Rugby Union Autumn Internationals
Discussion
08/11/2014 14.30 England - - New Zealand
08/11/2014 14.30 Wales - - Australia
08/11/2014 15.00 Italy - - Samoa
08/11/2014 17.45 France - - Fiji
08/11/2014 17.30 Ireland - - South Africa
08/11/2014 17.30 Scotland - - Argentina
15/11/2014 14.30 England - - South Africa
15/11/2014 14.30 Wales - - Fiji
15/11/2014 15.00 Italy - - Argentina
15/11/2014 17.30 Scotland - - New Zealand
15/11/2014 21.00 France - - Australia
16/11/2014 14.30 Ireland - - Georgia
22/11/2014 14.30 Scotland - - Tonga
22/11/2014 15.00 Italy - - South Africa
22/11/2014 16.30 Ireland - - Australia
22/11/2014 17.30 Wales - - New Zealand
22/11/2014 19.00 England - - Samoa
22/11/2014 21.00 France - - Argentina
29/11/2014 14.30 England - - Australia
29/11/2014 14.30 Wales - - South Africa
Haven't seen another thread on this as yet.
I always feel the NH sides are at a bit of a disadvantage come the Autumn Internationals. I think the big 3/4 benefit more from playing together in the Rugby Championship than they suffer from fatigue after a long season IMO vs the home nations who've not played together for a while.
Anyhow England should be targeting 4/4 but I reckon they'll do well to win 2/4 to be brutally honest. Quite a few injuries at the moment and IMO the continuing issue of having a good pool of very good players whilst struggling for world class players. Lancaster has the tendency to have a better the devil he knows attitude so while there's some interesting new blood in the squad I doubt he'll try anything radical in the Autumn-which is a shame. Centre partnership is anyone's guess-Joseph and Eastmond? We'll continue to see the two 6.5's in the back row in Robshaw (who to be fair what I've seen of him is in good form) and Wood has also been consistent. Big Billy V looked shattered in the NZ tour and I haven't seen him play much this season I'd like to see Haskell getting a run out to take some pressure off Billy V to do all the carrying. Back row is still of concern, but while I was surprised to see Ashton not make the squad I was glad. Foden seems to be in better form than Brown but the latter has a lot of this banked credit that Lancaster goes on about.
I'd throw caution to the wind and let some of the youngsters get a go, there's nothing to loose but a lot to learn. I expect we'll beat Samoa and Australia and be competitive but go down against the Blacks and Boks. I think with an in form close to first choice 15 we could have beat the Boks but seem to have enough to bludgeon their way to victory with some flair and the #10 Pollard looking good.
ETA
England used to start out with the easiest of the internationals? Usually a Fiji, Pacific Islands combined or other team. Samoa would have offered a better start to at least get some game time together.
08/11/2014 14.30 Wales - - Australia
08/11/2014 15.00 Italy - - Samoa
08/11/2014 17.45 France - - Fiji
08/11/2014 17.30 Ireland - - South Africa
08/11/2014 17.30 Scotland - - Argentina
15/11/2014 14.30 England - - South Africa
15/11/2014 14.30 Wales - - Fiji
15/11/2014 15.00 Italy - - Argentina
15/11/2014 17.30 Scotland - - New Zealand
15/11/2014 21.00 France - - Australia
16/11/2014 14.30 Ireland - - Georgia
22/11/2014 14.30 Scotland - - Tonga
22/11/2014 15.00 Italy - - South Africa
22/11/2014 16.30 Ireland - - Australia
22/11/2014 17.30 Wales - - New Zealand
22/11/2014 19.00 England - - Samoa
22/11/2014 21.00 France - - Argentina
29/11/2014 14.30 England - - Australia
29/11/2014 14.30 Wales - - South Africa
Haven't seen another thread on this as yet.
I always feel the NH sides are at a bit of a disadvantage come the Autumn Internationals. I think the big 3/4 benefit more from playing together in the Rugby Championship than they suffer from fatigue after a long season IMO vs the home nations who've not played together for a while.
