Yes I’d like to see Haskell carrying a few balls through the SA’s. He tends to stay on his feet long enough for the rest of the forwards to get there and is all elbows – I’d expect him to syb for 8 as you suggest unless there’s and injury.

We also need someone with a decent flare to fire up twickers a bit. I watched the Dallaglio documentary though other day and his emotion and attitude on the pitch is incredible.

Also read some psychology about why the AB’s win so much – apparantly up to 10% of thier ability is casued by the fact that both they AND the opposition expect them to win – vis a vis England 2003. If you don’t know already, have a read about all the mind games woodward played with the team – “Fortress Twickenham”, “No’s” of tries that will be scored printed all over the changing room walls etc – even in the oppos’s room. I remeber that famous (England V Aus?) moment when they lined up for the Anthems on the wrong side and when asked to move Jonno stated “No, we are England”. It may come across arrogant but in the players mind they were the best, they came to win, and weren’t going to lay down or be told what to do by anyone.

Where’s all that now? All we have is “Well, you know its a young team and its ok to come 2nd at the moment blah blah”

Like Dalaglio said, “Lose in an England shirt and be too embarrassed to go out and get the Milk in the morning”

we just don’t seem to have a N Back replacement.

You do, he plays in France.

England had a Neil Back replacement available for many years, but he’s getting on a bit now and always injured. Or banned. 😆

After watching SA v Scotland last weekend I am still shocked at how poorly SA was in the scrum. Missing many key players and it shows. Alberts , Etzebeth and Srauss are playing cracking rugby.
I stopped counting how many times Guthro Steenkamp failed to tackle or stop a charging forward, and he can’t scrum for toffee, piss poor prop imo.

Beeb suggesting Liam Williams will play on wing you’d think 1/2p would move to wing. Mind you Liam Williams is ace plays everygame like its his last real body on the line stuff. I reckon he’ll last ten mins!!

It’s pretty depressing isn’t it, The second best winger in England is… A full back.

The best 7 is a 6.

The best 12 is a 13

The second best 10 is a 12

What the hell is going on?

anagallis_arvensis – Member
…. Mind you Liam Williams is ace plays every game like its his last real body on the line stuff. I reckon he’ll last ten mins!!

POSTED 11 HOURS AGO #

That’s going to go badly,It wan’t so much the way they demolished and punished the slightest mistake; it was the sheer fricking SIZE of them that I came away with.

Transapp; instead of using your best players in each position,and letting them grow into int rugby, the home of rugby (trademark Sky Sports)are so results driven you are playing guys out of position as a short term sticking plaster.

The whole bloody match is going to go badly. I’d have put Scott Williams to the wing. Wingers arent going to be the difference though. Wales will be destroyed up front and taken apart at the breakdown.

so results driven you are playing guys out of position as a short term sticking plaster.

Nail/Head.

Or…..They pull a WC out of the bag and tear into the AB’s who are looking towards next week..Thats what I would like to see, don’t think you can like rugby and not like the way Wales played last WC.

Or…..They pull a WC out of the bag and tear into the AB’s who are looking towards next week..Thats what I would like to see, don’t think you can like rugby and not like the way Wales played last WC.

Even if Wales play play as well as they did at the RWC, the ABs are still better again. It would be nice to watch a competition though. They’re like ruthless robots.

I remeber that famous (England V Aus?) moment when they lined up for the Anthems on the wrong side and when asked to move Jonno stated “No, we are England”. It may come across arrogant but in the players mind they were the best, they came to win, and weren’t going to lay down or be told what to do by anyone.

It was versus Ireland at Lansdowne. I watched that Dallaglio documentary, thought it was excellent. The England team around that time were simply outstanding the back row they had was class.

Indeed Albanach. The last few posts have been spot on. Seen any of the current players cry with the Anthem? Half of them don’t even sing it.

Players out of position, lack of belief in the team – listen to the interviews – they all believe its OK to lose becuase they are new / young etc. Put them all back on there day to day jobs, swallow some some pride and get Armitage (S) in the team, and lets build a team full of players who are the best in the country at what they do – and believe it.

THEN I would accept a proud loss to a better team. Right now I can’t forgive the excuses.

Isn’t that back row the most capped 6 7 8 of all time?

swallow some some pride and get Armitage (S) in the team

This is a non option. He is not available. End of. It cannot be put any clearer by SL.

Or Johnsons attitude could be seen as just plain rude to their hosts and not in the spirit of the game 😉

Pigface – Member

Or Johnsons attitude could be seen as just plain rude to their hosts and not in the spirit of the game

and winding up the opposition unecessarily over something trivial.

Reminds me of a Churchill quote: We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English.

