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Six Nations 2018

therod said:
England aren’t far away. Don’t believe the cut & paste merchants. If they can keep the ball for more than 5 phases they will score plenty tries. Problem is currently they can’t!!
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Some credit should be afforded to the Roosters as they played to their current strengths shutting England out for large passages of the game... It wasn't just about England coming up short... Hate to say this but I think 'we' missed Hartley...
 
JT77 said:
Think we have been missing Young’s more, he was in great form before the injury for England, definitely a catalyst in attack.
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Probably the nub of the issue.
I also think Dan Cole has been looking a little out of sorts, with Sinckler looking when he was given a chance.
 
MegaSteve said:
Some credit should be afforded to the Roosters as they played to their current strengths shutting England out for large passages of the game... It wasn't just about England coming up short... Hate to say this but I think 'we' missed Hartley...
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I thought France were crap, problem was that we were worse. Poor scrum, couldn’t win line out & we still couldn’t beat them.
 
Bunkermagnet said:
Probably the nub of the issue.
I also think Dan Cole has been looking a little out of sorts, with Sinckler looking when he was given a chance.
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Several players looked knackered to me - Mako, Launchbury, Lawes in particular.
Ford lacked direction and Care was too slow when ball was available.
 
No excuses, we were sub standard. Never helps playing without a recognised 7 and a second row at 6. This resulted in slow ball and so the backs had little chance. Exactly the same problems that the Tigers had until we brought in a forwards coach. We are now getting ball on the front foot and scoring again.

Have to agree about players looking tired. You have a few in there who have played full club campaigns, then a lions tour, then back to club rugby then on to the 6 Nations. It is too much. Dan Cole has also been playing a lot of minutes for a prop for both club and country.

Care has always played better as an impact sub than a starter and so we are missing Youngs. Sadly Eddie does not seem to want to pick any of the talented young scrum halves and has a safe option as back up.

Joseph is also very out of form and Teo is a one trick pony. How someone with the talent of Slade cannot get on the pitch amazes me.
 
GB72 said:
No excuses, we were sub standard. Never helps playing without a recognised 7 and a second row at 6. This resulted in slow ball and so the backs had little chance. Exactly the same problems that the Tigers had until we brought in a forwards coach. We are now getting ball on the front foot and scoring again.

Have to agree about players looking tired. You have a few in there who have played full club campaigns, then a lions tour, then back to club rugby then on to the 6 Nations. It is too much. Dan Cole has also been playing a lot of minutes for a prop for both club and country.

Care has always played better as an impact sub than a starter and so we are missing Youngs. Sadly Eddie does not seem to want to pick any of the talented young scrum halves and has a safe option as back up.

Joseph is also very out of form and Teo is a one trick pony. How someone with the talent of Slade cannot get on the pitch amazes me.
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Summed up extremely well. Have to say, how Slade doesn't break into that team is beyond me. Seen him twice when watching Chiefs in earnest and he impressed both times.
 
GB72 said:
No excuses, we were sub standard. Never helps playing without a recognised 7 and a second row at 6. This resulted in slow ball and so the backs had little chance. Exactly the same problems that the Tigers had until we brought in a forwards coach. We are now getting ball on the front foot and scoring again.

Have to agree about players looking tired. You have a few in there who have played full club campaigns, then a lions tour, then back to club rugby then on to the 6 Nations. It is too much. Dan Cole has also been playing a lot of minutes for a prop for both club and country.

Care has always played better as an impact sub than a starter and so we are missing Youngs. Sadly Eddie does not seem to want to pick any of the talented young scrum halves and has a safe option as back up.

Joseph is also very out of form and Teo is a one trick pony. How someone with the talent of Slade cannot get on the pitch amazes me.
Click to expand...

Jones really doesnt seem fussed about the breakdown enough for me and this is the big hurdle we need to overcome. We just dont win enough of the breakdowns and certainly dont win them quick enough. Has been a trend to not picking a proper 7 that I just dont think you can get away with against good international sides, that said there isnt a huge supply of them making strong claims.

Injuries and fatigue are a massive factor, shelf life of a rugby international swiftly headed the way of NFL players. Take Billy V, been a massive miss but I wouldnt be surprised if hes never fully fit again the amount of big impacts his body has been through the last few seasons. Hes by far the only one and the problem isnt going to get better unless they revisit the maximum number of games situation and also ensure that every player gets a proper break each year
 
A much better defeat than the Wales one at the outset. Bleedin' frustrating. I was able to push the sofa back against the wall on Saturday - against Wales it stayed out and I was hiding behind it.
 
Val said:
You didn’t see the second leg I take it?
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No I didn't - must go look see. I have to muster up some enthusiasm for Embra if my wife will have us living there rather than Glasgow. would much rather be in Dowanhill/Hyndland just minutes walk from Glasgow's ground - but my wife isn't so much for Glasgow these days.
 
fundy said:
Jones really doesnt seem fussed about the breakdown enough for me and this is the big hurdle we need to overcome. We just dont win enough of the breakdowns and certainly dont win them quick enough. Has been a trend to not picking a proper 7 that I just dont think you can get away with against good international sides, that said there isnt a huge supply of them making strong claims.

Injuries and fatigue are a massive factor, shelf life of a rugby international swiftly headed the way of NFL players. Take Billy V, been a massive miss but I wouldnt be surprised if hes never fully fit again the amount of big impacts his body has been through the last few seasons. Hes by far the only one and the problem isnt going to get better unless they revisit the maximum number of games situation and also ensure that every player gets a proper break each year
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O'Connor at Tigers is England qualified and is starting to show some real form. A true 7
 
Wow, Some game that.
Well played Italy and jammy dodgers to Scotland.

I think that is 38 tries from the last 10 games from Scotland.
A few years ago they could not buy one.

I could not get it out of my head that the main ITV commentator was either Smashy or Nicey
 
Last edited:
I think Scotland were quite fortunate..
One of their tries came from a rolling mail and, at one point, a Scots forward rejoined the mail in front of the ball. I always thought you had to join from behind and even the commentator spotted it and mentioned it but neither the ref or linesman saw it and it didn't get reviewed...
That and the microscopic knock on from Italy that did get seen.......
Such are tight matches won and lost.
 
Imurg said:
I think Scotland were quite fortunate..
One of their tries came from a rolling mail and, at one point, a Scots forward rejoined the mail in front of the ball. I always thought you had to join from behind and even the commentator spotted it and mentioned it but neither the ref or linesman saw it and it didn't get reviewed...
That and the microscopic knock on from Italy that did get seen.......
Such are tight matches won and lost.
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Swings and roundabouts.
It went the other way for Scotland in the Irish game.

Well played Ireland, they hardly broke into a sweat in that second half.
 
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