There's something deliciously infectious about the smile on Adam's face sometimes. Bit like when Thomas Castagneide used to play, he seemed to really enjoy his rugby at times.
It will be a fierce match ahead of the RWC, NZ will be looking to make a mark at Twickenham. You are right we could have done with a match to warm up but I think we'll be ready.
Indeed. I'm keen to see the centre pairing and am worried that Barrat and Twelvetrees may get in on a "defensive" basis. SA and we and most recently Aus have show the AB's get rattled if you come at them hard and they go down by 10 or so, do I'd say the best kind of defense is attack. But I still think their back three outclasses us massively and that's where going to get hit for six
The weather has it pissing down during game time, which could help nullify that a little, or more likely we'll get drawn in.
Oddly, I reckon Morgan and Yarde could feature heavily, not sure why, just an instinct.
The ABs are even more awesome in bad conditions, no matter the weather at Twickenham it won't be like Duneadon. Our kicking game needs to be good (the ABs are consistently excellent in this department) in order to control field position , we cannot give the ball away to their backs as you say. Never possible to be confident against the ABs but we have a decent chance. Game on !
Some good optimism there, and much as I'd like to think we are in with a good chance I think our tight five is going to struggle. So many frontline players injured. Without wanting to sound like a stuck-in-the-groove rugby pundit I think without that foundation its going to be an uphill slog - struggling to get clean ball, feeding off scraps etc. I hope I'm wrong 🙂
SA and we and most recently Aus have show the AB's get rattled if you come at them hard and they go down by 10 or so, do I'd say the best kind of defense is attack.
This. Ireland were 22-7 up at half time last year by having a go at them. 2nd half we tried to defend the lead and NZ scored 17 unanswered points.
We have a lot of injuries and not much of a front row which isn't a great start to facing the boks. Unfortunately I think we will get hammered.
I'd forgotten what a good game this was, shame wales lost....again again again
Good grief, how does Jonny "sideways" May stay in?
Forwards (13)
Dave Attwood (Bath Rugby)
Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons)
Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)
George Kruis (Saracens)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)
Joe Marler (Harlequins)
Matt Mullan (Wasps)
David Wilson (Bath Rugby)
Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby)
Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, captain)
Billy Vunipola (Saracens)
Rob Webber (Bath Rugby)
Tom Wood (Northampton Saints)
Backs (10)
Brad Barritt (Saracens)
Mike Brown (Harlequins)
Danny Care (Harlequins)
Kyle Eastmond (Bath Rugby)
Owen Farrell (Saracens)
George Ford (Bath Rugby)
Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby)
Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath Rugby)
Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
So
Brown
May
Barrit
Eastmond
Rokoduguni
Coaches kid
Or Coaches kid at 12 with the Other coaches kid at 10? Looks a bit unsettled to me.
Why not just put "Slammin' Sam" straight in there! After all, England are great at converting run'n'wrigglers in to world class rugby players...
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Oh wait, they weren't English. 😀
It's a forward orientated plan. The Abs are going to run right through that back line as soon as they've pulled Barrit out of position and worn out Brown. God help us, at least he's seen sense over twelve trees. We have Eastmond to attack - by himself.... 😐
Have we sorted some dodgy food at the NZ hotel yet? Did the trick in 2012.
Big game for Eastmond after the last all blacks match he played in. So none of you Englishers expecting Farrell at 12 and Ford at 10?
Eastmond is a good player but I'm not sure he is big enough to be an international 12. Ye cannae change the laws of physics captain
I would love to see England play Farrell at 12 and Ford at 10,but I'm Scottish,so no for any positive reasons tbh 😈 I am looking forward to seeing the carnage caused by Reid and McCaw at "HQ" Apparently there are numbers above 8 in a rugby match,but meh.
AA - yes, I think that's quite likely. Ford has played inside Farrell in all English age groups, and they are actually very good friends.
Agree on Eastmond. Very good attacking threat and seems to spot a gap, but he'll have other centres who are 20kg+ more than him running all day long. With little Ford along side him, that's going to be an issue. They can't hide behind each other!
Bring on the Six nations with hopefully a decent pack back with Super Burgess and Tuillagi fit and running at the Welsh. See how you like Gatland ball! (these two both way more than 30kg more than Eastmond....)
jambalaya - Member
The ABs are even more awesome in bad conditions, no matter the weather at Twickenham it won't be like Duneadon.
True, it won't be like Dunedin.
Their stadium has a fixed roof.
So none of you Englishers expecting Farrell at 12 and Ford at 10?
Not me, I don't see Farrell as a 12 with ball in hand and he's not big enough either.
May needs to start running forwards or he'll have to go
In defence Forwards all on the ground nullifying McCaw, Barrit defending the other 15m of width against a full AB back line. Great. I really hope there's some kind of ace in the hole.
