Rugby world cup

the wlelsh scrum in theory will be killed but i dont care, keep our big guns for the world cup.

gav getting game time is good, if he has a shit game thats the end of him i reckon and rightly so, rumours are that he’s going to join the dragons down the road… but i cant see it.

I’ll tell you what, in the unlikely event that wales get any decent ball and Henson and Roberts click its a pretty bloody tasty centre pairing, the front five choices and the bench make me want to cry though.

I reckon Henson will only join the Dregs if he doesnt make the world cup, if he does the worlds his lobster again.

I’ll tell you what, in the unlikely event that wales get any decent ball and Henson and Roberts click its a pretty bloody tasty centre pairing, the front five choices and the bench make me want to cry though.

Very much so.

TandemJeremy – Member
What is it with England and centres? Scotland as well for that matter. Just no quality at all.

I thought about posting something like that earlier when I posted the teams.

Hape, Tindall, Flutey, Tuilagi. It says a lot for the quality of English midfield play when the most talked about player is a 20yr old whose main claim to fame is punching his forthcoming teammate.

(I know, I know, he scored against Wales last weekend……)

It seems strange to me that they would put Flood, a more attacking o/h with those centres. I’d have thought Wilkinson would be a better choice?

so flood fails and Johnson can then play wilkinson?

Roberts looks a bit ginger there, are you sure he is not one of ours?

I think one of the problems for the English midfield was that you had Greenwood/Gusset/Catt there for 10/12 years.Any of those three would spoil supporters. Greenwood esp, I see a lot of him in Conrad Smith, somebody NZ seem desperate to replace with A-A’s new favourite centre.Flutey has the most potential out of the new lot, IF he can get back to 2007/8 form. Anyway the madness starts tmw…Why is my first assignment of the season always a bloody 7’s tournament? At least the ground will be soft.

Flutey has the most potential out of the new lot

How old is he? He seems a bit old to be regarded as being a potential? Tuilagi has great potential but will need the right partner, someone who can pass which rules out Hape and Tindal. The chances of Flutey getting back to his best seem about as slim as Hensons IMO.

Flutey is 31, so fair point long term, what I meant was in the next couple of months. I think the best pairing is Flutey/Tindall for england, tindal is not as explosive as Tuilangi, but has much better D. I think that England will try to bypass 12/13 anyway. I really hope Gav does well tomorrow,on the little ball they see,he could have been one of the greats of the modern game. I would hate to see him remembered for one 6N six years ago.

Henson more likely to be remembered for being a primadonna with a too high opinion of himself

Henson more likely to be remembered for being a primadonna with a too high opinion of himself

Yeah but yawn, because we are talking about playing rugby on sat and in the upcoming word cup. It will be a foolish England that underestimate him because of his personal proclivities. In my limited experience (mostly any international that England play and a few of the Ireland ones) with Rugby you never know.

Sadly Henson will always remembered for being Orange. He probably will have one more great game in him.

But his personality is affecting his rugby – he plays like a prima donna. In the Baa Baas game he was backing off contact, then someone had the temerity to give him a hard tackle and he looked to the ref. He’s not a team player any more (if he ever was).
Plus he’s a ****.

OK fair enough, I guess I prefer to talk about the Rugby rather than strickly, if you really think he is washed up then that is a shame(as in a shame for Henson being washed up). He did have some brilliance and I assume that Gatland feels he still has something otherwise he wouldn’t be giving him this chance no?

I don’t think Henson ever was a team player – i seem to remember stuff coming from O’s fans to that effect a few yrs ago. It’s such a pity because the lad is definitely uber-talented but just can’t seem to gel with others for some reason.
Anyway, although i like Tuilagi in the long term i suspect this WC may be too soon for him. Not a great fan of Hape but i think he might be the best we have available – which is a really depressing thing to say. England have some good, powerful and most of all thinking players in the back line but the centres always seem to stifle them. We have a pack that looks decent, a very good FH in Flood and several decent SH’s but it still comes back to centres that bollox the flow up.

I think Wales will do well, but still lose narrowly like last week. How that will set either team up for the WC is anyones guess.

