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getofmeland
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I never said he didn't, I just said that well they now have someone who knows what a Rugby Ball is...
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shtove
Guest
I think Ruddock - that's the guy you're talking about, right? - was a flash in the pan, and Wales would have been right to ditch him ... except they went exactly the wrong way with his replacement.
Gatland and Edwards promise some serious advances for a great rugby nation. Mind you, I can see Gatland axing Edwards if Wales don't take the 2009 6N - he's that ruthless. How else will he get the ABs under his thumb for 2015?
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Prestwick
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I think Ruddock - that's the guy you're talking about, right? - was a flash in the pan, and Wales would have been right to ditch him ... except they went exactly the wrong way with his replacement.
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I disagree, I don't think they were right to "ditch" him - if you can even call it that, more like a peasant uprising by the players whose egos were stoked by the incredibly divisive Scott Johnson - Ruddock was in the process of rebuilding and regrouping the team after injuries but it seems that by that fateful Six Nations, the rift was so wide that as some people have said, Ruddock was either relegated (or relegated himself) to sitting in the car during training sessions while the players trained themselves.
I think Gatland has picked shrewdly and made sure that the old egos like Alfie are kept well away so he and Edwards can instil their authority.
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Col
Guest
Its a sad state of affairs when basic players like Borthwick & Noon are the ones to come out of a game with the most credit, from an English point of view. They secured the win for us becuase we were distinctly second best in the second half. I fail to see the point of playing Vianikolo if you dont give him the ball, he doesn't eaxctly go looking for work. I thought we'd miss Strettle the most today and so it proved, we lacked a penetrative runner.
I can recall only once that Balshaw touched the ball and then he used it poorly. Ashton should never have put Cipriani on when he did, there is a time and place to blood flair players. When the team is constantly on the back foot in Rome is not the time to do so. Wigglesworth did OK when he came on and it was a decent debut from Lipman, thought Easter was poor/stupid for much of the second half, while Haskell seemed to follow his lead.
Thankfully Italy are a bunch of Borthwick & Noon's, 7 out of 10 every match team. And we just about had enough during the first half to secure the win.
Moore's commentary was great. Especially when he screamed at Flood for kicking the ball away.
I can recall only once that Balshaw touched the ball and then he used it poorly. Ashton should never have put Cipriani on when he did, there is a time and place to blood flair players. When the team is constantly on the back foot in Rome is not the time to do so. Wigglesworth did OK when he came on and it was a decent debut from Lipman, thought Easter was poor/stupid for much of the second half, while Haskell seemed to follow his lead.
Thankfully Italy are a bunch of Borthwick & Noon's, 7 out of 10 every match team. And we just about had enough during the first half to secure the win.
Moore's commentary was great. Especially when he screamed at Flood for kicking the ball away.
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Prestwick
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I was screaming at the same time as well, it was so frustrating to watch. I never thought we'd turn into Matt William's all-stars circa 2004.
I do feel for Vainikolo because he can't really do much when the rest of the England team are basically ignoring him and Sackey. I'm sure the rest of the England backs looked shocked when Sackey kept coming in off of his wing for work, as if they've never seen him before. What did they think they were playing?! League?!
Noon in my view isn't a bad player, not a great player, but not a bad one either. Like it or not, he is stable, dependable, a good tackler (as we saw today) and can at least make the gain line. He can't do much more than that but there you go. Wigglesworth's debut was good, added impetus to England but he was a little quieter. England's front row were just slow and lethargic but thats because they were doing twice the amount of work they had expected to do. Expect the unexpected you idiots!
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SaintsFan_Webby
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Surprised nobody has mentioned the performance of Parisse - I thought he was immense. Seems to have been a shrewd choice of captain by Mallet, this guy certainly leads by example.
Noone proved me wrong by having a very solid match, although Balshaw once again proved everyone right by showing what a steaming turd of a player he is. Sackey was better than last week, but still does stupid things on defense at times which will, against the world's top backlines, cost us. Wilkinson just doesn't have it anymore, although was better than last week, while I think Gomersall's time should now be up.
Impressed by the work-rate of Lipman. Did nothing wrong even if he did nothing spectacular either. Regan is another who is well and truely past it though.
England are in dire need of leadership - it's got to the stage where I miss having Martin Corry on hand to rally the troops. At the moment there are literally no obvious candidates for the role.