I think Johhno’s explanation was they just lined up on the half of the pitch they warmed up as normal, and would have moved if the ref had just asked them to shuffle up rather than a bossy' official. He was probebly quite irritated with all the drawn out pomp to come and having to stand there while Ireland sang 5 songs and the President had a chin wag with the Irish players when all the players want to do is start the match. If anything it made Ireland look silly by still insisting on moving to theirlucky’ side, so the President had to walk on the grass rather than the red carpet.

What amuses me is; many of the England fans would find this really funny and great, but the Irish couldn’t care less. The important stuff happened after the whistle.

I think a big deal was made of it at the time by the Irish, but suspect they would have quickly wanted to forget the whole day 😆

This is a non option. He is not available. End of. It cannot be put any clearer by SL.

It’s an option but he’s chosen to do differently.
And it’s to England’s detriment. He’s getting the plaudits as the best 7 in France at the moment, and it’s the position that could really make this England team. Two sixes doesn’t work for them.
Can’t see Gatland being as pigheaded next summer.
Or, for that matter, SL’s replacement next season 😉

The last few posts on here just show why everyone dislikes the england team and finds it really funny when they lose. Dilly dally for example always predicts england or france to win the six nations despite them being very ordinary for quite a long time now.

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It’s an option but he’s chosen to do differently.

He cannot make the training camps. He is not available for all of the games. He is not an option unless he plays in England or somewhere he would be available.

The last few posts on here just show why everyone dislikes the england team and finds it really funny when they lose.

Not everyone dislikes England, just the spiteful chippy people.

Oh yes they do 😉

He cannot make the training camps… that fall outside of the international windows , without permission from Toulon.

He was automatically available for the last game against Hooper, the next against Francois Louw, and the 6nations.
Lancaster doesn’t know if he can make the game that falls outside of the oficial international window, the NZ match on 1/12, because he hasn’t opened discussions with Toulon. If he doesn’t ask, he’ll never know.
But Wales are making things work with Gethin being available.
He’s hiding behind his self-proclaimed “policy” to avoid the question of whether Armitage is a better choice at 7 than his captain. But even he admits that his policy’s optional, if it suits him:

“The reality is I want our players to stay in England and play in England,” said Lancaster. “So those who are not are going to have to play exceptionally well – far and above the players that are.

The last few posts on here just show why everyone dislikes the england team

Everyone? I think I’ve demonstrated I love England rugby, and always will, and just like your good self, I find it hard to admit when they aren’t that good.

The best you came up with re Wales was “A good team playing badly”. Actually by that very definition AA, right now they are a poor team. But like England, they might improve.

The last few posts on here just show why everyone dislikes the england team

I disagree with that too 😉

Up to that point AA, you came across quite well. Now you come across as a pillock.
Well done, everyone hates the English. We’ve never heard that before.

Why do english rugby fans get so upset when people hate them? I am Welsh I love rugby I loathe and detest the english rugby team. I have no axe to grind against the english don’t hate them at all.

I would support the Al Qaeda 15 if they were playing england. 😆

This hatred lasts 80 odd minutes when they play, this hatred manifests its self in huge ammounts of gloating when ever they lose, which lately has been a lot. Think of it as booing the panto villain. After the match has finished it is all over and usual Pigface friendlyness returns.

I think if you were to ask Australians, Kiwis, Irish, Scotts, Saffas they would say the same

I would support the Al Qaeda 15 if they were playing england.

lols 😆

Ditto if Jimmy Savile was Captain and Gary Glitter forward leader.

I thought everyone was supposed to hate england but you didnt care? I also never said hate either…. Transapp do you need help to untwist your knickers?
I’ll add another point, had the welsh captain been so rude to someone in another country it wouldnt be celebrated.

PMSL at AA suggesting a Rugby player might come across “rude”.

In fact he is quoted as saying, “No, we are England”, in response to being asked a polite question. That’s not rude, its direct and to the point.

Now, if he said “Far cough you Irish T**T, I ain’t moving nowhere guv” I could understand your point.

What you quote when asked an irish official in ireland seems rude to me maybe we just have different standards.

Carter out a win is guaranteed now 😆

Creeping up to the thousand mark….arguments abounding….

What you quote when asked an irish official in ireland seems rude to me maybe we just have different standards.

Only becuase of your view of English Rugby eh? 😉

Moving away from the above, I note its been reported England have decided to play “clever”.

The only thing worse I can think that team could do than play the bash-it game they have been playing so far is that. So we now have people out of position, trying to be “clever” in positions they are not used to.

Anyone see SL as becoming confused, of have a missed something?

No. I think it was rude because it was rude. If you want to celebrate it thats fine.

Pity Carter isnt playing in a way. I love watching him play.