Wales v England - 05/08/23 5:30 KO

[AlRums]

Yeh and not by the Scottish player?

No first touch by Graham was downward pressure

 

[Jashay]

There was a bit in the first half where one of the commentators said "Borthwick has said England have three key areas they're working on improving, and defence is one of them".

I assume the other two are attack and set pieces, but then we'd still need to deal with this severe case of ***s-for-hands that's infected the team!

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Well first and foremost I want to see the English players actually turn up and show they care. Too many times we turn up to games against Wales and Scotland in particular where it's clearly a huge game for them but we look like we aren't interested.

Seems even this bar was too high for the majority of the team. I stick by what I said before, I hope experimental games are done and the coach actually pays attention to the performances in them. Unfortunately I had been expecting a bunch of young players eager to stake their claim to an England position before the WC. Instead I saw a bunch of mistake ridden, disinterested, lazy and clueless players getting schooled by a pretty poor Welsh side. A lot of those players need to be told in no uncertain terms that that was their chance and they ******* blew it. Many were poor but Blamire and Cokanasia for me stood out as particularly bad. Every aspect of their game was terrible, there wasn't a single redeeming feature.

Marchant, Ludlam and Genge came out with some credit. Smith hit and miss but showed he could offer something if the rest of the team weren't so **** poor. Pearson was ok. The rest were anonymous or poor.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Should never have got rid of Eddie

Counter point: Should've gotten rid of him last 6N and gotten Edwards in

 

[Saintjay]

Seriously has anyone seen any improvement since SB took over I'm struggling to see it?

I hate the thought in a year it'll be the same excuses. He inherited a mess from EJ. The players were mentally broken. At the moment they look like a team with no interest in what "Borthwicks" vision is. No heart, no desire and if they don't have that when playing to get into a WC squad. That's definitely on Borthwick and the coaches.

Unless most know they're not going and it's in the **** it bucket.

Edwards, Robinson, even bloody Gats at this rate.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

No first touch by Graham was downward pressure

Don't agree with that.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Gatland basically saying it's insane to name a squad this early

 

[Arcturus]

Counter point: Should've gotten rid of him last 6N and gotten Edwards in

Ignoring for a second that the sum to buy out Edward's contract with France, why on earth would the French accept any sum to destabilise a winning setup with less than a year to go to a home RWC?

The opportunity to secure the services of Edwards was when he left the Welsh setup, but with Edwards extending his stay in France till after Australia 2027, we've now got a long wait on our hands.

 

[Geordie]

Should never have got rid of Eddie

Yes we should

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Ignoring for a second that the sum to buy out Edward's contract with France, why on earth would the French accept any sum to destabilise a winning setup with less than a year to go to a home RWC?

I think they would've tbh - England were happy to pony up a ton of cash for Tigers, they'd have done the same for Edwards (who, at the time, wasn't on big bucks - supposedly his France contract was the same as Wigan Warriors were offering him, and there's not much money in League at all) - if a player (/coach) wants to leave it's rare a side will force them to stay because you're not gonna get the best from them. Sure they'd have gotten what they could have, but whatever, it's worth it

Edwards said he wanted to coach England and even spoke to England before renewing with France

 

[BrokenWing]

I remember him saying he was looking for a more long term offer than they'd suggested.

 

[Geordie]

We have a problem on the wings if Malins and Cokasaniga go. They are awful.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I remember him saying he was looking for a more long term offer than they'd suggested.

I think that was way back in the day when he was at Wasps - they offered him an assistant coach role but he wanted to stay full time at Wasps as he'd recently lost a family member (Mom?) so wanted to throw himself into his work rather than having the stop start of international rugby

When he spoke to them before re-signing with France they didn't offer him anything on the day and then never rang him back afterwards so he signed the French contract instead

 

[Saintjay]

We have a problem on the wings if Malins and Cokasaniga go. They are awful.

Which makes me worry how bad must Borthwick rate Tommy Freeman.

I can't think of one winger at the moment who gets you off your seat. I get Borthwick doesn't really do excited and edge of your seat but it seems we have zero players to bring on a spark or a game plan to allow any X factor. Even SA, Wales, Scotland have pretty exciting wingers.

 

[Geordie]

Which makes me worry how bad must Borthwick rate Tommy Freeman.

Murley needs a run out.

 

[Wasps92]

I'm a massive cricket fan and I've absolutely loved the Ashes because I find the England cricket team engaging, I think they've got a squad full of characters and more importantly I love watching them play because of the style of cricket.

This England rugby team is the polar opposite. I've gave up my weekend to head down to Cardiff to watch that absolute pile of guff. I don't care if it's a glorified friendly it was diabolical, especially in the second half. We can't string three passes together without dropping the ******* ball.

A boring team full of boring players and a boring coach. Steve Borthwick could send a glass eye to sleep.

I'm sick to death of England rugby. 4 years of ****. Borthwick would be the first kernt I'd get rid of and Bill Sweeney wouldn't be far behind him.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Which makes me worry how bad must Borthwick rate Tommy Freeman.

OHC, Radwan and Roebuck all been in camp and then dropped over the last year too
Malins been class for Saracens, fair play to him, but all of those have been in great club form and offer more than Joe C on paper and on the pitch

While I'm a massive Freeman fan I think Radwan is the biggest omission - we've one of the slowest backlines in the top tier, possibly the slowest. Arundell the only player with genuine gas (Watson's lost the true top end to injury) but I would trust him as little as Joe C
Radwan could be a genuine game changer

 

[ThebigARena]

Well well that was easier than expected. Physically outmatched, (Gavin henson style at one point) . It's not a personal dig guys just we are on a far better trajectory which of course went unmentioned ( no suprise there) our attack looked far more fluent in offloading in the tackle you didn't cross the white line
England really had nothing with that team .

 

[TommiG88]

We were awful, but the majority of that team won't be close to our World Cup starting team

 

[Geordie]

OHC, Radwan and Roebuck all been in camp and then dropped over the last year too
Malins been class for Saracens, fair play to him, but all of those have been in great club form and offer more than Joe C on paper and on the pitch

While I'm a massive Freeman fan I think Radwan is the biggest omission - we've one of the slowest backlines in the top tier, possibly the slowest. Arundell the only player with genuine gas (Watson's lost the true top end to injury) but I would trust him as little as Joe C
Radwan could be a genuine game changer

Is the prem as good a breeding ground for international thay we think it is?

Too many players who stand out at club level fail to deliver at international level...cant be a coincidence...