[2017 RBS Six Nations] Round 4: England vs Scotland (12/03/2017)

[Leonormous Boozer]

Venue: Twickenham Stadium, London Date: Saturday, 11 March Kick-off: 16:00

Dates wrong in the thread ***le. Only noticed as the Ire - Wales thread is below and that's a Friday KO (also with the wrong date)

****, I just took the day before this one...

 

[MarkyH]

****, I just took the day before this one...

Haha! I would've done the same. I hate Sunday games and I was convinced the England game was Saturday. So relived when I double checked!

 

[spartan32]

So away from what may or may not happen with Ireland.......

Home advantage at Twickenham is a big deal and not more so then in this specific fixture. This one element alone will give England a big advantage. Scotland are undoubtedly playing better then they have in a very long time, and at last seem to have developed some half decent strike runners, but the threat that they pose is not strong enough to make England start second guessing. We will certainly need to tighten up our kicking game. Can't be booting the ball down Hoggs throat giving him all the space in the world to run into. But as long as Ford, Faz, Daly and Youngs all kick to the level they can then this should not be a problem. We pose much more threat from the tee (again assuming all kickers are firing as they should) so penalties are more likely to end in points from more parts of the field, and that places more pressure on the Scots.

The England pack is also getting stronger with each game as various players return from injury, and I think that we can dominate the contact area with the guys we now have available. There is also our impact bench that I think most would agree is world class, and certainly better then anything the Scots can muster.

If we can control this game and not allow Scotland to run riot early we should be too much for them over the 80 minutes. That being said I think that this is Scotlands best chance in a long time to turn us over at home, and this will no doubt not be lost on them. Should be a cracking game but I am going to call it for England, although I would not wish to hazard a guess a the score.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Venue: Twickenham Stadium, London Date: Saturday, 11 March Kick-off: 16:00

Dates wrong in the thread ***le. Only noticed as the Ire - Wales thread is below and that's a Friday KO (also with the wrong date)

Frightfully sorry about that. It was bloody difficult to change the ***le on a phone. Probably harder than an away win for Scotland here. It was all an elaborate plan to make Alpha look bad. Psych!

 

[MarkyH]

Frightfully sorry about that. It was bloody difficult to change the ***le on a phone. Probably harder than an away win for Scotland here. It was all an elaborate plan to make Alpha look bad. Psych!

I'm just glad the game isn't on Sunday. I like my Rugby hangovers to take place on a Sunday morning, not a Monday

 

[ALJ]

A team who have won 17 on the trot getting beat in a fixture they haven't lost in over 30 years would be a disastrous result! It wouldn't mean progress is lost, just that you haven't progressed nearly as much as it appears, teams with RWC aspirations shouldn't lose at home and definitely not to anyone ranked below them.

Sorry I don't buy it - all records have to end at some point, including our winning record and their losing record at Twickenham.

I know it might suit fans of other nations to see it your way but defeats happen and are often a blessing in disguise - we are not as good as some think we are but as a team, we'll be no better or worse come 6 o'clock on Saturday.

 

[ncurd]

I remember some of the ABs back when we gave them a thumping at Twickenham (with the help of norovirus) spurred them on a fair bit as for some it was first time they'd been defeated in an AB jersey.

I still think it would be pretty poor for England to lose this fixture but there's a level that we have to lose sometime and you can't keep winning forever. We'll likely slip by the AI's I think Argentina can beat a Lions depleted squad at home and Ireland away isn't something I'm confident about.

The only thing that will annoy me is if we lose playing **** as we know we are better than that.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

The only thing that will annoy me is if we lose playing **** as we know we are better than that.

I can't see us losing any other way. If we play more to the level we did against the Aussies then I can't see Scotland beating us. Any loss will almost certainly be off the back of another poor England performance. It's weird watching England now, during previous internationals they showed they could adapt to a game on the fly and frequently turned games where it looked like we would be dominated into reasonably convincing wins. The last few England have seemed rigid and unable to pull themselves together. The only consistent thing through the entire winning streak is that England are nearly always **** in the first 15-20 mins and on top in the last 15-20, that just isn't acceptable, it puts us under so much pointless pressure and we should be using the end game dominance to close out games rather than trying to catch up.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Sorry I don't buy it - all records have to end at some point, including our winning record and their losing record at Twickenham.

I know it might suit fans of other nations to see it your way but defeats happen and are often a blessing in disguise - we are not as good as some think we are but as a team, we'll be no better or worse come 6 o'clock on Saturday.

