6 Nations 2015
Discussion
I went to Twickenham.
Not the most exciting match I've ever seen but nice atmosphere.
Haskell, after his performance against Wales, was a big disappointment. He must have read his reviews as he seemed to think that he could go alone. There were three or four occasions when a pass would have opened up the Italians but he took the ball into the tackle.
There was a lack of urgency with the team as well. Trying to get someone to chase down a kick seemed to be beyond them. They seemed to be ticking over.
From pitchside, Italy seemed pretty poor. They had an occasional spurt but I never gasped at any of their moves. Their best chances came from stupid English play rather than their skills. Except the final try. There was some good individual plays. That final kick to touch was a beauty and they deserved a try.
The general feeling of the crowd waiting at the railway station was that had it not been for the early Italian try it would almost have been boring.
The scrum was rather odd. It seemed as if the English pack were a bit jaded. They had the measure of the Italians but all they used it for was to keep possession.
Some good tries from England, even if one didn't seem to get the full support of both sets of fans.
Overall? Difficult to say. It was a win, and a comfortable one. Tackling always seems more ferocious when live but the English commitment in the tackle was rather good I thought. I had the feeling that the Italian team felt it as well. They were forced, I think, to take a break in the second half just to get their breath back.
Not the most exciting match I've ever seen but nice atmosphere.
Haskell, after his performance against Wales, was a big disappointment. He must have read his reviews as he seemed to think that he could go alone. There were three or four occasions when a pass would have opened up the Italians but he took the ball into the tackle.
There was a lack of urgency with the team as well. Trying to get someone to chase down a kick seemed to be beyond them. They seemed to be ticking over.
From pitchside, Italy seemed pretty poor. They had an occasional spurt but I never gasped at any of their moves. Their best chances came from stupid English play rather than their skills. Except the final try. There was some good individual plays. That final kick to touch was a beauty and they deserved a try.
The general feeling of the crowd waiting at the railway station was that had it not been for the early Italian try it would almost have been boring.
The scrum was rather odd. It seemed as if the English pack were a bit jaded. They had the measure of the Italians but all they used it for was to keep possession.
Some good tries from England, even if one didn't seem to get the full support of both sets of fans.
Overall? Difficult to say. It was a win, and a comfortable one. Tackling always seems more ferocious when live but the English commitment in the tackle was rather good I thought. I had the feeling that the Italian team felt it as well. They were forced, I think, to take a break in the second half just to get their breath back.
Edited by Derek Smith on Saturday 14th February 22:38
Kermit power said:
One might argue that if they can win by a margin of 30 points on tickover, why not do so and keep a bit more in the tank for Ireland, who should be more of a challenge?
I'm no sure the coaches would see it that way.I watched the recording of the match last night and I have to say that I thought my first impressions were not that far of the mark. Haskell put in a better, a bit better, performance that I thought, and the England performance as a whole seemed more assured and controlled than I remembered. Also, what I thought was England's tight fight being equalled at times was, in most cases, a tactical ploy: just keeping possession.
But 20 mins before we put any point on the boards was too long.
The mistakes looked worse. But the tackles were fierce, the Italians often going backwards with ball in hand.
I accept that England did enough, which is what they often do, and that was, by definition, all they needed to do.
I've normally gone by underground or car. This time I was meeting friends at Waterloo so we went overground. Big mistake. The 12.15ish Twikenham special was cut, the 12.30 scheduled direct trains was 'delayed', although this meant cancelled according to the ticket chap. So we went on a train that used the pretty route. We got there with just 30 mins to spare so missed a lot of the build up.
My son played for England under 19s and gave me one of his shirts. He was 6'3", 17.5 stone then. I couldn't get it on. I'm on a diet.
Good day.
Kermit power said:
One might argue that if they can win by a margin of 30 points on tickover, why not do so and keep a bit more in the tank for Ireland, who should be more of a challenge?
Ah ya, hopefully we can keep ye honest for a half, it's the least we can do is give ye a good challenge in a World Cup year as obviously Six nations is already done and dusted 
Ireland game will be an interesting one and being in Dublin Ireland should have the edge but look beatable certainly.
Both teams still have a lot of question marks after differing victories yesterday IMO.
Sexton/Ireland will kick for territory (a lot) and their kick chase is very good so Lancaster et el need to be drilling the squad on how to cope with that in addition to how to tackle and keep their shape defensively.
I thought Ireland's pack did pretty well against a strong French outfit, but felt they got away with a lot too when on another day may have been penalised heavily. I still think it will be the toughest test of the campaign for the English set piece and will be a long night if we don't get at least some of the upper hand at scrum time, as Ireland look to win kickable penalties when gaining territory.
