Summer Rugby Union Internationals
Discussion
It was error strewn but what a half of rugby!
Lousy conceding a penalty at the death there I'd have felt with a converted try cushion we might have had a chance in the second half (which of course we still do).
NZ are improved, allot more physicality at the breakdown from them. You just feel when they get into a try scoring position they'll take it, while England at best seem 50:50.
Bench and it's timing could win or loose the game I feel.
Lousy conceding a penalty at the death there I'd have felt with a converted try cushion we might have had a chance in the second half (which of course we still do).
NZ are improved, allot more physicality at the breakdown from them. You just feel when they get into a try scoring position they'll take it, while England at best seem 50:50.
Bench and it's timing could win or loose the game I feel.
Ah s
t. Good effort boys but the AB's finally showing why they're the best in the world.
I won't dwell on it too much but the rub of the green has been going with the home side in terms of the ref. There was a sequence of forward passes, in NZ so long as there are 5 in a phase is it OK? Wasn't a yellow card on Farrell for me looked like a maul and certainly not professional. NZ were also warned with a yellow several times in the first half for infringements -Eng got no warnings.
England's 6N centre partnership didn't fire today, is Billy 36 an international quality centre? He's been given quite a bit of game time now, and tired too much at the wrong times today.
MT wing experiment didn't work.
Mike Brown must have had his worst 2 games for a long time-his opposite number Ben Smith was fricking awesome-how is a guy who looks so slight able to get through so many tackles? Made me think some of our boys maybe need more time on the treadmill and less on the weights....
Our kicking was a bit ste too, kept on giving it there FB too often and not making touch.
You can analyse it all you want but when the AB's are on it they're on it! They will have hated Ash the splash scoring at the death!
Game and series lost but a huge amount of pride and respect can be taken away from it.
t. Good effort boys but the AB's finally showing why they're the best in the world.I won't dwell on it too much but the rub of the green has been going with the home side in terms of the ref. There was a sequence of forward passes, in NZ so long as there are 5 in a phase is it OK? Wasn't a yellow card on Farrell for me looked like a maul and certainly not professional. NZ were also warned with a yellow several times in the first half for infringements -Eng got no warnings.
England's 6N centre partnership didn't fire today, is Billy 36 an international quality centre? He's been given quite a bit of game time now, and tired too much at the wrong times today.
MT wing experiment didn't work.
Mike Brown must have had his worst 2 games for a long time-his opposite number Ben Smith was fricking awesome-how is a guy who looks so slight able to get through so many tackles? Made me think some of our boys maybe need more time on the treadmill and less on the weights....
Our kicking was a bit s
te too, kept on giving it there FB too often and not making touch.You can analyse it all you want but when the AB's are on it they're on it! They will have hated Ash the splash scoring at the death!
Game and series lost but a huge amount of pride and respect can be taken away from it.
The same old failings.
Poor execution of basic skills.
Too often taking contact.
a311 - for the 'forward pass' nonsense, blame the IRB for introducing their frankly ludicrous definition. Why did it need to be changed from the original which said if you receive the ball closer to your opponents line that it was delivered that's forward? All this @momentum' bks is just that, bks.
I thought today's game was great to watch, but both sides were making way more errors than normal.
The effort put in by both sides was unquestionably magnificent though.
Poor execution of basic skills.
Too often taking contact.
a311 - for the 'forward pass' nonsense, blame the IRB for introducing their frankly ludicrous definition. Why did it need to be changed from the original which said if you receive the ball closer to your opponents line that it was delivered that's forward? All this @momentum' b
ks is just that, bks.I thought today's game was great to watch, but both sides were making way more errors than normal.
The effort put in by both sides was unquestionably magnificent though.
a311 said:
Is Billy 36 an international quality centre? He's been given quite a bit of game time now, and tired too much at the wrong times today.
MT wing experiment didn't work.
Definitely less of a threat than Eastmond, last week. MT wing experiment didn't work.
The NZ passing did appear a bit iffy from where I sat.
Is it heresy to say that Farrell also is not up to scratch?
He offers little in possession compared to a 'natural' 10 such as Ford or Cipriani and his game management is suspect.