I think you're completely undervaluing home advantage, i reckon its worth a 10 points swing in this tournament and can't see anything but an 8+ England win. The team might not be as good as some think but right now they should be winning their home 6n games without fail, that's where England and Ireland want to be at the very least and what Scotland are trying to reach for.

 

[Maverick1987]

It was in Murrayfield... And it was...

Was it really disastrous for Ireland ? In what way ?

They have bounced back pretty well ....

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Was it really disastrous for Ireland ? In what way ?

They have bounced back pretty well ....

It made a tournament win very difficult, killed the grand slam and triple crown and saw the embarrassing end to Tommy Bowe's international career. In the grand scheme of things, which I suppose England fans can afford to look at given their greater depth, it was a wake up call to the difference between playing at home and away but for a side like us where just a handful of key injuries take us from being a top 4 side to somewhere between 5th and 8th it was a wasted opportunity to do something special due to failing to turn up for 35mins.

If England lose this week it won't make you a terrible team all of a sudden but from where I'm sitting it'd be a disastrous individual result. The bookies having you at 11 point favourites would back that up!

Can you imagine a scenario where England lose this weekend and you're not outraged?

 

[ALJ]

I think you're completely undervaluing home advantage, i reckon its worth a 10 points swing in this tournament and can't see anything but an 8+ England win. The team might not be as good as some think but right now they should be winning their home 6n games without fail, that's where England and Ireland want to be at the very least and what Scotland are trying to reach for.

Maybe but I don't think so.

I backed home advantage to get us home against France and I expect the same if not better against Scotland.

But it not to entertain the possibility of getting beaten doesn't make sense (to me anyway) as this is a major international against a resurgent side with everything to play for - They could play brilliantly, we could play terribly, or both - the point being that it happens and I don't see the need to overreact should it happen on Saturday (we have the media to do that for us ).

 

[Lé Ddanno]

Can you imagine a scenario where England lose this weekend and you're not outraged?

If Scotland bring the full 80minutes of their most threatening play and we turn up for the whole match I won't complain (initial 15 minutes of drunken heartbreak aside).

Will never happen though. You're right that home advantage is massive; it's our match to lose.

 

[McTallshort]

Another England thread hijacked by a triggered Irishman. Please **** off to the Ireland Wales thread

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Another England thread hijacked by a triggered Irishman. Please **** off to the Ireland Wales thread

Oh the irony. I haven't posted anything off topic (Unlike some of the replies to my posts) and have every right to post here, we don't have closed borders on these boards, in theory it should stop an echo chamber forming!

 

[McTallshort]

Apart from *****ing when someone dared to suggest Scotland would be a tougher game for England than Ireland.

 

[welshoptimist]

I think Scotland will do It this year, it will be really close, and people keep saying England have been poor but they are a side that know how to win games, but the pressure is on England not Scotland, last year there was a lot of expectation with Scotland at home and they bottled it, this year I think England will lead the entire game, slow the game down and be complacent with a 5 point lead and lose it in the last few minutes , I give it to Scotland by 2 .

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

I think Scotland will do It this year, it will be really close, and people keep saying England have been poor but they are a side that know how to win games, but the pressure is on England not Scotland, last year there was a lot of expectation with Scotland at home and they bottled it, this year I think England will lead the entire game, slow the game down and be complacent with a 5 point lead and lose it in the last few minutes , I give it to Scotland by 2 .

If there is one thing England don't do it is throw the game away in the last few minutes, quite the opposite. I can't think of the last game where in the last 10 minutes England were really under sustained pressure.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Apart from *****ing when someone dared to suggest Scotland would be a tougher game for England than Ireland.

I disagreed and pointed out how very little in recent history of both fixtures suggests this at all, I even ignored your, and another, weak attempt at trolling that followed. After that I only mentioned Ireland when pressed by another poster.

I laughed at this line "Even if we just manage to beat the scots that will be a fantastic aheivment - Grand Slam followed by a world record wining streak....Happy Days!"

If I or someone else posted "Even if we just manage to beat the Welsh that will be a fantastic achievement - tournament win and a return to recent European domination....Happy Days!" in the Ireland thread it'd be torn to shreds!

Its a strange complex you have that this "triggered" you!

 

[welshoptimist]

If there is one thing England don't do it is throw the game away in the last few minutes, quite the opposite. I can't think of the last game where in the last 10 minutes England were really under sustained pressure.

what about the wales game last year? you had a massive lead in that one, and let in 2 or 3 trys in the last few minutes, in fact but for the touch judge ruling north out of touch when he clearly wasn't you would have lost that game , I have a feeling that jones will put care on at 60, and he will kick loose