Anyhow England should be targeting 4/4 but I reckon they'll do well to win 2/4 to be brutally honest. Quite a few injuries at the moment and IMO the continuing issue of having a good pool of very good players whilst struggling for world class players. Lancaster has the tendency to have a better the devil he knows attitude so while there's some interesting new blood in the squad I doubt he'll try anything radical in the Autumn-which is a shame. Centre partnership is anyone's guess-Joseph and Eastmond? We'll continue to see the two 6.5's in the back row in Robshaw (who to be fair what I've seen of him is in good form) and Wood has also been consistent. Big Billy V looked shattered in the NZ tour and I haven't seen him play much this season I'd like to see Haskell getting a run out to take some pressure off Billy V to do all the carrying. Back row is still of concern, but while I was surprised to see Ashton not make the squad I was glad. Foden seems to be in better form than Brown but the latter has a lot of this banked credit that Lancaster goes on about.
I'd throw caution to the wind and let some of the youngsters get a go, there's nothing to loose but a lot to learn. I expect we'll beat Samoa and Australia and be competitive but go down against the Blacks and Boks. I think with an in form close to first choice 15 we could have beat the Boks but seem to have enough to bludgeon their way to victory with some flair and the #10 Pollard looking good.
ETA
England used to start out with the easiest of the internationals? Usually a Fiji, Pacific Islands combined or other team. Samoa would have offered a better start to at least get some game time together.
Edited by a311 on Thursday 30th October 21:04
YankeePorker said:
Let's hope the Samoans don't break any of our players!
This is true. It may seem like I'm being slightly disrespectful to Samoa which I don't mean to be. Don't have the time together or enough tests against the other top tier nations as a team or the financial resources. They've tended to loose some players to the AB's too. They do have enough quality to put anyone away though on their day.I'd have liked to have seen a pacific nations team added to the super rugby competition, instead of or at least in addition to the new Japanese franchise. But money talks I guess.
Massive fan of Lancaster but I reckon he's a million miles from where he set out to be a year before the RWC. The midfield is a massive f
king concern...we know who our starting 10 is but we have absolutely no idea who his deputy is and as for 12 and 13...he's not been helped by Tuilagi's injuries but nobody's really claimed that inside slot...I think he was desperate for 36 to step up but he looks short at the highest level....same story on the wings.
I remember when Lancaster started he said that nobody's won the RWC with fewer than 650 caps and he had time to build that experienced team....sadly that's not happened. Lets hope he pulls it out of the bag!
king concern...we know who our starting 10 is but we have absolutely no idea who his deputy is and as for 12 and 13...he's not been helped by Tuilagi's injuries but nobody's really claimed that inside slot...I think he was desperate for 36 to step up but he looks short at the highest level....same story on the wings.I remember when Lancaster started he said that nobody's won the RWC with fewer than 650 caps and he had time to build that experienced team....sadly that's not happened. Lets hope he pulls it out of the bag!
I think it's going to be a bit difficult to gauge where England are at based on these AI's - to be fair to Lancaster this squad is a long way short of 1st choice because of injuries.
At the same time, I'm very disappointed he's gone with Myler as 3rd choice 10 instead of Danny Cipriani - for me Myler is a good club player but one of those who will never do anything at international level.
At the same time, I'm very disappointed he's gone with Myler as 3rd choice 10 instead of Danny Cipriani - for me Myler is a good club player but one of those who will never do anything at international level.
England's midfield problem is that the players are either
A. Good with ball in hand but rubbish tacklers, will get torn apart by the SH teams.
B. Great tacklers but lacking in handling/vision so resort to route one, which will rarely work against the big three as their one up defence is too good.
I love watching Eastmond but if he's picked and up against SBW I think he'll be totally exposed.
A. Good with ball in hand but rubbish tacklers, will get torn apart by the SH teams.
B. Great tacklers but lacking in handling/vision so resort to route one, which will rarely work against the big three as their one up defence is too good.
I love watching Eastmond but if he's picked and up against SBW I think he'll be totally exposed.
It's looking like Barritt and Eastmond in the Centres with BB out of position at 13. I'm glad to see Eastmond getting another run out as he seemed to get most of the flack the team/backline deserved in NZ.
I think having Farrell and Barritt on takes pressure of Eastmond defensively and is a combo we didn't get to see in NZ with the perceived defensively frail Cipriani and Burns. I think Lancasters preferred midfield partnership is MT and BB which I don't mind but while having Farrell at 10 at them moment we'll never be world beaters. Recent history has shown that to beat the AB's you need to out score them. When we beat them our forwards got loads of front foot ball and we were able to make line breaks. Last year the former was true but not the latter.
It sounds like Rokoduguni may get a start at the weekend too.