Noone proved me wrong by having a very solid match, although Balshaw once again proved everyone right by showing what a steaming turd of a player he is. Sackey was better than last week, but still does stupid things on defense at times which will, against the world's top backlines, cost us. Wilkinson just doesn't have it anymore, although was better than last week, while I think Gomersall's time should now be up.
Impressed by the work-rate of Lipman. Did nothing wrong even if he did nothing spectacular either. Regan is another who is well and truely past it though.
England are in dire need of leadership - it's got to the stage where I miss having Martin Corry on hand to rally the troops. At the moment there are literally no obvious candidates for the role.
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Stillknox
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Bring back Dallaglio once again :lol:
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Steve-o
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Bring back Dallaglio once again :lol:
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I don't think the old age home lets people come in after 8pm
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Prestwick
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I feel quite ashamed because I totally forgot to mention him. What a performance at number 8! The guy just comes looking for work and was always there to try and force mistakes by England and hoof loose ball to create chances for the zippy Italian backs to race after. If he isn't playing outside of Italy then I seriously wonder what team in Europe has that can match and outclass such a young and enthusiastic guy!
A similar start to that of Narraway, did himself no harm with his efforts but didn't set the world alight either. Considering the predicament England are in right now, maybe a nice and stable flanker is what we need.
Agreed and this is one reason why I think simply throwing in loads of talented geezers from the Saxons wouldn't count a damn in this case. Crapping and chin wagging on guys like Corry is all good and well as, yes, there was and still is blatant bed blocking preventing new guys from getting bedded in but at what cost exactly? I'm sorry guys but I'd much rather have a mixed side with red hot talent and old grizzled experience than a Saxons XV blundering around the Stade de France or Murrayfield to the delight of hostile crowds.
Look at South Africa's winning World Cup XV, look at their team and look at their crunch games, first against Fiji, then Argentina and then finally England. Fiji is the best example due to how badly South Africa imploded mid-way through the match. If they did not have the experience of guys like Smit and pimp-master Du Randt for example giving their young backs a good kick up the arse and telling them to calm down, would South Africa had won against Fiji? I seriously doubt it.
At the end of the day, simply saying "where the hell is X, Y & Z player under the age of 25?!" is an easy way out and ducks the fact that there are serious and fundemental problems with how the game is run, coached and viewed by the RFU, the Clubs, the players, the media and even the public.
I don't really want to say this out loud, but I genuinely think a good thumping by France, Scotland and Ireland as well as a nightmare PROPER First XV tour of New Zealand and crap Autumn series would be very good for us. It'll blood in guys, it'll make or break the coaching team, it'll force RFU and Clubs to think carefully about how they implement the new agreement and - most importantly - it will force Rob Andrews hand and force him to take some responsibility.
If not, it will force the hand of the Red Baron to do something if Rob continues to just skulk in the background looking glum, paralysed by both fear and uncertainty of what exactly his role is.
These are dark days, whereas 2004 - 2006 were our Battle of Loos (or, to borrow from the US Civil War, our Fredricksburg), 2008 is going to be our Paschendale, a brutal and bitter battle which will eventually shape and mould the England team for the next four years. The basic rule is: expect to lose allot.
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Deano
Guest
Once again stupid mistakes undone Italy in the first half. Bortolussi played a better match, but it was his stupid kick that more or less made sure of our loss. Also the first try came from an Italian lineout on the halfway line. 1 of the PKs was from a scrum near the halfway line... so many stupid mistakes made this loss because our general forward play in the 2nd half and even parts of the first was top class. Still such a shame that we cant find any penetration at all int eh backs. I know Mallet said he would stick with Travagli, Masi and Bortolussi for 3 games, but Marcato must be tried at 10... Masi has no kicking game and this is how italy needs to play at times... we improved even in the 10 minutes Marcato was on. Also Picone is better than Travagli IMO although I am not so bothered if Travagli starts next game.
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Bang
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It really scares me that some members of the English team and the Coaching staff are happy to just beat Italy. Surely if England intend to play a more expansive game then Italy were the perfect team to implement that on.
It shows just how low we are currently setting the bar.
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The England coaching staff are too conflicted on the way they think the game should be played and this should be remedied immediately.
It shows just how low we are currently setting the bar.
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The England coaching staff are too conflicted on the way they think the game should be played and this should be remedied immediately.
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stormmaster1
Guest
Some thoughts on Masi:
He is a centre not an international fly half as if his kicking game became weak, it would be an improvement. In addition some of his missed passes are too telegraphed to help break defences.
