6N 2022

[Carlwm]

Adamson, he's garbage. Always has been and I can't believe he's now an international referee

He was poor yesterday. Got a lot of things wrong. Thought the England try and one of the Welsh ones were very dodgy and the breakdown was a complete lottery. Don't think I've ever seen so many forward passes - from both sides - let go, either.

He didn't seem to have a particular bias towards one team though despite what many of my fellow countrymen on social media seem to think.

 

[AmandaJR]

I agree with you about Marcus Smith. I like watching him play - already class and with bags of potential to improve - but I thought he had a bit of a shocker yesterday, especially defensively. I think you're right. Dombrandt was England's best player with Maro not far behind. From a Welsh point of view, I thought Alex Cuthbert and Nicky Tompkins were particularly good.

I like Smith and don't agree he had a shocker BUT he did look a little one dimensional to me. Or maybe that's two - either try a darting run himself or give it to the man on his shoulder. It all became a bit obvious and no grubber kicks, kicks over the top, kicks to a wide man. Maybe it's Jones stifling him a bit...

 

[Carlwm]

I like Smith and don't agree he had a shocker BUT he did look a little one dimensional to me. Or maybe that's two - either try a darting run himself or give it to the man on his shoulder. It all became a bit obvious and no grubber kicks, kicks over the top, kicks to a wide man. Maybe it's Jones stifling him a bit...

He's a fine player and I thought he was okay on the front foot yesterday but he was ropier in defence than he has been.

Think he and Randall will become a really formidable half-back unit over the next few seasons though.

 

[Captainron]

Oh my word! That is not a bad tackle. Why the heck are they looking at it? Balls to this stupidity!

 

[Deleted member 1147]

I agree with you about Marcus Smith. I like watching him play - already class and with bags of potential to improve - but I thought he had a bit of a shocker yesterday, especially defensively. I think you're right. Dombrandt was England's best player with Maro not far behind. From a Welsh point of view, I thought Alex Cuthbert and Nicky Tompkins were particularly good.

I wouldn’t say Smith had a bad game, & definitely not a shocker.

 

[Foxholer]

..Don't think I've ever seen so many forward passes - from both sides - let go, either.
...

There were certainly a number that went forward wrt the ground, if not the relative to the players positions.
I too wondered about the England try. Ball was definitely short initially, but was simply 'placed' over the line subsequently.

 

[Carlwm]

I wouldn’t say Smith had a bad game, & definitely not a shocker.

Yeah. Shocker was a bit hyperbolic but, as I mentioned above, I thought he was pretty indifferent defensively.

 

[Carlwm]

There were certainly a number that went forward wrt the ground, if not the relative to the players positions.
I too wondered about the England try. Ball was definitely short initially, but was simply 'placed' over the line subsequently.

I thought that England's line-out could have been pinged twice, Firstly when Maro encroached before the ball was thrown (a free kick offence) and again when Adam Beard was pushed out of position (penalty). That said, if Wales had got away with those, I'd have been delighted, and things evened up when a knock-on wasn't spotted in the run-up to one of our scores.

Made no difference to the result overall - which I have no beef with - just a swing and a roundabout to confirm that the officiating was pretty poor throughout for both sides.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

I thought that England's line-out could have been pinged twice, Firstly when Maro encroached before the ball was thrown (a free kick offence) and again when Adam Beard was pushed out of position (penalty). That said, if Wales had got away with those, I'd have been delighted, and things evened up when a knock-on wasn't spotted in the run-up to one of our scores.

Made no difference to the result overall - which I have no beef with - just a swing and a roundabout to confirm that the officiating was pretty poor throughout for both sides.

My biggest concern would be how Beard, supposedly about 20 stone, got pushed so badly by a mere flick of the elbow.
Should have been stronger in his own 22z

 

[Dando]

The first half was awful and stop start as he seemed incapable of making an on field decision never mind get control of the scrum. In fact at one stage he said to the video ref "on field decision is...?" - that's you pal!

