STW 2014/15 Rugby Thread

The “maul” that England formed and only one Irish player joined / tried to tackle the ball carrier, but the ball was already at the back, was obstruction. Ref got that very wrong.

Ireland had no spark going forward, except a maul and stuff it up the jumper. The back three were very good under very good high ball.

England had no leadership when it mattered and didn’t learn from the penalties. You can’t give soft penalties away in your own half when the opposition has a good kicker. Suicide.

Looking forward to Wales v Ireland now.

Looking forward to Wales v Ireland now.

Not sure I am but never mind its all good fun. Is it a week break or 2?

2 weeks.

Well, Ireland gave us a lesson today. We looked a bit “rabbit in the headlights.

I agree with Woodward for once – if you don’t win set piece you ain’t going to win.

I haven’t seen the game but the result is what I expected. It’s good, it teaches is not to get too big for our boots. Like I said from the start, we aren’t doing too bad for a second team… 😉

England do seem to be massive chokers, going to be under massive pressure at the world cup!!

Indisciplne again in our own half to give up territory and points. I hope we learn eventually! – must be so frustrating for the coaches to watch. I thought the refusal of the pen early on was a real statement of intent and had it worked it could have been different but Ireland gave us a lesson at kicking, chasing and catching.

There’s not a massive difference between Wales Ireland and England at the moment, and home advantage is a big thing. When the Home-Town roar goes up at The Aviva, the green swarm seems everywhere!!

Pretty disappointed with England today. Fair play to lay to Ireland, they had a plan worked out, stuck to it and made sure they were really accurate. Sexton and Murray were awesomeness me in ensuring that they played in the right parts of the pitch. They also built a score line. They’d done an awful lot of work on their scrum and the line out functioned well.

Some of the England youngsters were indeed rabbits in headlights and it was disappointing not to see experienced heads lead my example. The bench is a worry because it has no impact…WTF did Croft actually do when he came on? Wiggles worth is t a scrum half to come in and change a game. Our kicking was pretty aimless and we were toothless at the breakdown. The line out malfunctioned again..,,we really missed Lawes, Launchbury and Wood. I’m not sure about Kruis. Quite like Attwood for the ballast that he brings, especially as some of our locks are quite skinny.

I wonder if the likes of Lawes will be bought back. We went pretty well for Saints on Friday.

Goode was er, as I expected. Our discipline was awful and this is were Ireland showed real nouce. They never seemed to do anything silly in a kick able range.

I think Ireland will win the championship this year. They don’t sparkle but are very effective and much be horrible to play against because they are so efficient and suffocating. I thought this before we’d even got underway.

@aa agreed about Ireland at breakdown and rest of your first paragraph. I see your trolling alter-ego is back 😉

@bigblack our high ball kicking was poor, too far and no pressure of the receiver most of the time. Ireland gave us a lesson in that skill.

Marler never got going against Ross the way he was talked up as being able to. Despite any talk of a multi faceted attack, England seem scared to use their backs until their pack is dominant. I think they need another quick back rower as well,Robshaw has come on,but VP and Haskell looked slow today. I would expect more than either produced. Ireland on the other hand manage to combine ferocity at the breakdown,despite under using what should be a good set of backs,as Woods said.

Jambalaya.

I meant the Irish high ball was good. You’re right about the English kicking. Aimless and not accurate enough. That was one of the things Wales got right against France. Just the right distance to allow the chaser to get under it and compete.

As soon as Ireland find the right pair of centres their back three will be devistating. They just need to supply slightly quicker ball and they will be right up there competing for a top spot come the World Cup.

Simply put, england didn’t turn up. Just played very badly, it was a walk over for ireland who thoroughly deserved the win. Ford was shocking today and the sub decisions were mystifying.

The lack of support when Billy V made that break was shocking would have to look again to see what the winger, flankers, scrum half and 12 were doing when they should have been on his shoulder. Its not like he was that fast.
someone ages ago said about 12trees playing like Lewis Moody, shame passes like him too. 12thumbs might be a better name.

england didn’t turn up. Just played very badly, it was a walk over for ireland who thoroughly deserved the win.