That all said i don't neccessarily think his inclusion is a big mistake. He is a strong runner and Italy's success was based aroung keeping possesion and Masi is the right type of player for their current style. If he improves some of his interlinking but keeps his desire to run the ball Italy could do well. whther he makes it i don't know, but i think signs are there about which direction Mallett wants Italy to go in, and Masi is a choice for the future of the team. He does need to learn to kick better though.
These tactics are also a kind of homage to the Italian forwards. They were awesome at the breakdown, keeping the ball so well iun the second half.
Some thoughts on England:
The team isn't high on confidence, and noone is taking charge on the field. it's not a question of style being too expansive or not expansive enough, but simply a case of simple decisions and doing the basic hard work. The whole team struggles when the forwards stop making hard yards and two weaks on trot this is one of the basic things to go wrong. The faults lie with each individual and with the decision makers, but part of the reason for the poor kicking game is that no momentum is generated, forwards do nothing, ball goes out to backs. no one is giving Wilkinson/Cips any real attacking options and so they kick. but badly with no great chase. I think we need to get it right in the forwards first. We have some good players in the tight 5 but they seemed to go to sleep in the second half.
just be glad our defence is reasonable and our lineout saved us v Italy.
He is a centre not an international fly half as if his kicking game became weak, it would be an improvement. In addition some of his missed passes are too telegraphed to help break defences.
That all said i don't neccessarily think his inclusion is a big mistake. He is a strong runner and Italy's success was based aroung keeping possesion and Masi is the right type of player for their current style. If he improves some of his interlinking but keeps his desire to run the ball Italy could do well. whther he makes it i don't know, but i think signs are there about which direction Mallett wants Italy to go in, and Masi is a choice for the future of the team. He does need to learn to kick better though.
These tactics are also a kind of homage to the Italian forwards. They were awesome at the breakdown, keeping the ball so well iun the second half.
Some thoughts on England:
The team isn't high on confidence, and noone is taking charge on the field. it's not a question of style being too expansive or not expansive enough, but simply a case of simple decisions and doing the basic hard work. The whole team struggles when the forwards stop making hard yards and two weaks on trot this is one of the basic things to go wrong. The faults lie with each individual and with the decision makers, but part of the reason for the poor kicking game is that no momentum is generated, forwards do nothing, ball goes out to backs. no one is giving Wilkinson/Cips any real attacking options and so they kick. but badly with no great chase. I think we need to get it right in the forwards first. We have some good players in the tight 5 but they seemed to go to sleep in the second half.
just be glad our defence is reasonable and our lineout saved us v Italy.
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Lollo84
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Great second half for Italy, just one try short from history.
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Col
Guest
Agree, completely. He'll do a decent job, but you wont beat the better International teams without some degree of attacking nouse with him in the backline.
I don't tend to notice the opposition as much as I do the team that I support during a game, but I couldn't fail to notice the Parisse. He had a great game.
Harsh on Borthwick, who saved us at the death when our backs were against the wall. It's fair comment on the other 4, maybe missing Sheridan, maybe replacements not coming on early enough. I for one dont think Payne will ever be an international standard prop, but I'm struggling to think of an alternative if Sheridan is out.
I have to wonder is Dylan Hartley might get a chance against Scotland or Ireland. Wouldn't risk him in Paris and I'm not sure of his form since returning from his ban.
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SaintsFan_Webby
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Was a bit rusty to start with (not surprising after 6 months out) but since then he has gone from strength to strength. Anyone who saw the impact he made when coming on for the Saxons against Ireland A will vouch for his unquestionable talent.
Don't see him being given a chance this season, simply because he isn't playing at the very highest level every week. Next season though I fully expect him to be in the mix for the starting hooker spot.
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Crackdown
Guest
Hartly will replace Regan eventually, of that I have no doubt but Ronnie offers something that no other hookers - or even the other forwards have in the current England set up : presence.
Like it or not he's continuously encouraging those around him, getting into the face of the opposition and ******* them off no end and adds that something to a team - just like big Lol used to do. Is it any coincidene that when Ronnie comes off the front 5 start to look more ragged and less enthusiastic?
There's often more to a player than just their physical abilities (not that he's lacking in those either)...
Like it or not he's continuously encouraging those around him, getting into the face of the opposition and ******* them off no end and adds that something to a team - just like big Lol used to do. Is it any coincidene that when Ronnie comes off the front 5 start to look more ragged and less enthusiastic?
There's often more to a player than just their physical abilities (not that he's lacking in those either)...
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