I think it's an auto one week lay up for concussion? So I hope Brown is back as for the Ireland game we'll need a solid FB under the highball with a good boot when required. Burrell hasn't impressed me so far, he's been OK in defence and carrying but been quite flakey at times-his loose pass yesterday springs to mind. I don't think 36's form warrants him starting but Lancaster might look at him for Ireland due to him having more of a kicking game, I don't suspect if fit Eastmond will drop back in.
Looking forward to the game today. I expect Wales to bounce back strongly and win, but will be close.
Both teams still have a lot of question marks after differing victories yesterday IMO.
Sexton/Ireland will kick for territory (a lot) and their kick chase is very good so Lancaster et el need to be drilling the squad on how to cope with that in addition to how to tackle and keep their shape defensively.
I thought Ireland's pack did pretty well against a strong French outfit, but felt they got away with a lot too when on another day may have been penalised heavily. I still think it will be the toughest test of the campaign for the English set piece and will be a long night if we don't get at least some of the upper hand at scrum time, as Ireland look to win kickable penalties when gaining territory.
I think it's an auto one week lay up for concussion? So I hope Brown is back as for the Ireland game we'll need a solid FB under the highball with a good boot when required. Burrell hasn't impressed me so far, he's been OK in defence and carrying but been quite flakey at times-his loose pass yesterday springs to mind. I don't think 36's form warrants him starting but Lancaster might look at him for Ireland due to him having more of a kicking game, I don't suspect if fit Eastmond will drop back in.
Looking forward to the game today. I expect Wales to bounce back strongly and win, but will be close.
iiyama said:
Derek Smith said:
My son played for England under 19s....
Good day.
Am I due a Whoosh parrot for saying that you can't just gloss over this fact? Quite an achievement for your son my friend!Good day.
Yesterday brought it all back, and the playing of the anthem just got to me.
a311 said:
Ireland game will be an interesting one and being in Dublin Ireland should have the edge but look beatable certainly.
Both teams still have a lot of question marks after differing victories yesterday IMO.
Sexton/Ireland will kick for territory (a lot) and their kick chase is very good so Lancaster et el need to be drilling the squad on how to cope with that in addition to how to tackle and keep their shape defensively.
I thought Ireland's pack did pretty well against a strong French outfit, but felt they got away with a lot too when on another day may have been penalised heavily. I still think it will be the toughest test of the campaign for the English set piece and will be a long night if we don't get at least some of the upper hand at scrum time, as Ireland look to win kickable penalties when gaining territory.
I think it's an auto one week lay up for concussion? So I hope Brown is back as for the Ireland game we'll need a solid FB under the highball with a good boot when required. Burrell hasn't impressed me so far, he's been OK in defence and carrying but been quite flakey at times-his loose pass yesterday springs to mind. I don't think 36's form warrants him starting but Lancaster might look at him for Ireland due to him having more of a kicking game, I don't suspect if fit Eastmond will drop back in.
Looking forward to the game today. I expect Wales to bounce back strongly and win, but will be close.
Just watched the Ireland/France match. Not one of the best. I thought Sexton was mighty. I could see why Ireland got a bit miffed with the tackler. It looked less than accidental to me. I thought France lucky not to get a red for that knee in the back. It was well out of order. Both teams still have a lot of question marks after differing victories yesterday IMO.
Sexton/Ireland will kick for territory (a lot) and their kick chase is very good so Lancaster et el need to be drilling the squad on how to cope with that in addition to how to tackle and keep their shape defensively.
I thought Ireland's pack did pretty well against a strong French outfit, but felt they got away with a lot too when on another day may have been penalised heavily. I still think it will be the toughest test of the campaign for the English set piece and will be a long night if we don't get at least some of the upper hand at scrum time, as Ireland look to win kickable penalties when gaining territory.
I think it's an auto one week lay up for concussion? So I hope Brown is back as for the Ireland game we'll need a solid FB under the highball with a good boot when required. Burrell hasn't impressed me so far, he's been OK in defence and carrying but been quite flakey at times-his loose pass yesterday springs to mind. I don't think 36's form warrants him starting but Lancaster might look at him for Ireland due to him having more of a kicking game, I don't suspect if fit Eastmond will drop back in.
Looking forward to the game today. I expect Wales to bounce back strongly and win, but will be close.
It should be a good match. I'm half Irish by descent, although English first, so am a little concerned after yesterday's performance by England. But then, that should be balanced against yesterday's performance by Ireland. I'd put the odds 55 : 45 in England's favour.
I agree with the kicking point.
a311 said:
I don't suspect if fit Eastmond will drop back in.
He should do. Ford, Eastmond, Joseph, Watson is the ideal 10-12-13-14.People are overly obsessed with size as far as backs are concerned. Speed kills on the rugby pitch.I'd rather have Eastmond in my team than Basteraud or Tuilagi.
king points you dicks 
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