Agreed

Was annoying to watch. A bit like watching Wales in their normal “More than capable of putting a game away, but not bothering to turn up” phases.

Wales V Ireland looks more and more like a game of long range artillery high balls. First to blink gets a man sent off for ten minutes.

Englands breakdown work in the first half was shameful. As AA says, the support running was non existent. They just played dull brainless rugby. Goode was awful, 36 once again proved that he doesn’t deserve his spot or reputation as a playmaker.
You have a 10 who is out of sorts, so do you;
A) replace him with the quality specialist 10 reserve, or;
B) take off the outside centre, push the inside centre outside and put on a bloke with a history of poor form in the hope that he can make up for the poor 10?

It is doubtful that it would have made a massive difference but FFS.

Irish breakdown work from 1-15 is amazing, so well coached, but when your main attacking ploy is a maul and a cross kick it does make for tough watching.

Having spent all afternoon in a CCU ward 🙁 I missed the live action other than radio commentary for last 15mins. Sounds like Ireland executed their game plan expertly and England only turned up for 10 mins towards the end? Shame if there was only one try from the collection of backs on offer. If you are correct AA I will stick to Top Gear rather than the recording for a perk up. Clarkson has already made one anti cyclist wind up comment….

teamhurtmore – Member
Autumn internationals (and rankings I believe, but haven’t checked) suggest Ireland favourites among home nations….But overall should be a great 6N, very close with Ireland starting as the team to beat IMO.

POSTED 2 MONTHS AGO #

At least the bet is still in tact! 😉

Goode was awful,

Roberston kept saying he was playing brilliantly on the wireless?!?! 😉

Roberston kept saying he was playing brilliantly on the wireless?!?!

He had a moment of brilliance, but we really missed Brown.

Goode was England’s best player. Maybe Cole made half an attempt to turn up too. OK, so maybe that half tongue in cheek but England collectively didn’t turn up and Brown wouldn’t have done anything today that Goode didn’t IMO

Brown would have done a lot more than Goode managed. He was not englands best player, Cole, Burrell, Kruis and Vunipola were better. probably Hartley too.

I meant in tongue in cheek since it is hard to pick a best player out of a bad overall performance. Hartley was pretty absent but not to the extent of Marler who was very quiet indeed. I thought Attwood and Kruis both worked really hard and showed a lot of potential but were a bit naive at times. You are quite right too that Vunipola played reasonably well, he seemed a bit more noticeable than the previous matches

Just like our previous two games we controlled the game well and never looked like losing. In every part of the game we were significantly better than England. The English pack in particular should be hanging their heads in shame tonight, not one of the eight made any meaningful contribution.

In contrast our pack were intense and ferocious throughout the game. The only worry I have is the back up to Sexton isn’t really good enough. We lost a bit of direction for 10 mins after he went off.

I though Henshaw played very well considering he only has a handful of caps and is around 21 years old. He looks like he will have a bright future.

anagallis_arvensis – Member
Can I be the first to say “multi faceted attack”

POSTED 4 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

duckman – Member
Marler never got going against Ross the way he was talked up as being able to. Despite any talk of a multi faceted attack…

POSTED 1 HOUR AGO # REPORT-POST

It would appear so, AA! 😀

@BM, I think the inability to convert clear try scoring opportunities was a worry today. Henshaw/Payne partnership isn’t quite the finished article, but looks to have a lot of potential…would be nice to see it a bit more realised in the StagnHennium! If they’d been better today, then the back three could have seen the line a bit more, and the score line may have been a bit more embarrassing for England. Do like the look of Henshaw though. Bowe could have been a bit more involved too.

Overall, enjoyed dominating England for 65-70ish minutes, living up to pre-match hype ( 😀 ) and it’s nice to see the last twenty minute fragility gone for now. They weathered the storm reasonably well after Sexton’s exit. Not getting mullered in the scrum for once helped too.

Bowe could have been a bit more involved too.

Any game he’s involved with is a game worth watching, IMO. Love watching him play. Of course, he was better when he was an Ospreylian! 😉

He is, though, one of those lovely players that seems to play with a smile on their face. Like Shane or Thomas Castagneide, or even Campo! They all seemed to play for the fun of it.

