Comments on: Best of the weekend: Ireland & Scotland impress, England & Wales depress

By: Dr Boo

Dr Boo — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 17:36:54 +0000

In a way i am happy we lost because Lancaster would’ve kept on walking down the same road he is walking. It took us a 2013 6 nation beating to change our midfield which is still changing.

I feel that had beaten the springboks and the next 2 games Lancaster might had persistence all the way to rwc.Hopefully with this lost we can start being put in the right direction even though we have injuries this is not a good excuse.

By: stu

stu — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 15:03:06 +0000

Was Vunipola injured or was he just taken off really early? Hope it was the former as I don’t understand why our only carrier in backrow would be withdrawn that soon. Thought Morgan was excellent again but why not take off Wood and give the team more options?

I don’t think any questions from NZ game were answered against SA and really hope SL and team start picking a team that are on form rather than have ‘credit in the bank’.

By: Dazza

Dazza — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 14:45:13 +0000

Thanks DanD, didn’t realise that. Still rubbish though!

By: ProphetEnoch

ProphetEnoch — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 13:17:52 +0000

Villain of the week other choices could be………………

1: Dylan Hartley and maybe 1 other England forward for boot to face + boot to head contact v SA guy on the floor. Clear to all in the replay.

2: Steve Walsh clearly stung by anti-English accusations made in the English media and was therefore far too afraid for his RWC 2015 hopes to send an English player off at Twickenham for head/boot contact.

Had it been a Bok, he would have seen red.

Shades of SA v Wales 2nd test inconsistency here again Steve.

3: For Wales fans it must be P+sshand who covered himself in such glory again or maybe Gutless for refusing to acknowledge that RP is utterly utterly useless. Mistake after mistake all game and was not subbed.

RP joins a growing list of rubbish Llanelli No10s who played for Wales when they should not …..Colin Stephens…Stephen Jones and of courser RP the incumbent.

A sack of turnips would be a better choice for Saturday than this guy.

By: DanD

DanD — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 12:53:49 +0000

ESPN turnovers are turnovers conceded. Billy knocked on 3 times. Terrible kicks tend to count as turnovers.

By: Dazza

Dazza — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 12:44:00 +0000

I think as far as England are concerned, the coaches and the selection are to blame. By comparison, look at NZ. They started with a vastly different squad against the Scots, and yet when you look down the team sheet, it was still a very strong team. Could England do this? No, and the reason is because we don’t try different players until we have to. Only when a player is injured does someone else get a chance. Why is this?
I know this may not have been the best time to try different players, but if your back row (for instance) isn’t firing and working as well as they have, why not give someone else a chance? Could Haskell or Ewers have done a better job than Wood? Possibly, maybe even probably. For me the Wood/Robshaw combo hasn’t worked well for a while. They are both too similar. And Robshaw seems to be getting slower. He tries to gas through a gap, but finds he has no gas, and looks like he’s running in treacle. The lack of impact from Wood and Robshaw is worrying. Morgan made a big difference when he came on, and next week I would really like to see Lancaster start with Billy at 6 and Morgan at 8. If he’s not going to give Haskell or someone else a chance, at least switch it round a bit and try something different.
The midfield I didn’t think was too bad. but reading stats on ESPN, it’s a little worrying that none of the backs made an offload!! Brown unsurprisingly made the most metres and beat the most defenders, but only passed the ball once, and didn’t offload in the tackle. The backs won 6 turnovers and the forwards 4 (3 by Vunipola and 1 by Attwood).
Vunipola made 35 metres from 10 runs with ball in hand, beat 3 defenders, won 3 turnovers and made 7 tackles. Wood made 32 metres from 8 runs, beat NO defenders, won NO turnovers and made 12 tackles. Robshaw made 12 metres from 7 runs (shocking!!), beat NO defenders, won NO turnovers, but did make 13 tackles. Morgan made 27 metres from 7 runs, made 1 clean break, beat 1 defender, won 1 turnover and made 7 tackles. I think these stats (if correct) are pretty worrying from a back row point of view. Vunipola is being relied on too much to get over the gain line, and Wood/Robshaw seem to be just tackling people.