16 thoughts on “Rate the match: England vs Samoa November 2014”

  1. 6. Frustrating in many aspects but good to get the win, good to see Ford grab his chance to impress with both hands, and annoying but unsurprising to see Farrell continue to under-perform. We seriously need to rejig the midfield for Australia, Twelvetrees and either JJ or May (in which case Roko to the wing) should come in to face them

  2. Don’t think the midfield worked, against a better team we would have struggled badly. Thought Ford played behind the gain line quite often too, the times he did take the ball up created chances so would like him to be more confident next week.

    Watson and Morgan were good but England really need to decide on a gameplan and practice it because again they didn’t seem sure of what they were trying to do.

  3. I think this was a big improvement from last week. Largely helped by Samoa’ s lack of a game plan. This meant we didn’t get dragged into too much of a forwards battle. Ford and Watson injected some pace and urgency into the game when the opportunities arised. Farrell combined well with Ford, and Barritt tackled his heart out. A running 13 would give us more options in attack, but against Australia, I feel we will need Barritt’ s defence. Australia have two big centres who will cause problems all day if we are not defending that channel.

    1. Sorry Dazza, but I strongly disagree over Barritt. Good defence should be a given at this level, he has to show more in attack, but sadly I don’t think he can. For me Burrell has to come in for Australia.

      Re Farrell, I thought the pairing with Ford showed promise, but I still think Farrell is struggling for form and confidence. I really think they should stand him down to the bench and go for the 6n pairing of 12t and Burrell.

  4. I knew Ford would come through & showed us his ability to remain composed and control the game unlike Farrell who is hot blooded.

    Barritt pretty much showed his attacking deficiency by cutting across and killing space. Farrell defense was a slight problem by always going high which allowed Ken Pisi to gain ground, Farrell also looked confused in center and panicked & tried to kick the ball away.

    Lastly don’t think Farrell should play 12 next week because he look very uncomfortable, he would also have to game time at 12 in Saracens & i also think he made a tap tackle on May before his 1st try. It should also be noted that Farrell was kind of invisible as time went on and by the time 12t came on reminded us we had a inside center.

  5. let Farrell return to his club and regain his confidence and fully recover from his injury, revert Barritt to his role as a 12, out of place as a 13 and give Burrell/ Joseph to show what they can do at 13. The last time we had a coherent strategy was when we played Farrell at 10 Barritt at 12 and Tualagi at 13 (v NZ last year). So without Tualagi- we should revert to a winning formula and on this occasion give Ford another opportunity against Australia

  6. More common sense from the fans ,pity we can’t infuse it into the head man!

    Anyone like to offer a sensible suggestion as to why Farrell is still in camp when players who are showing far more form and fitness are being sent back to their clubs?

    My team to face the wallabies: Brown ,Watson, May,Burrell,Twelvetrees,Wilson ,Webber,Marler,Fraser,Morgan,Haskell,Attwood,Lawes,B.Youngs, Ford.

    We must get the backs into the game more,particularly the wide men but they also have to go looking for the ball and offer intelligent lines of support.

    If we lose or even scrape another scrappy,incoherent win ,then serious questions must be asked.

  7. My theory is SL is really feeling the pressure and not thinking straight.This is seen by those below and the self belief that was there 4weeks ago has been shaken quite badly.The bottom line is this coaching team is no more capable than those previous post Woodward.

    1. Good point sir
      .Ashton was fair to middling but had the sense to listen to the senior players in 07
      .
      Johnno was too inexperienced for the job but hung on gamely because he would literally die for his country
      .He was hung out to dry by senior players who failed to realise the value of the trust he invested in them.For my money the RFU should have supported him,helping him to develop a coaching staff with the experience he lacked but would quickly have gained. Imagine how good England could have been now if he had been given another four years and some assistance.

      Now we have a man who has serious limitations and who is starting to look like he wishes the W Cup was four years away.
      Having said that it must deeply trouble the fans to see players who earn their living playing rugby struggle so much with decision making, basic execution of plays and learning to adapt.

      Case in point: the second half v the All Blacks was played in a deluge.Post match comment:” we need to learn to play the conditions better”.
      This weekend the ran started to fall again,as so often happens in England. Post match comment:”we tried to chuck the ball around too much in wet conditions” (sic)

      Come on guys!! Two weeks, not two months or two years later and the players have to be reminded about how to play in wet weather? In England? ,in November?

      Now that is scary.

  8. I watched the extended highlights of the game on Sunday morning, and managed to avoid the result until then – I knew it wasn’t going to be a great game when 5 of the first 10 minutes of highlights were forwards walking to a lineout, injury treatment, replays of an average box kick and so on.

    My favourite moment was in the 7th minute when England had an attacking scrum, Ford and Watson lined up right behind the pack, with Farrell as the other option to the left. ‘Here we go, a backs move’ I thought.

    What happened? Youngs to Farrell, Farrell to Barritt, Bosh! Same as usual.

    Ford looked decent, and Twelvetrees had a good cameo, reminding us what it looks like when a 12 attacks the line. Ford, 12T and Burrell would be my preference for Saturday.

  9. What a load of rubbish, England were a shambles and really need to sort their basic skills out. How can we ever hope to beat a top team if half the team cant catch the ball.

  10. 12T sort of had a good cameo but it was pretty typical for him in that he came on, did some nice things and then on a turnover ball with three players outside of him, decided a grubber was the best option…handing possession straight back to the Samoans.

    Honestly do not think his decision-making is good enough for this level of rugby

    Farrell was as expected, poor, one nice pass to Ford aside. His tackling is not good. He goes far too high and is bounced off too often

    Ford has clearly been told to play deeper than his natural inclination. God alone knows why

    Barritt is not a 13

    Tom Wood gave away two penalties in almost as many minutes upon coming on

    One the whole, very mediocre. Lacking either a good, clear game plan or if there is one, the ability to execute it

    If we play Farrell at i/c next week, we will get trounced.

    Should keep Ford, move Barritt to i/c (not ideal but we need someone to counter Kuridrani and I don’t entirely trust 12T to do it) and bring back Burrell at o/c

    Thought Watson looked pretty good

    1. Wasn’t able to watch the game live, so only saw the BBC highlights, but your assessment of 12T matches my view of him generally. I also think it is strange that there is not a single 13 in the squad. Eastmond, Barritt, 12T and Burrell all line up at 12 for their clubs the majority of the time.

      How did Haskell go compared to Wood in the previous tests? couldn’t tell from the highlights.

      I would test the Ford/Eastmond partnership with Burrell at 13. Eastmond is offering something different to all other 12s at the moment, and was defensively sound against much larger opposition in the first 2 tests. Burrell is the most like Tuilagi from the options available, and did well in the 6N in the 13 shirt.

      Roko on the bench, if only because Yarde butchered that breakaway late in the Samoa game.

      1. I guess none of the Premiership 13 options other than Tuilagi fit what the England management want at 13, which is Tuilagi or a similar large crash ball option. So options like Slade, Daly, Joseph aren’t being considered

        It’s all based around this idea of having a second ball-playing, kicking option at 12 which in turn seems to be based around the idea that Farrell can’t cope at ten without someone inside helping (or it’s because that’s what Catt was and he wants to make the team in his image).

        Should Ford kick on, he doesn’t look like the type who will need the support at 12 and if not, I’d like to see us trying the AB way of doing things, with the big ball-carrier at 12 and the more skilled player at 13. A combo of Tuilagi / Burrell at 12 and Slade at 13 would be interesting

        Haskell by the way, was not great. Gave away a couple of penalties and failed to carry the ball at all. Hope he wasn’t told to play like that but he certainly didn’t cement his place over Wood. I’d still have him in the team for Aus but he was disappointing

  11. Quote from SL …

    “We have a youthful exuberance about us when it comes to wanting to play a bit, but as the weather closed in we needed to put the ball in the right areas,”

    …. Sounds like we were flinging the ball around like Fijian 7s! I’m sure all of that ‘nonsense’ can be cut out by next week!

Comments are closed.