In attack it's all about Vunipola and Morgan carrying up hoping the forwards score the hard way. It's posdible an Rastmond offload will get to Roko if he's aloud to pay his own game. But the issue us we will take 30 minutes for one scores where the ABs will take one every ten mins at least.
We are just not dangerous in the backs.
Not me, I don't see Farrell as a 12 with ball in hand and he's not big enough either.
May needs to start running forwards or he'll have to go
He's as big as Conrad Smith, that's big enough. Seems to know how to pass, can kick, good defender but not great as an attacking threat, but better there than at flyhalf...
Let's face it, he's a cert to start, and he's going to be better there than Barrit!
Barrit gets a tough time on here (i used to slate him myself) he was immense in the win against the AB's in 2012 and offers a lot more going forward than he gets credit for. I have always thought that Eastmond was small for a centre. No biggi if he's playing next to someone the size of Tuilagi, but if you've got Care at 9 Ford at 10 Eastmond at 12 and Brown at 15 then the backline is starting to look microscopic.
I'm struggling to see Farrell at 12....no real international experience there and surely we've got better centres. I reckon that he'll get the nod at 10 personally.
Israel Dagg, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Patrick Tuipulotu, 20 Liam Messam, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Ryan Crotty.
No Carter or Nonu, must be shit, mighty stout yeoman englishers by 20
Bahh, even my one eyed optimism is in decline here. AB's by 20 at least.
I'm feeling miserable already.
I'm feeling miserable already.
+1 thats a full AB's side vs a depleted English side - is our only excuse. 🙁
Yeah or that fact that we are shite..
I predict (somewhat predictably as I moan about this every time england play) that we will resort to Tindall-Ball.
Here the first receiver gives the ball to a trundlemuppet who charges into a wall of All Black and goes to ground despite having umpteen fast movers outside him, who can actually catch. No attempt or consideration of offload will be made, because in true Royal Mike style the fantasy of breaking 7 tackles and heading for the line in solo medal winning effort is way more powerful than the reality that rugby is normally won by creativity and fast ball movement. Especially as the Queen or David Beckham may be in the crowd.
This is about selfish glory hunting and pretty much the opposite of teamwork that we see from the Kiwis.
After going to ground 13 of the men in white will be drawn in to a man mess, the kiwis will commit a couple of defenders. Then we will either give away a penalty for holding on/off feet/offside or they will turn it over and score a try by passing the ball 6 times in as many seconds.
Repeat ad nauseam.
The English way of making the defeat look smaller is to limit the number of tries the All Blacks get by making sure the ball spends 50% of the game buried under a mountain of quivering englishmen.
Ha ha the optimism of a few day ago has gone 😆
In my experience it pays to have low expectations of England
thats a full AB's side
Missing one of the best players in the world in Carter and the worlds best 12, in favour of a bloke who gets pissed and misses flights and some bloke who only plays Union once every four years or so....England by 30
toys, that is possibly the most accurate prediction I've ever seen of a rugby match!
optimism pigface? nope, none here. If we had the almighty Tuilagi in there to beat the all blacks by himself then maybe, but not now.
I would love to see Rokoduguni (sp?) get a run at few lesser teams before getting a harsh lesson in defensive work.
Hmmm, worrying that my excitement around the England team at the moment surrounds an injured league convert, an injured Samoan, an uncapped Fijian and half a dozen injured forwards (including another pacific islander)!!
I would love that bloke who only plays union every few years pulling on a white shirt!
edit: 3:38 in this. I like league converts!
A-A why the bitterness towards S-B Williams?I thought he was your back up man crush 😛
May and Rokoduguni start ❓
Considering the injuries, that's not a bad 1 - 10, and Barritt and Brown are solid, I don't fancy our chances of winning, but I don't think we'll be far behind. Not happy with the wings though, especially May, and that's coming from a Gloucester fan through and through.
Pretty much as expected:
15. Mike Brown (Harlequins, 29 caps)
14. Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath Rugby, uncapped)
13. Brad Barritt (Saracens, 18 caps)
12. Kyle Eastmond (Bath Rugby, 4 caps)
11. Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 7 caps)
10. Owen Farrell (Saracens,25 caps)
9. Danny Care (Harlequins, 48 caps)
1. Joe Marler (Harlequins, 22 caps)
2. Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints, 57 caps)
3. David Wilson (Bath Rugby, 37 caps)
4. Dave Attwood (Bath Rugby, 12 caps)
5. Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 32 caps)
6. Tom Wood (Northampton Saints, 30 caps)
7. Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, 28 caps, captain)
8. Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 10 caps)
Replacements
16. Rob Webber (Bath Rugby, 8 caps)
17. Matt Mullan (Wasps, 5 caps)
18. Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons, 2 caps)
19. George Kruis (Saracens, uncapped)
20. Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby, 23 caps)
21. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 38 caps)
22. George Ford (Bath Rugby, 2 caps)
23. Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, uncapped)
I'd have swapped Yarde for May TBH, even just on the basis he gace the AB's something to think about last time he played them, provides a distraction at least.
A-A why the bitterness towards S-B Williams?I thought he was your back up man crush
Dont need him now Henson is back to light up the LV Cup!!!
Anyway I was being sarcastic, pretty funny eh!!!!
In reality I think that england are set for a spanking but if I say that Zokes will appear and accuse me of racism or something then I'll have to tell him what I think a d get banned again!
All of which is just an elaborate ploy to avoid talking about Wales and their chances.
I'll stick my neck out and say I think we could well win the game but it will probably be a narrow loss. I do not see NZ running up a big score, we didn't see too much of that in the 4 Nations and the USA game tells us very little.
Glasgow stepping up to play Argentina this weekend 🙂
15 Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors); 24 caps
14 Sean Maitland (Glasgow Warriors); 13 caps
13 Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors); uncapped
12 Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors); 8 caps
11 Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors); 10 caps
10 Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors); 2 caps
9 Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN (Gloucester); 31 caps
1 Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh Rugby); 36 caps
2 Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby); 77 caps
3 Euan Murray (Glasgow Warriors); 60 caps
4 Richie Gray (Castres); 39 caps
5 Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors); 5 caps
6 Rob Harley (Glasgow Warriors); 7 caps
7 Blair Cowan (London Irish); 3 caps
8 Adam Ashe (Glasgow Warriors); 1 cap
- Substitutes -
16 Scott Lawson (Gloucester); 45 caps
17 Gordon Reid (Glasgow Warriors); 3 caps
18 Geoff Cross (London Irish); 32 caps
19 Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors); 9 caps
20 Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan); 40 caps
21 Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors); 12 caps
22 Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors); 15 caps
23 Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors); 88 caps
Poor Kyle Eastmond, stuck between a fly half who can't make a break, draw a man or pass the ball and inside an outside centre who can't do anything except tackle.
SL can drop him with a clear conscience after Saturday.....?
I can't understand his ignoring of Christian Wade. Sure, a couple of defensive bloopers with bouncing balls this season but he's the most dangerous finisher available. Can't see what May and Nowell are doing in the squad.
It's all looking a bit muddled to me now. I can't see England kicking their way to victory. You generally need to score 30+ points to beat the ABs so that requires a few tries.
The ABs have a great lineup. No real weaknesses there. Carter is not quite up to speed so better to let him ease back in against a tier two nation like Scotland.
France team to play Fiji. Some well known names there......oh......wait a minute - PSA has been taking whatever pills Lievremont was taking!
France: Scott Spedding, Yoann Huget, Alexandre Dumoulin, Wesley Fofana, Teddy Thomas, Camille Lopez, Sébastien Tillous-Borde, Alexandre Menini, Guilhem Guirado, Nicolas Mas, Pascal Papé, Yoann Maestri, Thierry Dusautoir (c), Bernard Le Roux, Damien Chouly
Replacements from: Xavier Chiocci, Benjamin Kayser, Uini Atonio, Alexandre Flanquart, Sébastien Vahaamahina, Charles Ollivon, Rory Kockott, Rémi Talès, Maxime Mermoz, Mathieu Bastareaud
The only surprise (to me) was that he hasn't dropped Wesley Fofana.
FYI Spedding and Kockott are both Saffers but I think Teddy Thomas is totally French - despite the moniker.
Australia (15-1) - Israel Folau; Adam Ashley-Cooper, Tevita Kuridrani, Christian Leali'ifano, Joe Tomane; Bernard Foley, Nick Phipps; Ben McCalman, Michael Hooper (capt), Sean McMahon; Rob Simmons, Sam Carter; Sekope Kepu, Saia Fainga'a, James SlipperReserves: James Hanson, Tetera Kaulkner, Ben Alexander, James Horwill, Will Skelton, Matt Hodgson, Will Genia, Quade Cooper, Rob Horne
So Quade and Genia to come off the bench and shatter our dreams with the last play?
What's happened to Yarde? Is he injured, or has the fact that to him a rugby ball really is a wet bar of soap at the minute seen him dropped?
Can't say that the England team fills me with huge confidence tbh. Conservative choice in the backs as always.
Predictions for today
Aus by 12 against a rusty wales
NZ by 8-10 England lacking attacking threat
Scotland by 5 because thats what TJ would say
SA by 3-5 v injury ravaged ireland.
I'd say similar a_a, although I reckon SA may have a 10+ winning margin and maybe there'll only be a couple of points between England and ABs
Wow. May answer critics a bit.
Wales don't have that mental strenghth,they more often than not panic/make mistakes that the top teams just don't do.
Bit of an odd match so far, ref letting an awful lot go. Not bad viewing for a neutral.
Right. So now the AB's will come out like bullets from a gun. Can we respond with 40 mins of match winning intensity?
May and Brown need to have a chat with each other that's for sure.