Bowe was quiet by his standards but did all that was asked of him. He will be keeping a bit in reserve for the return to his adopted land in a couple of weeks.

I can’t get my head around Payne he’s not even the best 13 at Ulster. I suppose i have to accept that Joe sees something I don’t.

Bowe was quiet by his standards but did all that was asked of him

Spilled a few though. Anyway, I’d rather see him have an off game and be in the winning side, than glorious defeat. 🙂

#trustinjoe

Taking me out of context CFH,as much as I sniggered at the original post,the point was that England don’t seem to know what to do when they can’t dominate up front. Maybe they should watch videos of the Aussies? 😈

Ireland deserved to win.

They kicked the ball up into the air and ran after it a lot better than England did.

So for those saying the France Wales game was amongst the worst they had ever seen, was the Ireland England game better?

Not really. It was a pretty frustrating game to watch.

What I don’t understand is everyone in the press bigging England up over the last few weeks. They beat wales in what was a close game to start with and then wales switched off and put their feet up and England won by 5 points. ( hardly a 30/3 whooping..)
They beat Italy but even the Italians ran a few tries in against them…
They went to Ireland and got whooped. Very poor and uninspiring play apart from 10 mins at the most in the second half.
Hardly a dominant England team.

I think it must be the ultimate humiliation for Cipriani. To have Goode and Wigglesworth on the pitch whilst he sat on the bench is outrageous. Once Farrel returns he will be relegated further by Lancaster.
I am biased but I am struggling (other than Ford) to see a better 10.

tmh, the game is definitely not worth watching. We all knew Ireland would compete ferociously upfront and use their kicking game. They did both of these and England in particular didn’t deal with the kicks well. England got behind with some soft penalties and never really threatened, Ireland kicked high & short and made the catchers job messy whereas England kicked too long and the Irish took the ball uncontested. England only woke up and came into the game as Ireland tired and it was dead by that stage anyway.

@aa, hard to say which was the worst game. I thought England offered more threat than did France so arguably Ire / Eng was the better game but it’s a choice between two poor matches.

Championship not over as IMO Ireland where not that impressive and the away game in Cardiff will not be a formality.

Cole was getting quite vexed at the end 😆 wish refs would ping players 10 yds as soon as they question a decision. Captain talks to the ref and thats that unless the ref wants to talk to you.

I don’t know what Cipriani has to do. If Easter and Bastereau’s stunt double are being considered,then it must just be that he doesn’t fancy him as a player.

@surfer, Cipriani is only on the bench due to Farrel’s injury. The fact that Lancaster didn’t bring him on shows he is cover in the event of absolute emergency. Personally I’d rather not see him in the squad at all, he’s yesterday’s news. He had his chance and sniffed it up his nose.

I think he will play one of the Vinnapola brothers at 10 before him so at least release him to play for his club! At least that way our thrassing at Leicester on Saturday may have been less so!

He had his chance and sniffed it up his nose.

Yes so you have said Jambalaya however he would not be the only player to go off the rails only to be welcomed after rehabiliation. He has played exceptionally well for Sale and Lancaster needs to include him on merit or dismiss him. Unusual punishment in my view.

Ireland deserved to win.
They kicked the ball up into the air and ran after it a lot better than England did.

More importantly, they caught it better and placed it over the try line.

Better in all departments, IMO. Looked dangerous and could have scored more.
Ireland are improving slowly, there’s still potential for a lot more to come.
Was good to see the backs ran more too, which is being a bit overlooked, but it didn’t quite come off for the moves.
Still, it’s getting there for a very new backline. Was unsure about Payne but I think he’s getting better at 13. Probably his best game there so far. Henshaw looked class. But there wasn’t a lot of space ‘cos the England defense was up very quick so it was good to have the option of popping it over them when that happens.

For “very quick” defensive line, you could read offside. Robshaw moaned about a lack of discipline, but that sounded like a pre-prepared line. Their team tactics were obviously to test what they could get away with and push the boundaries of offside and it worked for them in stopping an early try, so they got away with it. He can moan about giving away 3 pointers, but it should have been 7 so they were very lucky to get away with no cards, IMO. Maybe on a different day…

Still, a lot more to come from Ireland.