I’d never deny Hensons talent or his ability to produce skills that only the best can but unfortunately for Wales that no longer makes you ant international or even a european cup level player

I suspect that Wales will follow their usual game plan –
Start out well
Concede a few points
Go into a spiral of unforced errors whilst defending heroically
Come back in the last 20 minutes and play fantastically with speed, vision and committment
Lose narrowly (again)

But his personality is affecting his rugby – he plays like a prima donna. In the Baa Baas game he was backing off contact, then someone had the temerity to give him a hard tackle and he looked to the ref. He’s not a team player any more (if he ever was).

In the baa baas game he did look shy of contact and kept doing stupid chips and grubbers, but please whilst I’m happy for him to be slagged off for things he does you really need to open your other eye. He got hit a cracker by , christ name escapes me big Fijian centre, as he went back clearing up someone elses **** up (becausse he’s a team player) he then jumped up after it and ran forward to take a quick tap (as Wales had been trying to play advantage) as he did so most of the baa baa’s team were congratulating each other for smashing Henson so some cheating littler **** (most likely Martyn Williams but I dont remember who) knocked the ball out of his hand. It was that that he mentioned to the ref.

Actually watch him play and then explain how he plays like a prima donna. He works tirelessly in defence getting back into the line, he runs endless and very effective dummy lines and he always passes to people in space. If you want to see a prima donna play watch Hook always running sideways, fails to pass and try’s to go for the break all the time.

I would hate to see him remembered for one 6N six years ago.

that’ll be two grand slams….

clearly off the pitch he’s a massive **** but I couldnt care less about that if he regains some form

care less about that if he regains some form

Exactly, whilst I as an englander don’t want to see him regain form, this is what it is all about.

anyway we all know how bias can alter perception, if you wanted to you could make a case against any player with careful selection of their on pitch actions.

This is all getting away from the fact that we are gonna stomp your leek eating asses so have the tissues ready.

PEDANT ALERT! two 6N years ago….proves my point though!

two 6N

No two grand Slams, there’s a big difference between winning the Championship and achieving a grand slam, ask Sir Clive.

Any of you chaps know if this is going to be on non sky tv?

Try http://www.vipbox.tv

😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 I really enjoyed that

Good to see not everything sporting-wise going England’s way today, well done Wales! 🙂

Now to see how Australia do down in Durban…

😀
And we were singing…..

Poor performance by England B

England B 🙄

Poor performace from wales too but bloody hell that was funny. Steve Thompson really needs to go on a diet because his gut was out further than his strutting chin!!

Ok, C then

Wondering if it was Wales’ game plan to suck it up for 60 mins then turn it on.. if they really believe they have the fitness advantage…

happy times a win is a win 😀

Now to see how Australia do down in Durban…

Huzzah, a win, but looked to be a bit boring and ugly to me? only ‘watching’ via typed online commentary, which kind of sucks 🙁

Arf, I bet Johnson is fuming 😆

Wondering if it was Wales’ game plan to suck it up for 60 mins then turn it on

Its part of the plan, not sure being incompetant in the lineouts and thrashed in the scrums was also part of the game plan though. They wont to keep it tight and play contolled rugby for 60 and then exploit space later on with Williams and Hooks etc, but they dont want to just tackle for 60 mins. Its all part of the game plan designed to beat Fiji and Samoa. Last world cup they tried to out play Fiji with all out attack which was a very daft thing to do.

PS Mind you hapy days for England if Cole, Lawes, Easter, Flood, Hape, Tindall, Cueto and Foden are in their C team 😉

Huzzah, a win, but looked to be a bit boring and ugly to me?

Saw the last 20 mins half-watched, looked very scrappy and unproductive to me but the weather was terrible. Low score reflected that.

Henson has a suspected broken wrist which is a really shame had done nowt wrong up to that point.

…the weather was terrible…..?they had the bloody roof shut 😀
If england had turned posession into points in the first they’d have been untouchable.
Second half was closer, england were, in the end, let down by a lack of effort in defence. Try scorer(i forget who) practically walked it over.

If england had turned posession into points in the first been good enough, they’d have been untouchable won the match.

Hook is a pretty dangerous runner and he only had to beat Cole I think. England were let down by having two inept centres who couldnt pass water or run a decent line and one inept lump on the wing.

Poor performance by England B

Could be right cos they were shite. All that possession, the Welsh errors and camping on the try line and they couldn’t score a try. They didn’t look too tidy defending either. I hope for your sake that that wasn’t a strong England side. 😯