I think having Farrell and Barritt on takes pressure of Eastmond defensively and is a combo we didn't get to see in NZ with the perceived defensively frail Cipriani and Burns. I think Lancasters preferred midfield partnership is MT and BB which I don't mind but while having Farrell at 10 at them moment we'll never be world beaters. Recent history has shown that to beat the AB's you need to out score them. When we beat them our forwards got loads of front foot ball and we were able to make line breaks. Last year the former was true but not the latter.
It sounds like Rokoduguni may get a start at the weekend too.
Was at Twickers for the Baa Baas v Aus yesterday. Great day, lovely weather, sunny and FANTASTIC game of rugby! 50,000 there and we were treated to a cracking game. This Aus team though...absolutely there for the taking. Eng get it right and they will put 30 points on the Aus team, they are a long way short of being a classy team. Kirudani in the centre is playing well, but Cooper and Genia should hold no fears in the central axis.
Aus really need to persuade the honey badger Cummins to play for them properly though, easily the best Aussie player around at the moment. Oh and watch out for Frank Saili in the near future. Kiwi lad, not near the ABs team currently, but he took the Aus midfield apart yesterday all afternoon. He will play for New Zealand at some point and he is fair useful!
Aus really need to persuade the honey badger Cummins to play for them properly though, easily the best Aussie player around at the moment. Oh and watch out for Frank Saili in the near future. Kiwi lad, not near the ABs team currently, but he took the Aus midfield apart yesterday all afternoon. He will play for New Zealand at some point and he is fair useful!
Just heard that Launchburry is out of the Autumn AI's with a neck injury.
As good as the JL/CL partnership was I think there's room and games that require a heavy weight, carrying lock such as Attwood.
I also have less of a problem with our backrow balance, however with Calum Clarke in we're still quite one dimensional in the flanks to me, assuming Robshaw baring injury is nailed on Wood/Clarke have that dog about them and put in a lot of work but puts a lot of the carrying line breaks on Billy V. Morgan at 8 who's having a good season of what I've seen at Billy V at 6 I'd like to see. It's not going to happen but I'd like to see someone like Matt Garvey who's going well for Bath and suited for game where you need a bit more ballast-such as against the Boks.
I always thought that 2015 RWC was going to be at least a year too early for this England team to be genuinely competitive. I think Lancaster has missed a few opportunities to get closer than that, for one by building his tenure so far around Farrell at 10. As it is it feels to me like he's built a team capable of getting to the semis......
ETA
Also watched the Barbarians game, best game I've seen them feature in for a long time.
Yanks were well hammered.
As good as the JL/CL partnership was I think there's room and games that require a heavy weight, carrying lock such as Attwood.
I also have less of a problem with our backrow balance, however with Calum Clarke in we're still quite one dimensional in the flanks to me, assuming Robshaw baring injury is nailed on Wood/Clarke have that dog about them and put in a lot of work but puts a lot of the carrying line breaks on Billy V. Morgan at 8 who's having a good season of what I've seen at Billy V at 6 I'd like to see. It's not going to happen but I'd like to see someone like Matt Garvey who's going well for Bath and suited for game where you need a bit more ballast-such as against the Boks.
I always thought that 2015 RWC was going to be at least a year too early for this England team to be genuinely competitive. I think Lancaster has missed a few opportunities to get closer than that, for one by building his tenure so far around Farrell at 10. As it is it feels to me like he's built a team capable of getting to the semis......
ETA
Also watched the Barbarians game, best game I've seen them feature in for a long time.
Yanks were well hammered.
A slight thread diversion, if I may. I have managed to get some tickets to the ENG V SA match, but was wondering if any of you have suggestions on the best way to get to Twickenham from the south west, I will be coming from Basingstoke Winchester M3 side.
Is the train the best option or drive in and park perhaps ? Any suggestions welcome.
Is the train the best option or drive in and park perhaps ? Any suggestions welcome.
WALES TEAM TO PLAY AUSTRALIA:
Leigh Halfpenny (Toulon), Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), George North (Northampton Saints), Jamie Roberts (Racing Metro), Liam Williams (Scarlets), Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Webb (Ospreys), Paul James (Bath), Richard Hibbard (Gloucester), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Dan Lydiate (Unattached), Sam Warburton (Capt), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).
Replacements: Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Rhodri Jones (Scarlets), Bradley Davies (London Wasps), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Mike Phillips (Racing Metro), Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Cory Allen (Cardiff Blues).
All our centres are broken, so George North playing 13...
Leigh Halfpenny (Toulon), Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), George North (Northampton Saints), Jamie Roberts (Racing Metro), Liam Williams (Scarlets), Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Webb (Ospreys), Paul James (Bath), Richard Hibbard (Gloucester), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Dan Lydiate (Unattached), Sam Warburton (Capt), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).
