2014 Six Nations: England vs Ireland (Round 3)

[Ragey Erasmus]

Cool story bro.

Mere copying, more effort needed.

F

 

[goodNumber10]

Wallace doesn't play with 7 on his back... Robshaw does.

Ok.

Doesn't change my point.

 

[Draggs]

I'll be honest, I haven't been overly impressed with Nowell+May. I know they are developing into the role, but surely Watson is better than both with recent form in mind? Eastmond must surely be pressing for a spot in the 23. Everybody talks about his size but he doesn't let it bother him too much for Bath. He is running the backline with Ford.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Thing is I felt both wingers have shown some x factor about them, whilst sometimes failing to impress in more fundamental things. May should have taken his try. Nowell should make fewer mistakes and keep discipline. I definitely think we need to stick with both.

Myt chief worry anj disappointment is that whilst Twelvetrees is doing many things right, he is failing in the vision department. At least one of your 10 and 12 needs vision and at the moment not having it in either position is costing us 7 - 10 points per game. I'm a big fan of the guy, buy as Draggs is saying, Eastmond is surely knocking on the door.

 

[ratsapprentice]

May and Nowell have both been huge improvements on what we've had for the last 18 months.
May is mercurial - things like his pass to Mike Brown's face are to be expected.

Nowell is fresh from the U20's - mistakes are to be expected.

Both have been effective.

Twelvetrees and Farrell are both hugely frustrating in that they are doing some things very well and others dreadfully.
They are both putting in big shifts defensively and at the breakdown - and should be applauded for doing so.
But neither are executing the fundamentals of their position well at all.
They aren't flankers - however useful that is.

Eastmond is so far ahead of those two when it comes to distribution which is one of the areas that we are really suffering.

 

[Aristodemus]

I have mixed feelings on May, some stuff he has done has been great and could have resulted in much more. On the flip side he has cost points and the Brown incident was a real WTF moment. I really like Nowell, he is a rock in defence and I don't see anyone running through him, makes a massive difference to the liability that has been wearing 14 for years. I fully agree on Eastmond though, with a wrecking ball 13 (like Manu)he is the perfect guy to play inside. I have to say in addition to the point at the breakdown that Farrell winning a turnover with POC trying to clear him out was one of the moments of the match when we were under real pressure, I have been hugely critical of him in the past but this 6N he has improved alot, I'm not as disappointed as I once was that he is Lancaster's golden boy.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I think 36 needs to back his passing/distribution more. He's a bloody good distributing 12 but more often than not, for England, he throws a really un-convincing dummy and runs straight in to the nearest defender, and with a really upright body angle so he makes no ground through it.

 

[j'nuh]

I must admit, I'm slightly disappointed in Twelvetrees' lack of distributing too. My feelings are that he's shown he's a bloody good distributor for Gloucester, but isn't showing it for England for whatever reason. I suspect it's a coaching decision. England like their centers to run and fix defenders. It's the running theme in all the selections: Barritt, Tuilagi, Burrell etc. Hefty players that have the strength to crash.

I suspect Lancaster wants a bit of both - someone who can fix defenders with the carry, but can also distribute with the best. It'll click at some point, Twelvetrees is not a bad distributor. He's just seemingly being used wrongly...

I really want Twelvetrees to come good, because I think he offers a more well-rounded player than Eastmond, more so than some realise. I like that second kicking option. I like that fierceness in the tackle. I like that breakdown presence. I like having a 12 that can break the gainline by running at defenders. If the aim is to swing it wide as fast as possible, Eastmond's a no-brainer. But it's all the extras that Twelvetrees brings that makes me really want him to be an established 12.

More than anything, I'd like to see Twelvetrees behind Ford. Twelvetrees got to his best form playing behind a talented attacking 10, not a percentages player.

 

[ratsapprentice]

What I don't understand is why 36 has been falling over and dropping passes so much - it's happening so often.

It's bizarre.

 

[irelandfan123]

For the people saying BO'D offered nothing in attack this game is a weird one to say it after. In other matches I'd agree he wasn't looking great in attack but of the four centres playing yesterday BO'D came out on top in most attacking stats. I know stats aren't everything but I also thought he looked pretty dangerous most times he got the ball. If he'd had someone on his shoulder looking for the offload we would have doubled our linebreaks because he was getting the half break on Burrell most of the time.

Completely agree I think if you watch it back BOD was not as bad as anyone is making out, I thought he was riding the tackles well getting us over the game line sucking people in and passing well releasing wings at the end. He wasn't outstanding but I'd take him over any other centre on the pitch.

Real worry was Sexton, I thought he was past this kicking poorly passing was ****e and he was trying too hard. kicking the ball out from the kick off is unusually poor even from a AIL division 3 team. Its a pretty big drop from last game wondering why they didn't change it about when he was so under par.

And why didnt we maul more we were doing well last game and it wasn't like the running game was going well. Any news on O'Driscolls injury yesterday?

EDIT: wonder what you would have said had it gone the other way

 

[j-dawg]

you're making it very hard to forget the clichés of the ultra-sensitive Englishman who overreacts explosively to someone making a comment about a tendency he's observed. Very, very hard

It can't have been that explosive.

















I don't see a white flag.
Tehehe

 

[Big Ewis]

It can't have been that explosive

look man, I'm not interested in fighting. You wanna dance, we'll dance. But I'd rather you address the elements that seem like an issue to you in my posts, makes for some debate, i.e. the idea of an online forum, and if you think what I say is too silly to debate, then just consider me as a troll and have the intelligence not to waste your time with me. But not insult or disrespect like some silly punkish schoolboy.
Sounds fair enough, no ? Hope you get the message once and for all. Your choice now.

 

[big ginger 8]

Unusual prouctivity from the mole. Well worth a read, for Ulster fans there's some nice words about Chris Henry...

http://dementedmole.com/2014/03/07/ruck-marks-england-vs-ireland-2014/

 

[Amiga500]

Unusual prouctivity from the mole.

The mole is always productive. Good reviews and analysis are worth waiting for.


Unusually short time between posts agreed!