I was loving the (still a rush, but not a mad rush) defence by England. Some fantastic performances for England. Hartley did well, youngs topped him, just. Lawes immense. Launchbury steady. Wood abrasive. Robshaw largely in control. Billy and mako top drawer. Care really surprised me, if he can keep his head, he is miles ahead of Ben youngs. I hate the way youngs always takes a step, classy scrum halves don’t have to! Farrell very good. Twelvetrees had a pretty good allround game too. Morgan was a real impact. Brown and Goode were excellent, and reliable. Nowell likes a gamble, not necessarily a bad thing.
Quite worrying how Domingo neutralised Cole, Domingo is a superb scrummager, but Cole has to realise that sometimes he has to ‘play the game’ against tricky customer like that. First of all hold him, don’t let him get under you, don’t let him go down. Then when you’ve got the bugger steady you can crush him!
And a big shout out to Nigel Owens. Superbly referreed game.
France just got over the line, but actually, over eighty minutes England played the more rugby. Shame, but there you go.
