sexton is looking good though. England will struggle in Dublin based on this week so far.
I doubt Lancaster is feeling too worried. England may not have set the world on fire, but these two don't look particularly brilliant either.
Fr and Ireland should be good final quarter here.
Barnes seems correct but can't help wishing he would loose the pea in his whistle for 5 mins
If France could pass and catch they would be dangerous
France Ireland is just awful at the moment.
France seem to have lost the ability to string a full sequence together and Ireland seem to have no other plan beyond sexton kicking.
To be honest not much for the southern hemisphere to be worried about so far this weekend
Haven't seen a france team play this badly in a long, long time. Shit passing, shit running, shit scrummaging, shit rucking. Merde!
A try at last!!
A French one at that!
Impressive rolling obstructions on display.
Knee in the back is either a straight red or nothing, surely?
Barnes bottled that.
Poor game.
Italy are truly perplexing, why are they insisting on starting with Kelly Haimona @10 not at 12 with T Allen starting at 10 then L Morisi @13, given Haimona is not a great place kicker 9 points missed? while allen looked much better, I though Mclean was excellent and the Italian backrow really put England under pressure. A really decent effort from Italy
Allen has been playing well but I thought Andrea Masi also had a great game today- he was absolutely everywhere. I'd probably only swap Haimona and Allen as the big lad didn't have a great day.
England played pretty poorly but still racked up a load of points- which is both encouraging and frustrating I guess.
Why does Sexton always tackle high even when one on one with some of the biggest guys on the pitch? I guess he very often holds the player up but seeing him take the two or three knock to the head today was hard to watch.
Knee in the back is either a straight red or nothing, surely?
Probably red by the letter of the law but it would have been very harsh I think. It is one of those things that happens every ruck and maul, just a bit too blatant. As soon as it was highlighted on the screen I don't think Barnes was left with many sensible options for the good of the game. The number of straight arms to the head, players flying in to the backs of exposed players, swinging arms, stamps on the hand, etc, etc is normal. Scotland had a real hard time of swinging arms to the head almost every single ruck last week! I noticed too that Heaslip got a good seeing to the ruck after he got the knee to the back (and was immediately protesting to Barnes)
A lot of matches against Italy (and similar teams) end up frustrating
It's like playing tennis against someone who puts no pace on the ball. Ends up scrappy.
S'pose that makes sense Dan. Looked awfully deliberate to me!
Now, I know that the whole "choke" tackle thing is the holy grail for Ireland, but why would ANYONE try and tackle a charging Bastareud high? Sexton got bounced! (Good game for him apart from that, though!)
Not seen the last 30 mins, but what I saw was a dour game.
I think deep down Ireland will be quite happy. Not a pretty game, but a win against a team who could have munched them up front. Sexton did well against the fat Bastareud in defence from what I saw although the head clash did highlight the issues of tacking upright.
Looking forward to tomorrow's match as a neutral. Hoping for a good game rather than a slugfest.
Ire vs France, poor game. Ireland didn't seem to have any ideas going forward, they only really made one chance of a try all game. France weren't much better but an improvement on last week and I really thought they were going to nick it. A bit more discipline and less determination to offload and they'd have taken it.
Wierd isn't it. Engalnd used to lose their games in the final 20, now they concede in the first 5 and win in the second half. They need to warm up faster, we won't be the only ones to have spotted that. They do look a much more complete team now. Good to see a Brown in the stands 2nd half.
Shame we couldn't see more of Cips, but I think Farrell's been squeezed out of this team now, with no game time or internationals before the RWC its be very hard to come back, even if he ever proved better than Ford.
Just the May conundrum to fix now
I think France are warming up. England Ireland are well matched evens IMO but England have a greater bench, England's back row will be nullified by Ireland but - and I can't believe I'm saying this - we may have the better back line. it remains to be seen how bad today's game has been made to look but either team. Horribly France could come good when they play England
Ire vs France, well personally found it intriguing Fr are a nightmare to play against, big powerful crash ball and generally just bloody octopus like arms and hands everywhere, plus some world class players under utilised, Parra and Forfena especially .
Tactically Fr are dire, Lopez cannot play with his head up and sits, they could have had two scoring opps from open but bad passing cost them.
Barnes poor ref and it should have been a red for PAPE
Ire and Sexton it was a great kicking game, intelligent plan well executed. O'Mahony was outstanding and a great chip with the outside of the boot. Bowe and Kearney excellent
Ire vs England, May has to go with the kicking game he will be exposed even more than today.
Defensively Eng will be on the back foot, Ire back row, if the same as today, is better, Murray and Sexton just better than Youngs and Ford.
England Front Five will edge it, especially in the scrum.
Good win for Ireland.
Not sure I can agree with Kryton that the only thing England have got to fix after wins against Wales and the mighty Italy is the wing position!
Cipriani outstanding! Shame Youngs went off.
As an england fan, I think that england have been the most convincing of any in the competition. Still another game tomorrow though.
Comfortable win against Italy and a good away win against Wales. Couldn't ask for much more really. Sort the wing out and re-org the defensive pattern and that's about it. Compared with ireland who struggled against Italy and a VERY out of sorts france (and being out -tried at home).
We'll see tomorrow if Wales had a blip, anything less than a big win won't knock my confidence.
I'm guessing you'll temain confident!
Cipriani outstanding
a cameo appearance alas not enough to qualify as outstanding
I think that england have been the most convincing of any in the competition
sorry I think Eng are not convincing, finding their stride and a better pattern of play ...certainly slightly more expansive,
so far they have played the two weakest sides.........
so far they have played the two weakest sides
😀
* imagines AA turning purple*
not enough to qualify as outstanding
Just you wait until you see what the English located press has to say about the WORLD CUP WINNING HEIR TO JONNY W, OH MY HOW WE LOVE HIM SO MUCH! DID YOU KNOW HE BOFFED KELLY BROOK? NO? WELL HERE'S A PICTURE OF HER BAPS IN A BIKINI! PHWOAR, EH? ANYWAY, BACK TO THE RUGBY, OR IS IT ABOUT TITS?
indeed Capt.............
WORLD CUP WINNING HEIR TO JONNY W
wssn't that Owen .......?????........??????