Replacements: Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Rhodri Jones (Scarlets), Bradley Davies (London Wasps), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Mike Phillips (Racing Metro), Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Cory Allen (Cardiff Blues).
All our centres are broken, so George North playing 13...
just out of curiosity - is anyone doing the ESPN Dream Team for the AI's?
http://espnscrum.fantasyleague.com/
http://espnscrum.fantasyleague.com/
I will be.
irocfan said:
just out of curiosity - is anyone doing the ESPN Dream Team for the AI's?
http://espnscrum.fantasyleague.com/
http://espnscrum.fantasyleague.com/
a311 said:
Just heard that Launchburry is out of the Autumn AI's with a neck injury.
I always thought that 2015 RWC was going to be at least a year too early for this England team to be genuinely competitive. I think Lancaster has missed a few opportunities to get closer than that, for one by building his tenure so far around Farrell at 10. As it is it feels to me like he's built a team capable of getting to the semis......
We're a long way short I reckon.....definitely capable of one off performances where we can beat anyone but to stand a chance next year we need everyone fit and someone to play like a god in midfield. I always thought that 2015 RWC was going to be at least a year too early for this England team to be genuinely competitive. I think Lancaster has missed a few opportunities to get closer than that, for one by building his tenure so far around Farrell at 10. As it is it feels to me like he's built a team capable of getting to the semis......
As has been the case for the last thirty years our pack will be able to go toe to toe with almost anyone's but been lacking with ball in hand.
Cheib said:
a311 said:
Just heard that Launchburry is out of the Autumn AI's with a neck injury.
I always thought that 2015 RWC was going to be at least a year too early for this England team to be genuinely competitive. I think Lancaster has missed a few opportunities to get closer than that, for one by building his tenure so far around Farrell at 10. As it is it feels to me like he's built a team capable of getting to the semis......
We're a long way short I reckon.....definitely capable of one off performances where we can beat anyone but to stand a chance next year we need everyone fit and someone to play like a god in midfield. I always thought that 2015 RWC was going to be at least a year too early for this England team to be genuinely competitive. I think Lancaster has missed a few opportunities to get closer than that, for one by building his tenure so far around Farrell at 10. As it is it feels to me like he's built a team capable of getting to the semis......
As has been the case for the last thirty years our pack will be able to go toe to toe with almost anyone's but been lacking with ball in hand.
Does anyone have any recommendations for websites to sell tickets, as I have a couple of tickets for Scotland v All Blacks that I want to just sell at face value?
ebay are no longer accepting tickets for sale, and you have to instead use their sister company Stubhub, which has some pretty horrific reviews. Surely there has to be a hassle-free way of selling unwanted tickets?
Any recommendations or suggestions would be great.
Thanks.
ebay are no longer accepting tickets for sale, and you have to instead use their sister company Stubhub, which has some pretty horrific reviews. Surely there has to be a hassle-free way of selling unwanted tickets?
Any recommendations or suggestions would be great.
Thanks.
ShawCrossShark said:
Anybody any thoughts on where Sam burgess might factor in when he has had some time to settle.
Not sure how much you've seen of him but the guy's phenomenal. Massive loss to RL
Still not sure where they plan on playing him at Bath though - heard a few mentions of centre
Any thoughts?
I've heard centre and the back row mentioned at Bath. Centre would be the easier introductory position to the 15 man code as proven with other converts. A bit gutting that his appearance has been delayed with injury-talking next month to feature for Bath. It was always going to tight expecting him to get nr the England side. I hope he goes out at Centre for Bath, he's a phenomenal athlete, quick with good hands and distribution skills, I've heard he can tackle a bit too Not sure how much you've seen of him but the guy's phenomenal. Massive loss to RL
Still not sure where they plan on playing him at Bath though - heard a few mentions of centre
Any thoughts?
Bath have a number of injuries in the backrow so there's the chance they may take a look at him there. I can see him at 8, battering ram/ball carrier but given the above could provide a link with the backs. I hope for his sake he goes on to be a success in Union, he's left a lot behind to give it a crack.
Today, I don't see anything but an All Black win. They're pretty much at full strength and have played 8 times in the last 12 weeks, England haven't played for neigh on 5 months...... There's always the chance that NZ can put 50 points on any team. Despite 6/7 being very good players IMO the backrow's not well balanced.
Gassing Station | Sports | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff