No need to discuss this any more, the citing commisioner has made his decision.

Well exactly, and Brown doesnt have a reputation for patience.This is good from Wigglesworth. Surely anyone bashing Carling will make the welsh happy?
Wigglesworth quoted in the grauniad

That vid exonerates Wood imo.

“la la la I can’t hear you!”

What is interesting is there seems to be a fairly even split between people saying that the Wales game was a one off that doesn’t matter and England are great, and others feeling the direction of the whole team is fundamentally flawed and they’ve got lucky bumbling along over the past few years. Either way the result of the Aus game is massive for England. I can see them winning just to spite everyone and keep the debate raging on 😆

Easy solution to Brown’s stable state of mind under pressure. Set a series of impossible high pressure tasks while locked in a room for 6 hours with The Hask (TM). The SAS train listening to recordings of Haskell while blindfolded and diorientated so it must work 😀

Yes well DanW I am firmly in the bumbling along they are shite camp, but I like to see a bit of fire and passion so hopefully it will make a difference on Sat.

You’re quite right, it is his fault.. when I say exonerate, I meant it looks like he was going for the ball not the head. But still dangerously reckless.

You know I am a Welsh girl, born in Swansea, grew up in Abergavenny and Cowbridge, and always support Wales, my brother played for Bridgend and Swansea. With an English Dad and English husband I am very happy to support England when they are playing anyone else but Wales.

What you are doing is not discussing rubgy, it’s pushing an agenda to dig at england/troll the england fans on here. Its somewhat unedifying and not something that we ever tolerated in Cowbridge RFC.

dbcooper,aa uses the term manshamed so cut him some slack,he obviously has issues 🙂

I was fine with the discussion up until the point that the citing comissioner made his decision, after that it’s pointless to discuss further. This isn’t football you know, arguing with the ref is not an option. 8)
Anyway it is obviously not deliberate, everyone who isn’t welsh and many welsh agrees on that. Yes possibly the rules need to be revised to place more responsibility on the player, along with many other parts of the game, but I think most agree on that too.
Can we talk about the rugby now?

😆
Seen this, a_a?

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/BRISTOL-RUGBY-Gavin-Henson-repay-unbelievable/story-27862356-detail/story.html

Scrum V had Andy Robinson in the studio on sunday and asked him about Gav, seing as robbo is now his boss.

I’m with AA on the head thing, seeing as a high tackle even whee the arm rides up is a penalty I think a having boot that makes contact with the head should too. Especially given the concern around head injuries at present.

No its not the rules at the moment and in that case the citing commissioner was probably correct. But that doesn’t mean it’s right, the rules can be, and are frequently changed why not this one?

Issues in the Aus team:

http://www.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/15175/10010547/world-cup-over-for-australias-wycliff-palu-and-will-skelton

Not really.
Skelton’s a big loss, size-wise at 25 stone, but not yet an 80 minute every week player. Possibly would have been bench impact sub, but highly unlikely to have started another game.
Also, the Pocock/Hooper back row combo that Cheika’s now favouring requires another line-out lock to be selected, skelton’s too big to be lifted to high to make him a proper firstline line out choice. Fardy’s a good jumper at blindside, but Hooper and Pocock’s strengths are elsewhere so picking both needs two lineout locks (which the replacement can do better) rather than a grunt lock.
And they picked 6 back rows in the original squad because Cheika said he wanted two complete teams for the four-day turnaround fixtures, which are now out of the way. It’s allowing him to re-balance his squad for the rest of the tournament by gaining a hooker, having started with only 2, and losing a player/position that is already well covered.
Clever management leaves them in a stronger position, IMO.

I’ve said it before, but…
It’s exactly what England should have done with Easter instead of their 3rd choice hooker – who’s not going to play a game.
Billy Vunipola’s a big loss,possibly best England forward so far, but if Easter was already there instead of an unnecessary hooker, then that loss could have been mitigated by bringing their best hooker – Hartley – back into the squad and strengthening rather than weakening. His ban finished between the Fiji and the Oz game.

If he’d been there at the end on Saturday they might even have been able to throw middle or back…

So loum, are you implying there that the Wallabies are faking an injury to bring another player into the squad as a replacement ? Or did I read that too cynically.

Really enjoying this world cup. Can’t wait for Saturday’s game.

(you know, to find out who the ABs will face in the final…. :D)

hels
No. I’m not.
One’s a straight swap – lock for lock.
The other, I see as pre-planned as in – pick 6 back rows originally and swap the first one injured for the spare hooker when the fixtures allow. Modern rugby means it’s when not if.
It just happens that the timing has worked for them, and the first one out is the probable 6th choice, and the entirely legal “gamble” looks to have paid off.
It’s not a massive gain for them – nowhere near – just no loss and a slight rebalance. The players’ involved are unlikely starters, including those coming in. Not worth cheating over.

It could have been a bigger “win” in England’s case ‘cos the player concerned would be well worth a place in the 23 at least.

ps the ABs last game will be against a group D team

Best analysis of why England lost to Wales is by Ted in the Guardian

Most of the time they kicked the ball aimlessly downfield seeming to hope Wales would self-destruct. Barritt looked like a fish out of water at outside-centre, even though he has played there before for England, and frankly Burgess was little better on the inside. Wales exploited the pairing defensively: while Burgess was direct and straight in the first half, Barritt was holding and pushing wide, leaving a gap for the explosive Scott Williams.

After the break, they tried to stay connected by pushing up together straight, but that left huge space on the outside channels which Wales took advantage of superbly to create their try (Owen Farrell was at that stage playing at 12). There is no question that Jonathan Joseph was sorely missed, but I cannot understand why England’s attacking strategy was stuck in the stands with him.