Then there is his seeming incapable of learning the lesson that shoulder tackles are not legal (he got away with it today).
His petulance will also always come back to bite his team in the backside.
No question of the quality of his tackling or place kicking, but that on it's own will rarely beat a SH team
He offers little in possession compared to a 'natural' 10 such as Ford or Cipriani and his game management is suspect.
Then there is his seeming incapable of learning the lesson that shoulder tackles are not legal (he got away with it today).
His petulance will also always come back to bite his team in the backside.
No question of the quality of his tackling or place kicking, but that on it's own will rarely beat a SH team
Think your lads were lucky to get away with a score that close to be honest, the yellow card might have been a tad harsh but you had plenty of help from the ref elsewhere... I always thought a ball was supposed to touch the ground for a try! Not to take anything away from the English players though, they played a solid first half and made some great breaks against the run of play in the second, and got close to scoring a bit too often for comfort.
Great game to watch, much more entertaining than last week. Absolute stunner from Ben Smith too, glad to have him back at fullback.
Great game to watch, much more entertaining than last week. Absolute stunner from Ben Smith too, glad to have him back at fullback.
Edited by GravelBen on Saturday 14th June 13:22
GravelBen said:
Think your lads were lucky to get away with a score that close to be honest, the yellow card might have been a tad harsh but you had plenty of help from the ref elsewhere... I always thought a ball was supposed to touch the ground for a try! Not to take anything away from the English players though, they played a solid first half and made some great breaks against the run of play in the second, and got close to scoring a bit too often for comfort.
Great game to watch, much more entertaining than last week. Absolute stunner from Ben Smith too, glad to have him back at fullback.
The yellow made all the difference I think. A mite harsh indeed. I thought the ref had allowed similar to go through on the nod for the sake of spectacle. He gave a penalty early on when an AB deliberately obstructed an England defender - many howls chez DS but after the dust settled we all agreed that if he was going to follow that throughout the match, we'd support the ref.Great game to watch, much more entertaining than last week. Absolute stunner from Ben Smith too, glad to have him back at fullback.
But 27 : 28. That's against the ABs at home. The only downside to the match was the Sky commentators. I feel they should be allowed to watch the play while giving us the benefit of their wisdom.
Great match, thoroughly enjoyed it but the yellow card was the difference.
I haven't seen the match yet but followed along on twitter/text commentary.
From what I've read England more than held their own except from the 30 min period after halftime where they got too loose and opened themselves up and were punished.
I think the signs are pretty positive overall for the squad though as the All Blacks are the best team in World rugby and are a settled team. England on the other hand are still experimenting...I think once he settles on his main 15 and gives them the 6 nations this could become a very very good side.
From what I've read England more than held their own except from the 30 min period after halftime where they got too loose and opened themselves up and were punished.
I think the signs are pretty positive overall for the squad though as the All Blacks are the best team in World rugby and are a settled team. England on the other hand are still experimenting...I think once he settles on his main 15 and gives them the 6 nations this could become a very very good side.
Edited by London424 on Saturday 14th June 14:29
DocJock said:
The same old failings.
Poor execution of basic skills.
Too often taking contact.
Agree, game management and accuracy. This is still on the whole a very inexperienced side and they might be closer to having a go a the WC than I would have thought 6-12 months a go. 9 times out of 10 though you will not beat the best unless you take your chances.Poor execution of basic skills.
Too often taking contact.
DocJock said:
Is it heresy to say that Farrell also is not up to scratch?
No. For any of the rugby forum regulars will know I've never been his biggest fan. He's show some glimpses of having the potential from what I've seen that he could develop more an all round game. 12 trees is in there to make up for his lack of distribution. To be fair to him all our potential 10's have deficiencies I think young Ford is next in line and was unlucky with injury but tends to implode at times from the pressure.GravelBen said:
Think your lads were lucky to get away with a score that close to be honest
The losing margin was less than last week but it was a heavier defeat, nowhere near as close. We're not far off though my colonial cousin! 
Surely Ben Smith is undroppable now for Dagg?I'd love for England to get that one away victory in New Zealand out of the tests.
Time for Wales, they look stronger on paper than I expected with the amount of personnel missing. Still expect them to be put through the South African meat grinder though......
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