Seeing that we stupidly go for a scrum when Williams is binned and 3 minutes of the 10 passed with no play. Poor decision for me - take the 3 and then go at them from open play with the full back missing. Frustrating game.

It always amazes me how little game time the sin binned player actually misses

 

[Carlwm]

My biggest concern would be how Beard, supposedly about 20 stone, got pushed so badly by a mere flick of the elbow.
Should have been stronger in his own 22z

No argument there. You'd expect a lock forward to be ready for a niggle or two from the opposition.

It was still a foul but for all that England could have had no complaints if the referee had called it, it was smart play. Huge rewards if you get away with it and no damage done if you get pinged.

I wasn't trying to suggest that the incident had any bearing on the result - Wales had a dodgy try awarded too which evened thing up somewhat - just using it as one of many possible examples to show that the refereeing was below the standard you'd expect for such a big game. Both sides were on the wrong end of a bunch of dubious decisions.

 

[Taz]

Yesterday's game took 101 minutes to complete, there were 2 scrums that took 6 minutes each ?

 

[Deleted member 1147]

It always amazes me how little game time the sin binned player actually misses

They should never take a scrum penalty, when an opposition back is in the bin.
Takes up too much time.

 

[Grizzly]

made no difference to the result overall - which I have no beef with - just a swing and a roundabout to confirm that the officiating was pretty poor throughout for both sides.

Aye. Think the second try should have been pulled as well, given the Welsh forwards were pre bound and dragging the ball to ground.

 

[FELL75]

I thought England looked a little predictable. A few lines breaks but the only score was from a welsh error on a line out. No tuilagi, no plan b? A good game, ref aside. I don't think Ireland/France will be unduly worried...

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Oh my word! That is not a bad tackle. Why the heck are they looking at it? Balls to this stupidity!

The uncontested scrum rule ended the match as a contest today

Thought it was a harsh red card in the first place

 

[Grizzly]

I thought England looked a little predictable. A few lines breaks but the only score was from a welsh error on a line out. No tuilagi, no plan b? A good game, ref aside. I don't think Ireland/France will be unduly worried...

Really tricky, because I don't think we have a second best version of Tuilagi, but it is undoubtable that the side we selected at the weekend featured six of seven backs who wanted to go round the oppo (even the Seventh, Norwell, is borderline) and lacked impact. I don't understand why gain line impact (Atkinson, Lawrence, Northcott) or extreme pace (Radwan, Lynagh) haven't been given a foothold.

 

[Val]

I like Smith and don't agree he had a shocker BUT he did look a little one dimensional to me. Or maybe that's two - either try a darting run himself or give it to the man on his shoulder. It all became a bit obvious and no grubber kicks, kicks over the top, kicks to a wide man. Maybe it's Jones stifling him a bit...

When you have a player like Smith you have to take the brilliant with the ordinary along with mediocre. We have it with Russell. Smith is a magic player who will be held back at test level whilst Jones is the head coach. He likes structure and that's not Smiths game.

 

[Val]

The uncontested scrum rule ended the match as a contest today

Thought it was a harsh red card in the first place

By the laws it's a stick on red but the uncontested law made this a farce. I get why its there but this is one of those rare occasions where you say "not today please". Italy dug in well, I thought Ireland could have scored 70 today when that happened.

 

[Val]

Just finished watching yesterday's games. Enjoyed them both.

Gutted about the result at HQ. Wales have got into a habit of going to Twickenham and just falling short. Lots of naivety from us - spurned kicks at goal, the attempt to run a penalty out of our own 22 rather than take the kick etc - but plenty of signs that we're not quite as bad as I thought we were.

France were excellent yesterday but the Scotland defence coach will be having nightmares. As good as they looked going forward, they were shambolic on the back foot and not all of that was due to France's sharpness.

I think you're being harsh on France, they were excellent. I thought we played extremely well in parts but losing 2 tries so early in the game meant we were chasing. That said, a chance to go 17-12 up before half time and butchered was shocking, especially as France scored a try right away.

They for me are currently the best team in the world. I've always loved watching French rugby but it's on another level currently. Right now they have to be favourites for the RWC next year.