England V Samoa
Discussion
Bonus point!
Yugguy said:
We were shite and didn't deserve to win.
Overall, you're right - although wealways knew we're nowhere near the form of 2003. However, there were some encouraging signs and some really nice handlingskills at times. We're starting to show signs of improvement and beating Tonga is possible but it's still going to be tough.Getting through the quarter finals still looks beyond us though.
Not looking like a cohesive team still, the forwards aren't always fast enough to the breakdown and there doesn't seem to be the inventiveness and creativity (and calculated risk-taking) in the backs that you'd bloody well expect with Jonny and Olly in the side. It should have really shown up the madness of putting Farrell in the backs but we still didn't impress.
England appear to have become a little bit too humble - this may sound insane but we were at our best when there was arrogance in the squad - we acted like winners and believed that we'd dominate anyone. Now Corry is a good player (and was even better before this season) but he's looking really 'sportsmanlike' and doesn't look utterly dominant on the pitch... and other players seem to be nervous as well.
Robbo looked good against the Boks but got injured trying to play the entire back line's job. As it stands, we're not getting anything out of our quality backs because they're not getting quality supply. At least today we saw more running rugby once a few too many duff not-making-touch clearances and pointless up-and-unders failed.
I'd still rate our chances of beating Australia are roughly nil at the moment, we actually have a broad base of talented individuals but the instinctive team-spirit isn't there - which is odd as it's not as if every player is from a different club. Weird really
England appear to have become a little bit too humble - this may sound insane but we were at our best when there was arrogance in the squad - we acted like winners and believed that we'd dominate anyone. Now Corry is a good player (and was even better before this season) but he's looking really 'sportsmanlike' and doesn't look utterly dominant on the pitch... and other players seem to be nervous as well.
Robbo looked good against the Boks but got injured trying to play the entire back line's job. As it stands, we're not getting anything out of our quality backs because they're not getting quality supply. At least today we saw more running rugby once a few too many duff not-making-touch clearances and pointless up-and-unders failed.
I'd still rate our chances of beating Australia are roughly nil at the moment, we actually have a broad base of talented individuals but the instinctive team-spirit isn't there - which is odd as it's not as if every player is from a different club. Weird really
tted by Tonga on FridayGassing Station | Sports | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff