I enjoyed the opening weekend; the rugby wasn’t of the best quality but it was tense with some dramatic finishes.

Italy blew a golden opportunity to win in France; they really need a good kicker. Some of those missed kicks were sitters. France looked a bit at sea, but I think will improve.

The Ireland front row looks lightweight at scrum time and I think they missed Rob Kearney to chase and field kicks. Zebo looked a bit ropey. Wales looked pretty good; I think they’d be better if they tried to use less route one options all the time, but I guess it’s tough when North is so out of form. The lack looks good and their defence looks very, very good and will take some breaking down. Biggar will be a loss if he’s injured. Priestland will do a job but never inspires much confidence.

Scotland seemed to lose their heads; when it was on they lost composure. Kicking away turnover ball like Russell did was not good. Maitland looked like a liability.

England did what they needed to do; a win buys time and increases confidence making it easier to make changes. The big plus for me was the use of the bench which didn’t seem premeditated like it used to under Lancaster (e.g. Taking Care off at 60 mins or so when he was having a stormer last year). The pack seemed to get stronger but were pretty hopeless at the breakdown; too often it was a back and not a backrower. Billy V was very good though and it was good to see him last 80 mins.

Ford was rubbish; did nothing in attack and was a liability in defence. Farrell proved again that he isn’t a 12; hopefully Ford will be in the bench with Devoto at 12 and Farrell at 10. Sam Hill looked pretty good for Exeter if we want some power / direct running in the midfield. JJ wasn’t much cop either. Hopefully Daly will get a run out soon. The midfield is still a massive weakness and concern; neither Wales or Ireland will be worried.

Farrell’s push was tw*tish but he does have form for that kind of stuff when trying to be tough.

Aren’t you contradicting yourself there? Surely giving away a needless penalty in the opposition 22 is the definition of being a ****?

I thought the Wales Ireland game, whilst not being the most flowing game in the world, was a compelling arm wrestle; particularly in the 2nd half. The Welsh back row were well balanced and pretty impressive (stand fast one Tips missed tackle which cost them a try) and for the first time in ages the Welsh bench seemed to have a positive impact.

I don’t think any of the other home nations will be particularly concerned by England’s performance but hopefully EJ has more up his sleeve. Sorting out the breakdown would be a good start…

I’d vote to keep this one too.

On Wales, I came away feeling disappointed with the performance and result but actually, on reflection there are a lot of positives and some of the replacements who could have been properly iffy were solid enough. Who knew James was actually a reasonable defender?! There isn’t the strength in depth of some of the other Nations but considering the lack of rugby half the team have had and recent injuries it wasn’t a bad shift to hold a pretty solid and rounded Irish side.

Only Francis really stuck out as being particularly bad I thought. You could also put Lloyd Williams in there too but in fairness to him, coming in at 9 so late in the game doesn’t give you any time to get the inevitable mistake out of the way and not feel the consequences (refereeing aside!). Davies didn’t play brilliantly and certainly slowed things up but I have to wonder if 10 mins left was an ideal time for a replacement. 9 and 10 are the worries for me in terms of the team as whole flowing well and getting some form (plus points on the board in the form of a reliable place kicker) but I think (hope!) the big names elsewhere in the team will build some form as the 6N progresses.

Other sides might relish the idea of 365 or so caps on the bench!!

Antone else seen this stuff on Japans’ Goramaru?
Apparently he’s now the worlds highest earning rugby player.
However. of the 200k euro per month he’s earning, only 10k euro are playing wages, the rest sponsorship deals. The Japanese love their heros for sure.

Faletau is the better player imo

Yes, he’s brilliant – but he’s Welsh, unfortunately. Billy V did have a very effective game on Saturday though.

Someone who is English (well, Fijian but he qualifies in the summer) is Nathan Hughes. He looks to have, potentially, the qualities of both the aforementioned rolled into one.

Just checked him out in the hope of finding some funnies. No luck.

But it wouldn’t have been fine if the Scots had been able to work a scoring play from the line out. I agree it’s not tiddly winks but stuff like that can really hurt he team.

Good to see Kvesic being added to the training squad with Beaumount plus Itoje and Daly. Hoping for a couple of tweaks.

No doubt everyone is Wales will be signing with relief after it was confirmed that Biggar shouldn’t be out for too long.

Maybe you were checking out the Dalai Lama?

Here ya go:

Webb playing for O’s soon too IIRC?

I’ve always thought Billy V ships the ball on a little too quickly and wished he’d just put his head down and run a bit more. Even at the start of the game at the weekend it was much the same then something clicked and he finally went rampaging 🙂 Great to see (but he can revert to old habits against Wales thank you)

Shame that Daly and Kvesic have been released. We need a proper seven because I do t recall either Haskell or Robshaw effecting a turnover.

Joseph is a lucky boy given his current form. He didn’t free an awful lot on Saturday and his teammate understanding with Ford seems ropey. Daly must be wonder how what he needs to do.

Maybe they are missing big Sam? 🙂

There was still a lot to do, but yes it wasn’t ideal! 🙂

I guess a big fat pay check!

Botica’s howler was awful. Foden did well to keep that alive though.

The current modern ERFU thinking is of course, full back.

No more unlucky than Scottish youngster view the try line 😆

If you weren’t Scottish I would point out we have scored more tries than England in the 15/16 season…